Shadow Slave

Sunny sat in the darkness for a while, thinking. At first, he wanted to immediately put on his new magnificent onyx armor, but then dismissed that idea. There would be time later… for now, he was too tired. The effects of the stimulant were slowly wearing off, and he had spent too much shadow essence already.

He did, however, note a few things about the Mantle of the Underworld.

The first fact he noticed was that it shared two enchantments with Saint. However, there were subtle, but important differences between the versions of [Stalwart] and [Underworld Armament] possessed by the onyx armor and the taciturn demon.

The Memory offered better protection against physical and elemental attacks, but lacked the complete immunity to mind and soul attacks, possessing a moderate amount of protection against those rare and fearsome types of damage instead. Overall, this was an advantageous trade-off, since most Nightmare Creatures relied on more common ways of destroying Awakened.

...Unless they didn't.

The more interesting difference, however, was hidden in the description of the [Underworld Armament]. While Saint's armor could accommodate a Charm Memory to inherit its enchantments, the Mantle of the Underworld could both inherit… and enhance them. Just one word made for so much difference. Sunny couldn't wait to explore this subtle trait of his new Memory.

[Living Stone] and [Feather of Truth], meanwhile, were pretty obvious. That didn't mean, however, that these enchantments did not have a lot to offer. He could already see many interesting ways to apply both in battle. The downside was that both were active enchantments, and as such, would require a constant flow of essence to function. What's worse, the armor couldn't even be used without activating the first one.

But the most interesting enchantment was, without a doubt, [Prince of the Underworld].

'A growing Memory…'

Pondering about that strange and miraculous enchantment, Sunny couldn't help but think about the First Lord of the Bright Castle, who had supposedly been the first master of the Mantle of the Underworld.

What tier and Rank was the onyx armor when he had first found it? How many of the vanquished foes had been defeated by his hand? Was the Mantle of the Underworld one of the reasons for his legendary achievements?

For the longest time, Sunny had wondered about how an Ascended Memory of the Sixth Tier had ended up in the hands of humans in the Dark City. It had to have come from destroying a Fallen Terror… or so he had thought. Now, there were other possibilities.

But all these questions were doomed to be left unanswered. Sadly…

The First Lord and his companions had taken the answers with them to the grave.

Remembering the lonely cairn in the Hollow Mountains, Sunny sighed. Then, his thoughts wandered to something else.

'The Goddess of the Black Skies… Storm God?'

Teacher Julius had described Storm God as being the deity of the depths, of the oceans, of darkness, stars, travel, guidance, and disaster. He also said that the gender of the gods was subject to change. Stars, darkness, and storms were somewhat related to black skies…

Frowning, Sunny remembered the runes describing the Mantle of the Underworld. Indeed, "black skies" could also be translated as skies covered by storm clouds, or the night sky.

'Interesting...'

Translating the runes reminded him of something. Opening his communicator, Sunny found a note he made during his conversation with Effie and Kai.

their True Names were written down in runic

'Nightingale…'

the Dream Realm had actual nightingales, the runes described a pretty similar bird… probably. Translated literally, they

'Huh…'

more straightforward, but also far more morbid. Raised by Wolves could mean just that, but a more direct translation had a

Born from Being

shivered, then deactivated the communicator and closed

more thing he could

runes once again, he found the description of Weaver's Mask

[Mantle of Lies],

activate the mysterious enchantment marked by three question marks. Even if all of his essence would be only enough to

was

enchantment, but from the boundless, inconceivable pattern of the mask's weave, he got a feeling that it was somehow connected to eyes, vision, and

Bird was a Cursed Devil — at least... and it had been driven mad by just one glance

that

struggled with looking at

'...No. Not now.'

That would transport him to a random spot in the Dream Realm, and knowing his

sigh, he dismissed the runes and took out

other day… when I am

old patch and

put all I learned together and make the final decision.

or

***

a bench opposite the entrance to the Academy hospital complex with a cup of bitter dark coffee in his hand. In his other hand, he was holding a

a sip of the terrible drink, Sunny grimaced, then

he pressed the call button to

a couple of seconds. Her voice sounded a little tense, and there were strange, barely audible whispers mixing with the background

wait, give me a

the next

So… have you

sip of

"Yeah."

hesitated for a

government… I've decided against it. I don't know enough and have no leverage to ensure a good deal. Plus, that option will remain open for me in the future even if I stay independent for now. The reverse, however, won't necessarily be true. In any case, it's a serious matter, one that should not be decided upon in a span of just a few days, while suffering from sleep deprivation and stimulant

and beautiful,

So then… which