'What the hell am I doing…'
Indeed. The wall of the city was breached, a menacing Nightmare Gate was towering above him, and not too far away, a furious battle was raging in the rabble of the staging area. And yet, Sunny was staring at the runes that shimmered brightly in the air in front of him.
His vision was a little blurry, but the runes were clear and perfectly legible, as if existing outside of reality. Which they probably did.
'Oh, well…'
Sunny needed a couple of minutes to recover, anyway.
He looked at the field of runes, searching for the names of his Shadows. A new string of them replaced the old one:
[Onyx Saint]
'Onyx, huh…'
That had a nice ring to it.
Marble Saint had turned into Onyx Saint. Was his Marble Shell going to evolve into the Onyx Shell, as well, once he Transcended?
Sunny would have loved to pursue that train of thought, but unfortunately, he couldn't. His thoughts were slow and erratic, refusing to consider anything too complicated.
Giving up, he concentrated on the runes of Saint's name and started to read the descriptions.
Shadow: Onyx Saint.
Shadow Rank: Ascended.
Shadow Class: Devil.
Shadow Attributes: [Battle Master], [Stalwart], [Ember of Divinity], [Heart of Darkness].
'Heart of Darkness… that's new.'
Sunny glanced at the mass of attacking arachnid warriors, catching a glimpse of Saint decapitating an especially menacing abomination with a swift slash of her black sword, then sending its body flying into the mob with a strike of her shield. Even before the rim of the shield connected with the creature's chest, the blade of the stone sword was already moving to deflect an incoming blow.
'...She's not dead yet.'
He looked back to the runes.
Attribute Description: [A vestige of an ancient darkness dwells in this Shadow's heart, granting her tenebrous powers.]
So, Saint had not just destroyed the sphere of black stone in the tunnel… she had taken something from it. Sunny had expected as much.
The [Spark of Divinity] was also gone, replaced by the [Ember of Divinity]. The light of divinity and true darkness now coexisted within Saint, somehow… there was something interesting about that fact, but Sunny, in his pitiful state, could not quite point to what.
'Later…'
The sounds of the battle grew louder, and a little closer, forcing him to look past the runes nervously and then hurry up. The Gate Guardian could arrive at any moment…
Sunny lowered his gaze.
Shadow Abilities: [Weapon Sage], [Underworld Armament], [Mantle of Darkness], [Blade of Darkness].
'Two new ones.'
The name of the first Ability was a bit familiar. He concentrated on it and read:
Ability: [Mantle of Darkness].
Ability Description: [Darkness embraces this Shadow. When surrounded by darkness, and true darkness more so, her swiftness and might will increase. Her wounds will be healed, and her heart will grow fuller.]
Sunny blinked a couple of times.
'Well… that explains how she is so powerful right now.'
If there was one thing that Antarctica did not lack, it was darkness. Although the staging area was usually well lit, most tech nearby had been destroyed by the pulse of the opening Gate. Saint was wreathed in shadows.
The physical augmentation of the [Mantle of Darkness] seemed to be a formidable one, and combined with the embrace of his four shadows, it produced a truly terrific result.
What made him especially happy was that Saint would also be able to heal herself from now on, at least when surrounded by darkness. That alone was an incredible boon.
The last part of the description spoke of her heart, but the rune could also mean soul. Sunny suspected that it alluded to both the true darkness dwelling in Saint's heart, and her essence… or whatever it was that the Shadow used instead of essence. The point was that its replenishment rate would be increased.
These abilities… were very similar to what the Black Knight had possessed, with one serious caveat.
Unlike the Fallen Devil of the ruined cathedral, his own Ascended Devil seemed to possess dual affinity — both to the shadows and to the elemental darkness. Those were supposed to be mutually exclusive, but were not, in her case. It seemed that Saint's nature as a Shadow led to a curious result…
His graceful knight paradoxically enjoyed the favor of both mundane and true darkness. Recalling how harrowing his journey through the underground tunnel had been, Sunny could not help but feel envious.
'Interesting…'
Finally, he turned his gaze to the second of the two new Abilities…
[Blade of Darkness].
Ability Description: [The true darkness dwelling in this Shadow's heart can be summoned in the form of a fearsome weapon, as long as the Shadow has mastered the use of that weapon. The Blade of Darkness can slay those of flesh and those of spirit; it never dulls, never falters, and never breaks. Alternatively, the darkness can be summoned to augment a mundane weapon.]
Sunny smiled.
'So she fixed her sword herself, in the end…'
The Blade of Darkness was a truly powerful Ability, indeed. Since Saint was a Battle Master and a Weapon Sage, she could wield any weapon with superb proficiency… which meant that the true darkness she was a vessel of could take any form.
The dark weapon would be as strong as Saint was herself, growing stronger if Saint evolved again in the future. It was capable of killing both corporeal and incorporeal creatures. It could even be used to augment an existing weapon or a weapon-type Memory, both making it more powerful and adding an elemental property to its attacks.
All of it was simply amazing.
And when Sunny gathered enough Memories…
He flinched when something thundered, sending a strong shockwave through the ground. Looking past the runes, Sunny saw a massive shape emerging from the Gate.
The Guardian had arrived.
Somewhere beyond the wall, Sky Tide was still fighting the Devouring Cloud. The wall had been breached, and he had no idea if the other Irregulars still lived. Master Jet was nowhere to be seen, and probably…
'No, don't think about it! She won't be so easily killed, anyway.'
…And lastly, Saint was standing her ground against a whole swarm of dreadful Nightmare Creatures, surrounded by nothing but enemies and carnage. Even as powerful as she had become, the force arrayed against her was still dire and overwhelming.
Sunny let out a tortured sigh.
"Ah, no rest for the wicked…"
Struggling against pain and sickening weakness, he staggered to his feet and grabbed Nightmare, afraid that he might fall again. Then, Sunny looked at the Gate and the tide of Nightmare Creatures flowing out of it. A strange expression appeared on his face.
'I might die… but I do need more Memories, so… I guess my greed is much greater than my fear?'
With that, he groaned and hoisted himself on top of his black steed.
It was time to join the fight...