"...That legacy belongs to the Ash King."

The Relic's words continued to echo inside Surya’s head. He stared down at the Soul Sigil on his palm, which had transformed yet again. Beside the closed-eye emblem, a small, black crown had emerged, radiating a faint luminescence.

The Ash King.

The name sounded entirely foreign to him. Yet for some reason, upon hearing it, Surya’s chest grew tight—as though his body remembered something his mind was no longer capable of recalling.

"What is the Ash King, exactly?" he asked quietly.

The Relic remained silent for a long moment before offering a brief reply.

"It is not yet time for you to know everything."

Surya let out a soft huff. "You always answer like that."

The Relic offered no further response.

The journey resumed.

After leaving the Inverted Ocean behind, the landscape shifted drastically. The barren wastelands slowly gave way to a straight black stone road that stretched endlessly toward the horizon.

Along both sides of the path stood colossal statues weathered and eroded by time. Each depicted a cloaked human figure with its head bowed. Every single statue was faceless, as though intentionally battered away.

"Who built all this?" Dimas muttered.

Surya studied the carvings at the base of one of the statues. The script was nearly worn away, yet a single sentence remained legible:

"...let not history remember his name..."

Surya furrowed his brow. "More warnings..."

The Shadow World felt choked with the remnants of a civilization that had deliberately erased its own past.

The farther they walked, the deeper the silence grew. The strangest part was that they no longer encountered any monsters. Previously, creatures had attacked them almost every few minutes.

"It's way too quiet." Mr. Yusuf clutched his makeshift wooden staff tightly. "Honestly, this makes me even more nervous."

Surya nodded, sharing the exact same foreboding instinct. Silence was often far more dangerous than open combat.

About an hour later, a thin, grayish-black mist began to roll in, biting with an intense chill. They pushed forward through the fog until a faint, steady glow appeared in the distance.

"Look..." Rina pointed ahead.

The silhouette of city walls slowly emerged from the mist. Unlike the dead expanse of the Stone City, this metropolis appeared completely intact. Its walls were towering, its gates stood solid, and pulsing blue lights illuminated the entire perimeter.

"Are there actually people here?" Dimas could barely believe his eyes.

They quickened their pace. As they drew closer, Surya noticed an eerie anomaly: the sky above the city was noticeably darker than anywhere else. He tilted his head back. There was no sun. No moon. Only a shroud of frozen, suffocating darkness.

"This place..." The Relic finally spoke up. "The City Without a Sun."

"Why is it called that?"

"Because light has never once managed to enter this place."

The city gates stood wide open, yet no guards manned the entrance. Surya stepped inside cautiously.

The streets bustled with multi-story stone architecture. Eternal blue torches burned brightly along every corner. Markets. Homes. Watchtowers. Everything looked vibrantly alive.

And... for the first time since arriving in the Shadow World, they laid eyes on actual human beings.

Dozens of people milled about. Some carried weapons; others wore black armor. Some traded goods, while others practiced combat drills. Yet not a single person batted an eye at the arrival of Surya and his ragged group. As though new survivors stumbling into the city was a routine occurrence.

"We actually made it..." Rina choked back a sob.

Surya, however, grew only more alert. Places that were entirely too peaceful usually harbored secrets of a much deadlier magnitude.

"Stop right there."

A cold voice cut through the air from ahead. A squad of men and women dressed in matching black uniforms approached, numbering around twenty in total. Each wielded a spear tipped with a glowing red crystal.

What stood out most was their Soul Sigils, which pulsed with far greater complexity than Surya's.

A man in his early thirties stepped to the front, his gaze sharp. "New survivors?"

Surya nodded. "Yeah."

"Come with us."

"Hold on a second." Surya didn't budge. "Who are you guys?"

The man offered a faint, thin smile. "Fair enough. At least you still have the guts to ask." He pointed to a black circular emblem stamped across the chest of his armor. "The Twilight Vanguard."

"We protect the City Without a Sun."

Mr. Yusuf let out a long breath of relief. "Thank goodness..."

Yet Surya refused to let his guard down. "Are we going to be harmed?"

The man chuckled. "If we wanted you dead... you'd have been corpses the moment you stepped past the gate."

The logic was airtight, leaving everyone speechless. If this organization truly harbored hostile intentions, they stood zero chance of survival.

Minutes later, they were escorted toward the city center. A black fortress, nearly the scale of a palace, towered over the district, surrounded by hundreds of patrolling guards. Each soldier radiated an aura far more overwhelming than any monster Surya had faced thus far.

Dimas whispered under his breath, "These people... they're insanely strong."

Surya nodded. He wasn't even sure he could beat a single one of them in a fight. This faction was vastly more terrifying than he could have ever imagined.

They finally stepped inside the grand hall of the fortress. The chamber was vast, flanked by towering black pillars. At the far end rested an empty stone throne.

Instead, an elderly man stood gazing out a massive window. His hair was stark white, his frame tall, draped in a long black coat. Despite his advanced age, the sheer weight of his presence made the air in the room feel heavy.

The old man slowly turned around. His gaze swept across the survivors. One by one. Until finally... his eyes locked onto Surya.

For a beat, the old man froze. His calm eyes suddenly widened. His breath hitched in his throat.

The reaction lasted barely a few seconds. But Surya caught it clearly. The old man was... shocked. Profoundly shocked.

"Commander," the black-uniformed man saluted. "We found a new group of survivors."

The old man didn't reply. His gaze remained pinned to Surya. Then, he began to walk forward. Slowly. Step by step. Until he stood directly in front of Surya.

Absolute silence filled the chamber. The vanguard members stared at their leader in utter confusion.

The old man raised a hand slowly—not to strike, but to touch the Soul Sigil on Surya’s palm. The moment his fingers brushed the black crown emblem etched within, the old man's face drained of color. His lips trembled, as though he had just laid eyes on something that defied all laws of existence.

With a quiet, trembling voice heavy with disbelief, he whispered:

“...impossible.”

Surya frowned. "What do you mean?"

The old man stared straight into his eyes—a gaze flooded with profound disbelief—before uttering a single sentence that froze the entire hall solid:

"I know you."