After the battle against the corrupt tyrant and extracting all the soul cores, where Shade kept the five transcendent cores he left in his dark storage, he reunited with his three subordinates.
Lucien, Asher, and Tiffany.
Lucien had obtained a second-level transcendent memory, which was a silver halberd with two enchantments. The first increased his body's resistance, and the second offered a minor regeneration ability using blood as a medium.
Asher had also achieved results, obtaining an Echo of a fallen demon, perfect for aiding him in battle.
Finally, Tiffany obtained a memory with an enchantment that allowed her to recover essence faster.
Overall, the three had very good results, and Shade, who had obtained a transcendent memory, might be lucky—it could be a weapon.
He couldn't always rely on Wyvern's Fang, a fourth-level transcendent weapon he obtained in the nightmare. Well, technically Uriel had obtained it, but they used it constantly.
The army withdrew from the mountain, not before sealing the rift under multiple tons of rock to prevent other nightmare creatures from emerging.
The situation inside Camp Erebus was stable. Upon arriving at the Rhino, no more than an hour passed until Abel, Miranda, and Lily returned from the dream realm.
There, Lucien brought them up to speed on everything, recounting in vivid detail what had happened on the mountain while the newcomers listened attentively, still processing the transition between the dream realm and reality.
Currently, Shade was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, examining his new memory while listening to Lucien's narration in the background.
"And then the captain transformed into a huge black knight with two enormous crow wings and shot up into the sky alongside the corrupt tyrant while I fought the corrupt monster. Afterwards, I heard a powerful impact that shook the mountain and saw how the tyrant was completely impaled by a great sword and spear as the captain descended. It was incredible!" He recounted animatedly, taking several breaths at the end, his arms gesturing widely as he recreated the scene for his companions.
Lily looked at her captain sitting in the co-pilot's seat, who was holding a long, pale white sword with a focused gaze. Her eyes studied each rune engraved on the blade with the calmness of someone in no hurry, although her attention to the background conversation was evident in the slight tilt of her head.
Abel, who had been listening with his arms crossed and his back against the vehicle's panel, raised an eyebrow with genuine interest. It wasn't common for Lucien to be so excited, let alone about a story involving a transformation of such magnitude. Beside him, Miranda tilted her head to one side, her fingers tapping gently on her knee as she absorbed what she heard, processing each detail with the meticulousness that characterized her.
"Is that true, Asher?" Asked Abel, turning slightly to look at the most reserved member of the group.
"Yes. It was undoubtedly surprising." Asher replied in a calm tone that nevertheless conveyed his emotion, an unusual gleam in his eyes betraying that the experience had left a lasting impression on him.
"I wish I had been there to see that," said Miranda in a tone that mixed admiration with a hint of nostalgia, though a slight smile curved her lips as she imagined the scene they described.
Lucien, still brimming with energy and unable to contain his curiosity, turned toward the co-pilot's seat, stepping forward. "Hey, Captain!" He called with a firm but respectful voice, capturing everyone's attention inside the Rhino.
Shade didn't look up from the sword he held in his hands, though his fingers paused briefly over one of the runes to acknowledge he had heard.
"What's the hardest or most annoying thing you've ever killed?" Asked Lucien with genuine curiosity, his eyes shining in anticipation of an answer that promised to be as impressive as the tale he had just shared.
"A Corrupted Terror," replied Shade without taking his eyes off the sword, his voice as calm as if he were commenting on the weather.
The group of six were surprised to hear that. Abel stopped the gesture of drinking water he was about to make, the container frozen halfway between his hand and his lips. Miranda stopped tapping her fingers and opened her eyes with evident surprise, her eyebrow arched to a point it rarely reached. Lily, who normally maintained an impassive expression difficult to read, blinked a couple of times in succession, which for her was equivalent to a gesture of great astonishment that did not go unnoticed by the more observant. The others exchanged glances among themselves, a mixture of incredulity and fascination reflected on their faces, unsure whether to believe it or not given the almost legendary nature of the creatures Shade had just mentioned.
...
Shade observed the memory's runes in his hands once more, letting the conversation flow around him while his mind focused on the technical details of his new acquisition.
Memory: [White Flower]
Memory description: [The king, whose thirst for conquest knew no bounds, forged a kingdom through conquest and victory. Feeling invincible, he led his army into battle, only to encounter a plague of steel. The plague shattered his tyranny and cursed him, transforming him into a beast filled with fury and madness.]
Memory: [White Flower]
Memory Rank: Transcendent
Memory Level: V
Memory Type: Weapon.
'So it's a fifth-level Transcendent sword, although its description mentions nothing more than it being created from a star fragment.'
Enchantments: [Terror] [Soul Breaker] [Brilliant Edge] [Puppeteer] [Light Devourer]
[Terror] Enchantment Description: [Enemies who gaze upon this blade will feel great terror towards it, weakening their mind and body.]
[Soul Breaker] Enchantment Description: [This sword can cut both incorporeal beings and the soul itself.]
[Brilliant Edge] Enchantment Description: [As long as there is light, the edge of this sword will be lethal.]
[Puppeteer] Enchantment Description: [This enchantment allows the user to mentally subdue weak beings.]
[Light Devourer] Enchantment Description: [This sword can devour light to increase its wielder's power.]
...
Shade smiled as he read the enchantments; each was undoubtedly powerful for a fifth-level weapon. The combination of abilities it offered was versatile and lethal in equal measure, perfectly suited for a wielder facing increasingly diverse and dangerous threats.
He could use it to attack incorporeal enemies, which were the most troublesome to deal with at the moment—those beings that mocked conventional attacks and required specialized methods to be brought down.
Furthermore, the Puppeteer enchantment was perfect for starting to gather his own army of abominations, like Soul did—a strategy that had proven its effectiveness time and again on the battlefield. However, Soul's ability had a much greater scope than his own, covering a wider territory and allowing him to control a greater number of creatures with an efficiency that Shade recognized as difficult to match.
Although he couldn't use Brilliant Edge to its fullest potential, since his attributes were deeply tied to true darkness, which was more volatile and hostile than shadows—an essence that, while granting him immense power, also imposed certain limitations on the use of light-based abilities.
Similarly with Light Devourer, although it gave him a boost, it wouldn't be as much as he would expect, reducing the effectiveness of an enchantment that in other hands would have been devastating.
'I suppose I'll give it to Soul in the future,' he thought, dismissing the memory and sending it to his Sea of Souls, where it would rest alongside his other acquisitions until he found the right moment to transfer it.
Taking out his communicator, he checked the date. It was October sixteenth; there was still a full month before December arrived, and about three weeks before he switched with Uriel—a period he knew would pass quickly between pending missions and the constant need to maintain vigilance over the territory under his protection.
Shade stood up and walked towards the outside of the Rhino, observing the enormous tree that rose in the middle of the city—an imposing structure whose presence dominated the horizon and served as a constant reminder of the changes that had transformed the settlement. In the distance, he could sense the abominations controlled by Soul killing other abominations, opening a passage for refugees from other siege cities—a systematic and meticulous task that his companion had been carrying out with an efficiency bordering on mechanical.
Shade paused to think for a moment. Generally, when an Echo kills a creature, the death counts as its own, granting it the corresponding benefits and feeding the growth of its abilities. However, this occasion was different.
Since Soul controlled them and sent them to their deaths, they died at the hands of nightmare creatures and not by Soul, so it didn't cause any direct deaths or provide new memories to use to feed his transcendent dark creatures to the supreme rank—a paradox that limited the growth of his army despite its tactical effectiveness.
Of course, there was the option of natural supremacy, but he doubted any great beast powerful enough for them to achieve such a feat would appear, leaving his creations in an intermediate state of development while they waited for an opportunity that might not come soon.