Bronya pursed her lips as she began to explain to Seele:
"The Architects said that the guardian’s successor is selected from among all people in Belobog. The selection process can take anywhere from a few years to a few decades. During that ti, all children of the appropriate age in both the Overworld and the Underworld will be tested. In the end, only one child deed as worthy will be chosen. I... must have been chosen from among the children here and then taken to the surface..."
Seele tilted her head. She had always thought that the Supre Guardian’s child would naturally be the one who would lead Belobog. She supposed that it was still true. It wasn’t that being the Supre Guardian’s daughter made Bronya eligible to be next in line, but she was the Supre Guardian’s daughter because she was eligible.
Frowning, Seele wondered if Natasha was aware of this.
"The kids at the orphanage are always coming and going... I never thought that there would’ve been a future Supre Guardian among us! Does Nat know about this? Could she have been keeping it a secret...?"
Bronya paused for a mont, before shaking her head.
"...I don’t think she knows. The selection of the successor is done with utmost secrecy, and the child chosen must completely say goodbye to their past."
Her expression beca bitter, her eyes locked onto a spot on the ground.
"And thus... I beca the daughter of Madam Cocolia. My only identity is that of guardian successor, but I’m... not good enough..."
Raising a brow, Seele wondered where she was going with this.
Bronya continued:
"Every day I see Silvermane Guards sacrifice their lives in the Fragntum, but I’ve never had the resolve to change mother’s mind. The Underworld has been struggling, but I never tried to help. I didn’t even know that it was my own ho that had fallen into such a dire state... In the end, I haven’t been able to guard anything. How could they have thought I was worthy to be the successor..."
Seele rolled her eyes at Bronya’s long rant.
"Hey! Are you done?"
Blinking, the gray-haired girl looked up at her.
"...Huh?"
Sending her an annoyed glare, Seele imitated the sounds of a whining baby.
"Wah wah wah... So annoying."
Bronya continued to stare at Seele in confusion as she scoffed.
"What? You thought I should feel sorry for you after your little speech? You can hide in your palace while you fuss over your Overworld problems, and on the front line it’s not even you who’s putting their life in danger. But in the Underworld, what do we worry about? If we’ll have food for our next al or survive to the next week!"
Using an incredibly mocking rendition of Bronya’s voice, Seele said:
"’Even if I am but a small glimr of light in this world, I must try my best to shine brightly for others.’ Didn’t you say that? Well, if you really want to protect everyone, what are you standing here crying for? Get to it!"
Bronya stayed silent for a long mont as a bead of sweat rolled down Seele’s face.
’Uh... was that too harsh?’
...Well, it wasn’t like she cared or anything! She was simply letting out her anger on this snob!
Suddenly, Bronya let out an unladylike snort, turning her head as she covered her mouth.
Seele narrowed her eyes. Was she laughing at her?
"You’re right... You’re right, self-pity doesn’t help solve anything."
Bronya turned back to Seele, a small smile on her face.
"Thank you, Seele. Usually when I feel sorry for myself, I am t with gentle consolation. Never has anyone dared to be tough and make snap out of it."
’...Oh, so she usually does that.’
Seele’s already low opinion of Bronya plumted even more. Was she a walking sob story?
"Eh... your welco? If carrying a burden like that is as hard as you’re making it look, why do you force yourself to?"
Bronya sighed.
"...As the successor to the guardian of Belobog, I must always be vigilant of my behavior and thoughts."
Seele rolled her eyes once more. Why were rich people so stiff?
"Yeah yeah, Lady Bronya~"
She turned towards the orphanage.
"How about I show you around the orphanage a bit more? Unlike you, my mories from when I was little are crystal clear."
Bronya’s expression lightened up.
"Okay, I’ll indulge in old mories with you for a while."
Staring off in the distance, Seele wondered if the patients at the clinic will be able to last until they get back. They’ve wasted quite a bit of ti after all.
’...Nah, those guys are tougher than they look.’
And so, Seele ignored the concept of responsibility as she went to frolic with Bronya.
At the sa ti, she didn’t notice the sudden absence of a particular voice...
***
anwhile...
A shadow blurred from rooftop to rooftop, avoiding the gaze of the inhabitants of the Chained Isles.
Sunny stealthily scouted out the residential building, his shadows searching for a certain gremlin.
’...The coast is clear.’
With a determined grin, Sunny used Shadow Step to imdiately appear within his personal chambers. Plopping down on his bed, he looked through his runes.
He had went through the trouble of stealthily entering because he didn’t want to encounter people who might bother him. This included that strange group of Awakened that happened to be situated right outside his room that one ti, and two individuals that have a tendency to give him life-threatening mandatory side-quests.
Particularly, Red Herring and Sky Tide.
Besides, if he ran into Sparkle again, she might do sothing irreversible to him!
Looking around his room, his eyes locked on to the doll that she had given him, situated on his desk. It sent him a smug expression, as if it knew how uncomfortable it made him. Especially when it ca to a certain... addition.
Gulping, Sunny got up and picked up the doll, glaring at it. He didn’t like the look the artificially-replicated Sparkle sent him.
Not wanting it to be staring at him from the corner of his eye, he brought it along with him to his bed. He made sure that he didn’t look at it from the bottom, or he might actually beco sick.
Holding it within his arms, Sunny checked his runes once more.
Na: Sunless.
True Na: Lost From Light.
Rank: Awakened.
Class: Demon.
Shadow Cores: [3/7]
Shadow Fragnts: [15/3000].
mories: [Weaver’s Mask], [Silver Bell], [Puppeteer’s Shroud], [Vessel of Rembrance], [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], [Thief’s Instinct], [Destroyer’s Final Road], [Silk Shroud], [Everwinter Night], [Sky Reacher], [Sunflare Talisman], [Ghastly Hunger].
Echoes: —
Shadows: [Marble Saint], [Soul Serpent].
Attributes: [Fated], [Essence of Divinity], [Child of Shadows], [The War], [Blood Weave], [Breach of Styx], [Pathstrider].
Aspect: [Shadow Slave].
Aspect Rank: Divine.
Focusing on his mories, Sunny first checked the Destroyer’s Final Road — the mory he had obtained from killing the Doomsday Beast. It was sothing he could use as a last resort for a single, devestating attack. However, because it would shatter imdiately after, he didn’t dare to use it unless he was fighting sothing unbeatable.
Checking it’s runes, a counter was displayed.
Destroyed Souls: [48/7000].
Sighing, Sunny found that he was nowhere close to filling it up. The amount of enemies that he needed to kill was simply ridiculous.
Checking another mory he had obtained from fighting the Antimatter Legion, a strange helix appeared in his hands. This was the Thief’s Instinct, which allowed Sunny to grasp a simplistic Attribute onto himself.
The main problem with it was that it had to co from a human, as well as requiring Sunny to know the Attribute he was grafting. If he wanted to use it, he would need to know the specifics of a rather basic Attribute, as well as to kill the person who has that Attribute. The only person he could do that to was Seele, but he wasn’t very enthusiastic in that regard.
Disappointed, Sunny summoned Saint into his room. Handing the Thief’s Instinct over to her, he watched as she destroyed the mory.
[Your mory has been destroyed.]
Shadow Fragnts: [2/200].
Sunny had thought that the mory would have been extrely useful, yet, it’s requirents were too steep to be t. Nobody would willingly expose their Attributes.
Sunny dismissed Saint, planning to take a look at his newest mory...
But she didn’t leave.
"Uh... Saint?"
The graceful knight stood there, raising her hand. She stared down at her armor-covered palm with flaming embers for eyes, before suddenly clenching it.
...Sunny looked upon Saint in trepidation, waiting for sothing to change.
And yet, he didn’t see any visual alterations. Looking back at her runes, Sunny found her Rank and Class to be unchanged.
...He then noticed a new Attribute.
Shadow Attributes: [Battle Master], [Stalwart], [Spark of Divinity], [Destined Destroyer].
Sunny simply stared at it’s na for a mont. It seed eerie, almost forbidden.
Cursed, even.
Looking back at Saint, he found no differences in her whatsoever. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad...
[Destined Destroyer] Attribute Description: "Shadow Saint, servant of the treacherous Lost From Light, creation of the last child of the — unknown —, and now the thief of Ruin. Just like her master, this Shadow has stolen a power that is not her own."
’Treacherous? Couldn’t be ...’
Staring at the runes, he realized that ’Ruin’ could be translated into ’Destruction’. The description was saying that Saint had stolen the Destruction in the sa way that Sunny did with War.
Of course, the thod of acquisition was drastically different.
Once again, the — unknown — was brought up. It seed that the one who had created Saint and the Mantle of the Underworld was a sibling of Weaver — the youngest, in fact.
This caused Sunny to wonder how many siblings Weaver had. Considering that they were probably all imnsely powerful... it must have been one dysfunctional family.
Sohow, Sunny found himself feeling sowhat envious of the Daemon of Fate.
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