The aftermath of the Ball was massive.
The news of Changing Star joining Great Clan Valor spread now that the propaganda machine started.
[Last Daughter of The Immortal Flame gets adopted by her father's friend! Anvil of Valor shelters the Changing Star.]
One such headline became common as the news outlets wished to bask in the recognition the name of Nephis of the Immortal Flame gave to them.
Valor's name now boasted her in the highest regard, her name became that of Valor as she received the privilege of being Anvil's adopted daughter, the new Princess of Valor. All intencional, all planned to make her the center of Humanity –for them to be the center– for the time being.
After all, the Immortal Flame Clan was still a well regarded and prayed for name, their prestige renown by all. By putting her as the new child of Valor, the attempt was made to put her and the Great Clan as one.
So when people thought of Changing Star, they would think of Valor, unconsciously putting them and the Immortal Flame as one in the same, and to top it all off, with her dancing with one of their legacy scions like Sinclair or another of a lesser clan, it would solidify everything. Valor would be the center of attention, and cripple Ki Song's efforts to gain forces on Antarctica.
It would all go according to plan… If only Changing Star had followed their orders.
[The Prince of Song is in a relationship with Changing Star confirmed?]
[Changing Star ignores all, except Sunless Song.]
[The Ball of Valor solidifies that Changing Star and Hollow Death are dating, a tragedy for the youth.]
[Seishan Song dances with ex-singer of Night&Gale. New relationship?]
The rumors spread like wildfire, and images of the dance were inevitably leaked showing some undeniable truths:
Nephis ignored all legacy scions except Sunless.
They danced and constantly looked at each other without wavering.
Seishan and Kai were also an interesting interaction, and soon enough, their relacionamento became public, which also took some attention away.
Instead of looking at Changing Star, the public looked at both Changing Star and Hollow Death, giving attention to Song as well. Now, the idea of both Great Clans merging, or at least being very friendly to each other, spread, something neither Clan particularly enjoyed.
"Basically, the plan failed because of Changing Star's disobedience."
The Divine Strategist chuckled as he put the journal he made of the current news of the waking world on the table.
"If you ask me, that girl will be the biggest thorn on Valor's side."
Frostblade scoffed, grasping her cup and sipping the cold tea that she loved to drink. Once finished, she gazed at the easy-going Saint coldly.
"Of course she will be, especially since she's dating Sunless now."
Saint Lunae sighed while reading the exploration report of the Chained Isles, trying to ignore the situation that he had no interest in and read the report he finally had the time to read.
Meanwhile Undying Blade leaned on the table and pinched his eyes, tired after overworking on his forge. But still, he was glad for his student, unconsciously smirking.
"Seems like the kid finally grew up… Isn't that right, Ki?"
Ki Song was also sitting at the table, the jade beauty smiling like always, with perfect posture and impeccable demeanor. She also had a baby on her lap, who was weirdly silent and composed, merely looking around in confused curiosity and shifting periodically.
The Raven Queen looked at Undying Blade with a thoughtful gaze.
"Indeed… I hope this makes my eventual conversation with her less… Painful."
Her gaze faltered for a moment, before composing herself and changing topic.
"No matter, despite all, Anvil still got what he wanted, now he will go to Cor to support the Antarctica campaign, we need to be ready."
Blade nodded, so did the others.
The Saints and their Sovereign were in the balcony of the Jade Palace in Ravenheart, two days after Valor's Ball. The balcony was vast, covered by a cubicle of intricate glass raised by columns of jade, a small garden surrounding the table of white ancient wood.
The architecture of royalty made true the atmosphere of serenity, low light fixtures to chase away the darkness of the snowy sky.
The five were eating snacks and drinking tea or coffee, a reunion, of sorts, to strategize and discuss the future and progress of the current situations of the Domain. It was supposed to be in the meeting room on the lower floor, but the view was much better here, the relaxed atmosphere let their minds at ease according to Divine Strategist.
But if they were being honest, the true reason it looked more like a meeting of friends rather than a true meeting of the Song Domain was because of Undying Blade's request. After all, he wanted to keep Ki Song anchored with her humanity, the reason Night was on her lap.
The others understood, even agreed, so insisted for Ki Song to make meetings in this balcony. The Queen agreed, seemingly indifferent to where to make these meetings.
Divine Strategist looked outside, the snow gripping on the glass.
"Ahhh, they grow so fast… It seems like yesterday when I was teaching little Bin how to play chess. Now she commands thousands of creatures with a single thought!"
He grabbed his cup of coffee and paused for a moment before smiling.
"And also takes pictures of her siblings with their partners."
A light chuckle resounded in the room as Ki Song hid her mouth with her palm, looking at the general with amusement.
"She forced me to return to the waking world just to see the pictures, that was really enjoyable. Especially seeing Sunny's red face."
That made Lunae laugh.
"Right… Just wait for her turn, she's going on a date next week with Sunless' subordinate of all people, who bets he will stalk her and take pictures as revenge?"
For a moment, there was no reaction.
After that, all raised their hands while keeping serene expressions, as if it wasn't a joke. Even the little Night raised his… After looking around and seeing everyone raising their hands for some reason.
Of course, he only did so after looking back at his mother, seeing her raising her hand, he imitated her.
They lowered their hands, chuckling as old friends did.
Ki Song smiled, looking down, she caressed Night's dark hair.
"Bladie, how's the progress with Sunny's Echo?"
Undying Blade gazed at her, ignoring the confused smirk Divine Strategist was giving him and the knowing glare Permensor Lunae gave to Ki Song's sudden nickname. Frostblade almost ignored what she said, not interested.
Undying Blade just answered normally.
"It's finished, an Awakened Tyrant with the power to control its size, create thralls, and more."
Ki Song nodded.
"What does it look like? I hope it's not an insect or another knight."
Blade stared at her for some seconds, pointing at Lunae with a single finger raised in a gesture to stay silent. After a breath, he answered.
"It looks like a mech."
The Sovereign raised a brow, interested, but hummed absentmindingly.
"Good, give it to him along with the Memories to evolve it. Speaking of which, you need to give him and Shan better weapons now that they are Masters. Their current arsenal may not be enough for Antarctica."
Blade nodded, but sighed and leaned on his chair.
"Easy to say, harder to do. I honestly think Seishan's current one is ideal to her as it is, I'm thinking of just ascending its Rank to make it Transcendent. Sunless on the hand… I don't think [BloodRaven] will help him in the long run."
Frostblade finally raised her gaze and looked at the forger, sharing her opinion.
"Agreed, the odachi goes against his power, and it's limiting his Aspect Legacy. I'm tired of Ki saying how he used the same styles of combat again and again."
Undying Blade leaned forward, responding.
"Exactly, he strikes shadows yet the odachi needs you to cut the body of his opponent, he needs something to help him do that and a weapon versatile for his Aspect Legacy."
Ki Song stared at him.
"So? Did you figure it out?"
Blade scoffed.
"Of course. I just need to do it."
Ki Song chuckled, which made his face dead-pan.
"Why are you laughing? It's just a weapon with three enchantments, one to make it shape into any weapon, another to make it easier for him to strike shadows, and the last one making it sharper. Simple, and hard."
"Only you can say that it is simple."
"I'll take that as a complement, Lunae."
"It wasn't, Bladie."
Undying Blade slowly glared at Lunae, who stared back emotionlessly.
"Die and rot in hell."
"Yes, you first."
"Children."
Both Saints felt a chill run down their spine as they turned towards Ki Song. An aura of intimidation surrounded her, the ethereal feeling of seeing thousands of bodies, of seeing death and smelling rotten blood enveloped them.
Ki Song smiled sweetly, like a mother, but there was an inherent threat in it.
"Settle down and behave."
Immediately, both Saints stopped glaring at each other and returned to their normal demeanor.
Divine Strategist kept his eyes widened this whole time, still processing the 'Bladie'. He inevitably turned to Frostblade, who raised her brow, almost confused.
"For a seer, you are quite slow."
Before his bewilderment grew any bigger, a loud boom reached the ears of the individuals in the room. Followed by the sound of short steps running through the halls.
Ki Song mused as she turned to the door, trailing her hands through her dear baby on her lap, knowing full well who was about to run through the door.
As the creaking of the door opening passed their ears, a medium sized young girl with black hair and dark eyes desperately entered while drawing shallow breaths.
"Help! Big sis Howl is killing Sunny!"
The five Awakened looked at Rain with mild indifference, not surprised in the least. Frostblade even sipped more of her cold drink.
But Undying Blade held his gaze at Rain... He noticed that she was getting more and more similar to Ki Song, each passing day, her face began to resemble the Sovereign, it kept getting sharper, her skin resembled porcelain... It was just like the others.
Ki Song had already given Beast God's Lineage to her. But what about Shadow Lineage? Something told Blade Ki Song was scheming...
He smirked at the idea.
But that didn't matter as the poor girl got even more confused, even more desperate.
"Why are you all so calm?!"
Frostblade let out a disappointed sigh, putting her tea cup down and looking at her student.
"Rain, you should know by now, that is merely a normal spar."
Another boom resounded around the Palace, making Rain snap at her teacher, flabbergasted.
"YOU CALL THAT A SPAR?!?!?"
"Yes."
Divine Strategist raised a brow.
"They are going easier than I thought actually, considering Sunny Ascended."
Before Rain broke down, a light laughter that dominated any room caught her ears.
Ki Song chuckled, amused as she opened a wide smile and beckoned Rain to come closer. The girl groaned, but inevitably followed the order, standing next to her foster mother.
"Little Rainy, don't worry, I know what is happening, Sunny is fine."
Rain crossed her arms in annoyance.
"I told you not to call me that!"
Ki Song's smile didn't waver.
"It's cute."
"It's not!"
"I think it is, Nighty, what do you think?"
The toddler in the Sovereign's lap didn't understand anything, so he decided to be on his mother's side, hugging her to show his allegiance.
Rain's face dropped.
"Traitor!"
Laughter echoed, and Ki Song let out a small breath, turning to the girl.
"Rain, Sunny is in good hands, after all, he can escape whenever he wants to. Howl might be a good tracker, but she cannot catch him. If the worst comes to pass, I'm watching them, don't worry, no one will get hurt."
She paused for a moment, then completed.
"And if Howl goes overboard, I'll make sure to give her a stern talking to."
Rain still looked uncertain, actually, she was more worried about Sunny. In her place, regardless of her brother's Divine Aspect and higher Class, Howl's Rank easily eclipsed his power, after all, the difference in power from Transcendents and Ascendents was like night and day.
Seeing her worry plastered on her face, Ki Song's gaze softened, remembering the days of Sunny showing the exact same worry when his sisters went to the Dream Realm.
Ki Song reached her hand and gently caressed her hair, making the girl stiffen, but eventually appreciated the gesture.
"Come now Rain, they are Awakened, powerful ones at that, and remember, Sunny is almost a Titan! I'm sure he can handle it."
The teenager sighed, but gave in.
"Fine… Still, don't you think she's a bit too…"
"Over the top? That's just how she is, but she cares, otherwise she wouldn't be sparing with him."
— —
A huge cloud of dust and snow engulfed the area as Lonesome Howl happily stretched her limbs a few feet from it.
The vast training grounds of the Jade Palace were ideal for the sparing of the children of Song, especially considering the callous nature of Lonesome Howl. With barriers created by using Lunae's rune sorcery, it was hard for even Saints to affect the building around it… As long as the Saints didn't go overboard.
"C'mon Sunny! Do something creative with those shadows! Don't tell me dating Changing Star already made you soft!"
Howl's encouragement didn't really sound like one, but what really mattered was that she got what she wanted.
The cloud of smoke became darker, deeper.
The Saint felt a chill pass through her as the shadows around her began to move and morph, some began to travel directly to the cloud.
Said cloud stopped being made of snow, and became dark and tenebrous, became a cloud of shadows.
The smirk on Howl's mouth widened even more.
A pillar of shadow began to protrude out of the cloud, that pillar morphed even more until it gained five fingers, a wrist, a forearm, an entire arm. Which became wrapped in armored marble.
The arm of shadows struck the ground, piercing it. On the other side of the mist, another arm appeared, doing the exact same motion. Then, both arms made a visible effort to lift themselves.
The result? A 10 meter tall upper-half of a hooded automaton wrapped in hazy shadows and strong armor, where a face was supposed to be only liquid shadows exuding.
Lonesome Howl hummed as she examined the creation of her little brother.
"Not bad! Not good either, better than last time, but it's still pretty unstable. For the Heir of Shadows you are pretty bad at making them solid."
She heard a sigh right behind her as she finished her thoughts. Sunless appeared through the shadows, looking tired and annoyed.
"You say that as if controlling this is easy, you said it yourself, remember? Shadows are formless, I first have to manifest them, then give them form."
Howl nodded repeatedly in a mocking manner, the smirk still plastered on her face as she had her arms folded.
"Right, right, that's why the construct is so weak?"
Sunny scoffed.
"Weak… Right…"
"I mean, it's not that difficult to break Sunny!"
Howl immediately changed her footwork and got in a fighting stance, raising her fists. Twisting her body and waist, she turned while winding up a telegraphed strong punch.
The tall construct of shadows had approached to be right behind her, reaching a black hand, only to meet the punch of Lonesome Howl.
The contact of the blow on the armored shadow hand made a strong wind current pass through the air, creating pressure and vacuum as the construct was destroyed.
Liquid shadows scattered, touching the ground and spreading on the snow, returning to their natural state.
Howl looked back at her brother with a smirk.
"Not enough!"
Sunny rolled his eyes and summoned his Transcendent lance, [Promise of Mercy] appeared on his left hand quickly in a well of sparks.
"Just don't–"
Howl didn't let him finish as she dashed to him at incomprehensible speeds, winding up a destructive fist that seemed to be ready to tear her brother apart.
Sunny was expecting that, having already enhanced his body with all six of his shadows, right now, he had the strength of six Ascended Terrors that were at the cusp of becoming a Titan, he could trade a few blows with his Transcendent sister.
But as he raised his spear, using the battle style of his teacher, Saint Lunae, a message from the Spell broke his concentration.
[Your Shadow has Evolved]
Sunny froze and looked down, noticing this, his sister Terra stopped in her tracks, her fist an inch away from tearing his jaw right off. Wind and snow flew as consequence of the strength of her punch, even reverberating on Sunless' skin.
She looked up directly at Sunny with a disappointed expression, her brows furrowed and lips facing down.
"Why didn't you dodge?"
Sunless slowly looked at his sister, and for a moment, she could swear a nervous smile was plastered on his face… Before it was obscured by a torrent of shadows.
"Because of this…"
Howl instinctively jumped back upon seeing the wave of shadows envelopping Sunny, she looked up with determination as a familiar presence took over her, she knew what was the pillar of shadows.
Wraith had finished his evolution.
The torrent of shadows fractured, revealing a myriad of deep red runes that bleed like blood, only the second later did Howl realize they were eyes. A dozen red eyes followed by numerous jaws that contained dozens of sharp fangs.
All those pillars eventually coalesced into the ground, crashing into it and solidifying into the form of a dark wolf.
Wraith had become even more terrifying, now having numerous eyes in his form, the mist of shadows had become darker, and he grew even taller.
Sunny walked up to his dear companion with a smile.
"Hey Terra, I think you'll like this…"
Lonesome Howl slowly looked at her brother with a nervous smile.
"Yeah… I don't think so!"
He was pretty terrifying.
[Legion Wraith]--
Wraith took in his new surroundings curiously, getting used to his new eyes, even disabelling closing some to be better. Then he looked over at Sunny and basically jumped at him.
The master was prepared, folding his knees and hugging Wraith's big body, almost falling backwards. Then he received the assault of the big wolf… Wholesome licking.
"Hey! Hey! Alright! I get it."
Sunny smiled as Wraith followed his command.
"Well, I think it's enough sparing for today"
Howl scratched the back of her head.
"Yeah, please, that thing is scary."
"It's not a thing, it's Wraith!"
Howl looked at her brother with a strange gaze. Deciding to ignore the fact the wolf was kind of cute despite the horrifying appearance, she turned to deactivate the runic circle in the corner of the arena.
As the light barrier lowered to allow both to leave, a loud acute screech pierced their ears.
"SUNNY!!!!"
Instinctively covering his ears, Sunny turned to the entrance where it came from already feeling a headache coming as soon as he saw a beautiful woman stomping over to him.
Pure white hair, moonlit eyes and clear skin. She walked wearing a long pale dress, so thin she looked like the wind could topple her.
Moonveil had an uncharacteristic frown on her elegant face.
"YOU ARE DATING NEPHIS?!!?"
Sunless furrowed his brows, really confused by his sister's outburst and why she was stomping her way onto him. A brief glance at Howl revealed she also was extremely confused.
But because of his flaw, Sunny had to answer, although the status of his relationship with Nephis wasn't straightly sorted, their confession more than makes up for it.
"Yeah? I think so, why?"
Moon had finally reached her brother and suddenly grabbed his collar with both hands firmly, enough to make him look at her, but not to hurt him. Screaming into his face.
"AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?!?!?!"
Sunny grimaced upon the shouts of his sister. Even Wraith with his new class had to close his ears to endure the screams of Moonveil.
"Yes! I didn't! You and Rev were on a mission, I couldn't contact you."
"YOU COULD HAVE USED YOUR CONNECTION WITH REV! AND WHY DON'T I HAVE A CONNECTION TOO? HUH?!"
Sunny stared at his white haired sister with a frown.
"What's with you today? Are you in your period or something?"
Moon's face flashed red with anger.
"WHAT DOES IT MATTER TO YOU?!"
'Yep, definitely her period.'
Sunny looked at her with no particular emotion.
"Look, I'll tell you once you calm down. Need to go, see you!"
"DON'T YOU DARE–"
Sunny dissolved into the shadows and began traveling towards the door of the arena, seemingly forgetting about his sister's Aspect Ability.
Moonveil summoned a dagger and launched against the mass of shadows currently running from the arena. The blade turned pure white as the nullifying Aspect of the Saint empowered the weapon.
"Come back here!!"
Moonveil launched the dagger made between her fingers towards the shadow, intending to keep him there.
Unfortunately for the Saint… She missed her intended target.
She hit the mass of shadows, but nothing happened.
"Huh?!"
Moonveil's face twisted into confusion, only to hear laughter behind her, as she turned to see Howl burst out laghing.
"WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT?!"
Lonesome Howl tried to held herself to be able to speak.
"He- He- He tricked you! He controlled the shadows and pretended to run away!"
Moon twitched her eyes as another shadow ran behind her.
She turned around, only to see the mass of shadows splitting into seven, all going in different directions, escaping the arena.
"SUNNY!"
Howl laughed a lot, holding her belly as she let out her amusement.
Moon wasn't having it, especially since her dear brother was running from her… She just wanted to know how it was! Why was he running away?!
'And why is Terra laughing at me?!'
Moonveil snapped her head at her brutish sister with an angry snarl.
"SHUT UP!"
Howl gazed over at Moon while wiping her happy tears away.
"Nah! It's funny, a Master escaped from you!"
"He is an ASCENDED TERROR!"
"Right… And you are a Saint in her period!"
Moonveil summoned her twin white sabers.
"SHUT UP!"
Wraith looked at the two and understood it was time to leave, returning to the soul sea of his owner.
Howl smirked as she got what she wanted and activated the runic circle again, the barrier lifted once more, the childish Saints began their… 'Spar'...
—
Sunny emerged deeper into the Palace in a desolate hall, sighing.
"Women and their periods… What a headache."
He began to walk aimlessly through the halls, just like in the past when he was used to getting lost for fun…
Well, he was never lost, his mother always knew where he was, so she always guided him.
He walked until he noticed something. If Moon was here, so was Revel, and that mean she was in her cave, and that meant…
Sunny delved into the shadows and traveled to the entrance of the catacombs.
Since it was conquered by True Darkness, he couldn't just waltz in there in shadows, so he reemerged right before the door, entering it in his human form.
[Shadow]: "Rev, I'm entering in your room, are you there?"
After some seconds.
[Darkness]: "Yeah, sure. What do you want?"
Sunny opened the door and decended the stairs.
[Shadow] "My favorite book you gave to Neph!"
[Darkness]: "... Oh…"
[Darkness]: "Wait! You're dating Nephis aren't you?!"
Sunny stopped right in his tracks…
Turning around, he began to walk up the stairs.
[Shadow]: "On second thought, talk to you later."
In the middle of his walk to escape his misery, the face of his elder sister appeared in front of him.
Revel was a beautiful mess, her hair tied up into a bun, having the exact same style as her brother, she was wearing a black short t-shirt and shorts that contrasted with her alabaster skin. Her mouth still having the remains of the junk food she was eating.
But her smirk was still wide and clean.
"So, did you kiss?"
Sunless stared right into Revel's soul… And sighed, cursing his flaw.
"Yes. We did."
Her smirk widened.
"Was the dance good?"
"... Yeah, it was."
"Bin told me she bit you~"
Sunless sharpened his eyes, flabbergasted.
"How- How did she?!"
"Bite marks are apparent~"
Her annoying humming was alluring, but Sunless was immune to it.
"Speaking of, you gave her way too many books!! You polluted her mind with smut!"
"And she enjoys it! I bet she thinks of you every time a scene occurs, she did bite you~!"
Sunny blushed, cursing her internally.
But suddenly… Her smirk turned into a sweet smile…
"Did you have fun?"
Sunny looked at her while widening his eyes, mouth gaping wordlessly…
He smiled.
"A lot."
"So, are you dating?"
"Pretty much, we are going out to slay a Fallen Terror tomorrow."
Revel's smile widened, and her voice got out low and proud.
"Then I bet its going to be a pretty good date…"
"Yeah, me too…"
A few moments passed in silence.
"... Where's my book Rev? Neph said she already gave it back to you."
Lightslayer froze in her place.
"..."
"Rev."
"Sunny, we can talk about it… Azriel just wanted to–"
"Saint, get her!"
A taciturn knight appeared behind Revel, and the siblings played hide and Seek…
Revel won.
[Your Darkness Connection has deepened.]