My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Guards fled instantly.

Maids screamed while abandoning their posts and running for their lives.

No one moved to help Lord Faldren.

No one dared interfere.

This was a family feud.

Besides... no one believed their lord could lose anyway.

A sword of pure ice materialized in one of his hands.

In the other, a shorter spear condensed from swirling frost and sharpened instantly.

His aura expanded violently, freezing the very air around him until breathing itself became painful.

”You shall be reunited with the goddess, girl.”

Matia’s expression did not shift.

Without a word, frozen mist gathered around her free arm before condensing into a perfectly round shield of hardened ice.

She rotated her wrist slightly, testing its weight.

Then finally she looked directly into his eyes.

”You mean like your only son?” she asked quietly.

The moment she spoke of her brother, something twisted painfully inside her chest.

A sharp sting.

But she needed his rage.

She needed to provoke him.

Against a monster like her father, an old seventh-class powerhouse who stood near the peak of this frozen world, she had almost no chance of victory.

So she needed every advantage.

His face immediately twisted into something ugly.

Pure rage.

His aura surged skyward in a violent eruption.

At once, an apocalyptic tempest of ice spread outward for miles, dark clouds twisting overhead while the entire kingdom plunged deeper into winter itself.

The cold had suddenly become far, far worse.

And for the first time in years...

Matia smiled.

Because at last...

Winter had come for its king.

”Father... I have a question for you.”

She still dared to call him father. Even if she despised him, even if every memory attached to that word brought only pain and resentment, some truths could not be changed. One could not simply choose another father.

Her words caught him by surprise.

Not enough to stop him.

The storm raging around him only intensified as Lord Faldren moved to crush her completely, his expression as cold and merciless as the winter kingdom itself.

Matia raised her shield and tried to block the incoming force, but the difference in power between them was overwhelming.

The collision detonated with a thunderous explosion.

Her body was thrown away like a ragdoll cast aside by the gods themselves. The force tore through her defenses instantly, jagged streams of ice slicing across her pale skin and carving deep lacerations into her flesh. Blood spilled freely from the wounds, crimson droplets scattering through the freezing winds before hardening into frozen red crystals as they fell behind her.

Then gravity reclaimed her.

She plummeted from miles high in the sky like a dying comet before crashing into the earth below.

BOOM.

The impact was catastrophic.

The ground ruptured violently as a crater nearly a kilometer wide spread outward from the collision point, leveling nearby structures and sending chunks of stone and debris flying through entire sections of the city. Buildings collapsed instantly beneath the shockwave while unfortunate civilians caught nearby were crushed, wounded, or buried beneath the destruction.

Matia coughed violently the moment she hit the ground.

A mouthful of blood sprayed from between her lips, splattering against the shattered earth as her internal organs twisted painfully from the sheer force of the impact. Every bone in her body screamed in agony.

Even so...

She still needed an answer.

Matia slowly pushed herself upward, one trembling arm barely keeping her broken body from collapsing completely. Blood dripped steadily from her chin while strands of pale hair clung messily against her face.

”Why...” she rasped weakly.

The word had barely left her mouth before Faldren appeared before her in a blur.

His leg moved instantly.

The kick connected against the side of her skull with enough force to distort the surrounding air itself.

The explosion of impact sent her body hurtling sideways like a projectile.

She smashed through the wall of a nearby structure, then another.

And another.

Each collision created violent sonic booms that rippled outward while chunks of shattered stone erupted behind her like cannon fire. Her body skipped through entire buildings before finally crashing into the remains of a stone tower, bringing the structure down around her.

Still...

She asked again.

”Why...”

The rubble exploded apart.

A hand suddenly reached through the dust cloud and tangled itself in her silver hair.

Faldren yanked her upward violently until her feet dangled uselessly above the ruined ground.

His face had not changed.

That same expression.

That same cold detached stare he had worn every time he looked at her since childhood.

As though gazing at something disgusting.

Something beneath him.

Matia stared back into those familiar eyes, blood trailing down her cheek while her broken wings twitched weakly behind her.

”I have many sisters...” she said quietly.

Something dangerous flickered behind her pale blue eyes now.

Not rage.

Indignation.

Pure and unrestrained indignation.

Her breathing was ragged.

Yet her voice did not waver.

”Then why...” she whispered slowly. ”Why did you hate me so much?”

This...

This was the true wound she carried.

Far deeper than broken bones.

Far crueler than the beatings.

She had sisters.

Dozens of them.

Some ignored.

Some neglected.

Some simply forgotten.

But none of them endured what she endured.

Why her?

Why was she the only one singled out for suffering?

She would have preferred indifference.

She would have preferred being forgotten.

Anything would have been better than receiving his attention.

Faldren stared at her silently for several long seconds.

Then finally... his eyes narrowed.

Hatred surfaced openly within them.

Raw and undisguised.

”You hated Matlock.” His voice was low, dangerous. ”I simply could not tolerate watching you steal everything that should have belonged to him.”

His grip tightened painfully around her hair.

The force nearly tore part of her scalp free.

His face twisted with disgust.

”You...” he said coldly. ”You are a parasite that was never wanted.”

Silence followed.

And for the first time in a very long time...

Matia stopped feeling pain.

Because somehow...

Those words hurt far more than everything else he had ever done to her.