BOOMMMMM—!!!
The battlefield exploded.
A sea of shadow warriors was torn apart beneath the impact of my charge.
Mountains cracked.
Valleys shattered.
Entire sections of black earth folded inward beneath the collision.
For a brief moment—
Silence.
Then...
The shadows moved again.
Thousands.
Tens of thousands.
Rising.
Reforming.
Returning.
Their broken bodies melted into pools of darkness before reconstructing themselves.
New limbs.
New weapons.
New armor.
As though death itself meant nothing.
My eyes narrowed.
"So the information wasn't exaggerating..."
The Shadow Realm truly was a nightmare.
Normal warriors would have already fallen into despair.
An immortal army.
Infinite numbers.
Infinite stamina.
Infinite resurrection.
Against anyone else...
This would be impossible.
Unfortunately for them—
I wasn't anyone else.
CRACKLE—!!!
Blue lightning erupted around my body.
The Authority Blades surrounding my hands grew longer.
Sharper.
Denser.
The lightning within them became almost liquid.
A deep azure glow illuminated the darkness around me.
The moment the nearest shadow warrior arrived—
I moved.
SWISH!!!
His head flew.
The body collapsed.
Unlike the others...
It didn't immediately reform.
Instead—
Blue cracks spread throughout its body.
Like glass.
The shadow struggled.
Twisted.
Screamed silently.
Then exploded.
The surrounding warriors hesitated.
Only for a fraction of a second.
But they hesitated.
Interesting.
Authority worked.
Not perfectly.
But it worked.
The army surged forward again.
Thousands of weapons descended simultaneously.
Spears.
Axes.
Halberds.
Swords.
Claws.
Fangs.
Everything.
Every direction.
No escape.
No opening.
No blind spot.
A perfect kill formation.
Yet...
A smile appeared on my face.
My pupils narrowed.
Blue lightning flashed.
Then—
I vanished.
BOOOOOOM—!!!
The location where I had been standing exploded.
Hundreds of attacks collided.
Shadow warriors were destroyed by their own allies.
I appeared several kilometers away.
Standing atop a shattered mountain.
Watching.
Calculating.
Learning.
The battlefield was speaking to me.
Teaching me.
Every movement.
Every attack.
Every mistake.
The more I fought—
The faster I adapted.
Far above...
Nyxaroth's eyes narrowed.
The amusement from earlier had vanished.
"What absurd battle instincts..."
Azuryx folded his arms.
Pride hidden beneath his calm expression.
"He always learns fast."
Nyxaroth snorted.
"Fast?"
"He is learning while fighting an immortal army."
"He should be dead."
Azuryx couldn't argue with that.
Because Nyxaroth was right.
This wasn't training.
This was insanity.
Below...
The army suddenly stopped.
Every shadow warrior froze.
Then—
All their heads turned upward simultaneously.
Toward me.
A chill crawled down my spine.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
The shadows parted.
Creating a path.
An enormous path.
Miles wide.
And from that darkness—
Something emerged.
THUD.
The entire realm shook.
THUD.
Mountains collapsed.
THUD.
The sky trembled.
A giant.
No.
A titan.
Over three hundred meters tall.
Humanoid.
Armored.
Carrying a massive black greatsword.
Its body radiated enough pressure to crush weaker Gods.
The moment it appeared—
Every shadow warrior kneeled.
My smile widened.
Finally.
Something interesting.
Far above...
Azuryx's expression changed.
"Wait..."
Nyxaroth looked equally surprised.
"That shouldn't be awake."
The giant continued walking.
Each step cracking reality itself.
Black energy flowed from its body.
The surrounding shadow warriors began feeding their energy into it.
Thousands.
Then tens of thousands.
Then hundreds of thousands.
All empowering a single existence.
The titan's aura multiplied.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Until even Azuryx felt pressure.
His eyes widened.
"Master..."
Nyxaroth frowned.
For the first time.
Actually frowned.
Down below...
The titan stopped.
Its massive eyes locked onto me.
Ancient.
Empty.
Dead.
Yet somehow alive.
Then—
It spoke.
Its voice echoed across the entire realm.
A voice so old it sounded like decaying stars.
"AUTHORITY..."
The word alone shattered nearby mountains.
My pupils contracted.
The titan pointed its sword toward me.
Then spoke again.
"THE SOVEREIGN RETURNS."
Silence.
Complete silence.
Even the army stopped moving.
The realm itself seemed to hold its breath.
High above...
Nyxaroth's eyes widened.
Azuryx froze.
Neither spoke.
Because both understood something.
The titan wasn't talking to Velzahar.
It wasn't looking at Velzahar.
It was looking at something far deeper.
Something hidden.
Something sleeping.
Something buried within his soul.
Below...
The beast inside me stirred.
For the first time since entering the Shadow Realm—
It moved.
Not the system.
Not my bloodline.
Not my instincts.
Something else.
Something ancient.
Something that had existed long before my birth.
The world darkened.
The titan froze.
The army froze.
The sky froze.
And deep within my soul—
A pair of eyes slowly opened.