Chapter 76 72—2 Drops of Ichor, double the high

An hour later...

"Sunny, this doesn't feel like a good idea," Nephis noted, eyeing their makeshift contraption.

They had just finished setting up the preparations for Sunny's grand plan.

"Never claimed it was," he replied with a smug grin.

The two were standing atop an improvised sled—crafted from the hollowed-out shell of a Scavenger—hitched to his Carapace shadow using the golden cord of Cassie's [Evertwine], which she had lent him as the key component of his strategy.

Seeing his self-satisfied smirk, Nephis furrowed her brows. She wanted nothing more than to wipe that stupid grin off his face, tear his clothes off, tackle him to the ground, and make a baby with—

'Wait! What?! What the hell am I even thinking?!' Changing Star blinked furiously, shaking her head as a vivid flush of red spread across her cheeks.

"Please, just stay safe," the blind seer prayed behind them, her hands clasped together in front of her chest, her face pale with concern.

Beside her, Myriad Shade stood with a matching expression. She would have far preferred to crush the giant monstrosity herself, but her master had forbidden it, insisting on handling the battle himself.

Sunny turned back, raising an eyebrow at her. "Safe? Well, that's a bit of an understatement considering we're about to charge a creature the size of a house, my dear Cassie. Let's just promise to come back alive."

To reassure her, he added, "And remember—"

"Fate is a whore," the blind seer cut in before he could finish.

"Fate is a whore," Sunny confirmed with a nod.

It was a crude phrase they had coined the very night she had received her vision—a chaotic line Everlasting Gloom had spat out on the fly to calm her nerves. Inevitably, over the past few days, it had become something of a mantra between them.

With that, Cassie fell silent, a gentle smile gracing her lips, though anxiety still lingered at the corners of her delicate, small lips.

Sunny and Nephis turned forward, standing tall on their makeshift chariot and gripping the golden cord tightly in their hands. Sunny took a deep breath, steeling himself.

Behind them, Thene raised her shadowy longbow, drawing the string taut as [Tear of Thunder] and [Gruesome Grudge] readied for launch.

"Godspeed!"

Snap!

Whipping the golden cord like the reins of a wild warhorse, the Carapace Scavenger shadow reared its front legs, letting out a harsh, metallic screech before bolting forward like a rocket.

"Hiyaa!"

Sunny and Nephis shot across the barren landscape at breakneck speed, the makeshift sled gliding smoothly over the dark ash. Within seconds, they were closing in on the giant Carapace Demon.

The steel behemoth caught sight of them from the corner of its multi-faceted eyes, turning its towering torso toward them and unleashing a deafening battle cry—a sound like grinding metal echoing across a hollow vault.

SHKREEECH!

As they closed the distance without slowing down, the Awakened Demon raised one of its colossal iron pincers to cleave the intruders in half. But before the strike could fall...

SLAM!

The Scavenger shadow accelerated, throwing its full weight into a brutal shoulder tackle. The impact rattled the Demon's massive frame, sending the giant staggering backward in dazed shock.

Behind it, the shadow yanked the golden rope held by Sunny and Nephis. Empowering themselves with their respective shadows and white flames, the duo held fast. Combined with the sled's momentum and the shadow's raw pulling force, they whipped around the Demon in a swift three-quarter loop, encircling its eight massive, pillar-like legs.

"Now!" Sunny barked, leaping off the sled, taking the reins, and sprinting directly beneath the Carapace Demon's underbelly to wrap the cord tight.

Changing Star didn't need to be told twice. She vaulted off the sliding shell and launched herself into the assault, the gleaming blade of her [Dream Blade] blazing with brilliant, incinerating light.

The Carapace Demon quickly tried to recover, shifting its heavy limbs to launch a counterattack. Before it could move, however, an arrow of crackling electricity whistled through the air and struck it cleanly in the eye.

The [Electric Net] enchantment of the [Tear of Thunder] triggered instantly.

SHKREEEEECH!

SMASH!

The Demon shrieked in agony as violent currents of electricity surged through its nervous system, paralyzing its muscles.

Simultaneously, Sunny's Carapace Scavenger shadow delivered a heavy, armor-shattering punch straight to its chest, while Nephis began mercilessly hacking at its lower joints, forcing the titan off-balance.

'Crap!'

Sunny rolled sideways across the ash, narrowly dodging a jagged, falling limb. Scrambling back to his feet without losing a beat, he sprinted back to Nephis and his shadow.

'Now!'

With a sharp pull of his wrists, Sunny activated the enchantment on the golden cord, commanding it to violently contract.

BANG!

SHKREEEEECH!

Bound tight, the Carapace Demon crashed heavily onto its side, its eight legs tangled in an inescapable net.

"Go! Go! Go!"

The duo moved instantly.

Sunny dashed forward and summoned the [Deplorable Dagger]. As the [Tear of Thunder] dissolved from the Demon's eye in a shower of white sparks, he drove the dagger's blade deep into the ruined socket.

The [Treacherous] enchantment activated immediately, aggressively draining the creature's stamina and physical strength.

The Scavenger shadow followed up instantly.

'Target the legs!' Sunny commanded mentally.

The shadow obeyed, raining vicious strikes onto the Demon's lower limbs, crushing the steel armor and stripping away its protective shell.

At the same time, Nephis lunged forward, her longsword held horizontally in a deadly thrust.

"Aaah!"

With a fierce battle cry, she drove the radiant blade straight into the subtle structural fissure on its chest—the exact weak point Cassie had foreseen in her vision.

BOOM!

A torrent of silver-white flames exploded deep within the Demon's torso, expanding the wound from the inside out. Black, boiling blood spewed from every orifice as the creature thrashed in pure agony.

SHKREEEEEEECH!!!

This time, the Carapace Demon let out a high-pitched, deafening screech—a sonic shockwave powerful enough to momentarily paralyze both Sunny and Nephis, sending blood trickling from their ears. Yet despite the blinding pain, they kept pushing their blades deeper into its flesh.

"Run!" Sunny roared to Changing Star as the sonic scream subsided, letting go of his dagger and rolling backward.

Nephis hesitated for a fraction of a second, tempted to drive her sword deeper to finish it off, but the memory of Cassie's vision snapped her back to reality.

She turned and sprinted alongside him. Behind them, their Memories—the [Dream Blade], [Deplorable Dagger], and [Evertwine]—dissolved back into showers of white sparks, returning to their Soul Seas. Unbound, gallons of corrosive black blood poured from the titan's massive wounds.

As the wounded Demon struggled to its feet in a frenzy of rage, Thene appeared with Cassie beside Sunny and Nephis. Grasping them tightly, she stepped through the shadows, instantly teleporting the trio onto a massive obsidian branch high up in the Soul-Devouring Tree.

With its master safely out of harm's way, the Carapace shadow dissolved back into Sunny's Soul Sea.

Below, the mutilated Carapace Demon was thrashing in wild, unbridled fury. Up on the high bough, the cohort was safe—for now.

"It's starting. Close your eyes," the blind seer warned, sensing the psychic threat from her vision.

Nephis immediately shut her eyes. Sunny did the same, but he didn't stop there.

With his Carapace shadow recalled, he now had the capacity to summon the Soul Serpent. As the enthralled guardian below roared in fury and the girls covered their eyes beside him, Sunny sat cross-legged and began circulating his essence.

It was time to awaken.

"Sunny, it's gone... You can open your eyes now," Cassie's voice whispered soft and sweet beside him.

Except Sunny knew it wasn't her. Through his shadow sense, he could feel her sitting nearby, trembling with fear, her blind eyes shut tight.

It was an illusion.

Sunny remained unfazed. Sitting in the lotus position, hands clasped, he took slow, deep breaths. Beneath his onyx shroud, the pitch-black snake tattoo on his pale skin began to writhe and slither.

"Sunny... open your eyes."

"OPEN YOUR EYES!"

"OPEN YOUR EYES!"

"OPEN THEM!!!"

The insidious, distorted voices shrieked endlessly in his mind, growing louder and more unnatural by the second, but Sunny ignored them completely.

Deep within him, countless specks of dark light were drawn into a silent, lightless vortex. Every shining black particle collapsed into the singularity, never to return. Then, the swirling mass compressed violently into a microscopic point of absolute pitch-blackness.

For a brief second, total stillness reigned.

Then, the point exploded like a newborn universe. In its place, a second black sun flared to life.

A moment later, the familiar, cold voice of the Spell whispered in his mind:

[The second seal is broken.]

[Awakening dormant powers...]

Sunny smiled.

***

Nephis finally opened her eyes. Slowly. Beside her, Cassie did the same, though for a blind seer, the gesture was purely instinctive.

Below them, the Awakened Demon lay battered and bleeding upon the dark ash. Whatever vicious opponent it had been forced to fight to protect its domain—combined with the brutal tactical trap they had sprung on it—had left the titan near death. Its massive steel legs were shattered, two of its four powerful pincers torn away, and its supposedly impenetrable carapace caved in.

No matter how one looked at it, the monstrosity had one foot in the grave.

'Sunny's plan actually worked,' Changing Star mused. She had doubted him.

Remembering him, Nephis turned her head.

Sunny sat cross-legged in the lotus position, hands clasped peacefully in his lap, a broad, triumphant grin plastered across his face. Somehow, his entire body looked refined—almost reborn. The contours of his face were sharper and more defined, his pale skin possessed a smoother, porcelain-like clarity, and the raven-black of his hair seemed deeper, shimmering with an ethereal luster under the fading light.

'What did he just do?' Nephis wondered, a sudden prickle of unease washing over her. She felt as if something monumental had just transpired right under her nose.

Before she could voice the question, Everlasting Gloom opened his eyes, revealing two brilliant, abyss-black irises.

Looking straight ahead, he spoke softly. "Time to finish the job."

Without another word, Myriad Shade materialized behind him, gracefully wrapping her dark arms around his neck. In the very next instant, the two of them sank into the shadows and vanished.

Nephis remained frozen, staring at the empty space where Sunny had been sitting a split second ago in sheer disbelief.

"Neph? What just happened?" Cassie asked beside her, tilting her head in confusion. "Why did Sunny's presence just disappear?"

Changing Star stared at the empty bough, completely at a loss for words.

Meanwhile, down below, Sunny emerged directly from the shadow cast by the towering tree, supported effortlessly in Thene's arms.

Myriad Shade unclasped her embrace, letting him step onto the blood-soaked ash while her sleek black hair swayed like a curtain of shadow in the evening breeze. Sunny strode forward, the black, serpentine blade of the [Deplorable Dagger] gleaming as it caught the last rays of twilight.

SHKREEE...

The dying guardian dragged its head up to look at him. Its body was a jagged map of cracked armor and pooling, foul blood, yet a stubborn spark of life kept it upright.

Their eyes met. Sunny let a sharp, menacing grin spread across his face.

"Eyes on me!" he declared, raising the dagger into a fluid combat stance.

SHKREEEEECH!

The Carapace Demon let out a ragged, defiant roar. An instant later, both launched forward.

To Sunny, time seemed to dilate to a crawl. With the second seal broken, his senses were exquisitely sharp. The abomination's combat style, its shifting balance, its telegraphing muscle twitches—its very shadow had become transparent as glass to him. Synthesizing the underlying patterns, he could predict every trajectory before it even began.

The second step of Shadow Dance was right within his grasp.

Time snapped back to normal. Sunny closed the distance, his pitch-black eyes gleaming like dark jewels as his grip tightened on the dagger's hilt. The Carapace Demon, exhausted and clinging to life, raised its one remaining giant pincer and brought it down like a crushing sledgehammer.

CRUSH!

The earth trembled. Sunny dodged smoothly with a lateral roll, coming up right behind the Demon. Without breaking momentum, he spun the blade in his grip and lunged forward, aiming directly for the exposed flesh at the base of its skull. The Demon was fast despite its wounds; without turning its torso, it whipped a segmented leg backward in a lethal arc.

Sunny didn't retreat or even flinch. He was already seven steps ahead.

CLANG!

Rising directly from his shadow, the Carapace Scavenger materialized, absorbing the devastating impact with its heavy steel shell. Using the momentum, Sunny vaulted off his shadow's back, bounded onto the Demon's spine, and drove his blade down with everything he had.

SLASH!

SHKREEEEECH!!!

With a final, gargling death rattle, the guardian collapsed onto the crimson ash. Dead.

The cold, familiar voice of the Nightmare Spell echoed through his mind:

[You have slain an Awakened Demon: Carapace Demon.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

[You have received a Memory: Midnight Shard.]

Sunny dropped to the ground, feeling the adrenaline slowly recede as a profoundly satisfied smile settled on his lips.

But the Nightmare Spell wasn't done yet.

[Your Aspect Legacy mastery level has increased.]

[You have received the right to claim a Legacy Relic.]

[...your shadow has evolved.]

"Oh... cool."

***

[You have slain a Great Devil: Vile Thieving Bird's Spawn.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

[You have received a Memory.]

---

Memory: [Drop of Ichor].

Memory Rank: Unknown.

Memory Tier: Unknown.

Memory Type: Unknown.

Memory Description: [The loathsome Thieving Bird was hated by both the gods and -unknown-. However, it only cared about shiny things. Enamored by Weaver's beautiful eyes, it stole one of them on a dark, starless night. Impatient, the vile creature looked at its bounty while still in flight. However, when it saw the reflection of -unknown- forever frozen in the depths of Weaver's pupil, it went mad and screamed, dropping the eye onto the mortal realm below. All that was left in its greedy beak was one drop of pure, golden ichor.]

---

"There it is," Sunny muttered, staring at the rune of the new Memory with a mixture of profound satisfaction and creeping dread for what he was about to do.

After defeating the Carapace Demon, he and the girls had taken a moment to rest, physically and mentally drained by the high-stakes battle. When he woke up a few hours later, the first thing he did—after making sure that neither of them had touched the bewitching fruits of the tree—was rub his hands and scale the trunk of the Soul-Devouring Tree.

Now, having crushed the dying egg of the Vile Thieving Bird's spawn, he sat cross-legged atop one of the highest, most massive obsidian branches of the tree. Thene stood silently beside him, serving as his personal bodyguard.

'That guy is still not making a move,' Sunny thought, casting a subtle, almost imperceptible glance over his shoulder. In the distance, half-hidden behind another colossal branch, the enthralled Sleeper was staring at him.

'Honestly, I thought he would try to pull something while we were busy fighting the guardian, but he hasn't done a damn thing. He just stands there, watching us,' he mused. 'It's a little creepy when you think about it.'

Sunny had sent his shadow, Gloomy, to keep an eye on him from the very beginning. The stranger kept a healthy distance, his glowing amber eye never leaving their group. For some reason, Sunny could sense a deep, festering resentment emanating from the man directed specifically at Changing Star. Aside from that, the Sleeper seemed entirely aware of the gap in strength between them and was actively avoiding a direct confrontation.

Truthfully, Sunny would have preferred to just leave him there to rot. But because of his annoying Flaw constantly acting as his moral compass, combined with the fact that he recognized the ghoul-like Sleeper as Jayden from the Academy, he found himself forced to revise his plans.

<<You must never abandon those in need, boy. That's the golden rule,>> the Jiminy Cricket chimed in right on cue.

'Well, if you want to look at it pragmatically, I could always use him as bait for that abyssal terror of the deep that was hunting the Corrupted Devil on day one. We're bound to run into it eventually during our escape, now that I think about it,' he said mentally, scratching his chin as he looked down at the dark sea waiting below.

The Cricket, standing on his shoulder complete with a top hat and a little cane, literally dropped its jaw. It raised a tiny finger in protest of his ruthless thoughts. <<Boy, you cannot possibly—>>

'Listen! He's an extra who shouldn't even exist, he's a bastard, and nobody even likes him! If he managed to get himself enthralled by a Lovecraftian tree on top of all that, then he's officially cannon fodder as far as I'm concerned,' Sunny cut him off sharply, silencing the bug.

Changing the subject, but never breaking his shadowy surveillance on Jayden, Sunny looked down at the base of the tree where Cassie and Nephis were currently resting.

The princess sat slightly apart on a jagged rock near the edge of the Ashen Barrow. She was lost in deep thought, one hand resting absentmindedly on the hilt of her glowing blade, which she had planted tip-first into the black sand.

The blind seer, on the other hand, was resting her head against a root at the base of the tree. Guarding her was the Soul Serpent, now an Awakened Shadow. Sunny would have preferred to leave the Carapace shadow as her bodyguard, but when he had looked away earlier to celebrate his victory, the ravenous creature had taken advantage of his distraction to devour the cores and flesh of the Carapace Demon. As a result, it was currently undergoing an evolution of its own.

---

Shadow: [Carapace Centurion].

Shadow Rank: Awakened.

Shadow Class: Monster.

Shadow Attributes: [Strong], [Armored].

Shadow Abilities: [Shadow Shell], [Devourer].

Shadow Description: [A cursed soldier of the fallen legion turned into a shadow by the treacherous Everlasting Gloom—a creature forbidden by his solace that was never meant to be].

Shadow Fragments: [0/200].

---

"Seriously, Shelly?"—that was the name he had decided to give it. "You really just went and became a Monster on me? Behind my back?"

Despite his annoyed tone, Sunny couldn't deny that he was incredibly pleased with the upgrade.

Sighing, he pulled his attention away from his companions, opened his runes, and focused on one string in particular.

---

Aspect Legacy: [Shadow Dance].

Aspect Legacy mastery level: [2/7].

First Relic: claimed.

Second Relic: [Claim].

Third Relic: unearned.

...

---

"Claim," he whispered without a second thought, his heart suddenly hammering against his ribs.

[You have received a Memory.]

---

Memory: [Drop of Ichor].

Memory Rank: Unknown.

Memory Tier: Unknown.

Memory Type: Unknown.

Memory Description: [Before, there was only boundless, eternal void. From that dark abyss, the -unknown- were born. Just like chaos itself, they were endless and everlasting, vast and forever changing. But then came desire, and with it came direction. From it, the gods were born.

When gods appeared, the void was not eternal anymore.

When gods appeared, the darkness was not endless anymore.

When gods appeared, the chaos was not orderless anymore.

The gods appeared, and brought with them war. This drop of divine blood was spilled by Shadow on one of the battlefields of that war, before the void was bound.]

---

Now, Sunny had two.

Still seated, feeling an immense, crushing pressure settling over his shoulders, he raised both hands palms up and simultaneously summoned the two drops of divine Ichor.

The moment he did, the shadows surrounding him seemed to come alive, suddenly growing deeper, sharper, and far more restless.

Sunny sat in total silence. He stared at the glowing, golden bead of liquid levitating slightly above his right hand, and the pitch-black, light-devouring tear hovering above his left. A freezing chill crawled down his spine, wrapping around his heart like an icy claw.

Deep within his soul, his very nature as a [Shadowspawn] violently yearned for the Shadow Lineage, drawn to it like a moth to a blinding, incandescent lantern. At the very same time, he could feel [Shadow Weave] pulsing agonizingly, screaming for the Lineage of Weaver.

Sunny swallowed hard. "So... what's the prognosis?"

He directed the question to the Cricket standing on his right shoulder, genuinely hoping for one of its usual, scholarly pieces of advice. He knew full well that what was about to happen would be anything but pleasant.

The mental image of his Flaw stared at him.

Then, it looked at the two drops of divine blood, which were currently pulling at Sunny's soul like two ends of a rope stretched to the breaking point.

<<In all honesty...>> the Jiminy Cricket replied sarcastically, scratching its temple with the handle of its cane. <<I'd say a sledgehammer to the teeth would feel like a walk in the park compared to this.>>

"Yeah. Hard to argue with that," Sunny sighed, hanging his head while the two Lineages continued to levitate in his hands.

'Why the hell am I actively volunteering for this much pain?' a part of him cried out in sheer exasperation.

Turning back one last time toward Myriad Shade, he gave her a single order: "Protect me."

She nodded solemnly, bringing a fist to her chest in a deep bow of devotion.

Turning his gaze forward, Sunny looked back at the drops of Ichor.

[You have acquired two drops of Ichor. Do you wish to sacrifice them?]

'Not consume them, but sacrifice them instead?' He wondered, rubbing his chin.

Sunny took a long breath. A very long breath. Then, feeling his stomach twist in knots as he mentally braced himself for the worst agony imaginable, he spoke:

"Yes."

The response from the Spell sounded strangely, horrifyingly amused.

[So be it... you Fool!]

"Wait, what?!"

Sunny's mind didn't even have time to register what happened next. In the very next second, his consciousness was violently obliterated.

His senseless body slumped onto the obsidian branch, instantly convulsing in unimaginable, agonizing pain as he was left completely alone to weather the divine storm.

Nevertheless, the Spell still whispered:

[You are... complete.]

[You are... incomplete.]

***

The consequences of Sunny's actions did not take long to manifest. While he lay unconscious, weathering the agony of assimilating the two lineages, something out there in the world began to change.

It was subtle at first, almost imperceptible, but it quickly became impossible to ignore. A profound ripple washed over the waking and dreaming worlds in all their vastness.

Deep within a blazing forge in Bastion, a tall, broad-shouldered, muscular man tore his gaze away from the crackling fire of his anvil, turning his stern eyes toward the heavens.

In Ravenheart, a corpse sitting upon a throne with a sword impaled through its chest shifted its head slightly, its lifeless eyes staring at the rays of light filtering through the high windows.

In a snow-swept wasteland near the Hollow Mountains, a wounded warrior—beaten down onto the ice after losing yet another brutal battle against the ancient, invisible guardian of a ruined temple—also raised his bleeding face toward the sky.

And finally, on the moon, a man turned his gaze toward the distant blue and green sphere of Earth for the first time in an age. A twisted, knowing smile curled his lips.

He moved his mouth to speak, but no sound came out; in the freezing vacuum of space, there was no air to carry his words.

Yet, had anyone been there to read his lips, they would have seen him utter a single word:

"Liar."

***

"Ugh... ow..."

Sunny woke up, feeling incredibly stiff and shriveled. His body was completely fine—in fact, beneath the surface stiffness, he felt better and more powerful than he ever had in his life.

The simultaneous assimilation of the two lineages, no matter how excruciating, had essentially reconstructed his entire physique from the ground up once completed. Still, spending that much time lying completely rigid on a hard obsidian branch hadn't done his joints any favors.

"Ugh... ah..." he groaned, trying to push himself up as he blinked against the light.

As soon as he managed to peel his eyes open, he realized Thene's face was hovering right above his. Myriad Shade was looking down at him with an expression of profound worry, her dark, elegant hands gently cradling his head in her lap.

"Thene," Sunny croaked, seeing the deep sorrow in her bottomless eyes. "How long was I out?"

She stroked his pale cheek tenderly, visibly relieved that he was awake and coherent. Then, to answer his question, she raised one hand and held up all five fingers, followed by her other hand showing two.

"Seven hours?" he asked hopefully.

Thene shook her head slightly in denial.

"Days?!" Sunny choked out in sheer horror, his dark eyes flying wide open in disbelief.

She nodded solemnly. Then, leaning down, she wrapped her arms securely around his waist and pulled him up into a tight, desperate embrace, pressing his face against her chest.

Sunny let out a long sigh. Letting go of his panic over the lost time for the moment, he relaxed and returned the hug.

"Sorry for making you worry," he whispered softly, affectionately stroking his beloved shadow's hair. "But I had to do it. If not now, I never would have found the courage to do it."

Thene tightened the embrace, tenderly rubbing her cheek against his.

Sunny just let her hold him. The two stayed like that for a quiet, peaceful moment high above the crimson labyrinth.

Taking advantage of the stillness, he mentally called up his runes to check on the changes he had just undergone. But the second his eyes landed on the shimmering strings...

"What the—"