Shadow Slave

Sunny was really beyond himself. A good armor was exactly what he needed… and what could be better than a Transcendent one? Most of the enemies he fought would not even be able to scratch it, let alone pierce it!

His smile turned a little bitter when he remembered receiving the Puppeteer's Shroud and imagining how he would be nearly invincible to all the dormant creatures trying to attack him come winter solstice.

Who knew that he would end up in a place where there was not even a single dormant bastard around? Not counting Sunny himself and all the other misfortunate Sleepers on the Forgotten Shore, of course.

Still, he would have died a hundred times if it hadn't been for the Puppeteer's Shroud. The Undying Chain was an undeniable improvement, so he had high hopes for it.

Moving his gaze lower, he read the armor's description:

Memory Description: [In a beautiful tower at the end of the world, desire was bound by seven brilliant shackles. She was meant to be chained there forever, and so her shackles were made eternal. Yet in the end, desire was unleashed upon the world. Her shackles were destroyed, and the will of the gods was broken.]

Sunny stared at the shimmering runes, wondering.

He knew that the Spell, for whatever reason, behaved strangely when speaking about daemons. In fact, he had never seen or heard it use that term, as though the word itself was somehow forbidden. Sunny only learned it from the writings left behind by the prisoner of the hidden cell beneath the ruined cathedral in the Dark City.

The closest the Spell had ever come to mentioning the word daemon was calling the Prince of the Underworld a prideful demon.

Yet, there was no doubt that the desire it spoke about here was a daemon… the Demon of Hope, who had been once chained in the Ivory Tower. Sunny had seen the place where she had been imprisoned himself, as well as the Seed of Nightmare growing from her broken shackles.

At first glance, the meaning of the description was rather obvious. Or at least it was to him, with how much he already knew.

But something told Sunny that it wasn't.

The thing that didn't seem to add up was the fact that he had received the Undying Chain for killing Solvane — or the Wormvine — both of whom had seemingly nothing to do with the description.

Unless he was thinking about it all wrong…

Wormvine was susceptible to fire, as well as other means of dealing damage powerful enough to wound the abomination's flesh. But Solvane… was not so simple. The Saint from whose flesh the terrible monster had been born seemed immune to any form of harm, including the immolating divine flame.

Almost as if Solvane was... immortal.

That would certainly explain how the poor Saint had survived thousands of years of harrowing torture after becoming Wormvine's host, and why the Memory Sunny received from their death had the epithet of Undying.

Was there a second, less literal meaning to the seven brilliant shackles mentioned in the description of the Undying Chain? Which, apparently, were made eternal…

Just like Solvane had been.

Sunny frowned.

'This is just too weird…'

Even if his tentative theory was technically not impossible, the existence of the wooden knife went against it. What was that knife, and why had it killed Solvane when nothing else seemed to have been able to?

The knives, perhaps, were an even greater mystery.

In any case, he didn't have enough information yet to try and glean the truth. With a sigh, Sunny returned to the runes. Learning what his new armor could do was much more interesting than trying to guess at the ancient mysteries with no clues, anyway.

Memory Enchantments: [Chains of Longing], [Brilliant Will], [Undying].

[Chains of Longing] Enchantments Description: "This armor provides the wearer with high protection against mind attacks."

Sunny blinked.

'What are the chances?'

Resistance to mind attacks was the second-rarest form of protection, right after resistance to soul damage. And yet, this was the third armor-type Memory he had received that boasted it. His luck was incredibly good!

…Or maybe his tendency to run into especially terrible monsters was incredibly bad.

In any case, this enchantment made sense. If this Memory was connected to the imprisonment of Hope, whose powers had been most likely tied to mind manipulation, then having protection against such attacks was logical.

The fact that the Undying Chain had only three enchantments, as opposed to five of the Mantle of the Underworld, was also to be expected. The tier of a Memory seemed to dictate how many enchantments it could accommodate, and the Mantle, despite being of a lower Rank, was higher by a few tiers.

The second enchantment of the Undying Chain was very interesting.

[Brilliant Will] Enchantments Description: "This armor becomes stronger when worn by those of divinity."

Sunny grinned.

Even without looking at the Undying Chain and its spellweave, he could tell how this enchantment worked. It was an overall enhancement based on how high the wearer's divine affinity was. Which meant that a random Awakened would not receive any augmentation to the resilience of their armor, while someone with the [Mark of Divinity] Attribute would receive a decent amount.

Sunny, though? With his [Ember of Divinity], the augmentation would be enhanced threefold. It was a very solid enchantment.

'This is great!'

When his eyes fell on the third enchantment, though, he forgot all about his previous joy, intense as it was. His eyes widened slightly.

The runes read:

[Undying] Enchantment Description: "The wearer can not die."

Sunny tilted his head.

'...What?'

Being unable to die surely sounded great… even if he had just seen what terrible fate had befallen Solvane.

However, Sunny quickly realized the limitations of this seemingly breathtaking enchantment. Unlike [Chains of Longing] and [Radiant Will], [Undying] was an active one. And he was willing to bet that sustaining it required an ocean of souls essence.

Considering that Sunny was just an Awakened, his reserves would probably only amount to one moment of immortality.

Still, one moment of immortality was more than fantastic!

'...If used wisely.'

Sunny could imagine a lot of situations where this enchantment could save his life… but even more where using it would only amount to postponing his death by a fraction of a second.

It was an amazing, but very dangerous tool.

Full of thought, but extremely satisfied, Sunny stood up.

Gunlaug, too, had possessed a Transcendent armor… however, his golden Echo now felt inferior to the [Undying Chain]. The Bright Lord seemed so invincible and terrifying once, but Sunny had long surpassed him. And now, his arsenal did, as well.

...It was a strange feeling.

With a sigh, Sunny dismissed the torn and bloodied Puppeteer's Shroud, then summoned the [Undying Chain].

Immediately, a slender metal armor weaved itself from nothingness around his body. It was forged out of lusterless, bleak steel… which looked very similar to the iron from which the heavenly chains themselves were made.

The armor covered his body almost entirely, and the few gaps left between the fitted plates of steel showed a layer of thin, but incredibly strong chain mail underneath. His face became hidden behind a helmet that looked like a featureless mask, with only several vertical lines cut into it to provide a decent level of visibility.

Shadow nested in the slits of the visor, creating a dark and ominous visage.

There was a piece of black cloth wrapped around his waist, held in place by a wide belt fashioned out of dark leather, as well as a hood that provided additional protection to his head and neck.

Surprisingly, the armor didn't seem very heavy, and neither did it restrict his mobility by much. The design was so intricate, and the steel plates fitted so perfectly to his body and to each other that it felt like a second layer of skin… if that skin was cast of impenetrable steel.

Of course, the Undying Chain wasn't as light as the Puppeteer's Shroud, but Sunny could move freely while wearing it, all the while not producing almost any sound.

In exchange, it provided a vastly larger amount of protection.

Standing in the cargo hold of the ancient ship, clad in his new Transcendent armor, Sunny couldn't help but feel invincible.

'...Disabuse yourself of that thought, fool.'

He smiled darkly, then looked at Saint.

"Well? What do you think?"

The taciturn demon didn't answer, of course.

However, Sunny could swear that the glow of her ruby eyes, which were hidden behind the visor of a similarly closed helmet, became a bit…

Approving.

His smile widened, but then slowly disappeared.

"A steel armor..."

Suddenly grim, Sunny dismissed his helmet and turned in the direction where the Fire Keepers were supposed to be.

After a few moments, he said quietly:

"I see..."