Shadow Slave

The tremors stopped, and the vast hall of the ruined cathedral turned silent once again. The anvil, which had become brilliant during the crafting of the Curse, was emanating a red glow and waves of sweltering heat. Dust particles danced in the dim light, glistening like sparks of essence.

Seven iron rings lay on the glowing anvil. Their dull grey surface had turned entirely black now, and apart from silk thread and diamond string coiled tightly around segments of each one, they had no adornments.

The black rings were not connected, either... not yet, at least.

Sunny let out a long sigh.

All four of his incarnations did, rather, exhaling at the same time — the sound of their breath was like the last whisper of forge bellows.

The three incarnations that were seated on the floor opened their eyes and rose. The fourth one took a step forward and summoned the Jade Mantle. As dark, fearsome armor encased Sunny in an intricate carapace, he extended the clawed fingers of his gauntlet forward and picked up one of the rings.

It lay on his palm, taking most of its surface, glistening bleakly in the red glow of the forge.

He considered it for a long while, then brought it to the center of his breastplate. The ring touched the smooth stonelike surface of the black armor... and was then absorbed by it, coming to rest in front of where Sunny’s heart — and Beast Core — were.

The Curse was accepted and absorbed by the Jade Mantle, taking its place in the socket of the Underworld Armament.

As Sunny looked into the distance, studying the runes, his other incarnations each took one of the black rings and fused them into their armor. The remaining three would reach their intended masters soon, too — in the end, each of the seven incarnations of the Lord of Shadows would wield one of them.

The Curse was different from the Blessing, and from the Jade Mantle as well. Sunny had designed it with his Transcendent Ability in mind — it was a compound relic that functioned very similarly to how he himself lived. Each of the seven rings was independently powerful, but their potency was progressively enhanced when two or more were fused together.

Therefore, the Curse reached its ultimate power — and took a step beyond it — when all seven versions of Sunny became one, just as he did.

That was how he had limited it, weaving a conditional flaw into the design of this powerful Memory. That way, the level of power it could reach when proper conditions were met was far greater than it would have been otherwise, making the Curse far more potent than it was supposed to be.

[Bind the relic?]

Sunny hesitated for a moment.

Being able to bind a Memory to one’s soul was a wondrous boon... but there was a reverse side to it, as well. A relic bound to a soul was no different from a part of that soul, just as integral as the rest of it. Therefore, if the relic was destroyed, the soul would be hurt — possibly even irreparably damaged.

The soul was just as bound to the relic as the relic was bound to the soul, so one had to be careful when making that choice. The benefits offered by the relic had to be worth the additional vulnerability it created... it was for a good reason that myths and legends were full of stories about powerful beings who put too much of themselves into a potent artifact, only for that artifact to become their doom.

Sunny remained motionless for a while, then took a deep breath and activated the [Shadowbound Relic] enchantment, fusing the Curse into his soul.

What was the point of having doubts now? He would not have created it if he did not believe in himself and his craftsmanship. He wasn’t foolishly seeking to strengthen himself by relying on a potent relic, either — rather, he sought to express his own power better with its help.

The difference between the two was subtle, but it made all the difference.

Soon, the Handy Bracelet spoke into his ear once more:

[Your Memory has been destroyed.]

[You have received an Attribute.]

Smiling faintly, Sunny summoned his runes. Come to think of it, he had not given them any attention for a long while...

The shimmering runes read:

Name: Sunless.

True Name: —

Rank: Supreme.

Class: Titan.

Shadow Cores: [7/7].

Shadow Fragments: [7000/7000].

Memories: [Silver Bell], [Extraordinary Rock], [Endless Spring], [Weaver’s Mask], [Shadow Lantern], [Shadow Chair], [Overpriced Saddle], [Weaver’s Needle], [Nebulous Mantle], [Handy Bracelet], [Quintessence Pearl], [Definitely Not Me]. ŔἈΝọ𐌱Еᶊ

Echoes: —

Shadows: [Jade Saint], [Soul Serpent], [Nightmare], [Shadow Fiend], [Marvelous Mimic], [Shadow Slayer].

Attributes: [Lord of Shadows], [Flame of Divinity], [Blood Weave], [Bone Weave], [Flesh Weave], [Soul Weave], [Mind Weave], [Jade Shell], [Fateless], [Curse].

Concentrating on the last Attribute, Sunny read its runes.

Attribute: Curse.

Attribute Description...

[Damnation!]

Sunny stared at the description for some time, then coughed in embarrassment.

To be honest, he had spent an unreasonable amount of time trying to come up with something profound and poetic to write there. The Nightmare Spell had given quite a poignant description to the Blessing, after all — so, Sunny did not want to be outdone. He had considered profound sayings uttered by gods and daemons, some of the most meaningful moments of his life, and even researched poignant quotes of famous authors from before the Dark Times. But everything he had managed to come up with sounded either hollow or too on the nose. In the end, frustrated and utterly exhausted, but still failing to decide on a description, he could not stop himself from exclaiming ”Damnation!” in a fit of anger.

And after throwing his hands up in the air, he simply went and put that as the description.

After all, that was a curse as well, albeit of a different kind.

‘Let’s hope no one ever sees these runes: Shaking his head in shame, Sunny moved his gaze lower.

There, the runes listed the enchantments of his new Attribute.

Just like the Blessing, the Curse possessed seven enchantments.

They were: [Bound], [Dark Embrace], [Absence of Light], [Mercy of Shadow], [Shadow Flame], [Weakening Curse], and [Chain].