The Pride of the Shadow Demon

Something was slowly emerging from the shadows spreading beneath Iver.

She was a woman with her legs crossed, exuding an aura of regal authority, like Queen reclining on her throne.

This is also a form that Shadow Fiend has never shown to Iver before—

She had long, straight hair that was as black as a shadow, with each strand connected to the next. The outer edges were pure black, while the inside was a dark red, like fresh blood.

She wasn't wearing glasses, and her murky, emerald-green pupils made her look more like a lone wolf than Bayard.

Apart from that, she looks exactly like Bayard. Even their apparent age is identical.

After Shadow Fiend appeared, he let out a deep sigh, and it was unclear what he was worried about.

She first turned around and carefully buttoned up Iver's open shirt, then used her slender yet strong fingers to straighten Iver's collar. After making sure her clothes, which had been slightly wrinkled in Bayard's arms, were neat again, she hugged Iver and turned back to her in an orderly fashion.

She and No. 14 both have black hair and blue eyes, and their appearances are somewhat similar. At this moment, the two of them hugging each other looks like an older sister hugging her younger sister.

The bats, scattered along the Shadow Thread, merely rustled but made no response.

They were completely stunned.

"What's wrong, Bayard?"

The Shadow Demon revealed a sarcastic smile, "After seeing me, you've forgotten how to speak?"

Her left hand, which was holding Iver's chin, was already resting on her chin, and she was casually flicking Aiwas's earlobe with the side of her thumb. Now, she defiantly shoved her left index and middle fingers into Iver's mouth, pulling her tongue out.

Iver glanced at her.

Considering that Shadow Fiend seemed to want to show off, I decided to give her that face for now.

—We'll talk about it when we get back.

As she moved, Shadow Fiend casually raised his right hand as well.

The Shadow Thread that covered the entire room and ran through the bats suddenly sprouted countless needles of varying lengths.

The bats that had been pierced instantly turned into clumps of blood without their internal organs.

The blood clumped together like liquid in zero gravity and floated upwards.

They gathered in the center and transformed back into human form. Only her glasses fell to the ground, but they didn't break because the carpet was soft enough.

The previous web of shadows vanished instantly only to reappear—it had previously crisscrossed the room repeatedly, but now it had transformed into a rather orderly spiderweb, suspending Bayard in mid-air once more.

Bayard was not powerless to break free from the web's constraints.

The sight before her made her furrow her brow and her heart pound—

The shock that welled up from the bottom of her heart left her speechless.

This was the scene she had seen countless times in her nightmares.

—As if on opposite sides of a mirror, two almost identical people are gazing at each other.

One sat on the bed, holding a girl, looking arrogant... while the other was suspended in the sky by a dark spiderweb, his expression complex.

"Oh."

Seeing that Bayard remained silent, Miss Shadow Demon chuckled, "Didn't you think of this? I don't think this is right. If it were me, I should have considered this possibility long ago... I should have even dreamed about it."

"How could one not become a demon if one dies with such resentment? And if my soul becomes a demon, then what are you?"

As she spoke, she subtly withdrew the finger that had been playing with Iver's tongue.

She pressed her cheek against Iver's and took a deep breath, casting a playful glance at the silent Bayard hanging in the sky.

"Say something, Miss Bayard. Give me some response, don't be like a corpse... oh, sorry, you are a corpse. Or shall I do something in front of you that you wanted to do but didn't?"

"... Have you... recognized a master?"

Bayard finally spoke, "Such a weak master?"

Her first sentence, though seemingly aggressive, revealed a strange pallor.

Because she avoided answering Shadow Fiend's questions, it already revealed her confused thinking. Of course, Iver's performance may have also played a part.

The Shadow Fiend simply laughed. First a sneer, then a loud laugh.

For the first time, she laughed out loud in her natural voice in front of Iver —a rather sharp and aggressive laugh that sounded arrogant and haughty.

"Yes."

The Shadow Fiend suddenly stopped laughing and replied seriously, "That's how weak I am. But no one can satisfy me more."

"My dear master, when you were so weak that you could break at the slightest touch, you made a statement about killing the people of Tiansi. It wasn't just empty talk, but a well-thought-out plan."

"And under these circumstances, she still dared to ask that Celestial Master for power. What does this mean? Because she didn't even regard that Celestial Master as a nemesis—she neither hated nor was wary of him, and even treated him as an equal."

Is that fearlessness born of ignorance?

Shadow Demon looked at Bayard and said softly, "Of course not. It's the ambition to knowingly move forward despite the danger, the courage to seriously challenge an invincible enemy."

"—Just like us, aren't you?"

By the time Shadow Fiend finished speaking, the hostility in her words had vanished.

As the one whose name and identity were taken away, she was the first to put aside her hostility.

This is certainly not tenderness or forgiveness—"Beard" has never been associated with such words. Long before she was even human, she had already learned how to seize power over the corpses and suffering of others.

Legend has it that humans are the sons of Constant Self and the Son of the Serpent Father.

Therefore, humans possess adaptability to Nine Great Paths, but transcendence and love are the most universal and profound.

—Ambition and desire.

That was the driving force behind the profit-driven machine called "Beyard." And what bound her actions was not morality or law—but her inner pride.

The "Miss Bayard" before them was nothing more than a fabricated soul created by the Pillar God.

No matter what hatred you still harbor in your heart, there's no need to direct it at her. It's all meaningless, nothing more than a false sense of comfort.

Miss Bayard, who had been lowered by the Shadow Fiend, rubbed her wrists, which were slightly red from being hung up, and asked in return:

"... Don't you want to eat me?"

The Shadow Fiend just looked at her mockingly, without saying a word.

She pulled Iver into her arms even tighter. Leaning forward, she pressed her cool, full body against Iver and rested her chin on her shoulder.

Although the Shadow Fiend's touch felt as cold and piercing as snow on a winter night, Iver did not push her away.

She has gradually come to understand what happened in the past.

The Shadow Fiend is an amorphous, asexual demon whose true form is merely a cloud of smoke that never sees the sunlight.

Any form it can take is a result of consuming the other's harvest.

Just as she stole Assassin Miss 'Chloe voice and body.

The Shadow Fiend can never revert to its Previous Life, because it is already dead. It is merely a shadow stripped of everything, and consuming a corpse is of no use.

And since Shadow Fiend can now transform into Bead and make the exact same sound as Bead...

That means that the newly born Shadow Fiend also successfully devoured Beyard, who was the Child of the Moon.

Only when the "corpse is transformed into the Child of the Moon" can the Shadow Fiend possibly revert to his Previous Life self.

However, although the Shadow Fiend can revert to her original form and voice, she also possesses memories of her Previous Life, just like the Child of the Moon, Beard. In this respect, she even gains immortality and immense power.

She clearly did not take charge of the "Bayard Group" in the mortal realm like the Child of the Moon, but instead returned to the Dream Realm, quietly and solitarily residing in the Shadow Domain.

The Bayard Group, now without its leader, has long since vanished into the dustbin of history.

She disdained to steal Bayard's name.

Even if it was once me, it has nothing to do with me now.

What would be the point of me killing you?

The Shadow Fiend finally spoke, his voice cold and clear. "You are not the real Bayard. Neither am I."

"Unlike you, the devil no longer dreams."