My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger Chapter 948 - 949: Phoenix Nirvana Eye

By the grace of the goddess.

Which truly offered little grace, as the goddess cared nothing for their plight.

And for the sake of any higher power that might hear, labeling a cursed item as 'your precious' was always an ominous omen.

Damon cast a glance at the golden trinket.

At its heart, a ruby-like gem pulsed with a dim red light. The form seemed off somehow. It resembled no ordinary gemstone.

It appeared more like an eyeball.

Before the knight clutching it could respond, Damon clenched his hand tight.

The shadow within his grasp folded like crumpled parchment.

The knight stiffened.

His gaze dulled.

And then he perished.

Just like that.

His form slumped to the deck unmarked by any injury, the golden piece tumbling from his grip and clattering lightly on the wooden surface.

Damon had smashed the man's shadow.

It proved a sneaky manner of death. Damon figured it inflicted excruciating agony, though swift enough that the victim couldn't voice their complete torment.

A shared gasp of chilled air rippled across the deck.

Not a single knight stirred.

All of them remained rooted in place, hushed by Damon's icy, merciless deed.

Damon paid them no mind.

He knelt and carefully retrieved the trinket.

He prepared to hurl it into the waves when a sensation struck him.

A sly psychic assault.

It crept toward his thoughts like venom hunting a gash, attempting to infiltrate his spirit.

Damon didn't so much as twitch.

The crown atop his head flickered softly.

The Ascendant Armor repelled the intrusion entirely.

No deception.

No taint.

No insanity.

Nothing affected him.

Yet Damon refused to lower his guard.

Absolutes didn't exist in this realm.

Even godly safeguards might crumble in certain circumstances.

Thus, rather than discarding it, he paused and chose to examine it closely.

A subtle blue panel materialized in his vision.

[Morticai Nirvana Eye]

The phoenix formed a sacred lineage.

Mighty and fearsome, they matched dragons in prowess.

Their forms consisted of eternal fire, undying and timeless, their lives tied to rhythms of ruin and renewal.

Yet time spared no creature.

Not even the phoenix.

To cleanse the flaws building in their endless lives, they incinerated their own flesh to ashes, shrinking to dust in a ceremony called nirvana.

It was a torturous ordeal.

From those remains, a cleansed essence alone survived.

The pain of this renewal warped countless phoenix. They grew to despise anything they deemed unclean.

This relic was once the eye of Morticai.

It bore his intent.

And the flaws that had soiled him prior to his nirvana.

Bearers of the eye would confront Morticai’s persistent will and the rot that lingered in his past form.

Damon gritted his teeth.

Naturally.

Of course it involved that fiend.

'I understand,' Damon whispered grimly. 'So it's you, Morticai.'

This explained his claim of cursing them.

Damon peered at the eye cradled in his palm.

So Morticai was a phoenix.

Damon knew little of phoenixes beyond the system's details, but as a divine race, they demanded respect.

His grip on the eye grew firmer.

He couldn't hold onto it.

But Damon also refused to toss it overboard without striking back at Morticai somehow.

He faced Seras with a frosty look.

'Can you shatter this object?'

Seras blinked.

She obviously hadn't anticipated the query.

Damon exhaled and massaged his forehead before clarifying.

'This is the eye from that voice we met in the Bone Hallows,' he explained.

'The self-proclaimed devotee of the God of Souls.'

He skipped the name on purpose.

Despite his defenses against fate's twists and the enigmatic god's shield, uttering that name remained imprudent unless vital.

Certain names could sense their own utterance.

Seras paused briefly, uncertain in her response. Gradually, she accepted the orb from Damon's grasp. Upon contact, she sensed an attempt to seize her psyche. She swiftly enveloped her hand in sorcery and repulsed the force.

'Hmm... I get it. This is a fragment of that being.'

She detected an intent within. It was weak and vague, yet purposeful.

'From what I... um... discerned, it's his eye. He's a phoenix. Some kind of holy entity. Never encountered one before. You?'

Seras gradually shook her head.

'Same here, first mention for me. No matter what this phoenix represents, it's trouble.'

The realm of Aetherus held no record of phoenixes throughout its vast past. Dragons appeared in old scrolls, but phoenixes were unknown.

'Can you obliterate it?' Damon inquired.

'Yes. Indeed, I can.'

Damon inclined his head, though Seras then focused her gaze.

'But we'd need to handle it away from the ship. The backlash would drag the entire craft under.'

He nodded deliberately and eyed the deep blue seas encircling them.

'Fine. The vessel can sail a few miles off while we remain to eliminate it. Matia can form an ice raft.'

Seras agreed with a nod.

'That means we'd either swim back... or take to the skies.'

Damon denied it with a shake of his head.

'I'll manage that.'

He understood her concern. Soaring over the sea held dangers. A creature might ambush from above or spells could fell them. Swimming fared no better. Lurkers below could pull them down.

A knight clad in dark armor approached the waves, her fairy wings unfurling broadly at her back. They sparkled with floating snow, each flap dispersing chill into the breeze.

As her boots met the water, the ocean stirred at once.

The liquid underfoot started to solidify, extending in jagged pale designs. Ice spread rapidly over the choppy surface, transforming the turbulent sea into firm frost.

In moments, a broad icy expanse emerged.

The ship behind them drifted gradually away, canvas billowing with the breeze as the captain steered it miles distant, per the scheme.

Damon and Seras leaped from the deck.

Their boots hit the frigid ice with a firm snap, the solid layer creaking softly under their mass as they balanced.

They lingered motionless for an instant, observing the ship shrink on the horizon.

Seras folded her arms and eyed the receding ship.

'You realize, you could've simply flung that into the sea and been done.'

Damon regarded the golden eye in his hold, its crimson core dimly shining as if observing him.

'Yeah,' he replied steadily. 'And I could've pardoned that scum as well.'

His digits pressed a bit harder on the item.

'But forgiving and releasing grudges isn't how I operate.'