My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

"What did you find..."

Damon asked, looking out the window with a calm expression. His hands rested behind his back, posture straight, the faint light from outside casting a sharp outline of his figure.

This was not something he would allow to go on any longer.

Aleph's elf ears twitched slightly.

"We found traces of the assailant, and it's like you said... it's an evil spirit."

Damon nodded slowly. Naturally, he would know. He was far too familiar with these cruel and unusual creatures.

"In the forest there's a tamarind tree. Tamarind trees are known to attract evil spirits..." Ilukras began speaking softly, his gaze distant as if recalling unpleasant memories.

"It's one of the many types of trees you can find an evil presence hidden within..."

Damon already knew that. He had heard something similar from Sylvia, back when she had explained the difference between an evil spirit and a dark one.

"Tamarind trees, baobab trees, and Ficus platyhylla trees — all of these trees can hide evil beings within them..."

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"If that's the case, I can only remember one place in this region with a tree like that... deep in the forest, an old tamarind tree."

Saint bit his lip, nodding with a pained expression.

"We found traces of someone making a ritual there... first it was chicken blood, then the most recent was a human offering... a child..."

Damon's lips curled into a cold smile.

"Let me guess — it's one of the village children and not a traveler's. That would bring the total number of dead children to four, not three."

Twilight's gaze sharpened, immediately catching Damon's implication.

"Are you trying to say the villagers were the ones who summoned this evil spirit?"

Damon nodded.

"Yes... they did. They sacrificed a child from the village — one of their own. Since no one raised alarms, it means they're covering for each other. The children killed recently? None of them were from the village."

Saint's face contorted with disgust.

"Wh... who would do that to their own..."

"My village would." Damon's voice carried no emotion, no hesitation. He couldn't be disappointed in them anymore — he had no expectations left. These people were deplorable.

"I see... so they're going to act like the child never got killed, and if someone notices, they just blame you, not their evil spirit."

Damon walked away from the window and sat down in a chair inside the house. His hand continued to pour black flames into the staff resting across his lap, its surface pulsing faintly from the energy.

"When I was a child, the village head used to tell us folk tales of an eight-foot-tall lady in the forest. She would come out on a sunny day or in the middle of the night and take any child that didn't listen to their parents."

He frowned slightly. "We got into trouble a lot, so we heard that story too many times..."

Dred narrowed his eyes.

"I think I know about that type of evil spirit. Umrakinise — telekinesis, voice manipulation, possession, mimicry, soul manipulation, immortality... that's just the basics of what it can do."

Unnoticed Singularity stood from his seat.

"That's why it's troublesome. It's immortal unless we kill the summoner, or if it can be absorbed by something, or sealed away. But then it will just flee back to the tamarind tree."

Damon stood with a sigh, stretching his shoulders.

"I know where it is... I just didn't do anything because there was no point."

The others paused, staring at him.

"Huh... you do?"

He nodded with a small smile.

"I'm on a tight schedule — there's a beautiful lady waiting for me. I already did some aura farming in this village; I don't have time to waste... Let's go... to the tamarind tree."

Reaching the tamarind tree wasn't difficult. The group emerged into a small clearing, the air heavy and oppressive. Damon's eyes studied the tree with a reminiscent expression.

This was the tree he had once come to hang himself from years ago. The old stone was still there, half-buried, with words carved into it — words that had once introduced him to the domain of the unknown god. Words he had spoken like a chant.

Words that shaped his life.

His shadow stretched toward the stone of its own accord. It wasn't the only thing reacting — Unnoticed Singularity's presence seemed to pulse faintly, though he tried to hide it.

"You okay..." Damon asked, his gaze sharp.

Singularity nodded with an impassive look.

"Yes, I'm fine... this place just feels different from my eyes. No wonder an evil spirit lived here — there's so much resentment, and it came from the heart of one person."

Damon pointed at the stone, the roots of the tamarind tree curling around it like skeletal fingers.

"Someone here glorified the unknown god... with those half-buried stone marker."

Singularity lowered his voice.

"Yes... I noticed. It's Mugu's penmanship — I recognize it. This must be where he first heard the voice of the unknown god."

He smiled faintly.

"I never thought I'd find it so... plain. It's not what I expected. There's no divine symbol — just a half-destroyed rock and an old tree... with some evil spirit calling it home."

Damon understood the simplicity of it.

"If you want to hide a tree, hide it in a forest. Either that, or this place had no significance to the unknown god. After all, he's a god who doesn't even have his own temples or shrines... neither does he demand faith."

Dred lazily glanced at the twisted trunk.

"If you two are done dropping all that unnecessary lore, can we get to whatever we're doing here..."

Aleph facepalmed.

"This is why I have a problem with you orphans... you never want to learn..."

Damon stepped forward. The oppressive darkness radiating from the tree didn't bother him in the slightest. He circled it slowly, appraising it. He could already tell the evil spirit wasn't home.

Raising his hand, he released a controlled surge of black flames. They shot from his palm, climbing the trunk, racing into the branches and leaves. The ancient tamarind tree, older than anyone could guess, began to burn in silence before cracking loudly, releasing thick black smoke into the sky.

Its leaves ignited, its roots shriveled and turned brittle. As the flames devoured it, a piercing, inhuman shriek burst from within, making Damon groan as blood trickled from his ears.

The tree finally toppled, crumbling to ash before it even touched the ground. Damon stood over the smoldering remains.

The canopy empty, and sky light streaming down with soft moonlight.

"I had once come to die under your shadow... now you have died under mine."