The Spell whispered into her ear, its voice strangely quiet:
[Your Memory has been destroyed.]
[...You have received an Attribute.]
***
"Yes."
Sunny stirred, not quite asleep, but not quite awake yet, either.
He felt tired… exhausted, really. He was also truly and utterly out cold, which meant that all his incarnations had fallen into a deep slumber. The Lord of Shadows was sleeping on his throne — of course, he was. After all, he had been riding Nightmare on a journey across dreams not too long ago. Rain's teacher was asleep, as well, hidden safely in her shadow.
That guy had to wake up quickly, though, lest something unexpected or undesirable happened.
As for the original body…
'When did I pass out, anyway?'
Before Sunny could will himself awake, a blinding flash suddenly shone through his eyelids. Opening his eyes with a start, he just managed to catch a glimpse of a ray of pure white light entering Neph's body.
She was illuminated from within for a moment, as if there was a literal star burning in her chest. Then, the radiance dimmed, and he could see her lovely features clearly once again.
Neph had a distant expression on her face, tilting her head a little. It was as if she was listening to something happening inside her soul.
The sword he had forged was nowhere to be seen…
It took Sunny a few moments to realize the implication.
His eyes widened.
Jerking upright, she stared at her and asked hurriedly:
"Did it work?"
Sunny had collapsed from exhaustion immediately after finishing sewing the shadow of the sword and Neph's shadow together, so he did not even have the chance to study the result.
Had his binding held?
Did the Spell do what it was supposed to and oversee the process?
And not quite as importantly, and just as curiously…
How had it named the new Memory? What description had it given it?
Usually, Sunny named and described the Memories he crafted personally. But reforging the Dream Blade was different — after all, he had never taken it from Neph's soul. It had always remained a Memory belonging to a carrier of the Nightmare Spell, and therefore, one under the Spell's purview. That was the whole point.
Nephis lingered for a moment, then shifted and looked at him with a faint smile.
With that, she outstretched her hand. It shone with a soft radiance, and a ray of radiant light shot from it, instantly taking the form of a beautiful longsword.
The sunlight reflected on its silvery blade, making the room feel brighter.
Sunny let out a relieved sigh.
That was not all, though…
A moment later, the longsword ignited with incandescent light, making its presence feel even more daunting… overwhelming, even. Nephis must have used her Aspect to augment it.
Infused with soul flame, the silver blade seemed like a narrow line of pristine whiteness, a rift in the fabric of reality that cut the world in half. It was so pure and bright that he struggled to discern if the weapon Nephis was holding was still made from steel, or had simply turned into a sharp, narrow plain of radiant flame.
Then, the shape of the sword suddenly rippled, and it turned into a stream of liquid fire… or incandescent metal, perhaps. That stream flowed down Neph's right arm, wrapping around it and turning into a silver bracelet.
She studied it with a curious expression, then looked back at Sunny and beamed with a brilliant smile.
"Yes. It worked."
The stoic, unflappable Changing Star…
Was just like an excited girl who had received a shiny new toy.
Looking at her, Sunny couldn't help but smile, as well.
'...I should forge her soulbound relics more often.'