Chapter 35

Pain.

He felt immense pain, second only to Blood Fusion.

The formation of a new core.

Kiyotaka doubled over, clutching his chest as the searing pain radiated from within. It was as if every cell in his body was on fire, burning away the old to make way for the new. His vision blurred, spots of white and red dancing before his eyes as the pain threatened to overwhelm him.

He was feeling a profound change within himself, the birth of a new soul core.

Humans weren't supposed to have more than one soul core, so the Spell was reshaping his very nature, elevating him to a realm beyond simple humanity. The pain he felt didn't subside for a long time until it suddenly disappeared. Kiyotaka felt a profound change within himself.

He slowly forced himself to stand and leave the area for a safer place before scavengers gathered due to the scent of blood. Carefully manipulating his own blood, he returned all he could back to himself, while the ones he couldn't, he burned away.

He walked away from the place of battle and found a dark corner within the ruins to rest. He desperately wanted to sleep but forced himself to stay awake as his curiosity was at its peak.

Summoning his runes, he felt satisfaction like never before.

Name: Kiyotaka

True Name: Angel of War

Rank: Dreamer

Class: Monster

Soul Core: Dormant

War Fragments: [3/2000]

Memories: [Bloodsword], [Tunic of Warrior], [Torch], [Eye of the Night], [Blood Fervor], [Wing of Fall], [Abyssal Reaver]

Echoes: [Asher]

Attributes: [The Seeker of Freedom], [Flame of Divinity], [Child of War], [Bloodborne Ascendant]

Aspect: [Warrior of the End]

Aspect Rank: Divine

Aspect Description: [You are a miraculous survivor of the bloodline of the Goddess of War. The last warrior who stood his ground against all odds and defied his fate.]

Aspect Legacy: [Bloodbound Warfare]

Legacy Description: [The legacy that has been incorporated with the help of divinity and limitless potential. Allows the bearer to always passively reach the limits of what is possible within a rank.]

Innate Ability: [Broken Limits]

Ability Description: [An ability that makes it possible for you to temporarily break free from your power limits and gain strength beyond your Rank and Level]

Dormant Ability: [Blood Manipulation]

Ability Description: [Allows the user to manipulate blood]

He was a Monster now, a being with two cores. As he dove into his soul sea, he saw two blood-red suns. As he looked at them, he muttered, "Beautiful."

Exiting his soul sea, he started experimenting with his body. When he became a Monster, he instinctively learned a new type of augmentation.

As he took a deep breath, a red bloodthirsty aura started emanating from him, taking on an actual visible color of crimson. At that moment, Kiyotaka felt his prowess double, filling him with great satisfaction. Kiyotaka was already as strong as a peak Human Sleeper in his base form due to [Bloodborne Ascendant]. When he activated his Innate Ability to the fullest, he could say he stepped into the realm of the Awakened. When he set his blood ablaze, he solidified his strength as Awakened. And now, with yet another augmentation of Red Aura, he felt confident in taking out mid-strength melee-type Awakened.

Next, he inspected the memory he received, [Abyssal Reaver].

Memory: [Abyssal Reaver]

Memory Description: [The Blade formed from the death of the Cursed Herald that was slain by the Angel of War, formed from intense hatred and a curse directed at its own existence.]

Memory Type: Weapon

Memory Rank: Ascendant

Memory Tier: 2

Memory Enchantment: [Curse Strike]

Summoning the memory, he saw a sword unlike any he had seen before. The weapon was sleek and menacing, with a blade forged from a dark, almost obsidian-like metal that seemed to absorb the surrounding light. Its edges were razor-sharp, and intricate runes etched along the length of the blade pulsed with a faint, eerie glow. The hilt was wrapped in dark leather, perfectly balanced for both offense and defense, with a guard that resembled the outstretched wings of the Cursed Herald.

Kiyotaka reached out and grasped the hilt, feeling a surge of power resonate through his body. The sword felt alive in his hands, its weight a perfect extension of his own strength. He could sense the dark energy of curses within it.

The curses seemed to be a type of mental curse attack that would be activated whenever Kiyotaka managed to make a cut on his opponent.

As he looked at the dark sword, his gaze turned to the bloodsword in his other hand.

'My bloodsword was loyal to me for a long time, but as my and my foes' strength grew, an Awakened tier 1 memory was only restraining my powers.'

Dismissing the bloodsword, he let himself gather sufficient essence back and rested for a quarter of an hour. Feeling a sense of anticipation, he summoned his only Echo, Asher.

As he did so, an emotionless, pale figure of Asher appeared. The two looked at each other with emotionless eyes. The only thing that seemed different between them was Asher's paleness and hollow eyes.

Asher looked like a doll. Her blue hair and blue eyes gave her a calm atmosphere. She was wearing the blue set of armor she wore when he last saw her in the First Nightmare.

Kiyotaka wanted to test out his Echo's battle powers, but he really wanted to fall into slumber. With his consciousness slipping away, he gave the Abyssal Reaver to Asher and muttered, "Guard me while I sleep," then fell unconscious from all the accumulated stress of the fight and formation of the new core.

---

Sunny and the cohort were returning from their expedition. They lived through many arduous battles and made their bond stronger during the expedition. They also gathered Shard memories from slaying Nightmare Champions of each statue. They also managed to get the gist of Forgotten Shore's history.

Further down the underground mine of Hollow Mountains, wall carvings were discovered, preserved in pristine condition. At first, the carvings were strictly decorative and mostly senseless, shaped into beautiful patterns of lines and simple images, but they slowly changed.

They depicted the story of the civilization of Forgotten Shore before it was consumed by the curse of all-consuming darkness and the origin of the terrible disaster that had destroyed the land and turned it into a hellish nightmare. The ancient engravings ended with a celebration. The forces of good had vanquished the curse of darkness and brought a new era of light and prosperity to the inhabitants of the ancient city.

Such a story was like something out of a fairy tale, but it had major hints to the truth.

As the cohort closed in on the Dark City, Sunny's shadow, scouting ahead, saw two human figures in the depths of the ruins. One was a handsome, emotionless friend of his who was apparently sleeping...the other though, was a blue-haired woman...or creature...whatever it was, stood there with an abyssal dark sword in her hands and hollow eyes. Sunny could instinctively feel the sheer strength of the woman that made him shudder. Somehow, he felt like even the Stone Saint wouldn't be able to win in a one-on-one confrontation with that woman.

As he was thinking about what was happening, two pairs of emotionless eyes, one golden and one blue, turned to his shadow and looked directly at it, which made him shudder in fright and recall his shadow.

'Damnation!'