'Another Shard Memory?'

Sunny raised an eyebrow, glanced at Nephis, and turned back to the runes. His eyes glistened.

Memory: [Moon Shard].

Memory Rank: Ascended.

Memory Tier: I.

Memory Type: Weapon.

Memory Description: [When the stars were extinguished and fell, a lonely moon remained in the empty sky. With no sun to shine upon it, the moon grew dim, withered, and died. As the last remnants of moonlight were devoured by darkness, one small shard was forged into this subtle blade.]

Memory Enchantments: [Unseen].

Enchantment Description: [Forged from moonlight, this blade appears in the hand of its wielder without delay.]

Sunny's pupils widened slightly. With a tense frown, he summoned the Moon Shard.

A graceful dagger with a long and slender blade appeared in his hand. It tapered to a needle-like point and had a simple cross-guard, with a handle made from glossy black wood. The most striking feature of the dagger was that it seemed to be forged out of clear, misty glass. That glass, however, appeared to be as strong as steel… and much, much sharper.

In the darkness of the underground cavern, the ghostly stiletto was nearly invisible.

What really stunned Sunny, though, was not its look or its rank, but the fact that the moonlight blade had appeared in his had instantaneously. There had been no sparks of light, no process of weaving itself into existence from nothingness. The dagger was simply suddenly there, as if it had always been that way.

This… this was an incredible enchantment. It might not have seemed that powerful, but Sunny instantly understood that there was a lot more to this simple trait than most people would assume.

Once summoned, Memories took time to form. The Dusk Shard had weaved itself into existence in about six to eight seconds. But even if it was just a single second, like the time it took Neph's silver sword to appear, the process was still not instantaneous. What's more, the appearance of a Memory was telegraphed in advance by the dancing sparks of light.

In short, it was very hard to take the enemy by surprise by suddenly summoning a Memory. A skilled opponent would always have enough time to notice it and react accordingly — unless they were lured into a cunning trap by a sword savant like Changing Star. But even then, it wasn't easy to plan and execute such a move.

Yet all of that didn't apply to the Moon Shard. The slender blade of the ghostly dagger could appear out of nowhere in an instant and immediately strike at the target.

'...What an insidious little thing.'

It was uniquely suited to Sunny's preferred method of engaging the enemy, indeed. He liked to strike from the shadows and kill with one strike. With the ghostly blade in his arsenal, though, he would not even have to hide in the darkness in order to deliver an unexpected and deadly blow.

No one would see it coming.

Not to mention that it was an Ascended Memory. Armed with the Moon Shard, Sunny would finally be able to wound and kill Fallen creatures — even without the miraculous enhancement of the Crown of Dawn.

His own shadow would be more than enough.

Granted, he would have to get really close and personal to a monster in order to use the dagger. But still, at least with it, he stood a chance.

Suppressing a satisfied smile from appearing on his lips, Sunny turned to Nephis and asked in an incredulous tone:

"Where did you get this thing?"

She lingered for a few moments, then said:

"North of the Dark City."

Sunny nodded. That made sense. There was another red cross on her map, about a week's worth of traveling time north of the ruins. It was drawn near a symbol resembling a grotesque, misshapen skull.

Changing Star had indeed been busy in the three months that he had spent hunting monsters on the dark streets of the cursed city.

Now, five of the Shard Memories were accounted for: Dawn Shard, Zenith Shard, Dusk Shard, Midnight Shard, and Moon Shards. Only two remained.

Sunny wondered which statue they were tied to, and whether someone out there already held them in their hands.

…It didn't matter that much for now, though.

With a sigh, he dismissed the ghostly dagger and said:

"I have to warn you that the enchantment on that shield requires an Awakened to activate it. It is supposed to be able to change its weight and mass freely, but actually, it's just stuck being stupidly heavy."

Nephis glanced at Effie, who just shrugged.

"I'm fine with it as is."

Sunny finally allowed himself to smile.

"...Ah, that's great then. We have a deal."

***

In the end, they had to spend a couple of days in the vast underground cavern. Nephis had to recover from her ghastly wound and the strain of healing the rest of the cohort, while all of them had not liked the idea of venturing back into the mist with their Memories damaged.

Eventually, though, they were ready to head back.

Sunny used this short moment of respite to rest and practice Shadow Dance, slowly moving toward his goal of mastering its first step.

He knew that there was nothing but bloodshed ahead of them. First, they would have to fight their way through the untold horrors of the Labyrinth. And once they reached the Dark City…

The last act of this messed-up play would begin.

Looking back, he couldn't believe how far he had come in these past eight months.

When Sunny arrived on the Forgotten Shore, he was weak and inexperienced.

His first fight against a single carapace scavenger almost cost him his life.

And now, here he was, standing near the corpse of a Fallen Monster he had killed with his own two hands.

From barely killing a single carapace scavenger, to almost losing his life in a fight against a carapace centurion, to summoning a horror of the depths and finishing off the Carapace Demon.

From entering the Dark City not knowing anything about it to hunting down dozens of Nightmare Creatures on its cursed streets, to fighting against a horde of undead monsters in the catacombs beneath it.

From venturing back into the Labyrinth of his own free will and waging war against the tribe of monstrous spiders to riding on the shoulder of an ancient giant and battling Fallen abominations and hordes of Awakened creatures.

From finding a nameless grave in the foothills of the Hollow Mountains to witnessing the last resting place of the First Lord in their depths.

He had lived through so much, endured so much, and accomplished so much.

Of course, there had not been only victories. He had tasted defeat, too... a lot of it. Both in battle and in his tentative attempts to build human relationships with other prisoners of this desolate hell.

He had experienced pain, sorrow, and despair.

...And he was going to taste even more of it soon.

Turning his head slightly, Sunny looked at his companions. Nephis, Cassie, Kai, Effie, and Caster were busy with final preparations for their long return journey.

How many of them would be alive by the end of all of this?

Closing his eyes, he sighed.

It was not going to be easy to survive the finale.

But Sunny was determined to show the rest of the world what he was really made of.

He was going to win. He was going to be the last one standing.

No matter what he had to do.

…Even if doing it would break him.