NOVEL NEXT Chapter 72: Maw of Admiration
In the place of the Architect of Lost Preservation was the shadow of a woman who seemed to be in her twenties.
Her form, outlined only by the faintest slivers of light, seemed carved from the absence of color itself. Her hair, though shaped by unseen movement, was a mass of darkness, blending seamlessly into the abyss that surrounded her. A single ornament rested against her head in the same muted nothingness that composed her being.
The sword she held was a sliver of midnight steel, its edge catching just enough light to exist, while the hilt coiled in shadow, its intricate design lost in the gloom. The cloth that draped her was no different, shifting like liquid darkness, flowing yet never revealing anything beyond itself.
Her face was a perfect mask of shadow, smooth and unbroken, yet hauntingly beautiful in its emptiness. The contours of her cheeks, the gentle slope of her nose, and the soft curve of her lips were all there, sculpted with a precision that made her seem almost real — almost alive. But there was no warmth in her features, no flicker of life behind the delicate lines.
Her skin, if it could be called that, was a pale void against the deeper darkness of her hair, an absence of light rather than a presence of color. Her lips, neither parted nor pressed into any expression, held the faintest suggestion of fullness, yet they did not breathe, did not move. And where her eyes should have been was only hollowness, deep and unfathomable, as if they had been painted onto the surface of something that was never meant to see.
She was beautiful, in the way that statues were beautiful, in the way that forgotten things still held traces of their former grace. But she was not alive. There was no tension in her brow, no flicker of thought behind her expression. She simply was — a face untouched by time, emotion, or the weight of existence.
And so, Sunny was naturally confused.
Where was the Architect of Lost Preservation? He had tried to make that particular shadow appear, and yet, he ended up with a human — which the Fallen Terror was obviously not.
Focusing, the woman disappeared as she joined the rest of the shadows. Calling upon the desired shadow once more, a figure rose again.
…It was the same woman.
Frowning, Sunny analyzed her exquisite form. He would have assumed that his Soul Sea might have been malfunctioning if it didn't bring him the right shadow, but why did it bring him the same one twice?
Calling upon the shadow of the Doomsday Beast, Sunny found that the Ascended Titan appeared without any issues. Sending it back, he looked back at the woman.
'Is she really that wraith?'
If so, then that implied that she became a Fragmentum monster. One that was Fallen rather than Ascended.
After a few seconds, Sunny summoned the Vessel of Remembrance. He opened it up to an empty page, then faced the shadow. Suddenly, lines started to draw themselves across the page.
A minute later, the page had a perfect recreation of the shadow on it. The only difference was that he did not draw in the darkness that enshrouded her figure.
Sunny had a rough guess about the identity of the shadow. Considering that the Memory he had recieved was about Alisa Rand, then the Architect of Lost Preservation was most likely related to her — either by being the first Supreme Guardian herself, another Architect from when she was alive, or one of her successors.
The most obvious answer was that the shadow was Alisa, but that didn't sound right to him.
He decided to simply ask Bronya, since she was the one who was most likely to recognize the appearance of such an important figure in Belobog's history. If she didn't, then there was nothing more he could do.
Looking back at the Ghastly Hunger's runes, Sunny checked the enchantments.
Memory Enchantments: [Fool's Hand], [Maw of Admiration], [The Disgraced One].
[Fool's Hand] Enchantment Description: "This glove can change it's form."
Blinking, Sunny summoned the Memory. One of the orbs revolving around his Shadow Cores dove towards him, it's shape changing in a flurry of sparks. A dark blue glove fell into his hands, completely lacking in design. It's sleeve was long enough to reach his elbow.
Looking back at the shadow, he mentally apologized as he rubbed his hand over her arms. Her figure was colorless, so it was difficult to see exactly what she wore on her person. He noticed that there was fabric that shared the same texture with the glove. The only difference was that she had two of them, while Sunny only had one.
Considering this information, it was obvious that the Ghastly Hunger was based on the gloves that the woman wore.
Slipping it onto his left hand, Sunny mentally commanded the glove to change shape. Suddenly, it shifted into a pristine, white glove. Repeating this action, it changed into one of the fingerless gloves of the Finality's Farewell.
Similar to how armor could have helmets dismissed or summoned at will, the same could be said for the gloves of his garment Memory. He could summon both, summon one, or summon neither. As such, he could wear the Ghastly Hunger to replace one of the gloves, which wouldn't cause anyone to question why he was wearing two different gloves.
Of course, they may still question why his gloves were fingerless. Honestly, Sunny had no idea either.
However, what use was a glove that simply changed shape? The two remaining enchantments must be ridiculously amazing to justify the Ghastly Hunger being an Ascended Memory of the sixth tier.
[Maw of Admiration] Enchantment Description: "This glove can consume the souls of humans who have recently died, eternally damning them to suffer for as long as they are within the glove. Once consumed, a single Aspect Ability will be available for the wearers use. The souls within may be released in exchange for another."
Eyes widening, Sunny made sure to reread the runes in case he understood them wrong.
'Consume souls… use their Aspect Abilities… what?!'
If it worked the way that Sunny assumed it did, then it might have been the most useful Memory in his arsenal. Unlike the Thief's Instinct which required him to know what Attribute he wanted to take, the Ghastly Hunger would consume an Aspect Ability regardless of prior knowledge. Not only that, but the Memory could be used multiple times.
Essentially, if Sunny were to kill a human, he could use the Ghastly Hunger to consume their soul. A random Aspect Ability would be available to him, which he would be able to use as long as he was wearing the glove.
Finding the runes extending further, Sunny continued:
First Slot: [Empty]
Second Slot: [Empty]
There were six slots. They must have correspondence to the tier of the Memory, which was also the Class of the Architect of Lost Preservation. A Terror had six cores, which gave a Memory of the sixth tier.
Which meant that Sunny could take the Aspect Abilities of six other people.
Staring down at the glove, he felt a small sense of unease. It's enchantments were quite malevolent, and downright sadistic…
"Eternal damnation? What the hell…?"
Of course, the Ghastly Hunger came with the restriction that it could only be used on those who have recently died. Not only that, but it was probably time consuming to devour a soul, making it unusable in the midst of combat. He would have to wait until the end of a battle before he could use it.
…He wasn't sure how to feel about forcing endless suffering upon those who were already dead. Death was supposed to be a chance to finally rest, not to be in constant misery as your killer takes your abilities.
At the same time, Sunny was sure that there people that deserved such a punishment.
After a few minutes of deep contemplation, he resolved to only ever consume of those who were truly irredeemable. Rather than using his own opinion of whether or not they deserved it, he should probably use the general public's moral compass.
If he allowed his emotions to take control of how he used the Ghastly Hunger, then at some point, he would become something he wasn't.
With a sigh, he realized that he wouldn't be able to get any use out of it any time soon. He checked the last enchantment.
[The Disgraced One] Enchantment Description: "The last piece is missing."
Frowning, Sunny couldn't deduce anything from the vague description of the final enchantment. It seemed like the Memory was… incomplete?
How could a Memory be incomplete?
Raising the glove to his eyes, Sunny looked into the weave of the Memory. There were six glowing nodes, which represented the fact that it was a sixth tier Memory. The strings were extraordinarily complex compared to most of the other Memories he had, which made sense considering the abnormality of it's enchantments.
As his eyes followed the strings, he found that a few of them hanged off aimlessly, reaching into nothingness.
There was supposed to be seventh anchor.
'So… what am I supposed to do about that?'
Shrugging, Sunny found that he wasn't too bothered about the state of the Memory. He wasn't sure how the incompleteness of the Ghastly Hunger could be considered an enchantment, but as long as he was able to consume souls when he needed to, then there wasn't much of a problem.
Sending one last look at the woman's shadow, Sunny exited his Soul Sea. Dismissing the left glove that came with the Finality's Farewell, he summoned the Ghastly Hunger into the real world. Putting it on his gloveless hand, he made it imitate the fingerless glove.
With his new soul-eating glove, all he needed now was a pair of golden-rimmed glasses and a revolver.
'…What am I even talking about?'