My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Abellona watched the proceedings with a calm and almost vacant expression. This was hardly the first war she had seen. In fact, this was only the first battlefield in a war that would prove to be even more dire for them.

It was a war for survival, and it seemed everyone had agreed that they did not want the Temple to survive.

Her gaze couldn’t help but fall on a soldier she had seen earlier, screaming for glory and battle.

Now he was lying in a pile of bodies, whispering a single question.

”Is this hell?”

Abellona was far from him, and she could see healers trying to help him, but he was already done for. His organs were scattered across the ground, and blood had pooled around him. She wondered whose name he would call when everything began to go black.

That was just how war was.

When warriors were about to die, their minds and hearts called out to whoever made them feel safe. For most people, it was their mother. As their lives flashed before their eyes, their minds desperately tried to make sense of death.

Abellona’s hands couldn’t stop shaking.

She was scared.

Was it because of the war?

No.

She had seen war for so long that the battlefield itself no longer frightened her.

She was scared because she didn’t want to fail.

Her three remaining siblings were here on the battlefield, and she wanted to kill them.

Abellona was sure they all wanted to kill her too. After all, she was too outstanding. The only one of her siblings who had never wanted her dead was her younger brother, Waton.

And he was dead.

When Waton died, Abellona hadn’t really felt sad. She had acted sad, but she hadn’t been.

Instead, in her heart of hearts, she had been relieved.

He was one less person she had to compete with for the throne.

Thinking back to his death, that feeling made her ashamed. She couldn’t help but envy normal siblings who simply got along with each other.

She would never experience that.

She could only hope her child would.

That single thought strengthened her resolve.

With one gesture, she ordered the rest of the army standing behind them to attack.

Matia raised her hand, and the world around them was suddenly covered in white snow and biting winds.

This was what Abellona wanted.

A cover to kill her siblings.

And she had gotten it.

The screams of battle and the clash of weapons grew louder as she spread her wings and shot into the sky.

A streak of destruction followed wherever she passed.

Instead of heading toward her siblings, she was heading toward the ruins of the Holy City.

Death followed her every move, tearing straight through everything in her path. Blood, screams, and bodies were left behind as she carved a path through the battlefield.

Killing them in an open field would leave too much evidence.

So Abellona planned to lead the battle into the Holy City.

Within those ruins, she would kill them.

Her resolve was unshaken, and she tore a path through the battlefield. Seeing her performative actions, how could her siblings let the opportunity pass?

They showed their hand.

They made their move.

Abellona had been famous her entire life, and she had far outshone them all. A war like this, where victory was not only guaranteed but practically promised, was the perfect opportunity to eliminate her.

However, that alone would not be enough to secure the imperial throne.

Abellona stopped in a section of the Holy City, her feet touching the ground. When she looked through the blizzard created by Matia, several figures stood there, armed and waiting for her.

Her three siblings and their most loyal followers.

”Have you come to end my life?”

The First Princess stepped forward, her wings giving off a silver glow.

”It’s nothing personal, dear sister, but there isn’t any choice you left us. You gave us no recourse. Your power and influence have grown too much.”

”So you opted to kill me. You’ve never been this bold before.”

Abellona was honestly a little surprised they had even tried. She had actually been planning to kill them instead, but they had made the first move.

”Thank you.”

She looked toward her second sister and her brother.

”Thank you for giving me a reason to kill you. I don’t have to feel bad about killing you anymore. But since you’ve made your move, I assume you believe you can kill me.”

The First Prince looked at her before sneering.

”With that fool Waton dead, I am the only male heir by right of succession. The throne is mine.”

”Look around you, sister. We brought significant manpower, and there is only one of you.”

The Second Princess looked down at her.

Abellona looked around.

She was outnumbered.

There were several people in the peak of the Sixth Class, along with two rotten-looking old men in the Seventh Class.

”Hmm. I see. So that’s how it is.”

”You called out these old corpses, far past their lifespans, to come and kill me. If they succeeded, it would be the most significant thing they had ever done. Dying with me is quite an accomplishment, after all.”

”You talk too much, little girl. Even if one of us can’t kill you, all of us can die so that my great-great-grandson can become Emperor.”

One of the withered old men spoke. He was from the house of the First Prince’s mother, so he was naturally bound to support him.

”Someone in the Seventh Class. I thought to bring my own.”

Abellona’s brows furrowed slightly.

”I was too overconfident.”

Then she paused.

”Oh, wait.”

A faint smile appeared on her face.

”I actually did.”

As soon as she said those words, the head of one of the Sixth Class cultivators fell from his shoulders.

A knight holding a sword of ice stepped forward.

A barrier of ice was instantly deployed around them.

Abellona looked at her siblings.

”You’re not here to kill me.”

Her smile widened.

”I’m here to kill you.”