My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger Chapter 1057 - 1059: Other Unknown

Damon did not look at the Unknown God anymore. He expected cruelty. Expected punishment. Expected to hear that everything they had done was merely another thread in Unknown’s plan.

Instead, the being merely said calmly,

"Hmm, what an expected surprise."

Unexpected.

Yet he called it expected.

The contradiction alone made Damon’s skin crawl.

The Unknown God slowly lowered his massive hand and placed both Damon and Lilith upon what appeared to be a table. To Damon it felt less like being set down and more like being relocated by a force beyond comprehension.

Damon instinctively began to raise his head toward the towering figure looming above them when Ashcroft suddenly screamed inside his mind.

"Don’t look at his eyes!"

The warning struck Damon like lightning.

Without hesitation, he shoved Lilith’s head downward as well, forcing both of them to avert their gaze.

The abyss.

The Unknown God’s eyes were the abyss.

They had literally just spoken about it with the Blind Old Daoist. Gazing into the abyss was perhaps the single worst decision a living being could make.

"Ashcroft, it has been a while."

The Unknown God spoke so casually it almost felt unreal. As though he had not just effortlessly intercepted them between dimensions. As though they were old acquaintances meeting over tea instead of enemies standing before a cosmic horror.

He knew Ashcroft was present.

He had heard him.

Damon felt his hands trembling uncontrollably. In this moment he truly understood how insignificant he was. He felt smaller than dust.

An ant.

No, less than an ant.

The Unknown God’s size was comparable to a normal human, yet Damon and Lilith seemed microscopic in comparison.

’Did we shrink?’ Damon wondered frantically.

"The fact that you can still think coherent thoughts pleases me," the Unknown God said calmly. "It means both of you have adapted well to divine and demonic energy. I have greatly restrained my power and I mean you no harm."

There was a brief pause.

"At least not this version of me."

Lilith immediately stiffened beside Damon. She did not trust those words even slightly. Her fingers quietly tightened around his sleeve.

Then Unknown spoke again in that same calm voice.

"Care for some tea?"

He lazily waved one hand.

Tiny tea sets suddenly appeared before them. To the Unknown God they were probably microscopic. To Damon they looked like finely crafted porcelain sets belonging to royalty.

Steam gently curled upward from the cups.

Damon did not even consider drinking it.

Instead, he laughed softly.

It was not a joyful laugh.

It was the laugh of someone who had realized how utterly powerless he truly was.

"So we failed," Damon muttered bitterly. "We failed to reach the Goddess’s domain."

The Unknown God simply looked at them quietly before slightly turning his gigantic body.

"No. You succeeded. This is Doom’s domain. The very heart of it."

He pointed toward the window behind him.

Only now did Damon realize the Unknown God had been blocking the view the entire time.

Outside stretched a vast divine world.

Gigantic divine beasts soared through glowing skies. Rivers of silver light flowed across floating continents. In the far distance stood an enormous black statue of the Goddess of Doom towering above everything like the judge of existence itself.

Damon’s eyes widened.

Did that mean they had actually succeeded?

The Lake of Tears truly brought them here.

’The lake brought us into Doom’s domain,’ Damon thought in disbelief.

"It did. You are here."

The Unknown God answered directly despite Damon not speaking aloud. His voice felt less like sound and more like thoughts being inserted directly into their minds.

"Then why are you here?" Ashcroft asked cautiously.

Unknown tilted his head slightly.

Then he smiled.

That smile was so impossibly beautiful Damon almost lost control of his body entirely. His thoughts blanked for a moment and he nearly forgot to breathe.

"I live here," Unknown replied simply.

Lilith was the first to recover enough to react.

She slowly raised an eyebrow.

"This is Doom’s domain. Are you not enemies?"

Unknown nodded calmly.

"Indeed. It is an incredible feat. I believe it already informed you of this great achievement."

Damon frowned in confusion before suddenly recalling a strange item description he had once seen in Lysithara.

"Don’t get it twisted," he muttered under his breath.

Ashcroft suddenly asked carefully,

"Who are you?"

It was an odd question considering the answer seemed obvious.

Yet Unknown merely shook his head slowly.

"I am me, but not the me you know. Yet still myself."

If that was meant to clarify things, it failed miserably.

Lilith narrowed her eyes slowly though, unlike Damon, she actually seemed to understand.

"Are you saying you are the Unknown God, but not the one we are dealing with?"

"I am me. I do not need to be more than me. The me here is me, but different. The me you met is also me, but also different. I want one thing, yet also desire another. Therefore both of me pursue different things while still remaining me."

Damon stared blankly.

That explanation somehow made things worse.

"Are you an avatar then?" Damon finally asked.

"No. I am myself and so is my other self."

Lilith slowly began piecing it together.

She remembered becoming a priestess of the Unknown God.

The Unknown God was duality incarnate.

He reflected humanity more than he imposed upon it.

Pray to him with hatred and resentment in your heart and the demon answered.

Pray with love and sincerity and the god answered.

He was simultaneously salvation and ruin.

God and demon.

Beginning and end.

Lilith’s eyes trembled slightly.

She had just realized something terrifying.

The Unknown God smiled at her knowingly.

Immediately Lilith felt drool gather at the edge of her lips. An overwhelming impulse filled her mind. A desire to kneel before him. To be acknowledged by this beautiful being.

She quickly shut her eyes tightly and forced the thought away.

"Are you a god?" she asked carefully.

"No. I am the Unknown God."

He answered without hesitation.

Lilith slowly nodded.

Then suddenly she fell to her knees.

Damon and Ashcroft both stared at her in disbelief.

Lilith clasped her hands together in prayer.

"I pray to my god. Let us have an audience with the Goddess of Doom so we may plot a way to defeat you."

Silence filled the room.

Damon genuinely thought she had gone insane.

Why would she pray to the very being they wanted to stop?

The Unknown God nodded peacefully.

"Very well. Your prayer is accepted."

The instant he spoke, a door somewhere deeper within the house opened.

"Darling, I’m home."

It was a woman’s voice.

Unknown casually waved one sleeve and instantly swept Damon and Lilith inside it.

Damon could not see anything within the darkness of the sleeve, yet he could hear footsteps approaching.

Then he felt it.

That familiar sensation.

The sensation of standing before someone who had killed him before.

The closer the woman moved toward Unknown, the stronger the feeling became.

Damon realized she had embraced him briefly before continuing deeper into the house.

Damon could not breathe.

His chest tightened violently.

Fear flooded his entire body.

Then suddenly he found himself standing upon Unknown’s palm once more.

The Unknown God glanced down at him calmly.

"She is a being who resides here. If she felt similar to Doom, I assure you she is not. Most beings born in this domain have that aura. Lay your fears to rest."

Then he continued.

"I am a god, therefore I accept your prayer. However, you offer nothing. Only truth and sincerity. Watch the failures of your predecessor and understand futility. I grant you truth as your boon. Only after facing it shall you stand before Doom."

He slowly waved his hand.

Their bodies immediately began fading away.

Lilith looked up at him one final time.

"I do not understand," she whispered softly. "Are you good or evil?"

Then she asked the question truly weighing upon her heart.

"If this version of you is good... then do you still wish to bring an end to all things?"

The Unknown God fell silent.

For the first time since meeting him, the atmosphere felt heavy.

Then finally he spoke.

"I am the hand of salvation."

His silver eyes seemed endless.

"I bring an end to all your suffering."

And with those final words, Damon and Lilith vanished, leaving behind this version of the Unknown God.