My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger Chapter 922 - 923: The Shovel To The Past

The academy lay shrouded in silence.

Normally alive with constant hustle, it now stood deserted, except for clusters of first-year students wandering the corridors.

Emerging from the War Halls, Luna checked her academy ranking on her pager. She winced involuntarily.

She held the top spot.

Even worse, she hadn't truly earned it.

Truth be told, her older brother had basically intimidated everyone during the entrance exam, handing her the number one position with barely any work on her part.

The professors simply overlooked it, particularly after the aptitude test results.

Luna Grey shone as a magical prodigy. Her mana reserves topped her year, along with her total potential. Without her monstrous brother shattering the scale beforehand, her status would have gleamed even brighter.

With every stride along the hallway, she sensed the weight of others' stares fixed upon her.

"That's her, right... the sister..."

Naturally, that's how they referred to her.

The sister.

She served as the younger sibling of the notorious troublemaker Damon Grey.

Luna had poked around a bit, confirming that her brother faced tough times upon arriving at the academy.

Why, one might wonder?

He refused to bow to anyone.

He sparked more brawls than any record in academy history.

His blood had stained almost every passage, and the healers recognized him as the haughty, icy-faced youth who wouldn't yield.

Luna could picture it without effort.

That's how he always operated.

Still, Damon flipped the script, surging in strength quicker than anyone else. Paired with his merciless demeanor, he quickly turned into a source of dread for the students.

He torched the Evil Forest exam area.

He bested Rashi Ignath.

He came back from Lysithara, supposedly having crushed Ashcroft.

Damon stood as a radiant star among the youth of the goddess races. His name rang out across every continent for those his age, just as familiar as Seras Blade's own.

Pride mixed with irritation in Luna's heart.

Why, you ask?

She lacked any friends.

Nobody risked befriending Damon Grey's little sister, fearing he'd snap and pummel them.

Or something far graver.

Most students avoided speaking to her. After all, she was also the cherished granddaughter of the Grand Duke.

Her grandfather posed yet another headache.

He matched her brother in severity.

He didn't just menace students. He vowed to demolish the academy if harm befell her.

It had sparked a major uproar.

"That cursed old fool and that thug Damon..."

Luna could have conjured sharper barbs, but she held her tongue.

This was her beloved brother, after all.

She'd spare the cruder words.

Luna had matured amid Valtheron's rough streets. It'd be odd if she hadn't absorbed the foul slang from the back alleys and slums.

A typical curse might go like ***** and shove it **** dirty ***** ****** ***** ***** mother****** ***** ***er ****

She shook her head resolutely.

Her mother would feel let down knowing the extent of Luna's street-savvy vocabulary.

Luna plodded toward the library.

Stepping in, she navigated the hushed corridors and entered a spacious concealed chamber marked by a striking sign on its door.

She flinched a touch as the odor of ink and aged paper hit her nostrils.

Luna let out a sigh while surveying the space.

A weary-faced young woman sifted through piles of documents. She had affixed anything possible to a bulletin board. Faded newspapers. Scholarly papers. Academy probe logs. Volumes on beasts and their physiology.

The walls brimmed with coverage.

Luna shook her head.

"Iris, please say you managed some rest..." she muttered, setting her hands on her hips.

"Sleep? I don't require sleep—I crave answers." The girl with pink locks tugged at her tousled strands to fend off drowsiness, her eyes ringed by profound dark circles. Pale-cheeked, she gulped down her final recovery potion without pause.

Luna rolled her eyes and stepped completely inside, shutting the door.

"How long have you holed up here? You need a wash and a dose of reality..."

Iris brushed her off, her expression stern as she inhaled deeply via her nostrils.

"I get it, I get it—I'm onto something. Listen, you remember what Damon always said... we dwell in a realm of magic where anything can happen... follow your gut, it's what separates survival from doom."

Iris pressed her case, invoking Damon's name on purpose, aware Luna wouldn't resist if it tied to her brother.

Luna sighed.

It all kicked off soon after their arrival at the academy. During a guided tour, a second-year student pointed out a spot where a certain Marcus Fayjoy had supposedly performed a dark rite.

That's when the claw marks appeared.

And Iris fixated on it.

"See, check this out..." She jabbed at a photo captured by a magical device. Iris prodded it insistently, urging Luna to concentrate.

"These match the claw marks from where my father supposedly perished—his body vanished, just like in the academy incidents."

She faced Luna with a frantic look, her eyes bulging with urgency.

Luna nodded deliberately.

"Right, and Lilith probed all those academy cases—they tied to Marcus Fayjoy and his banned sorcery. Your father's involved a beast they claimed to have slain."

Luna laid out the details calmly.

Iris shook her head, flipping a textbook to a section showing a beast's claw pattern.

"Here's the creature they blamed for my father's death, but these scratches differ... see? I sense it all links together somehow, I just... I just feel it..."

Her tone wavered a bit.

She clasped Luna's shoulder, squeezing hard.

"Please, just trust me on this... please..."

Luna scanned the chamber.

Iris had labored to collect those academy case folders by any method available.

With Lilith occupied elsewhere and the demon war looming, they'd leveraged her role as Student Council President to unlock sealed archives.

That should've proven tough for freshmen.

Or outright unattainable.

They merely mentioned Damon Grey.

No one blocking them wanted that headache.

That's how they unlocked this chamber and its trove of data.

Luna breathed a heavy sigh.

She bent to grab a folder.

"This document suggests Marcus Fayjoy might still live—if we track him and any leads, we could unravel your father's demise..."

Iris's eyes flared wide in a flash.

She lunged ahead, wrapping Luna in a fierce embrace.

"Luna, I adore you, I adore you!" she yelped in thrill, almost toppling a pile of papers.

Luna lifted a hand to temper her zeal.

"First, let's aim for that initial class..."

The pair of girls delved into a history they ought never to have stirred.

Marcus wouldn't aid them.

For he, like Iris's father, lay deceased.

And his corpse had vanished long before, devoured by Damon’s ravenous shadow.