The moment Kaelus's windstorm detonated across the courtyard, a shockwave of emerald tempest-light carved half the battlefield open.
Darius walked through the fading turbulence like it was nothing more than a breeze.
The shadows around him bent unnaturally — following, folding, swirling… worshipping.
His eyes were pitch-black, no whites, no pupils, just a void that reflected nothing.
And when he exhaled, the air frosted… not with cold, but with absence.
A roar cracked the sky.
From the broken rooftops of the Outer-Class district, a creature slid out of the darkness like ink poured from a cosmic wound.
A Shadow Beast — a creature born from the dying pocket realms at the edge of existence.
A monster that devours light and uses absence as muscle and bone.
Twenty feet tall.
Skin like dripping liquid night.
No eyes.
Only a jagged mouth of overlapping, shifting teeth.
It moved silently.
Not a single sound — not even footsteps.
Because it didn't walk.
Its body simply appeared where it wanted to be, folding between shadows.
The god candidates screamed warnings—
"DARIUS!! BEHIND YOU—"
But he didn't even turn.
He simply said—
"…I know."
The beast lunged.
A massive claw made of compressed void tore toward his spine—
And passed through him.
Darius stood where he was, completely untouched, body dissolving partially into black mist.
The Shadow Beast skidded, confused.
Darius tilted his head, voice calm, bored.
Almost disappointed.
"You can't harm me while I'm in the shade. Rookie mistake."
A soft ripple — shhk — and he vanished.
Not a teleport.
Not movement.
He simply wasn't there anymore.
The beast spun—
And Darius appeared sitting casually on its shoulder, legs dangling, fingers drumming along its oily hide as if waiting for an elevator.
He whispered into the creature's non-existent ear:
"So let's see… which shadow do you fear the most?"
The Shadow Beast roared violently and its entire body erupted into spires of void, stabbing in every direction at once — a thousand shadow-lances exploding from its form.
They pierced buildings.
Pierced stone.
Pierced the ground.
But none touched Darius.
Every time a spike reached him, his body bent around it, sliding between the lightless spaces like he was made of liquid gravity.
Still sitting on the beast's shoulder, he sighed.
"…Is that all?"
The monster brought both arms around, smashing inward to crush him.
BOOOOOOOOM!!
A shockwave of darkness rippled the ground.
Smoke billowed.
Debris fell.
Ether trembled.
But when the shadows settled…
Darius was standing on the ground in front of the beast, dusting off his uniform sleeve.
"Okay. My turn."
The ground around him dimmed.
Not darkened.
Not shadowed.
DIMMED.
Like someone lowered the volume of existence itself.
Every source of light flickered.
The moon dulled.
Even Seraphine's solar-level radiance in the distance seemed to bend, unnaturally tinted.
A black halo ignited behind Darius's head.
Not circular.
Solar.
A dark sun.
Its corona: it has tendrils of Shadows.
Its core: a void that devoured even magical perception.
A domain half-born, half-slumbering.
The Black Sun's Domain.
The Shadow Beast froze — an instinctual terror shaking it.
Because this was its king.
Its predator.
Its extinction.
Darius raised one hand.
Shadows grabbed the beast's legs.
Its arms.
Its throat.
Not from him.
From everywhere.
Every corner.
Every broken stone.
Even from the darkness cast by its own body.
He closed his fingers—
And every shadow tightened like a vice.
The monster screeched, body warping.
CRACK. CRUNCH. SKEEEEEEERCH.
Darius stepped forward, eyes glowing a deeper, hungrier black.
"And now…"
A tendril of shadow slid from his palm, gentle, snake-like…
"…I claim your soul."
The tendril pierced the beast's chest.
Silently.
Instantly.
A horrible, echoing bellow ripped from the beast as its entire form shook violently. Its body began collapsing inward like it was being sucked into a black hole.
The world around them dimmed further.
A portal opened behind Darius.
Not a gate.
A sun.
A massive, eclipsed sun of pure void, surrounded by rings of shadow storms.
A place with no horizon.
No sky.
Only eternal night and a sleeping, devouring star.
Dozens of trapped souls screamed within its corona — ancient, monstrous, powerful.
Darius's voice deepened, layered with the Domain's echo:
"In the name of the Black Sun… you belong to me."
The Shadow Beast was dragged, screaming, into the domain—
VOOOOOOOOOOOOOM—
Then silence.
Midnight silence.
The portal snapped shut.
Darius exhaled.
His halo dimmed slightly, though it never disappeared.
He cracked his neck.
"Alright."
"Next."
Rein Clark paused mid-swing, and started to smile. He was Motivated to enjoy himself.
Stellar nearly froze her own foot, shocked.
Dova Nexus whispered—
"…Looks Like I'll have to work harder… Sigh."
Kaelus added, voice tight—
"…Thats my bro."
And Darius?
He simply walked forward, hands in pockets, eyes half-lidded.
Like he had just taken out the trash.