2062 Sacrificial Blade

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December 23, 2024

[Flame Conduit] was perhaps one of the most

straightforward enchantments of the Blessing, as well as
one of the most consistently impactful. Although other traits
of the soul sword were more astounding, Sunny was secretly
proud of this one the most.

It had two functions. One allowed the Blessing to serve as a

fulcrum for Neph's flames, channeling them in a more
compressed and focused manner. In other words, she could
use the Blessing to control fire more easily or produce jets of
flame — rays of light, maybe — that were narrow and sharp
enough to slice apart the most durable of tangible objects.

This was especially useful because these rays had much

greater length and reach than the blade of the sword itself.
Since Sunny and Nephis often faced enemies of a much
greater size than their own, such an ability was exceedingly
convenient to possess on the battlefield.

The second function was more subtle, but had been infinitely
more difficult to weave into existence. It drew upon the
nature of the blessed alloy and the innate affinity of the soul
sword to Neph's soul flame, increasing the efficiency of her
Dormant Ability when applied to the Blessing.
Simply put, it made the result of augmenting the silver
longsword greater without affecting the potency of the
Ability itself. The increase was not too drastic, perhaps
adding a few tenths to the overall strength of
enhancement... for now, at least. Sunny hoped that as the
Blessing grew more powerful, this function of the [Flame
Conduit] would evolve further, as well.

Needless to say, such an enhancement was a real boon,

especially because it did not demand an additional cost to be
paid. Even though it did not double the efficacy of the soul
flame augmentation, it still increased it by a considerable
amount... and if Nephis poured more of her flame onto the
soul sword, the effects would only mount.

Sunny was quite satisfied with himself greatly for achieving

this feat. That pattern of the overall spellweave had been
incredibly intricate and complicated, having demanded a
similarly stunning amount of effort to design.

It would serve Nephis well in the future, no doubt.

The [Purifying Light], in comparison... was not something he

could take full credit for. It was another enchantment that
differed from his original design.

The [Purifying Light] had been meant to be a version of the

[Brilliant Will] — the enchantment of the Undying Chain that
had allowed his long-lost armor to grow more durable in
relation to the presence of divinity contained within its
master's soul. Similarly, Sunny had wanted to make the
power of the Blessing grow if the flames of divinity burned
in its wielder.

And it had worked... in a sense. The power of the silver

sword was now indeed connected to the flames of Neph's
soul, just not in the way he had intended.

The enchantment did not depend on the quality of the

[Flame of Divinity]. Instead, it depended on the quality of
Neph's own flame... the soul flame. And the boon it granted
the Blessing was not a blanket enhancement, but rather
quite a specialized one.

The soul sword would grow stronger and more deadly when
wielded against creatures who had succumbed to
Corruption, as if its light was antithetical to the appalling
darkness dwelling within their souls. Purifying it... in a quite
final manner.

While wielding the Blessing, Nephis would not only be

immune to Corruption due to her [Longing] Ability, but also
especially dominant in slaying Nightmare Creatures.

Which was beyond amazing in the Age of the Nightmare

Spell, of course, albeit not so much for their current
predicament.

The [Change] was rather simple when compared to the

other two auxiliary enchantments... or simply familiar,
perhaps. It allowed the Blessing to change both shape and
form.
Nephis was quite conservative in her choice of weapons,
mostly preferring to wield a versatile longsword. However,
that did not mean that there were no situations when
something else could suit the situation better — the
[Change] allowed the soul sword to become a soul spear, for
example, or even an unassuming bracelet... not that the
latter had any practical use.

However, there was another quality to the [Change]. It also

allowed the Blessing to shift between states — be it steel,
liquid metal, compressed flame, or even pure light. Nephis
would have to explore the ramifications of that ability
herself and find proper uses for each of the states, but its
most important boon was quite obvious.

It was that the Blessing could merge with her Transcendent

form in its flaming and radiant states, thus imbuing her with
its traits and enchantments — similar to how Serpent could
fuse with Shadow Shells Sunny created to grant them its.

This gave Nephis a choice on how to use the Blessing while

Transformed — whether to wield it in her hand, or simply
make it a part of her hand, as well as of her entire radiant
body.

Finally, the last of the four auxiliary traits was [Ruin]. That
one... the soul sword seemed to have inherited from the
black arrow Sunny had sacrificed to create the blessed alloy.

Bearing a breath of the Shadow Realm and the echo of the

killing intent of its mysterious inhabitant, the Blessing had
attained a death will of its own. It was very much like the
[Slaying Blade] Ability of the Soul Serpent, making the soul
sword more lethal to those beings who were able to bend
the world to their will... albeit much weaker.

Most of it would still depend on Neph's own murderous will,

of course, but the sword itself was going to enhance her
lethality. Sunny was not worried about the quality of her
killing intent, really, considering that Nephis had been
preaching murder from the days they were both teenagers.
But every little bit helped, not that the [Ruin] was that little
of a boon.

Then... there was the second of the two core enchantments

of the Blessing, as well.

The one that, as Sunny suspected, had given the soul sword
its name. It was the [Blessing of the Fire].

This one, he had designed himself in its entirely. And

although it was not as consistently useful as the [Flame
Conduit], at the end of the day, it was utterly and undeniably
more vital.

Because it was an enchantment meant to tip the scales of

those dire battles where everything that could go wrong
went wrong, and Nephis was pushed to her very limit. The
battles against the truly powerful foes... the ones that
mattered the most.

Its function was simple.

It increased the power and lethality of the Blessing in direct
proportion to how heavily Neph's soul was damaged.

That went well with the essence of her Transcendent Battle

Art, of course, and would be useful against enemies capable
of wounding and destroying the souls of living beings.

But fundamentally, the [Blessing of the Fire] was aimed at

something else.

It was aimed at Nephis herself, and her ability to burn her

soul in order to ignite with incredible power. Like she had
done in Twilight, and while escaping from the clutches of
Condemnation as well. Neph's self—sacrificial act of igniting
her soul was a form of dealing direct damage to it, too.

So, if she ever had to mutilate her own soul severely —

meaning that she had faced a truly overwhelming enemy —
the sword would become exponentially more powerful the
worse the state of her soul became. If she sacrificed one soul
core... two, three, six of them... it would grow stronger and
stronger, until its power reached a limit that even Sunny
was afraid to imagine.

And that was it, the sword he had created.

A beautiful sword.

A deadly sword...

A sword that would one day cut the fabric of the Nightmare
Spell, perhaps.

And would cut down the Sovereigns much sooner.

Sunny sighed.

It was worth the effort.