My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Damon glanced at the tally of contribution points. Even someone at Seventh Class would have to bleed on the front lines for a decade to earn that much. Or slay a Seventh Class enemy. In truth, you would need to kill seven of them.

In other words, the higher ups were ordering him to go without ever saying the words. This was a message to everyone. Not even a prodigy like Damon Grey was exempt.

Everything here was political. Every sentence carried a second meaning.

Kadelas scoffed. The sound was soft, but Sylvia’s sharp glare cut into him at once. He cleared his throat, though the faint curl of his lips remained. An opportunity to see Damon cornered was not something he would ever waste.

This was the brat that had caused him so many sleepless nights In fact, he could feel some of his hair falling off.

“I see you understand the situation. If you want to avoid years on a hellish battlefield, you can earn those contribution points another way. It will not cost much. Just kill a great dragon.”

His tone dripped with mockery. Damon did not rise to it.

“What are you offering? Your daughter’s hand as a prize?” Damon asked calmly.

The elf king had already begun enjoying the exchange. He leaned back into his throne.

“If you can do it, apart from waiving years of battlefield service, I will give you my daughter’s hand. Of course, I said if.”

It was an impossible condition. Damon stood just below Sixth Class, but what did that matter. Even a party of Seventh Class experts could not slay Ashergon.

And a Seventh Class expert could wipe a continent from the map.

Ashergon could kill them like flies.

This was the strongest dragon in the world. The only being known to have defeated him was Ashcroft, the Demon of Domination.

If not that demon lord, who else could force Ashergon to flee.

Damon’s eyes swept across the council.

“Does everyone here bear witness to the elf king’s words.”

The Grand Duke had remained silent. He glanced at Evangeline beside Damon. She only gave a small shrug. Over the years she had learned not to worry about Damon. If anything, he had already predicted this outcome and prepared for it.

It was the reason she had said nothing.

In fact, none of Damon’s friends spoke in his defense.

He did not need it.

The emperor narrowed his eyes.

“What are you insinuating.”

Damon shook his head slowly.

“I cannot kill Ashergon. Does anyone here think they can. Perhaps in the future I could. No, I do not doubt that in a few years or decades I would be able to kill it.”

“If you know you cannot, then sit down and stop posturing. All I hear are excuses,” the elf king said with a thin smile.

Damon ignored him.

“However, while I cannot kill Ashergon, I can do something better. I can remove him from the battlefield by force.”

The murmuring in the chamber died at once.

Leon, the Roaring Gale, smiled faintly and glanced toward Kadelas.

“I bear witness. If you can do this, you will have earned sufficient contributions. And it seems the elf king also promised you his daughter’s hand.”

“I doubt it will be that easy,” the Headmaster of Aether Academy said, “but the future belongs to the young.”

A mermaid from the Voyage Continent leaned forward, her voice echoing through the chamber like water through a cavern.

“Ashergon is a disaster that has ruined cities and nations. He is a plague upon all souls. Have you ever borne witness to his horrors, child. This is not a game.”

Damon lowered his head slightly.

“I have borne witness to Ashergon’s power. His fangs are like spears. His body dwarfs mountains. Wyverns circle him like moths to a flame, yet to him they are less than flies. He brings a sky of fire, and when the flames die, they leave behind only ash and the scent of death.”

His voice did not tremble.

“I have borne witness to Rexagon as well. The carrion stench that clings to him. The rumble of the earth when he breathes. The molten stream that pours from his jaws.”

The chamber had grown completely still.

“I have borne witness to Aethergon. The great storm vast as clouds beyond sight. Formless ruler of tempests. He brings death simply by passing overhead and fills the sea with white lightning.”

Damon raised his head. His eyes were clear.

“Yes. I have witnessed their horror. Their majesty. And I saw that they are nothing to me. If you doubt it, then watch me capture the great dragon. A feat none have ever accomplished.”

Silence swallowed the war council.

“And what makes you think you will succeed,” the emperor asked.

Damon’s long hair stirred though there was no wind.

“Is it not obvious,” he said. “It is because I am Damon Grey.”

A strange quiet settled over them.

Here stood a young man barely at the peak of Fifth Class, claiming he would capture the strongest dragon in the world. The arrogance should have been laughable.

Yet no one laughed.

Perhaps it was the weight of his confidence. Perhaps it was the way he spoke as if the future had already bent to his will.

His uncle looked at him as though he wanted to speak, but he held back. He recognized that look in Damon’s eyes. It was a look common in their family.

The look of someone who would never change his mind.

The uncompromising arrogance that made House Brightwater what it was.

He sighed and shook his head. His sister had truly given birth to a troublesome child. He was suddenly very grateful he only had daughters.

The emperor crossed his arms.

“Then we shall put this to a vote.”

Kadelas was the first to agree. If Damon died, it would be good for his peace of mind.

And so, a decision was made.