~~ READ AUTHORS NOTE AT THE END ~~
The morning smelled like flowers. On the Forgotten Shore, this was not a good sign.
Juno lay still for a moment in his carved groove high in the spine, letting the scent creep in through the gaps between vertebrae. It wasn't the usual mix of salt, rot, and old blood. This was sweet, almost syrupy, with a metallic note under the sweetness that made his tongue feel coated.
He grimaced.
He had never smelled this before, but considering his location, it didn't take a genius to figure it out. The blood flowers were active.
Groaning even more, Juno rolled his feet off the cot, expanded his senses, and tugged at the silk next to his bed. This is what he was collecting the iron for: to make an echo-location-like thing for himself. He connected one end to the base of Bongo, another towards his camp, and the last at the head of where he slept. All he had to do to make sure no creepers were around him was pull at the fiber, and his Innate Ability would do the rest.
He rolled out of the groove and dropped to the spine floor, Azure Carapace already forming around him in a flurry of pale sparks. The black‑and‑azure scales settled against his skin with familiar weight. His Snake Mask was already on (he hadn't taken it off in weeks), and he had already pulled down Execution with him. He had made quite sure that these two Memories were almost never unsummoned.
Groaning a little more, Juno did his morning routine.
Only when he had finished did he step out.
…
The scent grew thicker as he approached the basin.
He'd marked the place two days ago: a shallow depression ringed by coral, black mud in the middle, and two Bleeding Blooms rising from it like obscene altar pieces. Today, the flowers were fully open, petals spread wide, glistening wet.
They were worse up close.
Each petal was veined with darker lines, pulsing faintly as if something moved through them. The centers were pits of deeper red, almost black, where the vines below converged. The nest beneath the mud shifted lazily, loops of corded growth coiling and uncoiling like sleeping snakes.
Juno stopped at the rim, feeling the sweetness curl around his head like smoke.
Honestly, he didn't really understand how dangerous these things were. As far as he could tell, as long as you didn't breathe in the smoke, then they couldn't do anything. Simple logic, right? Plants can't move.
The Shore, as always, took that thought as a challenge.
He almost missed the change.
The pulsing veins along the nearest Bloom's petals sped up. The dark pit at its center widened, like an eye dilating. Beneath the mud, the nest drew in on itself, coils tightening.
Something soft brushed his boots.
Juno looked down.
A thin carpet of red hairs — finer than threads — had already crept across the mud from the basin, spreading toward him in a low wave. Where they touched his soles, they quivered, tasting.
He hadn't felt them.
The sweetness pressed a little harder at the back of his throat.
Piercing Mind jolted, then snapped everything into cruel clarity.
"Oh," Juno said flatly. "Australia, dear, I don't have a passport for you."
The nearest hairs struck.
Quickly, they wrapped themselves around Juno's ankle and tried to drag him into the collection of flowers before him. They didn't get to do much, though, as Juno had already cut the threads.
The rest of the carpet froze, ends lifted, and tasted the air like a field of needle‑fine tongues.
The blooms took his resistance as consent to escalate.
The dark pit at its center convulsed; a bundle of thicker filaments shot out in a straight cone toward his chest. At the same time, the hairs surged again, trying to climb over his boots, up his calves, to lock him in place.
He jumped sideways down the slope.
The cone of filaments skimmed past his ribs instead of skewering him, close enough that he felt the displaced air. A few fringe threads still kissed Azure Carapace, scraping pale lines into black‑and‑azure scales and nipping the skin through seams.
Pain flared hot along his left thigh.
He hit the churned mud on one knee, slid, and rolled, hacking low as he moved. Execution mowed through another swath of hair, turning the ground around him into a mess of severed red fibers.
The sweetness thickened again, pushing at the edges of his thoughts.
It was right then that he noticed something. Right when the plant's invasive mind attack deepened, a whole new feeling opened up to Juno.
He couldn't quite explain it with words, only feelings. Somehow, someway, it felt like there was a "bridge" between Juno and the plant. They existed as two separate islands, yet the mind attack seemed to be what connected them.
The moment he realized and felt this bridge, the bush of flowers slowed down drastically. Instinctively, Juno deepened this connection. Instantly, a picture formed in his head.
He was standing on the waters of his Soul Sea. He was an island. At the same time, he was also himself.
The blank and dead grey was all around him. Above him was his empty sun core, and even higher were the clouds and skies. Looking around, Juno saw the other island.
It was four small lumps of land together. It was casting a certain image, too, specifically of the bush he saw in real life.
'What… Is this happening?' Juno thought. He had never heard of such a thing. He didn't have any abilities related to the soul, well, except his Soul Blade, which he couldn't even use. How in the world could he be in a sort of Soul Duel against the plant? How in the world was any of this possible?
'Ah, but it is possible…'
Of course it was.
[Indomitable Humanity].
'What is a God to a non-believer? If God cannot do anything, who else dares to trample upon you? Of course!'
He had always wondered what this specific Attribute did. The description was so vague, and no matter what had happened before, it never activated. Today, against this mind attack, it seemed to have been activated. Guided by Piercing Mind, Juno instantly formed a hypothesis.
'I am indomitable. Any and all beings who attack my mind or soul are transported to my Soul Sea, where I duel them. Considering the fact that I am not getting killed in real life means that the flowers also froze.'
But something else was missing. What was the point of doing all this? Why couldn't he just get an immunity to mind and soul attacks instead?
To answer himself, he felt a tingle in his fingers. One could say a rippling inside his being. Just like all Awakened knew what to do with their Aspects, Juno now knew what to do with his soul. Looking out in front of him, Juno saw both the insides of his Soul Sea and the outside world. He saw the islands in the waters and the bush in the mud. To him, they looked slightly greyer. As if all their color was being drained out of them. As if they have been poisoned.
Maybe this was part of the Attribute, or maybe this was his Innate Ability shining through once again. He didn't care.
Slowly, Juno raised his hand in a finger gun gesture and pointed it at the islands in front of him.
"Boom."
The waters rose, the dead sun flared, and the crimson rust shot out. They all followed his commands. They all acted as one, since Juno was one. No other Awakened could control his Soul Sea like this, simply because Juno was different from any other Awakened.
The islands stood no chance.
Within mere moments, the islands were wiped away from his Sea of Soul. The sun then grew calm, emitting no light. The waters calmed, going as deathly as before. The rust receded back into the depths, waiting to be called upon again.
He had won the Soul Duel. Just like all the other Divine Aspect wielders, he had his own method of protecting his soul.
'Perhaps not protecting, but attacking with it. How curious.'
With a wish, Juno returned to the real world. He got slightly disoriented for a second, since there was absolutely nothing to sense inside his Soul Sea, but recovered quickly enough. He looked at his former advisor and affirmed his guess.
The flowers were hollow.
It was obvious there was no soul in them; he did just wipe it out, but curiously enough, it seemed there was no thought or intelligence in them either. The only thing that remained of the being was its body and shadow. Even its spirit seemed to have disappeared.
Calmly walking up to it, Juno used Execution to slice the four flowers off from their roots, instantly killing the four Awakened Beasts. The Spell had apparently decided that the things weren't dead yet.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Bleeding Bloom.]
[Your desire sharpens.]
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Bleeding Bloom.]
[Your desire sharpens.]
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Bleeding Bloom.]
[Your desire sharpens.]
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Bleeding Bloom.]
[Your desire sharpens.]
Juno felt the magnificent rush of Soul Fragments enter his body. He had just earned himself eight fragments and was about to earn another eight. As he cut the Bleeding Blooms open, looking for their Soul Shards, Juno was deep in thought.
'Perhaps these horns are not actually a sign of my Nightmarish nature. What if it is a crown?'
It was a perfect thought, one that his Flaw seemed to agree with. His nature seemed to be much deeper and more complex than Juno ever thought.
It was a great feeling.
…
Having an Awakened Monster right on his heels was not a great feeling.
Actually, it was the opposite.
How could a bigger version of an Iron Spider be so fast? Like, this thing probably weighed a ton and was like five meters tall. Why the hell could it keep up with a sprinting Juno?
Its steps rattled the webbed canyon like distant artillery, every impact sending a hard tremor through the iron silk ahead of it. Juno darted along the narrow corridor he'd mapped earlier, lungs burning, cheek stinging from where he had cut himself while practicing with Execution earlier that day.
Behind, the Monster came on.
Its layered iron exoskeleton drank the dim light, eight thick legs punching lines of force into the strands. Every few heartbeats, its abdomen flexed and spat more silk, the fresh lines hissing past him to anchor ahead, trying to box him in.
'Crown, huh?' Juno thought, as another spray of threads scraped along Azure Carapace. 'Right now, it feels more like a target. I would much rather not have my damn [Malicious] Attribute! These abominations fucking love me because of it.'
He ducked under a low line, vaulted a fallen chunk of coral, and burst into the small clearing he'd been aiming for — a pocket where the coral walls bent outward and the web coverage thinned, leaving more bare mud and fewer ready‑made anchors.
'Oh boy, here we fucking go. Monster monster on the wall, or something.'
Juno stopped on a dime, no longer running.
The spider did not.
It charged into the clearing at full speed, Newton's first law acting upon it. Its front legs were already rising for the instinctive pin‑and‑skewer it had used on every other bit of prey. Silk lines snapped taut behind it, trying to brake, but there was only so much they could do.
Juno threw himself backward into the charge.
Dropping to the ground and dashing backward was a little difficult, but it was manageable. Juno guided his body directly under one of the skidding legs, so close in fact that his shoulder almost got caught in it. At the same time, he whipped Execution up and did the same move as he had always done against the Spider Legion.
He cut off the bastard's leg.
Juno rolled clear, came up in a crouch, and bared his teeth.
The spider's remaining legs stabbed down, catching new angles. It didn't trip, just redistributed weight faster than seemed fair. Its abdomen flexed again, vomiting a wide fan of iron silk toward him.
Juno dove sideways.
'Why can't I take this thing into a Soul Duel damnit?!'
Since starting his battles against the spiders, Juno had gotten way better at dodging their silk. Sadly, he wasn't yet accustomed to how fast this Monster spewed it out, so a small amount of the silk caught on his knee and bit into it. A small amount of pain flared up, but it wasn't so bad.
The spider pivoted, trying to stay between him and the canyon exit, forcing him toward the more web‑heavy side of the clearing. Its missing leg dragged at its balance; each turn was a shade slower now, a touch less perfect.
He needed more of that.
He feinted toward the left wall, heels kicking mud, then cut hard to the right at the last moment, sprinting past one of the beast's front corners. A stabbing leg came down to block; he dropped into a low slide, Execution flashing out to bite at the joint as he passed.
The cut wasn't clean this time — his angle was bad due to his leg — but the edge still dug deep, scraping bone. Awakened versus Ascended was never fair, after all.
The spider screamed and jerked away from Juno, giving him enough space to dash away unimpeded. Turning, Juno caught the moment where the spider put weight on its injured leg, snapping it completely off.
Another scream echoes from the spider, bringing a savage amount of joy to Juno. His Flaw also liked it, something along the lines of fulfilling his desires or whatever.
The next volley of silk hit where his head had just been, webbing the rock in gleaming grey.
He forced himself up before his body really wanted to.
The spider charged again, legs spread out and much more cautiously this time. It seemed to have learned. It stabbed multiple anchors into the mud and nearby stone, then yanked on them, tightening a net of lines overhead and at chest height.
A cage.
Juno stepped into it.
In fact, he wasn't worried at all.
Execution hummed in his hand as he moved, a short, sharp dash straight into the thickest part of the web. The threads bit at Azure Carapace, shrieking against his armor, but his blade was faster. Each swing was a precise, economical cut, severing only what needed to die for him to keep his speed.
The cage tried to close.
He went through it instead.
Silk parted around him in stuttering, delayed lines, as if the world itself was reacting a fraction of a second too slow. In three long strides and a flurry of cuts, he was past the worst of it and directly beneath the spider's raised body.
For a heartbeat, its many eyes widened.
Too late.
Juno planted his feet, both hands on the hilt, and drove Execution up with everything he had.
The belly of pretty much all creatures was a weak point, albeit still armored. This spider was no different. It took Juno all the strength he had to not only swing his sword through the majority of the abomination's stomach, but also to dodge the multiple legs that attacked him.
Hot blue blood and dark colored organs spilled out, slapping onto his armor and painting his long red hair another color. The Iron Spider convulsed, legs hammering down blindly, but its strength was already pouring out onto the ground with its insides. Belatedly, Juno realized how much water he would have to spend to wash himself, but it mattered much less than the monster dying.
It did moments later.
Barely sliding out from under it, the spider collapsed into a pool of its own blood and organs, breathing out its last breath whilst glaring at its killer. Juno just looked down at it and winked.
[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Iron Arachnid.]
[You have received a Memory: Iron Boots.]
[Your desire sharpens.]
…
Juno was now lying in his bed, listening to the approaching waters as the sun finally left its perch in the sky.
He was looking at his Runes, checking out how many Soul Fragments he had gotten after eighteen days in the Forgotten Shore. It was a beautiful number. Between the Scavengers, Bleeding Blooms, and Iron Spiders, he had collected many more fragments than Sunny.
[Soul Fragments: 130/1000]
Grinning widely, Juno moved on to look at his new Memory again. They were pretty great, especially considering the fact that they were a Garment type and not an Armor type.
Memory: [Iron Boots]
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Tier: II.
Memory Type: Garment.
Description - [A spider is never harmed by its own silk.]
Memory Enchantments: [Same Type]
[Same Type] Enchantment Description: [When standing upon iron, the durability of all armor is increased.]
The enchantment wasn't very useful, since there was no metal to stand on, but it was actually the shoes themselves. When Juno had tried them on earlier during his walk home and during training, he discovered they had three-inch spikes on the tips of the boots. They were also quite comfortable, both looking and feeling like Timberlands.
If for nothing else, climbing anything would become much easier since he could just impale the spike into the wall and use it as a step.
Then, he heard it before he smelled it.
Something acrid and wet, like old feathers and stagnant brine, cut through the familiar salt of the Forgotten Shore. Then came the sound — a slow, dragging slosh of something massive wading out of the water and onto the bone.
Something was wading into his camp.
The haze of satisfaction vanished.
Juno froze, then rolled silently to the side, eyes narrowing as he peered toward the edge of the camp. He could barely see anything now. He could usually see through the dark quite well, but now it seemed the darkness and shadows grew darker and deeper. It seemed to be hiding something.
He stared.
For a long, taut minute, he focused on the darkness, letting his senses stretch, forcing his mind to sharpen past the magical haze. Slowly, painfully, after what seemed like half an hour, he finally saw the outline. It was that of a hunched body, wings held close and at weird angles, a hooked silhouette with horns and a massive beak. Its black talons gleamed in the darkness, somehow reflecting the shadows themselves.
It was a massive, soaked, and dangerous bird abomination.