On Ravenheart, years ago, Sunny and some of his sisters were observing as two of their mentors sparred.
Undying Blade and Lunae clashed in impressive speeds, if the Saints were holding back, they didn't show, every strike was precise and proficient.
Their strikes resounded like shockwaves. Even without the use of their aspects, the ground still roared at every movement they did.
The only reason the children weren't affected was because of the enchantments placed on the arena, which contained the collateral damage from the fights that happened in it.
Undying Blade was able to win one of the exchanges, moving to pierce the other Saints torso. However, Lunae blocked with one of his gauntlets, even if it was mangled in the process.
Moon's mouth gaped in awe.
"It's hard to remember that they don't have combat aspects…"
Terra agreed, smiling ear to ear.
"Imagine how we'll be when we get there! And with Beast God's lineage!"
Caera just stared, but you could tell she was impressed.
The battle had reached the end, with one of them having their weapon reaching their opponent's neck.
Lunae sighed, he was on the ground after Blade had disarmed him.
"I guess we're even."
Blade raised his eyebrow, maintaining his serious demeanor.
"Where did you learn to count? I'm up by one."
Lunae rolled his eyes and got up, dismissing his spear.
"Keep telling yourself that. I'm still the scholar."
"Since when does a title define one's ability to count?"
The two Saints continued their little argument, it wasn't serious. If it was, Ki Song would fire them for fighting over something so trivial.
The girls started to talk about how the fight went, theorising on who was stronger.
But all Sunny was thinking about was Undying Blade's weapon, and how he fought. Like the Saint's life mattered little.
Caera noticed his pondering look.
Later that day, he sneaked his way into the underground of the Jade Palace, to the great forge of the best enchanter of Song.
He shouldn't be there, in fact, he was questioning how come he was able to go in there, sure, not many were able to find him when he really tried to hide. After… That week… Sunless made sure to know every corner of the Palace.
Sunny looked around, the forge vast, built in a circular fashion, made with ornate crimson and black materials. Banners of the Song Domain in each corner. It was pristine and clean, betraying the daily forging that happened in the room. In the center, the anvil that birthed all memories made by the Saint.
In the wall's cavity, memories were displayed, from weapons, to armors and charms.
Sunny heard that once Blade initiated his forge, all this royal decoration and ambiance was destroyed and changed, and only blood, fire… And rage remained.
Only to come back at the end of the day.
Sunless could sometimes hear it. The banging of the Hammer, resounding around the Palace.
He looked to the side, a sword on a stand, the sword, Undying Blade's sword.
It was made from an onyx material, black and intricate, with vein-like cracks extending from the hilt.
As Sunny got closer to it, wanting to see it better, a strict voice called for him.
"You shouldn't be here."
Sunny shivered, it was the owner of the forge.
Undying Blade got closer to the kid, his eyebrows furrowed, arms crossed. A girl right behind him, his silent sister, Caera.
"H-How did you know…?"
He shirrinked, Blade was imposing, and he scarred Sunny sometimes.
"Your sister was worried, so she called me as soon as she lost sight of you."
The small Prince glared at his foster sibling, who glared back, as if saying: "Don't wander around!".
The Saint sighed, thinking about why Ki Song let her son just "wander" into his forge.
'By the God's Ki… You are watching him right now… What are you…'
His eyes widened in realization. He turned his head to the side, talking to someone who was there in spirit.
"You could have just asked me…"
The siblings stopped glaring at each other and turned to their teacher, confused for his sudden declaration. Blade ignored their questioning looks and changed the topic.
"What did you want to do here, Sunless?"
The boy shifted nervously, then looked at the enchanter's blade.
"I knew you usually keep it here so…"
Undying Blade moved and grabbed the weapon and brandished it, using it like it was a part of him. He held it in reverse grip and analyzed it.
"Why the interest?"
"Because… Everytime I see you use it, it's like… It's like it is a part of you. None of the other weapons you forged feel like that so… I wanted to see what made it so special!"
Even Caera looked at the Saint with expectation.
Blade stared at his reflection on the weapon, then clarified a misconception Sunny had.
"I didn't make it."
The siblings took a step back.
"What..?"
Caera had a face full of bewilderment.
"I received it… In my First Nightmare. It was the work of someone else."
"H-How?! It shouldn't be… You killed a Corrupted-"
Blade interrupted Sunny immediately.
"Not a chance, in fact, it came from the weakest nightmare creature from my Nightmare…
A Dormant Beast."
Sunless and Caera stood motionless, it was impossible, a Saint using a Dormant memory?
"It has a unique enchantment, once I activated it, it became soul-bound, it grew stronger as I got stronger, raising ranks as I did… It was a true blessing."
Blade looked over at the two, both having surprised expressions on their faces. Then, he looked at the figure approaching the forge.
Ki Song.
"And it continues to be a blessing."
The siblings turned to see their mother, calmly walking closer and closer.
She stroked both of their heads with the kindness of the mother she was. It would have been easy to forget that she was a walking corpse. If not for the sword piercing her torso. Blade still hated Anvil for what he did.
"Fate gave your teacher a weapon and he took it, expanding it and became stronger because of it.
Don't squander the opportunities life gives it to you. We can't make everything happen by ourselves, sometimes coincidences and chance help us.
What makes the difference is how we use these chances."
Sunny stood silent, understanding what his mother meant. Then turned to Undying Blade.
"Teacher… You said it was the work of someone else… Do you know who?"
Silence settled, the Saint looked at Ki Song, who nodded, giving permission.
"It was the work of a Divine Being… The Ruler of the Underworld… The…"
—
'Unknown… The Daemon of Destiny…'
Sunny thought as he looked at his new Echo's description.
[Deep in the cavernous halls of his dark domain, the last child of the -unknown- had created them from stone to quell the fire burning in his resentful heart. However, that fire only grew hotter. Designed to bring peace, they were instead born into an endless war.]
The first kill of Undying Blade was a Stone Saint, the same Daemon that made his new Echo and the armor he was wearing.
Well, they were in actuality recreations of the Spell, but it made little difference for Sunny.
Sunless wanted to show all these new things of the Daemon to his teacher, it was one of the reasons he didn't ask Cassie how far was the [Prince of the Underworld] counter was, that probably would make the memory soul-bound, and he did not want to do that before he met Undying Blade again.
He pondered as he was in his Soul Sea, wasting 200 fragments into the Saint. Shadows consumed and changed the Echo, creating a new Shadow.
[Shadow: Stone Saint]
Shadow Rank: Awakened.
Shadow Class: Monster.
Shadow Fragments: 1/200
Shadow Attributes: [Battle Master], [Stalwart], [Spark of Divinity].
His fragment counter changed.
[1768/2000]
"Hm… Worth it."
He was going to admire his new Shadow, but someone called for him.
Leaving the calming atmosphere of his Soul, he was being treated by Lycon.
Although his armor protected him, that strike of the Stone Saint still wounded him thanks to the strength of the Knight.
Lycon had a weird space control aspect, one with various uses, one of them complimented his skills as a medic very well, it allowed him to choose a small part of space and rewind it, going back to a state that had been before.
Until now he only used to heal wounds… He told Sunless he would rather not test the limits of his power. Lycon heard no objections.
The Shadow Watchers were back in their little headquarters on the edge of the outer settlement, resting after their great achievement of defeating the Stone Saints.
"There, all done. You are pached up leader."
Sunless moved his arm and confirmed it, it was good as new.
"Thanks, did you check on Mei?"
Lycon looked at the woman who was checking her katana, which was strangely fixed, even though it never came back to her Soul Sea.
"I already healed her before, she's fine. The rest had some wounds, but it's not worth using my aspect on."
Sunny nodded.
The rest of the members were resting… Well, "resting"...
Lan was complaining.
"Damn… Wanted to fight one of those…"
Merlin immediately turned to Lan, irritation in her eyes. Getting up from her seat.
"OH NO YOU DIDN'T! You got to take down a TOWER on at least 5 of them!"
"Hey! No need to shout! You damn ogre."
"OGRE?!! HOW DARE YOU?!! I may be fit, but I'm not that giant Effie!!"
"I dare! You don't need to be tall to be an ogre!"
As they continued their feud, Kin and Kira were sitting beside one another, and both looked in annoyance, both sighing. They looked at each other.
"Won't you stop them?"
Kira shook his head. His voice muffled through the armor
"They are treating Stone Saints as a way to have fun… I don't think I can…"
"Me either… How is that fight maniac my brother…?"
Lauma started laughing.
"C'mon… Let them have fun."
Kin looked at Lauma, then back at the two fighting…
"I don't think they are having fun…"
On the other side of the room, Nix had a playful smile while watching the two grown children fight about something so… Irrelevant.
"Isn't this adorable…?"
Motza, meanwhile, had a totally different expression, a vein popping on his face.
"No, it isn't."
She looked at him, her smile persisted.
"Aren't you grumpy today?"
He raised his eyebrow, his deep voice filled with irritation.
"Mei and Lycon almost died, and they fight about who fought and who didn't? It's not only childish, but also ignorant."
Nix's smile slowly disappeared, her voice got more serious, almost cold.
"I guess you are right."
Motza looked at her, he sighed, and touched her shoulder.
"No matter how strong we are, we're still Sleepers, our aspects can only go so far."
Nix didn't respond, merely grabbing his hand that touched her shoulder.
Sunny sighed, not understanding how he ended up with such a… Unique team.
He sighed, understanding that all of them had a screw loose.
'Oh well. It 's my team. And we are strong…'
He looked at his shadow fragment counter.
'However… We still need time.'
—
Sunny and Caera left the forge as Ki Song ordered, she would have a talk with her son later. Blade looked at her with an unreadable expression.
"Sometimes I forget you are technically dead."
She chuckled, giving him an innocent smile.
"Oh? Am I dead? You died more times than I can count yet here you are."
Undying Blade rolled his eyes and smiled, admiring his Sovereign's beauty for a second.
"At least I didn't choose to be immortal."
"Hmm… Define 'choose'. Last time I checked, you don't get to choose your aspect."
"True… If I could, I would have picked one that made me see the consequences of my actions."
The Queen's smile turned sour, even though Blade was smiling, you could tell he was hiding his sadness and regret.
She touched his shoulder.
"Don't do this again… We already talked about the past…"
His smile vanished, a bitter expression replacing it.
"I should have known better, Anvil changed too much… That… Thing…"
"I know… I know… We all bear regrets from that time…"
The Saint looked at Ki Song, his eyes met hers, understanding and humanity in them, different from when she was in her throne.
"I still don't understand why you accepted me…"
She smiled.
"Because I too know how it is to be powerless to save someone… I know all too well…"
She turned, going to the door.
"And I also know how painful it is to 'die' multiple times."
Undying Blade sighed, then looked at Ki Song.
"Thank you Ki… For everything…"
She looked at him one more time, her smile perpetuated.
"Your welcome… Charon."