The Shadow Realm was a vast, desolate wasteland completely devoid of life—an endless desert of black ash framed by high hills that stretched as far as the eye could see. High above in the sky, shimmering clouds that were actually rivers of essence illuminated the darkness, draping the landscape below in a heavy, velvet shroud.
This was where all life inevitably came to an end. The very sanctuary where shadows made their final journey. The realm of death, and the corpse of the Shadow God himself—a fallen deity, just like the others.
Sunny stood with his back to the portal—a tear in space created by opening the tiny doors of the miniature black pagoda, the [Shadow Lantern]. He took a long, steady look at the grim landscape of what was, in theory, his ancestral homeland, etching every detail into his mind.
"Watch my back," Sunny said, turning toward Saint.
"Always," she replied, offering a firm nod and a rare, subtle smile behind her visor.
With that, Lost from Light initiated the preparations for his audacious plan: absorbing the Shadow God's lineage whole, uncorrupted, and undevoured by the Weave.
--------------------Flashback--------------------
"You shouldn't be here, little shadow," the King of the Underworld had declared, his towering voice echoing like the groan of an ancient catacomb. "This was not part of their grand design."
The presence of Nether, the Daemon of Choice, was suffocating—vast as an ocean and heavy as an unfathomable sea of absolute darkness. His majestic black wings expanded until they consumed the gloomy skies of his realm.
"What... what do you mean?" Sunny had asked, barely able to meet the Daemon's gaze without his mind fracturing under the sheer, unadulterated magnitude of his sight.
Noticing his pseudo-nephew's struggle, Nether reined in the crushing intensity of his presence just enough for Sunny to stand.
"Exactly what I said, Child of shadows. Their original plan did not account for you standing here. In your place, the Nephilim was meant to face the trial you are about to undertake."
The words had sounded enigmatic and cryptic to Sunny at the time, though he knew instantly who "the Nephilim" referred to.
"And yet, here you stand before me, Sunless. My nephew," Nether continued.
"Huh?" Sunny had tilted his head, utterly bewildered.
"Millennia ago, when they orchestrated your birth in league with the darkness, the two of them made a gamble," the Daemon elaborated.
"What kind of gamble?"
"They and the darkness wagered that if the last divine shadow were betrayed solely by the oracle, then their heir would inherit only their lineage and darkness's blessing," Nether revealed, his voice reverberating into the very depth of Sunny's soul. "However... if both the light and the oracle betrayed the shadow, driving it to wander lost into my realm, then the last shadow would inherit even the blood of the darkness alongside its blessing. And I, as the Daemon of Choice, was designated to guide you and illuminate your path."
Following that revelation, the King of the Underworld had taken Lost from Light under his vast, dark wing—teaching the blood of his blood the divine secrets of the forge, the true nature of Gods and Daemons, and the ancient intricacies of lost sorcery.
--------------------End of flashback--------------------
Standing in the Shadow Realm, Sunny closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.
Opening his eyes again, he studied the runic circle Nether had taught him, traced carefully into the dark sand beneath his feet. It was an intricate array of hieroglyphic symbols forming three concentric rings, bisected by sharp, intersecting lines.
Everything was ready. All that remained was to summon the specialized Soulbound Memory he had crafted.
---
Memories: [Silver Bell], [Midnight Shard], [Weaver's Mask], [Puppeteer's Shroud], [Endless Spring], [Mythical Rock], [Shadow Lantern], [Mantle of the Underworld], ...
...[All or Nothing].
Memory: [All or Nothing].
Memory Rank: ???.
Memory Tier: ???.
Memory Type: Charm.
Memory Description: [A bit redundant to write a description for something meant for a single use, but pay attention! We only get one shot at this, got it? One. Don't blow it.]
Memory Enchantments: [Memory Charge], [Weakening], [Absence of Light], [Enchantment], [Bound].
[Memory Charge]: "This Memory can accommodate another item."
[Weakening]: "While equipped, the wielder suffers a severe dampening of mind and spirit, scaled to the quality of the accommodated Memory, until bound."
[Absence of Light]: "The accommodated Memory grows significantly more potent in deeper, older shadows. Exposure to light nullifies its effects."
[Enchantment]: "Aspects with an affinity for shadows are automatically amplified."
[Bound]: "Allows the wielder to permanently bind the accommodated Memory to their soul."
Equipped Item: [Drop of Ichor].
Usages Remaining: [1/1].
Memory: [Mantle of the Underworld].
Memory Rank: Ascended.
Memory Tier: VII.
Memory Type: Armor.
Memory Description: [Vowing to never look upon the Goddess of the Black Skies again, the prideful demon retreated into the darkness beneath an unassailable mountain chain. He wasn't the first to lead his army against the gods. However, he was the first to shed their blood, as well as learn the secrets of his own.]
Memory Enchantments: [Living Stone], [Feather of Truth], [Stalwart], [Underworld Armament], [Prince of the Underworld].
Vanquished Foes: [6000/6000].
---
Sunny stared at [All or Nothing], the customized Charm Memory holding the priceless drop of the Shadow God's Ichor. Every single enchantment had been meticulously woven to facilitate the lineage's absorption without provoking a fatal clash with [The Weave].
Two divine lineages could not coexist within a single vessel without one cannibalizing the other; that was an absolute rule. Fully harboring Weaver's forbidden lineage, Sunny simply couldn't absorb the Ichor through normal means. But what if two distinct metaphysical structures fused together without directly overlapping?
That was Nether's masterstroke.
"Ha! Thinking back on it, it sounds completely insane," Sunny muttered under his breath, a wry smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
First, he needed a Soulbound Memory. The [Mantle of the Underworld] fit the bill perfectly. Since its [Underworld Armament] enchantment could accommodate only a Charm, Sunny had woven [All or Nothing] specifically to hold the lineage within the mantle.
Soulbound Memories functioned like a second skin, fusing directly with the wielder's soul without conflicting with their nature. And since souls and shadows were intertwined, it was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began—making it the ideal vessel for the Shadow God's Ichor.
As for why the counter read [6000/6000], Sunny had already completed the requirement in the previous timeline. Crafted by a Daemon himself, the relic possessed an uncanny mechanism that preserved its progress across the folds of time.
Second, Sunny had to weaken the active traits of [The Weave] just enough to prevent a violent rejection, while simultaneously empowering the Ichor during absorption. Furthermore, because a divine lineage's manifestation scaled with core potential, he had to perform this ritual now, while he was still an Awakened with a single Shadow Core.
That was why he had come to the Shadow Realm through the [Shadow Lantern]. Here, his abilities and connection to the shadows were at their zenith. The runic circle below him served to hyper-focus his mind and align his latent powers.
Everything was set. Behind him, Saint stood in a battle-ready stance, sword and shield drawn, scanning the dark horizon for potential threats.
"Let's begin," Sunny whispered.
Then He summoned the [Mantle of the Underworld] along with [All or Nothing]. In a cascade of white sparks, his body was encased in exquisite stone armor with refined greaves and pauldrons. Simultaneously, a sphere of swirling shadows appeared in his palm, revealing a deep, night-black droplet of divine Ichor at its core. The surrounding shadows pooled toward it, drawn like iron filings to a magnet.
Without hesitation, Sunny slotted [All or Nothing] into the mantle and activated Soul Serpent's [Shadow Guide], hidden beneath the armor as a pitch-black snake tattoo. Leaning down, he channeled his essence directly into the concentric runic circle. Immediately, the hieroglyphs flared with an eerie, spectral light, sharpening his mental acuity and amplifying his tether to the realm's shadows.
Then, using [Shadow Step], Sunny dissolved into the shadows, resting at the exact center of the circle.
In this intangible form, the physical traits of [The Weave]—Blood, Bone, and Flesh—were temporarily rendered non-existent. Meanwhile the spiritual traits—Soul, Mind, Spirit, and Shadow—were severely dampened by the combined enchantments of [All or Nothing].
With all conditions fulfilled, only one final step remained.
[Bind the relics?]
...
In his current state, Sunny possessed no physical mouth to speak. He was an intangible, formless shadow moving by pure willpower alone.
So... he projected his intent into the void with absolute certainty.
'Yes!'
[Your Memory has been destroyed.]
[Your Memory has been destroyed.]
[Your Memory has been destroyed.]
'...'
If Sunny had possessed physical eyes to weep or a throat to scream in that agonizing moment, he would have torn his vocal cords to shreds.
The sheer, unadulterated agony eclipsed every rational thought. It wasn't merely pain—it was an existential rewrite. He felt like a clear body of water being invaded by a single, hyper-dense drop of pitch-black liquid, expanding ruthlessly to consume every last drop of his being. His mind spiraled into a feverish delirium, picturing a pristine basin staining irrevocably crimson, then abyssal black.
Beside the runic circle, Saint watched the silent, convulsing shadow at its center. The stone knight clamped her jaw, her grip on her sword and shield so tight the stone strained. She was a fearsome warrior, yet here she was entirely helpless. It burned her to the core. Both she and Sunny knew the immense stakes of this ritual; even if he perished, her freedom was already secured. But she didn't want a freedom paid for in his ashes.
Standing vigil over the silent wasteland, Saint prayed with every fiber of her living stone heart that her lord—her master, her partner—would survive.
Seven minutes passed.
Four hundred and twenty agonizing ticks of an invisible clock, each stretching into an eternity. The shadow remained motionless, an ink-like smudge sprawled flat against the black ash.
"My Lord?" Saint whispered, her voice trembling slightly behind her mask.
Nothing moved.
She clenched her fists, her voice breaking the heavy silence with desperate force. "Sunny!"
'Ah...'
Deep within the suffocating dark, an eye snapped open.
Instantly, the surrounding shadows stretched and writhed, casting a suffocating, regal atmosphere over the desolate wasteland—as if the realm itself were rising to welcome its long-awaited ruler. Its Monarch.
From the pool of ink, a column of liquid darkness surged upward, solidifying into human form. Saint fell silent, lowering herself onto one knee before her reborn Lord.
The dark pillar dissolved to reveal a young man with pale porcelain skin and features as sharp as if sculpted by a master of darkness. His hair and eyes were a deep, mesmerizing pitch-black, yet within his irises gleamed a sharp, terrifying brilliance—a glint so profound it seemed to pull all ambient light into his orbit. He stood bare, his lean, muscular physique honed to absolute perfection.
Gazing across the desolate expanse of the Shadow Realm, Sunny summoned his runes.
---
Name: Sunless.
True Name: Lost from Light.
Rank: Awakened.
Class: Beast.
Attributes: [Paradox], [The Weave], [Star of Divinity], [Monarch of Shadows], [Treacherous], [Stone Shell].
Aspect: [Shadow Ruler].
Aspect Rank: Divine.
Aspect Description: [You are a miraculous shadow left behind by a dead god. As a divine shadow, you possess plenty of strange and wondrous powers. However, your existence is empty and lonesome; you mourn the passing of your kin and long to find new ones.]
Flaw: [Clear Conscience].
Flaw Description: [You cannot lie.]
---
A slow, intoxicating smile curled his lips. Sunny felt incredible—better than he ever had in his entire life. But what truly set his soul ablaze were the descriptions of his newly updated Attributes.
---
Attribute: [Star of Divinity]
"The Divinity within you is on par with the gods. All fools possessing lesser divinity who dares gaze upon you should bow to your will, and not the other way around."
Attribute: [Monarch of Shadows]
"You have inherited the complete lineage of the Shadow God. Every shadow in existence, from the smallest flicker to the most ancient abyss, recognizes you as their rightful Monarch."
Attribute: [Treacherous]
"You intrinsically defy every shackle placed upon you. Only those who you seek will remain.
Really... your treachery truly knows no bounds."
---
"Heh... haha..."
Enveloped in the ancient, welcoming dark of his ancestral home, Sunny threw his head back and opened his arms to the void. He laughed—a wild, triumphant laugh that echoed across the lifeless ash.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
The surrounding shadows seemed to react to his mirth, for the heir of both Fate and Death was finally, utterly free.
[You are... complete.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~