The Soul Sea dissolved like ink washed away by rain.
Sunny’s awareness rose through the quiet darkness of his soul and returned to the physical world with the slow, heavy sensation of sinking back into his own body.
The hotel room returned to focus around him. He was still seated on the windowsill where he had left his body, the curved rooftops of the Xianzhou Luofu glowing faintly beneath the lantern-lit night beyond the open window. Far below, quiet streets wound through the vast city-ship like glowing veins of amber light, while the distant hum of machinery echoed through the artificial sky.
For several monts, Sunny simply remained there, allowing the lingering impressions of the Soul Sea to fade from his mind. The mory of Serpent’s unsettling guidance still lingered unpleasantly in his thoughts, the creature’s cold voice repeating fragnts of that disturbing advice with irritating persistence.
Eventually, Sunny exhaled quietly and pushed himself upright.
He lifted his hand.
Amber flas flickered faintly across his palm as they were called by his will.
A mont later, amber light erupted outward in a brief spiral of luminous flas as the Lance of Preservationmanifested in his grasp. The long weapon appeared as it always had — ancient, elegant, and impossibly solid, its edge ford from crystallized amber while streams of golden ether moved beneath its surface like lightning trapped inside glass.
Sunny adjusted his grip slightly, feeling the familiar weight settle into his hand.
Then he waited.
Nothing happened.
His brow slowly furrowed.
The last ti he had summoned this weapon, the mont had been... very different.
Back then, the Lance had not simply been a tool resting in his hand. Sothing else had awakened alongside it — sothing far more dramatic than a simple manifestation of Preservation’s authority.
Sunny rembered it clearly.
The shadows had crawled across his arm like living armor, forming a dark carapace that encased his limb in layered plates of shifting darkness. At the sa ti, amber ether had surged across his skin in blazing streams, streaking over his body like veins of molten gold.
Then the wing had appeared.
A single draconic wing had burst from his back, vast and jagged, its structure resembling crystalline amber reinforced with burning thrusters that pulsed with explosive bursts of amber fla. The wing had not rely been decorative; it had radiated imnse power, like a fragnt of a war machine created to enforce his will.
And above it all, resting upon his head, had been the crown.
A jagged half-crown of amber crystal, fractured and uneven like the broken remains of a royal diadem, had ford around his brow — not sothing bestowed upon him, but sothing that had felt like a declaration of authority.
Sunny slowly rotated the lance in his hand as he stared at it thoughtfully.
"...So?"
The weapon shimred faintly in the lantern light.
Nothing changed.
No shadows crawled across his skin.
No amber ether surged through his body.
No wing manifested behind him.
Sunny frowned slightly as he tried to reconstruct the exact feeling he had experienced during that mont.
It had not felt like borrowing power.
That much he rembered clearly.
Ordinarily, Pathstriders drew upon the authority of their chosen Aeon like a well — an external force that flowed through them but never truly belonged to them. But the sensation he had felt during that brief transformation had been sothing else entirely.
Sunny had not borrowed Preservation.
He had taken it.
More specifically, he had taken the concept behind Preservation and forced it into a shape that matched his own understanding of it. Rather than submitting to the Aeon’s authority, he had imposed his own aning upon it — bending the Path itself into a reflection of his personal will.
At the ti, the sensation had felt strangely natural.
Now, however, the Lance sat in his hand like nothing more than an ordinary weapon.
Sunny waited another few seconds before sighing softly.
"...Guess I don’t know the trick yet."
Whatever conditions he had unknowingly t before clearly were not present now.
With a small flick of his wrist, Sunny dismissed the weapon.
Amber flas erupted along the length of the lance as it dissolved into swirling motes of golden light that scattered into the air like dying sparks before fading entirely from existence.
Leaning back against the window fra once more, Sunny allowed his gaze to drift downward as he summoned his runes.
His attention moved through the familiar sections of the Spell until it settled upon the newest entry that had appeared within his collection of mories.
mory: [Poverty].
Sunny stared at the na for a mont before letting out a quiet snort.
’...Yeah.’
He rubbed the side of his neck thoughtfully.
’I know a thing or three about that.’
His gaze shifted to the rest of the information.
mory Rank: Transcendent.
mory Tier: V.
mory Type: Charm.
mory Description: [Where Abundance promises endless life and limitless growth, life rembers the truth that existence itself is a debt. Every breath taken from the world must soday be repaid, every heartbeat borrowed from ti must eventually fall silent. The certainty that life without restraint becos a burden upon reality itself. It is the hunger that waits patiently beneath overflowing Abundance, the empty ledger that balances every stolen mont of immortality. Even eternity can starve.]
Sunny tilted his head slightly as he considered the aning behind the words.
"...Interesting."
His eyes shifted downward to the enchantnts.
mory Enchantnts: [Slayable], [Unsavable].
The Spell imdiately provided their explanations.
[Slayable] Enchantnt Description: "The bearer of this charm deals increased damage to beings possessing unnatural healing factors. This effect is greatly amplified against those blessed by Yaoshi."
Sunny tilted his head. That was... quite situational.
Given that the mory had originated from the Abundant Ebon Deer, it made sense that its power would be associated with Abundance. Though, being in opposition with it was surprising.
Then he read the second enchantnt.
[Unsavable] Enchantnt Description: "The bearer of this charm cannot be healed by unnatural ans."
Sunny stared at the text in silence.
"...Crap."
He leaned his head back against the wall as mild disappointnt settled over him.
The first enchantnt was extrely situational. Against enemies empowered by the Abundance, it would likely beco devastating — perhaps even overwhelmingly powerful. But outside of those circumstances, the effect would provide only modest benefits.
The second enchantnt was worse.
Rather than enhancing his survivability, it actively reduced it by preventing any form of supernatural healing from affecting him.
At least the logic behind the design was obvious.
Restrictions strengthened enchantnts.
By imposing a severe drawback like [Unsavable], the Spell had likely magnified the destructive potential of [Slayable] far beyond what it would normally possess.
Sunny sighed quietly.
"Well... it’ll ruin soone’s day eventually."
With a small gesture, he summoned the mory.
A brittle object appeared in his palm.
It was nothing more than a dried leaf.
Its edges were thin and fragile, its once-living veins faded into pale lines that resembled cracks in old parchnt. Yet faint golden patterns shimred across its surface like dying embers trapped within the brittle structure.
Sunny activated his special vision.
The world shifted.
The leaf dissolved into a complex structure of luminous threads and glowing knots. A delicate weave of radiant strings stretched through the charm, forming a pattern so intricate that it resembled a miniature constellation suspended in midair.
The design was anchored to five brilliant nexuses of light.
Sunny studied the weave carefully, committing every detail to mory with the ticulous focus of a craftsman examining a masterpiece. The structure was complex but not beyond comprehension, and if he studied it long enough, he might eventually replicate sothing similar himself.
Once he felt confident that the pattern had been fully morized, Sunny dismissed the charm.
The dried leaf dissolved into fading motes of golden light.
His attention shifted back to the runes.
There was one final section he had yet to examine.
Echoes.
The list contained only a single entry.
Echoes: [Tingyun]
Sunny stared at the na for a mont before letting out a quiet laugh.
’Enjoy the show, you damn Spell?’
Apparently being possessed by a Lord Ravager had been enough to catch the attention of the Nightmare Spell. Even plenty of Awakened weren’t given nas by the Spell.
He opened the entry.
Echo: [Tingyun]
Echo Rank: Dormant
Echo Class: Beast
Sunny raised an eyebrow slightly at the classification before continuing.
Echo Description: [Just a normal woman who knew people in high places... until a servant of The Blemished One took her face, na, and mind. She beca a tool, destined to be discarded once her usefulness ended. Instead, she was freed by the liberating blade of the treacherous Lost From Light, who severed her from her mortal coils.]
Sunny’s expression darkened slightly.
"...Treacherous, again?"
The Spell seed particularly fond of that description. What was Weaver smoking?
He sighed and moved on.
Echo Attributes: [Foxian], [Temptress], [Pathstrider].
[Foxian] Attribute Description: "This Echo belongs to a long-life species — one that carries the traits of faster reflexes and heightened agility, as well as keener senses and greater wit."
[Temptress] Attribute Description: "This Echo is naturally familiar with the hearts of others and how to take advantage of them."
The last one caught his attention imdiately.
[Pathstrider] Attribute Description: "This Echo treads an Aeonic Path."
Paths: [Destruction], [Abundance].
Sunny’s expression softened faintly.
Phantylia had marked Tingyun with the Path of Destruction, even though the possession had long since ended. anwhile, the Path of Abundance was simply the nature of her species. Foxians, like most long-life races of the Xianzhou Alliance, carried Yaoshi’s influence within their blood.
Sunny closed his eyes briefly.
’Damnation...’
Then, he made a decision.
His awareness sank once more into the depths of his soul.
His Soul Sea welcod him again.
Standing beneath the eclipsed sky, Sunny raised a hand toward the glowing orbs orbiting his Shadow Cores. One of them detached from its orbit and fell slowly toward the dark water below.
When it struck the surface, the orb shattered.
A figure erged from the fragnts of light.
Tingyun stood before him.
Her body was perfectly ford yet eerily reflective, like polished obsidian shaped into human form. Her fox ears rose gently above her head, while long hair cascaded down her back in smooth, motionless strands.
Her eyes were empty. No light, no emotion, and no thought.
An Echo of what she once was.
She wore nothing, of course. It’s not like her clothes at the ti would co with her.
Sunny looked at her quietly.
There was no embarrassnt in his gaze. Only a deep, quiet heaviness pressing against his chest.
This woman had never been his enemy. She had been a victim. Phantylia had stolen her identity, worn her face, and discarded her life without hesitation.
And Sunny had been the one to end it.
Even if it had been necessary.
Even if it had been unavoidable.
It still hurt, killing another slave with no freedom of their own.
He stepped forward slowly and placed his hand gently on her shoulder.
Runes appeared instantly.
[Convert Echo into a Shadow?]
Sunny stared at the words for a long ti.
When he had received Kurt’s Echo, the decision had been easy. He had been weak. A mindless butcher who crumbled against the weight of the world.
Sunny had no interest in keeping soone like that within his soul.
But Tingyun... he didn’t know who she had truly been. All he knew was Phantylia, who always wore that wide smile. All he knew was Phantylia, who would brush her stolen fingers against his own for her own amusent. All he knew was Phantylia, who seed out of place with seven Supre Soul Cores within her...
All he knew was Sunny, who had been indecisive about whether or not she was a threat until the last mont. Maybe nothing would have changed. Maybe, if he had waited just a little longer, Phantylia would have harmlessly left Tingyun alone.
...This is this and that is that. He had slain Tingyun and recieved her Echo. If Phantylia had decided not to spare Tingyun in that alternate scenario, wouldn’t there be no second chances for her?
Sunny wanted to give her that chance, half-assed as it would be. He didn’t believe that this would be a waste of Shadow Fragnts.
"...I’m sorry."
Then, he made his choice.
"Yes."
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