The moment my roar ended—
The world answered.
ROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!!!!!
A roar erupted from the depths of my soul.
Not from my mouth.
Not from my body.
From something far deeper.
Something ancient.
Something sovereign.
BOOM!!!!
A shockwave exploded outward.
The air shattered.
The mountain beneath my feet fractured.
The entire Shadow Realm trembled.
Then—
It appeared.
Behind me.
A colossal phantom.
Not a beast.
Not entirely.
Not a spirit.
Not entirely.
A Sovereign.
A humanoid figure formed from pure Authority.
Its body towered thousands of meters into the sky.
Its outline flickered between existence and nonexistence.
White fur flowed like living flames.
Azure markings pulsed across its body like rivers of divine lightning.
Its eyes burned brighter than stars.
Its fangs shone like heavenly blades.
Crackling arcs of Authority lightning danced endlessly around it.
Every movement distorted reality.
Every breath caused space to groan.
It wasn't merely a phantom.
It was a manifestation of bloodline authority itself.
The will of a Sovereign.
The embodiment of dominance.
The embodiment of supremacy.
The embodiment of the concept:
Submit.
ROOOOOAAARRRRRR!!!!
The colossal Sovereign Phantom threw back its head and roared.
The heavens shattered.
The mountains cracked.
The entire battlefield froze.
Then—
AUTHORITY SUPPRESSION.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
An invisible pressure descended.
No.
It crashed down.
Like the weight of an entire world.
The Shadow Army immediately slowed.
Millions of cracks spread across the ground.
Entire mountains collapsed.
Valleys sank.
The air itself became heavy.
The weaker shadow soldiers instantly dropped to one knee.
Others stumbled.
Many completely stopped moving.
Even though they possessed no blood.
No flesh.
No living bodies.
They still possessed souls.
And Authority did not merely suppress the body.
It suppressed existence itself.
It suppressed instinct.
It suppressed spirit.
It suppressed will.
It declared one truth.
There was a ruler.
And there were subjects.
And I...
Was the ruler.
The pressure expanded for thousands of miles.
The endless army faltered.
Not defeated.
Not broken.
But slowed.
And on a battlefield...
One second was enough.
A grin appeared on my face.
Good.
Very good.
The information forced into my mind had been correct.
The Shadow Realm weakened Authority Suppression.
The soldiers were largely immune due to their shadow nature.
But not completely.
Even weakened.
Authority remained Authority.
The strongest Law.
The first Law.
The Law from which all other Laws originated.
The law that commanded existence itself.
CRACKLE!!!
Blue lightning surged around my body.
This time it was different.
The lightning condensed.
Compressed.
Refined.
The wild bolts slowly transformed.
Becoming sharper.
Deadlier.
More concentrated.
Until two blades formed around my forearms.
Pure Authority.
Pure destruction.
The very thing capable of permanently harming shadow soldiers.
At least temporarily.
The soldiers continued charging.
Thousands.
Tens of thousands.
Hundreds of thousands.
An endless tide.
And I charged back.
BOOOOOM!!!!!
The mountain beneath me exploded.
The entire peak disappeared.
Reduced to dust.
The world blurred.
The distance between us vanished instantly.
Then—
The battle began.
BANG!!!!
My fist connected with the face of a shadow dragon.
Its skull exploded.
Authority lightning erupted through its body.
The dragon shattered into black mist.
Before the remains could reform—
SWISH!!!
My second blade cut through another soldier.
Then another.
Then another.
Bodies exploded around me.
Shadow scattered.
Lightning surged.
The battlefield transformed into chaos.
Yet no matter how many I destroyed—
More appeared.
Endless.
Relentless.
Immortal.
Exactly as the information had warned.
A normal warrior would despair.
I only laughed.
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
My blood boiled.
My instincts screamed.
My heart pounded.
This wasn't a battle.
This was a feast.
A feast for growth.
A feast for evolution.
A feast for conquest.
Above the battlefield—
The Shadow Realm watched.
And it hated me.
I could feel it.
The realm itself was alive.
A will.
A consciousness.
A fragment of Nyxaroth's soul that had developed awareness.
And it hated me.
The living.
The Sovereign.
The Pure One.
Especially the Pure One.
Black clouds began gathering.
The sky darkened further.
Black lightning appeared.
One bolt.
Then ten.
Then hundreds.
The heavens rumbled.
The entire realm trembled.
Far above.
Nyxaroth's smile slowly vanished.
For the first time since entering the Shadow Realm—
His expression became serious.
Very serious.
His purple eyes narrowed.
"...Interesting."
Beside him, Father frowned.
"What is it?"
Nyxaroth remained silent.
His gaze never left me.
The black clouds continued growing.
The realm's hostility continued increasing.
The black lightning became denser.
More violent.
More furious.
Then Nyxaroth finally spoke.
"The realm recognizes him."
Father froze.
"What?"
Nyxaroth's eyes darkened.
"The realm remembers."
A long silence followed.
The ancient Elder God stared at me.
And for the first time in thousands of years...
A memory surfaced.
A memory he wished had remained buried.
A Pure One.
A white dragon.
A smiling face.
A catastrophe.
A war.
A tragedy.
The reason his clan had split.
The reason he hated Pure Ones.
The reason the Shadow Realm despised them.
The black lightning above intensified.
The heavens rumbled.
The realm itself growled.
And deep within the darkness—
Something ancient awakened.
Something that should never have awakened.
Nyxaroth slowly clenched his fists.
His eyes never left the battlefield.
"...So it begins."
Far below—
I knew none of this.
I only knew one thing.
The army before me was growing stronger.
And somewhere above—
Something was preparing to descend.
Like a heavenly tribulation.
Like divine judgment.
Like the wrath of an entire realm.
Yet instead of fear—
A savage grin spread across my face.
"Come."
Blue lightning exploded around me.
My Authority surged.
The Sovereign Phantom roared once more.
And the Shadow Realm answered with thunder.
The real battle...
Was only beginning.