Kael did not activate the card immediately.
That hesitation mattered.
He stood in the throne room alone, the Black Citadel humming beneath his feet like a restrained beast. The system interface hovered before him, translucent and silent, as if waiting to be blamed.
Six hours.
In Eternum Frontier, that would have been plenty. He would have optimized routes, farmed resources, triggered side conditions. Here, time didn't bend for preparation. It advanced with indifference.
Kael exhaled slowly and selected the card—not with urgency, but with intent.
---
The Borrowed Shadow
"TACTICAL DEMON LORD CARD — SHADOW SOVEREIGN"
Duration: 10 minutes
Power Output: 12%
Cost: Authority Drain (Variable)
No dramatic flare accompanied activation.
The shadows in the room simply deepened, thickening around Kael's feet, clinging to his spine. His heartbeat slowed. His thoughts sharpened—not faster, but cleaner, stripped of noise.
This wasn't raw strength.
It was control.
The map interface reassembled itself, clearer now. Routes appeared—not glowing paths, but probabilities. The cathedral. The ritual chamber beneath it. The clone's position, marked by a faint, unstable thread.
Kael frowned.
The link was thinning.
---
Inside the Cathedral
The clone knelt among the others.
Stone pressed into his knees. The air smelled of incense and something metallic beneath it. Priests moved along the aisles, hands tracing symbols that made his skin crawl.
He didn't resist.
Not yet.
Above them, the bell tolled again—slow, deliberate.
A child beside him whispered, "Does it hurt?"
The clone swallowed. "I don't know."
That was the truth.
The sigils carved into the floor began to glow—not gold, not white. Pale, hungry blue. The air grew heavy, compressing sound.
And deep below the cathedral, something answered.
---
Intervention, Limited
Kael opened a spatial slit—not a gate. A fracture, narrow enough to slip intention through but not presence.
He couldn't arrive in Valerion.
Not without escalating this beyond containment.
Instead, he reached for influence.
The Shadow Sovereign card allowed it—barely.
Within the ritual chamber, shadows stretched unnaturally, creeping along the walls, touching sigils they were never meant to touch.
The priests faltered.
"What—"
The clone felt it then.
A pressure lifting.
Not freedom.
Opportunity.
He moved.
When the first sigil shattered, the backlash hit instantly. Priests screamed as energy recoiled. The ritual destabilized—not collapsing, but warping.
Far below, the sleeping thing stirred more violently.
---
The Price Reveals Itself
Kael staggered.
Authority drained faster than expected, like blood from an opened artery.
"WARNING: AUTHORITY RESERVES CRITICAL"
SHADOW SOVEREIGN — 04:11 REMAINING
"So that's the trick," Kael muttered. "Efficiency over endurance."
He pushed anyway.
A second fracture opened—wider this time.
Through it, Kael whispered a command.
Not domination.
A suggestion.
Run.
The clone heard it.
He didn't hesitate.
He grabbed the child beside him and shoved her toward a side corridor as the chamber erupted into chaos. Stone cracked. Light spiraled out of control.
The clone felt heat rake across his back.
Pain—real, grounding.
He laughed, breathless. "So this is what you meant."
---
The God That Half-Woke
The ritual failed.
But failure had consequences.
Something rose—not fully, not cleanly. A presence pressed against the world, vast and irritated, like an eye opening a fraction too soon.
In the divine layers above reality, a figure stirred.
> "Who interfered?"
Another voice answered, slower. Amused.
> "A borrower. Not a claimant."
> "Kill him."
> "No," the second voice said. "Let's see what he loses."
---
Collapse
The cathedral's spire exploded outward.
Stone rained across Valerion's capital as citizens screamed and fled. The clone burst from a side exit, dragging the child with him, lungs burning.
Behind him, the building folded inward, consuming itself.
The bell rang one final time—then shattered.
Silence followed.
---
The Card Ends
Back in the Demon Realm, Kael dropped to one knee.
The shadows peeled away from him, reluctant, like skin being torn loose.
"SHADOW SOVEREIGN — EXPIRED"
The system interface flickered violently.
"AUTHORITY DAMAGE: SEVERE"
"HEAVEN-PIERCING SIGHT — PERMANENTLY DEGRADED"
EFFECT: Reduced clarity. Increased cost. Blind spots introduced.
Kael stared at the words.
Permanent.
He laughed once—short, bitter.
"So that's the bill."
Blood dripped onto the obsidian floor.
Morveth appeared instantly, eyes sharp. "You won't be using that card again lightly."
"No," Kael said. "I won't."
---
Aftermath, Incomplete
The clone collapsed in an alley, chest heaving. The child stared at him, wide-eyed, unharmed.
"Are you… a hero?" she asked.
The clone didn't answer immediately.
Far away, he felt something shift—a thinning, a distance growing.
He frowned.
"Maybe," he said finally. "But not the kind you sing about."
The connection snapped.
---
What Was Lost
Kael sat on the throne hours later, weaker than before.
Synchronization had not increased.
It had stalled.
But Valerion still stood.
The ritual was broken.
And somewhere in the mortal realm, a child lived who should have been fuel for a god.
Kael closed his eyes.
He could feel it now—something missing at the edges of his perception. A blur where certainty used to be.
Mystery had returned.
At a cost.
And far above, something divine smiled.
Because now the Demon Lord could be surprised.