My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger Chapter 844 - 845: Reunion

The arrogance was unmistakable and deeply familiar. In truth, he had never been any other way. Evangeline searched her memories but couldn't recall a single moment where Damon Grey displayed humility. That specific virtue was something he had never possessed.

Defiance was his nature, past, present, and future.

Evangeline had never truly grasped what motivated him. Even now, she wouldn't dare claim she understood his heart. It was possible that Damon himself lacked a clear explanation; it was simply the way he existed in the world.

However, there was one truth she held with absolute conviction.

She understood him.

It was that very understanding that brought a smile to her lips.

Their circumstances were dire—trapped, outmatched, and encircled by enemies. Despite this, Damon remained disturbingly composed, his casual arrogance completely unshaken. His demeanor hadn't shifted in the slightest from the man she used to know.

She wouldn't have wanted him to change.

After all, this was Damon Grey.

Fear of impossible odds was not in his nature. He was not the type to bow just because the world demanded his submission. Yielding was a concept he simply did not recognize.

The onlookers watched as Damon strolled forward, his staff held loosely in one hand. His pace was steady and full of confidence, acting as if the legion of chained knights and the fourth class aura meant nothing. The powerful figure before them was likely a Warden hailing from the Black Tower.

Damon, however, didn't appear to care at all.

Beneath his parasol, the Warden offered a thin smile.

"So, you've arrived to share a grave with this so-called hero."

Damon shook his head, glancing toward Evangeline with a grin hidden behind his visor.

"No, not really. Honestly, I keep telling her the whole justice ideal is shit, but oh well. She never listens."

Evangeline felt a strong urge to roll her eyes.

Damon wasn't done speaking. He was likely wearing that same cold, mocking smirk she knew so well. His distaste for her philosophy was no secret; they had clashed over their beliefs more times than she could count.

Damon let out a low chuckle.

"If I can’t change her, then I’ll just change the world."

Evangeline blinked in surprise.

Since he couldn't alter her heart, he would simply reshape reality itself.

"Hah. Hahaha."

The Warden erupted into loud laughter. As the desert winds swirled dust around him, he wiped a stray tear of mirth from his eye. He found the entire declaration peak comedy.

"I did not realize you rabble had learned to joke."

Damon shrugged, joining in with a laugh of his own.

"Laugh. It is funny. You are not the first person to laugh at my words. Most of them shut their mouths later. Or died. You will be joining them soon."

The Warden’s laughter died instantly.

His face turned into a mask of ice.

"Kill them."

The thunderous sound of boots shook the arena as hundreds of chained knights sprinted forward, the very ground trembling under their weight.

Damon looked down at his empty hand.

"One thing I missed about having a body is..."

He swept his hand upward.

Massive pillars of black flames roared out of the earth. Agonized screams filled the air as the chained knights were consumed by the fire born from the despair and passion of the elves. These were the flames of the dark spirit, Rashi Ignath.

"How easily I can take lives."

The scent of charred flesh and the sight of falling ash dominated the scene. The cries of the dying were replaced by a suffocating silence as the inferno swallowed everything.

A heavy stillness followed the carnage.

Damon lacked his full mana capacity, but he still wielded shadow energy. For now, it would have to be enough.

Evangeline smiled.

Blinding light erupted from her, radiating in every direction. She lunged forward, but she wasn't targeting the surviving knights. She was charging straight at Damon.

The Warden stayed composed, his parasol resting against his shoulder. Though the crowd cheered for Evangeline, no one dared to intervene.

The truth was now glaringly obvious.

The real villain was the crowd itself.

It wasn't that they were inherently malicious.

It was because they were weak.

Weakness was the ultimate sin—the original one.

They held beliefs but refused to act on them. While the crowd functioned as a collective, it was made of individuals who were frail in both spirit and body.

They cheered while she was punished because it required no sacrifice from them.

They claimed to love her while standing by as she faced death.

They craved salvation, but only if it was free.

Damon no longer felt hatred for this. He had grown past such childish resentment. In the past, he might have been bitter, but not anymore.

That was the reality of justice.

People were happy to applaud it. They were loud when faced with injustice, yet they remained paralyzed because it didn't touch their lives directly.

Criticism was easy; action was grueling. This was why evil flourished—because well-meaning people were too weak to do anything but watch.

Damon couldn't believe in justice when only raw strength determined whether it was upheld or silenced.

Ultimately, justice was a luxury of the powerful.

The radiant light was mirrored in his eyes.

She was steady. She was resolute. She knew no fear.

She had arrived with her convictions firmly planted in her soul.

Evangeline’s justice was valid because she had the power to back it up.

Damon found himself momentarily blinded by the beauty of it.

’You’ve come a long way, Eva.’

She stood before him, her armor stained with blood. Even surrounded by slaughter and chaos, she seemed to be smiling at him.

Damon laughed softly, his black flames dancing alongside the brilliant light she cast.

For a heartbeat, the world seemed to freeze.

Two souls, two of the same kind, reunited in a world of antiquity.

Evangeline reached him, her arms opening wide.

Time slowed to a crawl.

Her hand tightened into a fist.

And then, she punched him with every ounce of her strength.

Damon’s head whipped to the side, and by pure reflex, he threw a punch right back.

Her head snapped back from the impact.

The sudden brawl left even the advancing knights bewildered. Were these two comrades or bitter enemies?

Evangeline grinned from behind her helmet.

"You damn crazy bastard. I was looking everywhere for you. I thought you were dead."

Her tone was frosty, a mix of pure relief and intense frustration.

"What the hell. Is that how you greet me. Most people hug, you know."

She spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground.

"What kind of scum hits a woman."

"The kind that knows his rights," Damon retorted. "I respect women too much not to retaliate."

The Warden watched the exchange, completely baffled.

One of the knights leaned in toward him.

"Sir, should we attack or..."

The Warden exhaled a long sigh, his face twisting with annoyance.

"How dare you ignore me."

Damon gave him a distracted, half-hearted look.

"Is this clown still here. I swear you attract the worst type of men."

Evangeline pouted slightly.

"No I don’t."