My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Chapter 1276: Chapter 1277: The One Who Never Grew Up

There were no strange attacks coming her way. She knew it wouldn’t be easy to defeat him, even for her. After all, if a victor could be so easily decided, then they wouldn’t have placed so many restrictions on each other.

Just as Doom was expecting an attack, the world began to groan. From outer space, where she was, she watched as the continents began to shift and collide with each other.

Space bent and twisted in different places as a massive abyss began to form at the center of the world. No, it wasn’t forming. It had been there for ages. The whole world was being dragged toward the Sky Continent.

Unknown didn’t take his eyes off her. His expression remained calm as the world trembled around them.

”You truly are pathetic,” Doom whispered.

”So much darkness and despair. You should never have left the Crystal Palace. You should have remained sealed. What has freedom gotten you?”

Unknown’s expression remained unchanged as the world was consumed by the vortex, continents clashing together and sea levels rising.

”You are not wrong.” He floated closer to Doom, his gaze never leaving her face.

”Did you assume I would deny it? Freedom cost me everything. It was a choice I had made, and that choice was what brought me here and made me what I am.”

His eyes flashed with a dark light.

”I have seen enough, and I can no longer look away. Those who gaze into the Abyss will often find that I gaze back at them. What do you think I see, Minerva? I see suffering.”

”There is a simple purpose to life, and that is to be born, suffer, and die. All life seeks one thing, desires one thing. Do you know what that is, Goddess of Doom?”

Doom looked down at his smaller form, her expression twisting with disdain.

”I assume you want to make an argument that no one should be born, and that is their desire at their core. We all wish to end.”

”A wish to end? Is that your desire, Minerva? Was that what you so desperately wished for when the Old Ones hunted you? To end?”

A trace of resentment crossed the goddess’s face, and her fingers curled slightly at her sides.

”Resentment is a strong emotion, and I alone am condemned to feel everyone’s resentment. In spite of all the pain in the Omniverse, there is one truth, one desire deeper than a desire to end.”

Doom didn’t know what bleak and cruel thing he would say, but she was ready to shoot him down. Her eyes remained fixed on him, waiting for him to reveal the twisted conclusion she expected.

”Happiness,” Unknown whispered.

She paused, her expression briefly betraying her surprise. She hadn’t expected this incarnation of misery to say something like that.

”We all seek happiness, liberation from pain, and still, evermore, it remains fleeting and distant. The more you know, the more you live, the less you have it... It’s desired by all things. Even we are not free from it. Isn’t that sad, Minerva? We are all-powerful and have transcended everything and everyone, yet we desire something so small.”

Doom was just about to respond when the image of a place came to mind. Her expression faltered, and for a moment, she found herself unable to refute his words.

”There are those who have never tasted happiness in their lives, only misery. They cannot define it because they have never tasted it. Imagine being born into such misery, such despair. You don’t need to imagine. You’ve tasted it, and alas, you also know what happiness is. Tell me, Goddess of Doom, why is your nature doom? Are you not the Goddess of Ruins and End, the one whose dance brings about the apocalypse, the Ender of Worlds? Then why do you resist an end to misery? Perfect happiness cannot be achieved, therefore I must end the source of the problem, and that is existence itself. It shall be painless. Nothing will exist anymore, and alas, I shall have my silence.”

”Your silence. I see. That’s all you care about. You whine like a child, but then again, you are a child. You never grew up. You keep holding on to ideals that cannot exist in the world of those who have matured. All this is because you can’t handle a little misery, so you go around turning people to despair so that you can support your nonsensical worldview. I have suffered at your hands before you even existed, and I am still here, unbroken. Unbroken...”

Her voice grew sharper as she spoke, and she clenched her fists, refusing to let his words shake her resolve.

”All I see is a capricious child with limitless power.”

Unknown smiled, which was ironic, considering he was in a child’s body right now.

”I see. You won’t despair, then. After all, you are mature and above it. Come to think of it, I believe you sent me a message. I got your message. Congratulations on your new spouse. I wonder how you would feel if I were to erase them from existence.”

Unknown’s head exploded before he could say more.

”You will do no such thing.”

His headless body was eviscerated. What followed was a barrage of violence so great that even Unknown felt his soul shiver. Doom unleashed her fury without restraint, each blow tearing through his body before he could recover, leaving him no chance to finish his sentence.

”Hmmm, so you weren’t playing a trick. There really is a fool who wed you. I’m more curious how he survived you. Your attribute, Bride of the Demon God... Did you find a way to suppress it? If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were married to me.”

Unknown had neither head nor body, yet those words still echoed out. For the first time since their battle began, he felt that Doom was truly angry. Her rage almost felt familiar.

He would have to contentedly accept his new fate as a punching bag.

”That got her riled up. Now I’m really curious.”

His form regenerated from bright light, and their battle continued.

Down below, the world had been changed...