The catacombs were, for a lack of any other word, hell.
They were hell because they were dangerous. They were hell because they were sewers. They were hell because they were dark.
But most of all, they were hell because there was absolutely no benefit to going into them.
Juno had dragged himself into those forsaken tunnels for one reason: training. His plan was to spend some time down there with no breaks, getting used to fighting tired. Not only that, but it would also serve him since he would better understand how to fight humans and how to fight many opponents at the same time. Whilst he had a little experience with both of those things, they were still lackluster.
Ultimately, he gained nothing from his expedition. Skeletons moved too simply to mimic humans, and he never fought many at once because that was ultimately too dangerous. The last four days, Juno had just run around without sleep and gained nothing from it.
'Damnation!'
Now, dragging himself out of the catacombs, Juno was able to see the end of the tunnel, the beautiful grey light. Even though his lungs and wounds were burning, he pushed forward.
He stepped clear of the broken lighthouse and the narrow crevice that plunged back down into the catacombs, then leaned a shoulder against the fallen stone and let his eyes close for a moment.
'How… tiresome.'
Now that he was thinking about it, the expedition wasn't all bad. Juno had managed to practice Runic Sorcery, and thus, he gained something.
Practicing Runes wasn't something he had expected to do, or even thought he would be good at. If he hadn't gotten his Quill from the Fallen that guarded the Library, he definitely wouldn't be doing Runes right now. Thinking of it now, he summoned the Quill, and it materialized in his hand a couple of seconds later.
The Quill was made of dark metal and bone, adorned with a single red feather. It was really gothic, and really beautiful, not least because of its enchantments. Summoning the Runes, he read them over for what seemed to be the millionth time in pure glee.
Memory: [Chase of Knowledge]
Memory Rank: Ascended.
Memory Tier: III.
Memory Type: Tool.
Memory Description: [A child once loved to read, but when his home and his peace were destroyed, he was forced to become what he loved. Now, the last remnant of him is used to channel his love into reality.]
Memory Enchantments: [Deeper than Most], [Bloodied Writer]
"Damn," Juno murmured. "You were a tall order… but so worth it."
The abomination that had been this Memory was the mythical and dread "Library Guard", a Fallen Demon which somehow had abilities almost like a Devil. It was just as smart as a Devil, too, and that had been its downfall.
Tall, gaunt, almost human in outline, draped in tatters of something that might once have been a scholar's robe. Its limbs were too long, fingers like hooked quills. Pages of petrified flesh fluttered from its shoulders like a shredded cloak, each etched with tiny, dead script. Where a face should have been, it had a smooth, mask-like surface, cracked down the middle, with a single red eye burning in the seam.
It didn't patrol. It didn't roam. It just sat in front of the rune‑carved door, motionless, as if asleep.
Until anything passed the invisible line around the whole library. Or even got on top of it.
Juno had learned this through trial and error, and there was a lot of trial and error. The first time, he had tossed a random rock next to it, just to see what would happen.
The creature moved like a book snapping shut. Quite fitting, really.
One moment it was still; the next, its arm blurred, and the bone shard exploded in a spray of dust. The air around it rippled, ink‑black lines flashing across the stone where its shadow touched.
But Juno had learned that it did give chase. If something made it past the line and then out of it, the Demon would chase it down relentlessly, somehow always knowing the position of the creature it was chasing.
Having that piece of information left Juno with quite an easy strategy. He lured a pack of abominations one way, and Dusky lured the Demon the same way. They clashed, and the Demon came out on top. It was quite damaged, but alive. Then, as it calmly switched targets to the still remaining Dusky, Juno would unsummon his Echo, and the Demon would become extremely confused. With its mark gone and out of the bubble that seemed to give it strength, Juno pounced on it and stuck Execution's hilt deep into its flesh. After that, he ran away and summoned Dusky to fly around for a couple of hours before the Spell announced his kill and, to his great joy, the acquisition of a Memory.
'Good times.'
Shaking himself out of his reminiscing, Juno quickly checked the enchantments before moving on.
[Deeper than Most] Enchantment Description: [Runes are much easier to engrave using this quill, as well as being strengthened.]
[Bloodied Writer] Enchantment Description: [Only blood can be used to engrave names, but not all blood is equal.]
What had been harder than killing a Fallen Demon was learning Runes, but after months and months, he had gotten a couple down.
In the catacombs, it was his first time actually using Runes in battle, however. He had etched some of the simplest sigils into the floor of the catacombs, namely Wind and Force, to displace the skeletons. It was a hard and long process, since his essence reserves, even as a Demon, were meager and weak, but he had done them. Using them was also difficult, but oh so rewarding.
That first time he lit up Wind and saw his enemies fly into the ceiling was a memory he would never forget.
'Actually, the catacombs were not a waste at all. One precious memory is enough to make up for four sleepless nights.'
Juno sighed, summoned his beautiful quill, and turned his attention to the recent sensation tugging at his soul. It had started three days ago, but he had ignored it since he had a good guess on what it was, and he had bigger things to worry about.
Feeling the pull, he summoned his tablet.
He hadn't told Sunny where exactly this amazing memory came from, but it came from a very peculiar Fallen Monster. The abomination was actually two different Fallen Beasts, just they were also one being at the same time. Hard to explain what they were, but after Juno had killed one, the other died as well.
Peculiar, but not a hard fight.
The tablet appeared in his hand, a slab of raw, dark metal veined with faint crimson.
It was blank.
No lines, no letters, no blood.
'I must be an idiot,' Juno thought.
He flipped it over.
The message glared up at him from the other side, Sunny's scratchy script etched in blood.
Wow.
Facepalming, Juno began to read the messy script of an outskirts rat.
'Juno, Nephis wants to talk to you. It's something to do with the Bright Lord.
She will be coming to the big cathedral, you know the one with the Fallen Devil inside, in a week from this message.
Come over that time to discuss it with her, and come over now because I have a surprise for you.
- Not your brother.'
He stared at it for a second.
Of course. Juno had been having so much fun in the Dark City and with the magic, he completely forgot about the expedition for the Dusk Shard. It was going to happen in three days, and Juno was apparently a blade Changing Star wanted.
'Well, I wouldn't have it any other way.'
From his memory, Juno remembered that Sunny went from three hundred shadow fragments to nine fifty. With his usual rate of two per Awakened, that meant he had killed a minimum of three hundred Nightmare Creatures. Such math would make Juno incredibly close to becoming a Devil, and thus incredibly close to Natural Awakening!
'And the Memories… Oh, I wouldn't miss this trip for the world!'
Silently, Juno summoned the tablet and summoned his trusty companion. With a torrent of sparks, the beautiful crow Dusky appeared beside him. The black, black of his feathers, ragged wings, and feral dusk colored eyes greeted him. The Echo was as beautiful and dangerous as ever, and the most loyal companion Juno could have asked for.
With a thought, Dusky bent down slightly and let Juno climb onto him. By now, Juno was adept at flying with his crow, and thus it didn't need to wait at all for its owner to settle down. Within a second, Dusky unfurled his wings and launched into the sky.
Flying was as amazing as always.
"Let's go to the cathedral, buddy!"
Dusky launched, and the Dark City blurred beneath them, a maze of broken towers and dead streets crawling slowly past.
On the way, Juno let his mind drift ahead.
Sunny had promised him a surprise, and if Juno didn't know the future, it would have been. He would finally be seeing Effie again.
'Ah, how I love women like her…'
Still, that wasn't as important as the plans Juno had for what he was going to do during the trip. If Sunny was as Fated as usual, he would tag along with the cohort, and that meant with Juno. The amount of training that guy would undergo in the next couple of months would be straight torture, and thus, he would unlock the first step of Shadow Dance.
Making a powerful Sunny was going to feel great.
Soon enough, the cathedral rose up ahead, a black tooth in the mouth of the city. Dusky circled once, twice, then Juno dismissed the Echo and dropped to the cracked roof, landing light on his feet. As prodigious as he was, he didn't want to disturb the Dark Knight inside.
Nothing. No sharp, familiar cynicism. No loud, hungry irritation.
Sunny and Effie weren't here yet.
'Bad time. Well…'
He glanced around the ruined rooftop: cracked flagstones, half‑fallen parapets, gaps where the outer wall had simply given up. Wind tugged at his cloak. The city sprawled below, patient and ugly.
If he was going to be made to wait, he might as well make it productive.
He chose a spot near the edge, sat down with his back against a broken section of wall, and reached into himself. His Dormant Ability was still quite useless, but for moments like this, it was amazing. He had just come up with a genius idea, after all.
Grasping his Beast Core, Juno pulled out a simple dagger. It had a short blade that was especially thin, completely useless for anything fighting-related.
In other words, perfect.
He summoned the Quill into his other hand. If a theory he had been cooking up lately was right, then this was going to be a major breakthrough for Juno.
The blades he made were his Soul Cores in a different form. Thus, they were teeming with Soul Essence and… the soul.
'Soul Cores, right?'
And the thing Runes liked more than desire or will was Soul Essence.
He laid the dagger across his knees and began to work, the point of the Quill scratching small, precise lines along the spine of the blade. A compact chain of strokes, stolen from the library walls and pared down until they whispered only one idea: illumination without heat. A makeshift torch he could turn on and off with a thought.
Light.
Juno drew it, tried it, and redrew it. It was difficult getting just the right proportions down. Doubly difficult was matching the frequency of his blade to his sigils.
Blood welled where the Quill bit his finger.
Time blurred into the scratch of metal and the slow burn of Essence leaving his core.
Juno ignored the prick against the back of his neck. It hadn't left recently, so he had grown to ignore it.
By the time footsteps finally scuffed on stone behind him and a familiar voice started to speak, he was tracing the last binding stroke, the runes on the dagger's spine just beginning to hum against his skin.
Sunny was the one who called out.
"Hey, Ju-"
"Shut up," he said, without turning around. "If you make me mess up, I will mess you up!"
The footsteps stopped very quickly.
Juno focused back into his Sorcery. He wanted it, he really wanted there to be light. He wanted at least part of the Dark City to be light. Not for convenience, and not for others. He only wanted it because it meant he became stronger.
Juno wanted it so hard, he didn't even hear the joke Effie made about how corny he sounded, or how the duo sat down beside him.
There was only one thing on his mind.
'Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light.'
Slowly, carefully, he finished the last binding stroke, feeding a thin stream of Essence through the fresh lines. For a heartbeat, the pattern resisted. Then it drank, the way stone drank water.
After over an hour of drawing three lines eight times, he had gotten everything down perfectly.
The tension bled out of his shoulders.
"Done," he said.
He wiped the Quill clean on his cloak, dismissed it back into his Soul Sea, and finally pushed himself upright, picking up the dagger properly. Along one side of the blade ran a neat chain of darkened sigils, all identical.
Sunny and Effie were staring at him from below, not having gotten up with him. Effie had a hand halfway to her spear. Sunny's mouth was open, some wisecrack hanging there unsaid.
Juno tilted the dagger so they could see.
"Let their be light!" he declared.
He ran two fingers down the line of runes and pushed his weak Essence into them.
The marks flared softly. A moment later, the whole blade bloomed with pale, steady light — no heat, no smoke, just a clean bar of illumination spilling across the cracked stone like a narrow flashlight.
Effie's eyes went wide.
"Oh, come on," she breathed. "That's cheating."
Sunny squinted into the glow, then looked at Juno.
"You turned a knife into a flashlight," he said. "Since when can you do that?"
Juno grinned at them.
"Hello to you two, long time no see."
They both snorted.
"Right, hello," Sunny said. "Now, answer the question, flashlight boy. I thought your Aspect was about senses."
Juno let the light burn a moment longer, enjoying the way it chased shadows off the broken stone, then cut the flow. He could have kept this up for hours, but there wasn't any point. The runes dimmed; the dagger went dark again.
"Since I got bored with only hearing about Runes," he said. "And since I stumbled on a library full of dead men's homework."
Effie blinked.
"A what?"
"A half‑drowned room under the wall," Juno said. "Lots of shelves. No books left worth reading. But the walls…" He smiled slightly. "The walls were covered in runes. Someone spent a very long time teaching stone how to remember tricks."
Sunny's eyes narrowed.
"Runes," he echoed. "Like the super advanced thing only Awakened know how to use?"
"Exactly!" Juno exclaimed. "When I saw that wall, I got… interested."
Effie shifted closer, frowning.
"Runic what now?" she asked. "Explain. Slowly."
Sunny crossed his arms.
"Yeah," he said. "Pretend we're idiots and start from the top."
Juno gave them a flat look.
"That won't require much pretending," he said, then sighed. "Fine. Lecture time."
He tapped the side of the dagger with his thumb, thinking.
"Start with this," he said. "All sorcery is about Names. The real ones. Not 'Fire' or 'Light' as you say them, but the way reality knows them as: True Names. Shaping is the pure version: you grab a True Name with your soul, you speak a Verse, and the world has to listen. That's why almost no one does it. It's like trying to argue with a god using your inside voice. Or, more accurately, it's like trying to fly while you are in a womb. Basically impossible."
Effie's eyes widened a little.
"And runes?" she asked.
"Runes are the cheat sheet," Juno said. "Long ago, a Daemon invented it as an easier way for humans to use Sorcery. You take the Name, and you carve it into something solid. You fix the shape first. Then, when you push Essence through those lines, the vessel remembers what it's supposed to do, just enough to fake real sorcery."
Sunny frowned.
Juno continued.
"Shaping is writing poetry in the language of the world. Runic Sorcery doesn't require as much will, desire, or talent as Shaping."
"To make this work, I had to force my Essence to hold two things at once: shape and want," he went on. "The shape is the rune itself—the strokes I learned from the library wall. I say learn and not steal because you usually can't read runes right away, but have to will yourself to learn them. The want is just as complicated. While engraving, at least at my current level, you need a lot of desire. If my focus slips while I'm feeding Essence into that pattern, the best case is that the rune does nothing. Worst case, it explodes."
Effie raised her eyebrows.
"Show me. Can I really not read it?"
Juno grinned and tossed the dagger over for her, runes facing up.
"Go ahead," he said. "Try to tell me what the word is."
Effie leaned in, squinting hard. The marks were clean and easy to read, but she still couldn't.
"...It looks like nothing," she announced. "As if it's a drawing I can't even think of."
Sunny craned his neck to look, then snorted.
"Looks like someone tried to write in cursive while falling down stairs," he said. "You're sure this isn't just you doodling?"
Juno rolled his eyes and pulled the dagger back.
"That's the point," he said. "You can't read it. Not at first. On the wall, those same strokes felt like static in my head. Just noise. The trick isn't copying the shape, since no beginner can do that. The trick is forcing your soul to understand what the shape points at. This, just like Shaping, requires raw talent."
Sunny watched Juno for a moment, expression more thoughtful than mocking now.
"So when you say 'talent'," Sunny said quietly, "what you really mean is you've got the Essence to grab a Name and the stubbornness to keep squeezing until it does something."
Juno gave him a thin smile.
'Can't tell them how I really do it, can I?'
"More or less," he said. "One of my attributes makes my Essence denser than it has any right to be. Gives me more grip on Names than most people get. Combine that with a decent memory and a complete lack of healthy caution, and here we are.
Basically, I am an unparalleled genius of sorcery when compared to any other Sleeper!"
Sunny and Effie exchanged a long, unimpressed look.
The look wasn't good.
'Ah… shit.'
Just as they began to talk, so did the Spell.
For the first time ever, Juno gained an understanding of Glory.
And, for the first time, Sunny and Effie began to convince him to tell them his whole story of surviving the Dark City.
'Ah… shit.'
"Tell me, dear brother, how you got into the library. Last time I was there, it was guarded by a Fallen Demon."
"Why did you save those hunters? From what you said to Princess right before you flew off, you were planning on staying out of sight."
[Sun Chaser, your achievements have been recognized.]
[You have received a Glory: Glory of Sorcery.]