My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger Chapter 1074 - 1076: Within The Margin

The Goddess of Doom didn’t kill them.

That wasn’t her goal.

No, she simply didn’t care enough to kill them. She never had. Neither was she willing to hear them out or make deals.

Damon laughed at the irony, the sound hollow even to his own ears.

How foolish had he been to think the goddess would listen?

He knew she wouldn’t.

After all, she was an indifferent goddess. She allowed endless suffering beneath her gaze. Why would she suddenly care now?

That was the truth.

Gods did not care about mortals.

If they did, they were weak.

And if they weren’t weak, they were cruel.

Why else would they allow suffering? Why else would they perpetuate it themselves?

Damon slowly raised his head and found the Blind Old Daoist standing nearby, his weathered face turned toward them.

"Well?" the old man asked, taking a step forward. "Did you spread the word? Who did you see? Who did you meet? They have to know what the Unknown God is up to. What he’s planning."

His voice remained steady, but the tension hidden beneath it was obvious.

Damon was still dizzy from the encounter, but he managed a weak shake of his head.

"The Goddess of Doom already knows." He let out a tired breath. "She just doesn’t care about any of this. She only gave us a message to pass on to the Unknown God."

His gaze drifted downward to the shadow pooled beneath his feet.

"And I’m pretty sure he already got the message."

The Blind Old Daoist went silent.

Curiosity flashed across his face before he could suppress it.

Even knowing that certain truths were dangerous, he couldn’t stop himself from wanting to know.

Damon noticed immediately.

The old monster was many things, but hiding curiosity wasn’t one of them.

"She said she was a bride."

He paused.

"Just not his."

The Blind Old Daoist frowned.

His brows drew together as he considered the implications.

For several moments he said nothing, fingers tightening around the sleeves of his robe.

Then he spoke carefully.

"Is she saying what I think she’s saying...?"

Damon nodded.

His expression remained perfectly calm as he uttered words that felt dangerously close to blasphemy.

"The Unknown God has been cucked."

Silence.

The sentence sounded ridiculous.

Yet somehow it felt wrong to say aloud.

As though merely speaking it brushed against some ancient taboo.

That said, even if the Unknown God knew, he probably wouldn’t care.

Doom had never truly belonged to him.

The Unknown God had never seen her as his bride.

It was simply a title.

One he had never chosen.

As far as he remembered, she had simply existed that way.

When he first met her, she was already the Bride of Doom.

In the end, it hardly mattered.

Everything eventually came to an end.

Far away, the Unknown God watched through the swirling darkness hidden within Damon’s shadow.

A faint smile tugged at his lips.

"Interesting," he thought.

His fingers tapped lightly against the armrest.

"I wonder which unlucky fool married her."

Just then, a door opened.

A beautiful voice drifted into the room.

"I’m home."

The Unknown God let out a quiet sigh and closed the book resting in his hands.

He looked up.

A beautiful woman stood at the entrance, smiling warmly.

His own lips curved slightly.

"Welcome home, Mina."

This was his cover.

Mina was a mortal woman born within Doom’s domain, someone from a powerful and influential family.

The Unknown God had married her so he could hide directly beneath Doom’s nose.

Here, he could move pieces across the board without attracting suspicion.

No one knew his real name.

So he used it openly.

After all, Doom herself had erased that name from existence.

He truly was unknown.

Mina crossed the room without hesitation and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tightly as if afraid he might disappear.

Which, sadly enough, would soon become her reality.

He was close.

So very close.

Once he obtained the Pillar of Conflict, this version of himself would cease to exist.

Along with every connection he had forged.

Including her.

This wife of his was merely a temporary stop along his journey.

Yet if he vanished without explanation, she would search for him.

The cleaner solution would be death.

A death so complete that not even the Goddess of Doom could restore him.

One of the simplest methods would be to have this identity killed by a True Being.

Guess I’ll just have to be killed by the Unknown God.

His hand settled naturally against Mina’s waist.

His expression remained calm and detached.

Yet an unfamiliar thought entered his mind.

Why was he bothering with any of this?

Why not simply leave?

Why fake a death at all?

Was it for her?

His fingers paused for the briefest moment.

’No.’

He dismissed the thought immediately.

’I just don’t want loose ends that can be traced back to my name.’

Then his attention shifted.

’Damon Grey.’

His gaze grew distant.

’Now that you can’t rely on divine intervention, what will you do?’

*****

Damon watched the swirl of darkness in his shadow until it finally faded away.

Then he turned toward Lilith.

She stood nearby with her head lowered, staring at the ground.

Frustration practically radiated from her.

After everything they had gone through...

This was the Goddess of Doom’s answer.

Damon walked over and gently rested his forehead against hers.

A small smile appeared on his face.

"We still have a chance."

His voice was quiet but steady.

"Relying on gods was never really going to help us anyway."

Lilith bit her lower lip.

After a moment, she gave a reluctant nod.

A few minutes later they wandered through the tomb.

Ancient graves stretched endlessly around them.

Lilith stopped beside a weathered tombstone belonging to a minor Earth God.

Her fingers brushed across the cold stone.

"What happens if you devour these lesser gods?"

Damon had considered it before.

Instinctively, he glanced toward his shadow as though consulting something hidden within it.

"I could."

He folded his arms.

"But they’d probably just become attribute points. Maybe a skill or two."

His expression grew thoughtful.

"I don’t think I can absorb their divine nature. And even if I could, I’d risk disrupting the balance between the Seed of Depravity and my Divine Spark."

That was the real problem.

One mistake could kill him.

"Maybe we could have Maw devour them instead," Lilith suggested.

"And use them to create new minions."

Damon blinked.

Truthfully, he hadn’t paid much attention to Maw recently.

But now that he thought about it, the creature had grown significantly.

And it already possessed a surprising number of minions.

Lilith suddenly smiled.

A hint of pride entered her eyes.

"Actually..."

She straightened slightly.

"I did it."

Damon looked at her.

Lilith’s smile widened.

"Well, Renata and I did."

There was obvious satisfaction in her voice now.

"We managed to create a new minion."

She paused dramatically.

"A Shadow Drone."

Her eyes sparkled with excitement.

"It’s a Seventh-Class Advancement."

She leaned forward slightly.

"Wanna see it?"