My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Chapter 1126: Chapter 1127: Godric Lied

While some contemplated the fate of the world, others searched desperately for their own.

These halls were every bit as unsettling as Emilia remembered.

The family’s coldness seemed to seep into one’s very bones, as though all warmth had been extinguished long ago, leaving behind an invisible blizzard that chilled not the body, but the soul itself.

The windows were enormous, stretching from floor to ceiling, yet sunlight never seemed to reach this place. It was as though the manor itself rejected warmth, preferring this eternal, lifeless chill.

This was a hall without warmth.

Standing there, Emilia began to question why she had wanted this so badly.

Now that she finally had it...

There was no joy.

She had been better off before.

Except...

Now she truly needed it.

Yes...

This was her home.

Yet she had never truly lived here.

If anything, she had been shunned throughout her childhood. She could count on one hand the number of times she had entered this manor.

Six.

Only six visits.

Each one had been a rare chance to see her father.

And every time she left...

The light in his eyes had grown a little dimmer.

Even so...

Emilia Highgon had always wanted her father’s name.

She wanted to be Emilia Hightower.

Today...

She had finally come home.

Now she was permitted to enter this place whenever she wished.

After all...

She was backed by another Great House.

She was Lady Ravenscroft.

Each Great House had earned that title for a reason, and the Hightowers were among the oldest. Some even claimed they predated the others. They possessed the shortest history of conflict among the Great Houses and had been the first to recognize Empress Abellona when the Valtheron Empire was founded.

Perhaps that was why they had always been allowed to remain isolated.

Like every Great House, they ruled over their own lands.

Except...

This place was unnaturally quiet.

Emilia drew a slow breath, her expression hardening.

No matter what happened today...

She would find her son.

She stepped forward.

Before her fingers could touch the great doors, they slowly creaked open on their own.

She glanced behind them and found a maid standing silently.

The woman’s face was pale.

Hollow.

Deathly still.

She looked more like a corpse than a servant.

Perhaps...

That was because she truly was one.

The maids who served within the inner manor were all corpses.

Without saying a word, the maid stepped aside.

Emilia walked into the chamber.

Green flames flickered inside the eye sockets of countless skulls mounted upon the walls. Some belonged to humans.

Others...

To creatures she couldn’t even identify.

Every empty socket seemed fixed upon her.

Watching.

Waiting.

She continued toward the center of the enormous chamber where something lurked within the darkness beyond the firelight.

Then...

She lowered her head.

Silence followed.

Only the frantic beating of her own heart echoed inside the room.

”You have come, Emilia...”

The voices came from everywhere.

From the skulls.

From the darkness.

And...

From the lone man standing within it.

”We knew you would.”

She slowly raised her head.

Standing before her was a dark-haired man whose eyes resembled her own.

Except...

His had long since lost all life.

Her father.

Or rather...

One of them.

”We...”

Yes.

We.

The Heads of House Hightower.

Every single patriarch from the founder to her father remained conscious.

Watching.

Waiting.

Knowing.

They were the Watchers.

They saw everything.

They knew everything.

Emilia glanced beyond them.

Hidden within the darkness stood ancient ritual altars stained black with age. Countless shades drifted silently around them, while restless ghosts whispered from the shadows.

Even the air smelled of old blood and burnt incense.

”Then...”

She finally spoke.

”You already know why I have come.”

”Indeed.”

A deep masculine voice echoed from one of the mounted skulls.

”You have lost something...”

Another answered.

This voice belonged to a woman.

Emilia couldn’t distinguish which ancestor was speaking anymore.

Only that they were all listening.

”Not something.”

Her voice sharpened immediately.

”Someone.”

She refused to allow them to refer to her son as an object.

In that single moment...

Her resolve hardened.

”Yes...”

Another skull answered.

”We saw.”

”Our blood...”

”The newborn Godric...”

”Taken.”

”By faceless shadows.”

”We cannot see their faces...”

”And they do not see ours.”

The voice this time came from the skull of some enormous avian beast whose beak had long since blackened with age.

”Speak.”

One skull interrupted impatiently.

”What do you want?”

”I want...”

Emilia slowly knelt.

”To find my son.”

”Oh wise ancestors...”

”You who see all.”

”Nothing can remain hidden from you.”

”We see what we see.”

A calm voice answered.

”And know what we know.”

Another skull continued.

”Knowledge...”

”Comes at a price.”

Its empty sockets seemed to glow brighter.

”What shall you offer?”

”I am blood.”

Emilia answered without hesitation.

”I offer nothing more.”

”Blood...”

Another voice rasped.

”Is not enough.”

”You shall offer flesh as well.”

The moment those words were spoken—

”No!”

A voice suddenly cried out.

”No...”

”She is my daughter!”

Her father stepped forward for the first time.

His body trembled.

”You shall adhere.”

Several voices answered at once.

”Please...”

He lowered himself to one knee.

”Spare her.”

His voice cracked.

Emilia froze.

She had never imagined...

Not once...

That her father would ever speak for her.

Much less beg.

Blood suddenly burst from his mouth.

An unseen force slammed him violently across the chamber.

His body struck the stone wall with a deafening crash before collapsing onto the floor.

A husky old man slowly emerged from the darkness where he had once stood, shaking his head.

”You remain far too soft.”

”The price...”

”Must be paid.”

Emilia stared silently at her father.

This man had always treated her coldly.

She had always believed it was because she was his bastard daughter.

His shame.

So...

Why?

Why was he protecting her now?

Her father didn’t rise.

He simply bowed lower.

Blood pooled beneath him.

Worms crawled from his ears.

Chunks of flesh slid from his battered body.

Emilia bit down so hard her lips bled.

Then she slowly opened her mouth.

”Ancestors.”

”My grandson has gone missing.”

”I beseech the ancestors of this bloodline...”

”To aid me in finding him.”

”In exchange...”

”I shall bear the burden.”

”No.”

Her father interrupted again.

Before she could continue—

His skin began peeling away.

Large sheets of flesh tore free from his body.

Clumps of fat struck the floor.

Blood poured endlessly beneath him while thick black fluids seeped from beneath his muscles.

His entire body twisted through an agony no human should have endured.

All...

For her wish.

”Hahaha...”

”Accepted!”

”Accepted!”

The skulls burst into manic laughter.

Green flames flared wildly as they greedily drank in his blood.

They devoured his skin.

When the ritual ended...

Her father remained kneeling.

Only muscle remained.

His entire body pulsed grotesquely where flesh had once been.

Several skulls suddenly rose into the air.

Laughing like witches beneath a moonless sky, they shot out of the chamber one after another.

Emilia’s eyes burned.

”Now...”

One of the remaining skulls whispered.

”You shall see...”

”What we see.”

...

Deep within the Tomb of Lesser Gods...

A green light suddenly appeared above the cradle where little Godric slept peacefully.

A skull materialized from thin air.

The instant it appeared—

A hand emerged from the shadows.

Crunch.

The skull exploded between black fingers before it could even utter a sound.

The entire tomb trembled.

Ancient seals hidden throughout the chamber ignited one after another, covering the walls in glowing runes.

Every foreign presence inside the tomb was immediately detected.

Every remaining skull that attempted to enter was crushed before it could manifest.

...

Back within the Hightower manor...

Cracks suddenly spread across several of the ancestor skulls.

Green flames flickered violently.

Then...

Some simply went dark.

Her father stared in horror.

Several of the ancestors...

Had just been destroyed.

Even her grandfather’s expression changed.

For the first time...

Fear crossed his face.

”What...”

His voice trembled.

”What kind of terrible force...”

”Has taken my great-grandson?”

Silence answered him.

One shattered skull managed to whisper a final message before its light vanished forever.

”Tomb of slumbering gods that dwell above an abyss, shadows ..many shadows deep shadows.. godric Ravenscroft..lied he lied.”

Emilia stood frozen.

For just a brief instant during the ritual...

She had seen him.

Her son.

Sleeping peacefully inside a stone cradle.

Safe.

Untouched.

Behind her—

Her father finally collapsed.

His ruined body struck the floor with a dull thud.

Emilia whispered the only words left in her mind.

”Godric lied”