My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger Chapter 868 - 869: A Man Who Must Leave

Damon would eventually discover the true meaning behind her words regarding forcing her hand.

Lilith Astranova was never a woman to surrender. Her four previous losses to him weren't due to a lack of power to restrain him, but because exercising that power would have been an act of cruelty. She hadn't wanted to strip Damon of his freedom to choose.

That boundary had now been crossed.

She didn't care if he hated her for it.

After all, he could only harbor hatred if he remained among the living.

During those first four encounters, she had genuinely held onto the hope of changing his mind. She felt like a naive woman convinced she could mend a man who was already broken beyond repair. Perhaps time would have allowed for it, but he was refusing to grant her that luxury.

A sharp ache constricted her heart. His defiance meant nothing to her now. She was indifferent to his pride and his lofty convictions.

Her only desire was for him to stay alive, damn it.

She merely wanted him to endure until the very end.

Then again, one had to wonder about the distinction between merely surviving and actually living.

Damon had never truly mastered the art of living; his existence had been a perpetual struggle for survival. From his original village to the desolate slums of Valtheron and into the prestigious academy halls, it seemed as though the entire world conspired to end him.

The cruelty lay in the fact that she saw right through him.

Every word he uttered translated to a single message.

I am sorry for your grief, but I will not relent.

To him, that was the definition of an apology.

The faint sound of footsteps resonated behind her.

Lilith turned around, her expression icy and piercing.

"Sylvia," she said in a low voice.

The elf with white hair offered a small, knowing smile.

"Hmmm. I always assumed I would be the one to betray your efforts. I never anticipated you would be the one to sabotage yourself. It was an impressive display, regardless."

Lilith folded her arms, her own smile appearing thin and forced.

"I wouldn't be so cheerful if I were you. We are proceeding with Plan B."

Sylvia winced at the mention, her eyes closing for a moment.

"I was truly hoping we could avoid such a distasteful path."

Lilith’s stare remained fixed and unwavering.

"Well, circumstances have brought us here, haven't they? There is no other way."

Sylvia’s face turned solemn. The nature of this plan was brutal. While it guaranteed Damon would survive, she worried about the aftermath. What would he be forced to suffer through?

"Lilith," Sylvia murmured softly, "you must understand that if we go through with this, death will dog his every step."

Lilith ground her teeth together.

"I am aware of that. But death stalks everyone. Isn't that the essence of life? A relentless pursuit by unseen forces until they finally seize us."

Sylvia bowed her head, her voice losing its strength.

"Yes, but for him, it will be an unending presence. Much closer than it is for others. Always there. It will warp his very heart. I'm not sure if I can do it."

"I didn't want this either," Lilith interrupted sharply. "But this was Damon's choice. He made his move, and now we are making ours. We either stand by and watch him perish, or we force him to live."

Sylvia paused, taking a long, slow breath.

"If you do nothing, Sylvia, he will die. He will be gone forever, completely out of reach. I will take the burden of the consequences myself. Even if he despises me for it."

Sylvia bit her lip before letting out a heavy sigh.

"Fine. We will carry the weight together. We share the responsibility. We share half of Damon’s hate."

With that, their plot was set in motion.

Damon was mistaken about one thing: he didn't hold all the cards.

In a world governed by magic, the impossible was within reach. It was a grave error to underestimate those who would sacrifice everything to reach their objectives.

Perhaps he had become too confident.

He had failed to realize just how formidable Lilith Astranova could truly be.

That single oversight would be his downfall.

Once the chaos subsided, there would be no victors. Only the fractured would remain.

Reality was no fairy tale; connections between people could shatter just as quickly as they were forged.

... Damon remained oblivious to the scheme being hatched by Lilith and Sylvia. He was simply drowning in his own sense of exhaustion.

He recognized that Lilith’s logic was sound, but being logically right didn't make her actions correct in his eyes.

The cycle of life and death was a fundamental law. He believed individuals should possess the right to terminate their own journey when they saw fit.

There was nothing left to hold him to this place.

"I just need to get that elixir."

He whispered to himself, gliding through the darkness and bypassing the patrols of chained knights with the ease of long practice. He made his way back toward the Grinding Gate.

The presence of the knights had thinned out significantly. Most had been redeployed elsewhere, leaving only a skeleton crew behind.

"Seraph Null is getting ready for war," he noted under his breath.

The moment he entered the Grinding Gate district, a foul odor assaulted his senses.

The smell of charred wood, rot, blood, and filth filled the air.

It had the sickening stench of a dying refugee camp.

Fresh corpses were strewn across the pathways, likely victims of starvation. Fever-stricken people with hollow eyes and festering wounds wandered aimlessly. Others were busy gathering the dead, piling them onto carts like cordwood.

He caught snippets of their conversations regarding the disposal of the bodies.

Those remains would eventually serve as fuel for his shadow maw.

This devastation was the legacy of the chained knights' rampage. Even after the initial violence, the death toll continued to rise. The injured were failing, the healthy were falling ill, and famine was claiming anyone left.

His shadows thrived on the freshly deceased.

He knew a large portion of this misery was his own doing.

"How can anyone who brings this much suffering into the world be worth saving?" he muttered. "You’re wrong, Lilith."

He tightened his fist.

"Some men do the world a favor by leaving it."

He was certain he was one of those men. If nothing else, he was honest about his own nature.

Damon ducked into a concealed doorway, navigating past the magical seals that Lyn and Sithara had established. He pressed on until he reached the inner chamber.

Luminous eyes flickered open in the gloom, tracking his movements.

He could feel their steady gaze upon him.

Since he sensed no enmity, he continued forward.

The moment he was fully inside the room, a young girl's soft voice broke the silence.

"You have returned."

Damon’s brow furrowed. He had been perfectly silent and hidden.

Sithara was looking straight at the patch of darkness where he remained cloaked.

He stepped into the light, his body becoming solid once more.

"Hm. How were you able to detect me?"