051: Madness Enigma

A solid Sun Scepter forged from pure gold could genuinely cave in a person's skull if swung with force.

Don casually scraped it across the floor. Without channeling any spirituality, purely through physical force, the gray-black stone tiles instantly bore an extremely deep gouge.

There was no sense of resistance or drag whatsoever.

"Even without spiritual enhancement, its physical properties alone are maxed out."

Moreover, merely taking it out from the 'Artisan' module did not trigger the Sun Floating Upward effect.

So the negative effect must only manifest when spirituality is injected to activate the 'Black Sun Light'.

"'Sun Floating Upward'… this 'Sun' is likely just a metaphor… The Eternal Blazing Sun? Doesn't seem right. A mystical item fused from all five pathways of the Omniscient and Omnipotent couldn't solely represent the Sun pathway."

So the most probable explanation is a fragment of the will of the Ancient Sun God.

Of course, it could also be the one who awoke upon the Ancient Sun God, the entity equivalent to The Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings.

Occupying the position closest to that above the True Gods, Its influence over the pathways It corresponds to is terrifying.

So, which one is it?

Don slowly channeled his spirituality into the scepter.

Since the system claimed there would be no problem, it likely meant the system itself could counteract the influence of the partially reviving will within the mystical item once.

So, let him see what this 'Sun Rises' truly was.

As spirituality poured in, the floating distorted triangle and the symbol representing the sun on the Sun Scepter simultaneously ignited with a black light.

Black—the innate impurity, depravity, and distortion welling up from within. The most unspeakable parts of the mind were stripped bare. Monstrous entities would be born from negative emotions like self-destruction, fear, and madness… This maddening spiritual premonition made even the wielder shudder involuntarily.

Centered on the scepter, black radiance emanated from the sun symbol.

It was a light utterly unlike the dazzling, warmth-bringing sunlight.

Humans can see colorful objects in a lit environment because sunlight strikes surfaces, and part of that light is reflected into the eyes, creating the colors discernible to human vision.

Black is what absorbs light infinitely and reflects nothing.

'Black Sun Light'—it robbed vision… no, it was more than that.

As the user, Don looked towards the sky, which still retained some color from his perspective.

The sun in the sky, which should have been mere illusion, turned black.

"It's a solar eclipse." When the Sun Scepter was activated, the sun closed its eyes.

The sun became black, icy cold, as if it were merely a colossal sphere hanging in the air, nothing more.

The surrounding light vanished, as if the very existence of light itself had been stripped away. The only remaining 'light source' was the Sun Scepter in Don's hand.

It had replaced the 'Sun'! Emitting light!

Without exception, everything illuminated by this 'sunlight' lost its specific colors. All objects seemed irradiated by an even thicker darkness, devoid of any warmth, instead inducing chills and an intense, bone-deep cold.

The viscous, icy hues could trigger an instinctive fear response in humans, a desperate urge to flee.

"This is the Beyonder ability of the Spectator pathway."

Depravity, sunlight, the inner mind—the abilities of the three demigod-level Beyonder characteristics were all manifesting at this moment.

The Ring of the Curator's ring on Don's left pinky finger grew slightly warm.

Through the perspective of the marionettes within the theater, he saw that a radius of nearly a hundred meters centered on himself was engulfed in a thick, pervasive blackness.

It wasn't pure darkness; it was the all-devouring 'Black Sun Light'.

If not for the Theater Core's suppression, isolating this area, the light-speed propagation would have affected the entire theater.

The Theater With Curtains That Never Draw itself might not fear a mystical item merely synthesized from Sequence 4 characteristics, but the marionettes were another matter!

A marionette, obeying a command, stepped forward into this domain-like Black Solar Light.

Then, something appeared behind the marionette.

Was that… a shadow?

From Don's perspective, a shadow appeared behind the marionette, just as it would under normal sunlight.

But now, the shadow, 'came alive'.

Before Don could fully process this, the marionette collapsed.

The Theater Core actively relinquished control over the Spirit Body Threads of these marionettes. The shadow, however, did not fall with the marionette's collapse from the moment it appeared.

It swiftly possessed the fallen marionette. Simultaneously, the marionettes' bodies became coated in a thicker, black substance.

Like… petroleum?

[Warning! The Sun is about to Rise!!]

This time, Don heard genuine panic in the system's voice.

Something was surging up through the Sun Scepter, bubbling outwards.

The Sun Scepter now resembled a straw stuck into a drink, and something was being sucked up through it!

[Sun… sun… it… He&￥&）——]

Like a speaker exploding beside his ear, the distorted static instantly crashed Don's mind.

He instinctively tightened his grip on the Sun Scepter, but the sensation was bizarre.

Don 'instinctively' looked down. His spiritual intuition didn't even react to the immense danger of this action.

He saw his hand covered in thick, black… petroleum?

[Warning&*%& Contamination%￥￥ Disinfection initiated——]

The system's voice was warped beyond recognition, fragmented.

Then, Don's spirit body was forcibly ejected from his physical form.

The entire theater trembled. The black curtain enveloping the theater, unnoticed until now, had a corner silently stained by the 'petroleum'.

The Theater Core pulsed frantically. The marionettes abandoned their current directives; their Spirit Body Threads were seized entirely by the Theater Core. Then, immense repulsive force surged, attempting to expel Don's body and the Sun Scepter together from the theater!

This is what you called no problem?!

Don didn't even get a chance to question the system. His spirit body was directly expelled from his physical shell, while the system remained inside the body. Then he 'saw' that the sun symbol on the Sun Scepter now resembled a conduit opened to an abyss, spewing forth endless black substance.

That was...

The Chaos Sea?!

Countless fragments of knowledge flooded his mind. Those mad, twisted pieces of knowledge from the Olden Days instantly made him understand what was surging upwards.

It was more terrifying than the revival of the Ancient Sun God's will, more horrifying than the awakening of God Almighty's consciousness—this was an invasion at the level of… Sefirot!

This 'Sun' metaphor referred to Sefirot! 'Rises' meant it was surging upwards! It was erupting into the real world!

[Contamination detected. Hostility confirmed. Immediate termination authorized.]

The system's voice rang out again at this moment!

Devoid of static now, compared to its usual cheeky, roguish tone, this voice was utterly calm, flat and devoid of any inflection.

As if its core had suddenly been replaced.

Don 'saw' again that among the densely packed inscriptions covering the Sun Scepter, countless mystical symbols surged forth.

These symbols seemed like living entities. Each symbol represented an origin, bore the weight of a civilization, recorded countless fragments of information scattered within the torrent of history!

It was knowledge so terrifying that interpreting even a single character could utterly shatter a high-sequence Beyonder!

That was the Madness Knowledge

(End of Chapter)