The great gates of the Shadow Citadel stood wide open, torn from their hinges.
Beyond them, in the heart of the Throne Hall, silence reigned.
The battle was over. The old king — Shädow — was gone. Not destroyed, but consumed. Bound within the very soul of the one who had defied him.
Shadow.
He stood alone beneath the black sun that pulsed above the throne — a star of pain and memory, still flickering from the war that had ended moments ago.
The hall was vast, carved from obsidian, lined with pillars made from the bones of fallen titans. On both sides, shadows crawled — dozens, then hundreds, then thousands.
Demonic legions.
Warlords. Sorcerers. Fallen angels. Beasts with a thousand eyes.
Every form of nightmare that had once ruled Hell in chaos… now gathered in quiet awe.
Shadow did not speak.
He did not raise his sword.
He simply stepped forward.
And with that single step, the entire citadel shuddered.
A wave of power rolled through the chamber — not fire, not brimstone, but will. Absolute, silent, unbreakable.
One by one, the demons dropped to their knees.
Not out of fear. Not even submission.
But recognition.
"He carries the silence of the end," whispered an old blood priest.
"And in that silence… we are nothing."
Shadow approached the throne — the same throne that once held Shädow's monstrous form.
He looked at it for a long moment.
Then turned his back to it.
"I am not here to rule," he said, his voice quiet, but echoing like thunder through every realm.
"I am what remains. I am what binds. I am what burns last."
The throne caught fire.
Black flame. No heat. No smoke. Just… consumption.
And then — the black sun above him flared.
A thousand demon voices screamed in unison — not in pain, but in devotion.
They beat their chests, slammed weapons to the ground, howled in the ancient tongue.
"Shadow!
Lord of the End!
Flame of the Final Will!"
Shadow closed his eyes.
The last echo of humanity still flickered in him. A memory. A whisper of Saphira.
But when he opened them again — they burned like twin stars of ash and judgment.
The age of kings was over.
Now came the reign of the Shadow Sovereign.