Sacrifice and shadow

Eros fell silent. Although Barbara had not said it outright, he already understood what she meant.

Even if he used a Divine Art to save Irina now, she would still struggle to escape the Church's pursuit while carrying him unconscious.

He lowered his eyes to Irina, who was growing ever more transparent before him. Clearly, he had little time left to make his choice.

Should he simply watch Irina die, or save her so they could both die together?

Irina seemed to sense the change in his emotions. She curled her lips into a faint smile.

"Don't be sad. You should be happy. After all, I found a fragment of the Ancestral Divine Kingdom."

"I've recorded its location in the necklace I gave you. As long as you take it back, it will all have been worth it. Eros, you can do that, can't you?"

Eros did not answer. He merely watched in silence as Irina faded until only a shadow remained.

He desperately wanted to cast a Divine Art and save Irina, regardless of the consequences, but his reason told him he could not.

If the Church discovered him while he was unconscious, it could very well bring utter destruction upon his already precarious family.

An irrepressible sorrow rose in Eros's heart. He was about to witness the death of a family member.

He had the means to save her, yet could not use them. All he could do was watch her gradually fade away before him.

"Perhaps there's another way!" Barbara suddenly spoke after her long silence.

"What way?" Eros abruptly raised his head.

"She chose to sacrifice everything to shadow. As a Divine Artifact bearing authority over shadow, I can temporarily distort this ritual and have you take the place of the concept represented by shadow, turning it into a sacrifice to you. It's just that..." Barbara seemed to hesitate toward the end.

Only mythic life and deities could accept sacrifices, and only a deity could bear the entire concept of shadow.

Barbara did not say this aloud. She glanced at Eros, an inexplicable flicker passing through her eyes.

Eros did not notice Barbara's subtle change. Upon hearing that there was another way, he immediately felt as though an enormous weight had lifted from his heart.

With so little time left, he dared not delay. He hurriedly asked, "It's just that what?"

Barbara gathered her thoughts, lowered her eyes, and said calmly:

"It's just that you don't have a divine kingdom right now. Even if you accept the sacrifice, you have nowhere to store her, so she'll still fade away."

"Fortunately, she's already become a phantom. That means we can merge her into your shadow and let her survive as your shadow."

"But once she becomes your shadow, she'll no longer be able to stray far from wherever you are. You'll only be able to separate her from it if you re... ahem... ascend to the Divine Throne in the future."

After hearing Barbara's words, Eros fell silent for only a moment before making his decision. He could not worry about all that now. Keeping her alive mattered most.

Eros immediately spoke to Irina.

"I have a way to save you, but it will turn you into my shadow. From then on, you won't be able to stray far from me."

Eros paused, then fixed Irina with a solemn gaze and slowly spoke, emphasizing each word.

"Then, Irina Renka Night, are you willing to become my shadow?"

Irina froze for a moment. She had not expected that there might still be a chance to save her.

Looking at Eros's solemn expression, which showed no trace of pretense, she curved her lips into a radiant smile and answered with equal emphasis.

"I am!"

Regardless of whether that method ultimately worked, looking at Eros, who refused to give up on her even at the very last moment, made her genuinely happy.

As Irina voiced her agreement, it was as though some unseen contract had been sealed.

The next instant, Eros's left eye turned pitch-black. Barbara had successfully taken control of his body.

Jet-black lines emerged continuously from Eros's body, forming obscure, incomprehensible array patterns that covered all the surrounding space.

Irina, who had still been shedding particles of light, suddenly transformed into a streak of black light and slowly seeped into Eros's shadow.

After some time, once the black light Irina had become merged completely into his shadow, the darkness in Eros's left eye slowly receded.

At the same time, Barbara's somewhat weakened voice sounded in his mind.

"This took too much out of me. I'll have to sleep for a while."

With that, Barbara fell completely silent. No matter how Eros called to her, she gave no response.

He felt a little helpless. He had wanted to ask a few questions, but it seemed they would have to wait until next time. Or perhaps he could slowly figure things out himself?

Just then, two Church squads suddenly entered the range of his perception.

Eros let out a long breath. "Looks like the Church's search has reached this area. In that case, die!"

Ever since killing that group himself earlier, Eros had lost much of his aversion to killing.

After all, this world was that cruel. If he did not kill them, they would come to kill him. There was simply no room for compromise.

Had Barbara not been so capable, Irina would probably have died already.

With that in mind, he felt no pity whatsoever for the two Church squads that had entered his perception range.

He crept over quietly, then raised his hand and brought the moon down. Before either group could react, he used the Moon of Eternal Sleep to scatter even their ashes.

Eros then prepared to return to the Academy. Now that he had saved her, there was no need to keep wasting time on the Church's search squads.

But with Barbara asleep, she could no longer help him scout the surrounding area.

As a result, he ran into several Church search squads along the way and was forced to fight.

Although his own perception range was quite large compared with others at his level, it clearly was not enough under the circumstances.

Fortunately, perhaps because Irina was not particularly strong, most of the searchers the Church had sent were only Sequence Eight. Only their squad leaders had reached Sequence Seven.

With two powerful buffs active and several Divine Artifacts at his disposal, he could escape the encirclement. Otherwise, he might not have made it out.

By the time he returned to the Academy, the first pale light of dawn had appeared on the horizon. Running around outside all night had left him utterly exhausted.

He glanced at Wendy, who was still asleep in bed, and did not disturb her.

He went into another room on his own and, too tired even to wash up, flopped down and fell asleep.