The Broken Halo

Chaos Manifestation.

Chaos Manifestation was an ability that belonged to Demon Kings. It was what truly set apart Demon Kings from Demon Lords.

Chaos Manifestation was similar to a domain, but it was a domain without a barrier.

And in this domain, the Demon King was akin to a... god.

Sunless did not stab her heart for no reason at all.

For a demon to manifest their chaos, they have to stab their heart, either with their weapon, fingers, claws, tails, or ability.

They have to stab their heart with something that belongs to them and has their demonic energy.

Instead of hand signs, chants, or incantations, demons stabbed their hearts to manifest their chaos.

However, what a demon actually stabs is the metaphysical and spiritual layer of the demon heart... The Chaos Flame itself.

As copious amount of black blood poured out of Sunless’ chest, the world began to change.

Badum!

Badum!

BADUM!

BADUM!

The sound of a powerful heartbeat echoed across the world.

The Lesser Demons, Fiends, and unawakened demons fell on their knees with their hands covering their ears.

Thick veins appeared on their faces as they groaned in pain due to the sound of Sunless’ true heartbeat.

A few seconds later, they started screaming in pain.

They were too weak to hear the sound of Sunless’ true heartbeat and the sound of her chaos manifesting into the world.

What many didn’t know was that if not for the Shadow Veil, these demons would have died and even Archfiends would be experiencing the same sort of pain as them.

Lilith looked down at everything with slightly narrowed eyes and a calculating glint.

However, there was no sign of panic or fear in her gaze.

She was calm.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t attack Sunless as she was manifesting her chaos because there was the risk of Sunless exploding if there was interference.

Such an explosion would without a doubt kill Simon and every living thing in the Blackwind Valley, the ravine, and even far beyond this region.

So, she just watched while trying to bring some sort of stability to Simon’s body.

His body... would need to be prepared for what was going to happen next.

As Lilith observed Sunless and the ravine down below, she raised her brow in surprise when she noticed something.

The shadow beneath Sunless’ feet was enlarging.

The shadow crawled across the sky like black ink spilled on a painting. It also crawled across the ground, across broken stones, across shattered trees, across the cliff walls of the ravine, and across every surface that existed in Blackwind Valley.

The world became darker.

Not because night had arrived.

Not because clouds had covered the sky.

But because the light itself was being buried.

Lilith raised her head slightly and looked at the sky.

Above Sunless, the darkness slowly gathered and condensed into a circular shape.

It was a sun... or something that was meant to be similar to it.

A massive black sun slowly formed above Sunless, and around it was a faint pale ring that looked like the final remains of light before it was swallowed by darkness.

The moment the black sun appeared, every shadow in Blackwind Valley trembled... then they began to move.

The shadows of broken trees stretched toward Sunless.

The shadows of stones, corpses, and destroyed buildings flowed toward her like black rivers.

Even the shadows hidden inside cracks in the ground, inside caves, beneath leaves, beneath rocks, and within the ravine of the Shadowgrave Clan were forcefully dragged out.

Lilith’s eyes narrowed slightly, but her gaze was on the demons of the Shadowgrave Clan below.

"Interesting." Lilith said with a slight curl of her lips.

Sunless said nothing.

Her black eyes remained fixed on Lilith, and black blood continued to pour from the wound on her chest where her shadow blade had stabbed through her heart.

However, the black blood did not fall to the ground.

It rose upward.

Drop after drop, the blood floated toward the black sun above her and disappeared into it.

BADUM!

Her heartbeat echoed once again, and this time around, it was much louder.

The entire ravine shook.

The demons inside the Shadowgrave Clan who were already on their knees suddenly froze. Their hands slowly fell from their ears, and the pain on their faces disappeared.

However, what replaced the pain was not relief.

It was emptiness.

Their eyes became blank.

Their expressions became blank.

Their bodies stopped moving.

A demon who had been running away suddenly stopped mid-step with one foot in the air before slowly placing it down.

A demoness who had been carrying a child stopped moving completely, her face expressionless and her eyes dull.

Several beasts that were fleeing through the forest also stopped running. Their claws dug into the ground, their mouths remained slightly opened, and saliva dripped from their fangs, but they did not move.

Even the demonic birds in the sky lost the light in their eyes.

Some of them continued flapping their wings slowly, while others fell from the sky like broken puppets.

The sight of so many demons and demonic beasts freezing like statues was a sight one could rarely forget.

Lilith looked at all of this with a calm but slightly colder gaze.

"Their shadows..."

The shadows of the demons and beasts were leaving them.

They were being pulled out from beneath their feet, from behind their bodies, from underneath their wings and claws, and from every dark corner connected to them.

The moment their shadows left, they became motionless.

They were still alive and were still breathing, but it was as though a part of their will had been taken away.

They became living statues.

This was an ability of Grave Of The Sun.

It was a graveyard where light was buried and all shadows returned to Sunless.

And in the distance, Akaza, Sonya, Merath, and Jorra were also affected.

Their shadows trembled beneath their feet, then stretched toward Sunless.

The moment this happened, Akaza’s expression changed.

His eyes became dull for a split second, and his body slowed down. Sonya also staggered, and Merath’s face turned pale as her consciousness became hazy.

Jorra’s lips parted open slightly, and his shadow stretched out from beneath him like a black rope being pulled.

They were also turning to statues.