My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Chapter 1277: Chapter 1278: The Wicked God Who Answers

The battle had been intense to begin with, but the moment Unknown and the Goddess of Doom left the battlefield, the sun seemed to have come closer, and an immolating heat filled the world. The oceans boiled, and whole cities were turned into burning ruins.

Many men, women, and children whose bodies were unawakened were burned to cinders, and those who were left alive were the powerful ones.

Valleys and mountains were all on fire, and surely, it was the end as spoken of in the temple tomes. A man knelt in the charred world as the sun vanished from the world completely, leaving behind perpetual darkness and a chilling cold that seemed to have no end. The world had lost its sun, and darkness and death had followed.

”Daddy... I’m cold,” whispered the half-burnt body of a young girl as the world was consumed by a freezing coldness with the death of the sun.

Up above the world, so high in the darkness, a single star shone. It was brighter than any other star, its light bright and unblinking.

This star was the last light in a world without a sun, and that star was Unknown himself, battling the Goddess of Doom. The half-dead girl reached out her hand, tears gathering in her eyes as she made a wish upon the star.

Out in the heavens, where he fought Doom, Unknown heard her soft prayer, one made with nothing but hope to the god who had pulled the sun towards their world. He was still getting wrecked by Doom, but in that moment, a wish, a prayer from the heart of a dying girl, reached this wicked god.

Her wish was simple, and so was this god’s answer.

”Let there be light.”

The world had been consumed by darkness and a cold winter, with all the continents forced to clash together and dragged towards the Abyss. Billions had died, space had been folded and bent, and no natural law made any sense.

Yet this world watched as the single cruel star began to glow. It shone so brightly that it was as if a new sun had formed in the sky, and the winter that had descended upon the world began to vanish.

The young girl smiled and took her final breath, having made a hopeful prayer to the god who had destroyed the world. And this god had answered her with a gentle light.

Up in the heavens, Unknown glowed so brightly that he became a sun.

Doom watched him in disgust.

How evil was this entity? He had destroyed the world for his own selfish wishes, yet he had still answered the heartfelt wish of a dying girl.

No one understood Unknown. Perhaps no one could. He was a very lonely god, and those who understood him might be what he truly treasured.

Damon watched as the world was put through several changes. Whole continents were moved as if they were mere pebbles on the roadside, and the entire landscape of the world, even the heavenly bodies in the sky, was changed. Unknown glowed like the sun, a single bright star that gave life to the world.

The whole battlefield had long since been turned upside down. No one could tell up from down or left from right, not even the so-called powerful Outsiders.

Damon had been close to Ric, so he had grabbed the boy and held him as tightly as he could, shielding him against the chaos unfolding around them.

With the continents forcefully moved, the laws of space and time were torn asunder, and the chaos of battle had long since broken the ground apart, revealing a world of darkness beneath.

But that wasn’t all. When Damon looked to his left, he saw a massive landmass that had once been part of what the world called the Frost Continent. A whole section of the continent had been tossed here to Soltheon as if it were a small rock. It wasn’t just the Frost Continent, either. There was a portion of the Verdant Continent, along with an entire city full of people, tossed out of nowhere. Ruins formed just like that, innocent people who had thought they were far from the battle caught up in the destruction.

Wild zones where monsters roamed had been turned upside down. Up was down, and down was left. Nothing made sense except that death was here and despair filled the air.

”Evangeline!” Damon screamed, desperately searching the wreckage of the world for her. A whole section of the continent had been displaced, its broken landmass falling into the darkness below.

Ric held on to Damon while Damon grabbed the overturned earth as hard as he could, feeling the piece of the world beneath them flip over.

It was a strange yet horrifying feeling. The earth, which had always seemed so stable and unshaken, the very ground they walked on and relied upon, was suddenly being flipped so easily.

Damon saw an entire city in the distance falling into the darkness below. The darkness seemed to spread like a network of cracks. He spread his wings and soared toward the next landmass, feeling a law pushing him down and forcing him to walk like a mortal, even when there was no ground to walk on. His wings defied that law, though the resistance caused him pain.

He felt a faint call, and when he turned in its direction, a demon who looked much like him jumped down toward them.

”Ashcroft,” Damon whispered, his expression bleak.

Ashcroft chuckled, a thin smile spreading across his face.

”Not so hot now that you’ve witnessed the power of a true god firsthand? To think this isn’t even one percent of their power, and they can casually do all this while limiting themselves to the Seventh Class.”

Ric, in Damon’s hands, didn’t look up. He kept his face buried in Damon’s chest, clinging to him as tightly as he could. He was just a child, and he was scared. Even Damon, who was an adult, was no better.

Only Ashcroft seemed casual about it.

”Now you see why I feared Doom. Being a god sounds great, but I wonder... such casual devastation and ruthlessness. No, it’s more like indifference to life itself. I wonder if there is anything they truly value beyond themselves.”

”We are ants,” Damon whispered in a somber tone.

”No, Damon. We are less than ants.”

Ashcroft glanced at the world crumbling around them before continuing.

”Any fool who thinks he can beat a true god is delusional and mad, for even a true god can’t beat another true god. This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.”

”It’s a paradox,” Damon whispered, remembering the words from the riddle the last city lord of Lysithara had asked anyone who wished to leave the ruined city.

”It’s all a paradox,” Ashcroft said with a smile.

”Ugh...”

A golden-haired child limped toward them, his body half-destroyed.

Ashcroft glanced at Aetherus before reaching out and grabbing the child by the neck, lifting him off the ground.

”Not feeling so mighty, are you, puny god?”

The child was none other than Aetherus.

He seemed weakened, and the world that was his body was in chaos. He looked half-dead, his golden hair disheveled and his limbs barely able to support him.

Aetherus didn’t react. In his heart, even he had given up.

”Do what you must.”

Ashcroft sneered at his words.

”No, I’m not going to kill you. This darkness leads to the world below, and since you are Lazarak’s brother, I imagine you would be more in tune with the world you’re going to. You’re going to help me and my depressed friend here reach the Pillar of Conflict, and I’m going to blast a hole through your goddess’s skull with it.”

Damon’s eyes flickered when Ashcroft said that.

”Well, what are you waiting for? Unknown intentionally opened this world and threw everyone in, which means those you’re worried about are probably inside.”

Ashcroft turned toward Damon, his expression growing serious as he watched him clutch Ric.

”You’re not going to quit now, are you? We’re in the finale. The choice you make here will determine the outcome. Or are you going to fold when it really counts? Where is that spiteful son of a bitch who kept coming back no matter how many times I crushed him?”

Damon squeezed Ric gently in his arms before looking up at the bright star in the sky. Its light fell upon his face, but it did nothing to ease the fear gnawing at his heart.

”I... I... I don’t want to lose.”

”Then jump into hell with me.”

Ashcroft dived down into the darkness.

Damon gently consoled Ric, who was still holding on to him, his small hands gripping his clothes.

”It’s going to be alright. I promise.”

With those words, Damon let himself fall into the darkness.