[You have offered yourself as a sacrifice to the Beast God.]
[You have performed a blood sacrifice to the Beast God.]
[The Gods are dead and cannot hear you.]
[You carry the Moon-Blood within you.]
[You are a descendant of the Beast God.]
[The Beast God awakens from her eternal slumber.]
[She sends her blessings from beyond the grave.]
The moment the Spell whispered the blessing of the Beast, a cataclysmic shift occurred. The blood surrounding me ignited, glowing with a blinding, violent intensity. The flow of essence within my body reversed; instead of being absorbed to condense a Sun, it erupted outward.
It didn't create a Sun of light and salvation. It unleashed a Sun of destruction and doom upon the Forgotten Shore.
Every soul consumed by the solar fires fed the flames, making them roar even higher. The brilliance of the Sun grew in direct proportion to the mounting death toll in a never-ending cycle of slaughter. The voice of the Spell became a frantic staccato, recording every single death:
[You have slain an Awakened Human. Name: Unknown.]
[You have received a Memory: ...]
[You have slain a Dormant Human. Name: Unknown.]
[You have slain a Dormant Human...]
[You have slain a...]
[You have slain...]
[You have...]
Bit by bit, the solar inferno expanded, incinerating every Nightmare Creature in the vicinity until it reached the Dark City, relentlessly reaping and burning souls.
I was in a state bordering on a coma. Due to the runic circle and the bloody ritual, my soul hung by a thread at the edge of death. As long as someone was dying in the solar fires, I would continue to live. However, the moment the souls ran out, the Sun would extinguish, and I would follow it into the abyss.
Still, I wasn't overly concerned. The moment the Sun died, the Nightmare would end, my body and soul would be reconstructed, and I would be free.
Out of the corner of my eye, I couldn't help but smirk as I stared at the hideous creature before me.
It was a bird. Its feathers were a pitch-black abyss, its talons were terrifying, and its wings spanned at least seven meters each. Its long black beak was strangely curved, as if designed for purposes other than eating. And the eyes... black pits filled with greed and a sickening pleasure.
As I stared into the eyes of this repulsive monster, it stared back at me. Its gaze was thick with avarice as it studied me, just as I was studying it. In that moment, I realized something.
This cursed Echo possessed consciousness.
'Can you hear me?' I thought, projecting my mind toward it.
It didn't disappoint. A voice echoed inside my brain, sounding like the collective screams of thousands of people.
"Hahaha! An interesting human. Are you my master? How magnificent and clever of you to slaughter all these people."
Hearing its voice, I couldn't help but admire this beautiful Echo.
Well, "ugly" was the more accurate word, but the sentiment was clear. However, when I tried to dismiss the Echo, I realized I couldn't.
'You're cursed, aren't you?' I thought with a hint of annoyance. Why couldn't it be like the Knight? Silent, obedient, and calm.
"Hahaha! I am glad you think I am cursed. That is a high compliment."
I realized then that I was in for some very exhausting days with this idiot.
'Now shut up and let me focus on absorbing the essence.'
Those weren't my thoughts. They were his.
'You cursed chicken... what essence are you absorbing when you're the size of a house?' I kept that thought to myself as I closed my eyes again.
"I heard that."
Damn it. Can he read my mind? To be sure, I imagined myself killing him and turning his meat into a bowl of soup.
"As if you could, you fool."
Oh. He really can read my thoughts. What a wonderful situation I've found myself in.
I closed my eyes, cleared my mind of all thoughts, and entered a state of absolute stillness. No thoughts, no pain. A silent pact formed between us as we both focused solely on the rushing essence.
Finally, after what felt like eons, the essence began to wane. The death toll was dropping. While the primary cause was the dwindling number of victims, there was another reason for the Sun's weakening.
The damn chicken.
It seemed it had managed to absorb a massive amount of essence. It was adapting. As more power flowed into it, its size increased, and its feathers took on a sharper luster. Its beak elongated to an extreme degree. But the biggest change was in its wings; at the tips, three black, terrifying claws extended outward.
Tsk, tsk. Well, I didn't really mind. After all, I had killed far more than I had originally planned. If my estimates were correct, half the population of the Forgotten Shore—the monsters—had been eradicated. Every human in the Dark City was gone. Now, the Spell only whispered the names of monsters.
In fact, the Spell had credited me with the deaths of the Seven Heroes and the fifty thousand people who sacrificed themselves to build the tower.
Hahaha. While browsing through my new Memories out of boredom, I found a magnificent one.
Memory: Mantle of the Underworld
Rank: Ascended.
Type: Armor.
Tier: VII.
Description: [After the arrogant demon swore never to look upon the Goddess of the Black Sky again, he secluded himself in the darkness beneath an impregnable mountain range. He was not the first to lead his army against the gods, but he was the first to spill their blood, and the first to know his own secrets.]
Memory Enchantments: [Living Stone], [Feather of Truth], [The Enduring], [Underworld Weapon], [Prince of the Underworld], [Soul-Bound Trace].
It was incredible. I had summoned this Memory the moment I received it, and now I could reap the rewards. I focused on the [Prince of the Underworld] enchantment, and the following text appeared:
Defeated Enemies: 6,000 / 6,000
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Hello everyone, I hope you're all having a great day!
Most of you have voted for the [Poetic Soul] Flaw. In fact, no one really voted for the other option, so this will basically be the chosen Flaw. However, if you have any other ideas you'd like to share, there is still room to change it. Let me know what you think!
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