Watching him, Jack's father spoke.
"It was our family's duty to defeat the Niles Radcliffe.
"However, we were too weak to do that."
"The burden that had been shackling our family for hundreds of years has finally disappeared.
"It's all because of you.
"This spell is our family heirloom. Please accept it as our thanks."
Neo looked at the book.
He picked it up and flipped through the pages.
The pages were filled with theoretical knowledge, subshell diagrams, and extra notes for detailed explanation.
"Our ancestor made this Spell.
"Since then, every generation's patriarch has made slight changes to the Spell and continued to improve it."
"You can take it without worrying that it will be useless.
"It's a Terror-ranked spell: Black Dawn of Despair."
Neo looked at Jack's father.
Although he didn't say it outright, his words were obvious enough.
"Indeed, our family heirloom is a Terror-ranked spell.
"Yes, it's a powerful spell, but the user needs to have high mastery in the Darkness element to use it.
"None of our clan members could achieve it except the originator of the Hanma Bloodline, Nyx Hanma.
"And since it would've caused great turmoil if others knew we had a Terror-ranked spell, we kept the news hidden until now."
He read the Spell details written in the book.
Temporarily turns day into night, enhancing the power of darkness-based allies, inducing madness and causing spiritual damage to enemies.
'…Turn day into night?'
The description was astounding.
Neo knew it was something to be expected from Terror-ranked spells.
"Thank you," Neo said and took the Spell book.
"You don't need to thank us, Sir Divine Ruler. It's us who are in your debt.
"If you need anything else, please do not hesitate to question us."
"There is something I'd like to know."
"Why didn't the patriarch of the Hanma Bloodline defeat the Necromancer before he ascended to Godhood?"
Jack's father stared at Neo for a few seconds.
His fierce gaze bore holes into Neo, and he sighed a few seconds later.
"Our progenitor was a woman.
"Only a bit of time had passed when the Necromancer was sealed and she became a God.
"In fact, our matriarch was one of the first Awakeners to become a God.
"She attained Godhood before Great God Zeus and Great God Poseidon, even before the Akashic Records were created."
Neo could feel the pride behind Jack father's words as he explained the details.
"In the Age of Gods, the world was going through an upheaval.
"Our matriarch, Nyx, was one of the pillars who defended the world.
"She didn't have time to unseal and defeat the Necromancer when worse threats were threatening the peace," Jack's father said.
"Why didn't she do it when the peace returned? Because she had ascended?"
"No, it's because she was dead."
Jack, who was sitting on the side, suddenly sighed.
Jack's father glared at him, forcing Jack to look away.
The man clicked his tongue and turned to Neo.
"Our matriarch died before the Akashic Record was created.
"There is no proof of any of her great deeds.
"Everything I've told you is an oral record that has been passed through our family."
During the Age of Gods, cities were destroyed almost every day.
There was no way any written piece of information could've survived the aftermath of the battles that happened between Awakeners endlessly.
The only exception was the Akashic Record.
Akashic Record, the compendium of all knowledge, was Eternal.
Anything written in it could never be destroyed.
It was why the Akashic Record was called Hope.
The discussion continued.
Jack and Neo left the Hanma Mansion few hours later.
"Your parents are nice," Neo said.
"I know," Jack muttered, "but my old man talks too much."
Neo kept his thoughts to himself.
The two took another bullet train to Solivara City.
On the way, Jack kept looking at his device nervously.
"They are calling me."
He smiled bitterly and showed Neo the screen.
"The cat is out of the bag.
"They know I'm trying to help you enter the World of Shadows."
Jack wanted to cry when he heard Neo's uninterested answer.
Felix was going to skin Jack alive for doing exactly what she had told him not to do, and Neo, whom Jack was helping, had no intention of saving Jack.
Arriving at Solivara City, the two took a taxi for Oryanthar's south-side sector.
There, a Shadow Window had appeared two days ago.
"Did you book that Window?" Jack questioned.
Neo muttered as he stared at his own device.
Neo let out a helpless smile.
Henry knew where he was.
"So…" Jack dragged his words. "I'm pretty sure the association's rule is that only a party of 5 demigods or more is supposed to enter the Window.
"Where are the rest of the people?"
"They will come a few hours later. I have bribed them."
Neo had joined a temporary adventurer team at Sir Sebastian's recommendation.
Since they worked under his family, he could order them as he wished.
Neo and Jack entered the Window.
Jack winced when he felt the overwhelming amount of Shadow elementals in the air.
"What's the plan now?" Jack questioned.
"We'll find a Corner, and you will use your [Key] to widen the Corner and open a passage to the World of Shadows."
"What about the Window? If we don't close it, the Shadow monsters will invade our world."
"The adventurer team I'm affiliated with will close the Window a few hours later from now."
The duo scoured the Window and searched for the Corners.
Be it Neo's luck or coincidence, they found the Corner only after reaching Depth Level 5, the deepest part of the Window.
"We ended up defeating the Shadow monsters on our own," Jack said.
He sat on the ground, tired.
His limbs were sprawled, and his chest heaved up and down unevenly.
The two were only a few meters away from the Corner.
"We should rest for some time and recover our Divine Energy before entering the Shadow World," Jack said in between his gasps.
"Elemental Worlds don't have pure Divine Energy.
"They have only elemental Divine Energy.
"You know what that means right?
"The World of Shadows will have only Shadow element-infused Divine Energy present inside it.
"Neo, you won't be able to recover any Divine Energy you spend inside the World of Shadows, since there won't be any pure Divine Energy for you to absorb."
Jack's expression worsened as he talked.
Saying those words was making him realize they were doing something completely batshit.
"I can absorb the Shadow element-infused Divine Energy since I have awakened my Shadow element," Jack explained. "Besides, Shadow element can mimic other elements.
"What I'm trying to say is, I can use mimic elements.
"My combat ability will be more or less the same inside the World of Shadows.
"But it will be different for you since you can't absorb Shadow element Divine Energy."
"Don't worry about it," Neo said. "I've brought elixirs."
"That's not really helpful.
"You can use one elixir only once every 12 hours.
"That's the same as saying for every twelve hours you can go all out only once, or you'll risk emptying your Divine Energy pool."
While it was true a large portion of his Divine Energy was being used to nourish the Hell inside him, he still had an overwhelmingly large reservoir of Divine Energy.
He wouldn't – shouldn't – have any problem inside the World of Shadows.
"I've rested enough. Let's go."
Jack sprang to his feet.
He turned to the Corner.
The crack in the space was as unnerving as ever.
He stood next to it and closed his eyes.
Black lines, similar to circuitry diagrams, appeared on his hands.
His palms hovered above the Corner.
Beads of sweat rolled down his cheek.
For a moment, nothing happened, then shadows suddenly sprang from within the Corner and engulfed them—
His head throbbed painfully.
He sat up, looking around.
Floor made of black tiles and an endless dark sky.
"This is not the World of Shadows," he muttered.
"You are correct, Neo Hargraves."
He snapped his head towards the source of the sound.
The life-sized cloth doll standing in front of him bowed.
"Welcome, Neo Hargraves.
"I'm A #22, a Gatekeeper of the World of Treacherous Shadows."
It stared at him in the eye.
The doll's lifeless eyes and unmoving lips were unnerving.
"Where is my friend?"
"I presume you are talking about Jack Hanma who entered from the same passage as you?"
The doll nodded in understanding.