My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

At different points in her previous attempts, she always found a way to Sylvia's cottage. However, every single time, they fought.

It was a given.

She slowly reached up and pulled the bucket off her face. The thick stench of monster dung clung to her skin and hair, dripping down in heavy clumps. Her fingers paused for half a second as she lowered the bucket, then her eyes lifted.

A cold glare slid toward Sylvia.

"May I use your bath?"

That was the first thing she said.

Sylvia merely gestured with two fingers toward the back of the cottage, not even looking particularly surprised.

"It would be terrible if you kept stinking up my cottage."

Lilith said nothing more. She turned and walked past Sylvia, boots squelching faintly against the wooden floor as she disappeared into the bathing room.

Some time later, she emerged with wet hair clinging to her neck and shoulders, droplets trailing down her collarbone. She wore a clean set of clothes now, though the tension in her posture had not eased.

"You're awfully relaxed," Lilith said, her gaze sharp as it dragged across Sylvia.

She wanted to beat her. Violently. The urge coiled tight in her chest. But the white-haired elf was possibly the only ally she could rely on.

Sylvia turned her head slowly. Her grey eyes settled on Lilith, unblinking.

"I could say the same about you."

She tilted her head slightly, a thin smile forming.

"Don't you think it's rude to barge into someone's home uninvited?"

Lilith didn't rise to the provocation this time. She was tired. Tired of arguing. Tired of fighting. Tired of repeating this same exchange across several incarnations of the world.

At one point in every regression, no matter how she tried to change things, she and Sylvia always fought.

"I suppose covering a guest in monster dung is an elf tradition," Lilith replied flatly.

Sylvia turned away and strode toward a small hearth. Soft white flames flickered within it, casting pale light across her face as she rested a hand on the mantle.

"Why are you here, Lilith Astranova?" she asked calmly.

"Earlier than expected, no less."

Lilith's gaze drifted to the floating book hovering beside Sylvia. Contempt flickered briefly across her face.

"Don't act like you don't know," she said.

"Aren't you supposed to be a seer?"

Sylvia's fingers curled slightly, irritation flickering beneath her composed exterior. She did not turn around.

"And since when did seers become all-knowing?" she replied.

"You want something from me. Out with it."

Lilith hesitated.

She didn't want to show how desperate she was, but Sylvia might be the only one who could help her.

Slowly, she reached up and touched the flower nestled in her hair, her fingers brushing the petals with something close to anxiety.

"I want to know what this is," she said quietly.

"And what it really does."

Sylvia raised her head slightly. Her white hair shifted over her shoulders as she turned just enough to see Lilith clearly.

It was obvious the flower had been used multiple times. The petals were dim. Four of them had lost their glow entirely.

"Hmmm," Sylvia hummed.

"Here I thought it was just a creepy fashion choice."

Lilith's expression did not change.

Of course Sylvia would not help her willingly. Once, she had considered the meek elf girl a minor inconvenience.

Who would have thought she would flip the switch and go completely insane.

No one would have accounted for that variable.

'She's like a whole new person.'

"Sorry," Sylvia continued lightly,

"But no. I think I'd rather see you squirm."

Lilith's hand curled into a fist at her side.

"Damon is going to die."

The words landed heavily.

Sylvia froze. Her posture stiffened, and for a brief moment her composure cracked. Her expression faltered.

"Y–you're lying," she said, her voice tightening.

"He has the Deathless skill. He can't die."

Lilith shook her head slowly.

"He found a way," she said.

"Or he will. Deathless only works on the prerequisite that Damon wants to die."

She inhaled deeply.

"You already know this. I've been using this nameless flower to come back again and again. But I can't use it forever. And even if I could, I can't control all the variables."

"And the most uncontrollable variable," Sylvia said quietly,

"is Damon."

"Yes," Lilith nodded.

Silence settled between them.

Sylvia's thoughts churned.

She hated Lilith Astranova, but not because Lilith had harmed her.

In truth, Lilith had done nothing to her.

She had simply been jealous.

Sylvia lacked nothing as a woman. Yet Lilith could effortlessly draw Damon away. He trusted her more. Confided in her more.

And Sylvia had loved him the longest. Even before she realized it herself.

If Damon ever had to choose between them, she knew she would lose.

Her hands curled into fists, her fair skin flushing red.

"I really can't stand you," she muttered.

"I can never understand what's so great about you."

Lilith said nothing. She was the one who needed help.

"Please," Lilith said at last, bowing her head.

The act of submission twisted something sharp in Sylvia's chest. It felt like losing again, even when her opponent was literally groveling.

"I really hate you," Sylvia said coldly, crossing her arms. Her face tightened, yet it only made her appear more striking.

Time had stripped away her naivety and childishness, leaving behind only a beautiful woman sharpened by experience.

"I know it sounds small to hate you for such a shallow reason," Sylvia continued, her voice trembling despite herself,

"but I do. I really do. I can't see what's so great about you."

Her eyes glistened faintly as she struggled to keep her composure.

"Then why you?" she whispered.

"I know that if he ever had to choose only one, I would be the losing heroine."

Lilith lifted her head slowly. Exhaustion was carved into her expression.

"Honestly," she said quietly,

"I don't know why either."

"I'm not prettier than you. Right now I can't even say I'm smarter. I'm not wealthier. For all intents and purposes, I couldn't tell you why."

Her fist clenched, mirroring Sylvia's frustration.

"But I can tell you this," Lilith continued.

"He didn't choose me either."

"When the time came, he didn't choose me. He used me. Then he abandoned me."

Her hands trembled, her eyes cold and hollow.

"When it was all said and done, he would rather choose his own death than live, even for me."

Sylvia had never imagined hearing such words from Lilith Astranova.

This was Lilith. She did not beg. She did not break.

Slowly, Sylvia closed her eyes. Then she raised her hand toward the floating tome beside her.

She extended her other hand toward Lilith.

"The flower," she said.

"Hand it over."

Lilith blinked, surprise flickering across her face at how easily Sylvia agreed.

She did not even try to humiliate her further.

"Well?" Sylvia added.

"We don't have all the time in the world."

Lilith reached up quickly and tried to pull the flower free. Pain tugged sharply at her scalp.

She tried again.

It did not budge.

It was stuck.

Sylvia sighed.

"Figures," she said.

"You can't take it off. No surprise there."

Lilith bit her lip and sat down at the small table across from Sylvia.

"Still, not that I needed to hold it to know what it is," Sylvia muttered, flipping open the book with a frown.

"Where did you get this exactly?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

Lilith crossed her arms.

"You're asking where, not who," she said.

"But the answer is obvious. I got it from an altar of the unknown god."

Sylvia nodded slowly.

"Normally this knowledge would cost me something," she said.

"Even with two extra classes and new skills."

"But the one who decides the price," she glanced at the book, "is unknown himself."

Lilith frowned.

"So what you're saying is that he also has a vested interest in keeping Damon alive," she said, "which allows you access to this knowledge more freely."

Sylvia nodded. She placed her hand firmly on the tome.

"What is this flower?"

The book vibrated faintly.

Sylvia almost subconsciously waited for it to demand something. It did not.

Unknown wanted the same thing they did.

Images and words began to weave themselves across the pages.

She read aloud.

"Prototype Nameless Flower."

"His ambitions go beyond one pillar. Reaching for all is inevitable. To that end, he devised a way to interfere in the domains of other gods using nothing but magic and ki."

"What better place to test his prototype than the world of the Goddess of Doom, whose nature binds her as his bride, making her domain the easiest to tamper with."

Sylvia continued reading. The knowledge assumed she understood most of it. She did not dwell on that.

"This flower has the primary effect of changing outcomes."

She glanced at Lilith, who listened intently.

"The Nameless Flower was never named by its creator. It regresses an individual's mind into the past by destroying the fixed universe and recreating it anew, introducing slight modifications to produce different outcomes."

Sylvia's eyes narrowed at the final line.

"Time is linear, simultaneous, and unbreakable."

"We are all imprisoned by time."