Blood stained the ground –– rich violet, iridescent, glittering like spilled ink mixed with stardust. The corpses of Nightmare — no, Noble Creatures, as Herta had called them, lay scattered in grotesque elegy. They were beautiful in a terrifying sense — shaped like wolves sculpted of ivory and gold, armored in crystalline plates, each movement graceful even while trying to rip him apart.
And those who were equal to him in Rank were not Fallen, but Ascended, instead.
How very strange.
Sunny stood swaying among their remains, breathing hard. Despite his newfound power, fighting so many enemies of the same Rank was dangerous — especially when he lacked Shadow Cores to gain an edge…
[Your shadow is overflowing.]
[Your shadow is taking shape…]
That was when it hit him.
Agony.
Pure, searing agony.
His body convulsed, and he collapsed to the ground, fingers digging deeply into strange purple moss. A violent tremor tore through his chest — not physical, not exactly, but deeper, shaking him from the inside out.
The pressure was immense, like the weight of a collapsing star pressing against the walls of his mind. His vision darkened, blurred, steadied, darkened again.
And a third Shadow Core ignited.
A force like liquefied night carved through his veins, reshaping the very foundations of his being. Sunny groaned under his breath, a sharp exhale escaping him as the Shadow Fragments stabilized…and then began to condense.
When the pain finally receded, replaced by a throbbing ache, Sunny lay staring up at the shifting heavens, sweat rolling down his temple.
Slowly, he pushed himself upright.
A third shadow waved at Sunny with boundless enthusiasm.
***
The pain ebbed enough for him to stand. He brushed dirt and ashes from his clothes and exhaled as the aftershocks faded into the background.
He recalled Herta's orders.
'Follow the brightest star. There is a door beneath it… What kind of magic crap is that?'
He lifted his head.
The sky churned overhead.
Stars wandered freely.
New constellations formed every few seconds, dissolving moments later. Two brightest points competed, then dimmed. Another flared. Then another. None remained dominant. None remained stationary.
Which meant either Herta was mocking him…
…or she knew something he didn't.
He stared for another long moment.
Nothing.
He considered it for a while, waited for an answer, received none, and finally summoned the Endless Spring. Cool, clean water washed away the copper taste lingering in his mouth. It soothed him, if only slightly.
The Noble Creatures around him remained pure, uncorrupted. That fact gnawed at him. It conflicted with everything he understood. But he did not have enough information to solve that mystery yet, so he set it aside and continued walking.
As he moved, his mind drifted toward the Ability born from his Ascension — Shadow Manifestation. It allowed him to give shape and weight to shadows, to form objects and constructs, to create armor or weapons or barricades from darkness itself. Useful, versatile, powerful. But expensive in Essence, which was only managed by [Essence of Divinity] and the fact he had multiple Cores. His quality was somewhere between the range of the average Master and a Saint — or so he guessed. He can't quite estimate a Saint's Soul Essence.
Something about his new Ability felt incomplete, like there was a better way to use it. It was only somewhat effective offensively, but was more useful for controlling the space around him and creating obstructions.
As he walked, he summoned the Ghastly Hunger, checking the runes:
Memory: [Ghastly Hunger].
Memory Rank: Ascended.
Memory Tier: VI.
Memory Type: Tool.
Memory Description: [As the Legion of Ruin rained down upon the last bastion of Preservation, the First Supreme Guardian gazed upon the fell star. Almost consumed by Destruction, she turned to the Stellaron.
Soon, the originally lush land was consumed by a relentless blizzard, freezing the war-torn world. Life couldn't survive, yet, the blessing of the Amber Lord brought warmth to the last of it.
In the latest stages of her life, She Who Evokes Miracles disappeared in the depths of corrosion, attempting to bid farewell on her own terms.
And so, there was nothing left except for an Eternal Freeze.]
Memory Enchantments: [Fool's Hand], [Maw of Admiration], [The Disgraced One].
First Slot: [Shadow Manipulation].
Second Slot: [Frictionless].
Third Slot: [Third Eye.]
Now that his Shadow Control had evolved to encapsulate all shadows, Sunny didn't have much use for Shadow Manipulation anymore. In fact, his own version of it was vastly superior.
Divine Aspects, and what not.
So… it seemed like a waste to have such a redundant Ability take up space on his glorified asspull storage.
Maybe he could… release Shadow Blade Kurt's soul?
Looking at his left hand, he allowed the glove to revert into its original form. Now in the shape of a long, pristine white glove that reached to his elbow, Sunny narrowed his gaze.
"Could you… just spit him out?"
A red eye suddenly opened on the back of his palm. It blinked a few times, before a small opening appeared where his palm was. Sharp teeth was revealed as it slightly opened, before allowing a small, torn wisp fly out.
The small wisp floated a few meters away, swaying in the air, before eventually fading away.
'Is that supposed to be a soul?'
Even now, Sunny was still unsure what was actually being eaten by the Ghastly Hunger. The strangely sentient Memory can't possibly absorb something that no longer exists, as souls were immediately destroyed completely upon death.
Could the Nightmare Spell fail to translate certain things? The runes did seem slightly different, but not that different…
Sunny shook his head, turning his attention to the latest addition to his repertoire.
Through devouring Solvane's soul, he had recieved what he assumed was her Dormant Ability. It allowed him to not only clearly see the invisible, but even touch the untouchable. He believed that the first part of her Ability was the core part of it, while the latter had appeared later on, as she followed the Path of Ascension.
Similar to how Shadow Control had only served to create sentient shadow helpers, before allowing him to control all that were within his range.
Unfortunately, Mordret had somehow survived. The only saving grace was that he was nowhere near that fellow anymore, and that he was most likely in a worse state than Sunny, having lost all his Soul Cores.
Sunny laid back, staring up at the night sky. The stars shone down on him, as if mocking him for not being able to figure out the strange puzzle…
'…Why is it repeating?'
Indeed, the stars in the sky seemed to cycle through a loop of patterns. Looking closely, Sunny could see that they were forming countless constellations, each taking the shape of…
'…You've got to be kidding me!