My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger Chapter 890 - 891: Black Death

"Circumstances rarely favor me, yet I've grown accustomed to adapting to these minor yet deadly shifts."

In a chair, a handsome figure lounged with a volume in his grasp. His ebony complexion outshone the finest dark elves, while his lengthy, glossy silver locks cascaded down. His eyes stayed locked on the tome before him.

He delved into its pages and extracted a partially faded bloom.

A faint grin curved his mouth.

"That gamble paid off."

Preserving Damon's life mattered, though it ranked as merely a secondary task. He managed it alongside his primary goal: the blossom he'd handed to Lilith. She had examined its properties flawlessly and sent back the specimen loaded with vital information.

The Unknown God approved of this result.

"The trial to determine if intricate spells could slip past the divine framework without detection succeeded. I braced myself for Minerva's detection."

He turned the leaves of the volume in his hold.

"What an enriching test. Now, refinement remains the only step ahead."

Everyone had lost memory of the Unknown God’s identity after Minerva, the doom goddess, wiped it away. Still, that didn't leave him nameless. He remembered it himself and could share it selectively.

Without linking it to him precisely, it sparked no reactions.

It resembled the commonality of the name Jack. Erasing one particular Jack's name didn't prevent others from bearing it.

Such was the vulnerability she exploited against him. Though he resented his name, a bond lingered with it.

"Her trait as the demon god's bride lets me infiltrate Doom’s territory, but unrelated deities remain beyond reach. Yet with this..."

He raised the bloom as its florets shifted shape, gradually transforming into a kernel.

A tiny planter rested on the surface nearby. With a gesture, he sowed the kernel inside.

"I made a point to act boldly, but you never appeared, Minerva..."

"I deliberately chose to reside in your sacred realm, all to set up an ambush."

He peered beyond the dwelling, where lanes bore icons of the doom goddess.

Her holy essence permeated every inch of this plane.

"What holds you back from responding, and what snares await me? Regardless. The concluding stage demands progression now."

"Hmm, to whom are you speaking?"

A feminine tone echoed from his rear. He creased his brow briefly before donning a soft grin.

By the entrance stood a stunning lady in a spotless white gown. Labeling her beautiful fell short, and deeming her the fairest would shame the term for its inadequacy.

"Altair, conversing with yourself once more?"

She gave a gentle head shake, a light smile playing on her lips.

"My scholarly spouse proves rather quirky."

He let out a laugh. To evade Minerva, he had suppressed all traces of his true self as the Unknown God. Every element served his disguise.

"Welcome home, Mina."

She formed another layer of his facade. Upon his initial arrival here, fate had intertwined their paths, leading to marriage.

In essence, she embodied the demon god's bride.

They appeared as a typical pair within Doom’s realm. The spouse enjoyed minor nobility, while the partner posed as a traveling academic who had taken root there.

Absent their extraordinary allure, they would blend seamlessly into the crowd.

......

The ordeal had concluded, leaving the Unknown God’s intentions a mystery to all.

Yet such details held no weight.

He emerged as the supreme winner.

As the glow dimmed, Damon gazed upon a well-known spot.

He positioned himself at the heart of the zone where the war games unfolded.

All participants had returned. Survivors, the resilient, those who weathered the horror and its challenges.

Not all achieved safe passage. Numerous perished.

But for those who endured...

The initial victim of the nightmare sensed it first.

The summons.

The summons toward fourth-class elevation.

He hadn't even attained third class. Stuck at second, he defied fate to persist, and now this echo reached him.

The summons to a level he deemed unattainable in his existence.

Fourth-class elevation.

The Unknown God honored his vow.

Surrounding him, individuals shattered limits, ascending to higher tiers.

Damon shared in the surge.

He dropped to his knees, his armor adhering to his wounded body.

"Ahh..."

The world's resonant tone filled his mind once more.

[Death, incurable death proliferates under life's banner, through your shadowed grip the scourge upon everything]

The timeless murmur brushed his hearing.

[You have unlocked the exclusive class: Black Death]

[Class skill: none]

[You receive a skill scroll as reward]

Skill scroll activates.

[You gain the class skill]

[Class skill: Plague of Steel]

"The contagion flows via the edge."

[Your legend persists]

A torrent of system alerts followed, detailing updates to his attributes and abilities.

Damon sensed his form evolving, his essence expanding with power until it solidified into a compact presence inside him. This budding soul linked to the surrounding worldly forces.

At last, the concluding alert rang out.

[Class: Black Death]

"Blood's blight, iron's expanse, death propagates under life's guise."

Upon viewing it, Damon grasped the truth.

It captured his transformed essence. Compelled to endure, he would eliminate any peril to his survival.

He disseminated death to safeguard life.

His own life.

And with Deathless poised to unleash its full might against him, a massive carnage loomed ahead.

"Very well. Come at me."

Strength coursed through him.

Damon lifted his gaze and spotted the crowd's stares upon him. Only then did awareness hit that he clutched the elixir still.

He tucked it away in his shadow vault. It may have vanished earlier, but returned to reality, such fears dissolved.

Anxiety evaded him.

None could seize it from his hold.

Though the veteran powerhouses from superior classes posed a different challenge.

’Months must have slipped by in our absence.’

Crack.

The overhead shield fractured, restoring them to the external realm.

Damon glanced skyward, finding the spectators in their seats exactly as before.

Including his sibling, positioned in the Brightwater clan’s enclosure.

Time seemed utterly unchanged.

A pale streak darted as the elf sovereign Kadelas sped to Sylvia, his face etched with concern for his offspring.

Chaos reigned in sounds. Cries, astonishment, raw feelings.

Yet for Damon and his fellow nightmare survivors, the scene rang hollow.