King of Dawn and Dusk

In the clearing of the Black Forest, the treeless patch of land was bright with moonlight.

Cecia collapsed to the ground covered in blood, gasping heavily for air, her back completely soaked through. Strands of hair clung to her forehead, and blood gushed in spurts from her arm, where an artery had been severed by a Night Wolf, revealing grim glimpses of white bone within the mangled flesh.

Fortunately, Cecia had brought bandages and awkwardly tended to her injuries. Still, one of her arms was as good as ruined for tonight. Wounded as she was, Cecia couldn't drag even a single Night Wolf, so she decided to offer them all as sacrifices.

Ever since she transmigrated, this skill had been present in her mind, clearly connected to certain secrets of the 【Sun】.

Cecia had researched other rituals; sacrifices to deities were always exceedingly complex. Within human churches, rituals to pray for a goddess's blessing often required intricate rites, tedious etiquette, and sufficient spiritual materials. Firewood burned, candles flickered around a church at midnight... Even rituals to sacrifice to evil gods were usually elaborate. In the tales of bards, summoning a fiend god controlling flesh and slaughter required seventeen hearts carved with names, seventeen feathered serpent tails, seventeen two-headed bird wings... seventeen kinds of spiritual items in total.

Yet the 【Burnt Offering】 in Cecia's mind was remarkably simple: draw a magic circle, place the sacrifices on it, and finish with a drop of blood.

The magic circle required no specific medium, so Cecia simply picked up a branch and drew it on the forest clearing. She then dragged the three Night Wolves onto the magic circle and dripped a drop of her blood onto it.

The dark-gold magic circle flared into flames, consuming the carcasses of the Night Wolves. Fragments of whispers resonated through the dark night as spirituality and mana used Cecia as a bridge, ascending toward the void in the night sky.

Cecia's consciousness began to fade, and everything around her collapsed.

Her soul drifted into the distance, floating upward from an ocean of black chaos. Stars echoed to one another, creating twisted, strange, and indescribable sights before her eyes. Cecia kept drifting higher, ascending beyond the stars where space itself warped and overlapped in infinite layers, surrounded by boundless horrors and entities far more abominable than the depths of the Abyss.

There hung a bright moon—or rather, the Great Yin, the polar opposite of the sun. The grand Great Yin hung high in the heavens, burning with radiant light...

Yet in stark contrast to this sight, a system notification suddenly popped up before her eyes, causing her pupils to dilate.

【Deity attempting to acquire location information detected】

【Interception initiated】

【Interception failed】

【Active ritual detected...】

【Re-attempting interception... Interception failed...】

【...】

【You are being watched by a deity】

【...】

【It reveals its identity.】

【The entity watching you is the Shadow of the Sun, fused with the remains of the Blazing Sun... the newborn God of Sun and Moon!】

【Descending now】

A star was rising in that infinite cosmos, clinging closely to the burning moon. Rather than a star, it was more like a tiny ball of fire. The moon seemed joyful, gently trying to reach out and touch it while fearing it might extinguish the flame, like a child coming across a favorite toy—tender and affectionate... Cecia vaguely felt that the entity was so well-behaved and quiet. She almost wanted to... pat its head?

Her consciousness returned to reality. The sacrifices had been completely consumed by the deity. Yet above the ashes, a phantom figure materialized. It possessed absolute beauty—a sublime appearance Cecia couldn't possibly describe.

Its illusionary shadow embraced Cecia tightly, burying its face into Cecia's chest like a child. Its body quivered with soft, weeping sobs, its face streaked with tears, as if it were holding the entire world...

From the depths of her soul came a feeble whisper, weak and faint: "Forgive me... please temporarily serve as my Saintess..."

The voice paused for a moment, as though pondering the most fundamental concept, before uttering a precise, primal word: "Mama..."

"The shadow's burning requires more... firewood. The rekindling of the Blazing Sun cannot be done overnight."

As the weak murmur faded, the phantom before her vanished. Having confirmed her identity, the weakened deity generously bestowed further blessings upon Cecia.

【Saintess invitation... High risk detected. Rejected... Target shows no malice... Re-evaluating】

【Shares common origin】

【Re-evaluating... Accessing 'Ouroboros Library'】

【Authority possessed by host detected to be interdependent with target】

【Authority... Evaluating... Approved】

Next, Cecia's status panel began to distort—

【Fireball Lv. 2 → Lv. 3 (1/2000)】

【Aegis of Light Lv. 2 → Lv. 3 (1/2000)】

Obtained Divine Protection 【Favored of the Dark Night】 and 【Protection of the Blazing Sun】

Obtained new skill 【Shadow Moon】

The powerful effects and surging energy caused the already exhausted Cecia to collapse onto the ground. The information overload tonight was truly overwhelming. The legendary deity, 【Shadow of the Sun】—no, it should be called the 【King of Dawn and Dusk】 now—that lofty god had actually called her "Mama."

In other words, the "Sun" in her class column on the status panel was... literally the Sun. The Blazing Sun that once traversed the heavens had fallen in that grand war long ago. The sun currently traversing the sky was its daughter, who had inherited a portion of her mother's legacy to keep the world functioning.

The name 【Shadow of the Sun】 was famous throughout the Kingdom of Madoria. Born from the dark side of the sun, the Shadow of the Sun was later corrupted by the Abyss into an evil god, worshipped by the Abyss Cult. When the emperor of the former empire purged the Abyss Cult, he severely damaged the Abyss and dealt with the 【Shadow of the Sun】 along the way.

Whether due to mother-daughter affection or something else, the Shadow of the Sun had actually obtained the remains of the Blazing Sun and become a newborn god. Moreover, most of the Blazing Sun's authority was still held by Cecia...

A newborn god struggling to maintain the world's operation, turning day to night and keeping the elements flowing... Working 24/7 at such a young age, having never seen its mother, and even crying like a babe...

Sorting through the information in her mind, Cecia couldn't help but find it ridiculous. Twisting her body, she climbed up a tree and checked her status panel to see if becoming a Saintess came with any perks.

Skipping the level increases for Fireball and Aegis of Light for now, her gaze shifted to the skill 【Shadow Moon Lv. 3 (1/2000)】—the 【King of Dawn and Dusk】 had generously granted a very high proficiency. Its effect was to conceal Cecia's exposed aura, including the Abyssal fluctuations on her body and her affinity for the light and fire elements—auras that had previously driven Abyssal creatures mad, causing them to rush out from the depths of the Black Forest specifically to attack her. This skill was practically tailor-made for Cecia!

What a thoughtful deity. Could the 【King of Dawn and Dusk】 actually be a white-haired, red-eyed loli mama? Cecia let her mind wander.

However, what made this skill even more powerful was that it reduced her presence passively without requiring her to consciously maintain it. Activating it boosted her movement speed, allowing her to quickly disengage from the battlefield—a truly fantastic spell for fleeing!

There were also two divine protections. 【Favored of the Dark Night】: At night, your presence is further lowered, granting night vision and slow mental energy recovery under moonlight, giving you increased stamina. 【Protection of the Blazing Sun】: During the day, your strength increases, granting a boost to strength and endurance, along with slow health regeneration under sunlight, giving you increased courage.

Cecia couldn't help but wonder: What would happen at dusk when the sun and moon were present at the same time?

Having rested enough, Cecia pushed up her exhausted body. After all, this forest was still affected by Abyss Erosion, so she had to leave. Every limb and bone in her body ached from overexertion, causing her to limp as she walked.

Cecia moved under the moonlight as mottled tree shadows swayed in the evening breeze.