My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Sylvia bit her lips, watching Damon's bleeding arm—or rather, the stump of ripped bone where his arm had once been.

She rushed to his side, pressing her hand over the bleeding wound. Damon let go of his sword and placed a hand on her arm.

"Don't…" he muttered, his voice strained, his teeth gritted as he looked at Evangeline. "If you guys use your magic, you'll give our location away..."

Matia gritted her teeth. "You're bleeding—you won't last like that."

Sylvia shook her head. "I don't care... I just need—"

"No," Damon said, his voice hoarse. "If you heal me, the light will summon them here... and we all die..."

Evangeline lowered her head, feeling so pathetic, so weak, so foolish. She hated how she couldn't do anything...

Leona clenched her fist. "If we opened the door, we could get your arm. We can reattach it with magic... We still have some low-level healing potions left from the Beldam's Nest."

Damon sighed. "My arm got ripped off because I couldn't move it in time... the curse from that sword was already taking my arm away..."

He smiled bitterly. "I would've lost it anyway."

For a moment, there was silence. As much as they hated it, they had to agree with his logic.

Xander walked up to him, opening his bag and pulling out a roll of bandages. "We need to stop the bleeding... you've lost too much blood..."

Sylvia touched his armor. Parts of it were dented from the strain of battle, but the Ascendant armors all had a special quirk: self-regeneration. They could mend themselves, but it would take time.

"Take off the armor... you're bleeding inside too... you have several broken ribs, your legs are a mess, your—" she bit her lips. "You're a wreck..."

"We need to—" Evangeline started, but Damon cut her off.

"Don't... think... just patch me up without magic... I'll be fine... I'm used to things like this..."

Matia looked at him. He had lost an arm, was covered in blood, was losing more with each moment, yet he was 'used to it'. He was just their age…

'What kind of life did he live to be used to being half-dead?' she wondered.

Sylvia and Evangeline acted as medics, while Leona helped remove the armor and clean the blood. Xander washed the bandages. Matia just stood there, staring at him, feeling helpless.

Once they finished, Damon was covered in blood-soaked bandages. The stump was wrapped tight to stop the bleeding.

His expression barely changed, as if he hadn't just lost something as vital as his right arm.

Matia bit her lips.

'That's his sword arm... he was a swordsman…' she thought.

' He had a talent for it... he also used a bow... he wouldn't be able to anymore... he used twin daggers too... and now he'd lose that.'

The air was solemn. Damon's face was pale, woozy from the blood loss.

Yet he smiled, sitting there with his body wrapped in bloody cloth.

"You guys get some sleep... you can use magic at first light, when all this horror is over..."

Sylvia lowered her head, refusing to move.

He propped his one hand under her chin, lifting her face gently.

"You've gone blind in one eye, haven't you...? It'll take a few days to get back to normal..."

"Get some rest..."

She bit her lips. "I should be telling you that..."

He nodded, sitting down, his back resting against the broken wall. The world outside seemed to shake with the violence of the battle raging on. Sylvia sat beside him.

"This will go on all night... until dawn, when the Rift Dwellers return to the rift... Only then will the monsters resident in this city go back to normal..."

Damon nodded, feeling the bitter phantom pain where his arm had once been.

Why was he even feeling pain in something that wasn't there anymore?

"You don't have to worry. I'll be fine... We haven't rested at all for about a week... I know we're in First Class, but even we have limits..."

Sylvia bit her lips. "How can I rest when..."

"The battle won't reach here. This place is safe..." he reassured.

She shook her head. "I don't care about that... You expect us to just go to sleep when you're in pain...?"

Damon sighed. "Fine. How about we pass the time instead..."

The others all sat in the darkness. With their limited vision, the ruined cathedral was a broken shadow of the temple it once was.

Outside, the battle between the two sides created booming roars and flashes of unnatural light.

The goddess's statue still stood, defiant amidst the decay. The Goddess of Doom—unchanging in a world that crumbled around her.

Evangeline's head was lowered, her shoulders trembling. Damon sighed, wondering if she was blaming herself.

"Hhu... why the dull mood? This isn't the first time we've suffered. Why is it so somber now..."

He coughed, blood leaking from his lips.

Evangeline's head snapped up instinctively, wanting to rush to heal him.

Damon raised his lone hand. "I'm fine..."

Leona glared at him. "You shouldn't even be talking in your condition..." she snapped, her voice trembling slightly.

He smiled wearily. "Fine... who goes first? Tell us a story..."

Evangeline lowered her head. "My... father used to tell me a story... No one really knows it... I guess it's something of a family folktale..."

"It's about a rabbit and a jackal..."

Damon raised his brows. He was familiar with that one. The others didn't seem to know it.

"Wait—is it the one where the rabbit tricks the jackal into chasing the setting sun, hoping to catch a spark to start a fire?"

Evangeline blinked in surprise. "Yes, but... how did you—"

Damon scoffed to hide the pain from his side. Blood oozed down his torso.

"Family folktale. My mom wouldn't shut up about it... It's part of a whole series. I know every one—songs included."

Evangeline's eyes widened. She called out more stories, and Damon knew every single one.

The others watched them bicker with faint smiles, forgetting the nightmare clawing at the cathedral walls.

For the rest of the night, Damon lifted the party's mood. For that short moment, they forgot their fear.

And slowly, a few hours before dawn, when the titanic battle outside began to die down, one by one—the others fell asleep, their eyes finally closing.