When the Dream Gate was forcefully closed and destroyed, Nephis was hit by a devastating backlash. Her Transcendent form collapsed, and she staggered, a torrent of blood exploded from her mouth. She fell to the ground, trembling, the white flames that burned in her eyes dancing erratically. Her mind was in tatters, temporarily plunged into a dazed state.

The world was enveloped by darkness once more, flakes of ash swirling in the air. Two of the three remaining tendrils collided with the shattered stones of the destructive district, dissolving into cold currents and crumbling. The third one, however — the one that had destroyed the Gate — still loomed like a towering edifice, damaged and tattered, swaying above Nephis.

Sunny suddenly felt a deathly chill permeating his consciousness.

The situation was critical.

He had not recovered from witnessing the terrifying expanse of the abyssal horror's true extent yet, and now, he had to think fast again. Nephis was temporarily out of commission, but the enemy still remained — more than that, the enemy was as powerful as an Unholy Nightmare Creature.

Even if the abyssal horror was severely wounded by the incinerating light of Sun God's lifeless shell, it was still strong enough to wipe them out. In fact, it would probably do that in just a few short moments.

‘What to do?’

Sunny's thoughts were calm, as if even his ability to panic was too damaged to function.

No matter how he thought about it, there seemed to be no way to turn the situation around.

However, just then...

The Spell whispered something into his ear. It was a sound so sweet that, if Sunny could, he would have given the Spell a hug.

It said:

[You have slain a Great Titan, Prince of Darkness.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

Sunny's mind settled.

Somewhere far away, in the heart of the ancient city — where the radiance of Godgrave had not reached — hidden in the flowing mist of nothingness, Saint had usurped the darkness of the Jade Titan and destroyed him.

Wrapped around her battered body, Sunny could feel her [Heart of Darkness] straining to contain the ocean of elemental darkness that had poured into it after the Jade Titan perished. He sensed something about Saint changing — the shadow that served as her soul was cracking under immense pressure, balancing on the verge of collapse.

But at the same time, it was expanding.

As it did, a roaring current of true darkness flowed into her.

And at the same time, Saint's body suddenly began to absorb vast amounts of the white mist that swirled and flowed around her, causing a vast vortex to form.

She was evolving.

But just as it had happened before, she was slowing down and suppressing her evolution, unwilling to leave the battlefield before the battle was over.

This time, however, the process was different. It felt like Saint was not only trying to slow down her evolution, but also guide it, attempting to remain summoned until her rise to the Tyrant Class was complete.

Sunny would have been exhilarated by the fact that his most loyal Shadow would become a Supreme Tyrant soon, but at the moment, he could not afford to feel anything, let alone joy.

He and Nephis were about to be destroyed by the abyssal horror, and despite her efforts, Saint was in no shape to fight that thing — and wouldn't be any time soon. However...

That did not really matter. Because her evolution was not the only boon granted to Sunny by her triumph over the Jade Titan... one of the seven princes of the Underworld, the Prince of Darkness.

The Titan himself was a boon, too.

His shade was.

Sunny separated himself from Nephis, landing on the shattered stones between her and the towering tendril of darkness. He stood there, looking up with a dark, defiant expression.

At that moment, he felt the same gaze that had followed him throughout the Underworld expedition again — only, this time, there was nothing subtle about it. Instead, it was focused on him entirely, the power of that harrowing gaze alone terrifying enough to make him groan, streams of blood flowing out of his mouth, nose, and eyes.

Even Blood Weave, which usually prevented him from bleeding, could not stem the flow. In fact, his whole body was going haywire. Nevertheless, Sunny raised a trembling hand and pointed it at the gargantuan tendril.

His bloodied lips moved, as if he was trying to remember how to form words.

In the end, he managed to force out a few.

“You... hey, you. What... what are you staring at, bastard?"

With that, Sunny's lips twisted into a smile. The tendril twisted, as if observing him... And then dove in his direction with shocking speed.

‘Oh... crap!'

Before the crushing mass of darkness could swallow Sunny and Nephis, though, there was a rustle.

And then, the blade of a colossal greatsword passed through the tendril, severing it at the base... well, at least at the closest thing to a base the blade could reach. The roots of the tendril were still hidden in the Abyss, after all.

There, behind the gargantuan tendril of darkness, a stone colossus in fearsome black armor, at least two hundred meters high, had appeared a few moments ago.

It was the shadow of the Prince of Darkness — the shade of the Great Titan Saint had slain.

Sunny had summoned it just as he baited the abyssal horror into attacking him.

The last visible tendril of that harrowing being plummeted from its great height, threatening to crush Sunny and Nephis. But instead, it dissolved in Neph's light, dissipating into the surrounding darkness. For a moment, dead silence enveloped the destructive district of the ancient city.

In that silence, Sunny let out a shaky breath.

He looked around with a pale, hesitant expression.

“Are... are we alive?"

His voice was tentative.

Raising both hands, he briefly touched his chest and shoulders.

Then, his expression changed to that of bewildered surprise.

“We actually are."

Sunny paused for a moment.

“Well... I'll be damned!"

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