Darkness.
Not ordinary darkness, but the kind that felt alive—heavy, sticky, and clinging to my soul as though refusing to let me slip away.
I hung suspended in it, half-conscious, half-dead, when the memories of my final moments flashed like shattered glass.
The betrayal.The blade.The agony.The curse that ended my unstoppable reign.
I, Azeroth Nightfall, the terror of the continent, the greatest shadow monarch to ever exist, had fallen to a coalition of heroes—righteous idiots who screamed about justice while stabbing me in the back. Literally.
I remembered the pain.I remembered the fire.I remembered the humans cheering as I turned to ash.
And now… this void.
Was this death? Eternal limbo? A cosmic joke?
Then a sound echoed through the darkness—a chime, crisp and mechanical like a bell made of data.
Ding!
A line of glowing blue text ripped open through the void.
[Shadow Emperor System initializing…][Reincarnation successful.][Selecting vessel: 99.9% compatibility.][Welcome back, Your Malevolence.]
I blinked.
"…system?"
The void cracked like glass. Light spilled through, blinding and warm. I felt weight again, the sensation of limbs, breath filling lungs, the pounding of a newly-functioning heart.
And then—
I was born.
Literally.
My eyes flew open to the sight of a wooden ceiling. A stone wall. A rough blanket. A musty smell.
My body was tiny. Weak. Frail.
A voice screamed nearby.
"He's awake! The disgrace is awake!"
Charming.
I tried to sit up and nearly fell off the cot. My head throbbed as a tide of memories slammed into me—memories of the body's previous owner.
Azeroth Nightfall, once the Emperor of Shadows, had been reincarnated into…
…a twelve-year-old bastard son of a minor noble family, despised, bullied, beaten, and forgotten.
Perfect.
My lips curled into an involuntary smile. "Oh, this will be fun."
Another ding popped into view.
[Tutorial: Your new body was previously beaten unconscious for 'existing.'][Would you like to take petty revenge?][Yes / Absolutely Yes]
I snorted. "Absolutely yes."
The system chimed happily, like a murderous fairy granting wishes.
[Activating Shadow Core Lv. 1][Skill Unlocked: Shadow Extraction][Skill Unlocked: Raise Lesser Shadow]
A cold sensation surged through me, pooling beneath the old wooden bed. The shadows quivered in response to my will, instinctually obeying.
The room's door burst open.
Three boys stomped in—arrogant brats from the estate. Their leader, a blond buffoon named Gareth, smirked.
"Well, well. The useless bastard woke up. Looks like we get to practice punching again."
His two cronies cracked their knuckles in anticipation.
The old Azeroth—the weak, miserable child—would have trembled.
But I was back.
I sat calmly, smiling. "Before you begin, could you do me a favor?"
They blinked.
"…what?"
"Die."
Their expressions froze.
A snap of my fingers. Shadows surged like liquid obsidian. Three dark tendrils shot from beneath the bed and wrapped around their throats, lifting them into the air.
They kicked and clawed, eyes bulging.
I tilted my head. "You know… I was planning something elaborate. Torture, humiliation, poetic irony. But then I remembered—I'm on a time limit."
"G—ghh—!"
Ah, the sweet sound of a bully choking.
The shadows tightened, and—
Crack.
Three bodies dropped to the floor.
Dead.
The room fell silent but for the calm beating of my borrowed heart.
Another ding chimed.
[Corpses detected.][Would you like to raise them as shadows?][Yes / Yes]
Shadows pooled around the corpses like a hungry tide.
"Rise."
The three bodies twitched, then slowly stood, eyes now glowing with faint purple fire. No breath. No heartbeat. Utterly loyal.
My first shadows in this world.
Beautiful.
I leaned back on the bed. "Let's begin my second conquest, shall we?"
A window popped open.
[Main Quest: Become the most feared existence in the world.]Reward: System Evolution, Shadow Domain, Unlimited Power]