Focusing on the rune count, a tired sigh left his mouth.
Dark Core: [7/7]
Class: Titan.
Dark Sprites:[79/7000]
"In the end, I guess... it was worth it."
With his future goals in mind and his nearing mortality that Noctis had warned him about, he could not afford to take it slow.
Not at all.
Entering his soul sea, a mountainous change had occurred. Where before only three black holes that each represented a soul core stood in the starry void, now there was a total of seven. In addition to the black, white and pale blue event horizons, there were now many more colours. From crimson, royal blue, emerald and even purple. It was a particularly strange mix of colours. But Aldric knew that he had gained much more than just additional cores.
In the same way that Mordret could make tangible reflections by sacrificing his cores and the way that Sunny would gain an additional shadow each time he received a new core, Aldric too had a special privilege.
In the case of his cores, for each one that he gained, he would unlock a new property of true darkness. The ability to deal a small amount of soul damage with each touch of darkness as well as the capability of limiting other people's aspects with darkness. These were what he already had, and now there were four more that he just gained.
But the nightmare spell would not shout what it was that he gained. Only through use would he be able to tell what changed. Yet, he had some glimpses of what the full capabilities of true darkness was.
The black holes blotted each corner of his soul sea such that whereverhe looked, at least one would be present. But that was not the only change.
The sea of clouds suspended in the starry void was darker and deeper. Emanating a weight that previously was not present. Before he hyperanalysed anymore, he thought to himself.
'I need to go back. The pain finally stopped, and my cores are fully formed.'
And so he returned, back into the chaotic expanse of war.
---
But the outside world was not as quiet as Aldric's soul sea.
In his agony and pain, he missed everything. Kai's grim face as he looked down below at the Ivory City after Aldric's attack. Sunny's stunned yet silent face, only to change into a look of revelation as Aldric's prone form proved something he knew to be true fully. Cassie and Effie both shared similar looks of aversion, yet it seemed that Cassie had quickly accepted it.
These four were not children or naive. They knew what this war would entail, yet the brutal, almost systemic attack that murdered hundreds without a single clash of swords sowed something inside their hearts. A seed of fear and doubt regarding what they knew of the Singularity. For if he was capable of this, then what else would he be capable of?
Yet with all their aversions and morality, not a single one of them had the strength to say something.
And on a deeper level, it reminded them of somebody else. The only other person that they knew who could make a move like that... That had that level of ambition and desire.
But with Noctis' statement, the war had long begun.
The remaining armada of warmongers and zealots converged on the opposing force. The Nightglade and Noctis' army of Sailor Dolls and Gargoyles clashed. And it was not just them.
Shadowfiend Sunny had blitzed an entire ship and led it to ruin, jumping onto the next one as it crashed below into the Ivory City. Raised by Wolves carried on in a similar fashion, using her small form to infiltrate a ship and brutally break them with her strength. Lastly, Nightingale had risen in the air just below the bed of clouds. Hidden from view, he rained down hell and death on anyone not quick enough to react or block.
Noctis himself had long left the ship, taking his battle to Solvane. Leaving the Sun Prince to anyone who could fight him, the steel colossus stood ominously in a field of spears embedded into the ground.
Yet Aldric had noticed the biggest change in the war since his opening attack. The full moon was blotted out in darkness; crimson rays of light pierced through the clouds. Embracing everything in a deep red hue.
A pulse of trauma sparked within him as the sight of the crimson moon reflected off his eyes, reminding him of that dark stormy night. The night when he had been closest to death.
Taking a deep breath, Aldric pooled darkness around him.
'Heavy! So this is real true darkness.'
That was all that he could think as the viscous substance phased through his limbs and covered his armour and blade. It was a disorienting feeling, learning that something you were intimately familiar with had changed completely. Not just heavy, the darkness oozed pressure and power. As if it were complete and what he had before was just a far cry from true darkness.
But still, the effects of the true darkness were completely unknown. So while there were a few ideas running in his mind of what it could do, true darkness itself was not something fully researched. A substance that was so rare in the Awakened world that only three known people had access to its powers, to Aldric's knowledge and research.
While there were plenty of Awakened whose powers looked like darkness or were dark in nature, true darkness was something completely different. A force that was unknown and also so scarce in the dream realm.
The elusive first princess of Song; the Saint known to never leave the Jade Palace. The second, a master who was given the true name Hidden Blade by the nightmare spell in the way he incorporated the presence-diminishing effects of darkness to the extreme. Becoming a literal hidden blade of the Song domain.
There is also a rumoured masked figure whose utility-based aspect formed warp-like gates out of darkness. But if that was true darkness, he did not know. However, they were also, coincidentally or not, under the Song domain.
And lastly, the young but renowned Singularity, whose manipulation of darkness looked masterful to anyone that watched him fight. As if it were an extension of his body. But most unique to him was just how powerful his darkness was just as an awakened. It was only him who was capable of making darkness a truly deadly and offensive force.
But unknown to all but himself, it would be the unique nature of the [Made in Abyss] aspect and its rank that would allow him to utilise all the properties of true darkness.
Though just by cloaking himself in darkness, he noticed two things. The world around him seemed quiet—no... It was him that was quiet, muted and dead to the world. His presence diminishing capabilities grew manyfold. Now comparable to the way that Bael completely erased his existence with darkness.
Yet the second change was much stranger. Around the darkness, there was a weird distortion. Specks of black floated around the edge of the darkness like a second skin, as if there was something there that could not be perceived. Aldric could not understand or comprehend the shift and so pushed it to the back of his mind.
Looking to the only living person on the ship, Cassie remained steadfast and fully concentrated on guiding the ship. While the culling that Aldric committed massively reduced the number of attacks that would fall on the flying ship and the Nightglade, Cassie still had to outmanoeuvre any attacks from the dozen or so ships that were left standing and still operable.
"I'm going, Cassie. Stick to the plan!"
Aldric shouted, not caring whether she had heard him or not.
Standing up straight, Aldric ran right towards the edge of the ship and leapt onto the outer rail. With a quick glance, a choice was made and he jumped. Just behind him, Bael followed. With dark water sprouting behind his back like a pair of wings, a tendril of dark sea extended to Aldric as he caught it. Casually using his Apostle as a midair swing, he twisted towards the direction of an enemy ship and landed silently. Hidden in a shroud of true darkness, he landed behind the ship's artillery. With his enemies' backs turned to him, he began a slaughter.
Like a knife through butter, three heads rolled before anyone noticed a single thing. With three subsequent slashes of darkness, the heavy artillery was destroyed, the mast of the ship was damaged, and Aldric was gone. All in under a minute, he dealt critical damage to the ship while robbing it of its main offensive power. With a large leap and a tendril of darkness that trailed from his blade, the next ship was now next.
The plan was not an all-out fight against thousands of enemies but a strategic battle. The guerrilla warfare-like tactics saved Aldric from being overwhelmed while also not exhausting him. It was especially important for him to avoid the one or two masters stationed on each ship. With no time to spare, he disabled one ship and traversed onto the next one. It was both the chaos of the battle and the sheer lack of presence that he had that allowed this strategy to flourish.
Yet in all of this, something was itching at the back of his mind. For him to do something new instinctually with the darkness, but he ignored it. Now was not the time.
In the state of flow, Aldric's breath was slow and consistent. Numb to the sounds of death and agony, his blade carried him through the battlefield. Even as some of the ships began to fall, he was unfazed.
DANGER
DANGER
DANGER
He heard it before he saw it. A sound so sharp it pierced through the air. The source: a spear the height of a commercial office building. It traversed through the red sky so fast that it displaced the surrounding air almost as though it created a sonic boom.
And in the next microsecond, the bolt of metal skewered the entire ship that Aldric had just dismantled. Shards of debris exploded in the air around the ship's position, reaching the one that Aldric was on. Hidden on the deck of the ship, Aldric looked around at the chaos as the warriors realised what was waiting for them next. But it was not fear on their face, only utter glee.
'These crazy bastards...'
Looking at the colossal figure that threw the bolt, he locked eyes with the Sun Prince.
Whispering in a muted fashion, he declared his intent.
"You've started before I reached you. Let's get this fight started."
All while a dazzling ruby knife sat still on his holster.
***
Thanks for reading.
Liking the new upload schedule, should've done this a while ago.
Till the next one.