My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger-Chapter 990 - 992: Ghour

Renata glanced at him while still overlooking the entire city, her fingers resting lightly on the stone railing as wind tugged at her hair.

Her expression did not reveal much. Only a calm, measured look.

"Aren’t you taking this a little too lightly? I’ll have you know some of these guys are in the fifth class advancement... or have followers at that class."

Damon nodded slowly, his gaze fixed on the city far below as he stood at the edge of his tower.

"Yes, I understand that," he said. "However, what’s the point? As long as they are demons, they will lose to me."

Renata paused.

Right.

He did have Demon Dominate. He could just control the demons.

"That ability is way too underhanded," she said, turning slightly toward him. "It doesn’t seem to have any limits."

Damon turned his head to her without a smile, his eyes steady.

"Is that what you think? On the contrary, it does have a limit. An actual one. And a condition." He raised a finger and tapped the side of his head. "I cannot overwhelm the mind of anyone with a vastly stronger will than mine."

His hand drifted upward and brushed the crown resting on his head.

"And I’m sure it leaves a mental strain... though it has been negligible so far."

Renata crossed her arms over her chest.

"So what? The more people resist, the less it works?"

Damon shrugged his shoulders slightly.

"I guess. I mean, I can command demons to do almost anything when they’re under my control... but I have a feeling I’ll lose control of them if I make them do something too averse to what they want."

She narrowed her eyes, not fully understanding.

He sighed and leaned a little against the railing.

"Picture this. I find a mother of three demonkin children and dominate her, ordering her to kill her children as slowly as possible. Her aversion to the act might be enough to break my control."

Renata looked at him for a long second.

"I get it now. Didn’t realize Demon Dominate had such a weakness. From the receiving end, it feels like someone forced me down, defiled me... then forced me to like it."

Damon winced and immediately held his temple.

"Come on, don’t make it sound so bad. I’d appreciate it if you said it was like a vast and powerful will seizing your faculties."

"That’s what I said," she muttered with a deadpan expression.

Damon sighed and looked at the beautiful young woman beside him.

"Fine. If you really feel that way, I promise I won’t ever use Demon Dominate on you again."

Renata’s eyes snapped open. She blinked, then whispered,

"Erhm... really?"

Damon glanced at her and nodded once.

She smiled brightly at his words.

Damon turned away from her and looked back at the city.

"Besides, I prefer to convince or deceive people into loyalty rather than just dominate them."

Renata seemed to be in a good mood now. She stepped closer to him.

"I guess that was Ashcroft’s way," she said. "But he’s dead... what wouldn’t be funny is if he came back..."

A chill ran down Damon’s spine when she said that.

He wasn’t afraid of anyone. Maybe the Unknown God a little.

But Ashcroft had been an absolute force of violence that Damon prayed never to encounter again.

His gaze dropped to the small mark on his arm, the one he had gotten from the lich Amadeus.

"I made sure he was dead," Damon said quietly. "He’s never coming back."

Renata smiled at his confidence.

"Deathless may have taken that personally."

Damon chuckled awkwardly at her joke.

His skill, Deathless, was designed to keep him alive when he least wanted it and kill him when he most wanted to live. It could bring back Ashcroft even if it seemed to interfere with probable events.

"That’s never going to happen," he said. "When I kill someone... they stay dead."

********

Down below, Gotrog’s molten gaze swept across the gathered figures. He paused briefly on Zanat Zagan, son of the Demon Lord Zagan, then on Gabo the goblin, and finally on the towering leader of the war trolls.

The first thing Gotrog had done after their arrival was equip those without proper armor in solid gear. Rusted scraps had been replaced with plated steel, leather with reinforced hide, bone clubs with forged weapons.

After that, he reorganized their forces and quietly assimilated the bulk of Zanat’s troops into a more efficient structure.

Gotrog smiled as he looked at the mass of monsters and demons assembled here today.

This was the nature of demons. Or rather, the nature of most races.

They followed whoever was superior.

And in this city, no lord had a bigger tower than his lord.

If there was going to be a battle, you always chose the winning side.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

In ten days’ time, this would all end.

Or at least... he had overheard Damon say that to Renata.

"My lord wants to end it all in ten days..."

That was a crazy thought.

You could not win a war in ten days.

There were simply too many enemies.

Normally, at this phase, this was when the lords began making deals and sabotaging one another. The next phase would be when they formed factions and cautiously tested each other, weeding out the weak. Finally, they would settle, form a council of lords, and then act as part of the Demon Continent’s primary war machine with reinforcements and troops sent from the Demon Lords themselves.

Gotrog glanced at the large, unorganized horde before him. Each group made up of different demon races. Strong. Weak. Clever. Brutal.

What his lord had in mind was not a war of attrition.

It was an expulsion. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

A purge so overwhelming that whoever survived would have no choice but to join them.

It was insane.

But demons respected only one thing.

Overwhelming dominance.

Gotrog stepped forward. Fire leaked from between his teeth as his massive wings unfurled behind him. The air grew hotter with every beat. His whip snapped once in the air, the sound echoing across the courtyard like thunder.

In a cold, commanding voice, he spoke.

"Those who wish to follow greatness, heed my words."

Smoke curled from his nostrils.

"My lord is the greatest and will rule this city. All those who wish to follow a true demon shall carry out one task."

The horde fell silent.

Even the restless ones stopped shifting.

"Within three days, each of you must bring ten heads from the minions of the other lords. The stronger they are, the better your position."

His eyes glowed brighter.

"And of course... if you cannot keep the heads you captured, then others who are superior in strength and cunning may take yours."

A ripple passed through the crowd.

Then Gotrog’s lips curled back in a snarl.

"If you dislike that option... you are free to charge up the tower and challenge my lord."

His whip cracked again.

"None shall stop you."

A large ghour stepped forward from the crowd, its towering frame wrapped in heavy armor that groaned with every step it took.

"Then let me test what this lord who has kept us waiting is worth."

Gotrog felt a flare of irritation rise in his chest, flames licking between his teeth, but he did not move to stop it.

He would let the fool try.

A ghour was no small demon. As tall as an ogre, built like a minotaur, and this one radiated the oppressive presence of a fifth-rank advancement. Its confidence was not misplaced.

It marched straight for the tower.

The goblins at the entrance did not resist. They quietly ushered it toward the elevator platform that rose through the center of the tower like a vertical corridor of stone and rune light.

Up it went.

Higher.

Higher.

Until it reached the highest floor.

From below, many craned their necks to watch.

They saw the ghour step out onto the balcony where Damon stood with Renata, overlooking the city.

The ghour roared and lunged forward.

Its attack never finished.

A spray of blood fell from above like sudden rain.

Then, from the dizzying height of the tower, its severed head came crashing down into the courtyard with a sickening thud, rolling across the stone.

Worst of all...

Damon had not even turned around.

To the onlookers, it looked as if the ghour had frozen mid-charge.

And in that split second, a black flash had passed.

Its head had simply come off.

A chilling silence swallowed the courtyard.

Gotrog slowly turned toward the crowd, his massive body exuding heat as flames seeped from the cracks of his skin. His wings spread slightly, casting a shadow over dozens of demons at once.

"Who else," he rumbled, voice low and dangerous, "wants to march to their death?"

No one spoke.

The doors of the tower now looked less like an entrance and more like the open maw of a beast waiting to feed.

Then—

The silence broke.

They roared.

Cheers erupted from the horde. Weapons were brandished. Teeth were bared in savage grins.

What kind of demon would not want to follow someone like that?

The Demon Continent had always been built on one rule.

Strength was king.

Here, might was right, and there was no hierarchy greater than power.

The ground trembled as the mass of demons and monsters began scattering throughout the city, rushing off to hunt the minions of other lords.

Gotrog watched them go, eyes flickering with thought.

None of them were truly Damon’s followers.

Not yet.

But once they ran out of wandering enemies to kill, would they not be forced to organize themselves?

Would they not begin targeting weaker towers?

He glanced up at the balcony far above.

’I see... this is a scheme to eliminate the weak tower lords. The smart ones might even try to capture a lord alive.’

That would force everything to accelerate.

His lips curled slowly.

"How sinister."