My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

A woman sat in a chair with a casual yet imposing expression on her face. She was only at the third class, easily the weakest person in the area, yet the knights surrounding her, despite possessing powerful auras of their own, all looked at her with a mixture of reverence and dread.

Naturally, this third-class nobody was not actually a woman.

Biologically, she was a woman, but on the inside she was Damon Grey.

As for how this was possible, it was simply because Damon was possessing her body.

The Temple generally did not allow certain types of magic, viewing them as evil and heretical, except when the person practicing such magic was not worth the trouble.

In other words, someone very powerful.

An example would be a Viscount who cannibalized the flesh of peasants before the Peasant Revolution. The Temple had simply looked the other way because he paid them well and contributed generously to the Temple. Compared to how much he gave them, the lives of a few peasants were apparently worth nothing.

After all, it was a matter of value.

They gave none.

Of course, when the revolution finally erupted, the Temple found a way to appease both sides once they realized the anger of the masses could no longer be suppressed.

Come to think of it, the Temple had been the perpetrator or an accomplice in countless atrocities. And now they had stirred up an entire hornet’s nest.

The Brightwater family and several other noble families would most likely use the excuse of the Temple taking Damon’s body to suppress them viciously.

They weren’t stupid, so there were only two possibilities.

Either Aetherus had acted without their permission, or they had already decided they were willing to throw everything away.

The latter possibility was rather amusing to Damon.

The Temple was heavily in debt, and most of that debt was owed to him. They had also signed some truly terrible loan contracts to continue funding their operations.

Ironically, the money they had borrowed had originally belonged to them before Damon stole it as Amon.

So, essentially, he had been giving them their own money back.

With interest.

’We still have a top-level spy in the Temple.’

Over the years, Renata had been making deals with someone from the Temple’s upper echelon. Damon did not know who it was, and even Renata wasn’t entirely certain of their identity.

What she did know was that their exchanges always involved information, and Renata benefited from them at almost no risk to herself or the Unknown Order.

Damon would have liked to call them nothing more than greedy old crones, but he knew better.

They were sinister.

They were cunning.

And they were powerful.

The High Priest, the Holy Emperor, the Cardinals, the Inquisition...

These people were the real deal.

’I need to get my body back or destroy it.’

If he destroyed his body, he could simply create another one with his skill. Unfortunately, the skill would not work as long as his original body still existed.

Ideally, the best option was to get his body back.

Just as he was thinking about this, a carriage came rushing across the ground before slowing down and coming to a stop.

The doors opened.

Three stunningly beautiful women stepped out.

The first was someone Damon immediately recognized. Her ruby-red eyes glared at him as her dark hair swayed gently in the wind. Somehow, she looked even more beautiful than usual.

Damon immediately sneered when he noticed the look in Abellona’s eyes.

”What did I do this time?”

Her gaze shifted around the area, and judging from her expression, she was clearly not in a good mood.

Damon watched as all the knights stationed nearby bowed in greeting.

After all, one of the women was a princess, while the other two were high nobility with enough authority to rival a princess.

The first woman was naturally Abellona.

By her side stood Terra Hightower, who was still difficult to read.

And the last one was...

”Ohhh.”

Damon’s expression changed slightly.

He suddenly had a bad feeling.

It was Emilia Hightower.

Xander’s wife.

And Ric’s mother.

Ironically, Ric wasn’t far from there. Damon could see him inside a nearby tent, speaking with the five children they had picked up from the Anarchy Mountains.

Abellona walked toward him with a rigid expression.

”I don’t even want to ask why you look like a woman.”

”Please ask so I can explain why my rear is bigger.”

Abellona’s expression twitched.

”You speak vulgar words to a princess. Know your station.”

Damon raised his eyebrows and stared at her for a moment.

”You. Are you okay? Did you eat something you shouldn’t have? Why are you talking to me like that?”

”What do you mean, Lord Damon?”

Abellona’s voice remained calm.

That was when Damon realized something was wrong.

She was deliberately putting distance between them.

He sighed and nodded.

”Ahh, I see. It’s because I’m a woman now. But seriously, Abellona, you don’t have to be jealous. You are far more well-endowed than this woman could ever be. Have you seen your chest? She can’t compete.”

Abellona’s foot came down hard on his.

Her eyes twitched.

The imperial knights stationed nearby did not dare pay any attention to the exchange. If someone else had spoken to the princess like that, they would have rushed over to cut out his tongue.

But this was Damon Grey.

He had done far worse things to far more important women.

This was the man who had once made advances toward the Elf Queen right in front of the Elf King while he was still in the third-class advancement.

He had once slapped Seras Blade on the rear and walked away with only a few bruises.

The fact that he could even walk after doing something that insane had become legendary.

That was Damon Grey.

He survived things normal people couldn’t.

He said what he wanted and did what he pleased.

Everyone wanted to be like Damon Grey.

No one dared to be like Damon Grey.

Because, in the end, they had all decided they liked being alive.

Abellona glared at him, red streaks of magic beginning to leak from the corners of her eyes.

Damon could only sigh.

Then, in a rigid tone, Abellona spoke.

”Welcome, Princess. I offer my greetings. You look as lovely as a rose.”

Damon looked her over before sneering.

”And just as thorny,” he whispered under his breath, just loud enough for her to hear.

He then glanced toward Terra and Emilia.

”Do you ladies also want me to give you a formal greeting?”

”No, I’ll pass.”

”Never mind.”

They quickly rejected the offer.

Damon shrugged.

”That’s good. So, what brings you guys here? Where did you come from? And you said you were going to give me a ride and then come here in the most horrible-looking carriage I’ve had the displeasure of laying my eyes on. I expected luxuries.”

He gestured toward the rather modest carriage behind them, his expression openly dissatisfied.

”I have another carriage in my spatial ring. Will that do?” Abellona asked coldly, still irritated by his earlier comment.

’I can’t believe he called me thorny.’

”Sure. That works for me.”

”How did you lose your body? I mean, how did you end up looking like this?” Terra asked.

Before Damon could answer, another voice came from behind them.

”Aetherus was here.”

Lilith Astranova stepped out of the nearby tent, wearing a long sundress as she approached them.

When she said that, Abellona narrowed her eyes.

”Why would Aetherus come after you, and why steal your body?”

”A lot of reasons. I’m tall, handsome, lovable, and very popular. Not to mention I’m very rich.”

Damon paused, then casually added,

”And also the unimportant detail of him thinking I was his brother or something.”

”So he thinks you’re his brother?” Emilia asked.

”Something like that. It’s no big deal, though. I’ll get myself a new body and go get my old one back.”

”This is unacceptable,” Abellona said, clenching her fist.

Her expression hardened as a faint pressure began to spread from her body.

”The Temple has crossed the line. This is an insult and a blatant disrespect toward the noble houses and the Empire. We will not simply disregard this humiliation.”

Damon smiled when he heard that.

”I like where this is going. In that case, should we call a meeting of the high nobles and formally confront the Temple? They either return my body, or they face the anger of every noble in the Empire.”

Abellona nodded in agreement.

Damon’s smile widened.

This was part of the reason he hadn’t been particularly worried. He had been about to suggest exactly that, gathering the nobles together and forcing the Temple to return his body.

But Abellona had beaten him to it.

It was almost as if she had read his mind.

’Damn, I love this woman.’

Just as the thought crossed his mind, a familiar voice suddenly echoed from behind him.

”Master, look! I found this beat-up sword, and it looks just like mine!”

Damon’s expression froze.

His heart seemed to drop into his stomach.

He slowly turned his head.

Ric was standing nearby, proudly holding up an old, battered sword he had found.

Damon’s gaze instinctively shifted toward Emilia.

The moment she saw the boy, her expression changed.

Her eyes narrowed.

Then she slowly turned toward Damon.

”Whose child is that?”