"Blessing?"
Nephis was shocked.
'How did he summon Blessing? Is it because of the change in our bond after he consumed the Shadow God lineage?' She finally composed herself.
Sunny also looked at the sword in his hand with surprise. He turned his head toward Nephis.
"...I think, because I consumed the Shadow God lineage, our bond evolved, and our soul connection got... deeper, almost merging. So I think we are able to... use some of each other's... abilities."
Nephis was silent for a few seconds before extending her hand forward.
White light manifested in the air. From it, a sword appeared in her hand.
[Azure Blade]
Sunny also extended his hand forward. The sword disappeared from her hands and reappeared in his.
Then Nephis again tried to summon [Azure Blade], but it didn't come this time.
She summoned Blessing instead, which successfully appeared. But it didn't disappear from Sunny's hand.
Now there were two Blessings.
Sunny suggested that they experiment with their new power. Nephis agreed, of course—though, for some reason, she seemed a bit irritated.
But first... he summoned the serpent.
......
A huge serpent appeared, towering over Sunny and Nephis.
It lowered itself to Sunny's level.
Sunny put his hand on its head and petted it. It let out a hiss-like sound and allowed him to.
It was clearly happy.
"...Hey buddy... do you remember... the previous life?"
The serpent hissed and nodded.
A sad smile formed on Sunny's face.
"...I'm... sorry."
Hearing this, the serpent leaned closer to him, pressed its head against his, and licked his cheek, as if trying to say, It's okay, I understand.
The serpent was comforting him.
Sunny hugged it.
And from behind... Nephis watched with a strange expression.
She knew his shadows were not like normal echoes, and that they had intelligence.
And she... envied him a little.
'Why does he have so many varieties of abilities? And more than that, why are his abilities are so cool!? Aren't we two meant to be equal!? What power do I have?'
She tried to remember her previous life abilities.
'Okay, my abilities are... I can use my flames... and explode things. With my sword, I can... explode things with my..flames. Using my will, I can empower my flames and... explode things. Using my aspect legacy, I can... empower my explosions. Ohhh, I can heal myself and others. And... and... where is the fairness!?'
While she was crashing out inside, but her face was completely indifferent and emotionless on the outside.
Suddenly, the serpent moved from Sunny and went toward her. She tensed for a moment, unsure of what it was going to do.
The serpent came and... licked her cheek. Nephis seemed surprised for a moment before composing herself.
"Seems like the serpent sees you as its second master because our souls are almost one instead of two," Sunny spoke from a little distance, smiling.
She nodded and put her hand on its head, petting it. The serpent happily leaned into her hand.
'Soft. Not as much as Sunny though.'
A sudden thought entered her mind. '...Should I cut his skin... and make plushies and pillows out of him?'
She started to imagine her bed full of Sunny plushies and... body pillows. And she was hugging one while sleeping.
While she was dwelling in her fantasies, Sunny thought of something.
'...Isn't serpent... a little too big and intelligent compared to last time?'
He was almost sure the serpent had not been this large or intelligent when it was just Awakened.
He opened his runes and checked the serpent.
Shadow: [Soul Serpent]
Shadow Rank: Awakened
Shadow Attributes: [Shadow Guide], [Soul Weapon], [Soul Beast], [Borrowed Will], [Support of Light].
Abilities: [Serpentine Steel].
He focused on the serpent's new attributes.
[Borrowed Will] – Soul Serpent can use a little bit of its master's will.
[Support of Light] – With the help of Soul Serpent master's Light, it can become twice as strong as it should be.
'Well, the first attribute is rather simple, but powerful. With my will, it can become much fiercer. Though the second one is a bit vague.'
He pondered.
'Serpent can become twice as strong with Nephis's help... that means with her cores? With her cores being the same as mine, it can help the serpent become two times stronger than its class?'
That was the only answer that made sense. Because she didn't have any qualities of a shadow to master Shadow Dance, and she didn't even have Shadow Dance. Her flames could already augment the serpent.
He told this to Nephis. She thought for a bit and came to the same conclusion.
And after this, they finally started experimenting.
They experimented for some time. They figured out that they could use each other's attributes if they wanted. Two of them could use the same attribute at the same time together.
But when she used [Prince of Shadows], it didn't have much effect. She didn't receive shadow sense or the ability to hide in shadows.
Though she got the ability to see in the darkness of shadows.
Same for Sunny, when he tried to use [The Fire]. But Nephis got something, but he literally didn't get anything.
His soul essence potency didn't improve. He checked that with the serpent.
Still, they could use their other attributes. Plus, they could use them at the same time.
But memories were different. Only one could use a memory at a time.
Plus, if someone borrowed a memory from the original owner, the original owner could summon back the memory anytime they wanted.
As an example, if Nephis had a memory, but Sunny summoned it for a fight, if she summoned the memory back, it would disappear from his hand. And he couldn't summon that memory again as long as she had it summoned.
They even had access to each other's echoes and aspect legacies.
When Nephis tried to use Shadow Dance... she almost broke her body. The only reason she didn't fully break her body was because she was flexible.
It made sense, because aspect legacies were meant to be different from each other and suited to their owner only.
Though her and Sunny's souls were connected, so she could use a little bit of Shadow Dance. She tried a few more times, healing herself constantly so that her body wouldn't fall apart.
She finally used it a little bit without her body falling apart, because of her combat experience and their soul connection.
But... her Shadow Dance was at the same level as Sleeper Sunny from their previous life.
After this, they tried a few more things. Nephis tried to summon the serpent, and successfully did.
But it was summon slower than when Sunny summoned it. And he had a suspicion why.
They tested a few things with it.
First of all, if she commanded it to attack Sunny and not to be summoned by him, the serpent completely ignored the command.
But when Sunny commanded the same things against her, it obeyed. Though it hesitated, as if it didn't want to do it.
Still, other than that, the serpent obeyed both of their commands equally—unless Sunny told it to obey him only.
Anyway, they left the serpent and experimented with other things.
Sunny also tried using his attribute [Prince of Shadows]. This attribute made his shadow sense three times stronger and made him undetectable in shadows.
Even a Fallen Nightmare creature with sharp eyes and senses couldn't detect him, even if he was just two centimeters away.
Though Sunny felt this wasn't its full potential. He felt that with every ascension, he would unlock more of it.
In the middle of the experiment, they realized they could now talk in their minds. A telepathic connection had formed between them.
And when they finally tried to use each other's aspects... it didn't work.
They had expected it and... were kind of glad it didn't.
They expected it because their souls had not fully merged, and aspects are deeply connected to their owner's soul.
That was why Nephis couldn't fully control the serpent—because shadows were an extension of his aspect.
And they were glad, because if they had gotten each other's aspects, then they would have gained those aspects permanently, as their souls would become one. That meant... they would also gain each other's flaws.
And they didn't want more flaws. Especially not each other's flaws.
With Sunny's flaw, Nephis would have problems in meetings, speeches, and negotiations in the future.
And Sunny didn't want to feel like he was burning whenever he used his aspect.
Then came the final thing to see.
Their soul seas.
After the changes to their souls, they hadn't visited their soul seas even once.
They took a deep breath.
And entered their soul seas at the same time.
When they finally looked around, their breath caught in their throats.
On the left side, the world was drowned in shadows—an endless abyss of black water, fragments of ruined stone floating like broken teeth. The darkness was heavy and suffocating, restless whispers rising from unseen depths.
Sunny's Soul Sea.
To the right, a vast ocean of light shimmered endlessly, every wave glowing with silver and gold. It was calm, serene, alive with a quiet strength that seemed utterly unshakable.
Nephis' Soul Sea.
And in the middle... they touched.
Dark water met radiant waves, neither overwhelming the other. Where they mixed, silver fire curled through shadow, and streaks of night bled into brilliance. The ruins of his world drifted into her light, half-consumed by radiance yet refusing to disappear. The air here was warm and cold all at once, carrying both the weight of despair and the promise of dawn.
It was... impossible. Beautiful. Terrifying.
Two soul seas met one another, connecting in the middle. Not breaking balance. Instead, they were mixing into one another. As if this was some kind of...
Dance... dance between light and shadow.
Dance of Light and Shadow.
______
I'm currently sick, so sorry if the chapter is badly written.
Thanks for reading