Before long, the dark portal was completely formed.

"This... this is..."

The nobles of the Dotruu Kingdom stared with shrunken pupils as two small figures slowly emerged from the ominous dark portal.

One held a giant crescent scythe in her left hand, the scythe a full head taller than her, flashing with cold light. Dense shadows swirled around her, her eyes pitch black like icy deep pools, cold and regal.

The other had an almost identical face, except her pupils were pale white. Her small face wore a smile that gave people a bone-deep chill.

Her right hand held a white banner that was a head taller than her, several banner strips moving without wind, ghostly shadows swirling around them in an eerie, terrifying way.

The moment the two girls appeared, the entire royal capital's sky got invaded by shadows. Shadow power drove away sunlight, shrouding everything.

The sudden change made everyone feel as if a huge stone was crushing their hearts, involuntarily holding their breath.

"Who the hell are you?"

Sword Saint Levi, the strongest person present from the Dotruu Kingdom, looked wary, his beard flying as he pointed his sword at the two girls in the dark sky, ready to attack at any second.

One voice cold as ice, the other smiling yet bone-chilling, slowly drifted down from high above:

"We are the twins born of shadow!"

"The destroyers of Shadow Hall!"

"The inheritors of the Shadow Realm!"

"Today, with the death of the Dotruu King, we announce our arrival in this world!"

The arrogant voice clearly reached everyone's ears in the palace. The nobles were all pissed off, and Sword Saint Levi couldn't control the rage in his heart as surging fighting spirit exploded:

"Whether you're Shadow Hall or Shadow Realm!

Having pulled such crap, this old man will bury you completely!"

As soon as he finished speaking, with a bang, Sword Saint Levi pushed off from the ground. His entire body shot up like a sharp arrow, directly targeting the Shadow Twins.

The fighting spirit gushing from his greatsword spun and exploded rapidly like a tornado, stirring the shadows as if it could rip the sky apart in the next second.

Facing Sword Saint Levi's full-power attack, the Shadow Twins high in the sky showed no change in expression and even had the leisure to chat.

"Sister, the old man is mad."

"Send him back to the great shadow, and he won't be mad anymore."

The sister among the Shadow Twins suddenly swung her crescent scythe. Instantly, terrible shadow power gathered into a pitch-black crescent that slammed into Sword Saint Levi.

Boom!

Air waves rolled. Sword Saint Levi ate this hit hard, then accelerated again in mid-air, rapidly closing in with violent fighting spirit surging.

Seeing this, the younger sister among the Shadow Twins smiled and gently waved her white banner. Several banner strips moved without wind, and tons of black shadows poured out from the white banner, charging at Sword Saint Levi.

What the hell were these things?

Sword Saint Levi cut several black shadows in half with one sword strike, but immediately more shadows attacked, seemingly endless...

While the Sword Saint battled the Shadow Twins, most nobles had already bailed.

Sword Saint-level combat was way beyond most nobles' ability to mess with. Only a few bigshot nobles loyal to the royal family remained, hoping to help.

Compared to the battle in the square, the king's life or death was even more critical.

The moment the king was attacked, the royal faction immediately hauled him away, retreating to the depths of the inner palace for treatment.

"Doctor, how's father's condition?"

The prince's eyes were bloodshot. When the doctor finished his diagnosis, he was the first to rush up, asking urgently.

The doctor was sweating bullets.

"Your Highness, this strange shadow spear that pierced His Majesty's heart is constantly eating away at His Majesty's life force. To save His Majesty, the shadow spear has got to come out.

But given the current situation, if we don't remove it, His Majesty can hang on for some time. Once we remove it, I'm afraid His Majesty will..."

The prince's expression was ugly, but his eyes couldn't hide his excitement.

"If that's how it is, then let father peacefully walk his final journey."

With a sigh, the prince looked around, his brow furrowing as he angrily demanded:

"Where the hell is Boli?"

"The... the second prince didn't retreat back with us..."

One of the prince's lackeys responded.

"Go find him!"

The prince's expression changed. With success so close, he absolutely wouldn't allow any screw-ups.

Though the old man had been taken out by Shadow Hall according to plan and everything was settled, his sneaky brother had probably smelled something fishy. The hidden danger had to be eliminated too!

"Yes!"

...

Outside the palace, a carriage hauled ass at high speed.

Inside the carriage, the second prince looked through the window at the shadow-shrouded palace, his eyes full of gloom:

"How could the old hunter get taken down so easily by the demon wolf? This doesn't add up. I need to wait and see..."

...

In the highest building of the palace, the clock tower's upper room, Princess Taff sat alone by the window with a perfect view of everything in the palace.

"Father, rest in peace."

Her face flushed red as she watched the carriage that had become a black dot, slowly savoring the fresh blood in her goblet.

"Poor, cowardly Boli, how will you fight against the brutal Noo?"

She would stay here until the second act kicked off...

...

In the first dark mist layer, ice valley fortress, Carlos received Ginya's soul message.

It had successfully wrapped up the mission, but the Dotruu Kingdom's king had been assassinated and was in deep shit. It requested instructions.

'The rebellion came early?'

Carlos didn't give a damn. As long as they got the Ersbah ancient gold coins, the chaos in the Dotruu Kingdom's royal family and whoever ultimately claimed the throne didn't matter.

But Ginya's mention at the end of twins emerging from the dark portal caught Carlos's full attention.

Their self-proclaimed titles, their displayed power—why did they seem so much like the Shadow Twins from the original timeline?

Carlos's expression shifted slightly as he formed a suspicion.

They were probably really the twins who had vanished from the Valois mansion. He immediately ordered:

"Ginya, find a chance to capture them and bring them back.

If it's not doable, get the hell out immediately."

If they really were the Shadow Twins, he didn't know what level their power had reached or whether they'd fallen like in the original timeline.

With so many unknowns, Carlos inevitably worried that one retainer's power might not be enough to take them down.

"Calling themselves the destroyers of Shadow Hall...

The inheritors of the Shadow Realm..."

Carlos mulled it over.

The Shadow Twins' power display indeed had extremely high similarity to Shadow Hall.

In his memory, the Shadow Realm was incredibly mysterious with very little official intel available. Records about it were just a few scattered lines.

Players had speculated that the boss Shadow Twins had most likely originally been born in the Shadow Realm, only to get corrupted by dark mist aura and go off their destined path.

Shadow Hall had popped up suddenly many years after the Shadow Realm's destruction, supposedly having gotten their hands on the Shadow Realm's legacy.

Their methods and power systems were extremely similar to the recorded Shadow Realm, once considered the Shadow Realm's inheritors.

"Most likely they haven't fallen, but have stepped up to their true destiny."

Carlos was deep in thought.

But why attack a human king?

What hidden circumstances were involved?

All of this needed to be figured out...