Still on Sunday evening, Zaboru arrived at the ZAGE campus. He let out a long sigh the moment he stepped into his office—part exhaustion, part relief—but his eyes were bright. Early Month was always a small festival in the industry now. There were plenty of third-party titles launching on ZAGE ZEPS 3, and Sonaya had stacked its own release calendar as well for their Game Station.
It wasn't an accident. Everyone in the video game industry had learned ZAGE's rhythm. ZAGE liked to drop their biggest games at the end of the month, like a hammer—clean, decisive, and impossible to ignore. So other publishers adjusted. They aimed for early-month and mid-month windows to avoid getting crushed by ZAGE's shadow.
Some companies were subtle about it. Others were shameless.
A few would even rush their marketing a week earlier than planned just to make sure their trailers and magazine ads hit the public before ZAGE's next announcement swallowed the conversation.
And the funniest part was that players had started noticing the pattern too.
If the first half of the month looked crowded, fans would joke that the industry was "running before ZAGE wakes up." If the middle of the month went quiet, people would whisper that something big was coming, because silence usually meant everyone was afraid.
Zaboru knew why it worked: ZAGE POWER.
ZAGE POWER Magazine was released monthly, and it wasn't just a ZAGE Games magazine anymore. It had become a signal flare. It teased what ZAGE was doing next month—sometimes in bold previews, sometimes in playful hints, sometimes in carefully written "rumors" that were obviously true. If ZAGE wasn't releasing a major game in a certain month, developers could breathe.
They'd still compete with each other, of course.
But at least they wouldn't be competing with a tidal wave.
That month, the wave hadn't arrived yet. So other companies ran.
And Zaboru, despite everything on his shoulders, was genuinely excited. Not only because it meant the platform was healthy, but because he loved seeing the industry move. New ideas. New stories. New experiments from studios that weren't ZAGE.
He took off his jacket, tossed it over the back of his chair, and glanced at the stack of release notes his staff had left for him. New Games released this day.
For one night, he could just be a player again like he always love
And it wasn't only ZAGE's side that caught his attention. Even though Sonaya couldn't really be called ZEPS 3's equal right now, they were still the only company that compete with ZAGE in term of Home Console.
And what impressed Zaboru wasn't numbers on a spec sheet.
It was their stubbornness.
In graphics, raw performance, and overall library strength, the Sonaya GameStation still sat below ZEPS 3. Everyone knew it. Players joked about it. Yet Sonaya refused to fold. They kept releasing games, kept supporting their studios, kept securing third-party support through companies they owned or backed—quietly filling their calendar with new titles so their platform would never feel dead.
That kind of perseverance earned Zaboru's respect. It was the same stubborn spirit that made Sonaya famous in the first place. Even outside gaming, they had a reputation for refusing to quit—and that refusal was part of how they'd grown into the giant they were today.
And this month, among the many Sonaya releases, one title caught his eye immediately: The Sun Knight 5: The Black Sun. from their own internal developer
The Sun Knight series had always been one of Sonaya's most popular and strongest franchises—the kind of game that made people buy a console for a single title. Zaboru had played every entry since the first Sun Knight, all the way through Sun Knight 4. He knew the series' rhythm, its strengths, its flaws, and the way it loved to end an installment with a cliffhanger that felt like a punch.
So when he saw the fifth game arrive—especially with a subtitle like The Black Sun—he couldn't help it.
He wanted to see what Sonaya would do after the advice he'd given them back then—after Hikaru Kurata, Sonaya's CEO, collapsed from blood pressure.
Kurata had been stressing himself to the edge, convinced that ZAGE's momentum was "destroying" Sonaya in the game industry. When his body finally gave out, it forced a brutal moment of clarity. After he woke up, he realized his approach had been wrong—trying to chase ZAGE's pace had only burned Sonaya from the inside.
So Sonaya changed. They stopped trying to match ZAGE's release quantity and shifted their whole mindset toward quality. They accepted being number two for now, and aimed for something harder: games strong enough to stand on their own, even in ZAGE's shadow.
That was why this mattered to Zaboru.
Sun Knight 5 wasn't just another sequel. It felt like the first real test of the new Sonaya.
Zaboru powered on his Sonaya GameStation and slid in The Sun Knight 5: The Black Sun. The familiar click of the disc tray closing felt oddly comforting, like a ritual he'd done a thousand times. For a moment, the warnings Walt had given him faded into the background, replaced by something simpler: curiosity.
The screen went dark, then the Sonaya logo flashed. A short loading screen appeared, and then the opening cutscene began.
A deep announcer's voice filled the room.
"Sony… the Sun Knight. The relic of the original Sun Knight."
Images rolled like a fast dream—highlights from Sun Knight 1 through Sun Knight 4, stitched together as a recap for anyone who needed their memory refreshed. Sony standing beneath a blinding sun, raising his first sword. Sony losing allies, gaining scars, learning spells he shouldn't have been able to cast. The Eclipse that stole his Sun Power, turning the sky into a wound. Then the moment the Red Sun answered him—granting him a borrowed strength, a second chance.
The narrator continued, slightly rough, like a man reading a legend.
"He survived the Eclipse. He wielded its power, but lost the sun within him… and was granted the Red Sun to fight the Abyss."
Zaboru leaned forward without realizing it. He'd played all the previous games, but recaps like this always had a purpose. They weren't only reminders. They were framing.
Then the cutscene reached the ending of Sun Knight 4.
The Abyss appeared—an endless darkness with a hunger that felt alive, like the world itself was being swallowed. Sony fought it at the edge of everything, Red Sun blade burning, spells flaring, refusing to yield even when the ground broke beneath him. The final scene hit like a punch: the Abyss surging upward, devouring light, and Sony being swallowed whole.
The image froze.
A title flashed.
Then the menu appeared, quiet and ominous.
Zaboru smiled faintly. "Heh. So it's a direct continuation, huh?"
He didn't waste time. He selected Start.
The game threw him into motion immediately. Sony opened his eyes in a place that didn't look like any world from before—a Dark Realm where the air itself looked heavy. The sky wasn't a sky. It was a ceiling of shadow, torn with faint streaks of red like distant embers.
Sony's status screen told the story quickly. Most of his weapons were gone, The Red Sun Spear , Red Sun Bow and many more stripped away in the struggle Fighting The Abyss. His inventory felt empty in a way that made the world feel hostile. Only one thing remained: the Red Sun Sword Might—Aldebaran.
Zaboru tested movement first out of habit. A few steps. A roll. A jump. A quick slash.
He blinked.
The controls felt familiar—still clearly built on the Sun Knight 4 foundation—but there was something sharper in the responsiveness. The timing felt cleaner. The weight of the movement felt more deliberate.
Sony's first steps in the Dark Realm weren't heroic. They were cautious. The environment was filled with broken stone and strange with black sky, twisted architecture, like the ruins of a city that had never been meant for humans. Far in the distance, shapes moved at the edges of sight, too vague to identify.
Zaboru guided Sony forward, expecting the usual slow tutorial.
Instead, the game rewarded exploration right away. Small hints appeared in the world—subtle light glimmers that suggested hidden paths. The camera angles were better too, less awkward, more cinematic. Even the sound design impressed him: a low, constant hum beneath the music, like the realm itself was breathing.
Zaboru's eyebrows rose. "Oh?"
It wasn't the story recap that surprised him.
It was the confidence.
Sun Knight 5 didn't feel like it was asking permission to be darker, stranger, more intense.
It simply started, and dared the player to keep up.
The game was still recognizably built on Sun Knight 4's foundation, the 3rd party adventure hack and slash but everything felt improved. Movement was tighter, animations were smoother, and the world looked sharper—better lighting, cleaner textures, more atmosphere in the shadows. Zaboru didn't know what tricks Sonaya's engineers pulled to squeeze this much out of the hardware, but it pleased him in a way he couldn't hide.
They weren't chasing ZAGE's quantity anymore.
They were polishing.
He kept playing, letting Sony descend deeper into the Dark Realm. The level design grew more confident the farther he went—shortcuts that looped back intelligently, enemy placements that forced timing instead of brute force, and small environmental cues that rewarded players who actually paid attention.
Then the air changed.
The corridor widened into a broken courtyard, lit by a sick red glow leaking from cracks in the black sky. The music thinned until it was mostly a low hum, like the realm itself was holding its breath.
A cutscene triggered.
A figure stepped forward from the smoke—armor black as coal, edges sharp like teeth. No emblem. No face. Only a smooth, empty helm that reflected nothing. In his hands was a massive greatsword, dark metal polished to a cruel shine, its blade wreathed in black flame that didn't flicker like fire.
"You…" the knight's voice rasped, calm and disgusted at the same time. "Who are you? Why do you carry Sun Power in you?"
Sony tightened his grip on Aldebaran.
The faceless helm tilted slightly. "A fake sun dares to walk into our domain?"
The greatsword lifted.
"And still you breathe."
The knight lunged.
The boss fight began.
Faceless Knight moved like a heavyweight, but his speed was unnatural—two huge swings that should have been slow, chained together with terrifying precision. His sword carved black arcs through the air, and each arc left behind a brief trail of flame that punished anyone who rolled too late.
Zaboru's fingers tightened on the controller. He tested distance first—one slash, retreat, one spell, retreat. The boss didn't give free time. Black flame bursts erupted from the floor whenever Sony tried to heal carelessly, forcing him to pick safe windows instead of relying on panic.
Zaboru adapted quickly, but the fight was still hard. The knight's patterns were simple to recognize and brutal to survive. A wide sweep that punished greed. A vertical slam that shattered guard stamina. A sudden dash that turned safe space into danger.
Minutes passed in a blur of careful dodges and precise strikes. Sony's health dipped, recovered, dipped again. Zaboru played clean—no wasted swings, no reckless heals.
Slowly, the Faceless Knight's health dropped.
Almost halfway.
Then a little more.
Zaboru leaned forward. "Okay… I see you."
The boss staggered for the first time. Black flame flared harder around the greatsword.
And then, when the Faceless Knight's health was nearly gone, the screen flashed.
Another cutscene.
Aldebaran's glow dimmed.
For the first time since the Dark Realm swallowed him, Sony felt the Red Sun Sword Might hesitate—like the light inside it was being smothered. His grip tightened in panic.
The Faceless Knight raised his black greatsword and brought it down with a finishing strike.
Sony reacted on instinct. He lifted Aldebaran to guard.
The clash sounded wrong.
Not a clean ring of metal.
A harsh crack—like glass breaking inside a furnace.
Aldebaran's light fractured. The Red Sun blaze sputtered, then collapsed into a dull ember. The force of the blow drove Sony backward, boots scraping across stone.
"Aggh!" Sony groaned, his arms trembling.
The Faceless Knight didn't hesitate. He stepped in and swung again, black flame licking along the blade as if it were hungry.
Sony couldn't dodge in time.
So he did the only thing he could.
He cast a Sun Spell into his right hand—light gathering around his forearm like a shield—then threw his arm up to block.
The spell held for a heartbeat.
Then the black greatsword bit through it.
The edge tore past the glowing barrier and cut into the magical coating around Sony's arm, ripping it open as if it were cloth. Pain flashed white-hot his one arm are destroyed.
"Agh!" Sony staggered, teeth clenched.
The Faceless Knight's sword paused.
Not because he chose to.
Because the blade refused.
The moment it tasted Sony's blood, the black greatsword shuddered violently in the knight's hands. The flames flared, then snapped inward, as if something inside the metal had woken up.
The Faceless Knight stiffened. "What!? How—"
His voice turned sharp with panic. "The Solumbra Might is supposed to be mine!"
The greatsword wrenched itself downward.
It stabbed into the ground with a heavy, final thunk—like a judge's gavel. The Faceless Knight grabbed the hilt with both hands and pulled.
It didn't move.
He pulled harder.
Nothing.
The sword had anchored itself, defying its master.
Sony didn't think.
Still bleeding, still reeling, he stepped forward and seized the hilt.
For a moment, he expected it to reject him too.
Instead, the weapon warmed under his palm—dark metal humming with a strange, unfamiliar power.
Sony yanked.
The sword came free.
The Faceless Knight's empty helm tilted, stunned.
Sony lifted the black blade with his remaining hands and struck.
One clean slash.
The Faceless Knight staggered, armor splitting, black flame bursting out like smoke from a cracked furnace.
A second strike finished it.
The knight collapsed, dissolving into ash and embers.
His last words hissed through the broken helm, full of hate and disbelief.
"Damn… you outsider!"
Then Sony, still gripping the Solumbra Might, heard a voice—low, ancient, and impossibly calm. It did not come from the air. It came from the sword itself, vibrating through the metal into his bones.
"O Sun Knight, thou who hast come from beyond the Abyss…"
The blade's dark surface shimmered, as if a night sky had been trapped inside it.
"I perceive within thee many suns," the voice continued, measured and royal, each word spoken like a decree. "The Light Sun. The Red Sun. Even the stain of Eclipse. By rights, such powers should tear thee asunder. And yet thou livest."
Sony's grip tightened. His wounded arm throbbed, and Aldebaran's fading warmth felt like a distant memory.
The voice softened—not weaker, but more intimate, like a monarch choosing to speak plainly.
"Hear me, and heed me well. I am Solumbra—whom men once named the Black Sun."
A faint pulse ran up the blade, a heartbeat of shadow.
"I am not as I once was. I have been bound, drained, and made an instrument of another's will. In this realm, there are those who force my power upon the unwilling, and in so doing, they grind my glory into ash."
The sword's hum turned bitter.
"Therefore do I beseech thee, Sun Knight: deliver me. Break my chains. Silence those who profane my name."
A pause—heavy, deliberate.
"And if thou wilt grant me freedom, I shall return what hath been stolen. I shall restore my Might. I shall lend thee strength enough to endure this Dark Realm… and power enough to carve a path by which thou mayest depart this place."
The voice lowered to something almost like a vow.
"Swear it, and I shall be thine. Refuse… and thou shalt wander here until even thy suns grow cold."
Sony blinked at the blade in his hands and let out a tired sigh. "Another talking sun? Really?"
The words came out half-joke, half-complaint, but his body didn't relax. He could feel it clearly now: his Red Sun power was thinning, like heat leaving a dying coal. Maybe it was the Dark Realm itself. Maybe the Abyss had chewed through more of him than he realized. Either way, Aldebaran's warmth felt far away, and his severed arm throbbed with every heartbeat.
Still, the offer was real.
A way out.
Sony lifted the Solumbra Might slightly, watching the black metal breathe with that faint, royal pulse. "Fine," he said, voice rough. "I'll help. I swear it."
He paused, then tightened his grip. "But you swear as well. No tricks. No hidden twist."
For a moment, the sword was silent.
Then the dark surface shivered, and the voice returned, formal as an oath spoken before a throne.
"Then hear my vow, Sun Knight. I shall not betray thee. I shall not mislead thee. Upon my name, Solumbra, and upon the remnant of my crown, I bind myself unto thy cause until thy path from this realm is made."
The blade flared—no longer with black flame, but with a deep, starless radiance that felt heavier than light.
A thin ribbon of shadow wrapped around Sony's wrist, not like a chain, but like a seal. The weapon settled in his palm with sudden certainty, as if it had finally decided its master.
A prompt appeared on-screen:
Solumbra Might acquired
A menu opened immediately after, clean and brutal in its honesty. Most of the Solumbra Might abilities were locked behind dark sigils. Only a basic stance, a weak slash enhancement, and a single defensive technique were available.
Zaboru smiled, eyes gleaming at the design choice. "Heh. This is really interesting."
Sony tried to test it the way he always did—one step, one swing, then a spell.
His body refused.
With one arm gone, the old rhythm was broken. He could wield the sword, or he could cast, but not both at once. Every attempt to weave light into his hand while holding Solumbra made the character stagger, like the game itself was warning him: choose.
Zaboru's smile widened. Sonaya didn't soften the consequence. They made it part of the system.
Then Solumbra spoke again, quieter now, like a ruler giving a mission to a knight.
"Seek thou my Shield. It lieth not far from thee."
A new prompt appeared:
Quest received: Find the Solumbra Shield
Zaboru leaned forward, fully hooked. A talking weapon, a brutal permanent injury, a new Might system, and a quest immediately tied to restoring balance.
"Okay," he murmured, fingers tightening on the controller. "Let's see how far you go."
And Sony stepped deeper into the Dark Realm, carrying a Black Sun that had finally chosen to follow him.
To be continue
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