My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger Chapter 3 The Viscous Entity

As the final glimmers of daylight vanished, the woods grew increasingly gloomy. Damon sprinted through the trees, his lungs burning and his breath coming in jagged gasps while he searched the shadows for any place to take cover. Behind him, the forest rang with the sounds of hostile voices, every shout dripping with cruelty.

He could hear Marcus inciting the others with sadistic glee. Even worse was the sound of Lark’s voice, which remained hoarse and filled with fury from the strike Damon had landed on his groin earlier.

'If they catch me… it's over. I'm dead.'

Damon forced himself deeper into the thicket, but his foot caught on a gnarled root, sending him crashing face-first into the soil. His entire frame throbbed with pain, and his eyes were still raw from crying. His palms, already flayed from grueling training sessions, stung sharply as he pushed himself back up. Though his body was a map of bruises and aches from the previous beating, he knew that pausing meant certain death.

If he possessed any talent at all, it was the ability to flee. If that was his only skill, he would use every ounce of strength he had left to master it.

Taking a shaky, deep breath, he ducked beneath low-hanging limbs and resumed his flight, his sight beginning to haze from sheer fatigue. He stopped for a fleeting moment, leaning his weight against a trunk to recover his breath.

"I think... I lost them. Phew."

A sigh of relief escaped him, but as his adrenaline levels dipped, the agony returned in force, causing him to flinch.

He straightened his back, planning to sneak back toward safety and perhaps locate a healer. Suddenly, a shard of ice whistled through the air, grazing his cheek. Startled, he looked up to find Marcus and his group closing the distance.

"There he is! Don't let him get away!"

Marcus’s command sliced through the quiet of the woods. Damon didn't waste time looking back; he simply bolted into the deepest shadows.

"Keep your eyes on him! He’s a slippery one!" someone yelled.

"Grey, quit running! You're only making your punishment worse!"

Damon’s mind was a whirlwind of terror, yet he understood there was no going back now. If they were going to take him down, he would make them earn it. He tore through the brush, each stride bringing him closer to the dreaded boundary that marked the end of the academy’s protective zone.

One of the pursuing boys slowed down, eyeing the edge of the woods with hesitation.

"He’s heading straight for the barrier…"

Marcus’s features contorted with irritation.

"Grey, stop this instant and I might let you live! If you cross that barrier, the first monster you encounter will tear you apart!"

Damon’s heart hammered against his ribs, fully aware of the risks involved in crossing that line. The barrier was the only thing holding back a tide of lethal creatures—monsters that students were only permitted to face under strict supervision. Nevertheless, he preferred the gamble of the unknown over the certain brutality Marcus and his lackeys intended to inflict.

Ducking under a branch, he lunged forward. He didn't realize how close the edge was until he spotted a faint shimmering distortion in the air. For a heartbeat, he faltered, but Lark’s enraged screaming from behind reminded him of the violence waiting for him if he stayed.

Without hesitating further, Damon dove through the barrier.

It felt like plunging through a sheet of freezing water, causing him to stumble. He quickly recovered and kept moving. Behind him, the group skidded to a halt at the boundary, paralyzed by doubt—until Lark, consumed by a mindless rage, charged through with a guttural roar.

"Damon! You're a dead man!"

"You idiot!" Marcus spat a curse, but his arrogance wouldn't allow Damon to escape his grasp.

With a low growl, Marcus followed, and the rest of the group reluctantly trailed after him.

Damon’s pulse thrummed in his ears as he realized they were still on his heels. His chest felt like it was on fire as he struggled for air. He only knew vague legends about this part of the wilderness, a place where only professors risked traveling, but sheer instinct kept his legs moving forward in a blur of fear.

However, his stamina was failing. He eventually skidded to a stop, narrowly avoiding a sharp drop-off. A deep ravine lay before him, plummeting roughly fourteen meters down to a churning river hidden in the dark. He turned around in desperation, but his tormentors had already arrived.

"You little bastard… I'm going to end you!"

Lark’s scream preceded a heavy fist that slammed into Damon’s jaw, throwing him to the ground right at the edge of the precipice.

Damon had no time to protect himself as Lark began a ruthless barrage of kicks. A sudden burst of wind magic sliced through the air, and sharp agony flared as blood began to seep down his face.

He coughed, the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth. His head spun while Lark’s merciless beating left him gasping for air.

"That’s enough, Lark," Marcus finally interjected, his tone icy and bored.

Lark, heavy-eyed with rage, stepped back. Marcus walked over to where Damon lay nearly unconscious, the world swimming before his eyes. Marcus reached down and grabbed a handful of Damon’s hair, wrenching his head up so their eyes met.

"Beg, Grey," Marcus hissed, a cruel smirk playing on his lips.

"Beg for mercy, and we'll finish this."

Though his vision was clouded with gore, Damon forced a mocking grin, his teeth stained red.

"Go… rot in hell."

Marcus’s face turned a dark shade of fury.

"Keep hitting him until he begs for his life," he snarled.

The group closed in once more, raising their fists.

The other boys joined the assault, laughing mockingly as they threw Damon around like a discarded toy, indifferent to his cries of pain. Lark, the most vicious of the lot, brought his heel down hard on Damon’s leg. A sickening crack echoed through the ravine as the bone snapped.

Damon’s scream was drowned out by their derisive laughter.

After several more minutes of relentless violence, Marcus finally signaled for them to stop. Lark, however, continued to press his foot into the break, his eyes burning with malice.

Marcus stepped in, shoving Lark away.

"I said that's enough, Lark!" he barked.

Marcus knelt down, once again pulling Damon up by his hair to force him to look at his attackers.

"You know, Grey, I've always despised you," Marcus whispered venomously.

"But what I hate most is your pride. A weakling like you should have the sense to bow. But not you. You walk these halls like you’re someone important. You look your superiors in the eye… you have no sense of place."

With a sudden, brutal shove, Marcus slammed Damon’s head into the dirt. Damon let out a pained moan as blood smeared across the ground. Marcus stood up and looked down at him with pure loathing.

Damon fought to sit up, swaying precariously as he looked at Marcus, Lark, Isaac, and the rest. Despite the agony, he glared at them, spat out a broken tooth, and rasped,

"You bastards… I'll see you in hell."

Marcus looked ready to strike again, but Lark acted first. With a quick gesture, he released a powerful blast of wind magic, launching Damon backward into the dark, yawning abyss of the ravine.

Marcus’s eyes went wide with shock.

"What… what did you do? You just killed the kid!"

He dashed to the edge, squinting into the blackness for any sign of movement, but the pit was too deep and the shadows too thick. Panic began to take hold, and he gripped his head in frustration.

"Damn it… we have to get out of here. If anyone asks, we were never in this forest."

Lark was still shaking with leftover adrenaline, but the other boys were already backing away, gripped by fear. Marcus looked over his shoulder, his voice sharp with urgency.

"Move! Now!"

Leaving Damon to whatever fate awaited him, the group vanished into the night.

The fall wasn't fatal, but Damon’s body rolled violently down a jagged, rocky incline. He landed at the bottom with a dull thud, his ribs cracking under the force of the impact. He groaned, the world spinning as he fought to remain conscious. Looking skyward, he could see the moon through the canopy, casting a pale, ghostly light into the ditch.

He could hear the distant sounds of the boys fleeing, leaving him behind in the dark.

'Wait… no… don't leave me… stop…' he pleaded internally. But his throat was choked with blood, and he lacked the strength to even whisper.

As a heavy silence fell over the ravine, a strange sound disturbed the air—a shifting movement in the nearby darkness. Damon’s heart raced, fear cutting through the haze of his injuries.

He was outside the barrier, where monsters were known to hunt. Even though he wasn't far from the academy, he was completely defenseless.

His eyes stretched wide in horror as he tried to scan the pit. In the gloom, something was moving—a thick, inky mass of blackness slithering toward him, nearly invisible against the shadows. The entity was shapeless, resembling a pool of black slime that moved with a terrifying, fluid grace.

Damon shook with primal dread as the formless creature crept closer. He tried to scream for help, but only a faint, gurgling sound left his throat.

'No… please… someone… help me…'

The creature towered over him, silent and ominous. His mind screamed in terror, but his body remained paralyzed as the thing drew near.

Under the spectral moonlight, his heart pounded as the entity stopped right above him. Without warning, it plunged into his shadow, fusing with the darkness beneath his broken body. A wave of excruciating pain surged through him as the creature began to seep into his very being, yet he was too far gone to make a sound.

He could feel it excavating its way into his core, a writhing darkness taking root in his soul. Tears tracked through the blood on his face as he lay there, helpless.

'Is this it… dying in a ditch like this…'

The agony was too much to bear. His consciousness began to slip away as he held onto one final thought.

"I'm… sorry… Luna…"

He managed to wheeze out the words one last time.

The entity buried itself deeper, its essence becoming one with his own until his mind began to dissolve into the void. As the final traces of the creature vanished into his shadow, a profound exhaustion claimed him.

And yet, in that moment of near-death, a vow ignited within his mind, powered by a searing flame of hatred and spite.

'If… I get another chance… I swear… I’ll make them suffer.'

As the final spark of his awareness began to fade, a sharp, metallic ring echoed in his mind.

[Ding]

[System initialization has begun.]