Chapter 3114: Missing Core |
Sunny’s soul had been dealt a severe blow, losing one of his Shadow Cores.
There were obvious consequences, like the dull pain he was experiencing and his diminished power. The craziest of his shadows was gone, making him feel sad and a little depressed... as if a part of him was gone. It was, quite literally.
‘I'll miss that guy...'
His feelings regarding the demise of a loyal shadow aside, there was also the fact that he was once again a Terror, meaning that there was less of him out there. He could be in fewer places at the same time, could empower fewer things, and if he wanted to focus all his power in one place, the augmentation would not be as potent as it had been before.
As for the soul wound... it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Losing a single core was not going to kill a Titan, and especially not Sunny — his soul was especially tenacious, after all, and would slowly recover if even a little piece of it remained intact.
However, there were also less obvious consequences of plummeting to a lesser Class.
Sunny would be unable to summon the full form of the Curse until his seventh Shadow Core was rebuilt, for example.
Much more importantly... one of his Shadows was homeless now.
Each of the Shadows dwelled in one of his Shadow Cores, drawing on its power and retreating into its nurturing dark flames to heal and recover. Now that Sunny was a Terror, he had seven Shadows, but only six cores, meaning that someone could not find shelter within his soul anymore.
Sunny had been afraid that this strange situation would result in the destruction of the bond between him and the murderous Shadow, but luckily, the situation was not that dire. Slayer was still his Shadow, and he still felt a connection to her... however, she could not be dismissed.
That meant that if Slayer was wounded, she could not be healed by the dark flames of his soul — which presented a problem, since she was in the middle of a vicious war against the Barrow Wraiths right now. Receiving ghastly wounds and being mangled by the enemy was not a rare occurrence, and if these wounds kept accumulating, Slayer would inevitably be destroyed.
Unknown complications could arise in the near future, as well. Sunny did not entirely understand how the connection between him and the Shadows functioned, but he knew that they depended on him. Where did the essence they used to fuel themselves come from? Would its current run dry without the dark cradle of a Shadow Core? Would they wither and fade as time went on?
Sunny did not know. And he would rather not find out.
Luckily for him...
Sunny looked around.
If he wanted to build a new Shadow Core and become a Titan again, he was in the right place. There was nowhere in the Dream Realm where he could accomplish that goal faster. The vast expanse of the Shadow Realm surrounded him, promising a thrilling hunt.
It was just that Sunny was not in the mood to wander the Realm of Death in search of powerful shadows to consume. He did not have the time, and there were all the threats he had just been thinking about, as well.
However...
Sunny's expression turned pensive.
Maybe he didn't need to.
After all, he had just attained Shadow Weave. Among various boons it granted him, there was one that could help him solve this particular issue. Perhaps it was time to test his new powers.
Sunny remained motionless for a few moments, then took a deep breath and dove into his Soul Sea.
‘Here goes nothing.'
Instantly, the familiar landscape revealed itself to his mind's eye. The dark waters of his soul were still and silent. The lightless sky above encompassed six tenebrous black spheres, a few of them covered in cracks and healing slowly. The Nameless Temple towered above the water, surrounded by a legion of shades.
There was a vast sea of silent shadows populating his soul now. Some were distinct, while some were vague and elusive — the former were whole, while the latter had been vanquished recently and were now being mended.
Sunny's gaze shifted to a particular direction, where the newest recruits of the Shadow Legion stood. Unlike the rest of the shades, these ones were assembled into neat battle formations, standing upon the still water like a disciplined army. They were six thousand Shadow Saints, commanded by dozens of Supreme officers...
The colossal shadow of the Prince of Darkness was also there, wreathed in nurturing black flames. The mighty shade had been utterly obliterated by the prisoner of the Abyss, but luckily, the Titan of Tainted Jade was merely vanquished, not destroyed. In a few days, he would be ready to be summoned again, adding his strength to the power of the Shadow Legion.
Beyond them, countless other shades stood, stretching toward the dark horizon — every living being Sunny had slain over the years, except for those who were summoned and fighting his enemies on various battlefields. Hundreds of thousands still remained, all looking at the steps of the Nameless Temple, where their Sovereign stood.
Sunny exhaled and sat down on one of the steps, looking at his shades intently. Slowly, his gaze focused on a particular one — a beast he had once slain on the Chained Isles, an eternity ago.
He could feel a deeper connection to that beast than before. It was as if his authority over the shades had expanded, becoming not necessarily greater, but broader in its implications.
There was no instruction manual to Shadow Weave — unless the cryptic conversation between Weaver and Oblivion could be considered one — but Sunny could vaguely sense a new kind of power slumbering somewhere deep within him. So, he reached toward that power and explored it carefully, trying to discern its functions. He felt like a blind man trying to guess the nature of an unknown mechanism by tracing its shape with his fingers — it was mysterious, unclear, and covered in darkness.
Eventually, though, his intuition gave him a hint of what he had to do, and how he could do it.
Sunny inhaled deeply and looked at the bestial shade, commanding it to... dissolve. For a few moments, nothing happened. Then, the black beast was suddenly enveloped by dark flames, its form slowly melting in their tenebrous embrace.
In a few moments, the shade vanished in a black blaze, disappearing without a trace.
Once the dark flames were dispelled, the Spell whispered in Sunny's ear:
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
Summoning the runes, Sunny looked at the string he had not paid attention to for a long, long while.
It read:
Shadow Fragments: [0/6000].
He grimaced.
He had clearly felt his soul being reinforced when the black beast was consumed. It was just that it did not offer him as many shadow fragments as a true shadow would — instead, it offered him as many as consuming an Ascended soul shard would grant a Supreme.
A fraction of a single shadow fragment... but not nothing.
Sunny exhaled slowly and looked down.
‘That works.'
When he raised his gaze again, his eyes glinted darkly.
And when they did, a vast inferno of dark flames suddenly enveloped the silent expanse of his soul. Thousands of shades burned in the cataclysmic blaze, chosen carefully to become sacrifices.
The runes shimmered and changed. Shadow Fragments: [3/6000].
Shadow Fragments: [23/6000].
Shadow Fragments: [194/6000].
Shadow Fragments: [447/6000].
Shadow Fragments: [1342/6000]...
The counter continued to climb and climb. Until, eventually, it reached completion.
‘Oh, hell!'
Focused on his new power, Sunny had forgotten what would follow.
A ghastly pain suddenly pierced his entire being...
The pain of a new Shadow Core forming in the depths of his soul.
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