Asunder

The group made quick work of the Tyrant. With its already weakened body inhibited even more by the appearance of Kido, those with damage-dealing aspects were able to break through the defences and expose the core of the beast. 

Made up of humans skulls and coagulated blood, Caster blitzed around its body and broke its core with a swift strike. Quickly disengaging, the group waited to see if he would confirm the kill. 

Raising his fist into the air, the battle was over as quickly as it began. 

The rest of the day was a blur. Scavenging what they could from the corpse and leaving the way that they came. Now that they had all of the shard memories, there was nothing stopping them from the final battle. The group was heading to the Bright Castle, but Aldric decided to take a detour. 

"I'll catch you guys later. I've got something to find."

Turning his back to the group, he made his way to a certain library. 

In typical fashion, his mind was occupied as he began to think about his recent battle.

Aldric compared the [Lord of the Dead] to the [Underworld's Torment] that he killed recently. While they were both Fallen Tyrants, their powers and specialties varied immensely. The former focused its abilities on commanding lesser creatures and had a larger than life stature. Whereas the latter was much more humanoid and singular in power. Condensing all its strength into its powerful abilities. 

Over the week from the battle, Aldric had a lot of time to reflect on what was obvious and what was not. 

'I should not have been able to defeat it as I did.'

It was weaker than a being of that class should have been, as well as its mental acuity. While he would not expect it to act intelligent, it should have mirrored the intelligence shown by the [Forsaken Knight]. Beastly but instinctual. It was hard to describe, however, defeating the Tyrant in the colosseum felt as if he was battling two separate people at once. A crazed beast in the body of a warrior. A warrior that slowly lost his sanity over an untold amount of years. This unnatural dichotomy was not a surprise to Aldric, as something could explain it.

Corruption.

It seemed as though the warrior had kept some iota of his sanity. Enough to hold back against the corruption. While fighting a losing battle, the forefront of his mind and body was taken over by a beastly identity. Whatever intelligence and consciousness that previously resided in that body was long gone. This made all the more sense when he considered exactly what this creature was. 

One of the seven commanders of Nether. Or perhaps someone a degree lower.

It was easy to piece together. The leader of the stone legion. The reaction from the Tesseract. 

Such a being should be beyond the rank of Fallen; however, it seemed that the strong traces of corruption that Aldric felt had turned it into something completely different. An echo of their former selves. The corruption surrounding the creature was enough to strengthen the effects of his own flaw. Turning usually unintelligible murmurs that rung in his soul to targeted words of self-doubt and vitriol. 

His reasoning for the apparent difference in rank sounded weak even to him; however, there was much that Aldric did not know. 

His biggest piece of evidence was the memory that he had received from the battle. The runes summoned in his line of sight at the thought. 

[Memory: Sundered Sorrow]

[Memory Rank: Ascended] 

[Memory Type: Weapon]

[Memory Description: Tarnished in the eons of madness and grief. Fractured in the crucible of corruption, what remains is nothing but a shade of what was. May you find your peace.]

[Memory Enchantments: [Miasma of Rot][Dauntless Will][Shapeshifter][Fruit of Persephone][Onyx]]

[Souls Sundered:10/3000]

From the description, it reaffirmed his belief that the effect that corruption has on a being that can resist it to some degree is much more different than one completely consumed by it. The commander must have been fighting the whispers of corruption, holding themselves back from becoming a horrific creature. Perhaps it was a trait that was special to the children of Nether. After all, there was some commotion on whether the Stone Saint was even a corrupted nightmare creature.

'Should they be classed as Noble Creatures?'

He thought.

This conjecture did not benefit him much, so his mind went to the abilities of the blade itself. 

A darker than black onyx chokuto. Cut from the highest quality of marble, it absorbed the surrounding light in its darkness. It was roughly the size of his leg, so it was not a struggle to wield. Its scabbard was made of black leather with small accents of red around it. The same leather wrapped around the hilt of the blade as a cover. Ruby-like diamonds studded the front and back of the hilt, all aligned vertically with space between. 

It was perhaps the most beautiful blade that Aldric had ever seen in person. He had already made use of his recent spoil during hunts in the Dark City. Just the rank increase from his previous blade allowed him to pierce through the hides of Fallen-ranked creatures without relying on his darkness coating. 

Of the five enchantments, he was not able to make use of the [Miasma of Rot] and [Shapeshifter] as they required a direct manipulation of soul essence. The description of both of them described their effect in detail.

[Miasma of Rot} Enchantment Description: [Direct the corrupted self-loathing harboured over eons.]

[Shapeshifter] Enchantment Description: [This weapon can shift between the forms of a blade and a shield.]

[Onyx] described the durability and make-up of the memory. Where as [Dauntless Will] had a passive effect.

[Dauntless Will] Enchantment Description: [Protects the holders defences against mind attacks and fills them with boundless will.]

He had already felt the immense boon from this enchantment. It was the first enchantment that affected his mind. While he had not had his mind tested yet, he felt the large boost in his willpower and determination just by summoning the memory.

However, the most shocking and powerful enchantment that this memory possessed was the final one.

[Fruit of Persephone] Enchantment Description: [Unable to find peace in death. This memory is alive. Encompassing all that comes with it.]

While he had not much time to experiment and find out what exactly that meant. The most that he could tell was that the memory did not contain a consciousness. When he dealt the killing blow to those nightmare creatures, a foreign energy was directed into the blade in the moment of their death.

Soul essence.

When disassembling the carcasses, their soul shards were completely empty and split in half. He could hypothesise that the memory had its own soul core. One that grew, the more it killed. Like something that was truly alive.

The rest would come with time. 

The counter also surprised him. Linking it to the enchantment that gave it life, Aldric wondered what exactly would happen should he reach 3000. The ten that he already gained were all from killing blows dealt to nightmare creatures. Showing how different it was to the [Mantle of the Underworld] and its counter. 

A sudden thought came to mind.

'The enchantments of this memory are much stronger than they should be coming from a Fallen Tyrant. What does that mean?'

He did not have all the answers.

All in all, Aldric was ecstatic with the weapon itself. A memory that could fill the role of defence as well as having a growth aspect to it. It was worth the trouble that it took to receive it. 

'No risk, no reward right?'

He thought to himself.

Coming across a derelict building, Aldric entered the abandoned library. 

He was only here for one reason. 

"All of this is mine now."

He spoke shamelessly.

Summoning his [Stone Coffer], he began to collect all the intact books that remained. Spanning from history, astronomy, and agriculture. He stored it all. 

With the final battle tomorrow, it was time to make the most out of the Dark City. He would not be returning anytime soon. 

This was also the reason as to why the fluid that was contained in his [Water Basin] was no longer water. In the catacombs, he took the chance to fill up his memory with the still dark sea that remained in the crater during the day. While not useful to him now, the future was not a guarantee. It would be something to study in his own time. 

With that done, he made his way back to a place he hadn't been in a while. 

The cathedral. 

**********

Thank you for reading. 

What did you think? Any thoughts on the memory?

Indra- keep stacking I would say. I don't know how you avoid spoilers though. That's what motivated me to keep reading during the slow parts.

See you in the next one.