My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger Chapter 991 - 993:The Crownless Ruler

As war drums thundered across the demon continent, Damon positioned himself in a tomb facing a colossal stone door etched with primordial runes.

He looked over at Lilith next to him.

Bruises marred her skin. Scratches slashed her arms. Blood trickled down her fingers, dripping slowly to the floor.

Frustration laced her sigh as she shut her eyes.

"Well... that was a disaster."

Her tone stayed icy, yet the strain within it revealed the crushing weight of their defeat.

Damon examined the door ahead, its face scarred from the fresh clash, before releasing a long breath.

"I guess Lazarak didn’t hold back with this place’s guardian. I suppose my plan didn’t work."

Lilith hobbled aside and slumped onto a brief set of stone stairs. With shaky hands, she drew a potion from her pouch, popped the cork using her teeth, and swallowed it down.

Damon felt her irritation deeply.

They had attempted to storm the innermost room of the Tomb of Lesser Gods. This round, they deployed a full attacking squad of hundreds of shadow drones.

Every single one got annihilated.

Damon and Lilith had just managed to flee.

Chiefly Lilith.

Only Damon’s shadow clone remained here.

"A monster at the peak of the sixth class is really no joke," Damon murmured softly. "Expecting us at the fourth class to succeed is asking too much."

Lilith pressed her face into her thighs, staying silent.

Damon approached her. One arm was gone from him. A huge fissure ran through his armor, with deep gashes across his chest oozing shadows rather than blood.

He settled down beside her and softly laid a hand on her back, running fingers through her hair.

"Don’t be so hard on yourself. We can recover anything we lost today."

Lilith lifted her head and shook it.

"That’s not it."

Her gaze sharpened now, burning fiercely despite her weariness.

"We are on a timer we cannot see. There’s the Unknown God with an equally unknown goal. Then there’s the Goddess we are certain exists but has made no move. Acting under her, we are sure there is a minor god, Aetherus. And then there is the imminent threat of the Outsiders—vastly powerful beings from beyond our world."

Damon merely observed her words.

He grasped her concern.

Lilith bit her lip until blood welled up.

"We can lose. We can die. Ittorath is already partially free. How can we be sure he’s not already acting based on things we don’t know?"

She jabbed a finger toward the door to the final chamber.

"This dungeon is our only hope."

Her voice turned fierce, nearly zealous.

"And I will stop at nothing to take control of it."

Damon breathed out gradually. She spoke true. Foes surrounded them everywhere.

His eyes shifted to the door holding three keys in sculpted slots. The first was Lazarak’s authentic key. The second came from an antique shop, its seller clueless about its nature.

The third was the copy they crafted to mimic the missing one.

'Maybe it’s because we never found Lazarak’s final key.'

Lilith gave a weary scoff. "Yeah, and I suppose you can go back to Lysithara and dig through ruins for one key."

Damon shook his head and moved nearer to the door, his boots grating lightly on the stone.

"No. I’m saying Lazarak was a cunning god. The guardian attacked because we forced our way through without all the real keys."

Lilith eyed him, then massaged her temple with two fingers. "You were his friend. If he was going to hide the last key, where would he keep it? He was most likely dead by the time Lysithara was created."

Damon nodded thoughtfully, his stare growing distant as he envisioned the fallen minor god.

"Yes. The ones who made Lysithara were Lyn and Sithara. Lazarak would have entrusted the key to them."

His focus moved to the second key. He extracted it from the slot and lifted it between his fingers.

"Appraisal."

[Key of Lysithara]

[In honor of the two siblings who accompanied Lazarak through his journey, carrying the name of their dream. On their separation, he gave them two keys—one in honor of them, the other forged to honor a crownless ruler they could not remember. This key has been passed along with the wishes of Lysithara and the dead god, traveling through many hands to fulfill its purpose.]

Damon recited it aloud, his gaze lingering on every line.

Lilith dropped her head. Most wounds had mended, though light scratches lingered on her face.

"You’ve read that a thousand times. We still have nothing. If we had a clue..."

Damon lifted his hand without glancing her way, silencing her abruptly.

"This key was made in honor of the two siblings and their dream. They were given two keys. Including a third, made to honor a crownless ruler they could not remember."

Lilith furrowed her brow. She failed to grasp it.

"The third key is talking about me," Damon whispered.

She let out a deep sigh. "We figured that out the first day."

"What’s your point?"

Damon folded his arms and turned back to the door.

"A crownless ruler..." he whispered.

Lilith fixed her eyes on him, expectant.

A gradual smile crept across Damon’s face as recollection stirred.

"When we were in Lazarak’s nightmare, Lyn and Sithara asked me if I was a king. I told them I was a king with nothing to my name."

He had uttered it back then to impress.

But now...

That nightmare might not have been mere memory. Perhaps a record. A truth Lazarak wove into existence.

Lilith just watched him, puzzled still.

Damon breathed out sharply. "We don’t need the fake key we created. We already have the third key."

She continued staring.

He saw she couldn’t peek into his thoughts.

Damon faced her completely.

"It’s the crown. The Crown of Lysithara. Remember? The crown has a key inside it. The archive that stores all of Lysithara’s knowledge."

Lilith’s eyes went wide.

The pale crown truly contained a key.

It wasn’t solely a crown. It served as a control interface for Lysithara itself.

But what if it wasn’t limited to Lysithara?

What if the tomb fell under its domain too?

No...

What if the tomb formed the original system, and Lysithara sprang from it?

Lilith’s eyes expanded more, then she eased back onto the steps.

"The crown is all the way in the demon continent... with your real body," she murmured softly. "And you need to wear it at all times to stay sane."

Damon issued a theatrical sigh.

"Ahh, bummer. If only there was a way for me to use the crown all the way from the demon continent."

Lilith cocked her head at him gradually. "Are you being sarcastic right now?"

Damon nodded sharply, then shut his eyes. A subtle silhouette of the crown emerged in his thoughts.

"I can just summon it. I only unsummoned it there. I can resummon it here. Easy."

Distance barely mattered for items linked to him. Only Matia and his shadows proved tough to call over such vast gaps.

Yet the Ascendant armor and all connected to it faced no such limits.

He advanced to the slot with the phony key and yanked it free. The instant it exited, the door’s runes flickered dimly, their shine fading.

Next, the crown materialized in his grasp.

As his fingers closed around it, a savage surge of urges and feelings crashed into his mind. Voices overlapped in murmurs within his head.

Damon grinned with shadowed glee while insanity scraped at his mind’s borders. He brushed it aside.

With measured caution, he guided the crown’s sharp tip to the last keyhole.

It fitted seamlessly.

His breath grew rapid.

Deliberately unhurried, Damon twisted the crown like a key.

Blinding white light erupted from the door, erasing every rune, scar, and enchanted layer upon it. The radiance swept the chamber like purifying waves.

Lilith’s eyes bulged. Nothing like this had occurred previously.

Lock by lock, the door’s mechanisms released with resounding, thunderous clanks.

Damon extended a hand to shove the door wide.

Lilith seized his wrist tightly and shook her head.

"No. Not now."

He met her eyes.

"We’re still injured. That thing inside can kill us both."

She locked eyes firmly. "Let’s recover first. Then we enter."

Damon chewed his lip. The drive to charge ahead throbbed within, but he suppressed it.

She spoke wisely.

No assurance existed that the guardian would spare them merely because keys were complete.

He withdrew the crown and settled it atop his head. At once, the insanity withdrew. The voices dwindled to faint echoes.

Damon drew in a deep breath.

"You’re right."

Lilith’s face eased, her prior anger vanished.

"We are so close," she whispered. "If we succeed, we won’t just gain the Lake of Tears."

She regarded the door with resolute gaze.

"We gain leverage against the Temple."