NOVEL NEXT Chapter 2: Space Station
"I've heard that Shadow was the god of death. I wonder if you could one day bring out my demise."
"What an idiot. Why do you always use these mid builds?"
"I'm not as good as you are when it comes to tricking people, so do you mind if I rely on you, Sunny?"
"Listen, once you wake up, check the [Vessel of Remembrance] the moment you are alone."
———————————————————
"…I don't know CPR."
"Nobody ever thought you did."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"…Nothing, I'll handle this myself."
'…What?'
Sunny cracked opened his eyes.
'Huh? What is that?'
A blurry object was moving towards him. It seemed whitish, with a black top and a roundish shape.
He blinked a few times, the image starting to grow clearer.
Horror spread across his face. Sunny kicked out.
———————————————————
"Uhm… my bad?"
Sunny scratched the back of his head while looking apologetically at the duo in front of him. The black-haired boy was clutching his stomach, keeled over on the floor. Next to him was a pink haired girl, who was rubbing his back while glancing between the two boys.
'I didn't kick that hard, did I?'
Maybe he did, since it felt as if he pumping all the energy in his body to his right leg. He also felt unnaturally strong…
'I must have been imagining things.'
The boy who Sunny had just kicked stood up, seemingly no worse for wear. He glanced at him for a moment, with a perplexed expression.
"…You're an Awakened."
Sunny blinked. He had only just cleared the First Nightmare, so he should only be a mere Dreamer — also referred to as Sleepers — currently.
"Uh… I'm actually a Sleeper… I just completed my First Nightmare."
Sunny took a look around. This place was… very alien to him. It looked nothing like the outskirts that he was familiar with.
"Actually, where am I? Did I get abducted or something?"
As he looked back at the two youths in front of him, he noticed something strange…
'They don't seem very tall'
To Sunny, everyone looked tall to him, as he was extremely short.
He looked down.
'No way…'
He was huge!
Sunny resisted the urge to jump up and down. Nobody would pick on him for his short stature anymore! Rather, he will be the one doing the picking!
He didn't know becoming a Sleeper had such benefits!
'Ah… It was all worth it.'
"Huh? Don't you work here? This is the Herta Space Station, obviously."
The girl with hair that reminds him of cotton candy was the one who spoke. He remembered when his mother took him and his little sister, Rain, to a small carnival in the city. They didn't have enough money to go on any rides, but they were at least able to afford some of the fluffy stuff.
Sunny felt a pressure start to grow once the girl had asked whether or not he had worked here.
'Seriously?!'
"…No, I don't work here. I'm only thirteen, you know?"
It seemed that his flaw did not only restrict him from lying, but he was also compelled to answer any question directed towards him.
'If someone asked me if I had a True Name'
…Sunny knew what he would have to do in such a scenario.
The duo narrowed their eyes at him, looking him up and down. Sunny shuffled awkwardly at their gaze. Taking a glance down at himself, he couldn't find anything wrong. Well, he was wearing clothes that he didn't own, relatively nice ones as well.
'Huh? What's that?'
When he stared down at his jacket — which was a mix of black and yellow — he noticed what seemed to be a nexus of lights. It was as if his jacket was transparent, and he was able to see within it.
'…That's… something to look into.'
He couldn't right now, since he was in front of two people, but once he was alone, he definitely would.
…Was there something else he needed to do?
The black haired boy sighed.
"Your age aside, this place is dangerous. The station is being attacked by the Antimatter Legion, so we should head to the master control zone."
'The Antimatter Legion…'
Sunny had heard of them. They were the servants of an Aeon — beings that embodied a concept to such a degree that they became akin to a god. He didn't know much, as information in the outskirts was quite lacking.
"I see… Oh, my name is Sunless by the way. You can call me Sunny though."
"I'm Dan Heng, and this is March 7th. We're members of the Astral Express."
The girl who he now knew as March looked at him strangely.
"You're name is weird."
Sunny scowled.
"If my name is weird, then what about yours? I've never heard of someone with a number in their name."
"Why don't you say that straight to my face, you- you meanie!"
"I am saying it to your face. Are you blind?"
Sunny decided that he did not like this girl.
———————————————————
'Damnation!'
He was currently following March as she led him to the master control zone. Unfortunately, the other guy — Dan Heng — went to look for someone named Arlan, so he was stuck with the pink-haired ball of energy.
To distract himself, Sunny decided to take a look at his runes.
'…I- wha- the hell?!'
***
Name: Sunless
True Name: Lost From Light
Rank: Awakened
Class: Monster
Shadow Cores: [2/7]
Shadow Fragments: [1789/2000]
***
Sunny almost tripped as he read through his runes. He hadn't even checked everything yet, and it was already making his head hurt.
'I'm… an Awakened?'
Sunny shouldn't have been. Not yet at least. Once the First Nightmare is completed, Sleeper's would wait until the Winter Solstice, in which they would be sent into the Dream Realm. The differences were that this would be the actual Dream Realm, and not an illusion created by the Nightmare Spell. There was no conflict to solve, and the objective was to get to a gateway and escape the Dream Realm.
Once they do, they would become Awakened.
However, Sunny seemed to have completely skipped that step!
'Was it something I did?'
Strangely enough, this wasn't even the most surprising part of his runes.
'Monster…'
The runes told him that he had multiple shadow cores, and that he was currently a monster. Human's did not have the ability to have multiple soul cores, as that was only limited to Nightmare Creatures. Yet, Sunny seemed to be the exception.
He could have went into his soul sea, but he was too busy following March. He decided to check the rest of his runes instead.
He first noticed that his list of memories had changed drastically. Some memories he had before at the end of his First Nightmare were gone, and he had acquired new ones.
Memories: [Weaver's Mask], [Silver Bell], [Puppeteer's Shroud], [Vessel of Remembrance], [Midnight Shard], [Moonlight Shard], [Dusk Shard], [Prowling Thorn], [Mantle of the Underworld], [Ordinary Rock], [Autumn Leaf], [Blood Blossom], [Broken Oath], [Dark Wing], [Endless Spring], [Finality's Farewell].
Echoes: —
Unfortunately, Sunny did not get any echoes. He did get a large repertoire of memories however, which was sure to come in handy.
He still did not go where he had gotten these from.
He quickly skimmed through his memories.
His mouth gaped open.
'Divine… it's Divine!'
Memory: [Weaver's Mask].
Memory Rank: Divine.
Memory Tier: VII.
Memory Type: Tool.
Memory Description: [Weaver believed that knowledge was the origin of power and so always hid behind numerous lies, wearing them as a mantle. No one knew Weaver's thoughts, Weaver's face, and Weaver's heart. Even the gods could not see what hid behind the mask.]
Sunny had somehow gained a Divine memory of the seventh tier!
'…Wait a second.'
Sunny reread the runes describing the memory, ignoring the runes displayed below the description for now.
Somehow, he was able to know what tier the memory was.
'That's… not normal, right?'
Pondering it for a moment, Sunny shrugged his shoulders.
In case anyone hasn't figured it out yet, he had a Divine memory!
Although, it did cause him to question how he had acquired one, since no one had ever killed a Divine Titan…
There was something else too…
Memory Enchantments: [Mantle of Lies], [???], [Simple Trick].
He was even able to see the enchantments!
From what Sunny knew, an Awakened was only able to learn about their memories' enchantments through trial and error. Sunny could instantly learn what an enchantment was now, thanks to whatever was giving him the ability to know more about memories.
However, he could not deny that everything was somewhat unsettling.
'Why did so much change?'
He decided to check what the enchantments did.
[Mantle of Lies]: Hides the identity of the user.
'…No, it's not that simple.'
For a Divine memory with only three enchantments, the effect had to be ridiculous. He guessed that those with divination Aspects couldn't gleam any information about him. And considering the description…
Sunny shivered. This mask was powerful enough that even the gods couldn't penetrate the barrier of it's Mantle of Lies.
The next enchantment was labeled [???], and had no description whatsoever.
'I'm not going to play around with that.'
The last enchantment had quite the simple name however, so he wasn't expecting too much…
'…Eh?'
[Simple Trick]: Reverses the effects of one's flaw.
Sunny blinked once. Then twice. Then thrice.
Sunny looked away from the runes for a moment, seeing March trying to figure out where they were.
'What an idiot.'
Sunny looked back at the runes, wondering if he truly read them right.
As long as he puts on the mask, he could lie again.
…No, that didn't sound right.
It was more like he could only lie.
That was what Sunny's intuition was telling him. It was almost like he had used it before, and his subconscious was attempting to guide him.
'Either way, I'm not going to reveal this thing any time soon.'
Sunny was sure that it will serve him well at the right moment.
Sunny skimmed through the rest of his memories, trying not to grin as he saw how many Ascended memories he had. He felt a strange feeling of longing as he read through [Finality's Farewell], but ignored it. He didn't look at any in too much detail, but he located his best weapon and armor memories, [Midnight Shard] and [Mantle of the Underworld].
The [Midnight Shard] was an Awakened memory of the third tier, while the [Mantle of the Underworld] was an Ascended memory of the sixth tier. This meant that he had gotten them from an Awakened Demon, and a Fallen Terror, respectively.
Sunny frowned.
'How the hell would I kill a Fallen Terror?'
Based on his runes and his current physical situation, he could surmise that a period of time had passed between when he had completed the First Nightmare, and when he had woken up on this space station.
He didn't even know how he had gotten here in the first place!
Anyways, Sunny severely doubted that an Awakened Monster could have defeated a Fallen Terror. Nor did he think that he could survive even getting near a Divine Titan. The thought of doing so was absolutely delusional!
'What really happened?'
Although he wanted answers, he still had the rest of his runes to look through. Right as he was about to check his Attributes, something caught his eye.
Shadows: [Marble Saint].
'A Shadow?'
Sunny easily deduced that this was an extension of his Aspect, but he wasn't sure exactly what it was supposed to do. He focused on the runes for a moment, seeing more details.
Shadow: Marble Saint.
Shadow Rank: Awakened.
Shadow Class: Demon.
'Hm…'
As Sunny looked at the runes, Sunny was reminded of Echoes, which were a copy of slain enemies that were commanded by the killer. Just to be sure, he needed to know more.
Shadow Attributes: [Battle Master], [Stalwart], [Spark of Divinity].
[Battle Master]: Born on the battlefield, the Shadow Saint is proficient in all forms of combat.
[Stalwart]: The Stone Saint is highly resistant to all forms of damage, as well as being fully immune to mind and soul attacks.
[Spark of Divinity]: Every fire starts from a spark. Somewhere deep within your soul, a radiant spark shines with divine light.
Now, Sunny was sure. This Shadow of his known as Marble Saint functioned the same as an echo, although, possibly much better.
Shadow Abilities: [Weapon Sage], [Underworld Armament].
[Weapon Sage]: Shadow Saint can effectively wield any weapon-type Memory.
[Underworld Armament]: Shadow Saint's armor can accommodate a charm Memory to inherit its enchantments.
Sunny felt like he was on top of the world. Not only was he an Awakened Monster with multiple Ascended memories and a Divine one, but he had a strange echo that could use those memories.
He could probably give Saint the [Dusk Shard], as he didn't think he would do well with a shield. Sunny didn't know why, but he instinctively felt that the last time he used a shield, he ended up with broken bones.
He shivered.
Lastly was the Shadow's description
Shadow Description: [Shadow Saint was created by the treacherous Lost From Light in the cursed darkness of the Forgotten Shore.]
'Tch. Can't the Spell call me something besides treacherous.'
Although he was peeved at the epithet, he noticed something in the Shadow's description.
'Forgotten Shore.'
Sunny assumed that it was a place, and decided to look into it as it might provide clues to help fill in his memory.
There was something else however…
Shadow Fragments: [179/200]
Sunny's breath hitched.
"Are you okay?"
Sunny flinched when he caught March looking at him. She must have heard his reaction to his runes.
"Oh me? I'm doing absolutely fantastic."
March stared at him for a moment before turning away. She seemed to be grumbling about weirdos…
Of course, the only weirdo Sunny knew was her!
Anyways, it seemed that his Shadows — if he can even acquire more — had the ability to grow. This immediately made them leagues more valuable than an Echo, as echoes were permanently stuck at their rank.
This meant that even if Sunny were to reach the level of a Saint, his Shadows would still be able to keep up with him.
Unfortunately, he still wasn't aware of the way to get shadow fragments.
He sighed, before checking his Attributes and Aspect Abilities. Since he was now an Awakened, he should have another Aspect Ability. This was technically quite good, but Sunny still wasn't sure what his first ability did.
Sunny paused for a moment, before looking behind him.
'Nothing out of the ordinary…'
He thought something moved behind him, but it seemed not.
Attributes: [Fate's Chosen], [Essence of Divinity], [Child of Shadows], [The War], [Breach of Styx], [Blood Weave], [Gazed].
Sunny's eyes widened. He had gotten two new attributes!
[Blood Weave]: You have inherited a part of Weaver's forbidden lineage. Your blood has been altered and embued with odd tenacity.
'That Weaver guy again…'
Sunny felt his head ache for a moment, before suddenly remembering something.
There was a corpse kneeling on the floor of a small cell, hand chained to the floor. There was a circle carved into the stone around it, with countless symbols that Sunny could not understand surrounding it.
However, the circle was broken. In the thousands of years since the fall of the Dark City, the floor of the dungeon cell had cracked, with several fractures running straight through the intricate engraving.
Whatever it was the circle was meant to contain had either perished or escaped a long time ago.
Now, the only thing that remained was a withered corpse.
Coming closer, Sunny took another look at the person who had been imprisoned and died under the ruined cathedral, in a cell situated exactly beneath the statue of the nameless goddess.
Because of the dark mantle and the black lacquered mask, Sunny couldn't glean a lot of information about the corpse. It seemed to belong to a human, but other than that, everything about it was a mystery.
What terrible sin had this person committed to be condemned to this awful death?
Strangely, Sunny's intuition was silent. It was as though there was nothing in front of him at all. To his sixth sense, the prisoner of the underground cell appeared as an empty space.
'...Weird. This person had clearly been either hated or feared a lot to be locked behind all these barriers. Surely, finding such a creature would affect my fate… why don't I feel anything, then?'
With a tense frown, he took a deep breath and carefully stepped inside the circle.
…It was then that Sunny noticed a chaotic mess of runes drawn on the floor near the prisoner's left hand. The sight of them almost sent him into a seizure.
Staggering away, Sunny fell to his knees and threw up.
'Agh… damn it!'
Those runes… those were the same runes the Spell used to describe the mysterious Unknown. Only here, the intensity of the terrible effect they had on the mind of anyone who saw them was much, much stronger.
'What the hell?'
Wiping his mouth, Sunny grimaced and glanced at the masked corpse with a bit of resentment.
Then, he picked himself off the floor, took a deep breath… a looked at the terrible runes once again.
Immediately, Sunny felt a splitting headache and a sickening, terrible sensation spreading through his mind. It was as though all his thoughts and memories were being torn and twisted. But despite all of it, Sunny persevered and kept staring at the final message that the prisoner had left behind.
He knew he couldn't read the runes — he didn't know that particular language, and the Spell either was forbidden, incapable, or refused to translate them. But for some reason, Sunny felt compelled to try.
Fighting through the intense pain, he slowly studied the strange runes. And then, suddenly, his eyes widened.
Because right below the chaotic mess of them, a line of text was written in the script he was familiar with — the usual runic language that the Spell always used.
This time, it did not provide any translation. Luckily, Sunny had studied these runes and knew enough about them to understand what was written himself.
The last thing the person imprisoned under the cathedral wrote before succumbing to death made him shudder.
Scratched into the stone was a short prayer:
"Hail Weaver
Demon of Fate
Firstborn
Of the -Unknown-"
Sunny looked at March, making sure he was still following her. It seemed that reading the [Blood Weave] attribute caused him to recall something.
It seemed that he was exploring a place known as the Dark City. That was a tidbit he needed to hold onto if he wanted to know about his past.
[Gazed]: Destruction has laid it's eyes upon you, and left your mind, body, and soul intact.
'Destruction?'
Whatever the attribute was referring to must have been extremely dangerous, if his mind, body, and soul were in danger.
Their wasn't much to gleam outside of his Attributes, outside of the fact that his blood was more tenacious. Now he had to check his Aspect abilities.
Aspect: [Shadow Slave].
Aspect Rank: Divine.
Aspect Description: [You are a miraculous shadow left behind by a dead god. As a divine shadow, you possess plenty of strange and wondrous powers. However, your existence is empty and lonesome; you mourn the passing of your former master and long to find a new one.]
Innate Ability: [Shadow Bond].
Ability Description: [Find a worthy master and let them know your True Name. Once they recite it out loud, you will be bound to their will, unable to disobey any command. It is improper for a shadow, let alone a divine one, to walk around without a master.]
As Sunny was about to chack his Abilities. He froze. He reread the runes again and again, yet they didn't change. A cold feeling of despair rose in his chest — he just noticed his heart hadn't been beating since he woke up — as sweat started to roll down his face.
'No… You can't be serious…'
Master: AR-26710
Sunny snapped out of it when he… sensed someone approaching. It was a strange feeling, disconnected from his other senses. He could feel each movement of the individual, but he wanted to be able to see in more detail.
His vision split in three.
Sunny would have thought he would get disoriented by such a feeling, but instead, it felt natural, like something he always knew how to do. He was able to see himself from two different perspectives. Sunny turned around, staring back at the other source of sight.
He looked at the two shadows on the ground. Once of which looked at him like he was a dissapointment, while the other looked as if it was the king of the world.
'Gloomy, Haughty.'
Sunny remembered the nicknames he had given the two shadows. He couldn't recall much, but he knew that they were his only friends.
'Huh? That didn't sound right…'
Whether it was due to the self-deprecating fact that his only friends were an extension of himself, or if that fact proved untrue in the time between now and his First Nightmare, he didn't know.
What he did know, was that whatever was approaching wasn't human, if the sounds of the footsteps were anything to go off of.
He felt as if his shadows were a second and third body, and controlled them as naturally as he breathed. They moved up the wall of the space station, setting themselves on the roof. They moved extremely fast, as they headed towards where Sunny sensed the beings.
'Hm… let's call it shadow sense.'
The extra sense that allowed Sunny to feel the shadow of objects must have been gained from his Aspect. Meanwhile, he guessed that [Shadow Control] was what allowed him to control his shadow.
'An invaluable helper indeed.'
Through the eyes of his two shadows, Sunny saw two humanoids with glowing blades in place of their arms. They had dark, purple, shell-like bodies, and didn't have what would be recognized as a face. Among them was a floating orb with a segmented, silver shell, and a core that reminded Sunny of the stars at night.
He looked towards March.
"I saw some purple creatures. Their coming this way."
She blinked.
"Oh, that's the Legion. How did you see them anyways?"
Sunny sighed. He didn't want to tell her more than necessary.
"My Aspect is good for scouting."
She nodded before extending out a hand. A bow materialized in her hand after a dance of white sparks. It had a silver frame and a glowing, light blue string.
Sunny noticed the same network of light appear on her bow. It had four bright lights connected by strings.
'…Ah! So that's what it is!'
Sunny looked down at his jacket, and concluded that his jacket was actually a Memory. It must have been [Finality's Farewell], as it was the only garment memory he had.
Sunny summoned the [Midnight Shard], which was a austere tachi made of dark, lustrous steel. He also summoned the [Pupeteer's Shroud], which was a set of light armor that appeared under his jacket, similar to a cocoon. Interestingly enough, while you couldn't wear multiple garment or armor memories at the same time, you could wear an armor alongside a garment.
He didn't summon the [Mantle of the Underworld], as he didn't want to reveal an Ascended memory.
Sunny felt weird wearing a modern jacket over armor that wouldn't be seen in the modern day, if it wasn't for the Nightmare Spell.
Once the Legion turned the corner, Sunny called his shadows back to him, feeling them climb onto his body. His power doubled, before tripling.
'…Huh?'
He wasn't aware he could do that. It was kind of like muscle memory, now that he thought about it.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see March drawing her bow without any arrows. Suddenly, an arrow formed of pink and blue ice formed.
'Must be an enchantment.'
The Legion seemed to have spotted them, as the two humanoids dashed in their direction. The floating orb was charging up some sort of attack, as energy was being absorbed by it.
March let go of her arrow, causing it detonate to detonate in cold mist as it hit the orb. It wasn't dead, but clearly disoriented, if the way it was wobbling in the air was any indication.
Sunny ducked under a slash from one of the humanoids, before kicking out his leg. Now that he had read his runes, he knew what that surge of energy from back when he kicked Dan Heng was. He was manipulating his soul essence, using it to amp his attacks.
Combined with the shadows overlapped on him, which further tripled his strength, he was able to easily trip the humanoid. Setting his eyes on the other, he stabbed down, piercing the skull of the enemy he had sent to the ground.
[You have slain an awakened beast, Voidranger: Reaver.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
He felt himself absorb something, but he had no time to waste. The other Reaver was already approaching, despite seeing how easily Sunny had killed it's brethren. It dashed forward, arms raised in order to cleave him in two.
However, it seemed to greatly underestimate the treacherous Lost From Light.
In an instant, Sunny was behind the Reaver, traveling without even taking a step forward. Sunny stabbed the [Midnight Shard] forward, piercing where a human's heart and spine would be. The Reaver twitched for a moment, before finally dying.
[You have slain an awakened beast, Voidranger: Reaver.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
Sunny was astonished at what had just happened. He was able to think with extreme clarity, thinking of nothing but how to kill his opponent, and prevent himself from being killed. At the same time, his movements were fluid, basically formless. In a way, he felt like he was a shadow himself.
'Well… I guess I technically am.'
As the Reaver slipped off of Sunny's blade, he glanced at March. His eyes widened at the sight.
In her hands were the two halves of the orb. Both her and the orb were covered in frost. She seemed to have been physically empowered, similar to the augmentations from his shadow.
Well, he wasn't going to ask. If he was lucky, he wouldn't have to see her again once they've gotten to the master control zone.
"You're stronger than you look… Seem to be quite the fighter."
Sunny blinked.
"Hmph. You should've seen me before. I was a malnourished brat beefing with Awakened Tyrants."
He said all this with a smirk on his face in order to really sell it.
"Uh-huh. Right."
'Nailed it!'
"So we'll take that elevator on the central platform to go down to the master control zone. Do you know the way?"
Sunny deadpanned.
"You idiot. Didn't I already tell you I didn't?"
March pursed her lips together.
"…Well, you were on this space ship, and the only people here are people that work here, so…"
Sunny blinked. That actually made a lot of sense.
"Well, I don't, got that? I am completely unemployed."
Sunny glanced in the direction of the elevator.
"…Give me a second."
And he was gone.
March looked left and right, trying to locate the treacherous shadow.
"…Dan Heng is going to kill me."
***
The moment Sunny reappeared, he had his sword stabbed within a Reaver.
[You have slain an awakened beast, Voidwalker: Reaver.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
Sunny had figured out a lot of things. First off, was that his Awakened ability allowed him to instantaneously travel between shadows. Just now, he had used it to travel to the Reaver before impaling it.
Secondly, he had figured out how to gain shadow fragments. All he had to do was kill enemies, and his counter would go up. Sunny guessed that once he fully saturated his core, he would grow a third one. He also concluded that was why he had two shadows, and not just one.
Once he had a third core, he would gain a third shadow.
Sunny jumped over the beam of energy coming his way. He decided to try something else…
Out of his shadow, a female knight with armor made of marble appeared. She held onto a broadsword and a shield, and immediately blocked another beam of energy. The beams were being fired by those orb-like enemies.
As Saint appeared on the battlefield, Sunny commanded her to go after the two orbs. He was going after a floating humanoid, similar to the reavers, but without the blades on it's arms. It's color scheme was also different, with a silver body instead of a purple one.
It was surrounded by floating purple shards, which were radiating energy.
Sunny sprinted towards the creature, moving the Haughty shadow to Saint.
However, the moment that the haughty shadow left his body, something inherently changed within Sunny's mind.
He felt energy course through his body, giving him a rush of pure destructive energy. However, it was untamed, having nothing for it to be contained in.
'Huh?'
He didn't know what this feeling was, but it seemed to have to do with the removal of the Haughty shadow. He had no time to think, as the enemy before him was using the purple shards as a conduit for an attack — most likely a blast of some sort.
Using his awakened ability, Sunny once again found himself behind the enemy, stabbing forth in order to kill it. The foe was lightly more durable, but wasn't powerful enough to resist the [Midnight Shard].
[You have slain an awakened demon, Voidranger: Distorter.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
Sunny looked to check how his Shadow was doing.
Saint held up the two orbs before smashing them together, crushing them to dust. She turned over to Sunny, banging her chest in pride.
[You have slain an awakened beast, Baryon.]
[You have slain an awakened beast, Baryon.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
'That's… weird.'
Echoes did not have the ability to display emotions, as they were only an echo of their former self. It seemed that his Shadows were different, however.
Sunny dismissed Saint back into his soul sea. By sending his memories, echoes, and most likely his shadows into his soul sea, they would be able to recover from any damage they had previously taken. Saint wasn't injured, but he would prefer to keep her hidden.
March approached him, sending him an annoyed expression as she went towards the elevator. She fiddled with the control panel before sighing in disappointment.
"Ah, I knew it…"
"It's broken?"
"—But it wasn't me! The Antimatter Legion must have broken it!"
'I didn't even accuse you… yet.'
March looked back at the elevator.
"Too bad Dan Heng's not here. He's like a walking encyclopedia... He knows a ton of complicated stuff — maybe even elevator repair..."
"I don't know that one."
March jumped at the voice, while Sunny simply turned his head. He had noticed Dan Heng approaching them for awhile, thanks to his shadows, but didn't tell March just to mess with her.
"Whoa! Why are you here!?"
"I took another route to the upper level, and I saw you guys from up there. I found Arlan, by the way."
'…Didn't he say that this Arlan guy was head of security?'
"Would he be able to help out with the elevator?"
Sunny could have easily stepped into the shadows and go to the master control zone, but he didn't want to expose that ability to them just yet. Although March had somewhat witnessed it, she most likely assumed that he was using a stealth ability, as it lined up with his ability to scout.
Dan Heng thought about it for a moment.
"I suppose as the head of the Security Department, he should know."
March beamed at this stroke of luck.
"Then let's go talk to him!"
***
Sunny was… conflicted.
As the trio were walking through the long, winding halls of the space station, Sunny kept staring at the sets of runes from before.
Master: AR-26710
If Sunny understood this correctly, this… AR-26710 was his master. Considering the strangeness of the name, he tried to deny it by brushing it off as some kind of bug in the Nightmare Spell.
However, once he focused on the runes, he realized that he was wrong.
It opened up a whole other set of runes, which displayed his master's attributes, True Name, Aspect, memories, and all other relevant information. He didn't bother reading it. Not at this moment at least.
The situation could go wrong very quickly if he met this person, so it would be stupid to not be aware of their abilities. But now wasn't he time, as he still hadn't finished reading the rest of his runes.
Aspect Ability: [Shadow Control]
Ability Description: [Your shadow is more independent than most. It is an invaluable helper.]
As he had thought, the ability to use his shadows to scout or augment himself was his dormant ability. He had also been able to use Haughty to augment Saint earlier, bringing him to believe that he might be able to do the same with his memories.
That's would require further testing.
Aspect Ability: [Shadow Step].
Ability Description: [You can move freely between shadows, traveling from one to another in an instant.]
He was not only able to instantaneously teleport, but he even had the ability to stay in the intangible form of a shadow.
'Huh? What's…'
Sunny's eyes widened as he stared at the set of runes in front of him. A sense of giddiness rose, almost powerful enough to completely quench the bitterness he had at being enslaved.
Almost.
Aspect Legacy: [Shadow Dance].
Sunny had an Aspect Legacy!
Aspect Legacy's were something every Aspect had — something of a gift from the spell. They were usually memories or echoes that synchronized extremely well with an Awakened's Aspect, and were passed down among Legacy Clans — bloodlines of Awakened warriors.
The obtainment of one was extremely specific, and varied across Aspects. Most people would go their entire lives without ever unlocking it.
Sunny immediately checked the description, wondering what exactly it did.
Shadow Dance Description: [Once an elegant dance, now a deadly battle art. This mysterious style was created by the treacherous Lost From Light after witnessing a graceful slave dancing with her shadows. Who else could have taken something so beautiful and turned it into something so vile?]
'Again with this treacherous stuff… I'm not that treacherous, okay? So what if I lie, manipulate, and backstab people all the time. That's just being smart…'
Despite his complaints, Sunny was actually quite pleased. This seemed to explain how he was able to move the way he did, switching through different styles as easily as he breathed.
However, it was quite strange.
He never heard of an Aspect Legacy granting something like a fighting style. It would have made more sense if he had been granted a Shadow, similar to Saint.
Considering he had a Divine Aspect however, he assumed that his Legacy's potential was vast.
And vast it was.
'Seven… Seven of them!'
Shadow Dance Mastery Level: [1/7]
First Relic: [Claim].
Second Relic: [Unearned].
Third Relic…
There were a total of seven lines of runes, each promising him a Legacy Relic once he achieved the corresponding level of mastery with his newly envisioned battle style.
Seven of them!
Not one, not even two or three. But seven.
Whole Legacy Clans were created around a single Legacy Relic. Sunny couldn't even imagine what he would be able to do with seven.
Start a family and turn it into the most powerful clan in the world? No, that would mean putting all his eggs into one basket. Better create several clans!
Right! Why start a family when you can start seven?
Wait, no… that didn't sound right…
Right?
"What are you spacing out for?"
Sunny looked up at the duo in front of him. They seemed to have noticed how lost in thought he was.
"Just thinking about starting a Legacy clan. Have you ever thought about starting a clan, huh, March?"
She grimaced, shooting him a look of disgust. Dan Heng looked away, trying to stop the rising laughter of elation. Sunny sent him a confused look.
"So… am I missing something here?"
March scowled at him.
"I'll have you know, I'm a lady of high standards! Inviting me to… 'create' a clan with you only half a system hour after meeting me? I mean, who even does that?!"
Sunny blinked.
"Oh, I didn't mean it like that. You're not my type, sorry."
Dan Heng's stoic persona almost crumbled, but he kept it together with the perseverance and discipline he had honed over the years.
Meanwhile March gaped at Sunny, appalled.
The boy in question blinked.
"Uh… did I say something wrong?"
March clicked her tongue at him, before grabbing onto Dan Heng's arm and dragging him forward.
While the two were walking away, Sunny decided to check something.
First Relic: [Claim].
Sunny thought about claiming the relic, and the Nightmare Spell made an announcement.
[You have received an Aspect Legacy Relic.]
[You have received a Shadow: Soul Serpent.]
Sunny stared at the runes for a while, then slightly tilted his head.
'A Shadow…'
What an unexpected boon.
Usually, a Legacy Relic came in the form of a Memory, or very rarely an Echo. Perhaps there were some other types of Relics out there, but he had never heard of them.
Nevertheless, receiving a Shadow pleasantly surprised him.
Looking up, he saw new runes appearing out of thin air:
Shadows: [Marble Saint], [Soul Serpent].
Sunny looked ahead, seeing March and Dan Heng. They didn't go too far ahead, so Sunny decided not to summon the shadow just yet.
Shadow: [Soul Serpent].
Shadow Rank: Dormant.
Shadow Class: Monster.
Shadow Attributes: [Shadow Guide], [Soul Weapon].
Shadow Description: [When the end came, Shadow was the last of the gods to be destroyed. Many have resented him for creating death, but in the end, death embraced all.]
Noting the interesting detail of a connection between Shadow God and death, Sunny lowered his gaze.
However, the last string, the one he had been accustomed to paying the most attention to when it came to Saint, was missing. There was no indication of how many shadow fragments it would take to make the Serpent evolve.
Sunny frowned.
Come to think of it…
That strange Shadow was clearly connected to his soul. Perhaps it wasn't a coincidence that it was a monster — Sunny was a monster himself, after all.
Most likely, it would grow alongside Sunny himself.
But why was it of the Dormant Rank, while Sunny had already become an Awakened?
'Huh…'
Maybe… maybe its Rank was not tied to Sunny's soul, but to his comprehension of the Shadow Dance? Currently, he had mastered only the first of the seven steps of the battle art, and the Serpent belonged to the first of the seven Ranks. Would it evolve to a higher Rank if he mastered more steps?
Full of thoughts, Sunny sighed and turned his attention to the Shadow's Attributes.
[Shadow Guide] Attribute Description: "Soul Serpent guides shadow essence as it flows through your body."
[Soul Weapon] Attribute Description: "Soul Serpent can assume the form of a weapon."
'The form of a wea… wait, what?'
Sunny paused for a second, reading the attributs multiple times. In confusion, he decided to test something. He tried to summon the Soul Serpent, and yet…
Nothing happened.
'As expected.'
However, something did change. Not on a visual level, but rather, within him. Based on the [Shadow Guide] attribute, and the fact that Serpent didn't have anything related to a living being, he guessed that it didn't have a physical body.
He felt the shadow essence within him flow with more intent. Due to the [Essence of Divinity] attribute, Sunny figured that his shadow essence was more potent than most. With Serpent however, the flow was much more precise. He would most likely spend less essence using [Shadow Step]. The same would go for when he used his essence to reinforce himself.
He had hoped to see a giant serpent made out of shadows appear in front of him, with black scales as thick as plate armor and a mouth wide enough to swallow his enemies whole. Or an average-sized snake, at least!
But there was nothing.
He even checked to see if a new shadow joined his two invaluable helpers, but no. Both rested on the floor, one seemingly arrogant, the other bored and in a perpetually bad mood.
'Weird…'
He raised a hand to rub his eyes, but froze at the last moment.
'What is that?'
There was something dark on the skin of his wrist and forearm, peaking out from beneath the jacket.
'...What? I have… a tattoo now?'
Of course, Sunny recognized the serpent immediately. The nameless temple slave bore the mark on his skin!
It was the Shadow God's mark.
Sunny blinked a couple of times, then stared at his left wrist, where the head of the Soul Serpent was drawn under his skin. Its scales were so intricate that it almost seemed as if the creature was moving.
Now… it really was moving.
Following Sunny's mental command, the Soul Serpent slithered up to his hand, and then escaped from it, turning into a dark blade. As the coils moved across his body, the blade grew longer and longer, until a hilt wrapped in black leather rested comfortably in his grip.
The tattoo was gone.
Sunny found himself holding a lusterless greatsword. It was a menacing, formidable, foreboding odachi.
Including the hilt, the odachi was as long as he was tall. It was surprisingly light for its length, but heavy enough to inflict truly devastating wounds.
Almost invisible on the dark steel, an lifelike image of a coiling serpent was etched into its blade.
He weighed the greatsword in his hands for a while, then smiled darkly.
'...Truly, this is a weapon worthy of a shadow.'
It was still weak, though. If it was a Memory, it would have been only a Dormant one of the second tier. Sunny was going to have to put in some work to make the dark odachi really fearsome.
With a sigh, he commanded the Serpent to slither back onto his body, returning to the form of a tattoo. He summoned the [Puppeteer's Shroud] under his [Finality's Farewell], allowing him to cover up his forearms. This time, he summoned it under his mundane clothes as well, which consisted of a loose white shirt, and dark pants.
You could only tell he was wearing armor if you looked at his arms.
With his Serpent now hidden, he sent out a shadow right behind the two members of the Astral Express. Using shadow step, he reappeared right behind them, not being noticed.
As expected, the cost to use shadow step had definitely decreased.
"Hey."
March jumped in shock, just like when Dan Heng met up with them at the elevator.
'What a one-trick pony.'
Sunny didn't know what a pony was. He just heard the phrase somewhere.
March whirled around.
"Wha- how did you get here so fast?!"
"Don't shout. There's those Legion guys nearby. Right behind you actually."
March paled.
***
[You have slain an awakened monster, Antibaryon.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
As the three of them fought against the Antimatter Legion, Sunny used one of his shadows to keep an eye on the two. He was able to somewhat deduce what their Aspects allowed them to do.
March had the ability to create ice crystals, which would explode into frozen mist on impact. Her physical capabilities seemed to increase whenever she entered that mist. Even if she didn't, Sunny still noticed a slight increase in physical ability whenever the room got colder.
As for Dan Heng, Sunny only figured out one of his Aspect abilities. He seemed to be able to inflict some sort of deterioration on his enemies, allowing him to kill them easier. It wasn't to the point where they crumbled on their own, but he was able to inflict more damage with his blows.
Sunny also noticed that he used a spear memory with a rotating orb in the middle. It was also possible that the deteriorative effect was an enchantment, and not an Aspect ability.
'Now that I think about it…'
"Do you two not have any armor memories?"
March flinched(again), turning towards Dan Heng while shaking her head rapidly. The nonchalant Awakened shook his head in exasperation, before replying to Sunny.
"March keeps getting the two of us in some… difficult situations. Our armor memories never survives."
'You know, I kinda feel bad for him. I couldn't last a day with that idiot.'
After a minute or two of walking, the trio had found who they were looking for.
Arlan was a young boy with dark skin and grey hair. Sunny could see a few scars on his body, mainly an x-shaped one on his face.
Sunny could instinctively tell that he wasn't an Awakened.
'What the hell…'
The boy must have been a sleeper. Sunny thought it was strange that a mere dormant human would be tasked with the security of the space station, but he didn't worry about it too much. Although it made the security seem unreliable, it was ultimately none of his business.
The boy looked at them, left hand clutching his right.
"Hey… you're all together?"
March stepped up.
"Yep, we're from the Astral Express~"
'Don't lump me in with you!'
While Sunny was having his inner monologue, Arlan asked Dan Heng if a "Madam Herta" sent them.
'Must be the owner of this space station.'
"It's just a coincidence. We came to deliver the rare relic Herta trusted us to find... We didn't expect to arrive during an invasion."
March chimed in with a question.
"Why is the Antimatter Legion targeting you guys? It seems they just ignored the surface of the planet and came straight to the space station."
Arlan looked down at his feet.
"I... have no idea. The Legion came at a very suspicious time — almost right after the security system suddenly failed. Lady... Lead Researcher Asta immediately began to organize the evacuation. I was supposed to cover everyone as they evacuated, but... I didn't expect to end up failing in this task."
Dan Heng shook his head.
"Don't be too hard on yourself. Your leg and dominant hand were injured. It was a wise decision to hide here and avoid a head-on encounter with the Legion."
Sunny stared off into the distance.
'Man, they're really getting all heartfelt huh? This is getting really awkward.'
March joined in on all this… "heartfelt" stuff.
"Yeah! Most of the staff have been evacuated safely, so right now our highest priority is to return to the master control zone and plan a counterattack! So... do you know how to use the elevator? I couldn't start it..."
***
Bring Arlan along with them, they traveled towards the elevator on the highest floor. Dan Heng looked towards Arlan, asking a question:
"Do you know why the Antimatter Legion would invade the station, Arlan?"
"They must've come for Madam Herta's collection... But as to why, I still..."
"I heard there's something called a Stellaron in Madam Herta's collection."
"...That's not the kind of information someone in my position would have access to."
The word Stellaron sounded familiar to Sunny. Very familiar, in fact. Yet, he couldn't quite recall what it was…
'Ah…'
Sunny's shadows had located three enemies ahead. Two of them were the Reavers he had killed earlier, while the third was similar to a centaur. It had a four legged lower body with a humanoid upper body. For some reason, it had it's arms crossed.
"We have company."
'I've always wanted to say that line.'
March and Dan Heng nodded, while Arlan looked at them in confusion. Dan Heng wasn't told about his Aspect, but he seemed to be quite quick on the uptake.
They looked around a corner, seeing the three servants of Destruction standing motionlessly. March drew her bow, standing next to Arlan. Sunny and Dan Heng went out to confront the Antimatter Legion, having already summoned their respective weapons.
The Reaver's immediately sprinted towards the two, getting ready to dismantle them with their blade-arms. An arrow streaked through the air, blue light following it as it struck the one of the Reavers. Dan Heng impaled it with his spear, the body of it easily giving away.
On the other hand, Sunny was trying to figure out what that sensation of clarity from before was, as he avoided the attacks of the uninjured Reaver. Currently, he was able to predict each swing as he weaved between the attacks with ease.
In his blind spot, the four half humanoid creature had created a bow made out of swirling energy. It fired, the arrow obviously supposed to hit Sunny.
Dan Heng's eyes widened in alarm.
"Move!"
Sunny did not listen.
As the arrow was released from the bow, seeming like a streak of light, it approached Lost From Light, about to end his journey after it had barely began.
Unfortunately, the archer did not account for this shadow's treachery.
One moment, he was dancing between the attacks of the Reaver, the next, he was falling from the ceiling.
'There's shadows above you too!'
Using shadow control, Sunny sent one of his shadows to the ceiling while the other augmented himself. He then used shadow step to appear right above the centaur-like enemy, blade aimed downwards.
The arrow pierced the Reaver, causing the archer to look confused as it killed it's own ally.
[You have defeated an awakened beast, Voidwalker: Reaver.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
The spell considered the kill as his own, since he was the last Awakened to deal damage to it.
'You're next.'
Sunny landed on the back of the last remaining foe, immediately decapitating it with the [Midnight Shard].
[You have defeated an awakened devil, Voidwalker: Trampler.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
[You have recieved a memory, Thief's Instinct.]
Sunny blinked.
He had… gotten quite a bit stronger since he had completed his Nightmare, hadn't he?
As the Trampler was about to fall to it's knees, Sunny hopped off it's back. He walked over to where the others were. March grumbled something about him being a show-off, Dan Heng sighed in exasperation, while Arlan…
"…Why are you looking at me like that?"
The kid basically had sparkles in his eyes.
"Uh… it's nothing!"
Sunny narrowed his eyes at him for a second, before shrugging. Dan Heng glanced at him.
"Where did you learn how to do that?"
Sunny smirked as he crossed his arms.
"Oh, that? It's more of a party trick than anything else. Actually, I knew a shortstack who had a lot of party tricks under her belt. She must have rubbed off on me."
'…Wait a second.'
Although everything he said sounded familiar, he couldn't quite remember any such person. His intuition was telling him that they were an extremely mischievous, needy, and psychotic person.
Like a Fool.
***
Sunny was not a pervert.
Nope, not at all.
Just because he was taking sneak peaks at this woman's… prodigious chest did not mean anything!
"Are you alright Arlan? Asta's been worried about you."
The boy in question nodded at the woman's question.
"I'm fine, a quick patching up will do. Thanks for asking. I'll report the situation to Lead Researcher Asta immediately. Bye."
And he was gone.
Now all the focus was on him.
'Shit.'
This mysterious woman just smiled softly at him, before starting to introduce herself.
"Hey, nice to meet you. I'm Himeko, navigator of the Astral Express."
Sunny locked in.
"It is very, VERY nice to meet a lady as beautiful and refined as yourself, Miss Himeko. Especially considering recent company."
Sunny side-eyed March. Said girl scrunched up her face in disgust at his advances towards her senior. Although he wasn't that interested in Himeko's beauty, he wanted to make the first impression of a sociable individual!
Which he wasn't.
Dan Heng facepalmed at their behavior.
"Like little kids…"
Himeko giggled at Sunny's introduction.
"Although I appreciate the compliment, maybe you should save it for someone closer to your age."
Sunny might have been out of his league, but he wasn't out of options.
Now that he thought about it, wasn't he getting a little tired? He had only woken up recently too…
"To me, age is simply a number. In fact, I have a past of…"
He yawned, before continuing.
"…Flirting with an immortal fairy…"
'Huh? I don't know any fairies. Nor do I know how to flirt!'
He yawned again.
"…Who happened to be over… four millennia…"
Sunny face planted on the floor.
Dan Heng turned towards March with his brows furrowed.
"…You didn't give him any strange… substances, did you?"
"Wha- why would you blame me?!"