My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Chapter 1118: Chapter 1119: Don’t Mess With Time

There was a deep silence.

One that made Damon’s heart turn cold.

It was unnerving, making his skin crawl.

Every instinct in his body screamed that he was in danger. His Danger Sense exploded with warnings, each one louder than the last until his mind felt as though it were being stabbed by countless invisible needles.

Even so, he remained suspended in the air, looking down at Aetherus.

The God of Life slowly raised his head.

His golden eyes resembled miniature suns. Within them burned ancient embers that had witnessed endless battlefields, countless wars and civilizations rising only to crumble into dust. They were eyes that had watched history itself unfold.

He did not move.

He did not need to.

He understood.

He was being challenged.

Naturally...

He would answer.

This strange being before him was unlike anything Aetherus had ever seen. He could not tell whether it was male or female, young or ancient, mortal or divine. He could not perceive its class, its race, nor even the faintest trace of its identity.

It was...

Unknown.

That alone made Aetherus take the battle seriously.

Slowly, his feet left the ground.

”My Lord, please don’t. We can kill that—”

Aetherus raised a hand without taking his eyes off Amon.

”Do not interfere.”

His voice was gentle.

Yet absolute.

He continued ascending until both figures faced one another high above the Holy City.

---

Aetherus was the God of this world.

Everything born beneath the heavens carried a fragment of his awareness. Every mountain, every forest, every river and every living soul were his children.

Nothing was meant to be hidden from him.

Or...

That was how the world had once been.

Then Lazarak rebelled.

His elder brother had broken the laws that governed reality itself, leaving behind scars that never truly healed.

Since that day there were places where even Aetherus’ light could not reach.

Places he could not perceive.

Places...

He feared.

There was the Vuldren.

The endless abyss where Lazarak had breathed his last.

Even now, though it did not physically touch the world, Aetherus could still feel its formless despair pressing against reality like an unseen ocean waiting to swallow everything.

Then more such places appeared.

Danger Zones.

Forbidden Realms.

Domains where mysteries, horrors and impossible things gathered.

Now...

This being before him belonged to that same category.

He could not see through it.

He could not identify it.

He could not understand it.

Some believed it was Ashcroft returned.

Others claimed it had crawled out of the Doom Continent.

Still others whispered it had been born from the Abyss itself.

None of them knew.

Neither...

Did Aetherus.

The realization amused him.

”How the world has changed...”

A faint smile appeared on his face.

”There was once a time when only my pacifist brother possessed power that rivaled mine. Beyond him there were only the strange beings from the Outer Heavens.”

His gaze remained tranquil.

”I seem destined to attract war wherever I go. Across countless ages I have faced kings, monsters, gods and calamities.”

His smile widened slightly.

”None of them prevailed.”

”Is that so...”

Amon’s distorted voice echoed through the sky.

It was not one voice.

It was many.

Some deep.

Some feminine.

Some ancient.

Some childlike.

Together they merged into a single impossible sound that lingered inside Aetherus’ ears long after the words had ended.

The world changed.

Without warning Aetherus raised a hand.

A wall of wind erupted before him while black flames, so dark they seemed torn from the deepest abyss, consumed the air itself.

The clouds exploded apart.

The city shook violently.

The heavens roared.

When the dust settled...

Aetherus had not moved an inch.

His robes fluttered gently.

Nothing more.

”I have granted you the opening exchange.”

He looked calmly at Amon.

”Now I shall respond.”

His voice spread across the battlefield.

”I am the God of this world.”

”I do not permit you to fly.”

”The wind shall no longer carry your wings.”

The moment those words left his lips Damon felt every current supporting him disappear.

His wings suddenly became lifeless.

He dropped.

”The earth hungers for your flesh.”

”You shall become paste beneath its embrace.”

Gravity multiplied.

The force pulling him downward became overwhelming, dragging him toward the ground with terrifying speed.

The battle had barely begun...

And already he was losing.

”[Gravity Dominate.]”

Damon thrust out a hand.

Reality resisted.

Mana exploded from his body in vast quantities as he forcibly seized control of gravity itself.

It was nothing like ordinary magic.

He was not persuading gravity.

He was not manipulating it.

He was dominating it.

Forcing one of the world’s fundamental laws to obey him against the will of its own God.

The drain was enormous.

Even his monstrous reserves began disappearing at an alarming pace.

Still...

Gravity submitted.

Then Damon raised his other hand.

”[Wind Dominate.]”

The scattered currents rushed back beneath his wings.

Aetherus’ expression changed ever so slightly.

”Interesting...”

Damon refused to stop.

”[Time Dominate.]”

The world slowed.

Almost instantly his mana began pouring out of him like a ruptured dam.

Even with reserves that eclipsed everyone else alive...

He could feel himself burning through them.

He disappeared.

Crossing the distance between himself and Aetherus in an instant.

The God appeared frozen.

”Move!”

Ashcroft’s voice exploded inside Damon’s mind.

”Dodge!”

Pure instinct twisted Damon’s neck.

Something brushed past where his head had been a fraction of a second earlier.

Had he remained still...

His skull would have burst apart.

Aetherus slowly turned toward him.

”Hm...”

”So you command Time.”

”You possess many attributes.”

His expression remained calm.

”Time manipulation has always carried severe restrictions.”

”It also attracts attention from forces one should never provoke.”

He stepped forward.

Even within Damon’s slowed world.

He still moved.

”Those who reach sufficiently high Classes simply become faster than slowed time.”

”Those who attain the Seventh Class begin resisting it altogether.”

”Beyond that...”

He smiled faintly.

”So I have heard.”

Damon maintained his domination over time.

Keeping Aetherus slowed made the battle far more manageable.

Then...

Aetherus smiled.

”You truly never listen to advice.”

He almost sounded...

Amused.

Ashcroft suddenly screamed.

”Stop!”

”Hurry!”

Before Damon could react...

He felt something behind him.

Voices.

Thousands of them.

Ancient.

Impossible.

They spoke in languages older than worlds.

Thanks to Soul Tongue, Damon understood every language.

Yet somehow...

He understood nothing.

Only one word repeated endlessly.

Time.

Time.

Time.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Like judges reciting a sentence.

He dared not turn around.

When he looked at Aetherus...

The God had closed his own eyes.

He refused to look behind Damon.

”Dammit...”

Ashcroft cursed.

”You dominated Time for too long.”

”You crossed the negative window.”

”If you can still hear me...”

”Don’t look at them.”

Cold spread through Damon’s body.

He had already released Time Dominate.

Yet they had still come.

Something touched his shoulder.

He could not tell whether it was a hand...

Or something that merely wished to resemble one.

His blood froze.

Even Aetherus had retreated several steps.

”This lunatic...”

Aetherus whispered.

”He summoned the Executors of Time.”

”Did he truly believe such tyranny against the laws of the Omniverse would go unanswered?”

It was true.

Had Damon bent time subtly...

Perhaps nothing would have happened.

Had he woven around its laws...

Perhaps they would have ignored him.

Instead...

He had seized Time itself by the throat.

And held it there.

His shadow energy began draining uncontrollably.

His body flickered.

One moment he aged decades.

The next he became younger.

Then parts of him simply...

Ceased to exist.

”What do I do?”

His voice trembled.

Ashcroft answered immediately.

”They’re living beings.”

”Higher-dimensional ones.”

”But living beings nonetheless.”

”You negotiate.”

”You survive.”

”Convince them to leave.”

Damon’s mind went blank.

He knew nothing about beings like these.

Nothing...

Except one thing.

He quietly spoke two words under his breath

Silence followed.

The voices stopped.

The presence behind him lingered.

Then...

Slowly...

The thing touching his shoulder withdrew.

Time resumed.

The pressure vanished.

Cold sweat streamed down Damon’s face, though he remained hovering in the sky.

Across from him...

Aetherus stared.

For the first time since the battle began...

His hands trembled.

From his perspective...

Amon had simply spoken to the beings who enforced Time itself.

And they had obeyed.

”W-Who...”

”What are you?”

Damon said nothing.

Not because he wished to appear mysterious.

Because he was terrified.

His heart pounded violently against his ribs.

His head throbbed.

He had never imagined Time possessed its own enforcers.

Not even Fate Manipulation Resistance had protected him.

Inside his mind...

Even Ashcroft sounded shaken.

”What...”

”...did you say to them?”

Damon swallowed.

”I...”

”I only said...”

”...Unknown God.”

Ashcroft fell completely silent.

That...

Was all?

Far away Aetherus slowly narrowed his eyes.

At last...

He raised a hand.

”I understand.”

”You truly are worthy.”

His voice became solemn.

”Then I shall face you...”

”In my true form.”

The instant those words were spoken...

Damon’s Danger Sense erupted once more.

This time...

Far louder than before.