A sensation of weightlessness pulled Isolde back to reality.
The blinding silver light abruptly receded from her vision.
When she opened her eyes, she was still standing in the underground laboratory of Crow Candle Castle.
The green eerie flames flickered faintly. Lia stood guard by her side as always. Sensing something unusual, she called out softly,
“Miss?”
Isolde did not answer.
She lowered her head, her gaze falling upon her right wrist.
An exquisite bracelet had appeared there out of thin air.
It looked as though it had been recast from the melted remains of the damaged Mooncrown Lock.
Silver-white sacred bone patterns intertwined with crystal veins as fine as spiderwebs, fitting snugly around her pale wrist.
At the very center of the bracelet, a dark-red gem was embedded.
The color was incredibly deep, resembling coagulated blood or fire wrapped in the dead of night.
Isolde raised her hand, and the dark-red gem glowed faintly.
In the next instant, a beam of intertwined black and red light shot out from the gem, landing precisely inside the coffin and enveloping the cold remains of the unicorn.
Under Isolde's watchful gaze, the unicorn's lusterless remains began to change bit by bit within that light.
Its broken bones emitted soft clicking sounds.
The joints of its dismantled body began to regrow, the torn flesh closed up bit by bit, and the exposed skeleton was covered with new flesh.
The scars once left behind by the Holy Court were slowly wiped away as if by an invisible hand.
However, it did not return to its original pure white.
Starting from its chest, a pitch-black color began to spread.
It was like the night swallowing a crescent moon.
Or like ashes blanketing mottled snow.
Its mane gradually turned dark red, and the broken horn on its forehead began to reshape, extending with a sharp luster.
Ultimately, it formed a single pitch-black horn.
Fine red lines wound along the horn from root to tip, looking like an uncooled wound.
Inside the coffin, the eyelashes of the prone unicorn fluttered slightly.
In the next moment, it opened its eyes, revealing a pair of crimson eyes.
They lacked the soft, heart-melting gentleness of the Mooncrown Unicorn, and had none of a holy beast's natural compassion.
Its gaze was quiet, so quiet it was almost sharp.
Waking from a long history of deception and death, it had finally confirmed one thing to the entire continent of Celantia:
It no longer needed anyone's worship, nor did it need to be defined by hypocritical gods.
From now on, it would run only for its own will.
The unicorn slowly rose from the coffin and lowered its head, letting out a snort.
Lia took a step forward, shielding Isolde.
Looking at the darkened unicorn, Isolde raised her hand and pressed it against Lia's shoulder.
“No need to be nervous, Lia.”
She said softly, “Step back.”
Lia unconditionally obeyed her master's command and respectfully withdrew to the side.
The unicorn, pitch-black with a blood-red mane, stepped out of the coffin and walked toward Isolde.
With every step it took, a dark-red halo eerily surfaced on the black stone floor.
It stopped before her and lowered its head, its crimson eyes quietly gazing at her.
【Special Life Born: Corona Unicorn】
【Quality: Legendary · Mutated】
【Status: Newborn】
【Faction Alignment: Crow Candle Castle】
【Contractor: Isolde】
[It is the flower of evil that bloomed from the remaining ruins of the Mooncrown. Burned endlessly by resentment, its lies were torn apart by the witch, who brought back its untampered true name.
It no longer belongs to the flawless moonlight, nor does it bow to the crown of a false god.
It is freedom breaking free from its shackles, the true fire rekindling from the ashes.]
【Trait 1: Flawed Holiness】
【Description: The Corona Unicorn's holiness has fallen into the dark night. It is immune to standard Holy Light, and can simultaneously exert tier suppression on targets with decay, undead, curse, and Holy Light attributes.】
【Trait 2: Insight】
【Description: When a hostile target initiates a judgment or secret art in the name of “holiness,” “righteousness,” or “sacrifice,” the Corona Unicorn will absolutely see through their true sins and intentions, inflicting ultimate soul-level dread on all enemies.】
【Trait 3: Hellfire】
【Description: Born from thorns, it can extremely keenly sense unpaid blood debts. The deeper the target's sins and the heavier their blood debt, the more intense the hellfire rekindled at the tip of its horn will be.】
【Note: Hellfire damage can theoretically stack infinitely, but the actual burst limit is affected by the Corona Unicorn's growth stage, the contractor's capacity, and the battlefield environment.】
Inside the laboratory, the violent pressure gradually receded.
Isolde's throat felt a bit tight. She slowly raised her hand, trying to touch the long black horn before her.
The horn was freezing to the touch, like thousand-year-old unmelting ice-iron.
Yet the winding dark-red blood lines felt like a living current, docilely breathing warmth against her cool fingertips.
The Corona Unicorn lowered its head, gently resting its forehead against her palm, as if confirming something.
A moment later, it turned into a beam of black and red light, entering the gem on her right wrist.
Isolde stared at her right wrist, remaining silent for a full three seconds.
“...No way.”
As if unable to believe it, she raised her right hand and shook it hard.
“Am I seriously carrying a legendary unicorn around with me?”
Isn't this setup a bit too overpowered?
In this godforsaken world of 《Fallen Realm》, when other people went out with pets, they'd have a sharp-tailed bird, a treasure-hunting cat, or a high-tier snow wolf at most.
That was already top-tier enough to post screenshots of in the guild to show off, drawing a crowd of Descenders to call them a lucky bastard.
But look at her.
She was directly carrying a black-and-red unicorn that had just mutated and reborn from a holy beast's remains.
Before Isolde could recover from the shock of this 'overnight wealth,' the gray system screen popped up once more.
【Contract established: Exclusive Legendary-grade equipment reconstruction complete.】
【You have obtained Legendary-grade equipment: Corona Band】
【Quality: Legendary · Unique】
【Bound Contracted Life: Corona Unicorn】
【Equipment Description: A special item reconstructed from the damaged Mooncrown Lock, the flawed radiance of the Mooncrown clan, and the Proxy of Last Wishes mark.】
【Additional Effect 1: Corona Habitation】
【Description: The band contains its own domain. The unicorn can enter it at any time to slumber, rest, and completely conceal its aura. It cannot be detected by anyone below the level of supreme deities.】
【Additional Effect 2: Residual Radiance Recovery】
【Description: When the unicorn is inside the Corona Band, its injury recovery speed is increased by 100%, and it can slowly repair cracks in its soul.】
【Additional Effect 3: True Name Summoning】
【Description: The contractor can summon the unicorn to fight by their side by calling its true name. Current summon cooldown: Depends on the unicorn's physical state.】
【Additional Effect 4: Distance Limit】
【Description: Since the Corona Band is reconstructed from physical matter of the current world, there is a limit to its spatial anchoring.
When the physical distance between the unicorn and the contractor exceeds 1,000 meters, or spans different planes, the band's passive recall mechanism will temporarily fail.
In this state, the unicorn cannot be instantly recalled to the Corona Band. The contractor must personally approach within the limit range, or the unicorn must return on its own.】
【Warning】: In the ultra-long-distance state where the Corona Band is disabled, if the Corona Unicorn suffers a fatal injury, 【Residual Radiance Recovery】 cannot be passively triggered. Please carefully plan your combat radius.
As Isolde's eyes swept over the final line of red warning text, her slightly floating spirits instantly cooled down.
“...Tsk.”
She rubbed the Corona Band on her wrist.
“I knew this crappy system wouldn't give out pure benefits for nothing.”
In other words, while the unicorn was powerful, it wasn't a brainless cheat that could be instantly recalled from an infinite distance.
If it were ever forcibly isolated by an enemy using spatial secret arts, or if it ran too far, this legendary Corona Band would temporarily turn into nothing more than a pretty, useless bracelet.
Lia quietly looked at her wrist and suddenly asked,
“Miss, do we need to prepare a stable for it?”
Isolde looked down at the dark-red gem on the Corona Band.
Through the clear facets of the gem, she could faintly see the reflection of the black unicorn, curled up obediently in the dark-red glow.
Its fiery mane drifted gently, and its eyes were tightly shut, looking as peaceful as a newborn baby.
Isolde laughed. “It's currently living in a 'Legendary-grade Unique Exclusive Suite.' The internal environment and mana density might even be better than what the castle has to offer.”
No sooner had she spoken than the floor of the underground laboratory suddenly shook.
The surrounding green eerie flames swayed in unison, and a low creaking sound echoed from within the walls, as if the entire castle was shaking restlessly.
Isolde had almost forgotten.
Her castle didn't just eat people, hide things, and adjust its own traps—it also threw tantrums occasionally.
And it had quite the temper.
Isolde immediately raised her hand and gently patted the cold wall beside her, as if coaxing an oversized cat.
“I didn't say you were bad.”
The tremor in the floor grew slightly stronger.
Isolde continued to soothe it. “Really. Crow Candle Castle is my headquarters, my safehouse, my base of operations. It's the core asset that will make me rich, crush my enemies, and lead me to the pinnacle of life in the future.”
The creaking within the walls paused slightly.
Isolde quickly added, “The Corona Band is just the unicorn's little portable room. You are my precious baby.”
As soon as these words fell, the flickering eerie flames in the laboratory finally settled down.
Isolde let out a sigh of relief. It was finally coaxed.
Being a boss these days wasn't easy.
One moment she was acquiring a mutated legendary unicorn, and the next she had to soothe a jealous castle.
She had to remember this for the future.
Never praise another 'house' in front of her precious baby.
Even if that house was just a unicorn's 'exclusive suite' inside a bracelet.
In the next second, flashing gray text emerged in the void once more.
【System Notification: The Corona Unicorn is currently awaiting naming.】
【Note: Please bestow a new name upon it. Once confirmed, the true name will be permanently bound to the contract.】
Isolde staring at the pulsing words, found herself in a bit of a dilemma.
When naming such a mutated holy beast, she couldn't exactly call it 'Blackie' or 'Lucky,' could she?
She stared at the eerie flames and pondered for a moment.
“...Let's call you Moon.” she murmured softly.
As the name left her lips, the black unicorn curled up deep within the gem slowly opened its eyes.
The gem suddenly flared with light, and in the next second, a system notification popped up.
【Naming successful.】
【Corona Unicorn: Moon】
【Binding complete.】
【Affinity increased.】
【Echo of Last Wishes: Completed】
Rate on N.U.
