My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Damon did not know how long they all stood there unmoving. He didn't even know if his perception of time still existed, or even if he was still himself. All he knew was his heart didn't even feel like it was pounding.

It was only after Sylvia stood up, looking around—her face still covered in blood—that she frowned a bit, as if she didn't realize what was happening. She stood up, confused, her brow raised.

"Emm… is there any reason why you guys aren't moving?"

Sylvia's confused expression and her words seemed to pull them back to reality. It was almost as if their sense of fear finally returned.

Their legs gave out, trembling with beads of sweat… their faces were almost lifeless…

Damon forced down the fear, his head buzzing. He looked at Sylvia, who was covered in blood, but she looked alright. She wasn't even hurt. She had used her fingers to carve the words she was saying into the monolith…

But now her fingers looked fine. Her head—which she had bashed into the monolith—was unhurt, only covered in blood. But she didn't even seem to notice.

Damon looked at her, his body wouldn't stop trembling. From the terror…

"Y…y… are you okay?"

Sylvia looked at him with an expression of confusion.

"I should be asking you that… you guys don't… I mean, you guys are… you look like you've seen a living nightmare."

Damon looked at her, his eyes widened with fear and shock…

'She… she doesn't remember…'

He knew Sylvia well enough. True, she was picking up some of his less-than-savory habits, but even then, he could tell if she was lying… Right now she was just confused why they all looked so horrified.

Leona looked at her…

"You… I… yo… we… are covered in blood…"

Sylvia blinked. "What are you talki—"

She paused, her eyes wide. Her armor's awakened shell—her Ascendant armor—was matted with blood, its fabrics slick with red…

She did not understand where the blood came from.

"This… when…"

Evangeline looked at her.

"It… the blood is yours…"

Sylvia looked horrified, her hands suddenly trembling. She didn't remember anything. She couldn't. The last thing she remembered was reading the last line on the monolith…

The line that had called the goddess of doom… the goddess of the abyss… When she read that part, everything had gone black…

Now here she was, supposedly covered in her own blood. Her friends looked like they'd seen something horrible—something terrifying beyond what words could define…

While she was covered in blood—her blood—yet she remained unharmed. If anything, she felt better than ever…

Damon stood up, his hands trembling. He bit his lips to suppress the shaking. Even his Remorseless skill didn't dare kick in…

That was how horrible, it had been.

He placed his hands on her face…

"Are you okay…"

She nodded slowly…

"I… I am fine… I don't know…"

She couldn't be sure… Hearing her say those words, Damon nodded. He held his trembling hands. The others were all on their butts… fear in their eyes…

He took a deep breath, slowly sitting down on the ground…

For a few minutes, there was silence.

Leona slowly spoke… not addressing anyone in particular.

"Wh… what was that…"

Damon bit his lips. He was hoping no one brought it up… he didn't even want to think about it.

But sometimes it was best to share one's fears. He couldn't deny them that relief…

Matia lowered her head into her knees.

"I don't know… it… it felt like I was looking at the end… not like dying… just… the end…"

She bit her lips, her eyes wide… "It was looking at me…"

Evangeline gritted her teeth. "It wasn't attacking us… I just couldn't even imagine doing anything… I didn't even dare feel fear…"

She pulled her golden hair. "Why… why did something like that have to be here… why, why…"

Xander looked at the sky… "It felt like a god… but not… it felt good, benevolent, right? But so evil… so wrong…"

Sylvia lowered her head…

"I was possessed, wasn't I… by it…"

The others were all quiet… Xander bit his lips…

"Thi… this is something the temple would know how to handle best…"

Sylvia paled. The others all lowered their heads…

Involving the temple was the worst possible outcome…

Damon sucked in a breath of cold air… the kind that bit at his lungs and sent a shiver down his spine. What they had seen here today was more than enough for the temple to want them dead a million times over… and Sylvia… her getting possessed? That alone would be enough for the High Clerics to brand her as an abomination.

Even if she was born into power—even if she stood at the summit of noble bloodlines—the temple wouldn't hesitate.

They'd send assassins in the dark. The kind who didn't miss.

Damon stood up, his legs barely cooperating. He had to protect her. Somehow. He forced a laugh, dry and hollow, scraping past his throat like sandpaper.

"A god… yeah right. As if a god would possess Sylvia," he muttered, shaking his head with exaggerated disbelief.

"I can't believe you guys didn't realize it when it was so obvious…"

They all turned to him, eyes wide, clinging to the hope in his words, desperate for a reason—any reason—that would make what they saw easier to swallow.

"That wasn't a god," Damon continued, his tone sharpening with each word, "It was the same horror that attacked me earlier… if I had to guess, it's because Sylvia has spirit affinity. That's why it managed to get to her."

Their expressions shifted—less shock, more realization. Still frightened, but now clinging to reason like a lifeline.

"Spirit affinity makes her vulnerable to possession," he said slowly, eyes fixed on the broken monolith smeared with dried blood. "Especially if her heart is full of doubt…"

He pointed to the ruined stone monolith, his hand trembling slightly.

"Sylvia's heart must've cracked the moment she saw the monolith referring to the goddess with such… blasphemy. That doubt—it must've opened a gap inside her… the horror used that gap to slip in and take control."

He clenched his jaw as he finished spinning the lie.

"If I had to guess… it used her to carve those words into the stone. But it didn't kill us, so it left. Possessing Sylvia must've cost it something….or we weren't killing…"

The silence that followed was heavy, but not empty.

Their shoulders dropped. The terror in their eyes softened into a cautious understanding. If it wasn't divine, then maybe it was just something that could be fought… avoided… even defeated.

Xander let out a shaky breath, head lowered. Dark rings hung under his eyes like bruises from a nightmare that refused to fade. A tear slipped quietly down his cheek.

"It… it was just a trick… thank the goddess…"

Damon nodded slowly, his face unreadable. But deep down, he knew what he'd said was a lie.

That thing hadn't just been a trick. Sylvia hadn't been possessed by some random spirit. No, she'd been used—controlled by a divine artifact. One capable of channeling a god's will, even if only briefly.

True she wasn't possessed by a god…but she still carried out his divine will.

He turned his gaze to the monolith, the words etched in blood still flowing faintly on stone.

'I was right,' he thought. 'The unknown god has plans for Sylvia… but why? What isn't she telling us… what did she do to be given such a vile gift?'