The thing pulsed with malevolent energy, actively draining the natural light and power from the true Sun Empress.

Just looking at it sent agony lancing through David's enhanced perception. His eyes watered and burned, his mind felt like it was being flayed, and something deeper, his very soul, recoiled from the wrongness of the entity. Even through his supernatural sight, direct observation was almost unbearable.

Text blazed across his vision with unusual urgency:

[CHAOS RELIC DETECTED]

WARNING: Ancient artifact of unknown origin

Classification: [REDACTED]

Threat Level: [DATA CORRUPTED]

Recommendation: [ACCESS DENIED]

More text appeared, and for the first time, the system's communications seemed almost... excited:

[WARNING: Direct observation not recommended]

[Entity classification exceeds current user clearance]

[Suggest immediate withdrawal]

[Note: Incredible potential detected - recommend future acquisition when user reaches appropriate power level]

Despite the agony, David forced himself to keep looking at the impossible thing. "That's what's holding her."

David walked toward the miniature black sun with calm confidence, his shadow-clad form moving with purpose. Each step was deliberate, commanding, and the independent shadows writhing around him seemed to anticipate his intent.

Standing before the invisible relic, David's voice carried absolute authority:

"Devour."

Eternal Gluttony awakened with ravenous hunger.

But this wasn't the simple absorption he'd used before. The black sun fought back, its chaotic energy clashing against his devouring power in a spectacular magical struggle invisible to normal eyes. Reality warped around the conflict as two fundamental forces, consumption and void, battled for supremacy.

The black sun pulsed with desperate energy, trying to maintain its hold on the Sun Empress. Tendrils of absolute darkness lashed out at David's approaching power, while his ability tore at the relic's very essence. Shadows and void-light spiraled together in a dance of cosmic hunger.

The struggle felt eternal, but lasted only moments.

Finally, David's power overcame the relic's resistance. The miniature black sun was pulled into his being with a sound like reality tearing, like the universe itself screaming in protest.

[RELIC OF CHAOS DEVOURED]

Ancient artifact successfully consumed

CHOICE AVAILABLE: Absorb chaotic essence?

WARNING: High risk - Unknown consequences [Accept] / [Purge]

Before David could even process the choice properly, the world around them began to change.

The sound of shattering glass filled the air as the illusion that had held the Sun Empress for so long finally broke. The six variants of her faded like mirages, reality reasserting itself with violent finality.

Only one figure remained, the Sun Empress seated on her throne.

****

Her eyes, like miniature suns themselves, slowly opened and focused on the chamber around her. For a moment, confusion crossed her divine features as consciousness returned after what must have felt like an eternity of fractured existence.

Her gaze fell on Princess Elyssira first, recognition and relief flooding her expression. Then it shifted to Vespera, noting the ethereal Winter Devil with curiosity. Finally, her eyes settled on David.

The moment she saw his shadow-wreathed form, her expression changed to one of absolute fury.

David realized his mistake too late. To the Sun Empress, awakening to find a figure cloaked in living darkness standing in her sacred chamber, the conclusion was obvious. She saw his Nightveil Embrace, sensed the lingering traces of chaos energy from the devoured relic, and drew the only logical conclusion.

A demon had infiltrated her sanctuary.

Moving faster than light itself, the Sun Empress launched from her throne. Her speed was beyond David's ability to comprehend. One moment she was seated, the next her hand was around his throat, divine fire blazing in her eyes.

David, despite his restored power and shadow armor, was completely helpless against the Sun Empress's divine strength. His Nightveil Embrace offered no protection against solar-blessed might that operated on a completely different tier of existence.

She smashed him from wall to wall like a child throwing a ragdoll. Ancient stone crumbled under the impact as David's body crashed through chamber after chamber, his shadow armor beginning to weaken under constant exposure to her overwhelming solar power.

The Sun Empress didn't stop until they'd burst through the outer palace walls into the morning sunlight. Clouds drifted around them as she held David suspended in the air above the capital, her divine radiance making him visible to every person below.

"DEMON!" her voice rang with divine authority and absolute conviction, echoing across the burning city.

David tried to speak, to explain, but her grip on his throat made speech impossible. His shadow armor continued to deteriorate under the direct sunlight and her overwhelming power. He was utterly outclassed, not just fighting superior strength, but facing divine authority that operated beyond mortal comprehension.

Far below, Princess Elyssira rushed to the broken wall opening. But the moment she was exposed to the outside world, catastrophe struck. Her seer abilities, overwhelmed by the sudden influx of stimuli from the chaotic capital, began reacting to every sight, sound, and magical signature as potential visions.

The sensory overload hit her like magical anaphylactic shock. She coughed up blood and collapsed as Vespera caught her, torn between helping the princess and watching David's apparent doom.

"Princess!" Vespera cried, but Elyssira's condition was deteriorating rapidly. Each stimulus from the outside world triggered cascading visions that her body couldn't handle.

High above, the Sun Empress's power began to build around her clenched fist. Divine fire gathered like a miniature star, preparing to incinerate what she believed was another demonic threat.

"You dare enter my sanctuary wearing the face of shadows?" she snarled, her voice carrying across the entire capital. "You will burn like all the rest of your kind!"

David hung helpless in her grasp, unable to speak or defend himself, while far below a princess lay dying and a city burned in faction warfare. The irony wasn't lost on him, he'd come here to save someone, only to be mistaken for the very evil he'd fought against.

As divine judgment gathered around the Sun Empress's hand, David could only hope that he would come up with something.

The solar fire reached critical mass, ready to reduce him to less than ash.