My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Iris pushed herself off the ground, her hair covered in ash and half her face smeared with a mixture of ash and blood from having lain on the floor for so long. She raised her head and looked at the picture of hell itself. Death was everywhere. Flashes of magic illuminated the battlefield, screams of pain filled the air, and blood sprayed across the ground as countless people were caught in the fighting as collateral damage.

In the sky, a rift seemed to be opening beneath the massive form of Ittorath, who continued birthing more and more nightmares like an endless tide of darkness.

The world as she knew it was coming to an end.

Her world had already come to an end.

Thunder flashed in the distance, where a great dragon flew through the sky, attacking alongside Leona like streaks of lightning. Their movements were so fast that Iris could barely follow them, and the destructive force of their battle made the surrounding sky tremble.

She simply stood there, shaken, unable to make sense of anything anymore. Her entire world had been turned upside down, and the people she cared about were scattered across a battlefield where even the strongest could lose their lives in an instant.

In her mind, she remembered the day she had first met Damon Grey, how he had appeared out of nowhere and insisted on helping her.

Iris had been alone. Many people from her town had wanted to help her, but she knew their kindness would not have lasted forever. Eventually, they would have returned to their own lives, leaving her to deal with her grief and hatred by herself.

Then Damon showed up.

He became her family. He taught her everything she knew, and together with Lilith, he became her reason to live. She loved them dearly, so much that she could hardly imagine what her life would have been like without them.

It was Damon who had taught her the path of an eye for an eye, and he had made sure she obtained her revenge against those who had wronged her. He had never told her to abandon her hatred or give up on the revenge she had sworn to take. Instead, he had simply taught her to grow stronger so that she could achieve what she wanted with her own hands.

She had done exactly that, but somewhere along the way, she had stopped growing stronger because she wanted revenge.

”I just wanted you to be proud of me.”

Her voice was barely audible amid the chaos, and her fingers curled as she struggled to hold herself together.

Finding out that Damon had been the one who killed her father had been the greatest act of betrayal she could have imagined. Perhaps that was why Luna could not forgive him either. Maybe it was not because he had become a demon. Perhaps she had simply been expressing the fury that Iris herself could not bring herself to express.

But Iris was not actually angry.

She was sad.

It hurt, and she did not know what to do with the pain. She had spent so long trying to become strong enough to avenge her father that she had never considered what would happen if the person she trusted most became the very person she wanted to hate.

She just wanted to know the truth.

She wanted to hear it from Damon himself, and if he explained everything to her, she knew she would believe him unconditionally.

”So please, tell me. I’ll believe you.”

She glanced at her sword and took a deep breath, allowing the cold air to fill her lungs before slowly releasing it. Her hands were still trembling, but she tightened her grip around the hilt and forced herself to stand straight.

Iris made up her mind. She did not want an easy answer, nor did she want to blindly pretend that nothing had happened. She wanted the truth, no matter how painful it might be.

”Father, forgive me, but I don’t think I can avenge you.”

Forgiveness was a difficult step to take, especially when the person she wanted to forgive had committed an act that had shattered everything she believed about him. Yet Iris could still remember the expression on Damon’s face when they had first met. It had not been the face of someone who wanted to lie, cheat, or harm her. It had been the face of someone who wanted to atone for something but did not know how.

He had been doing something that went against his fundamental nature, and perhaps that was why he had always seemed so complicated to her.

Iris turned toward Luna.

Her body was possessed by the Goddess of Doom, and despite all her strength, Iris could not even begin to understand the battle taking place around her. From where she stood, it looked as though the two sides were standing completely still, while the world itself had been frozen in time. The reality of their confrontation was beyond anything she could comprehend.

She had to reach Damon.

Whatever had happened between them, it was more important that he save them than waste time worrying about anything else. She could demand answers later, and she could decide what to do with the truth once she had heard it.

Iris no longer cared about revenge.

She just wanted her family back.

That was all there was to it.

She took a step toward the battlefield and its countless colliding colors, her sword firmly held in her hand as she prepared to walk into the very hell that had swallowed the world around her.

Iris was not the only one.

Evangeline brought her sword down and unleashed a torrent of light around her body, eviscerating everything in her immediate surroundings. Her hair was soaked with blood, and bruises covered her face, darkening her features in several places. Yet she remained in the air, her golden aura illuminating the surrounding darkness as she faced the monstrous creature before her.