"YO-YOU GUYS...HAVE DIVINE ASPECTS!?"
Well, her reaction was justified, divine aspect was a myth before they obtained it. So her shock made sense.
"Yes" Sunny said.
Then finally she believed them because Sunny can't lie.
"It..insane how you guys even got that!" She was too much..excited.
Because there had not had been a single Divine Aspect holder in history...that what everyone thought.
Whatever, Cassie can stop asking them questions about it. Which luckily directed at both so Sunny doesn't had to answer.
They calmed her down and explained to her that they had divine aspects and they had found out that each other had divine aspects after they had formed their cores.
Technically true.
They also told her that they could form more than one core and a maximum of seven cores. And what she said in response was...
"Th-that's cheating!"
After this she also told them about herself, that she had a sacred aspect, thinking it only fair to tell them her aspect, when they trusted her and told them theirs.
Which they acted surprised at, but not much. Cassie thought that it was because they had divine aspects. So it was not much of a surprise to find out there was an aspect rank below their rank.
...
Sunny finally formed his monster core.
Because of the pain he dropped to the ground. After a few seconds the pain finally was gone. And he was laying on the ground.
His eyes still closed. Though he felt that his head was rested on a soft and comfortable pillow. He didn't want to move, too comfortable on that pillow.
He let one hand touch the pillow.
'Huh?'
It didn't feel like a soft pillow. It felt like...warm flesh. Still soft and smooth to touch. His fingers gently sinking into it, not pressing it hard.
His fingers brushed against its warmth. He felt too relaxed touching the soft flesh.
He instinctively squeezed it a little.
squish.
"Ahh~" He heard a low moan.
His eyes jolted open.
In front of his eyes he saw a pair of striking grey eyes, and beautiful white hair.
Nephis.
He realized that his head was resting on her lap.
Her mouth was wide open, surprised by her own moan. Then a playful smile emerged on her face.
Her eyes were calm...from only outside. But inside there was a hungry desire, wanting to be unleashed.
Same for Sunny, after hearing her moan something deep inside him stirred. But he somehow controlled it.
He reluctantly removed his head from her lap and sat up. Both didn't say anything and returned to Cassie.
Though only one thing was inside both of their minds.
'When are we gonna finally reach Bright Castle? I can't take it anymore!'
...
After that they returned to the ashes and told Cassie about Sunny's aspect legacy and her reaction was...
"Oh...you also had aspect legacy...good, very good." She said with blank eyes.
Sunny leaned toward Nephis and whispered.
"...I think...she's slowly going crazy."
Nephis also had a concerned look on her face.
"Yeah...let's not tell her more about ourselves...for now." They told her to wait inside the giant skeleton spine. And both of them went outside.
After that, empowered by his shadow and her flames, he finally performed every battle style he could. He couldn't do too many styles because his essence control, even with Serpent, was still worse than an awakened.
He still could perform some battle styles that didn't require essence though.
With this, he finally learned the 2nd step of Shadow Dance again.
The Spell said:
[Your Aspect Legacy mastery level has increased.]
[You have received the right to claim a Legacy Relic.]
[...Your Shadow has evolved.]
Sunny quickly opened his runes.
Aspect Legacy: [Shadow Dance].
Shadow Dance Mastery Level: [2/7].
First Relic: Claimed.
Second Relic: [Claim].
Third Relic: Unearned...
Concentrating on the second Relic, Sunny said confidently:
"Claim!"
The Spell spoke from the darkness:
[You have claimed an Aspect Legacy Relic.]
[You have received a Memory.]
He checked the Memory.
Memory: [Drop of Ichor].
He took a shaky breath.
He had a plan...a risky plan. If he didn't succeed then he would lose [Blood Weave] after obtaining it or would lose his Shadow God lineage, which he didn't care too much about.
But he still needed power for the future. So he wanted it to stay. But if he consumed it, there was a pretty good chance this thing would destroy [Blood Weave] because this time he didn't have [Bone Weave].
And he didn't want to lose any weave. So if the plan didn't work and [Blood Weave] was destroyed...they would lose again like last time. Being able to create Memories was just too important.
Immediately, the Spell spoke. This time, however, its voice did not sound subtly excited...it sounded too excited.
'Weird...why did the Spell react different than last time?'
[You have acquired a drop of ichor. Do you wish to consume it?]
"Yes."
[..So be it...my dear little shadow.]
"What!" Before he could think further a harrowing pain consumed him.
Shadows became darker around him, and went still, didn't move. As if holding their...breath?
He suppressed his scream.
Sunny felt it. Something dark traveling in his body. It traveled through the heart, it traveled through bloodstreams, it even reached his brain.
And then everything in his body became pitch black for a second, before returning to normal.
Pain slowly vanished. He opened his eyes, and saw that Nephis was tightly hugging him, as if trying to comfort him. And he did feel comfortable in her embrace.
Then the Spell's voice came...with a normal tone.
'You're not fooling me! I clearly heard what you had said!'
[Unknown Bond has evolved]
[One of your Attributes has evolved.]
[One of your Attributes has evolved.]
[You have acquired a new Attribute.]
[..Your Memory has been destroyed.]
Suddenly he felt something in his...soul. First, there was just a warm feeling, but now it felt like...the warm feeling...turned into another soul.
His soul and the new soul intertwined. Anchoring each other, before slowly merging with one another.
Slowly, slowly melting into one before...stopping.
Merging stopped before the souls could fully become one.
Then Sunny felt that something happened to...the hidden feature. He looked at Nephis.
She had a strange expression on her face. Seemed like she also felt the same in her soul.
She released him from her embrace and stood up. Sunny also followed her example and stood up.
Nephis looked at him with silent question.
He nodded and checked his attributes.
Attributes: [Unseen from Fate], [Ember of Divinity], [Prince of Shadows], [Mystery of Death].
'Child of shadows to Prince of Shadows huh?'
He focused on this new attribute's runes.
Attribute: [Child of Shadow God].
Attribute Description: [You have inherited the Shadow God lineage. You're the only heir of Shadow God. Shadows see you as their only ruler and bow down to your authority]
'Well that..a vague description.' Though he did felt that his connection to shadows had much more deepened. And shadow sense extended further.
He left this aside for now, thinking that he wound experiment with it latter.
He focused on his another new attribute.
Attribute: [Mystery of Death].
Attribute Description: [You have inherited the Shadow God lineage, who is also the God of Mysteries and Death. If someone has lower divinity than you, then you could make them start dying and they won't even realize it until too late. It depends on your and your victim's rank and divinity, on how fast they would die. And after dying, their deaths will become an eternal mystery.]
'Hmm...this seems overpowered. But the main question is...how effective is the slow death ability? And what does it mean that their deaths will become an eternal mystery?'
Though at first glance it seemed powerful, he couldn't be sure unless he tried it on something.
He looked toward Nephis, who was staring at nothing, so he guessed that she was also reading his runes.
While she was reading his runes, he tried to figure out the changes of Unknown Bond. Because clearly his and her souls had almost become one. And currently their souls had ninety percent merged.
So he looked at his and her runes trying to figure out the changes.
Suddenly a thought formed in his mind. He felt that this came from his very soul.
He instinctively raised his right hand and extended it forward.
'...There's no shot...that this thing will work...right?'
Then something happened.
Nephis felt something and turned her head toward him. Then...her eyes went wide open, her jaw dropped.
From his hand shone a soft radiance, and a ray of radiant light shot from it, instantly taking the form of a beautiful longsword.
The sunlight reflected on its silvery blade, making the area feel brighter.
A word escaped from Nephis' hung mouth.
"Blessing?"