As my body filled up with divine energy, I instantly felt the familiar coldness bloom.
The sheer chill did not lose its intensity in the slightest, and on the contrary, its ferocity even felt partially enhanced compared to when it was dormant, now affecting all of my body equally.
Somehow, despite the frigidity severely lowering my body temperature like in the past, it even felt comfortable, more refreshing, like I was being cooled by a gentle breeze.
Also, although I would have thought the addition of a new force inside me to only muddy the waters, I strangely found it easier to feel the flow of the magic energy in my blood, as if the divine energy was making it clearer.
On second thought, perhaps that was more a side-effect of my body as a whole growing stronger with the divine energy―the enhancement included all of my senses, and with that being further amplified by Heightened Senses, it probably stood to reason that that was what caused the heightened clarity.
'Maybe I should use it for magic training...'
Keeping that idea in mind, I nodded and took a deep breath, moving my attention to the Holy Sword in my hands.
Unlike magic energy, it was surprisingly effortless to manipulate the divine energy, maybe because it wasn't locked within my blood.
Incidentally, I didn't know how the divine energy was able to travel through me without anything like the mana veins people with magic energy were supposed to have, but well, it worked flawlessly regardless, so I couldn't complain.
When I manifested it, it simply filled and enveloped my whole body naturally, but I could concentrate it to focus on a particular area, further increasing the enhancement to a certain extent.
In that manner, I easily concentrated the energy to my hands, and further to interact with the Holy Sword, immediately met with a wall of resistance.
Fortunately, all it took was a gentle push, and just like that, the divine energy encroached to encompass the hilt of the blade, flowing from my body to the weapon smoother than expected.
In the following moments, the cool divine energy suddenly burst forth and filled the whole length of the Holy Sword as per my will, wrapping around it to emanate a subtle, icy glow, incomparable to the radiance it usually bore, and with a superlative aura.
The runes on the base of the blade reacted to the divine energy, emitting similar colours and seeming even to shift in form, and as for the crystal that contained the spirit of the Ancient Hero, I didn't foresee it, but it also transformed.
And so followed the rest of the blade, changing not just incorporeally but now physically, too.
Rendered speechless, all I could do was watch with widened eyes as the weapon altered right before me, remodelling, reshaping, reconstructing itself into a completely different form in my grasp.
Before long, the weapon ceased shifting, the transformation complete.
It had altered according to the desires of the Winter Mother's divine energy; its blade slightly lengthened, the area near the point becoming serrated, almost like a saw of its own, bearing rows of unusual crescent edges.
The runes, albeit unintelligible to my eyes, were clearly different, and the spirit's crystal now turned white, infected with frost as if to resemble the core that had previously been sealed within my heart.
The fact it was a large longsword was unchanged, though the shape was indeed different and even the crossguard had turned into a dual crescent, back-to-back with the base of the blade at the centre between them.
Adding the colour scheme on top, having altered from an almost gaudy white and gold to a white and ice blue, the two blood-red crescents of the crossguard being the only thing to go against that pattern.
All in all, maybe I was a bit biased, but the very atmosphere of the weapon had, in my opinion, become drastically different. Not just mystical, but dangerous, and something I felt truly comfortable calling a 'legendary weapon'.
It was both elegant and sharp. Aesthetic and refined, yet patently lethal.
As if it was forged from the purest of ice and soaked in moonlight.
Gazing down at the weapon, accustoming myself to the changed feel of it in my grasp, I felt the subtle rising of the ends of my lips.
'Oh, it's good... Wow.'
Honestly, there wasn't much to say. Simply, it was a perfect fit in my hands, as if it was designed and crafted this way just for me, even with the Draconic Shadow on... Although, that's probably precisely what happened.
At some point, while I was examining and staring at the sword, reflective enough to see the patently satisfied smile plastered on my own face, I realised something odd.
My eyes, which were normally jade green... were red?
'...Hm. Strange. Am I seeing this right?'
Frowning, I brought the blade up closer to my face, but that only made it clearer.
I wasn't just seeing things.
Muttering that as my head naturally tilted to the side, I suddenly noticed Lucretia's presence moving in the other room. Lowering the Holy Sword, I turned to the door just in time to see her enter, evidently having just woken up.
Without hesitation, I asked.
"Hey, are my eyes red?"
In fact, now that she was here, I found myself subconsciously comparing what I saw in the reflection to her eyes.
And indeed, they were exactly the same colour.
"...Fair morning to you as well. That is a natural result of having accepted the true presence of the Winter Mother within you. It will only show itself when you evoke Her power, there's no need to be so concerned."
Hearing her respond calmly like so, I also quickly calmed down.
"Oh. Wait, is that why your eyes are red too?"
Asking her as she neatly closed the door behind her, she responded while walking over to take a seat in one of the room's few armchairs and elegantly crossing one leg over the other, as expected of a princess.
"My features are a result of the Christina-Rasa bloodline being directly inherited from the first descendent of the Winter Mother. They are permanent and cannot be altered aside from magical means."
Nodding at her explanation, I glanced back down at the new Holy Sword, my attention naturally drifting again to the reflection of my own face in the icy blade.
Dismissing my divine energy, I watched as the crimson eyes casted back from within that mirror image gradually turned dormant, reverting to their original jade state in real time.
I let out a small sigh, and right after that, dismissed the sword. Thɪs chapter is updated by Novᴇl_Fire(.)net
Then, glancing at the item placed in Storage, I hesitated for just a moment before opening the description.
Item - [Divine Sword of the Winter Moon]
As I suspected, the change wasn't purely cosmetic.