A few months later, in the Dream Realm, snow filled the peaks of the mountains of Ravenheart.
Sunny sat on a mount of snow halfway to the sumit of one of the mountains, admiring the glamorous Jade Palace, his ho in the Dream Realm. Wearing the [Mantle of Shadows], that gave him protection from the environnt.
Behind him, his new Shadow engraved its roots on the snow. The Shadow of the Soul-Devouring Tree ford itself.
The last few months were filled with excitent… If you could call it that.
He and Seishan anchored in Ravenheart, obviously, their followers also did. The Shadow Watchers and handmaidens, now called Blood Sisters, were operating fully as mbers of the Song Clan.
The rest of the Drear Army either followed Nephis or decided to follow their own path. So gave up on the life of an Awakened, others went independent or joined a Great Clan, a few joined the Governnt.
As for Nephis, she and around 150 Sleepers that decided to follow her ford the Firekeepers, going to what was left of the Immortal Fla Clan and continuing her Path to Ascension.
Around 50 Sleepers joined Song, another 50 joined Valor, the other 100 went on with their lives.
All in all, it went as Ki Song predicted, Valor wanted the Changing Star and the strength of her army. The stories of the Shadow Watchers and their skills were already being spread, so Valor knew how much they were already losing from the talent pool.
Yet Nephis remained indifferent to their attempts to recruit her. But that didn't stop them from insisting even more when she anchored herself in the Chained Isles as part of Cassie's request.
Sunny asked her to reconsider, but Hel stopped him. For so reason, Death Singer and the blind seer had been in contact for so ti. It made so sense because of Cassie being the Heir of Weaver, so mother wanted to keep an eye on Cassie, but their relationship seed to be more than just that…
Either way, Nephis was doing fine, Effie, Kai and Cassie went with her, she needed more help than himself. He could have gone too, but it would only cause a political headache with Valor.
Sunny sighed and decided to check on his progress.
Na: Sunless Song.
True Na: Hollow Death.
Rank: Awakened.
Class: Devil.
Shadow Core: [4/7]
Shadow Fragnts: [2359/4000]
His mother really wanted for him to evolve to a Titan as soon as possible, sending him to all sorts of missions for him to kill nightmare creatures, but unfortunately, now that he was an Awakened, he now received less fragnts from killing creatures.
That ant less progress, that ant more ti before becoming a Titan.
'Thank the God's I already beca a Devil before leaving the Forgotten Shore. Imagine having to deal with this when I was still a Monster?'
mories: [Silver Bell], [Puppeteer's Shroud], [Nine's Regret], [BloodRaven], [Ordinary Rock], [Midnight Shard], [Prowling Thorn], [Chain-Sword], [Mantle of Shadows] [Moonlight Shard], [Rembrance of the Moon], [Different Style], [Weaver's Mask].
His arsenal of mories didn't change that much, the majority were already Ascended so he didn't need any upgrades, the rest of the mories that he received in the Siege of the Crimson Spire went to his Shadows.
[Weak Link] went to Motza when he received [Chain-Sword], an Ascended mory from a Fallen Monster that had an extension enchantnt, [Extend], and a poison enchantnt, [Slow Death].
[Different Style] was a costic mory to change the colour of his hair and eyes, he was a Song, a celebrity after all, and a handso one at that, he needed to protect himself from the fans.
[Mantle of Shadows] had four enchantnts that Blade told him about, [All-Terrain], protected him from the weather, cold, heat, extre winds. [Mysterious Shadow] made the uniform more connected with shadows, protecting his presence even more when shadows are present, Blade made the mory when Sunny was still training before the Winter Solstice, so it made sense.
[Enhanced Durability] made the mory almost as durable as an Transcendent armor, acording to his teacher, it was the simplest, but hardest enchantnt to infuse due to the nature of the mory, being a fabric instead of tal armor. Finally, [Reconstruct] was an active enchantnt that repaired not only the mantle, but any mory that he was holding.
[Rembrance of the Moon] was a charm Moonveil gave to him with two enchantnts, [Beautiful mory], an healing one that was more powerful the more Blood he lost, and the [Protection of Night], that protected his presence in the night, regardless if the moon was shining or not.
Shadows: [Soul Serpent], [Dark Wraith], [Marble Saint], [Stone Saint], [Soul-Devouring Tree].
He ended up making the Soul-Devouring Tree a Shadow, and after seeing the abilities… He didn't regret it.
He received two Echoes in the Siege, one was a Carapace Demon, the other was a Blood Flower. The Demon was given to Cassie. The Blood flower was consud by his Shadows.
Attributes: [Fated], [Fla of Divinity], [Heir of Shadows], [The Shadow], [The Blood's Shadow], [Embodint of Death and Solice], [Executor of Death], [Stone Shell].
Nothing changed there, he still didn't know what [Embodint of Death and Solace] did. But [Executor of Death] was really like Shadow Blade Kurt's Aspect Ability, his weapons could affect shadows now, it made killing creatures much easier now.
But [Stone Shell] was actually the [Mantle of the Underworld] that turned into an attribute after Sunny soul-bound it at Undying Blade's request. The mory itself was destroyed and turned into an attribute, as such, it beca a part of him, turning into a protection that covered his skin regardless if it was summoned or not, its enchantnts also took effect naturally, plus, he beca paler, and even more handso, looking like a statue. But because he did it when he was an Awakened, the mantle had beco Awakened rank instead of Ascended.
It wasn't much of a loss because of the [Mantle of Shadows], and seeing the progress made, Undying Blade learned a lot, but it still kind of hurt.
But now the enchantnt of [Underworld Armant] was finally being used, the [Stone Shell] had the [Rembrance of the Moon] equipped.
[Soul Serpent.]
Rank: Awakened.
Class: Devil.
He needed to learn Shadow Dance next step, but he was still stuck.
Shadow attributes: [Shadow Guide], [Soul Weapon], [Soul Beast].
Shadow abilities: [Serpentine Steel], [Soul Reaver], [Formless]
[Soul reaver]
Ability Description: "A portion of the soul essence of those slain by the Shadow Serpent in its Soul Weapon or Soul Beast form is absorbed and transferred to its master."
This was really useful, even with four soul cores, his aspect drains his essence too fast, so this was helpful.
[Formless]
Ability Description: "When in the Soul Beast form, the Serpent can assu the shape of any shadow contained within its master's soul, inheriting all powers and abilities. The shadow must be of the sa or lower Rank and Class than the Soul Serpent for the transformation to take place, and won't be consud in the process."
Now he would be able to use creatures abilities that he killed, another reason he wanted to reach the next step of Shadow Dance, that way, the Fallen abilities of beings like the Forsaken Knight would be in his possession. Moreover, he didn't kill many Awakened Devils yet.
Shadow: [Dark Wraith]
Rank: Ascended.
Class: Demon
[180/200]
Shadow attributes: [Ghost Body], [Longing for Companionship], [Authority of the Undead].
Wraith was close to becoming a Transcendent, but Ki Song prohibited him from transforming any of his Shadows past Ascension until he completed the Second Nightmare and beca a Master, probably to not make his challenges super easy.
Shadow: Marble Saint
Shadow Rank: Awakened.
Shadow Class: Monster.
Shadow Fragnts: 10/200
Shadow Attributes: [Battle Master], [Stalwart], [Spark of Divinity].
Shadow abilities: [Weapon Sage], [Underworld Armant].
Shadow: [Stone Saint]
Rank: Ascended.
Class: Monster.
[0/200]
Both Saints were Ascended now, unfortunately for the male one, Sunny didn't find any True Darkness beings for him to evolve, he would have to settle with being a Monster for now.
His newest Shadow had just beco Ascended, in fact, it was summoned right now for Sunny to see the differences.
The Tree itself didn't change much, but the bark that it was made from got stronger, being made up of shadows now, changing to what seed like obsidian armor. An ever present dark mist surrounded it.
Shadow: Soul-Devouring Tree.
Shadow Rank: Ascended.
Shadow Class: Terror.
Shadow Fragnts: 0/200.
Shadow Attributes: [Enthralling Tree], [Bewitching Soul].
Shadow abilities: [Expanding Roots],
[Devourer of Souls], [Territory of Thralls].
'Terrors are scary, Shadow Terrors are even scarier…'
[Enthralling Tree]: "The Soul God created the Soul Trees as beautiful constructs to admire. But ti made that beauty corruptive."
[Bewitching Soul]: "The Shadow that makes up this creature is beautiful and admirable, irresistibly so to whoever its Master wishes."
The attributes were basically stating how the tree enthralls whatever Sunny wished, it was sothing that only happened after he turned into a Shadow.
'Now that I think about it, I have never seen an Echo of a Terror… I wonder if they are useful…'
On the other hand, the abilities were interesting… And powerful.
[Devourer of Souls]: "Those enchanted by this Shadow will have their very essence consud little by little until their soul is nothing but food for the Shadow."
[Expanding Roots]: "This Shadow is made of ever growing roots that never end as long as there's fuel."
The fuel in question were the souls of the ones enthralled by it, aning the more it killed, the more territory it covered, letting the next ability take hold.
[Territory of Thralls]: "Where the roots reach, the Territory is ford, creatures in it are enthralled and bewitched to answer to the Shadow. The further they are to the Shadow, the more ti it takes to enthrall."
'This Shadow is really useful.'
Sunny thought, not regretting having to spend 400 fragnts on it, if anything, it was a steal for this to only cost 400.
A ssage ca over him, it was Seishan's.
[Blood]: "Are you done there? I don't want to be late."
[Shadow]: "Waiting for Motza to co over, I won't take long, don't worry."
Speaking of the devil, Sunny sensed three shadows approaching him.
He wasn't in the mountains for no reason, he wanted a private location to see his new enormous Shadow, and to deal with a certain problem that his subordinates found in the midst of the Song Clan.
Turning to see the figures approaching, one of them almost dragged the other while the third walked in the front without a care in the world.
Nix turned around when they arrived, crossing her arms as Motza threw the third person onto the snow filled ground.
The man coughed and tried to get up, but Motza stomped his knee and forced him to stay down.
Sunny sighed and got up, approaching the man on the ground.
"I thought Valor would change protocols after Motza joined us, but I guess old habits die hard."
Nix humd in a mocking tune.
"Pretty sure they are trying to change, this one was harder to catch."
Motza grabbed the man's shoulder and made him look up at Sunless.
He was a ragged, young man with a light beard and a mullet, his rough looks made him seem like soone with experience.
Yet that experience was useless against the power of the Shadow operatives of the Song Clan.
Nix pulled a file and began reading the report on the man.
"Na: Madson, age: 27.
Awakened, joined the Song Clan about seven years ago after he helped a cohort of the Clan. Helped said cohort in several missions, however, he was also the only survivor of the cohort's last mission two years ago…
Then seemingly served Song ever since… Seemingly."
The man known as Madson chuckled, he was being shackled by the [Weak Link], his whole body was being weakened, not letting him do anything to escape.
Even if he could get out of the chains, three of the most powerful Awakened were there to stop him, that and the great Shadow of a Tree that lood over him, he didn't have a chance.
Still, he kept a laid back smile and attitude, his voice was rough but confident.
"I have no idea why those fools trusted all those years ago… Oh well, your Clan trusted for so long, discovering does little to you now."
Sunless studied the man for a few seconds, then shrugged.
"Yeah, you caused enough damage to us, even if it was very little in the grand sche of things, but don't pretend like you did much. Nine years infiltrating the Clan, how much did you actually discover? If you had actually challenged the Second Nightmare with the cohort, you may have been useful for Valor, but I guess they don't teach courage to their spies."
Madson's smile disappeared, and a frown appeared.
"Why am I alive? With this traitor serving you, you must know full well I have nothing to give."
He signaled to Motza with his head, who rolled his eye after being called a traitor for the hundredth ti. Sunny was happy to answer.
"Oh, I know. It's a good protocol really, spies only receiving little to no information and using self-destructive communication mories to leave no traces. Plus, you guys are stupidly loyal to Anvil for so reason."
Sunny turned to the Soul-Devouring Tree.
"But to answer your question, you are only alive because I wanted to see how powerful my Shadow is right now."
Valor's spy looked at the enormous black tree confused, he thought it was just a part of the mountains, then realization dawned on his face, no trees could grow here. Dread, and a subtle feeling of awe slowly corrupted his heart.
"Don't tell …"
Sunless looked at Madson with his hollow, dark eyes.
"Correct, this is an Echo, well, kind of an Echo. It was a Soul-Devouring Tree that almost enthralled and ate my soul for breakfast."
The Shadow of the tree began reaching so roots towards the Awakened of Valor while both Nix and Motza took a few steps back.
"Up until now, it enthralled nightmare creatures, but as of yet, I haven't tested on a human… Not that I wanted to, but as my mother always says, it's better to be prepared and test your tools before using them."
But Madson was barely listening to Sunny at that point, his soul was already being enthralled by the Shadow, the black roots encased in obsidian-like bark wrapping itself along the spy, who couldn't do anything as his mind was being pacified.
"Damn… You!"
"Hm? That was fast… It took a couple of days just to be partially enthralled, becoming a Shadow really empowered it… Also cos with being Ascended, you do get exponentially more powerful as you progress the Path."
Madson struggled with all the willpower he had, but it wasn't enough. He stopped struggling and his body went limp, he had beco enthralled by the majesty of the Shadow of the Soul-Devouring Tree.
The roots realised the Awakened, making him drop to his knees. Lost eyes kept their gaze on the Tree.
Sunless approached the Awakened, no, the thrall, his shadow began to morph into the shape of a wolf.
"Don't worry, I don't plan to devour your soul or anything."
Wraith ca out of his shadow and tore off the thrall's neck.
"... Your nightmare is over."
[You have slain an Awakened human.]
[Your shadow grows stronger…]
'This way, people will think you died by the hands of so beast… If they find you.'
Sunless sighed and dismissed the Shadow of the Tree, walking towards his subordinates.
"We are done here, you guys can go, I am late to an appointnt."
Nix nodded.
"Alright, did Lauma report to you how the mission went?"
Lauma was now the support of the Shadow Watchers and kind of Sunless' assistant, thanks to her Awakened Ability, she could now create butterflies made from her essence that let her see through them, letting her make more detailed maps and look at how their missions went from afar.
Including how Kira, i and Kin defeated a Fallen Demon.
"Yes, they did a good job, and seriously, how do you all get aspects that powerful? I'm starting to think mine is not special."
Nix chuckled happily.
"Maybe you have a good eye for talent?"
"Or maybe the lesser God is an idiot that didn't notice how powerful their powers were before giving them."
Motza's statent felt… Weird.
"'Lesser God'? Don't you an God's?"
The assassin stared at his leader. Not even himself understood what he said.
"... No?"
An awkward silence settled.
Sunless shook his head.
"Either way, I have to go, my sisters are waiting."
He used his Shadow Step and moved in the shadows back to the Citadel.
But as he disappeared, Nix finally let out a laugh, a big, genuine laugh. Her companion wasn't impressed.
"You know he'll hate it, right?"
Nix finally stopped laughing as she wiped a tear from his eyes.
"Y-Yeah, but his face will be priceless!"
Motza rolled his eyes and began the way back to the Citadel.
"Hmph, you are just lucky you are considered a side character, he's the male lead."
— —
So minutes later, Sunless got up from his state-of-the-art sleeping pod, stretching his body while putting on his clothes.
As always, all black, with a jacket with rolled up sleeves and the black gloves Bin gave to him.
Putting [Different Style] on, his hair beca a gold-like yellow and eyes beca a deep shade of purple, still keeping their hollow look.
Getting out of his room and going down the stairs, his sisters were waiting for him.
Howl, Eunbin and Seishan were waiting for him, they would go out together to see a new movie that was coming out today, and it had been so ti since they went out together, it was just weird they didn't let him know the na of the movie.
Eunbin turned to him with her eyebrows furrowed.
"You're late."
He sighed.
"I know, I know! Don't give a lecture."
As they went outside to the PTV, Sunless noticed sothing. None of his sisters were using casual clothes, or costic mories, not even trying to blend in!
"Wait, why are you all dressed as…"
Howl grinned, she was wearing her usual tank-top and gauntlets that everyone saw her with. She side hugged Sunny's neck and started poking his face.
"What do you an little Shade? You are the one dressing wrong."
'Huh?'
Eunbin chuckled.
"I an, how would your fans recognize you if you look like that?"
'Wait… No…'
Seishan stared at her brother with a dead-pan face.
"Really, did you not check the date?"
Even the mute driver in the PTV shook his head, baffled by his young master's obliviousness.
Sunny twitched his eyes.
"No… Not that movie!"
The Song of Light and Shadows… The movie that retold the story of the Forgotten Shore…
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