Chapter 450 Alabaster Phalanx
Sunny stepped into the patch of mangled obsidian and slowly approached the alabaster phalanx, then kneeled beside it and lingered, studying its golden shine.
He was trying to determine if any sign of the harrowing rot remained, but also felt pulled toward the radiant bone and found it hard to look away.
'All of this insanity, just for that little piece of bone. What secrets does it hold?'
He hesitated for a moment, then reached down and picked up the phalanx.
Sunny had instinctively expected it to crumble into a torrent of white sparks and hear the Spell proclaim that he had acquired a new Memory, just like what had happened with Weaver's Mask… that Memory being, perhaps, another Drop of Ichor.
But nothing of the sort happened.
The bone felt cold and smooth to the touch. There was still marrow inside, wet and infused with bright golden radiance. Sunny tilted his head, stumped. What was he supposed to do now?
In hindsight, the fact that the phalanx was not going to turn into a Memory was rather sensible… obvious, even. After all, Memories were simply copies of real items recreated by the Spell, just like Echoes were copies of actual creatures — or items conjured by it from scratch following some unknown principle.
This, however… this was the real deal.
The alabaster bone had nothing to do with the Spell. It wasn't a recreation, it was… the original.
Sunny frowned, feeling unsure about how he was supposed to proceed.
Then, a certain scene suddenly appeared in his mind. Back in the ruined cathedral of the Dark City, Saint stood above the rusted remains of the Black Knight, holding a black gem in her hand. With a hint of some dark emotion burning in her ruby eyes, she raised the gem to her mouth, and bit into it.
Before he could fully process the implications of this image, Sunny followed a strange instinct. Without allowing himself time to think about it, he opened his mouth, put the phalanx inside… and swallowed it.
'What?!'
He blinked a couple of times.
'What did I just do?!'
Sunny stared at his empty hand, in which a divine bone had been just a few seconds ago, with wide eyes.
And then… it was as though a furious fire ignited in his chest.
'Crap!'
***
Sunny tumbled to the floor, feeling a harrowing pain permeate his entire being. It was the unbearable agony he knew and remembered all too well… the feeling of his very nature being forcibly changed into something that it was never meant to be. That nothing was ever meant to be…freēwēbnovel.com
Or maybe simply not allowed to.
It was the opposite of the euphoric sense of rebirth the Awakened experienced after completing the First Nightmare or returning from the Dream Realm for the first time... the feeling of your whole body being torn apart and reassembled, only to be torn apart once more.
"Argh! Here… here we go again!"
The torturous suffering he was experiencing was very similar to what he had gone through after consuming the drop of Weaver's blood. Back then, it had felt as though every muscle, every fiber, every molecule in his body were destroyed and recreated over and over again, becoming slightly different with each time. The agony had been especially excruciating when it came to his eyes, which had felt as though two white-hot rods were inserted into them…
This time was different.
The pain was concentrated in his spine, in his bones, in the marrow permeating them. His fingers in particular felt as though there was molten, incandescent, liquid metal flowing through them.
Sunny shrieked.
"Damn it! God damn it! Damn it all!"
It hurt so much…
However, the torture did not last as long as it had back in the branches of the Soul Devouring Tree. After a few more minutes of it, Sunny felt the Blood Weave suddenly come alive and rush through his veins, absorbing the harrowing heat and then carrying it to every cell of his body. Slowly but surely, the pain lessened.freewēbnoveℓ.com
But the process of transformation continued.
Sunny sprawled on the floor, covered in sweat and breathing heavily. He could feel himself changing… it was a strange and extremely unpleasant sensation, one suffused with a feeling of profound wrongness, but not as devastatingly excruciating as it had been just a few seconds ago.
"Hell, that was... rough."
His voice was hoarse and creaky.
Sunny glanced to the side and noticed Saint, who was standing silently above him and looking away with cold indifference.
'Such heartlessness! No sympathy at all…'
At least the happy shadow seemed very concerned about him… or itself. It was pacing nervously, turning to Sunny from time to time and timidly offering its encouragement.
The gloomy shadow was currently wrapped around his body, so it couldn't offer any feedback. He had no doubt that it would have just mocked him, anyway.
'That jolly guy is… really irritating! I would rather be mocked, curse it all!'
Gritting his teeth, Sunny closed his eyes and endured the unpleasant feeling of his body being demolished and reconstructed as best as he could.
After a long while — which felt like an eternity — it was all finally over.
A deep feeling of relief spread through Sunny's body. It felt… more solid, somehow. Strong, firm…
Resilient.
'Just what have I…'
The voice of the Spell suddenly thundered in the solemn dark hall, interrupting his thoughts.
Was he imagining it, or had there been a note of dark excitement in it?
It said:
[One of your Attributes has evolved.]
[You have acquired a new Attribute.]
'You don't say!'
Sunny struggled to sit up, and then hurriedly summoned the runes.
'What… what have I done to myself this time?'
The runes shimmered in the air in front of him, and Sunny quickly looked at the cluster describing his Attributes.
Attributes: [Fated], [Ember of Divinity]...
'Wait… ember?'
This was new. He concentrated on the [Ember of Divinity] and studied the string of runes:
Attribute Description: [Deep within your soul, an ember of divinity shines, almost ready to erupt into a radiant flame.]
'Huh… so I have an even higher affinity to divinity now. Makes sense…'
He had just swallowed a phalanx of an actual deity, after all...
Impatient, Sunny turned back to the list of Attributes, where three more remained. The first two he knew all too well…
[Child of Shadows], [Blood Weave].
But the third one was new. At the very end of the list, several new runes appeared. Sunny held his breath, and read:
Attribute: [Bone Weave].
Chapter 451 Bone Weave
'Bone Weave…'
Sunny let the sound of it echo in his mind, overwhelmed by a feeling of savage joy. He didn't know what that Attribute gifted him, yet, but was certain that it would be something special. The Blood Weave had saved his life so many times, after all…
And after his encounter with the Mordant Mimic, he learned that having strong bones was as important as having tenacious blood.
Shifting his gaze away from the runes, he stared at one of his hands, then made a fist. This was the arm that had been shattered by the vile creature, and then slowly healed while he was falling into the Sky Below. Even though Sunny had already been able to use it for the past few days, it used to feel weak, awkward, and slightly damaged.
But now, it was as good as new.
...More than that, actually. It was better than ever before.
All of his bones felt much more durable and resilient. Stronger. His joints seemed to be slightly more agile, too. His teeth felt as though they could crush stones and cut through metal.
The strangest change, however, happened to his fingers. It wasn't very apparent, though. On the surface, it simply felt as though they had grown subtly more sensitive, the tactile feeling of touching things becoming deeper and richer. However, Sunny suspected that the true change was more profound. He just didn't know what it was, exactly.
Blood Weave had altered his eyes in a very fundamental way, so Bone Weave had to have a lot of promise.
He ran his fingers across the soft surface of the Puppeteer's Shroud, vividly feeling the silken fabric slide against his skin.
'...Neat.'
Then, Sunny stretched his limbs, sensing their newfound agility. He was already weirdly limber due to practicing Shadow Dance, which demanded the utmost level of pliability from the practitioner's body. Now, however, it was even further enhanced.
Satisfied, Sunny turned back to the runes and read:
Attribute: [Bone Weave].
Attribute Description: [You have inherited a part of Weaver's forbidden lineage. Your bones have been altered and imbued with steadfast temperance…]
He tilted his head, stunned by the somewhat expected, but still profoundly fascinating piece of information he just received.
'Weaver's legacy!'
So the severed arm had actually belonged to the mysterious Demon of Fate. It was Weaver who had snuck into their sibling's tower while bearing a terrible wound, sliced off their rotting limb, and then fashioned a new one from the parts scavenged from the broken porcelain dolls before sewing it onto their body with diamond strings.
It was Weaver's footprints that Sunny had seen in the basement of the great obsidian pagoda.
He trembled.
Even though Sunny had seen many incredible things and lived through many unlikely events, both wondrous and terrifying, he suddenly felt awe. It was as though... as though he was suddenly in the presence of divinity.
Demon of Fate had been to this dark island, had walked the same halls that Sunny walked, and breathed the same air. The sharp needle infused with remnant traces of their blood was currently inside his storage Memory, as well as the diamond string they had used to sew a new arm to their body. Unlike the miraculous black mask, the needle was not a Memory, either.
It was the actual thing.
But most of all… Sunny had swallowed a phalanx bone of the divine being in question.
'Crazy! This is crazy!'
He blinked a few times, then suddenly thought:
'Was, uh… was this how Neph felt when she first met Kai, I wonder?'
What a random and ridiculous thought…fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
Then, a slight frown appeared on his face.
…Why would Weaver secretly come to their younger brother's abandoned workshop? What was the harrowing rot that had been spreading from their wound, and what manner of creature could have wounded them so terribly?
What could even damage a deity?
Sunny had so many questions…
Luckily, the description of the Bone Weave was not over. Several strings of runes still remained.
He concentrated and read:
[...When children of the -unknown- rebelled against the gods, Weaver was the only one to refuse the call of war. Despised and hunted by both sides, they disappeared. No one knew where Weaver went and what they did… until it was too late.]
Sunny shivered.
A few things became more clear from this short description. Firstly, it cemented his suspicion that, at some point in time, the seven daemons — children of the mysterious -unknown-, who were also strangely described as having created themselves — had waged war against the gods. Or, rather, six of them… since Weaver apparently decided to not join either side in this conflict.
Secondly, Weaver's reluctance to participate in the war had landed them in big trouble with both the gods and the other daemons… unsurprisingly. One side would have seen the Demon of Fate as one of the enemies simply by virtue of them being a daemon, while the other would have seen them as a traitor... for that same reason.
That could potentially explain how Weaver ended up being ghastly wounded, and why they had to sneak into the Obsidian Tower in secret.
These two pieces of information were extremely fascinating, but it was the third one that gave Sunny pause.
'No one knew what Weaver did… until it was too late.'
That sounded so ominous. That made it seem as though Weaver alone had turned out to be more terrible than both the six daemons and the six gods combined, in the end.
What exactly had Weaver done?
Sunny really wanted to know the answer to this question, and not only out of idle curiosity.
He was carrying two parts of Weaver's lineage inside of him now, after all.
…The lineage that was described as being forbidden.
Was the reason for that connected to what Weaver had done?
Just as always, the answers Sunny had received brought him a swarm of new questions.
'Curses!'
With a sigh, he dismissed the runes and stood up. There was no sense in pondering about that now, not without finding more information, both about the daemons and the gods.
After all that had transpired, he was incredibly tired and hungry.
…But mostly hungry.
With a resentful sigh, Sunny gave Saint a sign to follow and headed back toward the first level.