"Sunless, my friend, may I ask what the hell was that?"
Mordret sauntered over to the haggard form of Sunless. The shadows that wrapped around and the creature he summoned returned to him, and the young man appeared to have his strength return.
Sunless appeared to be in a daze. Not from exhaustion or pain, though both no doubt consumed him, it was instead as if a burden had been lifted from him.
Mordret then recalled that Sunless had a score to settle with this particular Titan.
For the first time in a very long time the Prince of Nothing was a bit uneasy. He wondered if he had incurred a similar amount of spite from the shadow, and if so, would such a weapon one day be used against him.
Something odd happened then, something that played out in Mordret's mind unbidden of his own desires.
Could I actually kill him?
For the longest time Mordret was of the opinion that no one of his Rank was stronger than him. Perhaps the Red Judge was an exception, but he had never encountered that man as a Master, so he was free to exclude him from such comparisons.
This was not baseless pride. He had killed many Masters and even an immortal Saint in his 2nd Nightmare, all as a mere Awakened.
He had even had a small fight with Sunless at the end of that Nightmare, and though it ended in somewhat of a stalemate, if Mordret wanted to, he could have killed him so long as he had more time.
Now though…
His Swordsmanship was impressive back in the Nightmare, he has no doubt grown to an even higher level since then. Enough so that I may struggle against him even though I am an inheritor of War. Not to mention the augmentation of his shadows. Of course, I would never fight such an enemy without my Reflections properly saturated.
If I fought him with my current roster of Reflections, I would likely have to make my two Transcendent ones take on that thing that looks like Nether's Stone Saints. What is more worrying was that there is more where she came from. The horse was an Awakened Terror, albeit a weaker one. There was also an onyx serpent that was Ascended.
However, these Shadow Creatures are similar to my Reflections in that they can grow stronger, there is no telling how strong they are now.
It is likely that I'd have to allocate at least one to each, maybe even more. That would leave me and Sunless in either a one on one or a two on one with one of my Reflections assisting me.
I can't engage in a Soul Duel since his Soul Sea is filled with that abominable army of shades.
It would come down to raw combat.
Mordret's finger twitched as he suppressed the urge to summon a sword and bring it down on the shadows neck.
He didn't for one reason.
In the scenario he had come up with Mordret was confident he would still win 8 times out of 10. However that did not account for that weapon he had unleashed on the Winter Beast.
If that thing were consistently in play, Mordret doubted he could pull off a single win.
Of course, he would never truly lose since he couldn't die. Still, the idea of an insurmountable opponent was something that was supposed to be reserved for Saints and Supremes, the fact that Sunless now held that regard was concerning.
Or perhaps it was exhilarating.
Both emotions clashed in him now.
Could that attack have harmed dear old dad, I wonder? Mordret pondered.
It wouldn't kill him, but if he was caught unaware…perhaps it could have scraped him a bit.
For a mere Ascended to be able to do that was the most outlandish thing imaginable.
The Prince of Nothing couldn't help but feel his mouth twitch into a smile, one born of sadistic greed and thus one of the very few true smiles that had ever come across his face.
"It's none of your business."
"Huh?"
"It's none of your business what that was," Sunless said.
Mordret blinked and recalled that he had asked the shadow a question. He had got so lost in thought that it had slipped his mind.
He was tempted to push further, maybe goad Sunless into engaging with him further about the weapon, but he decided against it.
At that time, the form of a nightmarish horse with fangs appeared from Sunless's shadow along with the flurry of dark sparks and a saddle.
It was a subtle thing, but it caught Mordret's attention.
Memories gifted by the Spell are conjured and dismissed with white sparks, those of Valor are red, Gehrman's for whatever reason are purple, yet Sunless also has unique Memories. Did that javelin also appear with black sparks?
Looking back on it, they indeed had.
This indicated that somewhere along the line, Sunless had somehow learned to alter Memories.
Mordret's brows furrowed.
No, the Spell wouldn't award a saddle. He didn't alter them, he made them.
Intuition formed from years of experience told him this was true. However, the exact details were still a mystery. Could only create weak Memories? Could he alter or even upgrade stronger ones? Was this a part of his Aspect or something else entirely?
Mordret had never looked too closely at other people. When he did, it was usually with an analytical and brutalistic light, so the simpler details often escaped him. However, it was likely that anyone who saw the saddle would just assume it was something that was commissioned by the enchanters of Valor or some other Memory purveyor. Only with the demonstration of that javelin and the unique nature of the Memories was Mordret able to put two and two together.
As the horse snorted and prepared to take off, Mordret called after the slumped over young man.
"Say, Sunless, you didn't happen to receive a Memory or Echo from that thing by chance?"
The horse stopped its dancing and the shadow looked back at him.
Sunless looked him directly in the eyes.
"No, I didn't."
…
Sunny had gotten a Memory from the Winter Beast, but there was no way in hell he was telling that lunatic.
A Transcendent Memory of the 7th Tier. Did such a thing even exist before this instance? If it did, it was likely a Legacy Relic, or perhaps something acquired by the Sovereigns.
As Nightmare crossed the rolling desolate wasteland that was the Antarctic Center Sunny remained still, even the excitement of the reward was diminished as the haze of fury cleared from his mind.
This one had been different.
He had taken care of hateful beings before, Nightmare and Imp were both his Shadows now, and they were great examples of truly despicable creatures.
Well, he didn't mind Nightmare too much anymore, he was a loyal steed now and he had always been, in a way, respectable. The Terror's determination was only quelled by Sunny's own, and even that had taken thousands of dreams until the playing field shattered and Sunny was able to finish it off.
The Imp on the other hand, that was a truly atrocious fiend. It had skulked in the shadows, attacking him and fleeing like a rat every time Sunny put it in its place. Only during the last days of Falcon Scott did the thing make its final move and finally join Sunny's soul as a Shadow.
Still, those were personal grudges.
This was more than that. Sunny had come to Antarctica in search of conviction. He had done everything that a hero that Nephis would have done.
And it was weird. It was weird to be thanked and lauded. More than that it was weird how the mundane people interacted with him.
A bond grew between him and those he had saved, one he didn't fully recognize until they were wiped off the face of the earth by that Titan.
Sunny put in a lot of his blood, sweat, and more blood into keeping those fools alive. And what did his hard work get him? Absolutely nothing.
They all died, almost all of them, at least.
Many mundanes made it out due to Gehrman's sacrifice, but the Awakened that served under him were lost in that impossible battle, even when he had told them all to flee.
They were stubborn little pricks.
Sunny's mouth twitched as a salty flavor suddenly assaulted him. It took him a second to realize that a few stray tears made their way down his face.
His face portrayed his utter confusion. He hadn't cried after they had died, so why was he now?
He shook his head and put it out of his mind.
Instead, he pulled up his Runes.
He needed to see his new Memory, after all. Besides [Weavers Mask] and [Shadow Lantern] two Divine Memories (that were both Tools which made their use limited) this would be his most powerful Memory.
And at the top of the long list, there it was. A single word.
Memory: [Remembrance]
Memory Rank: [Transcendent]
Memory Tier: [VII]
Memory Type: [Armor]
Sunny paused at that, then let out a small sigh. It was a bit greedy for him to be upset, but he had a Transcendent Memory of the 6th Tier from the Terror of LO49 that was an attire. Granted it wasn't the best in terms of raw defense, but the myriad of enchantments it offered were no joke. Plus, he had [Marble Shell] which was basically an armor in and of itself. There wasn't much that could be offered here.
Still, this was a Memory of the 7th Tier, he was certain he would make good use of it.
Memory Description: [A lovely and devout priestess waited alone in a twisted stream. Her gracious piety and kindness were of the highest quality, and so she was selected to greet the Lord and Lady who were said to one day drift downstream.
Indeed, she met them there and guided them to safety. The trip was arduous, and though the priestess was quite strong, the Lord and Lady proved inefficient to protect her from a raging storm.
During the journey she comforted and reassured the Lord and Lady, but at the end she relented to her youth and asked a single, humble request.
"My Lord, might you…tell me a fairy tale?"
The Lord, ignorant, found no story that could ease the priestess in her final moments. Yet still in his ineptitude he found some semblance of a proper response.
"How about you tell me one, instead…Yes. Which one is your favorite?"
The priestess answered thusly,
"Oh! It is…it is about the Well of Wishes."]
Sunny stared at the runes for a long while.
Odd, was the only thought that came to his head, but he didn't say it out loud. It felt dirty to describe the tale in such a way. Something strange happened when he read those words, a sort of foreboding that he couldn't truly comprehend.
He tried to ignore it, but something stuck with him.
There had been long Memory Descriptions before, though this one seemed even more exaggerated than usual. Still, that wasn't what bugged him.
Sunny had never heard the Spell sound so…respectful. The way it described the priestess was akin to genuine admiration, and such a thing was quite unusual for the thing, which was usually cynical.
So the story stuck with him, even when he moved down to the important parts.
The Spell often came up with Descriptions that were stories rather than actual information about the Memory.
He pushed on.
Memory Enchantments: [Memoriam's Charge], [Woeful Elegy]
That was two Enchantments. Sunny held his breath as he analyzed further. The Memory had received from Goliath also had a single Enchantment, and though that was a one-time-only Tool, it was absurdly powerful, much like what he suspected this to be. The concentration of power on these two enchantments would be utterly tremendous.
[Memoriam's Charge]
Description: [The wearer of this Memory can store their collective Memories and state within one of the seven Charges of the armor. The Charges can be released at any time, altering the wearer into an exact memory copy of the wearer at the time of the Charge. This enchantment is limited to the individual who utilizes the first Charge.]
Sunny read the description a few times before he started to get the picture. On the surface this Enchantment seemed a bit odd.
"Maybe if I enter a Charge when I am fully enhanced by all my shadows I can release it at a time when they are far away? I could also use it as a heal, kind of like I do with [Dying Wish], Still, that is a pretty niche use," Sunny muttered.
This first Enchantment felt uniquely powerful, but at the same time he had no idea in which way it would best be used.
It would take some time, and most likely a lot of long nights analyzing the weave before he got a real idea for what this was.
Fortunately, the second Enchantment more than made up for it.
[Woeful Elegy]
Description: [This Memory can manifest 6 Enchantments from destroyed Memories so long as those items are lost within the vicinity of this Memory.]
Sunny's mind suddenly started whirring with the possibilities of this. If he played his cards right, he could make this into a truly unreasonably powerful Memory.
The biggest thing that stuck out to him was the fact that the Enchantments come from "destroyed Memories", not "destroyed armor/attire type Memories". This was an incredibly important distinction since it meant that he very well may be able to put some Enchantments from Charms, Tools, or even Weapons onto this Memory. The possibilities were actually insane.
Sunny held a stupid grin as a shadow passed overhead.
He quickly schooled his expression as Mordret's Reflection passed over him, the Prince of Nothing laying down in a relaxed manner across its back.
Up ahead, Gehrman was waiting for them with a boat.
Of course, the guy was standing by in case their lives were in danger, but as they had all hoped such a thing wasn't necessary.
As he saw him, a new thought entered his mind.
The Description…it didn't say they had to be my Memories either. Does that mean if Gehrman breaks one of his in front of me, [Remembrance] can take the Enchantment?