Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sunny stared into the night sky, smoke appearing with each breath he took. He was sitting on a bench within an empty park, holding onto a cup of coffee — real coffee that is!

Sunny had spent all his life savings on this cup of coffee, which would be quite ridiculous from the average individual's perspective. Of course, Sunny was not the average individual, quite below average in fact. Living his entire life in poverty did not necessarily get him to the heights of an average person.

Sunny was currently thirteen — almost fourteen — had ghostly pale skin, along with black hair, a matching set of eyes that seemed to absorb light itself, and a skeletal figure caused by malnourishment. He was on the shorter side, barely reaching five feet in height.

It was currently a cold November night on the planet that was known as the origin the point of humanity. Earth was quite desolate, considering it used to sustain billions of people; there were few planets that could boast the same, as humanity was spread across the galaxy.

The main reason that Earth was abandoned, was due to the descent of the Nightmare Spell: a phenomena that infects individuals and turns them into either the powerful warriors known as Awakened, or the dreadful abominations known as Nightmare Creatures.

At the time of the Nightmare Spell's arrival, all those tens of thousands of years ago, interstellar travel had just been conceived. The rapid spawning of Nightmare Creatures was entirely focused on Earth at the time, as their were no other civilization for them to assault. Humanity had rushed to board the ships under the belief that Earth was doomed, traveling across the stars in search of new homes.

Unfortunately, the Nightmare Spell chased down humanity no matter where they went.

Fortunately, the constant assault of Nightmare Creatures was proportional to population, so most other planets did not have an onslaught on the same scale as Earth once did.

Of course, Sunny did not have a formal education, and only had the scraps of information he had heard around the outskirts — an area bathed in poverty — to work with.

Sunny raised his hand to rub his eyes, as sleep was starting to call to him. He flinched after rubbing his left eye, the area around it being purple. A cut can be seen near his temple, although it wasn't bleeding. His left ring finger was bending at an awkward angle, swollen an bruised.

Today had been an… eventful day for the boy, much more than his days would normally be.

Sunny tried not to think about it.

He had much more worrying matters to attend to after all.

He took a sip of his coffee, feeling dark liquid pool into his mouth. He had never tasted real coffee before, always getting cheap, synthesized products due to his pitiful financial situation. Most of the time, his two meals of the day consisted of those tubes of synthpaste that the IPC developed. They tasted like literal plastic, so Sunny could easily guess that they weren't created for the average citizen to consume.

Just the ones who were on Sunny's side of the spectrum.

"Bleh! So bitter!"

Sunny expressed his predicament to the desolate park, nobody being around to acknowledge his concerns.

Indeed, his coffee was the largest of his concerns! He should have gotten real meat!

Sunny stood from his perch, walking to a nearby trash can. He tossed his cup of coffee, watching in dismay as it hit the rim, bouncing to the floor. Sunny bent over, reaching down to pick up the cup of coffee to put it back into the trash can. He didn't want to make this place any worse, considering this is one of the few places of greenery in the outskirts.

"Tch! Not even the trash cans believe in me, huh?"

Sunny stared at it in betrayal, before looking in the direction of a tree. There were a few carvings on the bark, which seemed to be the spot that Sunny was staring at. He stood still for a moment, before walking over to the tree. He dug into his pockets for a moment, fishing out a small pocket knife he held onto at all times.

He carved a line into the tree, stepping back for a moment. A complex emotion flashed across the young boys face, before he quickly turned around, not wanting to get distracted.

On the tree, there sat three lines.

Sunny sat back down on the bench, staring at the stars in the sky.

'I wonder, are the people out there living the type of life that I could only dream of, or are they simply in another, crueler type of hell?'

He didn't know the answer to that, and he never will.

Today was the day that Sunny would die.

That thought really sobered him up. He wasn't even at the age that most kids would go to high school, yet he was already facing the gates of death. Sunny didn't have much to live for, therefore, he wasn't exactly afraid of death.

Nobody in the Universe cared if he lived or died, so he wouldn't either.

Sunny was infected by the Nightmare Spell, and he was currently running out of precious time. Precious to most, at least. There was a rule that dictated that he go to the nearest police station so an Awakened can be called to monitor him. However, there was an extreme shortage of Awakened on earth, with the possibility of there being none. He would only cause trouble for the police, which he didn't want, as they had helped him out a few times during some… altercations.

Of course, he might end up being a danger to anyone who passed by, but there was hardly anybody who passed through this park. Even if they did, he'd probably be a weak enough Nightmare Creature that they could wrestle him to death!

Sunny laughed hoarsely for a moment, amused by his own joke. The ragged sound exited out of his chapped lips, deteriorating as he kept laughing. At some point, he started to sob, tears streaking down his pale cheeks.

He laid down on his side, his shoulders shaking as he continued to weep. He curled up into a position similar to that of a fetus within the womb. The merciless, ghastly claw of sleep gently called him into his embrace, crying to himself all the while.

Sunny was not afraid to die. However, he was afraid of how he was going to die.

He recalled a wish from long ago, spoken by a dying woman on her death bed. She was kept company by to young children, both with features identical to each other.

Sunny simply couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't allow himself to die. Not yet. Not until that wish was fulfilled.

Dying in such a manner brought him no solace.

Sunny wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt, nothing left but cold determination within his abyssal eyes. He took one last glance at the tree, before finally…

His Nightmare began.

***

[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for the First Trial…]

Sunny dreamt of a mountain.

Jagged and lonesome, it dwarfed other peaks of the mountain chain, cutting the night sky with its sharp edges. A radiant moon bathed its slopes in the ghostly, pale light.

On one of the slopes, the remnants of an old road stubbornly clung to the rocks. Here and there, weathered paved stones could be seen through the snow. To the right side of the road, a sheer cliff face rose as an impregnable wall. To the left, a silent black sea of nothingness indicated an endless fall. Strong winds crashed into the mountain over and over again, screaming in powerless rage.

Suddenly, the moon fell over the horizon. The sun rose from the west, streaked across the sky and disappeared in the east. Snowflakes jumped from the ground and returned into the embrace of clouds. Sunny realized that he was seeing the flow of time in reverse.

In an instant, hundreds of years flew by. The snow retreated, baring the old road. Cold shivers ran down Sunny's back as he noticed human bones littering the ground. A moment later, the bones were gone, and in their place, a slave caravan appeared, moving backwards down the mountain in the clamor of chains.

Time slowed, stopped, and then resumed its usual pace.

'What… what the hell is this?'

Step. Step. Another step.

A dull ache was radiating through Sunny's bleeding feet as he was shivering from cold. His threadbare tunic was nearly useless against the biting wind. His wrists were the main source of agony: badly hurt by the iron shackles, they sent a sharp pang of pain every time the freezing metal touched his broken skin.

'What kind of a situation is this?!'

Sunny looked up and down, noticing a long chain winding up the road, with dozens and dozens of hollow-eyed people — slaves just like him — shackled to it at small intervals. Ahead of him, a man with broad shoulders and a bloodied back was walking with a measured gait. Behind him, a shifty-looking guy with quick, desperate eyes was quietly cursing under his breath in a language that Sunny did not know, but somehow still understood. From time to time, armed horsemen in ancient-style armor would pass by, giving the slaves menacing looks.
However you judged it, things were really bad.

Sunny was more bewildered than panicked. True, these circumstances were not like what the First Nightmares were supposed to be. Usually, freshly chosen aspirants would find themselves in a scenario that presented them with a fair amount of agency: they would become members of privileged or warrior casts, with plenty of access to necessary weapons to at least try to tackle any conflict.

Starting out as a powerless slave, shackled and already half-dead, was as far from being ideal as one could imagine.

However, the Spell was as much about challenge as it was about balance. It created trials, not executions. So Sunny was pretty sure that, to counter this abysmal start, it would reward him with something good. A powerful Aspect, at least.

'Let's see… how do I do this?'

Remembering popular webtoons he read as a child, Sunny concentrated and thought about words like "status", "myself" and "information". Indeed, as soon as he focused, shimmering runes appeared in the air in front of him. Once again, although he did not know this ancient alphabet, the meaning behind it was somehow clear.
He quickly found the rune describing his Aspect… and, finally, lost his composure.

'What?! What the actual fuck?!'

Name: Sunless

True Name: —

Rank: Aspirant.

Soul Core: Dormant.

Memories: —

Echoes: —

Attributes: [Fated], [Mark of Divinity], [Child of Shadows].

Aspect: [Temple Slave].

Aspect Description: [Slave is a useless wretch with no skills or abilities worth a mention. A temple slave is just the same, except much rarer.]

Sunny was in the First Nightmare, a trial where Sunny could die and become a Nightmare Creature, or live and become an Awakened. The scenarios are designed to always be within the means of the challenger, yet he truly couldn't see any way in which he could survive.

Attributes and Aspects were the tools that the Aspirant would be given during their Nightmare. Usually, the Aspect wouldn't be too useful, as it wouldn't have any abilities yet, but some would come with a passive effect that would aid the Aspirant.

However, Sunny had none of that. He was a [Temple Slave]. There was nothing within a slaves arsenal that would help Sunny in this situation.

Speechless, Sunny stared at the runes, trying to convince himself that he was maybe just seeing things. Surely, he couldn't be that unlucky… right?

'Ah. I'm screwed.'

As soon as this thought appeared in his mind, he lost the rhythm of his steps and stumbled, pulling the chain down with his weight. Immediately, the shifty guy behind him screamed:

"Whore's bastard! Watch where you're going!"

Sunny hurriedly dismissed the runes, which were only visible to him, and tried to recover his balance. A moment later, he was once again walking steadily — however, not before inadvertently pulling on the chain one more time.

"You little shit! I'm going to kill you!"

The broad-shouldered man in front of Sunny chuckled without turning his head.

"Why bother? The weakling will be dead by sunrise anyway. The mountain will kill him."
A few seconds later, he added:

"It'll kill you and me, too. Just a bit later. I really don't know what the Imperials are thinking, forcing us into this cold."

The shifty guy gasped.

"Speak for yourself, fool! I'm planning to survive!"

Sunny silently shook his head and concentrated on not falling again.

'What a charming pair.'

Suddenly, a third voice joined the conversation from somewhere further back. This one sounded gentle and intelligent.

"This mountain pass is usually much warmer this time of year. We just had really bad luck. Also, I would advise you against harming this boy."

"Why is that?"

Sunny turned his head slightly, listening.

"Haven't you seen the markings on his skin? He is not like us, who fell into slavery due to debts, crimes or misfortune. He was born a slave. A temple slave, to be precise. Not long ago, the Imperials destroyed the last temple of the Shadow God. I suspect that this is how the boy ended up here."

The broad-shouldered man cast a look back.

"So what? Why should we be afraid of a half-forgotten, weakling god? He couldn't even save his own temples."

"The Empire is protected by the mighty War God. Of course they're not afraid to burn down a few temples. But we here are not protected by anything or anyone. Do you really want to risk angering a god?"

The broad-shouldered man grunted, not willing to answer.

Their conversation was stopped by a young soldier riding a beautiful, white horse. Clad in a simple leather cuirass, armed with a spear and a short sword, he looked dignified and noble. To Sunny's irritation, the asshole was really pretty, too. If this was a historical drama, the soldier would definitely be a male lead.

"What is going on here?"

There was no particular menace in his voice, even something resembling concern.

When everyone hesitated, the gentle-voiced slave answered:

"It's nothing, sir. We are just all tired and cold. Especially our young friend over there. This journey is truly too hard for someone that young."

The soldier looked at Sunny with pity.

'What are you looking at? You're not much older than me!' Sunny thought.

Of course, he didn't say anything out loud.
The soldier sighed and took a flask from his belt before extending it to Sunny.

"Bear with it a little more, child. We will stop for the night soon. For now, here, drink some water."

'Child? Child?!'

Due to his thin body and small stature, both caused by malnourishment, Sunny was often mistaken for someone younger. Usually, he didn't hesitate to use it to his advantage, but now, for some reason, being called a child really irked him.

'I'm thirteen you wretch!'

Still, he was really thirsty.

He was just about to take the flask when a whip cracked in the air, and suddenly Sunny was in a world of pain. He stumbled, once again pulling on the chain and causing the shifty slave behind him to curse.

Another soldier, this one older and angrier, stopped his horse a few steps back. The whip that sliced the back of Sunny's tunic open and drew blood belonged to him. Without even glancing at the slaves, the older soldier pierced his younger colleague with a disdainful glare.

"What do you think you're doing?"

The young soldier's face darkened.

"I was just giving this boy some water."

"He'll receive water with the rest of them once we camp!"

"But…"

"Shut your mouth! These slaves are not your friends. Understood? They're not even people. Treat them like people and they'll begin imagining things."

The young soldier looked at Sunny, then lowered his head and put the flask back on his belt.

"Don't let me catch you making friends with slaves again, newbie. Or next time it will be your back tasting my whip!"

As if to illustrate his intention, the older soldier cracked his whip in the air and rode past them, radiating threat and anger. Sunny watched him go with well-concealed malice.

Sunny glanced around, making sure to take in everything he could. Paranoia was seeping into the dark recesses of his mind, caused by the excessive peacefulness and the amount of possible threats around him.

He must have been the weakest slave here, which also made him much weaker than any of the slavers. Anyone could easily kill him on a whim if they so desired. This wasn't even taking into account the Nightmare Creature which hadn't appeared yet.

Within the First Nightmare, a single Nightmare Creature would be the opponent of the Aspirant. Once the Nightmare Creature was defeated, the Nightmare would end, and the Aspirant would proceed to the next step by becoming a Sleeper. The only difference in power between the two was that a Sleeper would gain an Aspect Ability.

However, Sunny was not worried about that now. He had other things worry about.

Using the opportunity, Sunny decided to take another look at his status and summoned the runes again. The last time he was too outraged by the Aspect and didn't study the Attributes well. While not as important as one's Aspect, the Attributes were often the deciding factor between life and death. They represented one's natural traits and affinities, sometimes even providing passive abilities and effects.

[Fated] Attribute Description: "The strings of fate wrap tightly around you. Unlikely events, both good and bad, are drawn by your presence. There are those who are blessed, and there are those who are cursed… but rarely both."

[Mark of Divinity] Attribute Description: "You bear a faint scent of divinity, as though someone briefly touched by it once, a long time ago."

[Child of Shadows] Attribute Description: "Shadows recognize you as one of their own."

'Hmmm… Interesting.'

Sunny quickly recognized the first attribute, [Fated], as the main culprit of his predicament. At first glance, it seemed to indicate that he was destined for a certain fate — to die miserably and vanish without a trace, for example. But after reading the description, he realized that being fated actually just meant that improbable things had a higher chance of occurring when he was around.

'I guess this is how I managed to receive one of the super rare useless Aspects — and a weird variant of it, at that!'

If [Fated] was his innate Attribute, then the other two came from the [Temple Slave] Aspect. [Mark of Divinity] was more a less straightforward — it was supposed to allow passage into certain sacred places inside the Dream Realm and enhance several types of sorcery. Since there were no sacred places in sight and Sunny's Aspect had nothing to do with sorcery, it was useless, too.

[Child of Shadows] was a stranger one. He had never heard of it and had no idea what it was supposed to do — at least not until the sun hid behind the mountain and the sky began to darken. To his surprise, Sunny found himself able to see perfectly in the darkness, as though it was still as bright as day. This ability alone was nothing to scoff at, and it was quite possible that shadows would reward him with some other, yet unknown, gifts.

Sunny stared off to the side, at the wall of the cliff face. There were was a shadow cast due to the sun being on the other side of the mountain, but it did not extend all the way to Sunny.

Without much regard for anything else, Sunny stepped a few times in the direction of the shadow, albeit at a slow pace, so as to not disrupt the caravan.

The moment he took a step into the shadows, he immediately stepped out, taking a glance behind him. The shifty guy didn't seem to be paying any attention to him, looking off to the edge of the road instead.

'…That could have been bad.'

The moment Sunny took a step into the shadows, he instinctively knew what the [Child of Shadows] attribute did. It allowed him to 'become one' with the shadows, allowing him to become nearly undetectable by normal means.

'Heh. This will be more than enough.'

Sunny finally caught a lucky break, as he now had a tool to use.

***

It was the middle of the night, and the slave caravan had stopped to rest. The slaves were huddled around a fire, with the strong ones closer to it as they blocked the weaker slaves. The cold was only increasing, as there was no sun to provide them a certain amount of heat.

In the far back of the group, an old slave was sitting down near a shadow. Due to his age, the odds of him surviving the harrowing trip was extremely low. He was at peace with that fact, and didn't even make an attempt to get closer to the fire.

The slaves were still chained up, but they were no longer connected to each other. This allowed for more movement, but not enough so as to allow them to escape. Of course, the odds of a slave escaping in these conditions was close to impossible.

The old man heard the sound of chains clanging together, but ignored it, as he assumed that it was just another slave fidgeting around.

Strangely enough however…

He couldn't see anyone near him…

"Gah!"

A low, strangled sound escaped the elderly slaves lips. He felt a tight pressure around his throat, losing the ability to breathe. He was being choked by a chain…

Sunny stood behind the slave, murderous intent the only thing on his mind. When he felt that the old man wasn't dying fast enough, he started to press onto the back of the man's head with his knee, increasing the pressure.

After awhile, the old man stopped struggling.

[You have slain a dormant human, name unknown.]

[You have received a memory, Dagger of Peace.]

Sunny grinned, before dragging the corpse a little further into the shadows. Nobody was looking in this direction, but if they did, they wouldn't be able to see Sunny. They would still see the corpse of the slave however, but they wouldn't suspect that it was a murder as long as he isn't anywhere near him.

Sunny decided to check the memory he just obtained — weapons and armor that carry magical properties — to see if it would assist him in any way.

Memory: [Dagger of Peace].

Memory Rank: Dormant.

Memory Type: Weapon.

Memory Description: [The trail of Treachery has only begun to be blazed.]

Sunny wondered what the description meant, but ignored it in favor of the fact that he now had a weapon. Dormant memories were the weakest, but within this Nightmare, something was much better than nothing.

He had no regrets about killing the slave, as he was simply an illusion conjured by the Spell. No matter how jaded Sunny may be, he wouldn't kill a person simply because it would be convenient.

However, he had no qualms slaughtering illusions for that same convenience.

Sunny looked around for his next target, a dagger appearing in his right hand out of white sparks.

***

Igris, a Blessed of War heard a scream.

He stood up immediately, hand on the shaft of his spear. He guessed the direction of the scream, and sprinted in that direction. With his superhuman physical capabilities granted from being an Awakened, he arrived at the gruesome scene in front of him.

He saw a mangled corpse, guts spilling out, eye gouged, and multiple signs of what seemed to be claw marks. He looked to the side and saw the young temple slave staring at the corpse in horror. Strangely enough, he didn't sense his presence, which remained completely hidden until a moment ago.

Igris ignored this and decided to question the slave. He coldly gazed down at him. War and Shadow had never been on good terms after all.

"Tell me what happened, boy."

Something flashed across the child's face, although Igris had no idea what it could have been. Fear? Unease? Maybe something else? He couldn't tell.

"I saw a monster…"

Igris narrowed his eyes, staring at the corpse. He could have guessed that was the case, considering how the corpse was left. The creature did not seem to desire to eat the slave, so it must have had another purpose.

The creature was most definitely corrupted.

Igris stood up, glancing at the corpse before looking at the child. He smiled at the child to comfort him.

"Rejoin the group. Otherwise, you'll suffer the same fate."

After saying those words, Igris turned around, ready to leave, before suddenly…

Blood filled his throat, rushing down to his lungs. The pain of something being torn open was felt through this neck, causing him to glance down in despair.

'Wha-what?'

He didn't have much time to think, falling to the floor as his life was extinguished.

Before he finally died however, he heard one last thing.

"Don't call me a 'boy' again, bastard."

***

[You have slain an Awakened human, name unknown.]

[You have received a memory, Vessel of Remembrance.]

***

Auro of the Nine stared at the scene in front of him with a grim look on his face.

One of the older Awakened among them was now naught but a corpse. He must have been slain by a powerful monster. However, the fact that there was only two corpses meant that the creature was a sneaky little thing. It might have had the ability to turn invisible, or perhaps it was simply to quick to keep track of.

Either way, this was problematic.

***

Sunny watched as the corpses were tossed off the side of the cliff. He had killed two dormant humans, and an Awakened human so far, using the corpse of the second dormant as bait to distract Auro of the Nine.

He had actually gotten a memory after defeating the Awakened soldier, wondering what it was. Sunny quickly checked the runes as the slaves were being reconnected to the main chain.

Memory: [Vessel of Rememberance].

Memory Rank: Awakened.

Memory Type: Tool.

Memory Description: [A memory that will never be forgotten.]

'A tool…'

Tool memories were the utility portion of an Awakened's arsenal. They granted mysterious abilities that could be extremely useful in combat, or other situations.

He couldn't summon it currently, but he could always check at a later time. Sunny eyed the knight who had found the corpses he left, fashioned in a way that they would seem like they were attacked by a Nightmare Creature. Even if they were to grow suspicious of the slaves, Sunny would be the last person they would suspect.

As Sunny observed the Awakened, he resisted the urge to grin.

'I wonder what type of memory I could get from him.'

***

After making another grueling journey up the mountain, night had fallen once more. Just as it had the night before, the slaves shoved and pushed each other as they attempted to get closer to the fire.

Sunny was standing near Shifty, looking around for a chance to get another kill.

A few steps away from them, where the paved road ended and sharp rocks began, a scattering of bright-red berries were growing from the snow. Sunny had noticed them before, clustering here and there along the road, and even noted how pretty those resilient things looked contrasted against the white. The Shifty's eyes glistened as he tried to crawl towards the berries on all fours.

"I would advise against eating those, friend."

It was the Scholar again. Sunny turned around and finally saw him in the flesh for the first time. It was a tall man in his forties, lean and strangely handsome, with a dignified look of a Scholar. How a man such as him ended up a slave was a mystery. Yet there he was.

"You and your advice again! What?! Why?!"

The scholar smiled apologetically.

"These berries are called Bloodbane. They grow in the places where human blood was spilled. That's why there's always a lot of them along the slave trade routes."

"So what?"

The older man sighed.

"Bloodbane is poisonous. A few berries might be enough to kill an adult man."

"Curses!"

The shifty slave flinched back and glared at the scholar.

Sunny did not pay them a lot of attention.

Because, while looking around, he finally recognized the site of the camp as the place where, in his vision at the start of the Nightmare, the bones of the slaves were buried under the snow. And he was willing to bet that whatever it was that killed them all was going to happen soon.

He was simply waiting for the opportunity.

As if to answer his thoughts, a thundering noise rang from above.

And in the next second, something massive came crashing from the sky…

Turning in the direction of the thundering noise, many slaves rose their heads — only to see rocks and heavy shards of ice raining on them from above. They instantly panicked, lurching away in a cacophony of screams. Shadows happily danced on black stones as, entangled by the thick chain, those slaves fell to the ground and pulled others with them.

Sunny was one of the few that remained upright, mostly because he was ready for something like this to happen. Calm and collected, he gazed at the night sky, his Attribute-enhanced eyes piercing the darkness, and took one measured step back. In the next second, a piece of ice the size of a man's torso hit the ground right in front of him and exploded, showering everything around with sharp shards.

Others weren't that quick. As ice and stones continued to rain, many were wounded, and a few even lost their lives. Agonizing wails filled the air.

"On your feet, fools! Get to the wall!"

The veteran soldier — the one who had whipped Sunny a few hours before — was shouting angrily, trying to get the slaves to move towards the relative safety of the mountain slope. However, before anyone could heed his command, something massive came crashing down, sending a tremor through the stones beneath their feet. It fell right between the caravan and the mountain wall, plunging everything into silence for a few seconds.

At first, it looked like a lump of dirty snow, roughly round in shape and as tall as a mounted horseman. However, once the creature unfurled its long limbs and rose, it towered over the stone platform like a nightmarish omen of death.

'That thing must be at least four meters tall,' Sunny thought, a bit stunned.

The creature had two stumpy legs, an emaciated, hunched torso and disproportionately long, multijointed hands — two of them, each ending with a set of horrifying bone claws, and another two, these ones shorter, ending with almost human-like fingers. The thing that at first glance looked like dirty snow turned out to be its fur, yellowish-grey and ragged, thick enough to stop arrows and swords.

On its head, five milky, white eyes regarded the slaves with insect-like indifference. Beneath them, a terrible maw crowding with razor-sharp teeth was half-open, as though in anticipation. Viscous drool was running down the creature's chin and dripping into the snow.

What unnerved Sunny the most, though, were the strange shapes endlessly moving, worm-like, under the creature's skin. He could see them clearly because, unfortunately, he was one of those unlucky souls closest to the monstrosity, getting a nauseating first-row view.

'Well, that is just… too much,' he thought, stupefied.

As soon as Sunny finished that thought, all hell broke loose. The creature moved, slashing its claws in his general direction. But Sunny was one step ahead: without wasting a single moment, he jumped sideways — as far as the chain allowed — conveniently placing the broad-shouldered slave between himself and the monster.

His quick reaction saved his life, as those sharp claws, each as long as a sword, sliced through the broad-shouldered man a fraction of a second later and sent streams of blood flying through the air. Drenched in the hot liquid, Sunny hit the ground, and his fellow slave — now simply a corpse — fell on him from above.

'Damn! Why are you so heavy!'

Temporarily blinded, Sunny heard a chilling howl and felt an enormous shadow passing over him. Immediately after, a deafening chorus of screams filled the night. Not paying it any attention, he tried to roll the corpse to the side, but was stopped by a forceful lurch of the chain that twisted his wrists and filled his mind with white-hot pain. Disoriented, he felt himself being dragged a few steps, but then the chain suddenly slackened, and he was able to control his hands again.

'See, things could have been worse…'

Putting his palms against the dead man's chest, he pushed with all the strength he had. The heavy corpse stubbornly resisted all his attempts, but then finally fell sideways, setting Sunny free. However, he didn't get to celebrate this newly found freedom, as his blood suddenly turned to ice.

Because at that moment, with his palms still pressed against the broad-shouldered slave's bleeding body, he clearly felt something wriggling under the dead man's skin.

'You just had to think about how things could get worse, right, you idiot?' he thought, and then flinched back.

Pushing the corpse with his legs, Sunny crawled as far away from it as he could — which was about a meter and a half, thanks to the ever-present chain. He quickly glanced around, noticing a mass of dancing shadows and the silhouette of the monster rampaging amidst the screaming slaves on the opposite end of the stone platform. Then he concentrated on the dead body, which was starting to convulse with growing violence.

Sunny did the first thing he could think of, and summoned the [Dagger of Peace]. He started to stab repeatedly at the body on top of him, not knowing where he was hitting due to the panic. The broad-shouldered slave was skewered repeatedly by Sunny, until he finally got an announcement from the spell.

[You have slain a dormant beast, Mountain King's Larva.]

Sunny paled.

He had just killed a Nightmare Creature.

'Something is definitely wrong here!'

But Sunny's conclusion that things weren't right did not come from self-pity. He just meant that this whole situation was literally not right: the Spell, mysterious as it was, had its own set of rules. There were rules for what type of creatures could appear in any given Nightmare, too.

Nightmare Creatures had their own hierarchy: from mindless Beasts to Monsters, followed by Demons, Devils, Tyrants, Terrors and, finally, mythical Titans, also known as Calamities. The First Nightmare was almost always populated by beasts and monsters, rarely with a demon mixed in. And Sunny had never, ever heard about anything stronger than a single devil appearing in it.

However, the creature had clearly just created a lesser version of itself — an ability that belonged exclusively to tyrants, the sovereigns of the Nightmare Spell, and those above them.

What was this tyrant even doing in a First Nightmare?

How powerful was that damn [Fated] attribute?!

But there was no time to ponder.
Unfair or not, there was only one person now who could save Sunny — himself.

***

Sometime later, far enough from the bonfire to be hidden in the shadows, Sunny was looking for dead soldiers with half a dozen flagons already weighing him down.

Most of the slaves and soldiers had died. All that was left was the knowledgeable Scholar, the vulgar Shifty, and the heroic Hero. He had named the three of them on his own, by the way.

Through his genius, they had managed to wrap a chain connected to the wagon around the Mountain King's neck, before pushing it off the cliff. However, Sunny didn't receive a notification announcing the Tyrant's death, so it was still alive.

They were planning to move up the mountain to create distance, and for that they needed supplies. Such as the water he was collecting.

Shivering in the cold, he finally stumbled on the last broken body clad in leather armor.

The old veteran — the one who had whipped him for trying to accept Hero's flask — was badly injured and dying, but, miraculously, still clinging to life. Horrible wounds were covering his chest and stomach, and he was clearly in a lot of pain.

His time was running out.Sunny knelt beside the dying soldier and looked him over, searching for the man's flagon.

'What irony.'

The older man tried to focus his eyes on Sunny and weakly moved his hand, reaching for something. Sunny looked down and noticed a shattered sword lying on the ground not far from them. Curious, he picked it up.

"Are you looking for this? Why? Are you guys like Vikings, longing to die with a weapon in your hands?"

The dying soldier didn't answer, watching the young slave with some unknown, intense emotion in his eyes.Sunny sighed.

"Well, it might as well do. After all, I promised to watch you die."

With that, he leaned forward and slit the old man's throat with the sharp edge of his broken blade, then threw it away. The soldier twitched, drowning in his own blood. The expression in his eyes changed — was it gratitude? Or hatred? Sunny did not know.

Illusion or not, it wasn't his first time killing a human. In fact, the cruel outskirts was a place where people constantly got into armed conflicts. Sunny himself used to have a gun, but he had to sell it when he was strapped for cash.

He sat quietly near the old man, keeping him company on this last journey.

After a while, the Spell's voice came whispering into his ear:

[You have slain a Dormant human, name unknown.]

[You have received a Memory: Silver Bell.]

Sunny sighed, disappointed.

'Well, with my luck, what was I expecting?'

Still, this thing was worth investigating. Maybe it had a powerful enchantment, like being able to send out destructive sonic waves or repelling incoming projectiles.

Sunny summoned the runes and concentrated on the words 'Silver Bell'. Immediately, an image of a small bell appeared in front of his eyes, with a short string of text below.

Memory Description: [A small memento of a long-lost home, which once brought its owner comfort and joy. Its clear ringing can be heard from miles away.]

'What a piece of crap.'

He was almost starting to see a theme in how the Spell was treating him.

'No matter.'

Sunny dismissed the runes and then got busy removing the dead man's fur cloak and warm, sturdy leather boots. As an officer, the quality of these clothes was a notch above those of the simple soldiers. After putting them on, the young slave finally felt warm for the first time since the Nightmare began — not considering the short time he had spent near the bonfire.

'Perfect.'

The cloak was a bit bloodied, but then again, so was Sunny.

A few minutes later, as he continued to search for more flagons, he saw movement on the ground in front of him. He instinctively took a few steps back, preparing to run over to Hero if necessary.

As he looked closer, he found a small object squirming.

A yellowish, bloodied worm was slowly wiggling across the surface of the stone platform. A small trail of sticky liquid trailed behind it.

'…The Mountain King's Larva?'

Although Sunny was disturbed, he was confident that they couldn't harm him. Not without taking over a human body at least. Instead of killing it, he looked in the direction it was moving to, his night vision allowing him to see clearly.

There were even more worms — hundreds of them. They all seemed to be moving to a particular spot.

Curious, Sunny discretely summoned the Dagger of Peace under the fur cloak he had scavenged. Walking ahead, he followed the worms as he picked up flagons along the way.

After a half a minute, he found a grotesque mass of larvae, curling and squirming around eachother as they formed a ball.

Grimacing as he watched the disgusting sight, Sunny began to wonder why they hadn't simply taken over the multitude of dead bodies.

'The Mountain King is a Tyrant, so it should be able to control them. Then… it didn't want the larvae to parasitize any of the bodies?'

But what would be the purpose of the strange convergence they were performing.

Scowling, Sunny rose his foot to stomp on them. Although he didn't want to touch any directly, he knew that they couldn't control him. They seemed to only be able to do so for those who were already dead.

Crushing them, Sunny felt a gooey substance under his corpse-robbed boots. Lifting it up, he found that they were all dead.

[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Mountain King's Larva.]

[You have slain a…]

[You have slain…]

[You have…]

[You…]

Sunny's eyes turned into disks as he heard the sheer amount of kills the Spell announced seemed endless. Tens, dozens… the voice never ended.

His head was starting to hurt.

Sunny stared at the fluids on the ground in confusion. The ball of maggots that resembled a horrid yarn ball shouldn't have contained such a large quantity of the Dormant Beasts, right? As he looked around, his eyes were caught on an unmoving worm.

And another.

And another.

There were no more worms — none that were alive, at least.

'Did that kill the rest of them?'

It was strange, but it seemed that they had relied on eachother to survive. Killing a large amount of them must have caused the rest to lose their lives as well.

As the Spell's announcements stopped, Sunny checked his runes for a second, before dismissing them in disappointment.

He only gained a multitude of useless Memories. There wasn't any other gain for killing such a large amount of creatures either, so even if he may have had the highest kill count of any Aspirant within the First Nightmare, there wasn't any reward for it.

A moment later, a spiteful grin split across his face. No, there was a reward. He had just gotten rid of a huge chunk of that hateful Mountain King's minions.

'You chose the wrong mountain to rule over, fraudulent king.'

Sunny made a decision. If he ever survived the Nightmare, then he would scour the Dream Realm for this wretched mountain range, and rule over it himself. If the real Mountain King was still alive in the modern day, then that would be a bonus.

***

Shifty gulped down even more water, somehow looking even paler than before.

One misstep, and he fell to his doom, impaled by a spike.

***

[You have slain a Dormant human…]

***

Scholar tried to convince Hero to abandon Sunny to distract the Mountain King. Instead, the valiant warrior brought up his crimes, before crushing his knee

Sunny watched as he took the Scholar away to use as bait, nothing but contempt in his gaze.

'Good riddance…'

***

[You have slain a Dormant human…]

***

They didn't speak again after that, each preoccupied with their own thoughts.

The sun was setting, painting the world into a million shades of crimson. This high up, the air was clean and crisp, pierced by streams of scarlet light. Below them, a sea of maroon clouds was slowly rolling past the mountain. The stars and the moon had begun to reveal themselves in the vermillion sky.

It was quite beautiful.

However, Sunny could only think about how cold it was going to be once the sun fully disappears.

Before that happened, Hero had found them a shelter. Not far from the path, hidden behind some tall rocks, was a narrow crevice that extended into the slope of the mountain. Happy to be safe from the piercing wind, they explored the crevice and ended up in a small, well-concealed cave.

Sunny made a move to unbundle some firewood, but Hero stopped him with a shake of his head.

"Today we will camp without making a fire. The beast is too close."

Camping without the warm flames to keep them company was not going to be pleasant, but at least they weren't going to freeze to death inside the cave. In any case, the alternative was too frightening.

Sunny sat down, putting his back against the cave's wall. Hero settled opposite of him, looking downcast and thoughtful.

He was obviously in a strange mood. If nothing else, it was apparent from the fact that today, for the first time, the young soldier had failed to care for his sword after making camp.

Soon, the sun was gone, and their small cave became completely dark. Sunny, of course, could still see perfectly well; Hero, on the other hand, was now completely blind.In the darkness, his handsome face looked noble and, for some reason, sorrowful. Sunny studied it, not willing to fall asleep.

After a while, Hero suddenly spoke in a quiet voice:

"You know, it's strange. Usually, I can feel someone's presence even in absolute darkness. But with you, there's nothing. It's like you are just one of the shadows."

With only silence to answer him, he smiled.

"Are you asleep?"

The question echoed in the darkness. Sunny, who had never spoken with Hero unless there was an urgent need to, and even then only using a few words at best, felt like there was a strange intimacy between them now. That's why he decided to talk. Maybe the darkness gave him courage.

Besides, there was an occasion.

"Why? Are you waiting for me to fall asleep before you kill me? Or will you do it in the morning?"

The smile froze on Hero's face. He lowered his head, as though in shame. After a minute or so passed, shrouded in heavy silence, he finally answered.

"Yes. I thought that if I do it when you sleep, you won't have to suffer."

Unseen to him, a bitter grin appeared on Sunny's face.

A long sigh escaped from the young soldier's lips. He rested his back against the cave's wall, still not looking up.

"I don't expect you to forgive me. This sin, too, will be mine to bear. But, please, if you can… find it in your heart to understand. If things were different, I would have gladly faced that monster to let you escape. But my life… does not belong to me alone. There is an unencompassable duty I am sworn to fulfill. Until it's done, I cannot allow myself to die."

Sunny laughed.

"You people… Look at you! Planning to kill me and still insisting on having a good excuse. How very convenient! I really hate hypocrites like you the most. Why don't you be honest for once? Don't give me that crap... just say it! I'm going to kill you because it's easy. I'm going to kill you because I want to survive."

Hero closed his eyes, his face full of sadness.

"I'm sorry. I knew you wouldn't be able to understand."

"What's there to understand?"

Sunny leaned forward, anger coursing through his veins.

"Tell me. Why do I have to die?"

The young soldier finally looked up. Even though he couldn't see in the dark, he turned his face in the direction of Sunny's voice.

"That man was a villain… but he was also right. The scent of blood is too heavy on you. It will attract the beast."

"You can just let me go, you know. We'll part ways. After that whether or not the monster finds me won't be your problem."

Hero shook his head.

"Dying in that creature's maw… is too cruel a fate. It's better if I do it myself. You are my responsibility, after all."

"How noble of you."

Sunny leaned back, dejected. After a short while, he quietly said:

"You know… when I just came here, I was ready to die. After all, in this whole world — two worlds, actually — there's not a single soul who cares whether I live or die. When I'm gone, no one will be sad. No one will even remember that I existed."

There was a forlorn look on his face. A moment later, however, it was gone, replaced by mirth.

"But then I changed my mind. Somewhere along the way, I decided to survive. I must survive, no matter what."

Hero gave him a thoughtful look.

"To live a life worth remembering?"

Sunny grinned. A dark gleam appeared in his eyes.

"No. To spite you all."

The young soldier was silent for a few moments, then nodded, accepting this answer. He rose to his feet.

"Don't worry. I'll make it quick."

"Aren't you overly confident? What makes you think you'll be able to kill me? Maybe I'll kill you instead."

Hero shook his head.

"I doubt that."

…But in the next second, he staggered and fell on one knee. The young man's face turned deathly pale, and with a pained groan, he suddenly vomited blood.

A satisfied smile appeared on Sunny's face.

"Finally."

Hero was standing on his knees, the lower part of his face covered in blood. Astonished, he was staring at his hands, trying to understand what had happened to him.

"What… what magic is this?"

With wide eyes and a pale face, he turned to Sunny.

"Was… was that thief right? Did you put the curse of the Shadow God on us?"

Sunny sighed.

"I wish that I had the ability to throw divine curses around, but no. To tell you the truth, I don't have any abilities at all."

"Then.. how?"

The young slave shrugged.

"That's why I poisoned you all."

Hero flinched, trying to comprehend his words.

"What?"

"After the tyrant first attacked, you send me to search for water. While gathering flagons from the dead soldiers, I squeezed Bloodbane juice into each one — except my own, of course. Not enough to taste it, but enough to slowly kill anyone who would drink from them."

The soldier gritted his teeth, struggling through pain. A sudden realization appeared on his face.

"So that's why… the other two were in such bad shape."

Sunny nodded.

"Shifty drank the most, so his condition worsened the fastest. Scholar was also not long for this world, but you finished him off before the poison could. Yourself, however… it was as though Bloodbane had no effect on you at all. I was really starting to get worried."

Hero's face darkened.

"I see… I understand."

He thought about something, then looked at Sunny with surprise.

"But… but back then you didn't know… that we will turn on you."

Sunny just laughed.

"Oh, please. It was obvious. Shifty was the kind of man who would kill for a pair of boots. Scholar was like a wolf in sheep's clothing. People are selfish and cruel in the best of situations — was I supposed to believe that those two weren't going to do something terrible to me when faced with certain death?"

Hero spat more blood.

"Then… what about me?"

A disdainful expression appeared on Sunny's face.

"You? You are the worst of them."

"Why?"

Sunny looked at him and leaned forward. All traces of humor were gone from his voice.

"I might have not learned much in my short life, but I do know one thing."

Now there was only cold, callous contempt. Sunny's face hardened as he spat:

"There is nothing more pathetic than a slave who begins to trust his slaver."

Hearing these words, Hero lowered his head.

"I see."

Then, suddenly, he laughed.

"You… you are a wicked little shit, aren't you?"

Sunny rolled his eyes.

"There's no need to be rude."

But Hero wasn't listening to him.

"Good. This is good. My conscience will be clearer."

The young slave sighed in irritation.

"What are you mumbling about? Just die already."

Hero chuckled and suddenly pierced him with a stare. Somehow, he didn't look so sick anymore.

"You see, that plan would have worked if I was a normal human. But, alas, my Soul Core has Awakened long ago. I've slain countless enemies and absorbed their power. Bloodbane poison, unpleasant as it might be, can never kill me."

'Crap!'

Sunny turned around and tried to run away, but it was already too late. Something hit him in the back, sending his body crashing into the rock wall. With a scream, he felt a sharp pain piercing his left side. Rolling out of the cave, Sunny clutched his chest, scrambled back onto his feet and ran, trying to escape the narrow crevice.

He managed to reach the old path, finally being able to see the stars and the pale moon shining brightly in the night sky. But it was as far as he was able to get.

"Stop."

As the cold voice sounded behind him, Sunny froze. If Hero really had an Awakened Soul Core, he had no chances of getting away from him. In a fight, he had no chances at all.

"Turn around."

The young slave obediently turned, holding his hands up. He looked at Hero, who was wiping the blood off his face with a displeased look in his eyes. The two of them stared at each other, shivering in the murderous cold.

"Was it worth it? No matter. Despite it all, I will be true to my promise. I'll make it quick."

The soldier unsheathed his sword.

"Do you have any last words?"

Sunny did not answer.

However, a small silver bell suddenly appeared in his hand.

Hero frowned.

"Where were you hiding that thing?"

Sunny shook the bell. A beautiful, clear ringing sound flowed over the mountain, filling the night with an enchanting melody.

"What are you doing?! Stop!"

The young slave dutifully stopped.

"What was…"

Right under Hero's bewildered eyes, the silver bell disappeared into thin air. He looked at Sunny, stumped and suspicious.

"Tell me! What did you just do?"

But Sunny didn't answer. In fact, he hadn't said a single word ever since escaping the cave. Right now, he wasn't even breathing.

Hero, on the other hand, continued to speak.

"Tell me right now or you will regret it."

He scowled.

"Why are you not saying anything?"

The shivering boy just stared at him, completely silent.

No… he was staring into the darkness behind him.Hero's eyes widened.

"What…"

At the last second, a hint of understanding appeared in the young soldier's eyes. He began to turn around, his sword rising with lightning speed.

But it was too late.

A massive hand appeared from the darkness and caught him into an iron grip. The bone claws scraped against the armor, pulling it apart. Mountain King dragged Hero back, paying little attention to the sword biting into its wrist. Viscous saliva was streaming from its opened maw.

Petrified by fear, Sunny slowly turned his back to them and took a couple of steps up the old, winding path. Then he darted away, running as fast as he could.

Behind him, a desperate scream tore apart the silent night. Then a hungry roar followed. It seemed that Hero wasn't going down without a fight, even though his fate was already sealed.

But Sunny didn't care. He was running away, climbing higher and higher.

"I'm sorry, Hero. I did say that I will watch you die… but, as you know, I am a liar. So go and die on your own…"

***

A lonesome dark mountain stood tall against the raging winds.

Jagged and proud, it dwarfed other peaks of the mountain chain, cutting the night sky with its sharp edges. A radiant moon bathed its slopes in the ghostly light.

Under that light, a young man with pale skin and black hair reached the peak of the mountain. However, his looks didn't match the magnificence of the scene: wounded and staggering, he looked pathetic and weak.

The young man looked like a walking corpse.

His coarse tunic and cloak were torn and smeared with blood. His sunken eyes were cloudy and lifeless. His body was bruised, beaten and cut. There were specks of bloody foam on his lips.

He was hunched over, cradling the left side of his chest. Each step caused him to moan, ragged breath barely escaping through gritted teeth.

Sunny was hurting all over. But most of all, he was cold.

So, so cold. He just wanted to lie down in the snow and fall asleep.

But instead, he continued walking. Because he believed that the Nightmare will be over once he reaches the peak.

Step. Step. Another step.

Finally, he had made it.

At the highest point of the mountain, a vast expanse of flat rock was covered with snow. In the center of it, illuminated by moonlight, stood a magnificent temple. Its colossal columns and walls were cut from black marble, with exquisite reliefs decorating the stygian pediment and broad frieze. Beautiful and awesome, it looked like a palace of a dark god.

At least it did once. Now, the temple was in ruins: fractures and cracks marred the black stones, parts of the roof had collapsed, letting in ice and snow. It's tall gates were broken, as if smashed into pieces by a hand of a giant.

Still, Sunny was satisfied.

Gathering the last of his strength, the young slave slowly limped in the direction of the ruined temple. His thoughts were muddled and confused.

'See this, Hero? I've made it. You were strong and ruthless, and I was weak and timid. Yet now you are a corpse, and I am still alive. Isn't it funny?'

He stumbled and groaned, feeling the edges of his broken ribs cutting deeper into his lungs. Blood was dripping from his mouth. Dead or not, Hero had gotten him good with that single strike.

'Actually, it's not. What do any of you even know about being ruthless? Poor fools. In the world where I come from, people had thousands of years to turn cruelty into an art. And as someone on the receiving end of all that cruelty… don't you think I would know more about being vicious than you ever could?'

He was getting closer to the temple.

'Truth be told, you never stood a chance… wait. What was I thinking about?'

A moment later, he had already forgotten.

There was only pain, the dark temple, and the overpowering desire to sleep.

'Don't fall for it. It's just hypothermia. If you fall asleep, you'll die.'

Finally, Sunny reached the steps of the black temple. He started to climb them, not noticing thousands of bones that were scattered around. These bones once belonged to humans and monsters both. All of them were killed by the invisible guardians still lingering around the temple.

As Sunny was climbing the steps, one of the shapeless guardians approached him. It was ready to snuff out the spark of life that was burning weakly in the defiler's chest, but then stopped, sensing a faint, strangely familiar scent coming from his soul. The scent of divinity. Sorrowful and lonesome, the guardian moved aside, letting Sunny pass. Oblivious, he entered the temple.

Sunny found himself in a grandiose hall. Cascades of moonlight were falling through the holes in the partially collapsed roof. Deep shadows were surrounding these circles of silver light, not daring to touch them. The floor was covered in snow and ice.

At the far end of the hall, a large altar was cut from a single piece of black marble. It was the only thing inside the temple untouched by snow. Forgetting why he came here, Sunny headed for the altar.

He just wanted to sleep.

The altar was dry, clean, and as wide as a bed. Sunny climbed on it and lay down.

It seemed like he was going to die.

He was okay with it. Sunny tried to close his eyes, but was stopped by a sudden noise coming from the direction of the temple's entrance. He turned his head to look, not even a little bit curious. What he saw would have sent chills running down his spine if he wasn't so cold, tired and indifferent.

Mountain King was standing there, looking at him with its five blind eyes. He was still massive, terrifying and revolting. Worm-like shapes were still moving frantically under its skin. It was sniffing the air, salivating.

Then it opened its maw and moved forward, slowly approaching the altar.

'What an ugly bastard,' Sunny thought and suddenly clutched his chest, convulsing in a fit of torturous coughing.

Bloody foam flew from his mouth and fell on the altar. However, the black marble soon absorbed it.

A second later, it was as pristine as it was before.

The tyrant was just about to reach Sunny. It was already stretching its hands to grab him.

'I guess this is the end.'

It wasn't the ideal way to die, but he was resigned to his fate.

But at the last second, suddenly, the voice of the Spell resounded in the dark temple.

[You have offered yourself as a sacrifice to the gods.]

[The gods are dead, and can not hear you.]

[You soul bears the mark of divinity.]

[You are a temple slave.]

[Shadow God stirs in his eternal slumber.]

[He sends a blessing from beyond the grave.]

[Child of Shadows, receive your blessing!]

The Spell paused, it's voice growing even louder.

[You have defeated a Blessed of War.]

[You are an inhabitant of War.]

[War God escapes the clutches of death.]

[She is appalled by your treachery, but respects your will.]

[She sends a blessing before returning to her grave.]

[Thief of War, receive your blessing!]

The voice grew deathly silent, before speaking in a distorted voice:

[You have breached the contract between the gods!]

Under Sunny's astonished eyes, the shadows crowding the great hall suddenly moved, as though coming alive. Tentacles of darkness surged forward, entangling Mountain King's arms and legs. The mighty tyrant struggled, trying to get free.

But how could it resist the power of a god?

The shadows dragged Mountain King back, pulling in different directions. The tyrant opened its maw, and a furious howl escaped it.

The next second, its body ruptured, torn apart into pieces.

Blood, viscera and severed limbs fell on the floor in a crimson torrent. Just like that, the horrible creature was dead.

Sunny blinked.

Once again, he was alone in the ruined temple. The great hall was dark and silent.

And then the Spell whispered:

[You have slain an awakened tyrant, Mountain King.]

[Wake up, Sunless! Your nightmare is over.]

[Prepare for appraisal…]

***

Sunny found himself in a space between dream and reality. It was an endless black void illuminated by a myriad of stars. Between those stars, countless strings of silver light were woven into a beautiful and inconceivably complex net, forming various nexuses and constellations. It was truly breathtaking.

Somehow, Sunny understood that he was seeing the inner workings of the Nightmare Spell. He also couldn't help but think that it looked a lot like the celestial equivalent of a neural network. If so… was the Spell alive?

This was a question that countless people had been asking themselves for the past few millennia. The best answer they had come up with was that there was no way to know. The Spell was neither alive nor dead; neither sentient nor mindless.

It was more of a function than a creature.

But Sunny was in no mood to ponder philosophical questions. He was eagerly awaiting his boon.

The Spell was still appraising his performance. However, the first reward had nothing to do with it.

[You have received a Memory: Puppeteer's Shroud]

'Yes!'

Sunny felt incredibly elated. He was almost ready to do a happy dance. That Memory belonged to Mountain King, who was an awakened tyrant — which meant that the Memory itself was of the Awakened rank. Getting it was a stroke of incredible luck!

There were seven ranks to everything in the Spell. These ranks were, in order of growing power: Dormant, Awakened, Ascended, Transcendent, Supreme, Sacred and Divine (with the exclusion of Nightmare Creatures, who were ranked as Dormant, Awakened, Fallen, Corrupted, Great, Cursed and Unholy).

From the Spell's point of view, Sunny was a dormant human. Having a Memory of a higher rank than his own soul core would be of great help once he enters the Dream Realm. The power gap between different ranks simply could not be overestimated.

He wanted to take a look at the Puppeteer's Shroud, but there was no more time. The Spell was done with its appraisal.

Here in the void, its voice didn't sound subtle and familiar anymore. Rather, it seemed like the universe itself was speaking. Sunny held his breath, listening.

[Aspirant! Your trial is over.]

[A nameless slave ascended the black mountain, a grudge in his heart and treachery on his mind. With shadows as his only ally, heroes and monsters fell by his merciless hand. Unbroken after his senseless slaughter, he entered the temple of a long-forgotten god, spilling his blood and the blood of his enemies upon its sacred altar. The gods were dead, and yet, they listened, breaching a divine agreement.]

[You have defeated eight hundred and ninety one Dormant Beasts, Mountain King's Larva.]

[You have defeated three Dormant humans, names unknown.]

[You have defeated an Awakened human, Auro of the Nine.]

[You have defeated an Awakened human name unknown.]

[You have defeated an Awakened Tyrant, Mountain King.]

[You have received the Shadow God's blessing.]

[You have stolen the War God's lineage.]

[Your feats are incomprehensible!]

[Final appraisal: Unknown. Your treachery has surpassed the limits of fate!]

[You have received an attribute.]

[You have received an attribute.]

[Your attribute has evolved.]

Sunny took a deep breath. That comment about him being treacherous was extremely uncalled for, but he'll let it slide considering how great everything is sounding so far. The Spell is even acting like he had broken it's systems!

He felt like his chances of evolving his Aspect to an Awakened, or even Ascended one were pretty high.

His overall power was still dependent on the rank of his soul core, which would remain dormant until much later, but the rank of the Aspect itself would do wonders for his overall potential.

[Dreamer Sunless, receive your boon!]

He was an Aspirant no more. Sunny grinned.

[You have been bestowed a True Name: Lost from Light.]

His jaw dropped. A true name! He had received a true name! Never in his wildest dreams did Sunny dream of becoming one of the chosen few to accomplish such feat — and in his very first Nightmare to boot! Not even all of the Saints could boast of having one. He was an elite now, a bonafide cream of the crop! He was going to be rich!

But the rewards kept coming.

[Your Aspect is ready to evolve. Evolve Aspect?]

'What kind of a question is that?!'

Sunny crossed his fingers and said "yes".

[Dormant Aspect Temple Slave is evolving…]

[New Aspect acquired.]

[Aspect Rank: Divine.]

Sunny fell over.

[Aspect Name: Shadow Slave.]

***

'Divine… it's Divine.'

Sunny was standing on his knees, stupefied. The shock was so great that for a second there he lost all control over his limbs and fell.

'It said "divine"... right?'

Sunny silently summoned the runes and found the lines describing his aspect.

Aspect: [Shadow Slave].

Aspect Rank: Divine.

Aspect Description: [You are a miraculous shadow left behind by a dead god. As a divine shadow, you possess plenty of strange and wondrous powers. However, your existence is empty and lonesome; you mourn the passing of your former master and long to find a new one.]

Innate Ability: [Shadow Bond].

Ability Description: [Find a worthy master and let them know your True Name. Once they recite it out loud, you will be bound to their will, unable to disobey any command. It is improper for a shadow, let alone a divine one, to walk around without a master.]

That was… a lot to digest.

First of all, Sunny felt his heart beating faster. He heard it right! All the suffering and horror he had experienced in the First Nightmare paid off in the end. A divine Aspect, he had received a divine Aspect! Anything above Awakened was rare and immensely valuable!

People with Ascended Aspects were rare enough to be fought over by various factions. The factions themselves were built around singular powerhouses with Transcendent or Supreme Aspects. And he had never, ever heard of anyone acquiring a Divine one. Never!

Of course, the universe was quite large, so he wouldn't be surprised if there was another Divine Aspect or two out there.

…Sunny felt like he would regret thinking that.

Anything with the "divine" prefix was so hard to find that it mostly lived in the realm of myths and legends. After all, the human race had not reached that high yet; it was a few millennia since humans managed to finally conquer the Third Nightmare and receive the ability to evolve their cores to Transcendent rank. Although the Nightmare Spell had been around for a long time, humanity used to have to face off against other threats, such as the Swarm or the Legion, who were servants to higher beings known as Aeons; embodiments of a concept.

Sunny hoped to never encounter such an entity, nor their subordinates.

As Transcendents — or Saints, as they were called in the real world — powerful Awakened ruled over the Dream Realm, but even they did not dare to face Nightmare Creatures of higher ranks. Subsequently, there were not a lot of Memories and Echoes of Supreme rank around, let alone Sacred… or Divine. The same went for Aspects.

And yet Sunny just got one!

He grinned, driven half-mad by joy and arrogance. However, his jubilation was a little muddied. After all, there was that weird innate ability. Of course, he had no intention of becoming someone's magical slave, with no free will of his own. To hell with that!

But it wasn't that bad. All he had to do to avoid that fate was to conceal his True Name. No one except for him could see his status. That meant that Sunny just had to keep his mouth shut, and no one will know that he even had one.

It meant giving up on all the benefits that someone who was bestowed a True Name after the First Nightmare was entitled to, but it all paled in comparison with a Divine Aspect.

'Not a problem,' Sunny thought with a smirk.
If the Spell had the ability to laugh, it would surely do so after hearing his thoughts. However, it didn't. Instead, it began to speak again:

[The First Seal is broken.]

[Awakening dormant powers…]

Sunny felt something waking up inside of him. With a startled cry, he clutched his chest and stared into the darkness, trying to understand what was happening. The feeling was not painful or unpleasant, yet it was like nothing he had ever experienced. It was as though his soul was being shaken awake, infused with strange new energy.

However, that energy did not come from some outside source. Rather, it was coming from within, as though it had always been there, sleeping.

The energy filled every fiber of his being. Sunny felt his emotions becoming clearer and sharper. Then, his body began to change, too. He felt as though a miniature star was burning in the center of his chest: waves of heat were radiating from it, slowly reaching his stomach and shoulders, then his arms and legs, then his hands and feet.

Under that heat, his bones, muscles, organs and blood vessels were being rebuilt and revitalized. Sunny felt like he was being reborn. He was becoming stronger, faster, healthier.

It was euphoric.

With each second, his transformation was becoming more profound. New confidence settled in Sunny's heart. He was not a weak, frail street kid anymore. He was not as vulnerable against anyone who would wish to bully him as he was in the past.

With his powers awakened and his will tempered by the horrors of the First Nightmare, he was now someone you would not want to cross.

After some time had passed, the star burning in his chest finally cooled down. The heat was replaced with a soothing coldness. That coldness washed over Sunny's body, taking away all the aches and discomforts that had been accumulated there over the years. Then it moved up, reaching his brain and, finally, his eyes.

His vision strangely doubled.

He could still see the void populated by an endless pattern of stars. But he could also see something different.

A silent, calm dark sea illuminated by a lonely black sun.

From his previous knowledge, Sunny knew that this was his so-called Soul Sea. But he also knew that it was supposed to look quite different.

For starters, it was supposed to be much more lively. The star hanging above — the visual representation of his soul core — was supposed to be burning with bright light, filling the Soul Sea with a warm, blinding shining.

However, Sunny's soul was dark and lightless.

'That's strange.'

He took a look at the black sun. At a closer examination, it actually turned out to be transparent. It's just that with no other major source of light around, the star had appeared to be as dark as its surroundings.

Also, no one wass supposed to be here except for him. It was his soul, after all! But Sunny had a nagging feeling that somewhere just beyond the periphery of his vision, hidden in the darkness, shapeless forms were constantly moving. No matter how he turned his head, he couldn't catch a clear glimpse of them. And yet the feeling would not go away.

He also caught site of a light blue shape moving around. It was too small to see clearly, but it was an anomaly within what his soul sea should have looked like.

Not wishing to waste any more time on this right now, Sunny turned back to the black sun and finally spotted a few dozen spheres of light orbiting around it, as though caught in the soul core's gravity well. A subtle smile appeared on his face.

These were his Memories. As his arsenal grew, he more orbs would start to circle his soul core. If he was lucky, he would even acquire an Echo or two!

The Spell's voice suddenly pulled him out of the Soul Sea.

[Awakening Aspect Ability…]

'This is it. The moment of truth,' Sunny thought.

Divine Aspect or not, his immediate future still depended on the first Aspect Ability he would receive. His role in the Dream Realm would be based on its characteristics. If it was a combat ability, he would be most useful on the frontlines of the bloody battles against the Nightmare Creatures. If it was tied to sorcery, he would likely become a powerful, but fragile ranged fighter.

If it was something having to do with utility, he would be a vitally important part of the behind-the-scenes workings of the Dream Realm. Utility Abilities were also extremely valued in the real world, where Awakened performed many tasks that kept it going.
If he was lucky, he could even become a healer. Healers were very rare, and as such, sought-after specialists.

[Aspect Ability acquired.]

[Aspect Ability Name: Shadow Control.]

Sunny hurriedly summoned the runes. He wanted to go to the description of his new ability right away, but then decided to give his overall information a look first.

Name: Sunless.

True Name: Lost from Light.

Rank: Dreamer.

Shadow Core: Dormant.

Shadow Fragments: [908/1000].

'What? What is that?'

Where the rank of his soul core was supposed to be written, a mysterious "Shadow Core" appeared instead. Sunny looked at it, blinking. He had never heard of anyone having a different kind of core before. Was he that unique?

This enigmatic shadow core would certainly explain why his Sea of Soul looked so strange. And also… He moved his eyes down, noticing the "Shadow Fragments" counter. Usually, there was supposed to be an indicator of the number of soul shards consumed. However, it was nowhere to be seen.

'Do I… do I actually have a completely different progression path than all Awakened?'

The idea was as exciting as it was frightening. Not having to fight for resources with anybody else was an incredible advantage. Most of the human society in the Dream Realm was built around the acquisition of soul shards. If he had no need to gather them to evolve… not only would he be able to become more powerful with incredible speed, he would also be completely self-sufficient.

On the other hand, he had no idea how to acquire these shadow fragments. However, he had gotten 897 of them somehow already: so whatever it was that he had to do, he had already done it in the First Nightmare. He had even almost fully saturated his core!

'I'll have to explore this carefully.'

Satisfied with this decision, Sunny continued to study the runes.

Memories: [Silver Bell], [Puppeteer's Shroud], [Dagger of Eve], [Vessel of Remembrance]...

Echoes: —

Attributes: [Fate's Chosen], [Essence of Divinity], [Child of Shadows], [The War], [Breach of Styx].

Aspect: [Shadow Slave].

Aspect Rank: Divine.

Aspect Abilities: [Shadow Control].

Aspect Ability Description: [Your shadow is more independent than most. It is an invaluable helper.]

'What is that supposed to mean?'

Sunny held his breath and began to read the description again, but at that moment, a new set of runes appeared just below it. Simultaneously, the Spell's voice resounded in the black void.

[All power has a price.]

[You have received a Flaw.]

[Your Flaw is: …]

Sunny read the runes, and his eyes widened in horror.

'Oh, no. No, no, no...'

'Please, be gone! Please!'

But the runes were still there, shining slightly, as though mocking him.

Flaw: [Clear Conscience].

Flaw Description: [You cannot lie.]

Sunny stared at these three simple words, feeling like there was a bottomless abyss opening right beneath his feet. The Spell, which was usually frivolous with its descriptions, decided to be straight and on point this time. There were only three words. They left him no room to maneuver.

'Can't lie. I can't lie? Me? How am I supposed to live if I can't lie?!'

Sunny's very survival was predicated on his ability to deceive and outsmart other people. Even the Spell itself congratulated him on his treachery! Without the ability to lie, he wouldn't be able to achieve anything.

Not to mention…

His heart suddenly felt as though it was about to stop.

If he could only tell the truth, how was he supposed to hide his True Name? Wouldn't anyone be able to turn him into an obedient slave by simply asking a couple of innocent questions?

Sunny was about to scream and curse, but at that moment, the Spell spoke again.

[Wake up, Lost from Light!]

The black void spun and disappeared.

Chapter Text

"I've heard that Shadow was the god of death. I wonder if you could one day bring out my demise."

"What an idiot. Why do you always use these mid builds?"

"I'm not as good as you are when it comes to tricking people, so do you mind if I rely on you, Sunny?"

"Listen, once you wake up, check the [Vessel of Remembrance] the moment you are alone."

***

"…I don't know CPR."

"Nobody ever thought you did."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"…Nothing, I'll handle this myself."

'…What?'

Sunny cracked opened his eyes.

'Huh? What is that?'

A blurry object was moving towards him. It seemed whitish, with a black top and a roundish shape.

He blinked a few times, the image starting to grow clearer.

Horror spread across his face. Sunny kicked out.

***

"Uhm… my bad?"

Sunny scratched the back of his head while looking apologetically at the duo in front of him. The black-haired boy was clutching his stomach, keeled over on the floor. Next to him was a pink haired girl, who was rubbing his back while glancing between the two boys.

'I didn't kick that hard, did I?'

Maybe he did, since it felt as if he pumping all the energy in his body to his right leg. He also felt unnaturally strong…

'I must have been imagining things.'

The boy who Sunny had just kicked stood up, seemingly no worse for wear. He glanced at him for a moment, with a perplexed expression.

"…You're an Awakened."

Sunny blinked. He had only just cleared the First Nightmare, so he should only be a mere Dreamer — also referred to as Sleepers — currently.

"Uh… I'm actually a Sleeper… I just completed my First Nightmare."

Sunny took a look around. This place was… very alien to him. It looked nothing like the outskirts that he was familiar with.

"Actually, where am I? Did I get abducted or something?"

As he looked back at the two youths in front of him, he noticed something strange…

'They don't seem very tall. The girl is around the same height as me, and the guy's only a couple inches more…'

To Sunny, everyone looked tall to him, as he was extremely short.

He looked down.

'No way…'

He was huge!

Sunny resisted the urge to jump up and down. Nobody would pick on him for his short stature anymore! Rather, he will be the one doing the picking!

He didn't know becoming a Sleeper had such benefits!

'Ah… It was all worth it.'

"Huh? Don't you work here? This is the Herta Space Station, obviously."

The girl with hair that reminds him of cotton candy was the one who spoke. He remembered when his mother took him and his little sister, Rain, to a small carnival in the city. They didn't have enough money to go on any rides, but they were at least able to afford some of the fluffy stuff.

Sunny felt a pressure start to grow once the girl had asked whether or not he had worked here.

'Seriously?!'

"…No, I don't work here. I'm only thirteen, you know?"

It seemed that his Flaw did not only restrict him from lying, but he was also compelled to answer any question directed towards him.

'If someone asked me if I had a True Name…'

…Sunny knew what he would have to do in such a scenario.

The duo narrowed their eyes at him, looking him up and down. Sunny shuffled awkwardly at their gaze. Taking a glance down at himself, he couldn't find anything wrong. Well, he was wearing clothes that he didn't own, relatively nice ones as well.

'Huh? What's that?'

When he stared down at his jacket — which was a mix of black and yellow — he noticed what seemed to be a nexus of lights. It was as if his jacket was transparent, and he was able to see within it.

The nexus consisted of radiant anchors, which were held together by elusive strings to form complicated patterns.

'…That's… something to look into.'

He couldn't right now, since he was in front of two people, but once he was alone, he definitely would.

…Was there something else he needed to do?

The black haired boy sighed.

"Your age aside, this place is dangerous. The station is being attacked by the Antimatter Legion, so we should head to the master control zone."

'The Antimatter Legion…'

Sunny had heard of them. They were the servants of an Aeon — beings that embodied a concept to such a degree that they became akin to a god. He didn't know much, as information in the outskirts was quite lacking.

"I see… Oh, my name is Sunless by the way. You can call me Sunny though."

After saying his name the pink-haired girl widened her eyes, while the black-haired boy narrowed them. They studied him for a moment, before making eye contact with each other. The girl shook her head.

"Probably not. The hair and eye color are wrong, and the height is just—"

The boy cut her off.

"I get what you mean. You don't need to explain it."

While Sunny was confused about the topic of their conversation, they both turned back towards him.

"I'm Dan Heng, and this is March 7th. We're members of the Astral Express."

As they introduced themselves, Sunny looked closely at their appearances while also comparing their behaviors, something that he needed to do in his First Nightmare in order to survive. Naturally, he would continue to do the same here as well.

First was the girl named March:

Her eyes, a muted lavender, scanned the world with a blatant curiosity and optimism — not searching, but noticing, which marked her impulsiveness. She wore a uniform of cool blues and soft whites, the fabric neat and deliberate, with gold buttons and a ribbon tied at her chest. A compact camera hung from her belt, bright against the muted palette, hinting at a habit of recording more than participating.

Despite her apparent cheeriness, Sunny detected a reflexive cautiousness with each shift of her stance. It was as if she was always prepared for something to go wrong without warning — an instinct born of experience. She looked like someone who moved through the world without asking permission, and without needing to.

'Obviously an Awakened… same for the other guy.'

Dan Heng stood with the quiet ease of someone who had already measured the room — and found it wanting. Dark hair framed his face in uneven layers, tousled not by carelessness but by a lack of concern for appearances. His expression was unreadable, not guarded but indifferent — like someone who had long since stopped expecting surprises. Eyes half-lidded, his gaze drifted without urgency, calculating without seeming to.

His outfit mirrored that same restraint. A high-collared black shirt, layered beneath a coat of white and teal, was clipped and belted with sharp lines and minimal flair. Armor adorned one shoulder — seemingly useless, but Sunny knew a Memory when he sees one — while intricate patterns traced his sleeves and boots, subtle nods to precision rather than vanity. He wore control like a second skin, not flaunted but woven into every step. Calm, deliberate, and distant — he moved like someone always three moves ahead, and too tired to explain why.

'So if he's the brain, would she be the brawn?'

It was a very common trope in the media he used to consume when he was a child — back when he wasn't homeless, but still very low-income. People tended to brush it off as something used for comedic purposes. However, Sunny understood that there was some truth to it.

A team of pure strength would exhaust their energy quickly, while a cohort of geniuses would be effective in some, but not all situations. In reality, versatility was the ultimate force in this world. Being able to tackle any scenario with acceptable efficiency was much more useful than over-specialization.

In particular, Sunny's ideal party of Awakened was an all-rounder, a frontline fighter, a ranged fighter, a healer, support that can sustain the team, and support that gives the fighters an easier time slaying their opponents.

Sunny blinked. He had never thought much about such things before, but his thoughts seemed quite feasible. In fact, he could clearly imagine the effectiveness of his ideal lineup, almost like he was a master tactician selecting warriors for an upcoming battle.

His mind never had such clarity. Was this a benefit of conquering the First Nightmare? If so, he'd never heard of it.

'Weird.'

Brushing it off as a simple lack of information due to his upbringing, he noticed that Miss Cotton Candy was sending him a probing look.

"Do people usually have names like that where you're from?"

'Huh? Is she mocking me?'

Sure, Sunless might have been a strange name… but wasn't hers even worse? After all, who would name their kid after a day on a calendar?

"Uh… I don't think so. Is yours?"

Sunny never socialized much, but he was pretty sure returning questions was a core part of small talk — if that's what this was. Either way, he was genuinely curious.

Also, maybe it was due to the strangeness of the situation, but her words from earlier finally registered as he realized he was on a space station! In space!

He got out of the trenches!

'Why am I here in the first place though?'

Sunny was becoming convinced that he was abducted.

Meanwhile March slightly stuck her tongue out in focus — yes, as in literal sense — creating a strange scene as she thought. Sunny felt like he had been enlightened.

He had initially thought that it was a strange act that fictional characters did in cartoons and the like, but it seemed that there was some truth those depictions!

"…I'm not sure either. Probably not though! It would be weird if there was a March 8th, and March 9th, and a 10th…and there's only so many days a year, so there would probably be multiple of each!"

She laughed at her own joke.

"Actually, I've heard of another guy with the same name as you! He's probably one of the most famous Awakened in a long time… he even has his own movie! For a second, I almost thought you were him, but you two look nothing alike."

Dan Heng sighed in exasperation.

"March, you don't know what he actually looks like. That was just an actor on a screen."

She blew a raspberry at him.

"It has to be somewhat accurate, right? Besides; tall, dark, and broody? It perfectly fits!"

Although Sunny was slightly intrigued — after all, it wasn't everyday that you learn that a poor fellow shares the same name as you, especially one like Sunless — he remembered that there was more important things to worry about.

"Yeah… so, anyways, since I don't work here, and I have no idea how I got here, could you point me towards somewhere that I can figure something out? I'm… really lost right now."

Dan Heng came to his assistance.

"Back to the Master Control Zone. Asta and the other researchers have gathered there."

March cheerfully nodded as she continued where he left off:

"Plus that's where we parked the Astral Express! I don't know if you could fight or not, but me and Dan Heng will protect you if you can't."

Sunny blinked, recognizing an unfamiliar term.

"The Astral Express?"

'…It can't be a space train, right? That'd be ridiculous.'

She stared at him like he grew a second head.

"Yeah, you've never heard of it? The Express comes here every once in a while."

Picking up where she left off, Dan Heng explained:

"It's a unique train that can travel between the stars with the power of the Trailblaze Aeon."

'Huh. It really is a space train.'

Considering that he had never seen a train before, the idea of one in space was even more alien and absurd.

Actually, everything recently was ridiculous. Awakened Tyrants in his First Nightmare, gaining a True Name and a Divine Aspect, his strange Innate Ability, finding himself on a space station, and now learning about trains that can travel through space.

Honestly, it felt like a whole new world. One that almost frightened him enough that he wanted to return to his life as a vagrant in the outskirts, before he got infected.

Almost.

There was nothing left for him on Earth, so… maybe he'll just find something else to do.

But before that, he needed to worry about the Winter Solstice. That was when Sleepers like him — people who had survived the First Nightmare — were sent into the real Dream Realm. They would be thrown into the wilderness, and would have to find a way to escape. Once they did, they would truly become Awakened.

As he was now, he shouldn't have been much different from a normal human.

But he then remembered how Dan Heng had made obviously felt pain after he accidentally kicked him in the stomach. That shouldn't have been possible.

An inkling of suspicion grew in the back of Sunny's mind.

'…I need to check my runes. Fast.'

Sunny suggested that they should go. As March agreed, Dan Heng shook his head.

"You and March go back together. Arlan from the Security Department lost contact in the vicinity. I need to find him first."

March's eyes widened in recognition, seemingly remembering something of the sort, but having forgotten about it.

"Oh, all right. You stay safe."

Dan Heng nodded as he walked past them. Suddenly, white light danced in his hand, stretching and elongating to form a weapon.

The spear stood tall and formidable, its dark shaft etched with quiet strength. At its heart, where blade met handle, a crescent-shaped brace cradled a glowing orb. The orb spun slowly, suspended by unseen magic, its motion seamless — binding blade and shaft in a silent dance of power. Intricate runes traced the steel, whispering of ancient battles, while the rear flared into a jagged counterweight, balanced and lethal. This was no ordinary weapon — it was forged with purpose, alive with enchantment.

Inwardly, Sunny frowned in envy.

'All I have is a Dormant knife… while this guy gets a cool spear! How is that fair?!'

As Dan Heng walked out of view after turning a corner, March turned toward him.

"Do you have a weapon?"

Sunny paused, feeling the pressure from his Flaw build up. He nodded, alleviating it.

'Nothing as impressive as that though.'

Mentally sighing, he tried to summon a dagger. Considering the fact that the Antimatter Legion was attacking, it would be careless to stay unarmed.

Sunny and March both blinked.

A graceful dagger with a long and slender blade appeared in his hand. It tapered to a needle-like point and had a simple cross-guard, with a handle made from glossy black wood. It seemed to be forged out of clear, misty glass. In the darkness, the ghostly stiletto was nearly invisible.

This wasn't the weapon he had been attempting to summon. He didn't have a single Memory like it. Hell, it felt too powerful to be something he recieved in the Nightmare.

Even stranger though, which caught even March's attention, was that it appeared instantaneously. All Memories took time to be summoned, so having it appear in his hand on command was… strange, to say the least.

'…So that's what it is.'

Just to make sure, he tried to specifically summon the Dagger of Peace, the weapon he had recieved in his First Nightmare.

Nothing came.

Silently taking a deep breath, he dismissed the stiletto, watching as it disappeared as quickly as he had summoned it. Then, using unfamiliar muscle memory, another weapon began to manifest, appearing in the white sparks as Dan Heng's spear did.

Now, An austere tachi, between seventy and eighty centimeters long. It was made of bright, lustrous metal, and the hilt was made of polished black wood.

Then, before March could ask any questions about the ghostly stiletto, he casually smiled as if nothing happened.

"We should get going, don't you think?"

***

Name: Sunless

True Name: Lost From Light

Rank: Awakened

Class: Monster

Shadow Cores: [2/7]

Shadow Fragments: [1948/2000]

***

Following March through the corridors of the space station, Sunny pursed his lips while reading his runes. His suspicions were correct.

An unknown amount of time had passed since he had been through his First Nightmare. Now, he was an Awakened… and not just a mere Awakened at that.

A Monster.

The runes told him that he had multiple Shadow Cores, and that he was currently a Monster. Awakened humans did not have the ability to have multiple Soul Cores, as that was only limited to Nightmare Creatures. Yet, Sunny seemed to be the exception.

He could have went into his Soul Sea, but he was too busy following March. He decided to check the rest of his runes instead.

He first noticed that his list of Memories had changed drastically. Some memories he had before at the end of his First Nightmare were gone, and he had acquired new ones. This was why when he tried to summon the Dagger of Peace, he instead summoned the Moonlight Shard — the dagger that had the ability to appear in his hand without buildup.

Memories: [Weaver's Mask], [Silver Bell], [Puppeteer's Shroud], [Vessel of Remembrance], [Midnight Shard], [Moonlight Shard], [Dusk Shard], [Prowling Thorn], [Mantle of the Underworld], [Ordinary Rock], [Autumn Leaf], [Blood Blossom], [Broken Oath], [Dark Wing], [Endless Spring], [Finality's Farewell].

Echoes: —

He had looked through them all, and found that he was familiar with each of their capabilities. Interestingly enough, none of them seemed useless. Awakened tended to have some junk lying around, but unless they sold or traded them away, then they were bound to stick around.

Sunny himself had quite a plentiful amount of useless Memories after killing all those Mountain King's Larva. Which meant that he had gotten rid of them all within the time between his First Nightmare and now.

In fact, only three of his Memories were still present in his soul arsenal. The Silver Bell he used to lure the Mountain King, the Puppeteer's Shroud he earned from slaying that same Tyrant, and the Vessel of Remembrance he got when he killed that one unnamed Awakened.

Not Auro of the Nine, who was not only quite strange for being named when the other humans weren't, but Sunny didn't get anything from killing him.

He also found that he was now able to see the tier and enchantments of a Memory. This wasn't something that Awakened has the ability to do — not unless they had an Aspect related to Memory creation. To know the tier of a Memory, one simply had to know where they got it from. The tier corresponded to the amount of Soul Cores the slain foe had. An Awakened Beast would bestow an Awakened Memory of the first tier.

However, if obtained through other means, there was simply no way of knowing for sure.

As for enchantments, the only way to figure them out was through trial and error, along with the Memory description and pure intuition. As such, it was difficult for Awakend to figure out the best way to use the tools they had been granted.

The corners of Sunny's lips slightly curled up as he realized this, distracting him from the gravity of his situation.

Most of his Memories were tools and charms, which were used as utility. He had the Puppeteer's Shroud and Mantle of the Underworld as armor; the former was an Awakened Memory of the fifth tier — matching the Mountain King's status as an Awakened Tyrant — while the latter was an Ascended Memory of the sixth tier — which corresponded to a Fallen Terror.

Sunny frowned.

'How the hell would I kill a Fallen Terror?'

Even as he was now, that was simply impossible. After all, that would be an entire Rank and four Classes above him.

After a moment of pondering, he realized that it wasn't too ridiculous. With sufficient planning, resources, and enough luck, it wasn't impossible. The Mountain King was an Awakened Tyrant while Sunny hadn't even recieved an Aspect Ability.

Yet, it fell, while Sunny lived.

He also had the Midnight Shard and Moonlight Shard as his main weapons. The former was an Awakened Memory of the third tier, a tachi, while the latter was an Ascended Memory of the first tier, a dagger.

They seemed to be part of a set. He also had a shield called the Dusk Shard, but he wasn't the type to use something like that.

He also had Weaver's Mask

A Divine Memory of the seventh tier.

An Unholy Titan.

It was impossible to imagine what such an entity looked like. Nobody in humanity ever faced a creature of the Cursed Rank, and a handful could be said to have defeated one of the Great Rank. However, those individuals were Saints, the strongest humanity had to offer. Not only that, but they've never faced anything above a Great Monster.

So… what could possibly explain what he held in his soul?

Actually, there was an explanation. It wasn't that Supreme — which was equivalent to Great — and Sacred — which was equivalent to Cursed — Memories didn't exist. Rather, they weren't obtained through defeating Nightmare Creatures of that Rank. Some Memories were obtained through random encounters in the Dream Realm.

With his [Fated] Attribute, it wasn't impossible for him to gain one at that level.

When worn, it provided three enchantments. One completely masked his identity, [Mantle of Lies]. Specifically, it hid things he couldn't control, like his height and voice. He couldn't do anything about his hair, armor, weapons, and the like.

The second one… reversed one's Flaw, [Simple Trick].

It didn't get rid of it. Instead, he would do the exact opposite of what his Flaw forced him to do. Sunny, who had to tell the truth, would be forced to always lie. In a way, that was a Flaw in and of itself.

As for the third enchantment… [???].

That was it. There was no explanation, and Sunny wasn't inclined to mess with it. So, he moved on to something else.

Memory Description: [Weaver believed that knowledge was the origin of power and so always hid behind numerous lies, wearing them as a mantle. No one knew Weaver's thoughts, Weaver's face, and Weaver's heart. Even the gods could not see what hid behind the mask.]

'No wonder.'

The description was perfect for a mask that was a Divine Memory.

As he looked through his runes, he found a new section.

Shadows: [Marble Saint], [Soul Serpent].

'Shadows?'

Sunny easily deduced that this was an extension of his Aspect, but he wasn't sure exactly what it was supposed to do. He focused on the runes for a moment, seeing more details.

Shadow: [Marble Saint].

Shadow Rank: Awakened.

Shadow Class: Demon.

'Hm…'

As Sunny looked at the runes, Sunny was reminded of Echoes, which were a copy of slain enemies that were commanded by the killer. Just to be sure, he needed to know more.

Shadow Attributes: [Battle Master], [Stalwart], [Spark of Divinity].

[Battle Master]: "Born on the battlefield, the Shadow Saint is proficient in all forms of combat."

[Stalwart]: "The Stone Saint is highly resistant to all forms of damage, as well as being fully immune to mind and soul attacks."

[Spark of Divinity]: "Every fire starts from a spark. Somewhere deep within your soul, a radiant spark shines with divine light."

Now, Sunny was sure. This Shadow of his known as Marble Saint functioned the same as an Echo, although, possibly much better.

Shadow Abilities: [Weapon Sage], [Underworld Armament].

[Weapon Sage]: "Shadow Saint can effectively wield any weapon-type Memory."

[Underworld Armament]: "Shadow Saint's armor can accommodate a charm Memory to inherit its enchantments."

He could probably give Saint the Dusk Shard, as he didn't think he would do well with a shield. Sunny didn't know why, but he instinctively felt that the last time he used a shield, he ended up with broken bones.

He shivered.

Lastly was the Shadow's description:

Shadow Description: [Shadow Saint was created by the treacherous Lost From Light in the cursed darkness of the Forgotten Shore.]

'Tch. Can't the Spell call me something other than treacherous?'

Although he was peeved at the epithet, he noticed something in the Shadow's description.

'Forgotten Shore.'

Sunny assumed that it was a place, and decided to look into it as it might provide clues to help fill in his memory.

There was something else however…

Shadow Fragments: [179/200]

Sunny's breath hitched.

"Are you okay?"

Sunny flinched when he caught March looking at him. She must have heard his reaction to his runes.

"Oh, me? I'm doing absolutely fantastic."

March stared at him for a moment before turning away. She seemed to grumble something about 'crazy people.'

Anyways, it seemed that his Shadows had the ability to grow. This immediately made them infinitely more valuable than an Echo, as Echoes were permanently stuck at their Rank.

This meant that even if Sunny were to reach the level of a Saint, his Shadows would still be able to keep up with him.

Unfortunately, he still wasn't aware of the way to get Shadow Fragments.

He sighed, before checking his other Shadow.

Shadow: [Soul Serpent].

Shadow Rank: Dormant.

Shadow Class: Monster.

Shadow Attributes: [Shadow Guide], [Soul Weapon].

[Shadow Guide]: "Soul Serpent guides Shadow Essence as it flows through your body."

[Soul Weapon]: "Soul Serpent can assume the form of a weapon."

He inwardly frowned, feeling like the abilities were quite strange. Not only was the Soul Serpent a weapon of sorts, but it seemed to assist him in controlling his Essence. Shadow Essence, actually, not Soul Essence.

It made sense, considering he had Shadow Cores.

Sunny read Serpent's description.

Shadow Description: [When the end came, Shadow was the last of the gods to be destroyed. Many have resented him for creating death, but in the end, death embraced all.]

As he read the runes, and found how much they were connected to his own Aspect, his eyes slightly widened.

'Is this…?'

Not having an answer yet, he continued to check his runes. If he was correct, then he was bound to find it if he kept searching.

He checked his Attributes and Abilities. Since he was now an Awakened, he should have another Aspect Ability. This was technically quite good, but Sunny still wasn't sure what his first ability did.

Sunny paused for a moment, before looking behind him. His shadow was split in two, but was otherwise normal.

'Nothing out of the ordinary…'

He thought something moved behind him, but it seemed not.

Attributes: [Fated], [Essence of Divinity], [Child of Shadows], [The War], [Breach of Styx], [Blood Weave], [Gazed].

Sunny's eyes widened. One of his Attributes evolved, and he got four new Attributes!

[Essence of Divinity]: "The conflicting remnants of the Gods have altered the structure of your soul. Your Essence is more potent than those at your Rank."

'That's useful, I guess.'

This made him naturally superior to other humans of the same Rank. Not that he needed it, as he was a Monster, not a Beast like other Awakened.

[The War]: "You have stolen a fragment from the lineage of War God."

Although it seemed very significant, Sunny couldn't derive anything practical from it, so he moved on.

[Breach of Styx]: "The Gods once agreed to never bless the same mortal. However, an eternity after their demise, this sacred pact was broken by the treacherous Lost From Light."

'…Does the Spell not know any other adjectives?'

He was starting to get tired of being called treacherous. Anyways, this one also seemed to be more of a compliment rather than something he could use.

[Blood Weave]: "You have inherited a part of Weaver's forbidden lineage. Your blood has been altered and embued with odd tenacity."

'That Weaver guy again…'

Sunny felt his head ache for a moment, before suddenly remembering something.

***

"Hail Weaver

Demon of Fate

Firstborn

Of the -Unknown-"

***

Sunny looked at March once he snapped out of it, making sure he was still following her. It seemed that reading the [Blood Weave] Attribute Description caused him to recall something.

This one actually seemed to provide him with tangible benefits, which made him quite happy. He then checked the last Attribute.

[Gazed]: An Aeon has laid it's eyes upon you, and left your mind, body, and soul intact.

'An Aeon?'

Whatever the attribute was referring to must have been extremely dangerous, if his mind, body, and soul were in danger.

Their wasn't much to gleam from his Attributes, outside of the fact that his blood was more tenacious and his Shadow Essence was more potent. Now he had to check his Aspect abilities.

Aspect: [Shadow Slave].

Aspect Rank: Divine.

Aspect Description: [You are a miraculous shadow left behind by a dead god. As a divine shadow, you possess plenty of strange and wondrous powers. However, your existence is empty and lonesome; you mourn the passing of your former master and long to find a new one.]

Innate Ability: [Shadow Bond].

Ability Description: [Find a worthy master and let them know your True Name. Once they recite it out loud, you will be bound to their will, unable to disobey any command. It is improper for a shadow, let alone a divine one, to walk around without a master.]

As Sunny was about to chack his Abilities. He froze. He reread the runes again and again, yet they didn't change. A cold feeling of despair rose in his chest — he just noticed his heart hadn't been beating since he woke up — as sweat started to roll down his face.

'No…'

Master: AR-26710.

Sunny snapped out of it when he… sensed someone approaching. It was a strange feeling, disconnected from his other senses. He could feel each movement of the object, but he wanted to be able to see in more detail.

His vision split in three.

Sunny would have thought he would get disoriented by such a feeling, but instead, it felt natural, like something he always knew how to do. He was able to see himself from two different perspectives. Sunny turned around, staring back at the other source of his sight.

He looked at the two shadows on the ground. One of which looked at him like he was a dissapointment, while the other looked as if it was the king of the world.

'Gloomy, Haughty.'

Sunny remembered the nicknames he had given the two shadows. He couldn't recall much, but he knew that they were his only friends.

'Huh? That didn't sound right…'

Whether it was due to the self-deprecating fact that his only friends were an extension of himself, or if that fact proved untrue in the time between now and his First Nightmare, he didn't know.

What he did know, was that whatever was approaching wasn't human, if the sounds of the footsteps were anything to go off of.

He felt as if his shadows were a second and third body, and he could control them as naturally as he breathed. They moved up the wall of the space station, setting themselves on the roof. They moved extremely fast, as they headed towards where Sunny sensed the beings.

'A… shadow sense.'

The extra sense that allowed Sunny to feel the shadow of objects must have been gained from his Aspect. Meanwhile, he guessed that Shadow Control was what allowed him to control his shadow.

'An invaluable helper indeed.'

Through the eyes of his two shadows, Sunny saw two humanoids with glowing blades in place of their arms. They had dark, purple, shell-like bodies, and didn't have what would be recognized as a face. Among them was a floating orb with a segmented, silver shell, and a core that reminded Sunny of the stars in the night sky.

He looked towards March.

"I saw some purple creatures. They're coming this way."

A look of realization appeared on her face.

"Oh, that's the Legion. How did you see them anyways?"

He was going to give her a vague answer, before realizing something. It would be better to be straightforward rather than hide too much. Instead, giving her a fair amount of information while hiding his full capabilities was better. He couldn't lie anyways, so he may as well control the truth enough so that there wasn't too much disparity between what he says and what he does.

"My Aspect is good for scouting. I can use my shadow to look around for me."

March blinked for a moment, before seeming disturbed as she muttered under her breath:

"Is this some sort of trend…?"

Sunny blinked.

She shook her head before extending out a hand. A bow materialized in her hand after a dance of white sparks. It had a silver frame and a glowing, light blue string.

Dismissing his jacket, which he deduced is the Finality's Farewell, he summoned the Puppeteer's Shroud which enshrouded him in light, string-like armor, similar to a cocoon. Interestingly enough, while you couldn't wear multiple garment or armor Memories at the same time, you could wear an armor alongside a garment.

Once the Legion turned the corner, Sunny called his shadows back to him, feeling them climb onto his body. His power doubled, before tripling.

'…Huh?'

He wasn't aware he could do that. It was kind of like muscle memory, now that he thought about it.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see March drawing her bow without any arrows. Suddenly, an arrow formed of pink and blue ice formed.

'Must be an enchantment.'

The Legion seemed to have spotted them, as the two humanoids dashed in their direction. The floating orb was charging up some sort of attack, as energy was being absorbed by it.

March let go of her arrow, causing it detonate to detonate in cold mist as it hit the orb. It wasn't dead, but clearly disoriented, if the way it was wobbling in the air was any indication.

Sunny ducked under a slash from one of the humanoids, before kicking out his leg. Now that he had read his runes, he knew what that surge of energy from back when he kicked Dan Heng was. He was manipulating his Shadow Essence, using it to amp his attacks.

Combined with the shadows overlapped on him, which further tripled his strength, he was able to easily trip the humanoid. Setting his eyes on the other, he stabbed down, piercing the skull of the enemy he had sent to the ground.

[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Voidranger: Reaver.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

He felt himself absorb something, but he had no time to waste. The other Reaver was already approaching, despite seeing how easily Sunny had killed it's brethren. It dashed forward, arms raised in order to cleave him in two.

However, it seemed to greatly underestimate the treacherous Lost From Light.

In an instant, Sunny was behind the Reaver, traveling without even taking a step forward. Sunny stabbed the Midnight Shard forward, piercing through where a human's heart and spine would be. The Reaver twitched for a moment, before finally dying.

[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Voidranger: Reaver.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

Sunny was astonished at what had just happened. He was able to think with extreme clarity, thinking of nothing but how to kill his opponent, and prevent himself from being killed. At the same time, his movements were fluid, basically formless. In a way, he felt like he was a shadow himself.

'Well… I guess I technically am.'

As the Reaver slipped off of Sunny's blade, he glanced at March. His eyes widened at the sight.

In her hands were the two halves of the orb, as if it was torn apart. Both her and the orb were covered in frost. She seemed to have been physically empowered, similar to the augmentations from his shadow.

Well, he wasn't going to ask.

"You're stronger than you look… Seem to be quite the fighter."

Sunny tilted his head at her acknowledgment. Then, he haughtily huffed:

"Hmph. You should've seen me before. I was a malnourished slave beefing with Awakened Tyrants."

He said all this with a smirk on his face in order to really sell it. A look of disbelief appeared on her face.

"Uh-huh. Right."

'Nailed it!'

"So we'll take that elevator on the central platform to go down to the master control zone. Do you know the way?"

Sunny deadpanned.

"…Didn't I say that I don't work here?"

March pursed her lips together.

"…Well, maybe you just have amnesia, and was part of the security here."

Sunny blinked. It wasn't impossible… but he really doubted it.

He'll ask around later.

"If I did have amnesia, then I'd still not know my way around."

In fact, he did have amnesia. She didn't need to know that though, so he'll keep that to himself.

Sunny glanced in the direction of the elevator, locating it through his shadows.

"…Give me a second."

And he was gone.

March looked left and right, trying to locate the treacherous shadow.

"…Dan Heng is going to kill me."

***

The moment Sunny reappeared, he had his sword stabbed within a Reaver.

[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Voidwalker: Reaver.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

Sunny had figured out a lot of things. First off, was that his Awakened Ability allowed him to instantaneously travel between shadows. Just now, he had used it to travel to the Reaver before impaling it.

Secondly, he had figured out how to gain Shadow Fragments. All he had to do was kill enemies, and his counter would go up. Sunny guessed that once he fully saturated his Core, he would grow a third one. He also concluded that was why he had two shadows, and not just one.

Once he had a third Core, he would gain a third shadow.

Sunny jumped over the beam of energy coming his way. He decided to try something else…

Out of his shadow, a female knight with armor made of black marble appeared. She held onto a broadsword and a shield, and immediately blocked another beam of energy. The beams were being fired by those orb-like enemies.

As Saint appeared on the battlefield, Sunny commanded her to go after the two orbs. He was going after a floating humanoid, similar to the reavers, but without the blades on it's arms. It's color scheme was also different, with a silver body instead of a purple one.

It was surrounded by floating purple shards, which were radiating energy.

Sunny sprinted towards the creature, moving the Haughty shadow to Saint.

However, the moment that the haughty shadow left his body, something inherently changed within Sunny's mind.

He felt energy course through his body, giving him a rush of pure destructive energy. However, it was untamed, having nothing for it to be contained in.

'Huh?'

He didn't know what this feeling was, but it seemed to have to do with the removal of the Haughty shadow. He had no time to think, as the enemy before him was using the purple shards as a conduit for an attack — most likely a blast of some sort.

Using his Awakened Ability, Sunny once again found himself behind the enemy, stabbing forth in order to kill it. The foe was slightly more durable, but wasn't powerful enough to resist the Midnight Shard.

[You have slain an Awakened Demon, Voidranger: Distorter.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

Sunny looked to check how his Shadow was doing.

Saint held up the two orbs before smashing them together, crushing them to dust. She turned over to Sunny, banging her chest in pride.

[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Baryon.]

[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Baryon.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

'That's… weird.'

Echoes did not have the ability to display emotions, as they were only an echo of their former self. It seemed that his Shadows were different, however.

Sunny dismissed Saint back into his Soul Sea. By sending his Memories, Echoes, and most likely his Shadows into his soul sea, they would be able to recover from any damage they had previously taken. Saint wasn't injured, but he would prefer to keep her hidden.

March approached him, sending him an annoyed expression as she went towards the elevator. She fiddled with the control panel before sighing in disappointment.

"Ah, I knew it…"

"It's broken?"

"—But it wasn't me! The Antimatter Legion must have broken it!"

'I didn't even accuse you… yet.'

March looked back at the elevator.

"Too bad Dan Heng's not here. He's like a walking encyclopedia... He knows a ton of complicated stuff — maybe even elevator repair..."

"I don't know that one."

March jumped at the voice, while Sunny simply turned his head. He had noticed Dan Heng approaching them for awhile, thanks to his shadows, but didn't tell March just to mess with her.

"Whoa! Why are you here!?"

"I took another route to the upper level, and I saw you guys from up there. I found Arlan, by the way."

'…Didn't he say that this Arlan guy was head of security?'

"Would he be able to help out with the elevator?"

Sunny could have easily stepped into the shadows and go to the master control zone, but he didn't want to expose that ability to them just yet. Although March had somewhat witnessed it, she most likely assumed that he was using a stealth ability, as it lined up with his ability to scout.

Dan Heng thought about it for a moment.

"I suppose as the head of the Security Department, he should know."

March beamed at this stroke of luck.

"Then let's go talk to him!"

***

Sunny was… conflicted.

As the trio were walking through the long, winding halls of the space station, Sunny kept staring at the sets of runes from before.

Master: AR-26710

If Sunny understood this correctly, this… AR-26710 was his master. Considering the strangeness of the name, he tried to deny it by brushing it off as some kind of bug in the Nightmare Spell.

However, once he focused on the runes, he realized that he was wrong.

It opened up a whole other set of runes, which displayed his master's Attributes, True Name, Aspect, Memories, and all other relevant information. He didn't bother reading it. Not at this moment at least.

The situation could go wrong very quickly if he met this person, so it would be stupid to not be aware of their abilities. But now wasn't he time, as he still hadn't finished reading the rest of his runes.

Aspect Ability: [Shadow Control]

Ability Description: [Your shadow is more independent than most. It is an invaluable helper.]

As he had thought, the ability to use his shadows to scout or augment himself was his Dormant Ability. He had also been able to use Haughty to augment Saint earlier, bringing him to believe that he might be able to do the same with his Memories.

It also seemed that his Shadows like Saint and Serpent might have been an extension of that Ability, as they fell under the same description

Aspect Ability: [Shadow Step].

Ability Description: [You can move freely between shadows, traveling from one to another in an instant.]

He was not only able to instantaneously teleport, but he even had the ability to stay in the intangible form of a shadow.

'…Looks like I was right.'

The satisfaction of being correct almost submerged the dread of being enslaved.

Almost.

Aspect Legacy: [Shadow Dance].

Sunny had an Aspect Legacy!

Aspect Legacy's were something every Aspect had — something of a gift from the spell. They were usually memories or echoes that synchronized extremely well with an Awakened's Aspect, and were passed down among Legacy Clans — bloodlines of Awakened warriors.

The obtainment of one was extremely specific, and varied across Aspects. Most people would go their entire lives without ever unlocking it.

Sunny immediately checked the description, wondering what exactly it did.

Shadow Dance Description: [Once an elegant dance, now a deadly battle art. This mysterious style was created by the treacherous Lost From Light after witnessing a graceful slave dancing with her shadows. Who else could have taken something so beautiful and turned it into something so vile?]

'Again with this treacherous stuff… I'm not that treacherous, okay? So what if I lie, manipulate, and backstab people all the time. That's just being smart…'

Despite his complaints, Sunny was actually quite pleased. This seemed to explain how he was able to move the way he did, switching through different styles as easily as he breathed.

However, it was quite strange.

He never heard of an Aspect Legacy granting something like a fighting style. It would have made more sense if he had been granted a Shadow, similar to Saint.

Considering he had a Divine Aspect however, he assumed that his Legacy's potential was vast.

And vast it was.

'Seven… Seven of them!'

Shadow Dance Mastery Level: [1/7]

First Relic: [Claimed].

Second Relic: [Unearned].

Third Relic…

There were a total of seven lines of runes, each promising him a Legacy Relic once he achieved the corresponding level of mastery with his newly envisioned battle style.

Seven of them!

Not one, not even two or three. But seven.
Whole Legacy Clans were created around a single Legacy Relic. Sunny couldn't even imagine what he would be able to do with seven.

Start a family and turn it into the most powerful clan in the world? No, that would mean putting all his eggs into one basket. Better create several clans!

Right! Why start a family when you can start seven?

Wait, no… that didn't sound right…

Right?

"What are you spacing out for?"

Sunny looked up at the duo in front of him. They seemed to have noticed how lost in thought he was.

"Just thinking about starting a Legacy clan. Have you ever thought about starting a clan, huh, March?"

She grimaced, shooting him a look of disgust. Dan Heng looked away, his shoulders lightly shaking. Sunny's gaze switched between them.

"So… am I missing something here?"

March scowled at him.

"I'll have you know, I'm a lady of high standards! Inviting me to… 'create' a clan with you only half a system hour after meeting me? I mean, who even does that?!"

Sunny stared at her for a moment, before making a sound of realization. It seemed that he had failed yet another human interaction.

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that, sorry. I'd never consider you, so don't worry."

Dan Heng's stoic persona almost crumbled, but he kept it together with the perseverance and discipline he had honed over the years.

Meanwhile March gaped at Sunny, appalled.

The boy in question blinked.

"Uh… did I say something wrong?"

March clicked her tongue at him, before grabbing onto Dan Heng's arm and dragging him forward.

While the two were walking away, Sunny decided to check something.

First Relic: [Claimed].

The only thing he had that was suitable to be a Legacy Relic was Soul Serpent. It's description and Attributes were a dead giveaway to it's origins, due to how it seemed related to his Aspect.

However, it had no Shadow Fragment counter. How was it supposed to grow? If it was tied to Sunny's soul, then it should be Awakened, not Dormant.

Maybe… maybe its Rank was not tied to Sunny's soul, but to his comprehension of the Shadow Dance? Currently, he had mastered only the first of the seven steps of the battle art, and the Serpent belonged to the first of the seven Ranks. Would it evolve to a higher Rank if he mastered more steps?

Out of curiosity, he summoned Serpent, seeing that March and Dan Heng had went ahead.

Nothing happened.

'As expected.'

However, something did change. Not on a visual level, but rather, within him. Based on the [Shadow Guide] Attribute, and the fact that Serpent didn't have anything related to a living being, he guessed that it didn't have a physical body.

He felt the shadow essence within him flow with more intent. Due to the [Essence of Divinity] attribute, Sunny figured that his Shadow Essence was more potent than most. With Serpent however, the flow was much more precise. He would most likely spend less Essence using Shadow Step. The same would go for when he used his Essence to strengthen himself.

He had hoped to see a giant serpent made out of shadows appear in front of him, with black scales as thick as plate armor and a mouth wide enough to swallow his enemies whole. Or an average-sized snake, at least!

But there was nothing.

He even checked to see if a new shadow joined his two invaluable helpers, but no. Both rested on the floor, one seemingly arrogant, the other bored and in a perpetually bad mood.

'Weird…'

He raised a hand to rub his eyes, but froze at the last moment.

'What is that?'

There was something dark on the skin of his wrist and forearm, peaking out from beneath the jacket.

'...What? I have… a tattoo now?'

Of course, Sunny recognized the serpent immediately. The nameless temple slave bore the mark on his skin!

It was the Shadow God's mark.

Sunny blinked a couple of times, then stared at his left wrist, where the head of the Soul Serpent was drawn under his skin. Its scales were so intricate that it almost seemed as if the creature was moving.

Now… it really was moving.

Following Sunny's mental command, the Soul Serpent slithered up to his hand, and then escaped from it, turning into a dark blade. As the coils moved across his body, the blade grew longer and longer, until a hilt wrapped in black leather rested comfortably in his grip.

The tattoo was gone.

Sunny found himself holding a lusterless greatsword. It was a menacing, formidable, foreboding odachi.

Including the hilt, the odachi was as long as he was tall. It was surprisingly light for its length, but heavy enough to inflict truly devastating wounds.

Almost invisible on the dark steel, an lifelike image of a coiling serpent was etched into its blade.

He weighed the greatsword in his hands for a while, then smiled darkly.

'...Truly, this is a weapon worthy of a shadow.'

It was still weak, though. If it was a Memory, it would have been only a Dormant one of the second tier. Sunny was going to have to put in some work to make the dark odachi really fearsome.

With a sigh, he commanded the Serpent to slither back onto his body, returning to the form of a tattoo. He summoned the Puppeteer's Shroud, allowing him to cover up his forearms. This time, he summoned it under his mundane clothes as well, which consisted of a loose white shirt, and dark pants.

You could only tell he was wearing armor if you looked at his arms due to how thin it was.

With his Serpent now hidden, he sent out a shadow right behind the two members of the Astral Express. Using shadow step, he reappeared right behind them, not being noticed.

As expected, the cost to use shadow step had definitely decreased.

"Hey."

March jumped in shock, just like when Dan Heng met up with them at the elevator.

'What a one-trick pony.'

Sunny didn't know what a pony was. He just heard the phrase somewhere.

March whirled around.

"Wha- how did you get here so fast?!"

Sunny scoffed.

"What? Can't teleport? How pedestrian… oh, and there's some more of the Legion ahead. I think they heard you."

March paled.

***

[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Antibaryon.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

As the three of them fought against the Antimatter Legion, Sunny used one of his shadows to keep an eye on the two. He was able to somewhat deduce what their Aspects allowed them to do.

March had the ability to lower the temperature around her, creating pinkish ice. Her physical capabilities seemed to increase depending on how cold she was. Even if she didn't use her Aspect, Sunny still noticed a slight increase in physical ability whenever the room got colder.

As for Dan Heng, Sunny only figured out one of his Aspect abilities. He seemed to be able to inflict some sort of deterioration on his enemies, allowing him to kill them easier. It wasn't to the point where they crumbled on their own, but he was able to inflict more damage with his blows.

Sunny also noticed that he used a spear memory with a rotating orb in the middle. It was also possible that the deteriorative effect was an enchantment, and not an Aspect ability.

'Now that I think about it…'

"Do you two not have any armor memories?"

March flinched(again), turning towards Dan Heng while shaking her head rapidly. The nonchalant Awakened shook his head in exasperation, before replying to Sunny.

"March keeps getting the two of us in some… difficult situations. Our armor memories never survives. We use garments instead… which somehow have lasted much longer than any of our armor."

Sunny sent him a pitying look.

'What bad luck…'

After a minute or two of walking, the trio had found who they were looking for.

Arlan was a young boy with dark skin and grey hair. Sunny could see a few scars on his body, mainly an x-shaped one on his face.

Sunny could instinctively tell that he wasn't an Awakened.

'What the hell…'

The boy must have been a Sleeper. Sunny thought it was strange that a mere Dormant human would be tasked with the security of the space station, but he didn't worry about it too much. Although it made the security seem unreliable, it was ultimately none of his business.

The boy looked at them, left hand clutching his right.

"Hey… you're all together?"

March stepped up.

"Yep, we're from the Astral Express~"

'Don't lump me in with you!'

While Sunny was having his inner monologue, Arlan asked Dan Heng if a 'Madam Herta' sent them.

'Must be the owner of this space station.'

He remembered that it was called the Herta Space Station. Not very original, but… what could one do?

"It's just a coincidence. We came to deliver the rare relic Herta trusted us to find... We didn't expect to arrive during an invasion."

March chimed in with a question.

"Why is the Antimatter Legion targeting you guys? It seems they just ignored the surface of the planet and came straight to the space station."

Arlan looked down at his feet.

"I... have no idea. The Legion came at a very suspicious time — almost right after the security system suddenly failed. Lady... Lead Researcher Asta immediately began to organize the evacuation. I was supposed to cover everyone as they evacuated, but... I didn't expect to end up failing in this task."

Dan Heng shook his head.

"Don't be too hard on yourself. Your leg and dominant hand were injured. It was a wise decision to hide here and avoid a head-on encounter with the Legion."

Sunny stared off into the distance.

'Man, they're really getting all heartfelt huh? This is getting really awkward.'

March joined in on all this… 'heartfelt' stuff.

"Yeah! Most of the staff have been evacuated safely, so right now our highest priority is to return to the master control zone and plan a counterattack! So... do you know how to use the elevator? I couldn't start it..."

***

Bring Arlan along with them, they traveled towards the elevator on the highest floor. Dan Heng looked towards Arlan, asking a question:

"Do you know why the Antimatter Legion would invade the station, Arlan?"

"They must've come for Madam Herta's collection... But as to why, I still..."

"I heard there's something called a Stellaron in Madam Herta's collection."

"...That's not the kind of information someone in my position would have access to."

The word Stellaron sounded familiar to Sunny. Very familiar, in fact. Yet, he couldn't quite recall what it was…

'Ah…'

Sunny's shadows had located three enemies ahead. Two of them were the Reavers he had killed earlier, while the third was similar to a centaur. It had a four legged lower body with a humanoid upper body. For some reason, it had it's arms crossed.

"We have company."

'I've always wanted to say that line.'

March and Dan Heng nodded, while Arlan looked at them in confusion. Dan Heng wasn't told about his Aspect, but he seemed to be quite quick on the uptake.

They looked around a corner, seeing the three foes standing motionlessly. March drew her bow, standing next to Arlan. Sunny and Dan Heng went out to confront the Antimatter Legion, having already summoned their respective weapons.

The Reaver's immediately sprinted towards the two, getting ready to dismantle them with their blade-arms. An arrow streaked through the air, blue light following it as it struck the one of the Reavers. Dan Heng impaled it with his spear, easily stabbing through.

On the other hand, Sunny was trying to figure out what that sensation of clarity from before was, as he avoided the attacks of the uninjured Reaver. Currently, he was able to predict each swing as he weaved between the attacks with ease.

In his blind spot, the four-legged half-humanoid creature had created a bow made out of swirling energy. It fired, the arrow obviously supposed to hit Sunny.

Dan Heng's eyes widened in alarm.

"Move!"

Sunny did not listen.

As the arrow was released from the bow, seeming like a streak of light, it approached Lost From Light, about to end his journey after it had barely began.

Unfortunately, the archer did not account for this shadow's treachery.

One moment, he was dancing between the attacks of the Reaver, the next, he was falling from the ceiling.

'There's shadows above you too!'

Using Shadow Control, Sunny sent one of his shadows to the ceiling while the other augmented himself. He then used Shadow Step to appear right above the centaur-like enemy, blade aimed downwards.

The arrow pierced the Reaver, causing the archer to look confused as it killed it's own ally.

[You have defeated an Awakened Beast, Voidwalker: Reaver.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

The spell considered the kill as his own, since he was the last Awakened to deal damage to it.

'You're next.'

Sunny landed on the back of the last remaining foe, immediately decapitating it with the Midnight Shard.

[You have defeated an awakened devil, Voidwalker: Trampler.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

[You have recieved a memory, Thief's Instinct.]

Sunny released a breath.

He had… gotten quite a bit stronger since he had completed his Nightmare, hadn't he?

As the Trampler was about to fall to it's knees, Sunny hopped off it's back. He walked over to where the others were. March grumbled something about him being a show-off, Dan Heng sighed in exasperation, while Arlan…

"…Why are you looking at me like that?"

The kid basically had sparkles in his eyes.

"Uh… it's nothing!"

Sunny narrowed his eyes at him for a second, before shrugging. Dan Heng glanced at him.

"Where did you learn how to do that?"

Sunny smirked as he crossed his arms.

"Oh, that? It's more of a party trick than anything else. Actually, I knew a shortstack who had a lot of party tricks under her belt. She must have rubbed off on me."

'…Wait a second.'

Although everything he said sounded familiar, he couldn't quite remember any such person. He just had a foretelling of mischief, neediness, and psychotic obsession.

Like a Fool.

***

Sunny was not a pervert.

Nope, not at all.

Just because he was taking sneak peaks at this woman's… prodigious chest did not mean anything!

"Are you alright Arlan? Asta's been worried about you."

The boy in question nodded at the woman's question.

"I'm fine, a quick patching up will do. Thanks for asking. I'll report the situation to Lead Researcher Asta immediately. Bye."

And he was gone.

Now all the focus was on him. He yawned, feeling drowsy.

'Oh, look… I'm popular.'

This mysterious woman just smiled softly at him, before starting to introduce herself.

"Hey, nice to meet you. I'm Himeko, navigator of the Astral Express."

Sunny locked in.

Which was to say, he fumbled horribly.

"Hi… uh… I'm Sunless, but people just call me Sunny… well, not a lot of people, but some do! And it's nice to meet your che— You! Nice to meet you!"

Then, whether it was due to nervousness while before a beautiful woman, or due to the fact that he was already tired, Sunny face planted on the floor.

March looked at his unconscious form for a moment, before looking between Dan Heng and Himeko.

"So… considering that his name is Sunless, and he has shadow abilities, can we just brush it off as a coincidence? My whole worldview might get flipped upside down…"

Himeko's eyes widened in recognition. She looked down at Sunny for a moment.

"…Although I agree that it's a little unbelievable, I don't think this is a mere coincidence. Dan Heng?"

She turned to the boy, who nodded in agreement.

"I've seen him fight firsthand, and March has too — even if she wants to deny it. He dealt with the Legion's members a like it was just an average Tuesday. Granted, they aren't that strong, but when it comes to physical strength, speed, and skill? He has us both beat… well, maybe March could beat him in an arm-wrestling competition. If she fully augments herself."

A single moniker passed through their minds. Almost two years ago, a hero led an army of Sleepers through what many could consider the depths of hell. He reached a city ran by a tyrannical king, liberated those under his rule, and led them back to the real world.

In the process, he slayed the very sun that shined down on that hell.

Sunless, the Starkiller.

Chapter Text

The next moment Sunny opened his eyes, he was… within a Citadel? That's what he assumed it was, at least.

He started to recall some shallow information about this place.

'The Sanctuary of Noctis…'

The Citadel that served most Awakened of the Chained Isles as their home was situated on a tiny island of its own. That island, however, was rather anomalous: unlike all others, it never rose and never fell, always remaining at a stable height, away from the torturous pressure of the Crushing — a phenomenon that occurred in this region of the Dream Realm, causing an increase in pressure the higher an island went.

There was a grass field, and in its center, massive menhirs stood in a perfect circle, which encompassed another, smaller one. This larger circle formed the outer wall of the Citadel, while the smaller one formed the inner.

Inside the circle, there was a tranquil park with a pool of clear water in its middle. A path of stones led to a small island at the center of the pool, where, in the shade of an ancient tree, an altar cut from a solid piece of white marble stood.

The altar had three special things about it.
The first one was an obsidian knife that lay on its surface. The knife did not seem very special, with the exception of the fact that no one — not even Saints — was able to lift it even by a centimeter from the altar's surface.

The second special thing about the altar was that it appeared to be, itself, the Gateway. One simply had to touch it to be transported back to the real world. Once anchored to it, the Awakened would appear near the altar when they fell asleep in reality.

The third thing was that a seemingly endless stream of water flowed from the altar, feeding the pool that surrounded it. No one knew where the water came from or why the altar produced it, just that it was cold, sweet, and safe to drink.

Seven streams flowed out of the pool and eventually fell over the edges of the small island, turning into water dust in the wind. On a bright day, the whole Sanctuary was surrounded by rainbows.

'That was… weird.'

It was as if a specific set of memories just revealed themselves to him.

In any case, the space between the two rings of menhirs had been made into a place for the Awakened to rest and recuperate between their ventures into the wild expanse of the Chained Isles. The White Feather clan had built walls to close the spaces between the standing stones, and recruited several people with useful utility Aspects to make living conditions better for those who chose to come here or were sent to this region by the Spell.

Currently, there were about two hundred Awakened populating the Sanctuary, which was enough to keep it functioning and safe.

'Well, I guess this is convenient.'

Wasn't there something he had to check the moment he was alone?

Sunny shook his head, walking away from the gateway of the Sanctuary. No one really knew who Noctis was, and why this place was called in their honor… if that name even belonged to a living creature. It was just what the Spell called this place, so humans followed suit.

Using one of his shadows, he scouted out the area. There weren't many people around, but Sunny made sure to avoid those who were. He wasn't sure what the time currently was — not that it mattered much, as it was different across the Universe — but he could guess that most people weren't up at this time. In the Dream Realm at least.

He couldn't go back to the real world right away, as there was a time limit between when an Awakened could exit the Dream Realm after entering it. It was around eight hours, so if anything bad happened in the real world…

Sunny decided to forget about that for now. There wasn't much he could do about it. Worst case scenario, he would have to attempt the Second Nightmare if his real body was destroyed.

He sighed as he exited the Sanctuary. He had a room that he could go to, if his memory served him right. However, there wasn't much he could do there right now. He needed a productive way to pass the time…

***

"Listen, once you wake up, check the Vessel of Remembrance the moment you are alone."

***

Sunny did a one-eighty degree turn, and walked right back into the sanctuary. He used Shadow Step, and ended up in his room.

'…What?'

He automatically held his hand out, summoning a Memory out of white sparks. However, it wasn't a weapon this time. Instead, a small journal appeared within his hands, with a leather cover and a diamond patter across the front.

'This is… the Vessel of Remembrance?'

Sunny blinked as he automatically opened the journal, flipping over countless pages containing sketches of horrific Nightmare Creatures, maps, Aspects, and other miscellaneous things.

'Did I do all this?'

Suddenly, the turning stopped, landing him right in the middle of the journal. Strangely enough, the journal never seemed to run out of content as he flipped through it. Sunny guessed that it must have been an enchantment that allowed for endless pages.

The strange compulsion controlling him released him, allowing him to move of his own accord. He would normally be quite alarmed at losing his ability to control his body, but he was strangely calm, almost like he was expecting this.

Sunny looked down at the page that was opened up to him. Unlike the previous pages that contained information that would help within the Dream Realm, he instead was looking at a… letter?

Thinking that it couldn't hurt to read it, Sunny began:

"Dear future Sunny,"

"Hey there! You're probably wondering who I am… and the answer is… you! Yep, you heard that right. I've reached the point of insanity where talking to myself is the norm. Don't believe me? Of course you should! I'm the most honest man in the world after all. Two worlds actually."

'Who is this guy, and why is he so annoying?!'

Sunny decidedly ignored that this person could very well be himself, if their words can be taken seriously.

"Anyways, I don't got a lot of time before my memories get wiped, so I'll tell you the basics. First off, not every single one of your memories will be gone. Basic information about the world around you will still somewhat exist, but you'll need to be put in a situation where it becomes relevant to truly recall it. Honestly, I don't get how most of this works."

"Second, once you get to the Chained Isles, alot of people are going to recognize you. You're actually something of a celebrity in the Dream Realm, so act natural whenever somebody approaches you."

'Wait a second…'

Recognition. Recognition leads to fame. Fame creates a reputation. A positive reputation means…

Sunny's eyes sparkled in greed.

'Money!'

He would be able to set up business opportunities with powerful people, giving him the ability to make piles of money!

'Thank you, past me!'

"Make sure to milk people dry, alright? Ah, who am I kidding, of course you will!"

Sunny was almost one hundred percent sure that he was actually reading an authentic letter from himself.

"The last thing I have to say, is to not worry too much about Shadow Bond."

Sunny's face fell as he was reminded of those runes.

"It's caused me some trouble in the past, making me do some things that I regret. Even so, on the off chance you meet your master, be patient. You wouldn't believe me without seeing it yourself, but AR-26710 is the last person who would use the bond against you. Hell, she wouldn't use it even if her life were at stake."

'…What?'

Sunny… couldn't believe what he was hearing.

In his whole life, he couldn't bring himself to trust anyone, and yet…

He was being told that he had trusted a person enough to allow them to live even after they used his True Name?

'Bullshit!'

He must have been ordered to write this! Someone like him, who fed off of the lies he told others couldn't possibly trust someone else to such a degree!

It was ridiculous! It went against everything he had to do to get to this point.

He grit his teeth, resisting the urge to destroy the journal as he read through the rest of the letter.

"Besides that, be nice to the little gremlin. Well, not too nice… but don't ignore her! She might cast a ritual to burn your pants…"

'…Seriously?'

"Also, make sure to look in the mirror the first chance you get. You'd probably be surprised."

"Good luck, but don't rely on it. You'd probably still need it though…"

Sunny turned the page, seeing that there was nothing more to read. He sat down on the bed of his room, staring at the wall across from him.

Sunny glanced at the chest next to his bed, and decided to check what was in it.

'Woah…'

Sunny closed the chest, stood up, and silently pumped his fists in the air. He didn't want to wake anyone up, after all.

'I'm rich!'

Sunny continued to thank his past self for putting him in such a good position. His chest was full of Soul Shards, which even if Sunny couldn't use them, they were the main form of currency for Awakened.

Sunny flopped back down on his bed.

'Hm… I've had comfier.'

Sunny raised up the Vessel of Remembrance, flipping back to it's front page. He had quite a bit of time to spare, so he may as well learn as much as he can. Well, relearn, that is.

***

Sunny dismissed the Vessel of Remembrance, having gained pools of knowledge from his past self. He was able to figure out what some of his Attributes did.

[The War], an attribute that described itself as the lineage of the War God, mainly effected his mind. It gave him the ability to think with absolute clarity in battle. [Essence of Divinity] simply increased the potency of his essence, which was very useful for any Awakened.

However, it was the last two attributes that really stood out.

[Blood Weave] seemed to have another effect outside of making his blood more tenacious. It was what allowed him to see a Memory's true structure. The Attribute gave him the ability to see the nodes of light within a Memory.

The last Attribute he had obtained in his First Nightmare also seemed to have an extremely important effect for Sunny.

Based on what he read within the journal, two lineages could not coexist. However, [Breach of Styx] allowed it to happen, which meant he was probably the only person to carry multiple lineages.

'Well, maybe that's going a bit too far.'

Anyways, he had also learned something else about [The War]. The lineage was already granted to another clan. A rather powerful one at that, known as Valor.

'That's almost as important to conceal as my True Name.'

This must have been why the Spell had stated that he had stolen the lineage, rather than gaining it through normal means.

Sunny closed his eyes, trying to look deep within himself.

That was when he saw it.

Two black suns hung in the sky, reminding him of the solar eclipse. They radiated dark, wispy flames, while exuding a sinister light of divinity. The Shadow Cores were orbited by multiple smaller orbs, which represented the memories he had collected.

The most prominent thing however…

'This… is insane.'

There were too many of them.

Ragged beings infected with worms, crustacean horrors, ghouls with elongated limbs, giant maneater's with unhinged jaws, wolves with their guts out, corpses that sprouted flowers, centipedes with large sacs, and many other abominations.

Oh, and there were humans too.

Many, many humans.

Each and every one of them was slain by Sunny himself. That was the nature of his soul, as gleamed from the journal.

'Was I just going on a murder frenzy or something?'

Sunny was astonished at the harrowing sight, but this time, he wasn't afraid of the still horrors. Rather, he was amazed by the sight, wondering what type of lives they had all lived before dying to his blade. His Soul Sea was almost like a compilation of the history and lives of the fallen.

Sunny walked up to one of the shadows, recognizing it as the Mountain King from the Nightmare. Interestingly enough, there was not a hint of madness in the Awakened Tyrant's eyes. Rather, there was a hint of calmness as it stared back at Sunny.

It was almost like it was at peace, devoid of corrupting madness.

As Sunny exited his soul sea, he could instinctively feel that not enough time had passed to allow for him to return to the real world. He got up from his bed, getting ready to head out into the wilderness.

Sunny opened the door, just to freeze as he almost bumped into someone.

Someone who was staring right at him with a cheshire grin on her face.

'I couldn't sense her!'

He checked through the monochrome eyes of his shadow, and realized that he could still see her through other means. It seemed like only his shadow sense didn't work on her.

"Were you surprised, Shadow Boy? I used a little trick that lets me escape those pesky sixth senses people like you have…"

'An assassination attempt?!'

Sunny stepped back, ready to duck into the shadows if necessary…

"…I mean, it's impossible for me to give you a little shock when you already know I'm coming!"

He blinked. He… really wasn't expecting that.

The girl's previously cheerful expression became humorously sorrowful.

"This charm Memory really cost me a fortune, and it was all for you! Shouldn't you reimburse me, Shadow Boy?"

The girl — who was much shorter than him — casually stepped into his personal space as she leaned towards him. Startled, Sunny took a step back.

"I… don't think I should? Do I know you?"

Now that he actually looked at her, she did seem familiar. In fact, he could have sworn he had just saw her an hour or two ago.

But that wouldn't make sense! He was in here, trying to learn as much as he can from the journal…

'…Oh.'

The girl's exotic eyes flickered towards his own for a moment with confusion, before disappearing as she clutched her chest in mock offense, pretending to be extremely hurt by his words.

"How could you, Shadow Boy? Forgetting about your favorite Fool is a crime, you know? Ah, I wonder how I should punish you…"

While reading the journal, he had found an entire section that was… dedicated to this girl in front of him.

"Uh… can't you greet me normally, Sparkle?"

Yes, Sparkle. That wasn't her real name, but it seemed that she didn't have a habit of telling people what it was. Actually, his past self made it sound like he knew what it was, but it seemed like he hadn't wrote it down.

Either way, he didn't know what her real name was, but as long as she didn't ask that in particular, he shouldn't end up exposing the problem with his memories.

The contents describing her were… very extensive. They ranged from complaints, rants about things she had done, a list of pranks she had pulled on him, her likes and dislikes, multiple well-drawn sketches — it seemed that he had some artistic talent — long paragraphs that consisted of what Sunny could only describe as scrapped childish love letters he could only expect out of a middle schooler — which creeped him out — and much more.

'What type of lunatic was I?'

However, what had truly caught his attention was the fact that her Aspect, Attributes, some key memories, and some other miscellaneous details were listed. Even a comprehensive explanation of her fighting style!

Most importantly, he had her Flaw.

"Are you seriously thinking about how to kill me?"

Sparkle's voice caused Sunny to snap out of it, feeling like he had been caught red-handed. The girl was pouting at him while jabbing her finger into his chest, causing him to realize that although he was taller than her… he was still short.

'It's not like I was going to actually try to kill you! It's… just a precaution!'

"I, uh… guess I was."

'Damn Flaw!'

Instead of becoming outraged or sad, she simply started to giggle at his response — it was as if she had expected him to say something like that.

Sparkle was a short, pale girl with oriental features. She had dark brown hair that faded to red at the tips — tied into long twintails. She wore an ornate, red kimono that Sunny immediately recognized as a garment Memory. She had red painted nails, and a red flower-shaped tattoo near her right shoulder.

Although it seemed normal, he instinctively knew that the tattoo was similar to his own Serpent.

There were two red dots on her face, each of them set right under her eyes. She had red eyeshadow that accentuated her exotic eyes — which matched her shoulder tattoo.

'Can you even bring makeup with you to the Dream Realm?'

The answer was… sometimes. It would depend on if a Master or Saint brought some with them, or if you had a storage memory. Of course, mundane tattoos wouldn't carry over to the Dream Realm, so it was obviously some sort of attribute.

However, Sunny knew that she hadn't worn some for the sole purpose of her appearance. In fact, it was something she used to get closer with the core of her Aspect, according to his journal.

'Closer to the concept of a Clown, whatever that meant.'

"What happened to your hair? And your eyes?"

Sunny tilted his head, wondering what she could have meant. He hadn't really paid much attention to his appearance, considering that he was more worried about the strange situation he was in. The journal did tell him to look in the mirror though…

Turning his eyes upwards, Sunny noticed something strange. Just to make sure he wasn't seeing things, he pulled down a bundle of hair, twisting around to get better lighting.

'Huh?'

Sunny let go of his hair, face completely emotionless.

"…What do my eyes look like right now?"

Sparkle leaned forward some, squinting her eyes to get a better look.

"…They're gold. Didn't think you of all people would go for a crazy makeover."

Sunny fell to the floor, startling the petite girl. He kneeled on the floor, looking at the floorboards in despair.

'Damnation! My sweet, black set of hair and eyes that I had gotten from my mother… stolen from me in exchange for some ridiculous color scheme! Who even has grey hair and gold eyes?!'

Sparkle stared at him in confusion, wondering if she should do anything. She raised her hand before hesitantly patting his head.

"…If it makes you feel better, I think it suits you! Makes you more… unique!"

"It's not unique if everyone has bright color schemes! My whole thing was shadows, so a darker theme would be way better! Also, please stop touching me."

"Well, I guess I can't argue with that…"

She pulled her hand away, allowing the boy to stand up. He walked right past her as he tried to leave the building.

"Wait, wait, wait! You can't leave me just yet!"

Sunny shot her a tired glance.

"…I probably could."

"I'm being serious!"

"…Is that even possible?"

Sparkle had the audacity to look sheepish.

"Well, that's a lie. But still!"

Sunny realized that he probably couldn't get away easily unless he humored her. He sighed.

"So? What do you want?"

Sparkle pouted at his agitated state, before grinning as she latched onto his arm. She dragged him with her outside the building.

"What do you say we go on a little date, just the two of us?"

"I'd wonder if you hit your head as a baby. No way in hell do I want to go on a date with you!"

"Oh? Are you saying I'm not cute, Shadow Boy?"

Sunny scowled.

"I didn't say that. I'm just saying that I prefer girls with a more gentle, feminine demeanor, over whatever you would be classified as."

"And that is why girls don't like you."

"How did you know girls don't like me?!"

***

Sunny strained all the muscles in his body as he tried to stop the massive jaws from biting into his flesh.

"Is this your idea of a date?!"

Sunny shouted out while fighting for his survival; the girl who had put him in this situation stood a couple dozen meters away, drawing something on the floor.

"Hm? Why do you seem so surprised? We've done things way more exciting than this, like fighting an Awakened Demon right after calling horrors from the depths, leading an army of sleepers against a fallen terror, exploring an uncharted portion of the Dream Realm… fun stuff! Oh, the trap is done now, by the way."

"I'm surprised because your idea of a date and mine are completely different!"

Sunny had thrown the jaws of the wolf-like creature to the side, instantly using Shadow Step to travel to Sparkle's side. They stared down the wolf, that of which seemed confused by Sunny's disappearance. Once it had located him though, it rushed forward, moving all four of it's legs with powerful strides.

However, it did not notice the intricate pattern that formed a circle in front of it.

Once the wolf stepped on the circle, it staggered, tumbling over itself as it rolled over to Sunny and Sparkle. The circle that Sparkle had drawn on the floor disrupted the functions of the soul, and caused the wolf to be completely discombobulated. It wasn't true soul damage, but it was extremely useful for disabling an enemy.

Sunny stabbed through the wolf's neck, killing it for good.

[You have defeated a Fallen Monster, Dread Wolf.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

Shadow Fragments could only be gained by directly killing an enemy that is equal to Sunny's own rank or higher. The amount he would get doubles with each rank, and is multiplied by the class.

For example, if Sunny killed an Awakened Tyrant, such as the Mountain King, he would only gain a single Shadow Fragment as they are the same rank. However, he would instead gain five, as a Tyrant has five cores.

Just now, Sunny killed a Fallen Monster, which would mean he would gain four Shadow Fragments — two for each core, as it was one rank above him.

His progression path was much more difficult than the average Awakened, but it also displayed much more promise.

Speaking of progression…

Sunny watched as Sparkle removed a tooth from the Dread Wolf, before summoning a small storage memory that looked like a bag. She placed it inside before dismissing the memory.

This would normally seem strange, as their was no use for Nightmare Creature teeth outside of those who use them for crafting Aspects, but based on the notes from his journal, Sparkle had a… very complicated Aspect.

He would go as far to say that her Aspect was something he didn't want to fight against no matter what.

As a mere Aspirant, Sparkle was granted attributes that gave her an astounding talent in mysticism, ritual, and other supernatural phenomenon, while also having a perfect memory. According to the Vessel of Rememberance, she had spent over seven months within her First Nightmare, attempting to learn as many tricks as she could.

Once she had completed her First Nightmare — obtaining a True Name in the process — the Winter Solstice was only two weeks away. However, the time she had spent gave her more than enough tools to survive.

Strangely, her Aspect didn't give her any new Aspect abilities, but instead told her the means to become stronger with each rank.

Sparkle needed potions.

Based on what he knew, when she had become a Sleeper, she was given the knowledge necessary to make the potions she needed. The same thing occurred again when she Awakened.

The potions were separated by Sequence, going in descending order. As an Aspirant, she was at Sequence 9: Seer. She didn't need to consume a potion to become one, as her Attributes had turned her into one.

Once she became a Sleeper, she had gained the knowledge of the Sequence 8 potion: Clown. However, she never got the chance to create it when she got sent the Dream Realm, as the materials she needed weren't in that location. It was also where Sunny assumed they had met, based on the contents of the Vessel of Remembrance.

Interestingly enough, Sparkle seemed to have an innate intuition that told her where she could find some of the materials to her potions. It must have been an extension of her Aspect, or perhaps assistance from the Nightmare Spell.

Either way, she was currently at Sequence 8, and had roped him in to helping her gather materials for Sequence 7: Magician.

In truth, the potential of her Aspect was extremely horrifying.

"You can't call a lady horrifying! That's suuuuuper rude, you know?"

Even more horrifying was her obnoxious personality.

'Did I say that aloud?'

"I wasn't talking about you. I was referring to your Aspect, idiot. It's really ridiculous that you get something so versatile…"

Sparkle crossed her arms before letting out a 'hmph' sound, smugness apparent on her features.

"How many times do I have to tell you? The great Aha bestowed the power of his path to me because I'm great! I even got a Sacred Aspect!"

…Considering that he had obtained a Divine Aspect due to being blessed by two gods, he wouldn't be surprised that an Aeon could grant her something similar.

Suddenly, with great dexterity, she had hopped onto Sunny's shoulders, causing him to yelp in surprise.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

Sparkle leaned forward, allowing Sunny to see her face, although upside down. She seemed quite confused herself, but Sunny couldn't tell if it was genuine or not.

One thing that the Clown potion gave her the ability to do, was to be able to control her facial expressions perfectly, giving her the ultimate poker face.

"…What do you mean?"

"I'm not your ride. I'm sure you can walk on your own."

Something flashed in her eyes before a grin split across her face. Sunny suddenly felt two soft cushions squeezing against the sides of his head.

He reddened.

"Stop that!"

"What's wrong, Shadow Boy? Does it remind you of the time that I was pressed up against you when we were hiding from the Carapace Demon?"

"Everything's wrong, and it doesn't remind me of anything!"

Sunny's voice echoed throughout the island, but the place was mostly peaceful. At least, it should have been, according to his shadow sense.

Sparkle cackled as she went back to her previous position. As Sunny fumed however, her face reverted to a neutral position, eyes narrowing as she contemplated something.

***

"Did you get everything?"

Sunny's voice sounded out on an island riddled with the corpses of horrid abominations, most being of the Fallen rank. There was even a Devil, which would have been extremely difficult for Sunny to beat without Saint.

With the assistance of Sparkle however, they had been able to clear the area out. After searching for the correct Nightmare Creature, Sparkle took out a knife and gouged out the eyeball.

'What am I, her bodyguard?'

Once she had obtained the eyeball, she dropped it in her bag nonchalantly, before turning to Sunny with that same obnoxious grin.

"Yep! All done now."

She skipped over to where Sunny was, looking up at him expectantly. Not knowing what she wanted, he just walked away, about to gut open the Nightmare Creatures for Soul Shards.

Neither him nor his shadows noticed the empty gaze piercing his back…

A low, eerie sound of giant iron links scraping against each other interrupted his thoughts. The island Sunny was currently on seemed to have entered the ascending phase, so his time here was running short.

He didn't have much time, so harvesting would have to be quick.

The Chained Isles… the Chained Isles were a strange place.

Situated at the very north of the territories claimed by humans, they bordered the Hollow Mountains — a death zone that not even Saints could cross. The known Dream Realm was separated by the eerie mountains, the northern part having few humans.

The whole region consisted of numerous islands that somehow floated in the air, connected to each other by gargantuan iron chains. It was mostly unexplored, and the Awakened population here was not very large. Notably, there were not a lot of Masters and Saints here, especially those associated with the Legacy clans... be it great or lesser.

What the Chained Island had in abundance, instead, were the Nightmare Creatures of all kinds, from Dormant ones, to Awakened, Fallen, and terrifying Corrupted abominations. Each island had its own menagerie of horrors, and the level of threat differed from one to another. Most were utterly deadly, though. Much more deadly than an average Awakened was supposed to be able to handle.

But Sunny was not an average Awakened. To him, this was a perfect hunting ground, a place where he could sharpen his blade against foes he shouldn't even be thinking of going against. Or at least he had thought that way, at the start… right now, he was starting to suspect that it was more of a place where he could die terribly without being seen by anyone who would have been able to help.

Truly, the Chained Isles were a hellish land.

And not only because of the Nightmare Creatures. The place itself was capable of killing a person… or, rather, its sky could.

High above the floating island, there was the usual sky with the sun, the moon, and beautiful stars that shined brightly at night.

However, there was another sky in this strange land, the one that was below the islands. It was always dark, and the ethereal lights burning at an unimaginable distance in its vast expanse only looked like the stars. No one really knew what they were.

The only thing that humans knew was that the Sky Below was seemingly endless.

Descending into the Below was not immediately dangerous, but there was nothing there. According to his journal, some crazy daredevil had once fought his way through the hunting grounds of Nightmare Creatures that dwelled beneath the islands and spent a whole week flying straight down. He had to turn back, eventually, because out there in the boundless darkness, his mind began to show signs of breaking apart. Even the winged Echo he used to descend into the Below had almost gone insane.

But other than being absolutely empty, the Sky Below did not seem to pose a threat.

…Flying above the Chained Isles, however, was rather deadly. The higher one went, the more crushing their weight would become, until they would either fall down, or their body would simply implode.

That was why every human on the Chained Isles knew to pay attention to the sound of rattling chains. Every island in the region went through cycles of ascending and descending, and as they rose too high, the pressure on their surface grew tremendously, to the point where it was impossible to move... or breathe.

Ideally, Sunny had to get off the ascending island before that happened.

He should not have been lingering to retrieve the Soul Shards from the corpses of the monstrous wolves he and Sparkle had killed, really. But…

His eyes glistened with avarice.

Soul shards meant money, and if there was one thing Sunny really enjoyed, it was making money. No amount was ever enough.

An independent Awakened like him had a lot of expenses…

'Fine. It's fine. I'll be off this thing in no time…'

He quickly cut the dead beasts apart and fished out the soul shards from inside their bodies. Hiding the beautiful crystals in his pack, Sunny hesitated for a little, then sent his essence flowing and tossed the first corpse off the edge of the island.

Sparkle watched him in curiosity.

"What are you doing?"

Sunny glanced at her for a second, continuing the act of removing the corpses.

"If I decide to come back to this island, I don't want to leave too much meat around for Nightmare Creatures to sniff for."

He was planning to come back here soon, and leaving so much meat lying around could make the future visit rather problematic.

...Sunny only had one more carcass to dispose of when he suddenly noticed a swift silhouette descending from the skies.

Locking eyes with Sparkle, he gripped the Midnight Shard tersely as he waited for it's approach.

'...What the hell?'

Surrounded by a halo of sunlight, a majestic griffin was quickly approaching the island. At first, Sunny assumed that it was a Nightmare Creature, but then noticed a human figure on the monster's back.

A human rider meant that the magnificent griffin was an Echo.

Sunny's face grew dim.

Very few people could have such an Echo on the Chained Isles. And out of those...

He was pretty sure that he knew the identity of the unwelcomed visitor. His past self had… quite a bit of renown(although he didn't know what for), so he was bound to meet some people in high places.

Whether due to his affinity for fate, or more mundane reasons.

Sparkle walked over to him, probably having similar thoughts as she observed the Griffin. She tapped her glabella twice, activating one of the abilities she had gained in her First Nightmare: Spirit Vision.

Sunny didn't know the specifics, but it seemed to have allowed her to understand more about a person's mood or health.

The griffin folded its white wings and dove down, then opened them up near the ground to slow its fall. Sunny raised his hand to cover his eyes from the dust that was sent into the air by the powerful gust of wind.

'...Strong.'

The mighty beast shone with ethereal light and disintegrated into a rain of sparks, letting the rider land nimbly on the ground. He regained his balance swiftly and straightened, then turned to the pair of Awakened.

The man in front of him was tall and had broad, powerful shoulders. He was wearing a light armor crafted from the adamantine scales of an unknown monster, with a blue scarf wrapped carelessly around his neck. His hair was the color of straw, as was his manly beard.

The stranger's eyes were bright blue, and dangerously attentive.

Sunny and Sparkle stared at the man for a moment, the former bowing as the latter performed a crude curtsy. Sunny addressed the man:

"Master Roan."

Indeed, the man in front of him was none other than Ascended Roan of the White Feather clan — one of the only three Masters on the Chained Isles.

Well… there were probably only three.

Unlike the Forgotten Shore, this region of the Dream Realm had several Gateways. Two were found, conquered, and turned into Citadels by humans. Both Sunny and Master Roan — as well as pretty much everyone else on the Chained Isles — belonged to one of them, the Sanctuary of Noctis. That Citadel was ruled by the White Feather clan, which was one of the vassal clans to the great clan Valor.

The second Citadel was rather mysterious. It was situated at the very edge of the region, near the dreaded Hollow Mountains, and belonged to Valor itself. Only those in direct service to the great clan were anchored at its Gateway, so Sunny had no idea what went on there, and how powerful the Awakened stationed at the Citadel were.

He did, however, know a bit about Master Roan. Similar to his knowledge of the Chained Isles when he had entered the Dream Realm, he was able to recall general information about people of importance.

'Can I only remember stuff that I wasn't personally familiar with?'

He must have only recalled information that the general public was aware of; for convenience, most likely.

One such piece of information was that the man in front of him was married to the only Saint on the Chained Isles.

…Roan looked between the two, eyes flashing in recognition as he gave the two a friendly smile.

"…Ah. You two must be the Starkiller and Red Herring, right? Hm… I thought your hair was black…"

'…The what?'

Sunny was aware that his reputation was something he needed to pay attention to, as he didn't know what exactly he had done in the past. However, if a Master had recognized him on sight, and had even referred to him with an epithet…

'Am I… actually a big deal?!'

Was this the beginning of Sunny's popular phase?

The other name, Sunny had recognized. Red Herring was the True Name that Sparkle had recieved in her First Nightmare, making her one of the few who had not only recieved one, but had done so at such an early point.

Unfortunately, Sunny was one of those few.

'A Starkiller, huh?'

For a shadow such as himself, it was somewhat ironic. After all, shadows were the absence of light, while stars were a source of it.

Although… he did wonder where he had gotten it from. Turning his head slightly to look at his companion, he inwardly frowned in displeasure.

Sparkle was acting quite dignified. In fact, Sunny was somewhat pissed that her gremlin-like behavior completely disappeared the moment anyone who is in a higher position than her arrives.

'Where is my respect, huh?'

She replied to Master Roan with an affirmative, using the bodily control she had gained from the Sequence 8 potion to keep her facial expressions and body language accounted for. To anyone who had not seen her usual personality, they would think that she was a pleasant woman to be around.

Master Roan stared at the last carcass, seemingly impressed by the fact that two mere Awakened defeated a Fallen Nightmare Creature.

"I have heard about what the survivors of the Forgotten Shore were capable of, but seeing it myself is something else…"

'Ah.'

He must have seen the Nightmare Creatures falling over the edge of the island. Sunny scratched the back of his head.

"Well, I can be very lucky, on occasion."

It was technically the truth, as Fated made impossible things happen around him. Both positive and negative.

Master Roan shook his head, brushing aside Sunny's words with the belief that he was just being humble.

"Nonsense. I don't think a little luck would give someone the ability to lead an army of Sleepers in what is basically a Death Zone. With minimal casualties as well, considering the situation."

'I… uh… what?'

Sunny almost believed that Master Roan had lost his mind!

'A Death Zone. An… actual Death Zone…'

Death Zones were areas in the Dream Realm where not even Saints could survive. Whether it was due to the appearance of Nightmare Creatures of at least the Great Rank, or because of the extreme factors of the environment, humanity was not powerful enough to exist there.

If Saints couldn't survive, than how could a Sleeper do so — a being that was only slightly superior to a normal human? Sunny knew he wasn't capable of surviving in one as he was now, and he was a whole Rank lower when he had performed such a feat!

Master Roan shifted to a different topic, completely oblivious to the scrambled mess in Sunny's mind.

"You two should know that it is dangerous to remain on an ascending island, right? Why are you still here?"

Sunny hesitated for a few moments, then shrugged. He could worry about everything else later.

"We were just about the leave and escape to the next one over when you appeared… sir."

The tall man sighed.

"Yeah, that's what I figured. You've spent all your luck on that beast, though, it seems. All three of the island connected to this one are also ascending. You two wouldn't have been able to escape even if you left on time."

Sunny stared at him for a while, a sour expression appearing on his face.

'...Damn it.'

"Uh… what about that beautiful griffin of yours, sir? Surely, it can bring the three of us away to safety?"

Sunny glanced at Sparkle, who seemed to be rather silent currently. However, he did not miss that mischievous glint in her eyes. It was as if he had spent years learning how to detect it.

…It must have been a defense mechanism of his.

Roan grinned.

"He is rather beautiful, ain't he? Well, not that it matters. In theory, we can dive below the islands and escape through the Sky Below, but believe me, you wouldn't want to meet the things that dwell on the dark side of the Isles. Even I prefer to avoid those things."

Sunny blinked.

"Then what do we do?"

The tall man laughed.

"I guess you're about to experience your first Crushing, Sunless. Don't worry, though! The chains of this island are on the shorter side, so it won't ascend too high… well, most likely. And I'll be here to bring you back to the Citadel if you pass out. Provided that we survive, of course."

Sunny shivered, feeling as if some repressed trauma was stirring within him.

'I must have been through this before.'

Sunny glanced to his right, where Sparkle stood…

…Just to find her drawing an intricate array around herself. He looked towards Master Roan, who was just as confused as he was.

She couldn't have had something for this exact situation…

'Right?'

Once she had completed the complex circle, she closed her eyes, absorbed in whatever she was doing, before opening them once more. With a polite smile on her face, she turned to Master Roan.

"This runic array causes a decrease in gravity. As long as I stand within it, I would be completely unaffected by the Crushing, so…"

Sparkle glanced at Sunny, who had a surprised expression on his face. The versatility of her Aspect was truly astounding…

"…I'll just be sitting here. Unfortunately, I can't make a circle big enough for multiple people. I'm only an Awakened after all…"

'Bullshit!'

Sunny had no doubt in his mind that she could have shared with him and Master Roan. At the very least, she should have allowed him to stay in it with her!

So what if they would have ended up pressed up against each other, having to feel the other's body for hours on end? Anything was better than dealing with the Crushing.

'I'll definitely get back at you…'

With a sigh, he dismissed Saint, who had been hiding in the shadows all along, and took off his pack. Then Sunny found a soft-looking patch of grass and placed it on the ground. Behind him, Master Roan dismissed his scale armor and unwrapped his scarf, then tied it around his waist.

The less weight was on the human body during the Crushing, the easier it was to endure, and the more chances of survival there were. However, the Puppeteer's Shroud and Finality's Farewell were made mostly out of soft fabric, so Sunny left them on. He also wanted to neither reveal nor dismiss the Soul Serpent.

As the giant chains groaned and rang thunderously, and the island rose higher and higher, the two of them lay on the grass and prepared to be crushed. Meanwhile, Sparkle sat on the floor, staring directly at Sunny with that same polite smile on her face. It was obvious she was mocking him, but he didn't think he had done anything to deserve such treatment.

She certainly seemed like she was getting her revenge…

Master Roan stared at Sunny's slender physique, then at his own mighty muscles, and sighed with envy.

The Chained Isles was one of the very few places in the Dream Realm where being small and light was an advantage.

"...If you feel like passing out, turn your head to the side. Wouldn't want to suffocate on your own spit or vomit, right? Uh… sorry for being crass, kid."

Sunny grimaced and thanked the older man in a suppressed voice.

He was already feeling an invisible force pushing him into the ground.

'This... is going to suck.'

As if answering his thoughts, the invisible force suddenly grew stronger, crashing into him like a giant hammer.

Laying on the soft grass, Sunny felt his body grow heavier, and heavier still. The island continued to rise into the sunlit sky, and with each minute, the crushing pressure became slightly more unbearable.

The ancient forest covering its surface bent, a rain of leaves falling to the ground. The mighty trees lowered their branches, almost as if trying to touch the ground. With a loud crack, a few weaker ones broke and plunged down, showering everything around with sharp splinters.

Sunny grimaced, feeling his whole body struggle under the strain. He could still move and breathe without too much trouble, at least… for now. Soon, the island would rise high enough to make any kind of movement almost impossible.

…And if he was especially unlucky, it would continue to ascend, eventually making it hard to even inhale. Hopefully, the chains would draw taut long before that.

Sunny glanced at Sparkle, who seemed to take great pleasure in his suffering. Without a hint of shame, she reached out and started to play with his hair. He lashed out, attempting to bite her hand in retaliation.

He wouldn't be able to stop her once they went a bit higher, so he may as well get his anger out now.

The skies above the Chained Isles were beautiful, but also forbidden. Nothing could survive their crushing embrace — neither humans, nor Nightmare Creatures. Nor anything else…

Well, except for one thing.

Shifting his gaze, Sunny looked straight up and found the shape of the Ivory Tower drifting high above the world, wrapped in a veil of clouds.

The Ivory Tower was the only thing that seemed to be capable of withstanding the deadly pressure of the forbidden sky. It was a tall, magnificent pagoda built out of flawlessly white material that was neither stone nor wood. The island on which it stood was very small, barely wider than the base of the tower itself, and surrounded by drifting slabs of shattered marble.

Seven broken chains hung from the soil of the island, swaying as it moved.

The Ivory Tower was visible in the sky both during the day, bathed in sunlight, and at night, glowing beautifully with the reflected radiance of the moon. No one knew what the mysterious structure was and why it remained untouched by the obliterating force that destroyed everything else that dared to rise above the Chained Isles, since no one had ever managed to withstand the ever growing Crushing to get anywhere near it.

Many even believed it to be a mirage.

'Crap…'

The island on which Sunny had the misfortune of getting stuck had finally reached the highest point of its ascent and shook violently as the chains connecting it to other isles drew taut. The pressure at this height was torturous… but not deadly.

His bones were not breaking under the assault of the Crushing, and he could still breathe, even if with great effort.

It would have been better if Sunny could wrap the second shadow around his body, but he didn't want to appear too strong in front of Master Roan.

Speaking of the devil…

The mighty rider chose that exact moment to speak. His voice sounded a little strained:

"Hey, Sunless. Can you breathe alright?"

Sunny gritted his teeth and struggled to speak. In the end, all he could manage was an affirmative grunt.

"Good, good. This is actually not that rough, as far as Crushing goes. If we rose by another hundred meters, though, even I would be having a bad time."

'...Good to know.'

At this point, Sunny was regretting that they had not climbed on the griffin and dove into the Sky Below.

The Chained Isles was a dangerous place, and the Nightmare Creatures living on them were fearsome and powerful beyond belief.
However, the creatures living under the islands were much, much worse. Sunny had seen them from afar a couple of times in the last couple hours, and the mere memory of those horrors was enough to send a shudder running through his entire body.

Still, they could have fought their way through… probably…

It would have been better than this diabolical torture, for sure.

'Argh…'

But there was nothing he could do now except grit his teeth and endure. Minute after minute, hour after hour. Sunny couldn't even think properly because of how terrible the pressure of the boundless skies was. All he could do was suffer silently and stare at the Ivory Tower.

There was also the the fact that Sparkle was constantly messing with him as time went on. Poking his face, messing with his hair, whispering sensually in his ear…

"C'mon, I'm sure you can take it… I might give you a reward later~"

'What am I, your pet?'

Sunny was not enjoying himself.

His shadow, on the other hand, was having a great time. It didn't move, reluctant to get noticed by Master Roan, but he could feel it stare at him gloatingly.

'Bastard… I'm going to wrap you around the Ordinary Rock and make it scream without rest for twenty-four hours straight… let's see who's going to be gloating then…'

The Ordinary Rock was a memory that could be used to record voices. He wondered why he had kept it…

The shadow hesitated for a bit, then awkwardly pretended to be interested in something else and looked away.

'Yeah, that's right...'

Somewhere in the forest, another tree exploded with a loud crack. Sunny tried to turn his head to look in that direction, but it demanded too much effort. He didn't have to worry about being attacked by Nightmare Creatures in this helpless state, anyway. They were currently hiding in their lairs, enduring the Crushing the same way he was.
Who could fight under this hellish pressure?

Sunny felt as if there was a mountain on his chest. Every breath demanded his utmost effort to make. His whole being ached, and his vision had become blurry. Exhausted, he closed his eyes and circulated the shadow essence through the coils of the Soul Serpent to keep his slowly breaking body going.

'Damn it… isn't that space station under an invasion? What if something happens to my body?'

He was starting to feel really hurt when the blessed sound of rattling chains finally reached his ears once again.

'Oh, thank gods…'

After about four hours, the island had finally begun to move again, entering its descent phase. Little by little, the crushing pressure began to grow weaker.

Master Roan sighed with relief by his side.

"The worst part is over. Just wait a little bit more, kid. You're almost there."

Sunny sighed. He wasn't sure if he was a kid or not anymore, considering he had forgot a few years of his life. He was thirteen when he was infected by the Nightmare Spell, and the next second, he was an Awakened.

Most importantly though, he was taller.

He had achieved his dream!

A dozen long and torturous minutes later, the island descended enough for them to move, and then slowly stand up.

The Crushing was over.

Sunny slowly rolled on his stomach, then rose to his knees. He was breathing heavily, and his whole body felt as if it had just gone through a meat grinder. Master Roan, on the other hand, looked almost unperturbed.

Sparkle meanwhile, just winked at him.

'…You better watch your back.'

The rider was already on his feet, tying the blue scarf around his neck with a relaxed expression on his face.

The forest around them let out an almost human sigh of relief. The ancient trees creaked and cracked, rising their brancher back toward the sun. Those that had broken remained on the ground, adding to the nearly impenetrable layer of deadfall.

Sunny glanced at the older man with a bit of envy, then stood up and tried to shake off his exhaustion. After spending a few minutes resting and drinking greedily from the Endless Spring — a Memory that produces endless water —, he almost felt alive again. Glancing at the tall man, he asked:

"How are you able to fly up there on your griffin? I mean… no offense, but that seems like something only a crazy person would do."

Roan laughed.

"I don't rise too high unless I really have to. Usually, you can fly above the descending islands without experiencing too much pressure. After a while, you develop a sense of how much your body can handle, and for how long."

He massaged his broad shoulders and added, a note of pride in his voice:

"Plus, I am a Master, after all. I can withstand much more than an Awakened would. You did exceptionally well, however. To be honest, I was pretty sure that I would have to abandon my patrol to bring your bleeding body back to the Sanctuary at full speed, then throw it into the Gateway. I guess it's true what they say about you Forgotten Shore kids."

Sunny blinked a couple of times and asked cautiously:

"...What do they say?"

The older man smiled.

"Tough as nails, disturbingly indifferent to pain and fear, strong… almost scary. Scary children, that was the exact phrase I heard."

Sunny lingered for a few moments, then scoffed.

"Indifferent to pain and fear? What nonsense. I pride myself on being a coward — as one should. What's wrong with being a coward? Fear keeps people alive, while bravery gets them killed. As for pain, no thank you. I have been beaten, burned, crushed, drowned, cut, stabbed, pierced, bitten, chewed, and gutted enough times for several lifetimes already."

As Master Roan gave him a strange look, Sunny raised an eyebrow.

"Uh… what?"

The tall man shook his head, then scratched his chin and said in a wondering tone:

"No, nothing. It's just... if that is true, Sunless… then what are you doing here on the Chaines Isles? Shouldn't you be having a nice time in a safe place like Bastion?"

Sunny looked away in embarrassment, then coughed. He glanced at Sparkle, who seemed quite disinterested — maybe she already knew some of it.

He wasn't sure what the original reason was, but…

Master: AR-26710

"That… uh… there are several reasons for that, actually. Not the least of which is that…"

He looked side to side, then lowered his voice and said in a gravely serious tone:

"…The thing is, the Chained Isles has an abundance of Nightmare Creatures. I don't really like risking my hide, but every time I see a Soul Shard, something calls out to me. It tells me: 'You see those soul shards Sunny? One day, you might be able to buy an bottomless trash can.' And like a drug addict from the outskirts, I was hooked!"

He grinned and watched as Master Roan stared at him with an incredulous expression. After a while, the older man said:

"You are a strange fellow, you know that?"

Sunny shrugged.

"Huh? Everyone knows that, I think. Anyway… don't tell anyone about what I've just said. I don't want the competition."

Sparkle was turned away, obviously resisting the urge to laugh even if she seemed stoic. Sunny could imagine that she would have been cackling if she couldn't control her facial muscles.

The tall man blinked a couple of times, then smiled:

"No problem. Do the two of you need me to take you back to the Sanctuary? Or will you both be fine returning on your own?"

Sunny thought for a bit, then said:

"We'll be fine. It's not that far, anyway. The two of us will be… able to get there pretty quickly."

Master Roan nodded and patted Sunny on the shoulder.

"Alright. Then I'll be on my way. It's been nice meeting you, Sunless. Ah, you as well, Red Herring. If you need anything in the future, don't hesitate to find me in the Sanctuary."

With that, he summoned his Echo. A sea of white sparks appeared out of thin air and swirled, slowly turning into the figure of the mighty griffin. The winged beast towered above Sunny like a gargantuan mix between a lion, an eagle, and a pure nightmare. Slowly, it lowered its head, staring at him with two beautiful, inhuman eyes.

Its beak looked about as fearsome and terrifying as that of a Spire Messenger.

Sunny tensed a little and took a couple of steps back, prepared to dissipate into the shadows at any moment.

He didn't really think that Master Roan would suddenly attack him, but being paranoid was better than being dead.

The tall man summoned his armor, then easily jumped on the griffin's back and raised a fist to bid Sunny farewell. In the next moment, the Echo stretched its wings and pushed itself off the ground, sending a squall of hurricane wind in all directions.

Sunny struggled to remain on his feet, and then looked as the griffin flew into the distance. Slowly, a friendly expression disappeared from his face.

'Well, what do you know…'

The famed Master had turned out to be a rather pleasant person. Granted, he was a Legacy by marriage, and not by birth… still, Sunny had expected to be treated with a lot more disdain and contempt, at best hidden behind a mask of false courtesy.

With a sigh, he walked over to the carcass of the monstrous wolf and sent it flying over the edge of the island with a frustrated push.

The corpse of the abominable beast plummeted down and soon disappeared into the darkness of the Sky Below.

Making sure that nothing appeared from beneath the island to snatch it, Sunny lingered on the edge for a couple of minutes, then sighed…

"Well that went pretty nice, if I do say so myself."

Sunny turned his gaze towards the girl besides him, who was rubbing her head as if she had exerted herself.

"…What the hell was that about?! I know for a fact that you could have fit me into that circle."

Sparkle fluttered her eyelashes, drawing attention to her exotic eyes.

"Are you accusing me of being a liar?"

"Yes!"

She shrugged.

"Honestly, you should be thanking me. By making sure that the two of you had a little bit of a… manly bonding moment, you now have a connection to a Master here."

Sunny blinked, before widening his eyes in realization. Everything she had done once Master Roan showed up allowed her to remove herself from the picture. The distant politeness, only using the ritualistic circle on herself, and the 'reward' for staying awake.

…Well, he didn't think he needed that last one, but his point still stands.

However…

"Wait, why didn't you just attract his attention to yourself? Wouldn't that have been more convenient?"

Sparkle looked at him strangely, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You're the protagonist here, not me. Instead of a shadow following the Fool, it is the Fool following the shadow."

'Protagonist? Me? And that analogy doesn't even make sense!'

Sunny almost scoffed.

Red Herring grinned, poking Sunny right in the center of his forehead.

"Besides, you can't make any friends without my help!"

With a skip in her step, she dropped down…

…Into the bottomless abyss.

Sunny looked down incredulously, watching as she plummeted down, summoning some sort of Memory on her back. From where he was, they seemed to be insect wings…

'What do you mean I can't make friends?! Of course I can, I just don't have any reason to…'

With a sigh, Sunny dissolved from the world of light…

…And found himself in one filled with shadows.

Chapter Text

As Sunny became an incorporeal shadow, he thought back to what Sparkle had said, finding something suspicious within her words.

'She called me a shadow…'

It would have been reasonable for her to know that he had an affinity for shadows, if they knew each other as long as they did. However, she explicitly called him a shadow in the literal sense, which is something one would only know through his Aspect description.

Sunny wasn't sure whether it was a simple coincidence, or if she truly knew the nature of his Aspect. He didn't know if his past self had told her for whatever reason, or if she simply had the means to figure it out.

If it was the latter, he wouldn't be surprised.

However, the most worrying part was the possibility that she was aware of Shadow Bond.

Although Sunny currently already had a master, and therefore couldn't be controlled by another, the mere threat of somebody being aware of his biggest weakness was not something to brush off. If something happened to AR-26710, then he would once more be vulnerable to anyone else who knew his secret.

Sunny decided to be cautious around Sparkle, as to try and figure out what she did, or didn't know.

Once Sunny reached the edge of the island, he used the chain to travel to the next with ease.

Here in the Sky Below, he was in his natural element, after all.

Sunny couldn't travel through the empty darkness itself, but the chains were covered by an impenetrable veil of shadows. He could swim through them for as long as he had essence to spare, safe from the terrible creatures that lived on the dark side of the Chained Isles.

Rushing forward with terrible speed, Sunny slid over the surface of the chain and flew through the darkness like a ghost. He went faster and then faster still, circling around the chain several times and leaving the Forest Island far behind.

Covering the distance to the next isle in mere minutes, he escaped from the shadows the moment the sunlight touched the iron chain once again and shot upward in a spin. The Dark Wing turned into a blur, pushing him even further up.

Interestingly enough, the Memory looked to be the exact same as Sparkle's.

Sunny soared above the floating island and then glided smoothly to its surface, landing on solid ground with a light step.

This one was much different from the one where he had fought the monstrous wolves. Instead of a forest of twisted trees, the isle was covered by jagged rocks, with an ancient ruin standing lonesomely in its center. Sunny had explored the massive structure already, and wasn't interested in visiting it again.

Jumping from one shadow to another, he avoided the Nightmare Creatures populating the island and soon approached its other edge.

Technically, from here, he only needed to cross two more isles to reach the Sanctuary. However, one of those isles was home to a dreadful and utterly terrifying Corrupted Monster, so he was going to have to make a big detour.

Sunny looked at the sun, and then jumped off the edge once again.

Just like that, he traveled from one island to another for a few hours. When possible, Sunny turned into a shadow and rushed along the lengths of heavenly chains, then emerged from the darkness and traversed the islands themselves on foot.

Each island was different from another. Some were desolate and bleak, some covered by grass and vegetation. One was full of beautiful white flowers, while another hid a clear, tranquil lake. A few were covered by ash and flames, while several were covered by the ruins that some ancient civilization had left behind.

If there was one thing that united all of them, it was that each was dangerous in its own way.

The desolate islands were home to swarms of monstrous, gluttonous ants. The grass covered the maws of giant abominations that hid beneath, waiting for prey to step into their trap. The vegetation was predatory and deadly if one wasn't careful to not get too close. The beautiful white flowers could put a person to sleep from which they would never wake up. The tranquil lake was home to a creature so terrifying that Sunny did not even dare to approach its clear waters.

And these ones were on the safer side, as far as the Chained Isles went. Due to their proximity to the Sanctuary, they were well explored, and anything dangerous enough to pose threat to the Citadel had long been destroyed by Saint Tyris herself. Sunny had been to these islands already, too, so he knew his way around them.

Each was either descending or ascending. The former were easier to cross, while the latter forced him to walk while suffering from the early stages of the Crushing. If an island he wanted to use was to high, Sunny had to change his plan and seek out another way.

After a while, his reserve of Shadow Essence became dangerously low. Knowing that he will have to make a stop, Sunny chose a relatively safe island and headed toward it.

Gliding to the surface, Sunny tiredly dismissed the Dark Wing and looked around.

The island he was currently standing on was rather close to the Sanctuary, and usually empty of any Nightmare Creatures. However, it was wise to make sure.

Sending his shadows in different directions to scout for potential danger, Sunny sat on the ground and summoned the Endless Spring. When his thirst was satiated, he crossed his legs, put his hands on his knees, and closed his eyes, concentrating on the coils of the Soul Serpent.

With a part of his mind observing the world through the shadows and another concentrated on hastening the accumulation of shadow essence, he meditated for a while, and then suddenly opened his eyes.

One of the shadows had noticed something interesting.

At the same time Sparkle, landed next to him, dismissing her own Dark Wing as she sat down next to him.

It seemed that she had also started to run low on essence. Sunny sighed, standing up.

"I'll be back. Probably."

Sparkle waved him off, before extending out her hand expectantly. Sunny wasn't sure what she wanted for a moment, before realizing that she must have been thirsty as well.

Although he didn't want to give such a useful memory away, he also didn't want to expose his act.

Sunny summoned the Endless Spring, handing it over to the girl. Without a word of thanks, she immediately started to down the water.

Sunny rolled his eyes, refocusing on the matter that had caught his attention.

The island Sunny was resting on was a strange one. It was rather large and covered in soft grass, with ancient stone columns protruding from the ground here and there. Most of them had long toppled and been shattered to pieces by some unknown disaster. The ground itself was full of depressions and generally uneven, as if it had served as a battlefield for giants once.

The reason why Sunny had come up with such a metaphor was not coincidental. The main feature of the island was situated at its center, and appeared to be a giant, rusty metal hand. Hence, the isle was unimaginatively called the Iron Hand Island.

It was well known to the Awakened anchored in the Sanctuary because very few Nightmare Creatures ever came here, and thus, many humans used it to rest during their journeys.

However, today, Sunny and Sparkle weren't the only visitor to the peaceful island.

A rather ugly monstrosity lay dead in the shadow of the giant iron hand, its blood forming a large pool. It had a body like that of a snake, two powerful hands protruding from a human-like torso, a head with a long and toothy muzzle, and two leathery wings.

From the looks of it, the creature had landed on the island due to heavy injuries, and then succumbed to the most recent Crushing. It's body seemed broken and flattened, with sharp bone splinters protruding from the torn scales.

Sunny's interest was naturally piqued, because it wasn't every day that he stumbled on free Soul Shards. Additionally, and more intriguing, the shadow had noticed something glinting on the ground near one of the abomination's hands.

'Huh…'

Standing up, Sunny looked around, and then headed to the center of the island.

Soon, he reached the rusty metal arm and dove into the shadows, emerging on top of it. Standing a good ten meters above the ground, he stared at the carcass of the dead Nightmare Creature to make sure that the shadow didn't miss anything.

…Everything seemed to be fine.

With a shrug, Sunny jumped down and landed softly on the grass near the massive monster. Walking around it, he approached the spot where the abomination's hand lay on the ground, its five long fingers ending in terrifying claws.

"Gee. You were a scary one, weren't you?"

He didn't need to wonder about who had done the monster in. On the Chained Isles, Nightmare Creatures constantly fought each other. Winged ones like this one were often caught by the inhabitants of the dark side, torn to pieces, and devoured.

This one had been relatively lucky, all things considered.

Bending down, Sunny picked up the small object that seemed to have fallen out of the creature's hand and stared at it with a dubious expression.

"...A coin?"

Indeed, he was holding a heavy golden coin. Which didn't make any sense.

Nightmare Creatures were not exactly known for participating in commerce, and humans did not use coins. If they needed to trade, they either bartered with suitable items or used credits — the universal currency of modern civilization. Of course, credits didn't exist in the Dream Realm, but the transaction would be honored when both parties returned to the real world.

So where could a gold coin come from?

Sunny stared at the coin for a while, then turned it around. There was a depiction of an archaic ship on one of its sides, with a tall mast that had an actual tree growing around it. A beautiful human face stared at him from the other side, a carefree smile on its lips.

The person had high cheekbones, long hair, and exquisite features. Sunny couldn't say if they were a man or a woman, just that they seem rather charming. There was a crescent moon drawn on their forehead, and… well, that was about it.

Sunny studied the coin some more, and then thought despondently:

'That thing is definitely cursed, right?'

It just had to be. What else was he supposed to think after finding a mysterious coin near the corpse of a monster that had died a violent death?

…But it didn't seem to be cursed.

Sunny had a rather good intuition about these things. He also had the sight of a person who had inherited a part of Weaver's forbidden lineage.

Looking under the surface of the coin, Sunny expected to see a malevolent spellweave, or at least something strange, but there was nothing.

From the looks of it, the coin… was just a coin.

The only strangeness about it was that it seemed a little bit warm to the touch.

"Huh…"

With a shrug, Sunny shoved the coin into his pack and turned to the dead monster.

"Let's see how many shards you're hiding, ugly lizard…"

He summoned the Moonlight Shard — a dagger that could be summoned instantaneously — enhanced it with two shadows, and cut into the tough hide of the Nightmare Creature. For a while, luck was on his side. He quickly retrieved two bright soul shards… so quickly, in fact, that Sunny grew sure that there had to be a third one inside the carcass.

"A Demon, huh?"

That was where his luck ended. The body of the demon was too heavily damaged, so when he tried to fish out the third crystal, its stomach burst open and spilled its contents all over the ground.

"Argh! Curses!"

Sunny was so disgusted by the idea of being doused in the putrid slimy mass that he instinctively teleported a few meters away.

Then, he tilted his head and stared down.

Covered in repulsive, acidic liquid, three more coins — as well as something that resembled a piece of a wooden chest — lay in the quickly melting grass.

'Did this guy… try to eat a treasure chest?'

Sunny shook his head, walked around the disgusting mess, and quickly retrieved the last soul shard.

Since golden coins were rather useless to him and he already had one to sketch — he wanted to record his discovery — he had no intention of retrieving the rest.

'No thank you…'

By that time, he had recovered enough Shadow Essence to return to the Sanctuary, so nothing was holding him on the island anymore.

'Oh, right.'

Sunny used Shadow Step to get back to where he had left Sparkle. The girl was laying on her side, propping up her head with her hand.

"You find anything?"

Sunny shrugged.

"Nothing important. Just a coin…"

Sparkle tilted her head in contemplation. She then summoned her storage memory, reaching into it as she pulled out a topaz pendulum. She held it in her left hand, closing her eyes for a few seconds.

Sunny blinked, watching in curiosity. Due to the complexity of her Aspect, something that seemed completely innocuous such as holding a mundane pendulum could allow her to perform some sort of ritual…

Once her eyes opened, the pendulum turned slightly to Sunny's right. From where he was standing, it would be Sparkle's left. The girl in question smirked, before putting the pendulum away in her storage memory.

"The coin is actually pretty special. Not that I know what it does, but you should hold onto it."

It seemed that the ritual had the strange ability to… confirm things? Sunny wasn't too sure about the nature, as Sparkle didn't bother explaining it.

'It's more like a divination…'

Sunny sighed.

"I'll go back to get the rest. I have enough Essence to go back to the Sanctuary, so we should get going."

With a thumbs-up, Sparkle walked off to the direction of the island's edge. Sunny used Shadow Step once more, arriving back at where the dead Nightmare Creature was. He grimaced as he picked up the other coins, using the Endless Spring to wash them off.

'Gross…'

Throwing one last look at the giant metal hand and wondering what terrible strike could have separated it from the rest of the theoretical giant, he turned away and walked toward the edge of the island. Figuring that Sparkle must have already left, Sunny made his way towards the Sanctuary.

Soon, Sunny was walking on the last chain he had to traverse as he approached the Sanctuary of Noctis.

By then, it was already night. Up above, the pale disk of the crescent moon shone softly, its light reflecting off the white walls of the Ivory Tower. Countless stars shimmered on the dark velvet tapestry of the night sky. Without the light pollution that the giant city where Sunny had grown up produced, they were beautiful and bright.

Now that it was night, the border between the Sky Above and the Sky Below was almost invisible. The empty void beneath the Isles had stars of its own, so it seemed like the reflection of the real sky during these hours. The only difference between them was that it lacked both the moon and the ethereal silhouette of a graceful white tower floating through the clouds.

The chain swayed lightly as Sunny walked. He felt reluctant to use Shadow Step this close to the Sanctuary and enjoyed the sight of the night sky, the smell of clean air, and the cool embrace of the wind; something he never had in the Outskirts. So he tended to complete this last part of the return journey on foot.

…Even hell could be beautiful, sometimes.
A few minutes later, Sunny heard the murmur of flowing water and knew that the Sanctuary was already close.

It was the murmur of these waterfalls that Sunny had heard as he approached the Citadel.

Using the Dark Wing to glide upward and land on the soft grass of the island, he walked over to a stone post that stood nearby and rang the bronze bell that hung on it. This was to let the watchmen know that he was a human and not a Nightmare Creature that needed to be destroyed.

Soon, a whistle came out of the darkness, and Sunny walked forward on a path that led to the towering menhirs.

A few minutes later, he had walked between two massive stones and entered the Sanctuary of Noctis.

No one really knew who Noctis was, and why this place was called in their honor… if that name even belonged to a living creature. It was just what the Spell called this place, so humans followed suit.

In any case, the space between the two rings of menhirs had been made into a place for the Awakened to rest and recuperate between their ventures into the wild expanse of the Chained Isles. The White Feather clan had built walls to close the spaces between the standing stones, and recruited several people with useful utility Aspects to make living conditions better for those who chose to come here or were sent to this region by the Spell.

Currently, there were about two hundred Awakened populating the Sanctuary, which was enough to keep it functioning and safe.

Like everybody else here, he was assigned a small room after becoming anchored to the Sanctuary. It was situated near one of two entrances, so he didn't have to walk for a long time.

Entering the room, Sunny quickly took off his pack and placed his trophies — a scattering of soul shards, a few weird-looking fruits, and the golden coins — into a chest standing near the bed. Then he threw the pack on the floor, lingered for a few moments, and left.

As he exited the room, he once again almost walked into Sparkle. She must have used that charm Memory again…

'What a drag…'

Sunny tiredly looked at the girl, who was wearing a perpetually smug expression on her face.

"What do you want?"

"Hm? Well, I simply stopped by to give you a reward~"

Sunny blinked, recalling that she had indeed said something similar earlier. It was when he was dealing with the Crushing, and she was messing with him…

'Now that I think about it, I still need to get my revenge…'

Sunny crossed his arms, pondering about the possible acts he could perform…

…Sparkle pinched his cheek, bringing him back to reality. He glared at her, before asking:

"So? What is it?"

Sparkle leaned forward, eyes glancing left and right. She stood on the tips of her toes in order to barely reach Sunny's unimpressive height.

She whispered…

"…After being helped by the mirror, don't blindly trust it. Come to me the first chance you get afterwards."

Sunny blinked.

'A revelation?'

Sunny didn't know what exactly she referred to, but hoped that he would be able to deduce it once it happened. Sparkle stepped away from him.

"Anyways, I need to make my potion in the real world. I know you'll miss me, but keep all thoughts about the amazing Sparkle kid-friendly, okay?"

With a skip in her step, Sparkle left Sunny staring at her in confusion.

'What a charlatan.'

***

Entering the park, Sunny approached the deep pool of clear water and stepped onto the first stone of the path that led to the Altar Island.

Soon, he was standing in front of the white altar, surrounded by the tranquil sound of rustling leaves and running water. Glancing at the obsidian dagger, Sunny resisted the urge to try and lift it. He had already done so many times before, all with no result whatsoever.

'...Maybe one day.'

With a sigh, he took a step forward and placed his hand on the altar.

The marble felt cool to the touch.

In the next moment, the darkness of the night was momentarily illuminated by a flash of ethereal blue light. When it dissipated, there was no one standing under the branches of the ancient tree.

Sunny had left the Dream Realm and returned to the real world.

***

"Ah! Miss Himeko, Sunny's awake!"

Sunny's eyes cracked open as he found himself in the Herta Space Station once more. Without delay, he sprung up to his feet, realizing that he was laying on a cushioned bench.

He immediately sent out his shadows to scout the area, looking around to find a startled set of Trailblazers.

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

"What? Is something wrong?"

Dan Heng coughed.

"It's a good thing that you're awake now. In the past few hours, the situation on the Space Station has… escalated."

Sunny could figure that out. Using his shadows, he found plenty of researchers panicking, and had even heard word of something called a Doomsday Beast.

Sunny turned towards the three Trailblazers. Himeko was looking towards him, a calculating glint in her eyes. March seemed slightly worried about something, but not to an extreme degree. Dan Heng was frowning, deep in contemplation.

Sunny sighed — he had been doing that a lot lately.

"Alright, spit it out. How strong is this… Doomsday Beast?"

Himeko's eyes widened.

"How did you…"

Sunny shrugged.

"I just listened to my surroundings. Everybody does that, right?"

In disbelief, Himeko shook her head.

"A Doomsday Beast is much more powerful than the other monsters you three have fought. It has the ability to destroy planets while still only being an Ascended Titan."

'Ascended?'

Although the fact that it was a whole rank and five classes above him was worrying, Sunny was quite intrigued by the fact that she had said Ascended, and not Fallen.

Did this imply that the servants of an Aeon weren't prone to the corruption that plagues Nightmare Creatures? He hadn't noticed previously because the Awakened Rank was the same for both humans and Nightmare Creatures, only diverging at Ascended for humans, and Fallen for Nightmare Creatures.

Filing this piece of information away, Sunny found that they were still in the master control zone. He noticed a girl with pink hair approaching them, although with a darker shade than March.

Once she noticed that Sunny was awake, she immediately greeted him.

"Hello, I'm Lead Researcher Asta. I saw you with the Astral Express, but I haven't caught your name…"

Sunny didn't think that they had time for introductions, but he might have been able to get some information from the Lead Researcher.

"My name is Sunless. By any chance, could I go see this Herta person I've heard so much about? I mean, in a crisis like this, I'd assume she would be pretty active."

There was a moment of silence.

At the mention of his name, Asta's eyes widened in recognition. She shook her head, her tone becoming slightly more… reverent.

"No, she doesn't care much about the Space Station. This… is one of her abandoned projects, Sir Starkiller."

Sunny blinked.

"Oh, uh… right, thanks."

He found that March, Dan Heng, and Himeko weren't surprised at all by his identity.

It seemed that his fame transcended worlds.

***

A few minutes later, Sunny found himself walking through the space station's corridors along with the Trailblazers. He wasn't too sure what they were going to do though…

Sunny glanced at Himeko, wanting to get his questions answered.

"Miss Himeko, uh… where exactly are we going?"

"To fight the Doomsday Beast, of course."

Sunny's face froze, before narrowing his eyes.

"Without any outside help, it would be difficult to fight an Ascended Titan. I doubt the three of us could face something like that without a day or two of preparation."

Himeko had a confused expression on her face.

"I've heard that you've killed a Fallen Terror as a Sleeper. I'm sure that this will be much easier than that, especially because you have help."

Sunny's face scrunched up in horror.

'A Terror… a Fallen Terror! What type of monster would do something like that?!'

Sunny sighed in resignation.

"Fine, but we're going to do this my way…"

Sunny looked at March and Dan Heng, the former flinching at his gaze, while the latter seemed as unfazed as always.

"…You two. Tell me what your Aspect and Attributes do. Oh, and any useful memories too… I'll go first."

The best way to get people to trust you, is to show them a few of your cards. However, revealing too much would be detrimental.

Seeing that he had everyone's attention, he began to disclose his capabilities.

"When it comes to my Attributes, I have a high affinity for Divinity, shadows, and war. I also have one that causes unlikely things to happen around me…"

"…My Aspect lets me use my shadow as a scout, and become incorporeal."

Sunny left out quite a bit. He didn't say anything about [Blood Weave] or [Breach of Styx], keeping the fact that he had multiple lineages to himself. He didn't refer to his affinity for war as a lineage either, so they wouldn't assume that it was anything special.

He also didn't disclose the exact details of his Aspect abilities. They were not informed that he could augment himself, nor that he had multiple shadows. He didn't say anything about being able to basically teleport either…

Sunny decided to not say anything about his Memories, as most of them were only useful for utility. He decided to let them assume that he mainly relied on his Midnight Shard and Pupeteer's Shroud.

He wasn't wearing the latter currently, not that he needed to.

Speaking of Memories, didn't he get a new one after killing that Trampler?

Memory: [Thief's Instinct].

Memory Rank: Awakened.

Memory Tier: IV.

Memory Type: Tool.

Memory Description: [To destroy is to take. And THEY shall take it all.]

It was an ominous description, but Sunny looked at the enchantments. There was only a single one, unfortunately.

Memory Enchantments: [Piece of You].

Enchantment Description: [After defeating a human who is equal to, or less than the rank of this Memory, you can steal a basic Attribute to graft upon yourself. Once used, the this Memory is destroyed.]

'That's… really strong.'

The only issue is knowing about the Attributes of another person… but that wasn't something that Sunny was worried about right now. He wasn't going to face a human, but a Doomsday Beast after all.

Once he had shared his abilities, March was the second to share.

"One of my Attributes give me a photographic memory. The other gives me an affinity to ice and cold, I think. The description is kind of confusing…"

"My Dormant Ability let's me get stronger in the cold, and my Awakened Ability let's me create six-phased ice. It costs a lot of Essence though…"

Sunny deadpanned. She seemed to have quite a lot of complaints about her Aspect.

There was a pause, before she cheerily continued:

"Oh, and I have amnesia!"

…The random fun fact caused Sunny to pause.

Dan Heng palmed his face and groaned.

"March…"

Sunny wondered if they were just going to start casually talking about themselves like they were best friends, ignoring the looming threat of the Doomsday Beast.

She summoned her bow.

"My bow is my Aspect Legacy. It actually shares all my Aspect abilities… and that's it. It's kind of just a copy of me…"

'An Aspect Legacy…'

Normally, they would take the form of Memories and Echoes. Sunny just happened to be the exception, as Shadow Dance was a fighting style that came with relics as his mastery increased.

If her bow shares her Aspect Abilities, wouldn't it also become stronger in the cold?

Sunny then turned towards Dan Heng, who also shared his capabilities.

"My attributes give me an affinity for Permanance and change. I also have an affinity for weather. My Dormant ability let's me decay a point on an enemy, while my Awakened ability let's me control the weather a little. It wouldn't be too useful on the Space Station…"

Sunny had seen the first ability, so only the second one was news to him. Obviously, there wasn't any weather patterns on the Space Station, so any effect it might have would be minor.

"My spear has an enchantment that increases my movement speed every time I land an attack."

Nodding, Sunny was already concocting a plan in his head. Taking into account the abilities of the other two, he thought of ways in which their talents could be used best. He also had to consider that their enemy would be quite large, as it was of the Titan class.

Now that he thought about it…

"Miss Himeko, do you know anything about the Doomsday Beast's abilities?"

The woman in question raised a finger to her chin, lost in thought.

"…Well, I know some tidbits thanks to Welt. It uses antimatter as it's power source, just like the rest of the Antimatter Legion. Since it's a Titan, you could expect it to be quite intelligent. Ah, it also has a weak point if I recall correctly…"

***

According to Himeko, they were to first meet up with a man named Welt. Supposedly, he was quite the powerful individual. Once they met up, the Doomsday Beast would be their next target.

'Ah… this is insanity.'

Sunny wondered why he should go along with this. He didn't have any stakes in this fight, nor did he care much about the people inhabiting the space station. There was nothing to lose for him…

…But maybe there was something to gain?

If he were to defeat the Doomsday Beast — the Titan that attacked the Space Station with it's minions — wouldn't he have this place in his debt? Maybe he could even get something out of that Herta person…

Sunny's eyes shone with greed, imagining the unreasonable demands he could make once this was over.

It wouldn't be too unreasonable after killing a Ascended Titan, after all.

'Hm, I'd have to make sure most of the credit goes to myself.'

They approached the railway platform, meaning that they were getting closer to where Welt would be.

Suddenly, Sunny felt a feeling of unease. He stopped walking, sending his shadows out to scout around. Dan Heng noticed his strange behavior.

"What's wrong?"

Sunny swallowed.

"There's a massive shadow… and it's heading this way."

Everyone — excluding Sunny — blinked.

He groaned at their inability to use context clues.

"That means that something huge is coming towards us!"

Now? They were alarmed. March and Dan Heng summoned their weapons, while Himeko ran back in the direction they came. She wasn't an Awakened, so things would be extremely dangerous for her if she stayed.

However, she left behind her drone. It wasn't a Memory, but it was made using spelltech — technology that has been enhanced by a mixture of Aspect Abilities.

It was strong enough to damage an Awakened or Fallen Nightmare Creature, but was mostly useless against Corrupted and above.

Since they were fighting an Ascended Titan, it wouldn't be able to do much. It could still serve some purposes though…

Through his shadows, Sunny saw the large shape blur as it moved at breakneck speeds. In only a couple of seconds, it was upon them, locating them by tracking their Awakened souls.

'…I wasn't aware Aeons had an aesthetic sense.'

The Doomsday Beast was a draconic-like creature, having a similar design to the Reavers and other parts of the Antimatter Legion. It had two large floating hands, and two smaller ones cradling a core to it's chest.

Sunny stared at the core, knowing that it was his target. The core contained the Doomsday Beast's soul, so destroying it was crucial.

However, he needed to be able to actually hit the core first…

Immediately, the three of them went into motion. March started to freeze the area around her, boosting the power of both herself and her bow. Dan Heng rushed forward, spear at the ready as he attempted to close the distance. Sunny, on the other hand…

Was hiding within Dan Heng's shadow, ready to make his move.

Since he was hiding in a naturally moving shadow, he didn't expend any essence. He needed to make sure he had as much as possible.

They were not the only ones who moved, as the Doomsday Beast raised it's floating right hand. It fell, aiming to crush Dan Heng under it.

He rolled out of the way, flicking his spear towards the hand that slammed down next to him. It didn't do much damage, but the hit both triggered his Dormant Ability, and the spear's enchantment.

The hand was now a weak point.

As Dan Heng moved away, slightly faster than he was before, March created an arrow of six-phased ice, which streaked straight towards where Dan Heng attacked the Doomsday Beast. Ice started to form around the hand, cracks appearing, as it slowly crumbled.

Despite the seeming effectiveness of their attacks, the hands were not attached to the main body. Even if they destroyed the both of them, the Doomsday Beast would only lose it's main way of attacking.

Of course, that was a viable strategy as well.

While Sunny was hiding within Dan Heng's shadow, he noticed that his perception of the battle was very clear. His mind comprehended the battle in front of him with frightening speeds, creating countless predictions and strategies.

It seemed that [The War] also gave him the ability to understand battle beyond a personal level. It gave him the insight of a seasoned commander!

…As Sunny watched the battle, he realized something.

Was it just him, or was the Doomsday Beast getting slower?

***

Dan Heng ducked under a sweep of the Ascended Titan's hand, barely avoiding it. A single misstep would be fatal, considering the difference in power between him and his enemy.

His mind was completely focused, surviving thanks to what felt like a millennia of experience. Despite the size of the Doomsday Beast, it's attacks were extremely fast.

According to Sunless, Dan Heng and March were meant to distract it — destroying as many methods of attack as possible was their goal. As they did so, Sunless was to finish it off with as strong of an attack as he could muster…

Dan Heng wasn't sure how he would succeed in doing so, but he didn't think he needed to ask. Sunless was the equivalent of a celebrity in Awakened society, so he was sure that the strange boy knew what he was doing. If he didn't…

…Well, they would end up dead.

Sidestepping another attack, he retaliated with a light prick against the Titan's palm. March used that chance to fire another arrow, slowing down the speed of the Doomsday Beast's attacks.

At the same time, Dan Heng moved even faster.

Although his Awakened Ability wasn't very effective inside this cloudless space station, he was able to manipulate the wind to decrease air resistance around him. The effect wasn't drastic, but combined with the enchantment of his spear, his speed was starting to ramp up.

The exchange between Dan Heng and the Doomsday Beast repeated itself, with the Ascended Titan attempting to demolish him with a single blow as his speed kept increasing.

Currently, he was moving at dreadful speeds, even among Awakened. He might even be moving faster than the average Ascended!

Dan Heng's eyes flickered between the two great hands of the Doomsday Beast, hyperaware despite the fact that everything around him should be blurry. As one's Soul Core grew stronger, their perception increases to match their physical capabilities.

However, Dan Heng was moving at a speed much higher than his Rank would seem possible; at least, without an Aspect that enhances one's movement capabilities.

The reason he was able to do so, was thanks to the jade pauldron on his left shoulder.

Despite it's appearance, it was not an armor-type Memory. In actuality, it was a charm — a Memory that that had no practical value, but provided extremely useful enchantments. These types of Memories were the foundation of an Awakened's arsenal, giving them effects that could decide whether they lived or died.

Charms were chosen based on how well they synchronized with an Awakened's Aspect or fighting style, which was exactly why this particular one was so useful for Dan Heng.

The jade pauldron was an Ascended Memory of the second tier, and granted him two enchantments. The first was an enhancement to all senses, which was the reason why he was able to keep up with the fight despite the extreme speeds he was moving at.

The second enchantment allowed him to inflict a mental attack. As long as a weapon wielded by him hit it's target, their movements will start to slow down. It could get to the point where they die on the spot, as they wouldn't be able to breathe fast enough to survive.

It was quite the insidious ability, and was doubly so when taking into account that Dan Heng was only getting faster as time went on. He hadn't even spent that much Essence yet!

'…It won't be enough.'

No matter how much they manage to slow down the Doomsday Beast, neither him nor March have the means to destroy it.

Which was why they were betting everything on the one who was hiding within the shadows…

***

Sunny observed the battle from his hiding spot within Dan Heng's shadow. While doing so, he had managed to grasp the spear wielder's fighting style, understanding the very principles behind it.

'Shadow Dance is really useful…'

The ability to speed up yourself while slowing down your enemy was extremely useful. Sunny stared at the shoulder guard that Dan Heng was wearing, studying the weave of the Memory. Not that he could gleam much from it, but it was good to know what was a Memory and what wasn't.

With a crack, one of the fingers of the Doomsday Beast hung limply from it's hands. The combined effect of the decaying and freezing applied by Dan Heng and March was starting to actually damage it.

Not that it mattered much, since the destruction of it's hands wouldn't kill it…

Sunny controlled the Haughty shadow, sending it away from where he was hiding up to the ceiling.

He was going to do a little bit of a repeat performance…

Meanwhile, the Doomsday Beast seemed to be trying something a little different.

Within it's core, energy started to circulate like a raging current. At the same time, the Titan rose both of it's hands towards the core, each of them starting to glow with a gold and blue light.

A moment later, the Doomsday Beast rose it's blue hand, slamming it down on the railway platform with devastating force. Sunny could have sworn that the entire Space Station shook from the impact.

Fortunately, the Herta Space Station was specially designed to be able to handle even the most destructive of experiments. Considering how dangerous such endeavors could become, the railway platform barely held.

Of course, if the foe infront of them was even a single rank higher, the entire Space Station may as well have been scrapped in a junkyard.

The energy of the blow let out a shockwave, blowing back both Dan Heng and March. Sunny would have been dragged along with the former, if he was still hiding within his shadow.

However, he was hiding within the shadows no longer. In fact, he may as well have been the one that the spotlight of conflict shown upon.

If the two Trailblazers looked up, they would have noticed two figures falling from the enclosed ceiling, something that should be impossible. One was a stone statue with feminine qualities, and the other was a shadow that played human.

At the same time, a drone was buzzing around the gigantic beast of antimatter, pulling along with it a voice that echoed across the supply zone.

"Look over here, you wretch!"

Normally, one would assume that the voice came from the treacherous Lost From Light. However, it instead came from the direction of the drone.

Clutched within it's claws a rock. A completely Ordinary Rock, in fact. That rock was the source of the sound, distracting the Doomsday Beast, as it tried to swipe at what it deemed to be a strange contraption.

Due to this, it didn't notice the knight of stone that fell from above. Reinforced by both of Sunny's shadows, Saint reared her shield back, going straight for the Antimatter Core.

At the same time, Sunny threw a glistening gem made out of polished coral straight towards Saint. Using her free hand, she caught the gem as she fell towards the Doomsday Beast.

And with that, the plan was complete.

Using Shadow Step, Sunny traveled to the ceiling of the Supply Zone, summoning Saint at the same time. The gem he had passed her was a Memory called Broken Oath, and had an enchantment that eroded the souls of all who approached it.

Fortunately, Saint was immune to soul attacks, and was therefore able to hold onto the Charm with no repercussions. This allowed Sunny to inflict both physical and soul damage to the Doomsday Beast!

In a feat of precision, Saint launched her shield arm forward, bashing it into the core of the Doomsday Beast. Augmented by two shadows, the blow was bound to be devestating…

…And it was.

Cracks spread across the Antimatter Core, branching as the Doomsday Beast shuddered. Thinking that the battle was now over, Dan Heng and March dismissed their memories…

…But the Doomsday Beast wasn't yet finished with them.

As a last stand, the Doomsday Beast released every last drop of energy it had left, creating multiple orbs of energy around it. The energy swirled, condensed, and was released in countless streams of light.

March, who was still on the floor from when the railway platform, watched as one of the beams was headed straight towards her. Her eyes widened as she tried to move out of the way…

Dan Heng saw what was happening, and rushed in her direction. When he dismissed his spear, his accumulated speed was all lost. If he hadn't dismissed it, he might have reached her in time…

…Sunny, on the other hand, was starting to think that the world hated him.

'I'm literally in free fall! What are the odds of this hitting me?!'

It must have been due to his [Fated] attribute, because it was completely unreasonable and improbable for such a precise attack that was shot at random to hit an object that was moving through three-dimensions!

Not that Sunny knew what a third-dimension was. He didn't go to school.

At that thought, the beam hit him, causing him to scream out in agony. He was somehow suspended in the air; the beam being the only thing that connected him to any other point.

Strangely enough, he didn't simply get vaporized upon contact with the beam of energy. In fact, the source of his pain wasn't the beam itself, but the energy within him that was repelling it.

'That… feeling from before!'

It was the destructive force he had felt flow through his body earlier, but it was now much more pronounced. Sunny tried to grasp the energy, since it seemed to be the one thing that protected him from the Doomsday Beast's final attack.

Similar to two negative charges, the energy within Sunny repelled the beam coming from the Doomsday Beast, barely keeping him alive. The pain was starting to drive him insane, reminding him of a time where he had almost been gutted…

…His grasp of the energy loosened.

***

Sunny opened his eyes, finding himself in a pitch black void. There was nothing, nor will there be anything.

'…I guess my luck ran out, huh?'

The cynical thought brought a strange sense of amusement to him. He didn't think he would live past his First Nightmare, but he did. The next thing he knew, he got done in by some crappy luck.

'Well, it doesn't matter much. I didn't have a chance in this world anyways…'

"…You know, I can see why people can't stand me when I look at myself from an outside perspective."

Sunny's eyes widened. Despite the fact that the voice sounded exactly like him, he could tell that he wasn't hearing his own thoughts.

'A mind attack?!'

"Of course not! I'm not actually that paranoid, right?"

Sunny narrowed his eyes.

"Who are you?"

"Oh, me? Well that's obvious…"

Sunny blinked. Suddenly, a person appeared in front of him, bearing the exact same features of himself. The only difference was that the doppelgänger had his original black hair and eyes…

"…I'm you."

Sunny scowled. This was ridiculous!

"That doesn't make sense. I'm me!"

The doppleganger shrugged, a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Well, I'm not lying. I can't, you know?"

Sunny… didn't feel the compulsion to answer that last question. That meant he was either hallucinating…

…Or he was indeed talking to himself.

The doppelgänger smirked.

"It would be pretty sad if a hallucination of yourself had more friends than you, so just accept that I'm you. For your sake. Or would it be my sake?"

As the doppelgänger contemplated the logic behind this strange situation, Sunny latched on to something completely different.

"…What do you mean by you having more friends than me?"

Snapping out of his dilemma, the doppelgänger shrugged.

"I mean, I've met quite a lot of people in the last four years. It would be weird if I didn't have any."

Despite the fact that Sunny might have been dead, he was much too confused by his doppelgänger's casual admittance to having… friends.

Noting that he was most likely seventeen now, Sunny narrowed his eyes.

"In that case, there's no way you're me. By my definition, a friend would be someone you trust…"

Getting ready to summon the Midnight Shard, he got into a battle stance.

"…And there isn't a single soul in this blasted universe that I trust."

Instead of denying anything he said, the doppelgänger just… sighed.

"Yeah, I get it. Honestly, I don't even fully trust the few people I care about. One of which even has my greatest weakness…"

Sunny grimaced, knowing that he was referring to their master.

"…Still, don't you want to try it? Even when we were kids, we were always alone. If there is really no meaning to your life besides holding a grudge against the world, then I think you should at least experience what it's like to have a friend, and maybe change your mind."

The doppelgänger had a soft smile on his face.

"In my opinion, I think it's pretty nice when someone need you..."

Sunny wasn't one to get moved by another person's ideals. Yet, he could tell that something within him resonated with the doppelgänger's words. It was as if it was coming straight from his own mouth.

"…Especially when they can't live without you to such a degree that they are willing to do literally anything for you. From school uniforms to bunny girl outfits… anything is possible with the power of friendship!"

Sunny stared at the doppelgänger. He wasn't confused, in disbelief, nor was he befuddled. He nodded in understanding, grinning as he finally grasped the true message behind this long-winded speech.

"So that was what you were trying to tell me all along! It doesn't matter if I consider them a friend or not! As long as I could use them for my desires, then it's a worthwhile investment!"

Nodding sagely, the doppelgänger bowed in a way similar to what you would see at the end of a play.

"Yep, you've got it righ— Wait! That wasn't the point at all! I'm telling you to find people that you care about, so that you don't lose your mind, you idiot! Not more than you already have, at least!"

Sunny blinked.

"Huh? Oh… yeah, I knew that. I just… didn't want to sound sappy."

The doppelgänger obviously didn't believe him, as it could read his mind. Sighing, the doppelgänger pointed up.

Golden lights started to appear around the two of them. Sunny decided to see what the doppelgänger was pointing at…

…He gasped as he felt his mind strain itself to comprehend what he was looking at. It took a few moments, but he was now able to view the… entity with the image crafted by his mind. He wouldn't be able to understand what he was looking at any other way.

"I must leave now."

Despite hearing the voice of his doppelgänger, Sunny was too distracted by the colossal figure before him. It was a man with long, ashen hair, and dark skin that oozed what seemed to be a golden liquid? The man had golden eyes, and his arms were floating starting from the elbows.

Sunny wondered if what he was looking at was truly a man…

…THEIR gaze was rested upon Sunny, causing him to sweat as he felt madness encroach upon his mind.

"Reach the end of the story in your own way."

The doppelgänger kept speaking, not allowing himself to be stopped by the alien entity. With a grin that promised nothing good, he looked up at the god-like figure.

"THEY have already noticed you."

***

Sunny screamed as energy escaped his body, overflowing as it spread across the Supply Zone. The Doomsday Beast had fallen, completely out of energy.

[You have defeated an Ascended Titan, Doomsday Beast.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

[You have recieved a Memory.]

[Your Path has aligned with Destruction.]

Sunny didn't even notice the announcement from the Spell, as he was being consumed by the energy. In a moment of clarity, he dismissed Saint, just in case he somehow lived through this. He didn't want to damage his most valuable possession.

In a complete flash, faster than Sunny could possibly comprehend, a man had appeared in front of him. He had brown hair with a streak of white, and wore a set of glasses. In a split second, the man raised a strange cane, and tapped him on the forehead.

For Sunny, everything went black.

***

Sunny jolted as he found himself back on a familiar island. He almost tripped due to the drastic difference between being in constant agony, and suddenly feeling a cool breeze…

…And he was back in the Chained Isles.

With an empty expression on his face, Sunny sighed as he walked away from the gateway. So much was happening in such a short amount of time, so he was mentally exhausted.

It's not like things could get worse, right?

Not feeling like hunting Nightmare Creatures currently, he decided to check his shadow fragments.

Shadow Fragments: [1968/2000]

He was getting close to fully saturating his core. Not only that, but according to the Vessel of Remembrance, he would gain a new one once he finally filled it. Gaining another shadow would be a massive boon!

The next thing Sunny did was check his memories. He barely remembered gaining one after defeating the Doomsday Beast, so he wondered how powerful it might be.

Memory: [Destroyer's Final Road]

Memory Rank: Ascended

Memory Tier: VII

Memory Type: Tool

Memory Description: [The Leviathan's heart has stopped beating, but its mind lives on despite being trapped in a case. As long as the lid is closed, its mind is simultaneously both alive and dead, driving the engine of destruction.

"Doomsday Beast, a blight made in the Warforge using what's left of a Leviathan and the weeping bones of thousands of the dead. It longs for the destruction of the universe and itself."]

As Sunny read the description, he gleamed something new about the existence of the Doomsday Beast; and by extension, the Antimatter Legion.

They were not creatures that decided to follow an Aeon, but were instead created by one.

At least, that was how Sunny understood it. Rather than dwell on it, he decided to check the enchantments with a hint of excitement. This was technically his most powerful Memory, as it was Ascended and of the seventh tier!

Memory Enchantments: [Will of Destruction].

Sunny blinked.

'…That's it?'

Considering the tier of the Memory, he would have expected more than a single enchantment. With a sigh, he decided to at least figure out what it did.

Enchantment Description: [By slaying enemies, this Memory will accumulate a charge. Once the charge is full, it can be released to inflict devestating damage. However, this Memory will be destroyed immediately after using.]

'…A secret trump card!'

Indeed, the Memory served no purpose besides being a last resort. Considering the rank and the tier of the Memory, Sunny suspected that he may be able to defeat a Nightmare Creature of the Corrupted rank if he accumulated enough charge.

…Not that he was planning on fighting any.

Anyways, Sunny decided that it was about time he checked AR-26710's runes. At this point, he had no idea whether they were an enemy or an ally, but he might as well be prepared.

Unfortunately, the world had other plans.

As he was walking over to his room, he stopped. He felt a mass of moving shadows near where his room should be. Out of curiosity, he decided to keep going. Turning a corner, he saw a group of Awakened lined up against the sides of the halls. One of them noticed him…

…Before grinning as he nudged the person besides him, who also repeated the action once he caught sight of Sunny. With a hint of caution and confusion, Sunny stepped towards them. Then, the first person who had saw him addressed him.

"Hey Boss. We thought you were out with the Demoness, so we waited over here to tell you the news…"

'Demoness… and Boss?'

Sunny had no time to waste dwelling on the nicknames, as he had to quickly keep up his act. With a nod of his head and a casual wave, he allowed the Awakened to continue.

While doing so, he made a few guesses on the situation. The first one would be that he somehow was leading a group of people. It was doubtful, but it was the most likely scenario.

The second was that they were playing a prank on him by appealing to his desire of wanting to be in a higher position than others.

The last one would be that he was hallucinating. It was not impossible, considering the things that occurred merely a few minutes ago in the real world.

One of the Awakened stepped forward. He didn't seem particularly powerful, but that was most likely due to not having a combat Aspect. Sunny made sure to listen as he spoke, taking in as much information as possible.

"The guys over in Bastion sent me a message thanks to my Aspect. Supposedly, Valor was trying to keep this information a secret…"

Sunny nodded, urging him to continue. He realized he didn't know any of these people's names.

"…One of their strongholds in the real world was attacked. It was completely incinerated, actually. Word has it that it was one of those Stellaron Hunters."

It was that word again… Stellaron. It sounded very familiar, even more so when it was attached to the word hunters. Acting as if he was familiar with who they were, he decided to ask:

"Which one?"

The Awakened who seemed to have the power of telepathy shuddered, causing Sunny to believe that he was just being theatrical.

"It was the most destructive of them all… You've told us that you've fought him, actually. It's…"

Looking up and down the hall while toning his voice down to a whisper, he continued with six words.

"…Stellaron Hunter SAM, the Molten Knight."

That… also sounded familiar. With a nod, he politely told them to get the hell away from his room:

"Alright… now scram!"

Just as he expected, they easily accepted his command despite the crudeness of it. It was a risky move, but he now understood that he was perceived as a blunt character by them.

Sunny sat down on his bed. The information he had been told didn't mean much to him currently, as he had no context to attach it to. Instead, he decided to just check AR-26710's runes…

***

Name: AR-26710.

True Name: Fading Fyrefly.

Rank: Ascended.

Class: Terror.

Soul Cores: [6/7].

Soul Shards: [2736/6000].

***

Sunny was… astonished.

Not only was his master, well… a Master; the Rank. They also had a True Name. However, the most surprising part was that they had multiple Soul Cores…

What was the common factor that made the two of them so special in this regard?

Sunny didn't know, so he decided to check the rest of their runes to figure it out. Skipping over the Memories and the empty Echo runes for now, he went straight to the Attributes…

Chapter Text

Laying on his bed, Sunny first checked AR-26710's — also known as Fading Fyrefly — Attributes. He wasn't doing so out of mere curiosity, but instead did it in order to learn more about his possible enemy. That wasn't to say that he wasn't interested in what their runes contained, but it wasn't his driving motive.

Summoning the Endless Spring, he took a swig of the useful Memory, redirecting his attention back to the runes. Similar to himself, they had the ability to have multiple Cores. Sunny wanted to find what the two of them had in common, as that would allow him to figure out how one was able to do so.

Even if he couldn't figure that out, there were pages within the Vessel of Remembrance he had not yet read. Considering how vast the information within it was, he would be surprised if there wasn't anything referring to having multiple Cores.

Unless his past self also hadn't figured it out. That would be the worst case scenario.

With a sigh, he scanned the runes before laying his eyes upon the Attributes section. Something else he noticed was that AR-26710 was quite bare when it came to Memories. Considering that Sunny had quite a lot himself, he was surprised that they hadn't ordered him to simply hand over his Memories…

…Not that he trusted them or anything.

Attributes: [Soul of Cinder], [Knight's Temperance], [Flame of Divinity], [The Fire], [Fyrefly Type-IV Strategic Assault Mech].

Seeing the last Attribute, Sunny almost choked at the length of the Attribute's name.

Ignoring it for now, he immediately recognized [Flame of Divinity] to be a lesser version of his own Attribute, [Essence of Divinity]. His eyes were also drawn to [The Fire], wondering if his suspicions were true. He focused on the Attribute, bringing up it's description.

[The Fire]: "You have inherited the lineage of Sun God."

'Another Divine Lineage…'

Currently, Sunny only knew of [Blood Weave] and [The War], both of which were his own Attributes. Coincidentally, his master was also a carrier of a Divine Lineage. The one that belonged to Sun God.

Sunny almost laughed at the irony. He, a divine shadow, was a slave to the heir of Sun God. At this point, he was almost completely certain that his [Fated] Attribute was to blame for this.

There were three more Attributes, which Sunny was completely unfamiliar with. He guessed that these were most likely the innate and Aspect-related Attributes.

[Soul of Cinder]: "As the last Fragment of Cinder, you have inherited your comrades will, completing your own."

From Sunny's lacking education, he knew that the word 'cinder' was related to fire. With that knowledge, he guessed that this Attribute gives an affinity for fire. Unfortunately, he couldn't understand the entirety of the Attribute's description, as it seemed to emphasize 'will'.

He couldn't figure out how that correlated to fire, but he wasn't going to dwell on it. He'd simply remember it in case it becomes relevant later on.

[Knight's Temperance]: "You are naturally skilled in all forms of combat."

This Attribute was relatively straightforward, and gave them a talent for combat. To be honest, Sunny was quite jealous of such a convenient Attribute…

…Well, he had [The War] and Shadow Dance to help him in that regard, so he wasn't too jealous.

Sunny focused on the last Attribute; the one with the ridiculously long name. Once he did, his eyes almost bulged out of their sockets at the amount of information he saw.

[Fyrefly Type-IV Strategic Assault Mech]: "Your soul has been engraved with the armor of the Iron Cavalry."

Attribute Traits: [Incinerating Blade], [Incinerating Armor], [Flame Propulsion], [Complete Combustion], [Chrysalid Pyronexus], [Module α: Antilag Outburst], [Bound].

Sunny wanted to pull his hair out at the absurdity. Since when did Attributes have multiple facets?!

Taking a deep breath in order to prevent him from throwing something, he looked at the Attribute Traits… one… by… one.

[Incinerating Blade]: "You can create a soulbound weapon."

[Incinerating Armor]: "You can create a set of soulbound armor."

The first two were very self explanatory, as they allowed for the usage of both a weapon and an armor. However, what drew Sunny's eyes was the fact that they were soulbound.

If he were to guess, it most likely meant that it functioned similar to Serpent, who's class was equal to his own.

[Flame Propulsion]: "While in the armor form, you can expel flames."

So far… Sunny wasn't very impressed with the Attribute as a whole. It provided the same things that he would expect from a Memory, with the only difference being that these progressed with the user…

'…Wait.'

If that was the case, wouldn't that mean that this Attribute would be extremely dangerous? If these Traits were obtained at the Dormant or Awakened rank, then these simple abilities would be fatal at Ascendance…

…Sunny groaned, realizing that this simple Attribute might be more of a problem than he thought. He hadn't even gotten to the Aspect yet!

[Complete Combustion]: "By using the flames of your soul, the armor will undergo an evolution, fueled by your will. In this state, you can simultaneously summon a pair of soulbound weapons."

'How would that work?'

Sunny wondered what it meant when it referred to the 'flames of your soul'. Maybe it simply needed Essence to fuel the transformation, but he felt that this wasn't the case.

His intuition usually was right… at least, he thinks it is.

[Chrysalid Pyronexus]: "While in the Complete Combustion state, the armor will be able to absorb heat to enhance itself."

At this point, Sunny was sure that he was dealing with some sort of juggernaut. With a scowl on his face, he realized that this ability had great synergy with [Flame Propulsion].

[Module α: Antilag Outburst]: "While in the Complete Combustion state, your flames can burn the will of others."

Narrowing his eyes at the unclear description, Sunny decided to write it off as a mental attack of sorts. Just like with the [Soul of Cinder] Attribute, the word 'will' popped up again, showing that it was more important than he thought.

With a quick read of the last Trait, Sunny confirmed that this Attribute does grow alongside AR-26710. He also guessed that [Bound] might also be able to provide new Traits as well…

…The thought somewhat horrified Sunny.

Anyways, he had learned quite a bit of information. At the same time, he had also found that they did in fact share something in common.

They both had Divine Lineages.

'Does this mean that Divine Lineages can let you have multiple soul cores?'

Despite the evidence, something within him was telling him that this wasn't the case. That would mean that members of Great Clans all have multiple Cores, which was a ridiculous notion.

Sighing, Sunny checked the one thing that he was the most interested in:

Their Aspect and Flaw.

In a conflict between Awakened, the one who knew their opponent's capabilities better would have a clear advantage. Doubly so for those who knew their flaw.

Unfortunately, AR-26710 was most likely already aware of all his abilities and tools. Fortunately, he could even out the field by learning what they can do as well.

There was still the matter of Shadow Bond, but as long as their flaw was equally fatal, he might still have a chance.

Aspect: [Fairy Knight].

Aspect Rank: Divine.

Sunny choked on literal air.

***

There it was. The thing that allowed the two of them to create multiple Cores, allowing them to go beyond the limits of humanity.

It was the fact that they both had Divine Aspects, unheard of before now.

Sunny was in disbelief. He wasn't arrogant enough to believe that he was the only Divine Aspect holder in this vast universe, but he couldn't possibly think that he was directly connected to one.

Unlikely things really did happen around him…

Reading the Aspect's name, he immediately drew a connection with the [Knight's Temperance] Attribute. If he were to guess, Sunny assumed that the [Soul of Cinder] attribute was their Innate Attribute, similar to [Fated].

However, Innate Attributes were those that one carried their entire life, outside of the Nightmare Spell's grasp. Considering what the Attribute described, it didn't seem like something a mundane human would have…

Shaking his head, Sunny read the Aspect's Description:

Aspect Description: [You are a warm spirit of fire, encased in a fearsome inferno of molten steel. Your will burns brightly, but you long for a purpose to wield your blade.]

Innate Ability: [Burning Determination].

Ability Description: [Your abilities get more powerful when you are fighting for something dear to you.]

Seeing the word 'will' once again, Sunny could guess that this was most likely a core part of AR-26710's Aspect. The Innate Ability seemed to be quite useful in a fight that matters.

After all, most fights have a person fighting for their life.

Sunny didn't know anyone who didn't value their life, so it was basically a free boost in power.

A bit bitter with having been stuck with Shadow Bond, he went to look at the Aspect Abilities. Considering the rank of the Aspect, he was bracing himself to see something ridiculous…

Aspect Ability: [Reforge].

Ability Description: [Your indomitable will produces a flame that can both draw out an armament's latent potential and restore flesh.]

Aspect Ability: [Flame Manipulation].

Aspect Description: [You can bend all fire to your will.]

Aspect Ability: [Extinguished Soul].

Aspect Description: [When the flame of desire is extinguished, your flame burns brighter.]

Sunny thinks he understands how the first two Abilities worked. Reforge allowed for them to augment any weapon or armor, while also being able to heal a person. It matched the duality of a Fairy Knight, as they represent a mix of kindness and violence.

The second Ability had to do with controlling flames around them. An ability like this was made purely for combat, which brings Sunny to believe that they could manipulate the flames produced by Reforge to burn away enemies from afar.

It was quite the deadly combination.

However, Sunny couldn't quite understand the last Ability. He wasn't sure what the flame of desire was, but he assumed that once the conditions were met, AR-26710's Aspect would get a boost.

Although he was slightly disappointed due to not being able to learn much about their Ascended Ability, he quickly grew excited once he saw the last set of runes.

Before becoming even more disappointed than before.

"…That's it?!"

Sunny was completely dissatisfied. He read the last set of runes, which revealed AR-26710's Flaw. Instead of finding an exploitable weakness however, he instead found something that seemed less like a Flaw, and more like a minor inconvenience.

Hell, Sunny was sure that there was people out their who would actually be assisted by this flaw!

'I guess that's out.'

Out of curiosity, he checked what Memories AR-26710 had. Strangely enough, there was only a single garment Memory of the Ascended Rank. It had the ability to dampen an Awakened's presence. It was definitely not something that would be used in combat.

Now that he knew that exploiting AR-26710's flaw wasn't an option, he figured that their was only one thing he could do to prepare.

Sunny sighed, lost in thought as he was creating multiple plans of attack. Counters against their Aspect…

'Hm. Now that I think about it, aren't fairies usually girls?'

Sunny didn't know much about the
subject due to his upbringing, but he was pretty sure that fairies were usually girls. Not only that, but the garment Memory seemed to be a dress of some kind. Wouldn't that mean that AR-26710 was probably a girl?

Strangely enough, the thought sounded right to Sunny.

Not that it mattered much. His enemy was his enemy, and that was all there was to it...

He imagined countless scenarios in which he could counter thei— her Aspect and Attributes. He didn't even think about her Flaw, since it was basically useless from a tactical and personal standpoint.

…Now that he thought about it, he supposed that their were a few ways to exploit her flaw.

Once he was done, he thought a little more about AR-26710's identity. The information he had learned was extremely familiar, as if he had learned of it just a few minutes ago…

'…Weren't those guys saying something about a Molten Knight?!'

Everything clicked. Firstly, the theme of a knight matched up quite well with what he learned about AR-26710. The incorporation of fire was also something that connected the two identities. What really sealed the deal however, was that Sunny was told that he had fought against Stellaron Hunter Sam himself!

Sunny had an inability to lie. Unless the Awakened who had provided this information lied to him for whatever reason, then it must be true.

Now, Sunny was completely sure that AR-26710 was his enemy. She must have figured out his True Name and enslaved him! Considering that he wasn't currently being ordered around, he guessed that he had somehow escaped before it could be used against him.

Unfortunately, that didn't explain the loss of his memories, nor why his past self had told him that she wouldn't use his Shadow Bond against him.

Not wanting to think about it any longer, Sunny decided that now was a good time to get some sleep. He didn't feel like going out to hunt any Nightmare Creatures, so until he could use the gateway again, he decided that he might as well get some rest. A lot has happened, so he was quite grateful for this dreamless slumber…

***

After getting some long needed rest, Sunny exited the Dream Realm with the gateway in the Sanctuary of Noctis. He felt his soul being pulled back to his physical body, the experience being something he couldn't ever describe.

Sunny cracked open his eyes, taking in his current surroundings before sighing.

As he looked around, he found that the only person nearby was March 7th.

With a groan, he sat up from the couch he was laying on. March, who was standing nearby, noticed as she greeted him with that same happy-go-lucky expression.

"Hello there~"

Sunny tiredly waved, every part of his body feeling like it was in agony. He didn't seem to have any wounds — nothing that he could see externally at least. Still, he felt like he had taken quite a bit of damage.

'Soul damage?'

Sunny wondered if the beam of energy unleashed by the Doomsday Beast could inflict soul damage to someone. If so, maybe it was even more dangerous than he had thought.

Not a lot of Awakened had access to soul protection after all.

However, that wouldn't make much sense. If he had taken soul damage, he would have still felt the pain within the Dream Realm.

'Well, it doesn't matter.'

He turned to March, who was looking him up and down. He raised an eyebrow, feeling slightly uncomfortable from her gaze. She seemed to be searching for something.

After around a minute of awkward silence, March nodded to herself before looking back into Sunny's eyes.

"Not bad. It would've been even better if you didn't faint. But thanks to you, we were able to take down a Doomsday Beast! I didn't know you had a cool Echo!"

Shaking his arms in attempt to get some feeling back into his limbs, Sunny asked:

"Did anything happen while I was asleep?"

"Not really. After getting rid of the Doomsday Beast, we all got some rest… Oh! Himeko wanted you to find her once you were ready."

Sunny didn't know what the woman wanted, but he didn't see any reason for him not to go see her. As he was about to get up, March suddenly seemed to come to a realization.

"You should give me your number. If you get lost or anything, just text me, okay?"

Sunny blinked, scratching the back of his head for a moment. He came to the conclusion that she was referring to a phone number, but he shouldn't have one on him. Just to be sure…

Sunny hesitantly patted down the pockets of his pants, realizing he really did have a phone in his pocket. He pulled it out, excited to have something that was rare to find in the Outskirts. As a child, his family shared a single cracked phone.

Once he looked at it, all hints of joy drained from his face. The screen was damaged, the power button didn't work, and he could even see segments of circuitry peeking out.

He must have broken it while going against the Doomsday Beast.

Noticing his downtrodden expression, March quickly tried to save herself from this awkward situation.

"…If you want, I could go and try to get this fixed — I'm sure there's a phone expert or something somewhere on the space station!"

Not even bothering to look her way, Sunny handed over the damage phone. He stood up, never taking his gaze off of the floor.

'I wonder how much it cost to get that phone…'

The mere thought of money felt like an arrow through the heart.

Before she left, March paused for a few moments. She didn't turn around, but she suddenly spoke to Sunny.

"Uh… thanks for earlier."

With that, she left Sunny behind before he could even ask what she was referring to. He wasn't the type of person to help another for free, and he was sure he hadn't done anything of the sort recently!

'Whatever.'

It didn't matter, just like most things didn't matter to Sunny. Right now, there were only three things he desired to do.

'Get stronger. Kill AR-26710. Survive.'

She was an Ascended Terror, which was a rank and four classes above him. As it stands, he didn't have a chance of defeating her. He'd probably have a better chance fighting the Doomsday Beast on his own!

This wasn't even taking into account that she could simply tell Sunny to kill himself.

The only way to defeat her is with a sneak attack. However, if he didn't have the strength to do so quickly and without a counterattack, then he'd immediately be restrained with Shadow Bond. If she spoke even a single sentence to him, it would all be over.

Of course, Sunny was willing to destroy his ears. He can't be commanded to do something if he didn't hear the command in the first place.

With the issue of being a slave out of the way, he needed to think of the best ways to actually become stronger. He was getting close to saturating his Shadow Cores, which would lead to him growing a new one. This would grant him another shadow that he could use to augment himself, increasing his strength to that of four Sunny's.

Unfortunately, that wouldn't be enough. He needed to also increase the rank of his shadow cores, which would give him a new Aspect Ability in the process. To do that, he would need to locate a Nightmare Seed within the Dream Realm, and challenge the Second Nightmare.

Putting that idea on hold, he thought about the other avenues he could take. One of which was progressing Shadow Dance, which would increase his mastery over the battle art, while also being able to receive more Legacy Relics. He could also get more Memories, and maybe even another Shadow — one like Serpent.

From what he read in the Vessel of Remembrance, he was able to convert Echoes into Shadows — that was how he had created Saint. However, he couldn't find anything that told him how he could get her Shadow Fragment counter up.

The thought of obtaining another growing companion brought an excited grin to his face. Sunny wondered if he should just live in the wilderness of the Dream Realm, slaughtering Nightmare Creatures for Memories and Echoes. His soul arsenal could use some more Ascended Memories.

Although he was filled with thoughts of grand power, he had another task that was more apparent in the current moment. He still had to go talk to Himeko, and he wasn't willing to burn any bridges just yet.

Friends were a liability, but allies? His situation was still very unclear, so he would need to tread carefully.

'Just need to figure out what I need to do after.'

He was homeless. Although he didn't need to worry too much over basic necessities in the Dream Realm, he wasn't willing to lose his physical body due to starvation just yet.

He was on the Herta Space Station with no recollection of how he had gotten here. There was a four year gap in his memories, he seems to be associated with an annoying gremlin, and he got caught up in an Antimatter Legion attack.

Without a home or stable income, Sunny might be living his life in the real world the same way he did when he was a kid. The only difference would be the fact that he had powers now.

He assumes that he isn't backed by any clan, organization, or nation — so his priority would be to gain a semblance of stability.

If his guess was correct, then his sudden appearance on the Herta Space Station was the most likely reason for Himeko to want to talk to him.

Or maybe it wasn't. It's not like Sunny could read minds or see the future.

***

Around a minute later, Sunny had located Himeko thanks to the assistance of his shadow helpers. He found her within a room near the master control zone, alongside a large and alien machine.

In the outskirts, Sunny never saw any technology on such a complex and sophisticated level, so he was naturally amazed by it.

Once he stepped in, Himeko turned in his direction, a polite smile gracing her features.

"You're awake. I had March and Dan Heng stay by the Express to keep an eye on things."

What they called the Astral Express fascinated Sunny, as he had never heard of a train that could travel through space. The concept was mind boggling, and caused him to question the logic of the universe.

Ignoring such thoughts, Sunny decided he should cut to the chase.

"Is there something you want from me?"

She shook her head.

"I don't want anything from you personally, but I wanted you to meet someone who might be able to help with your… situation."

Sunny guessed that March and Dan Heng must have explained to Himeko that he had ended up on the space station with no clue on how he had gotten here. Grateful that he wasn't forced to explain anything, he noticed that a shadow was approaching.

One that was unfathomably deep and powerful.

Sunny shuddered at the sensation his shadow sense brought him. It felt like the shadow was connected to various points, so numerous that he couldn't locate all of them. Some were simply out of range, but he sensed plenty within the Herta Space Station itself.

The shadow was an anomalous entity, as it felt like it was connected to something on a higher plane.

Out of unease, Sunny prepared to dive into the shadows in case the shadow approaching was hostile.

A couple of moments later, Sunny saw what seemed to be a young girl step through the door. She had ash-brown hair and purple eyes that fades to a lighter shade. She wore a dress alongside a strange hat that Sunny couldn't quite describe. He had never seen anything like it in the outskirts, but it might have been common knowledge here.

Despite this, the strangest part about her was that she wasn't human.

She was actually a doll.

'An Aspect? Maybe a Memory or Echo?'

This must have been why Sunny felt the more metaphysical aspects of her shadow stretching beyond just her body. She must have had countless dolls spread across the space station, with many more outside of it.

Even more alarming, was that she had the unmistakeable presence of a Saint; a quality that is engrained into the very world itself.

The mysterious doll glanced at him with interest, before turn turning towards Himeko.

"I've only been gone, what? A few months? And the space station is already in this state?"

"Welcome back, Herta."

Himeko turned towards Sunny, introducing the Saint who shared the same name with the space station.

"This is the true master of the space station — Genius Society number 83, Herta."

The doll rolled her non-human eyes, as if offended.

"At least give me a proper introduction! Genius Society number 83... Of all my outstanding achievements, that's what you want to mention?"

'Oh… so she's that type of person…'

Sunny could tell that he wasn't going to like this lady. However, he wasn't stupid enough to let out any negative thoughts he had about her — he still wanted to live, after all.

"…My name is Sunless."

Herta raised an eyebrow, seemingly deep in thought.

"Huh. I think I've heard that name before… Well, if I forgot it probably wasn't important. I'm more interested in that Stellaron inside you."

Sunny still didn't know what a Stellaron was, nor how it could be inside him. He figured that it was dangerous, so he was naturally alarmed that it was supposedly contained within his body… if her words could be trusted of course.

"Uh… what's a Stellaron?"

Herta shrugged, offering a clinical explanation. The amount of… disassociation she had when explaining sent a wave of nervousness through his spine.

"Stellarons — also known as the Cancer of All Worlds — don't have much known information on them. They spread like a cancer throughout the universe, and bring drastic changes to a world's ecosystem and civilization. They aren't really a good thing."

Sunny paled, he turned towards Himeko who nodded in affirmation. If he really did have one of those inside of him, how was he even alive? A cancer that targets worlds shouldn't be able to be contained by a mere Awakened.

Stating that she had things to do, Himeko left the two of them, leaving Sunny alone with Herta. Based on the things she said, a few things weren't adding up.

Out of confusion, a question formulated in Sunny's mind; one that he would ask of the Genius Society member before him.

"How did you know?"

Herta tilted her head, not understanding the question for a moment. Sunny continued:

"I mean, how did you know I have this… Stellaron inside me."

After explaining the question to her, Herta simply pointed to her eyes.

"It's a Dormant Ability."

Sunny scratched the back of his head.

"You can… find things?"

Herta let out a 'hmph', as if appalled by the simple description of her Aspect Ability. Instead, she began to go on a rant… which let Sunny catch a glimpse of the horrifying scope of her Aspect.

"Your soul has a completely different structure than the normal Awakened. It's fluid and malleable, and there seems to be the remains of snuffed out souls held in it. You have something that can't be considered Soul Essence, but it seems to serve the exact same functions. Instead of having the singular Soul Core every Awakened human has, you instead have two of those unusual ones. You aren't corrupted though, so I'd assume that only your soul isn't human. You have an affinity for shadows, so I could assume that your Soul Cores and Essence are a derivative of that. Shadow Cores? Shadow Essence, maybe? You also have two Divine Lineages flowing through you, one of which is incomplete. The incomplete one is of unknown origin, while the other is from War. Your blood is extremely tenacious, and your mind is… sharp? Not only that, but your strange Cores are deeply connected to your shadow… oh, you have two of them. Does the amount of cores you have represent the amount of shadows you have? They even seem to perfectly match your qualities like an exact copy of you, despite not being made of flesh and blood. Your Essence is more potent than an average Awakened as well… it might be on the level of a Master in terms of quality. It's flowing through these coils on your arm. It's alive? A strange Echo, perhaps? No, it has a different composition… and it's even bound to your soul. On to more mundane things, you don't have a heartbeat, but blood is still able to flow through your body. Has the Stellaron taken the place of your heart? It's hidden somewhere in your soul, so that's unlikely. Based on your brain patterns, it seems that the amount of forces within your body is causing a fluctuation of sleep patterns. I'm no doctor, but I'm sure that you've developed some form of narcolepsy. And if I take a glance at your Aspect… this potential is astounding! It has to at least be of the Supreme rank! I've never seen anything like this…"

Sunny stared at Herta in horror, the latter of the two was still observing him in great interest. He had severely underestimated her Aspect. The worst part was that this was simply a Dormant Ability. She still had an Awakened, Ascended, and Transcendent Ability that she hasn't revealed…

Still deep in her curiosity, Herta suddenly paused with a perplexed look on her face.

"…If I was right about your Soul Sea carrying… what looks like the shadows of those you've terminated, how come you have a Great Devil in there?"

Sunny blinked… he didn't have such a thing in his Soul Sea, right?

"Uh… I'm not too sure about a Great Devil, but I'm pretty sure the things I've killed do go in there."

Taking a look at his head, Herta let out a sound of realization.

"Amnesia, huh? Well, I am curious how an Awakened can kill a Great Nightmare Creature, so I might just have to make a cure myself…"

Although the idea of a cure to his memory loss would be great, he had more pressing matters to concern himself over.

Sunny was pressed into a corner. Basically everything about him was exposed, so he was essentially an easy target if anyone were to learn this information. It's basically like telling a person how to effectively kill you. He scowled at the doll, losing all pretense of politeness.

"What are you going to do with this?"

Herta blinked.

"Nothing much. I just want to learn as much as I can about you. I mean, everything about you is just… so interesting. You're a walking anomaly, one that graciously landed in my lap."

Herta paused for a second.

"Oh. You don't have to worry about me exposing this information. I just want to understand you is all."

Looking as if she was thinking about something, she continued.

"Actually, I've heard you don't have a place to stay from… what was her name? Anyways, if you let me conduct research on you, you can get a pretty nice place on the space station."

Despite the fact that he was extremely vulnerable right now, Sunny grew somewhat interested in her offer. Of course, he was still skeptical.

It was in his nature after all.

"…What type of research?"

"Eh. Nothing too crazy. Mainly testing all your capabilities as an Awakened, with a few biological examinations."

That… didn't sound too bad actually. All he had to do was run some tests, and he would have a roof over his head. Unfortunately, he still needed to grow much stronger than he was now, and such a life might lead his progress to stagnate.

"Will I get paid?"

"Sure."

That basically sealed the deal for him. Just as he was about to agree, Herta sent a blank stare at a wall for a few moments. She sighed before turning to him.

"The lady from the Astral Express has her own offer for you. That train is pretty useful, so I don't want to get you to agree without at least informing you about it."

Sunny's eyes widened slightly. If the Astral Express went around fixing problems like what had happened on the space station, wouldn't that be the perfect way to get stronger in the real world? He'd be able to go to the Dream Realm once he slept, which would give him a full day of pure combat!

He was still disappointed that he couldn't live a cushy life in the space station, but he was in dire need of power. Once he killed AR-26710, he might just retire from such an eventful life and stay on the space station — assuming that he could still do so.

Noticing the look on his face, Herta called out to him.

"Even if you do go with them, you can still come back here for some experiments. I'll still pay you, and you'll still have a room for whenever you stay here."

'That… works out just fine too.'

Sunny nodded, allowing Herta to continue.

"Anyways, since you're here, why don't you be my guinea pig for this project."

Not expecting to already have something to do, he asked:

"What project?"

The doll pointed at the large machine that Sunny had saw when he came in here.

"Currently, I'm trying to learn more about Aeons. They're mysterious beings that have become a higher existence, beyond even the Ranks of the Nightmare Spell. Some of them were normal humans like us, but they have somehow evolved into something much greater. Aren't you curious about it?"

Sunny would be lying if he said he didn't. Of course, he couldn't lie in the first place.

"Yeah, I guess I am."

Herta walked over to the machine, motioning with her wooden hand for Sunny to follow her. They stood right infront of the massive machine.

"This right here is an artificial universe, made with the combined Aspects and technology of four geniuses of the society. The only difference is that it's more customizable and streamlined. I call it the Metaverse!"

Sunny frowned in confusion.

"That name… I'm not even sure what it's supposed to mean."

Herta shrugged.

"Fine. My partners complained about the name too. Let's just call it the Simulated Universe."

She fiddled with a panel near the Simulated Universe.

"Anyways, it's extremely realistic. We were able to create actual life in it, so you'll mainly encounter Nightmare Creatures and a few Awakened. Thanks to a crafting Aspect, you can even get some Memories in the full version! Not a lot though, since they can't work twenty-four seven."

The thought of being able to obtain Memories, while also honing his skills in combat was enticing to Sunny. With a final click, a soft hum started to spread throughout Herta's office — surprising considering the sheer insanity of the machine in front of him.

Sunny himself couldn't believe that an entire universe could be created and controlled in such a way.

"Now go and experience it for yourself. I will guide you in the Simulated Universe to make sure nothing happens to you! I'll even give you a substantial reward."

Gulping out of nervousness, Sunny stepped right in front of the machine. Herta started to mumble to herself.

"…Yes, just stand there and the computer will read your brainwaves, then automatically generate an immersive simulated experience..."

The next few moments passed in a flash to Sunny. He felt his mind disconnect from his body, while everything went black. The next moment, he saw a very familiar mountain range.

'Huh?'

Here he was, back where it all began. His hands were chained up, linked to other slaves. He felt the cold seep into his skin — although it was to a much lower degree. As he looked around, he recognized the slaves around him: Shifty, Scholar, and even the Heir of War and Auro of the Nine!

'What the hell is this?!'

[Hello? Can you hear me? If you do, just think about sending a thought to me.]

Sunny heard Herta's voice, meaning that he was just inside the Simulated Universe.

[Yeah, I can hear you.]

[Good. Your body is still sitting in the office. This is a Simulated Universe generated from your memories. This is only the Alpha test server, where the features are not fully available. You won't be able to get Memories or saturate your cores just yet.]

'Did that mean that the Simulated Universe couldn't construct original scenarios?'

[Anyways, I need you to break those chains and go on a bit of a slaughter. I just need to make sure is working right, and that your unique situation isn't messing anything up.]

'A slaughter, huh…'

With a sigh, Sunny's eyes glinted with murderous intent.

'…I can do that.'

With a snap, the chains in his hands shattered from the strength of an Awakened Monster. He heard shouts around him, but he ignored them. This was even more of an illusion than his First Nightmare.

Summoning the Midnight Shard in a show of light, he held the tachi within his right hand. He ignored the slaves, dashing straight towards two Awakened soldiers. Of course, they had unsheathed their blades the moment he escaped. Although they were prepared and reactive, they were still confused. Auro muttered:

"How did…"

Sunny didn't give him time to finish, as he swung the Midnight Shard diagonally, attempting to slice off his arm. Unfortunately, Auro reacted fast enough to block the attack with his own blade, the screeching of metal sounded across the the chilly mountain.

Sunny moved his empty left hand towards him, which Auro attempted to block with his free hand.

Auro suddenly shouted in pain, alarming the Blessed of War who was sprinting towards them.

Auro had a stiletto stabbed into his arm, drawing quite a bit of blood. The Moonlight Shard's ability to appear instantaneously was quite useful. Due to the pain, his grip on his sword loosened, allowing Sunny to push harder in order to cleave right into him. As red blood and gruesome gore splattered onto his body, Sunny augmented himself with both of his shadows, allowing him to slice Auro in two.

His upper body slid off of the lower body, in a clean diagonal cut stretching from his shoulder to his hip. Sunny couldn't revel in his kill however, as the Blessed of War was already upon him.

With a quick Shadow Step and a flick of the Midnight Shard, he had decapitated the Blessed of War from behind. He looked towards all the slaves, who were staring at him in fear and awe…

"…Sorry, but since you're not real, it's fine if I just…"

Not even a minute later, Sunny had dealt with all of the slaves. If everything went the way it did in his First Nightmare, then the Mountain King should appear later on. By getting rid of the slaves, he wouldn't have to worry about any spawns being created.

Unfortunately, he didn't want to wait until night for it to arrive, so he instead dove into the shadows. As his silhouette traveled up the mountain with terrible speed, he found the location of the Mountain King. The Awakened Tyrant was asleep.

Sunny guessed that it must have been nocturnal, but he wasn't an expert on Nightmare Creatures.

Appearing in front of it, Sunny augmented the Midnight Shard with both of his shadows. He stabbed it forward, piercing it's skull and brain. Once he pulled the blade out, he dismissed it, watching as the Mountain King flinched a few times as blood and brain matter leaked through it's skull.

Sunny felt a pull at the back of his mind. A moment later, and he was out of the Simulated Universe.

***

Sunny blinked, feeling somewhat disoriented. He turned towards Herta, who was staring at the console with a look of curiosity.

"Uh… weren't we supposed to find out things about the Aeons?"

Herta nodded.

"We did."

Confused, Sunny asked her to elaborate on what she meant.

"In the Dream Realm, there hasn't been a single piece of evidence that Aeons exist. In fact, the most that Aeons ever interact with the Nightmare Spell is when creating Emanators — choosing those whose Aspects are compatible with their paths. I had given you the role of Akivili, which meant that if any Aeon noticed you, they would have definitely approached you."

Catching on to what she was hinting at, he asked:

"Aeons can't interact with the Dream Realm?"

Herta nodded, a greedy glint in her eyes.

"I'd go as far as to say that Aeons never existed in the Dream Realm's history, and are only exclusive to our Universe. That means that there has to be something about our Universe that makes it possible for them to exist."

Despite all the lore he was getting, their was a glaring question in front of him.

"Wait. I wasn't in the Dream Realm though. It was just my First Nightmare. Aeons can create Emanators once they are being appraised after their First Nightmare, so wouldn't they be able to interact with me anyways?"

Herta shrugged.

"It's just how the Simulated Universe works. Nightmares and the Dream Realm are considered to be the same thing in there."

'…So it's just a matter of laziness.'

Herta continued, interacting with console at the same time.

"Anyways, I got some pretty good data from here. Your shadows can enhance your physical capabilities and your Memories, and you can sense others by their shadows. You have the ability to move through them too…"

Still fiddling with the console, she asked him:

"Out of curiosity, how did you defeat the Awakened Tyrant when you were an Aspirant?"

Sunny tried to figure out a way to answer that in a way that would downplay his capabilities. However, when he realized that she basically knew much more about him than even he himself knew, he gave up.

"I bled a little on an altar, which caused me to accidentally wake up a dead god; the one who created death, to be specific."

Herta stared at him in shock. He was surprised that the doll could display this much emotion.

"…I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, considering the rank of your Aspect."

"I also woke up another god after killing their blessed."

Herta stared at him in disbelief for a moment, before smirking.

"Maybe you'll be able to hold onto my interest for a long while…"

Despite the seemingly innocuous statement, Sunny was starting to fear for his life.

"I set it so that it will only use memories that take place in the real world. This time, you should be able to encounter an Aeon."

With a nod, Sunny stepped in front of the Simulated Universe again.

***

Sunny now found himself… in the Herta Space Station?

He found himself surrounded by the Antimatter Legion, causing him to summon his sword. He didn't have much trouble dispatching them, but it was a bit time consuming since he was alone.

Once he had cleared the area of them, he… found himself somewhere else.

'What?!'

Nothing felt right. He didn't feel like Sunny. Instead, he was some amalgamation of identities, forged into one. His mind hurt. He could feel himself losing everything that made him Sunny.

'Am I… going insane?'

Sunny tried to affirm who he was to himself. He was the Shadow Slave, blessed by the god of shadows. He was the one who stole a fragment of War. He was the heir of Weaver's forbidden lineage. Most of all, he was a cockroach. A rat. A mongrel. A weak creature who lives off of the lies and misery he brings unto others. All of this…

…Made up Lost From Light.

Sunny gasped, feeling his mind escaping the endless transfiguration brought upon it by the countless perspectives. Everything was extinguished from his mind, only leaving behind Sunny.

He saw an… entity. Something that he couldn't truly comprehend with his mind. Yet, he was still able to grasp it. It took a shape that he himself could understand.

There was a murmur in the amber sky. It was dusk. Sunny looked up and found countless copper ore, amber and opal falling from the sky. This was a wondrous mineral rain. In the steam, the colossal thing stretched THEIR spine from the mantle with a sledgehammer gripped in THEIR broad palm. Sunny opened his eyes and realized that this was actually Qlipoth, the Aeon of Preservation!

Sunny didn't know anything about Aeons, yet he was able to easily recognize the one before him. He instinctively felt that he was looking at that which should not be gazed upon.

There was a huge roar around THEM – this was a warning for him. Then, THEY disappeared before his eyes.

Sunny blinked, listening as Herta's voice spoke. The next second, he was back in the fabricated space station, tumbling on the ground.

[Our calculations are correct. Qlipoth, the Aeon of Preservation, has really appeared.]

Herta's voice suddenly sounded, and she let out an ambiguous giggle.

[The Aeon of Trailblaze, Akivili's revival has attracted an old friend.]

Sunny stood up, walking through the halls of the space station. He asked Herta why he had to take the identity of an Aeon.

[What you saw was the simulated Aeon carefully cultivated by Ruan Mei and Screwllum. The simulated Aeons will ignore us just like the real ones, so I set your simulated identity as Akivili, Aeon of Trailblaze, to attract THEM.]

Herta clicked her tongue.

[Now it seems that my judgment is correct. Next time you run into the Aeons, try to get something out of THEM.]

Sunny nodded as he thought about the mysterious Aeons.

"Anything in particular?"

[Myths of the Aeons, anecdotes, love stories, the origin of the Universe... Anything will do! Just think of something!]

Herta seemed quite annoyed to Sunny. That was when her voice disappeared from his mind, leaving him alone in a gauntlet of enemies.

***

Sunny panted, taking a gulp from the Endless Spring. He took a few glances around, seeing that there aren't any enemies detectable by sight or shadow sense. Exhausted, he fell onto the ground, spending some time in order to rest and regain Essence.

He had killed dozens of the Antimatter Legion — enough that he would have gotten a third core in the real world. Unfortunately, the part of the Simulated Universe that made the enemies become truly real wasn't in use yet, so he couldn't grow any stronger here.

There was a long silence, before Sunny suddenly heard a deep sigh from Herta.

[I was expecting THEM to appear. Never mind. I'll switch off the Simulated Universe then. It'll only take a second and you won't feel a thing. Let's chat back in reality.]

With a nod, Sunny stood up. However, he felt a disturbance within reality. Everything grew cold, like he was stuck in a frozen memory. He couldn't move, he could hardly even think. All he knew was that he was being gazed upon…

[THEY... came!]

Sunny heard Herta's stunned words.

[No, not THEM... It's another Aeon! It's...]

Her voice suddenly drifted off. He had a strange feeling about this, as if Herta's words solidified and the whole Simulated Universe became somehow unreal.

Sunny saw a blurry figure made of mirror fragments, and THEIR facial features were repeatedly refracted by the prism to form a mystery. Countless memories sprang up before his eyes.

He saw Kafka. Her body was stretched, deformed, and rubbed together with the umbrella in her hand, turning into water droplets and falling at his feet.

'Kafka?'

The woman seemed familiar. So very familiar. And yet, Sunny couldn't quite place who she was.

He found himself becoming a weeping Adlivun baby with an uncut umbilical cord. He remembered that there was a golden scar on his body, and golden blood flowing on the dying planet. He found himself dark-skinned and wearing a robe on the wasteland. He found that he was a swift shadow across the abyss, reaching out to catch a shooting star.)

Then, THEIR voice suddenly came...

"The robe flutters and wraps around your dark skin, you laugh at exploration. The silk threads spin, overlap, and weave into oceanic words..."

Every word THEY said is connected to each other like a whisper. Before Sunny could say anything, THEY suddenly disappeared.

Just like with Qlipoth, the perspective in which he interacted with the Aeon was not his own. However, by reminding himself of his True Name, he was able to latch onto his identity.

[We did it!]

Sunny flinched as he heard Herta's excited voice. Before he could say anything, she continued:

[That was Fuli. THEY thought you were the fallen Akivili, so THEY actively started a conversation with you. Fuli is valuable for our research because THEY have the memories of all beings and know almost as much about everything as Nous does! Come on out, Sunless, I want to upgrade the Simulated Universe. You need to stay in there even longer in the future!]

"Uh…wha—"

Before he could finish his question, Sunny felt his belly button being pulled and his entire body tumbled in a circle. The next moment, he was back in Herta's office. As disoriented as he was, Sunny felt like he was about to pass out. Herta had her eyes glued to the screen of the console.

"Success! I have to tell this news to Stephen right away — Sunless, don't just stand there. Go in and see if you can get a few more words out of them or something..."

She glanced at Sunny, then grimaced. He was sprawled on the floor foaming at the mouth. It was a miracle that he was still conscious.

"…Or not."

***

Dismissing the Endless Spring, Sunny was finally coherent again. He was still in Herta's office. The Saint in question was in the midst of informing him of some particular issues he has.

"When I analyzed your body earlier, I found that you have Narcolepsy. Basically, it means that you might fall asleep at random moments."

Such a problem was quite concerning for Sunny. As an Awakened, he would go to the Dream Realm whenever he slept. This meant he always had to stay asleep for eight hours before he could leave again. This could be fixed by becoming a Master, as an Ascended would have the ability to enter or leave the Dream Realm manually, without the need to sleep.

"Obviously, that isn't a good thing for you. The only cause I could locate is that the Stellaron isn't reacting well with that strange lineage of yours; the one that makes your blood tenacious."

While she was explaining this to him, she was writing down notes while using her Dormant Ability to scan him.

"Speaking of the Stellaron, your situation is unheard of. Keeping it inside you might be extremely dangerous… it might explode or create a Fragmentum at any moment."

Sunny blinked.

"Fragmentum?"

"It's the spread of a Stellaron's influence. The space station is still affected by it in certain zones, but it won't expand. I'd say it's similar to the corruption, but it only shares a few similarities."

Herta sighed, tossing the notes to the side.

"Anyways, we should talk about what would be best for you right now. Despite my original offer, I can't keep you here at all times. The researchers might be in danger if something went wrong. Your best choice would be to go with the Astral Express, since you might be able to find a way to safely remove the Stellaron."

Sunny didn't want to explode, nor did he want to be even remotely similar to a horrendous Nightmare Creature. From the start, he had decided that going with the Express was the best decision. It would be the best path for his progression.

And if he was to be honest, the thought of seeing sights that he couldn't even imagine in the outskirts was quite tempting.

Leaving Herta's office, Sunny used his shadows to look around the master control zone. Once he had found who he was looking for, he walked in that direction.

Himeko came into view, noticing him as she was drinking from a cup of tea. Although he wondered where she had gotten it, Sunny noticed March and Dan Heng next to her. Approaching them, he informed them of his decision…

***

Sunny stood infront of the grand train. He wasn't sure trains were supposed to be this large, but he wasn't complaining. The others had already boarded the Astral Express, and were currently waiting on him. As he was about to step onto the train, he was interrupted by a… bunny with a hat?

"Hey, you over there looking dumbfounded. Yes, Pom-Pom's talking to you."

'Uh… is this for real?'

"Himeko told Pom-Pom about your situation. Now listen up, Pom-Pom will only say this once: Pom-Pom's sure there have been lots of people telling you how special you are lately, but this is the Astral Express, and everyone on here has their secrets. Since you chose to board, you can abide by the rules. You're not the only special one here. You'd best remember that!"

The bunny-like creature huffed.

"I'm Pom-Pom, the conductor. Just come find me if you have any trouble."

Sunny wondered if the red outfit was supposed to be a conductor uniform. He'd never seen one, so he wasn't sure. Anyways, there was something else that caught his ears.

"Why do you talk in the third-person perspective?"

The creature that called itself Pom-Pom tilted it's head in a way that Sunny would admit is… cute.

"What do you mean? Pom-Pom always talks like this. I don't see anything wrong with it."

Sunny shook his head.

"It's just… your name… I just can't explain it. Don't worry about it."

Interestingly enough, he could avoid telling answering a question as long as he didn't know how to convey it. As long as he tried to do so, the compulsion would loosen.

Patting the conductor's long hat, much to it's dismay, Sunny hopped onto the steps of the carriage. He found himself in a grand room, filled with red-cushioned couches, multiple tables, a floating device that he couldn't decipher, and what seemed to be a music machine.

He looked around the carriage, only seeing Himeko and a brown-haired man with glasses. March and Dan Heng must have been doing something else.

Recognizing the brown-haired man as the one who had calmed the Stellaron inside him, he walked over to him, planning to introduce himself. It would be weird if he didn't know the passengers he would be traveling with.

"Hello. You're… Mr. Yang, right?"

The man turned towards him, seeming like he had just noticed him. However, despite his phenomenal capabilities when it came to sneaking around, he knew that better than to think that Welt couldn't have sensed him. Adjusting his glasses, Welt replied with a welcoming smile and a nod.

Maybe Sunny was imagining things, but there seemed to be some recognition in his eyes.

"Oh, it's you. How do you feel?"

Sunny blinked, thinking about how he should optimally answer that question. He didn't know if Welt was referring to anything in particular, so maybe he should just state that he's fine? It's the truth, and it doesn't draw any attention.

"I feel like what I feel like all the time."

Sunny paused. That didn't come out right. The random statement brought Sunny to a philosophical question. What does he feel like most of the time? Happiness? Sadness? Anger? Did he truly even understand the objective definitions of such concepts? Were there objective definitions in the first place? For all he knew, maybe happiness is a completely different sensation for each person, resulting in the same effect. What could be soothing for Sunny, might feel like agony for another!

Welt coughed, dragging Sunny out of the rabbit hole he dug himself in. Speaking of rabbits, what is Pom-Pom? And why exactly did he keep hearing Sunny-Bunny in the back of his mind?

…Maybe he wasn't fine.

"…I'll just assume that you're fine. In any case, I have to thank you for saving March."

Sunny scratched the back of his head, wondering what he could be referring to. Unfortunately, he drew a blank.

"I… don't think I did anything of the sort?"

Welt shook his head, a knowing smile on his face.

"No need to be so modest. If it wasn't for you, she might have not been able to survive the Doomsday Beast's attack."

'Oh.'

Now that he thought about it, he did end up in front of that final attack. However, it was definitely not on purpose. He simply fell right in front of the beam's trajectory. That must have been why March thanked him earlier as well.

Well, if they wanted to believe he had performed a heroic deed, he wasn't going to stop them.

"Anyways, as long as that Stellaron is in your body, you should be careful what you do. I don't know if I'll be able to suppress it again. There should be some time until the next warp jump, so feel free to walk around and familiarize yourself with the environment."

And familiarize he did.

Sunny stared at the door in front of him. He raised a hand, getting ready to knock…

"Who is it?"

Dan Heng's voice echoed from the other side of the door. Sunny froze his movement, staring at the door in disbelief. Was Dan Heng lying about his Aspect?!

That was Sunny's job!

"I didn't even knock yet!"

"I've gotten used to people coming in here unannounced — you can come in."

Opening the sliding door — which scratched a certain part of Sunny's brain — he stepped into Dan Heng's room, expecting whatever a normal teenage boy would have in their room. Despite being a teenage boy himself, he wasn't quite sure that this was what he should expect.

Maybe Sunny was the weird one?

On the left and right walls were a complex machine, that took up most of the wall's space. The machine had plenty of slots? At least, that was the best way that Sunny could describe it. Between gaps of the machine were book shelves, that contained… books.

There was a small bed laying on the floor — the floor itself was made of glass, and seemed to have water below it. Right next to the bed was a pod; the ones Awakened use when they're about to go to the Dream Realm for long periods of time, allowing for their real bodies to be taken care of while they're asleep.

…Sunny wasn't jealous.

Staring back at the bed, he wondered how it was possible to sleep on something that seemed so hard.

"It's good for your back. A soft bed could hurt you."

He must have had mind reading abilities!

"No, you just made it really obvious that you were thinking about my bed."

Sunny stared at the bed.

"…If I had a bed like that, how much taller do you think I'd get?"

Dan Heng shrugged.

"It all comes down to genetics. Besides, you probably wouldn't grow anymore after Awakening."

Sunny stared at the ceiling in dismay. A tear streaked down his face, before he turned around and exited the room — closing the door behind him. He went to the next room, which had an influx of pink in it. However, before he took a peek, he walked back to Dan Heng's room, opening the door again.

"Would you say that your room is typical for a teenage boy?"

"…I'd assume not?"

"Thanks."

'I knew it! I'm not weird at all!'

Going back to March's door, he took a quick peek inside, finding the room unoccupied. Out of curiosity, he stepped in. The influx of bright colors almost made him cover his eyes, but he persevered. To his left was a wall of photos, each of them completely unique from the other. Sunny assumed that these were taken on their previous journeys.

To his right was a desk littered with even more pictures. Next to it was March's bed, which had pink sheets and a few stuffed animals. Next to the bed was another pod just like the one Dan Heng had. Of course, what really interested him was what was directly infront of him. Two things, to be precise.

There was what seemed to be a floating chair, one that had a stuffed bear seated in it. Sunny wondered if the bear knew how lucky it was to be in such a comfortable position, surrounded by all sides with pillows. He was jealous of the bear.

The second thing that caught his eye was the cushioned windowsill, that provided a view of the interior of the Herta Space Station. He guessed that in the vastness of space, the view would be quite amazing.

Just as he was about to exit the room, March barged in, acting like she owned the place.

On second thought…

"Ah!"

March stumbled back, not expecting him to be standing around in her room. Sunny nodded in her direction, having found a newfound respect for this room. Despite the bright colors.

"Hey March. Nice room you have here."

"…You can't just barge into someone else's room without permission. Especially a lady's!"

Sunny narrowed his eyes, looking her up and down. He looked at her like she had grown a second head.

"I don't see any ladies around here. Aren't they supposed to be pretty and refined?"

The room grew colder, causing Sunny to shiver slightly. Maybe he should watch his words more closely… he didn't want to get hypothermia.

"…Anyways, I wanted to compliment the one who decorated this room; you wouldn't happen to know them, right?"

March blinked, before smiling proudly to herself. The cold receded, causing Sunny to think that she might not be able to discern between empty and genuine praise.

"Yeah, everything here was all part of my flawless design!"

March's smile disappeared, as if confused by something. She tilted her head in curiosity.

"Actually, I would have thought you would be more into something dark and broody. Like Dan Heng."

Sunny frowned.

"Even though the colors are a bit too bright for my liking, it seems comfortable. I've never had a room before, so even this is pretty amazing."

Although she seemed to have questions, she didn't ask him any. March promptly kicked Sunny out of her room, saying that it was a bit messy and that he could see it later.

"It didn't seem messy though?"

Sunny spoke to himself out loud in confusion. He didn't bother checking Himeko and Welt's rooms, mainly due to March's words earlier. Although, he wondered when he would be able to get his own room.

Walking back to the parlor car, Sunny took a seat on the cushioned seats. He looked out the window, wondering where his life would ultimately end up taking him.

The probabilities of his life were in constant chaos, as he was [Fated]. Nothing was for certain, as only the most unlikely of scenarios would occur around him. One day, he might accidentally kill an Unholy Titan, just for another, stronger Unholy Titan to appear.

With a sigh, Sunny noticed Himeko approaching him with an embarrassed look on her face. Looking up at the Express' navigator, he asked her what the issue was.

"Well… we don't actually have a room prepared for you yet, so you'd have to stay with either Dan Heng or March. Or out here in the Parlor Car, if you'd prefer."

Sunny deadpanned. It seemed that no matter what he did, his fate as a homeless bum wasn't something that he could escape.

'At least I got promoted to roomless racoon. Wait, that doesn't sound much better…'

Chapter Text

Sunny appeared in the Sanctuary of Noctis, having slept in the Astral Express. Once he woke up, they would leave the Herta Space Station, exploring a completely different location.

He sighed, looking around the Citadel of the Chained Isles. As he walked away from the gateway, he could see other Awakened looking at him in reverence and awe. It was slightly awkward, considering that he obviously couldn't recall the feats he had performed, but he ignored them.

It seemed that the Chained Isles was more crowded at this time. Day and night cycles were different for each planet, but humans couldn't change their sleep cycles…

Well, technology has advanced enough so that they could, but it would only introduce more problems. People would be sleeping for weeks or months on end, which would disrupt relations and trade between planets.

Due to this, it was universally agreed on that people would follow twenty-four hour schedules for sleeping and other matters. This way, there wouldn't be times where an entire portion of a civilization would be asleep for long periods of time, while another portion would be awake for just as long.

It was especially convenient when it came to the Nightmare Spell, as it meant that Awakened would generally arrive in the Dream Realm at around the same time, never leaving the Dream Realm relatively empty for stretches of time. Masters and Saints were exceptions to this, as they would be able to enter the Dream Realm without sleeping, and would be able to sleep without entering the Dream Realm.

As Sunny walked through the stone pathways of the Sanctuary of Noctis, he would often be greeted by some Awakened. He wasn't sure what would be more natural in this situation, so he just awkwardly waved at whomever was talking to him. It seemed to work, which caused Sunny to question if he had reached such a point in popularity that anything he does would be considered natural.

Forgetting such thoughts, Sunny thought back to what had occurred before he went to sleep…

***

"Huh? What do you mean he's staying in my room?"

Sunny had a smug expression on his face, sneaking glances at the extremely comfortable windowsill in March's room.

Himeko sighed.

"He won't actually be sleeping in there. Your room doesn't have enough space for another sleeping pod. It'll just be a place where he could stay."

March seemed to be going through quite the onslaught of emotions. Sunny could see embarrassment, disgust, confusion, and anger.

"Dan Heng's room is right there! Wouldn't it make more sense to share a room with another boy instead of me, a defenseless maiden?!"

Sunny gasped, as if he was scandalized by what she had said.

"How rude! I just thought you had a nice windowsill, so don't flatter yourself."

March's face scrunched up in displeasure. It seemed that she really didn't like this arrangement.

It's not his fault that he didn't have a room! And there was no way in hell that he was going to stay in Dan Heng's messy room! Unlike Dan Heng, he wasn't willing to live inside a data room!

'Really, this is just the lesser evil.'

Himeko sighed once more.

"It's fine. I'll just let him stay in my room."

Sunny and March stared at Himeko for a moment with blank expressions. They turned towards each other, an intense conversation occurring between the two with nothing but their eyes. Himeko took a step back, not feeling very comfortable with the sudden change in demeanor.

March was the first one to speak after the silent exchange.

"Don't get any weird ideas."

Sunny shrugged.

"I get weird ideas all the time. You might have to be more specific…"

March scowled, before grabbing Sunny's wrist as she dragged him into her room. Once he was in, she closed the door behind her.

Himeko blinked, wondering what had exactly happened. As she thought back to the conversation, she realized that maybe putting the two of them in the same room, albeit temporarily, might have been a bad idea.

That idea cemented itself as she heard the rustling of sheets and blunt sounds inside.

"…Maybe I should have thought about the number of rooms we have before inviting someone else."

She didn't think March was the type to…

On second thought, maybe it was best to not think about it.

***

With a teddy bear in hand, Sunny ducked under the fists that threatened to rip open his spine. He smirked as he weaved through the attacks that were thrown against him.

"I already told you… this guy is mine!"

With a step back, Sunny got on his hands to perform a hand spring. At the same time, he quickly slipped off his shoes in a feat of extraordinary dexterity. He wasn't even sure how it was possible, but he made it possible.

Pushing himself off his hands, he masterfully landed on March's bed, a devious expression on his face.

"Actually, why don't I take your bed as well?"

March glared at him, cracking her knuckles as her eyes shone with grim determination.

"Sir Snuggles is mines! And get off my bed you barbarian!"

Sunny held up the teddy bear, now known as Sir Snuggles. He rubbed his hands all over it, as if he was getting a feel for it. He nodded to himself, before looking down at March with a mocking expression.

"I don't think you'll be getting Sir Snuggles back. His fearsome nature is meant for… higher purposes."

Sunny looked at the menacing figure of the teddy bear. He wondered how many souls were sacrificed to create such an entity.

March clenched her jaw.

"You…! Sir Snuggles isn't fearsome, he's cute!"

Sunny looked between March and the teddy bear within his hands. He couldn't quite see what was so cute about it. In fact, he'd say that Saint was much cuter than this horrific beast.

Sunny wondered if there was a way to convert Sir Snuggles into a shadow, despite being a literal object. He was sure that chaos itself would bend to his will with such a beast under his command.

"March, did you hit your head somewhere as a child?"

With that, she lunged forward, grabbing onto Sunny. His eyes widened, as the speed she had moved was quite unnatural for the average Awakened.

'Did she cool herself internally so that I wouldn't notice?'

Sunny's head crashed against the floor, with March attempting to grasp the stuffed toy. Raising his hands so that she couldn't reach it, Sunny tried to roll out of her grasp.

However, March pressed him down against the floor, leaving him no way to escape without augmenting himself with his shadows. He couldn't use Shadow Step either since he was in contact with a living being. He could only carry inanimate objects with him while using Shadow Step, and if he was touching another person, he simply couldn't use it.

March stretched her hand towards Sir Snuggles with a grin on her face. Sunny's face froze for a second, before he called out to her.

"Wai—"

Sunny felt a soft sensation press against his face. His face immediately turned red, as he was already aware of what the two orbs that kept his face against the floor were. In his disoriented state, he let go of the teddy bear.

March sat up, with Sir Snuggles in her hands. She smirked as she crossed her arms, hugging the teddy bear to her chest. She looked down at Sunny, who's pale face was strangely flushed. She wasn't sure if it was because he was embarrassed, or if it was due to physical exertion, but she reveled in her victory.

Sunny raised his arms, causing March to instinctively pull her stuffed toy away. However, instead of attempting to steal it away from her, he instead lightly pushed against her shoulders. She looked down at him, seeing him turned towards the side as he avoided eye contact.

"…Get off."

March blinked, before doing just as he said. She took a few steps back in case he wanted to try to take Sir Snuggles from her again. Instead, he just got up and walked towards the windowsill. He laid on his side as he aimlessly stared out at the supply zone of the Herta Space Station.

Although she wasn't sure what caused this change of behavior, she was glad that Sir Snuggles wasn't at risk of being stolen anymore. Now that things had calmed down, she had remembered something she was supposed to do.

She walked over to her desk, picking up Sunny's repaired phone. She walked over to him, causing him to turn around like he had eyes on the back of his head. His face was still slightly red, and he didn't quite meet her eyes. Once he saw the phone in her hand, his golden eyes lit up, completely distracted from what was previously bothering him.

"The damage wasn't too bad. None of the data on it was lost."

Sunny nodded, mumbling a quick thanks as he took the phone out of her hand. Despite never having seen a phone before, he felt that he was quite familiar with using it. He glanced at March as she walked back to her bed, before putting all his attention on his phone.

He clicked the switch on the side of his phone, watching as it booted up. He saw a large catalog of squares on his screen. He narrowed his eyes, clicking on one. The screen changed, showing him some sort of… game?

'Oh. These are apps, right?'

Sunny barely remembered how phones worked.

Sunny exited the app. As he looked around the home screen of his phone, he realized that there were names under the apps that designated what they were.

With that, Sunny didn't have any more issues. Although he couldn't quite use the apps, he was able to go through some of the basic functions of them. He didn't find anything very worthwhile, as most of them were simply games or ways to buy food remotely.

As he was looking through his phone, he found his photos. When he opened the app, the screen was mostly blank, showing that he hadn't took many photos.

He looked towards March, who was staring at him with narrowed eyes as she covered her face with a book in her hands.

'Where did she even get that?'

"You're reading it upside-down."

March blinked, glancing at the book in her hands. She frantically flipped it back to a normal position.

"…I knew that."

'Sure…'

Getting off the cushioned windowsill, he walked towards the door of the room. March's eyes trailed the path he took, before she asked:

"Where are you going?"

Sunny shrugged.

"Just looking around."

He exited the room, heading to a different compartment of the Astral Express.

The Party Car gleamed like a grand ballroom, centered around a glowing cylindrical light. Plush violet booths lined the walls, surrounded by lush greenery and vast windows revealing a star-filled sky. Warm lights traced the dark ceiling.

Sunny stared at a spiral staircase to his left, before continuing onwards to the next cart.

As he looked around, he saw multiple tools and appliances that he assumed would be used for cooking. With this information, he deduced that this was the kitchen.

He walked to the door on the other side of the compartment, entering another, seperate compartment. This one consisted of a small pit that contained a ground made of dirt. He saw racks that carried blunt reinforced weapons, designed to be able to withstand the strength of an Awakened, or even a Master. On the walls were multiple sleeping pods. He also noticed a few that looked somewhat different, as if they needed to be bigger for more mechanisms.

It only made sense for the Astral Express to have a training room, since besides Sunny himself, there were two other Awakened.

Sunny paused. Shouldn't Mr. Yang also be an Awakened? Considering the capabilities that were shown when he had calmed down the Stellaron, he'd guess that he was a Saint.

Yet, for some strange reason, that thought didn't exactly sound right. He didn't feel the presence of a Saint. In fact, he couldn't feel even the slightest presence of one who was even an Awakened.

Sunny's intuition was telling him that there was something off about Mr. Yang, as if he was a foreign entity. However, he couldn't quite place his finger on why that would be the case.

Sunny walked into the next compartment, filing away this information for later. He was somewhat suspicious of Welt, but there wasn't much he could do about it at this point. It wouldn't be a good idea to act hastily.

Sunny's eyes widened in awe as he looked around this compartment. The ceiling and walls were completely clear with clean glass windows, and the floor was covered in grass. There were plenty of plant species around this compartment, giving a verdant, natural atmosphere.

The plants had tags near them — which denoted what they were called and what planet they originated from.

Since they were still in the space station, Sunny could only see the supply zone from here. However, he was willing to bet that the view was quite a spectacle in the vastness of space.

As he walked through the train, he realized that it's size is quite unreasonable. At this point, he'd think that it shouldn't even be possible to fit it into a space station.

'It even had multiple full-sized bathhouses!'

After thoroughly exploring the Astral Express, Sunny went back to scouring his phone. Unfortunately, he couldn't find anything that could give him any hints about what had occurred within the past four years. He couldn't even find a single picture.

'A… picture?'

Sunny felt like he was forgetting something, yet he couldn't figure out what it was. It seemingly had to do with pictures, but he wasn't exactly sure why.

Shaking his head, he looked at the time on his phone. It was starting to get late, and he was starting to feel somewhat sleepy.

Since he was an Awakened, he would go to the Dream Realm whenever he slept. Although he could just go to March's room and sleep on the windowsill, anything could happen while he's in the Dream Realm. If he couldn't return in a day or two, his physical body would have to face the consequences.

Due to this, sleeping pods were manufactured for the sole purpose of sustaining an Awakened's real body. They provide nutrition, keep the body clean, and some other features that Sunny wasn't prone to.

Sunny walked back into the training room, walking over to the sleeping pods. He went to the ones that he recognized, as he wasn't quite certain what the purpose of the other pods were, with their added machinery and such.

He summoned the Puppeteer's Shroud, while dismissing the Finality's Farewell. Covered in the silky armor, he opened up one of the pods. He stepped in, waiting for himself to fall asleep. It wasn't too hard, since he could pull on his metaphysical connection to the Dream Realm to accelerate the process.

Once he fell asleep, he felt liquid start to fill up the pod. The next moment, he felt himself being whisked away to another world…

***

Shadow Fragments: [1968/2000].

Sunny grinned as he checked his Shadow Fragments. He was extremely close to saturating his second Shadow Core and forming a third one. All he had to do was hunt a few Nightmare Creatures, and he'd become an Awakened Demon.

He was traveling across the islands in the form of a shadow, moving with incredible speed as he looked for suitable prey.

After around ten minutes of searching, he found himself an enemy to kill. If his memory served him correctly, it looked similar to what was called a boar.

Except… Sunny didn't think boars had six eyes, and tusks that were larger than their body.

Sunny stepped out of the shadows, watching as the boar sprinted across the island. It was quite large, being able to easily take up the area of March's room. From this distance, he could tell that the boar had an evil intelligence, based on how it killed another Nightmare Creature it was chasing by cornering it to a wall.

If Sunny were to take a guess, he'd say that it was at least a Fallen Demon — which meant that he would be able to get six Shadow Fragments minimum.

Sunny narrowed his eyes as the Nightmare Creature started to move irregularly. It seemed to have found another target. Sunny followed the Fallen Demon's line of sight, seeing a small figure.

He couldn't quite see what it was from here, so he sent out his shadows to get a better view. In particular, he sent out the Haughty shadow, who crossed his arms in displeasure at being used for such lowly tasks.

'Oh, shut up! You should be grateful to even be the a divine shadow's… uh… shadow.'

With a scoff, Haughty zoomed across the plains of the island, heading towards the boar and it's new prey. Sunny sat down, drinking from the Endless Spring as he watched what was happening.

He spat out some water, spraying it all over the gloomy shadow who looked at him with hatred.

Standing across from the boar was a girl. She had messy purple hair that reached her midsection. Her pale skin was caked in dirt, showing that she had been in the wilderness for a while. She didn't hold a weapon in her bloody hands, nor did she wear a single article of clothing. She was standing stark naked in the middle of an island infested with Nightmare Creatures.

Without any equipment to brave the Dream Realm, Sunny made an assumption about her situation.

'She's a Sleeper, isn't she? The Winter Solstice is in a month… so has she been stuck out here for almost a year?'

After completing the First Nightmare, all Sleepers would be sent to the Dream Realm on the Winter Solstice — which just so happened to be Sunny's birthday. They would be sent to random locations, with the goal of reaching a gateway in order to escape to the Waking World.

However, there are those who didn't get any weapons or armor from their First Nightmare. In such a scenario, they are at a severe disadvantage when being thrown in this unforgiving wilderness.

'Should I save her?'

Sunny didn't have much of a reason to do so, but he did want to kill the boar for Shadow Fragments. If the girl followed him back to the Sanctuary of Noctis, then it wouldn't be like he had tried to help or anything, right?

Sunny nodded to himself, believing his logic sound. He wasn't helping her, it was all for his own gain.

As he was about to use Shadow Step to reach the Fallen Demon, he paused.

Sunny was looking through the eyes of his shadow, who had gotten close enough to see the details of the girl's face. In such a situation, he'd expect to see fear, panic, or any other emotion that is to be expected when facing an unbeatable monster. If she was a Sleeper, she'd stand no chance against the boar.

Sunny shivered. The girl wasn't quivering in fear, attempting to run away, or anything similar.

Instead, she was smiling with a crazed expression, crimson eyes glowing as she stared at the the boar.

For a moment, Sunny questioned whether or not she was sane, or if she was overestimating herself with the belief that she was a protagonist of some sort. He wondered if she believed herself to be invincible, and that this was simply a fun game to her.

However, as Sunny saw the look in her glowing eyes through his shadow, he realized that wasn't the case.

She was just like him, a being with a gift for murder.

He watched with interest, wondering if he was right in his estimation. If she died in this encounter, than it would prove that she was simply delusional. If not, then it would show she had inhumane potential. Potential that might even match Sunny's own.

He reasoned that if she lost, then it was her fault for fighting a battle she couldn't win. It wouldn't be any skin off his back…

Sunny ignored the creeping feeling of disgust, as he resolved himself to just watch.

The boar, approached the girl slowly, watching her every move with it's six eyes. Sunny noticed that it didn't have any pupils, but it was somehow still able to see.

The purple-haired girl stepped forward the bloodthirsty grin on her face never fading. She held her hand out to her side with her pointer finger extended. It was a strange position for one who was going into a fight, but Sunny guessed that it must have been related to her Aspect. She would only have a Dormant Ability as a Sleeper, so Sunny wasn't quite sure how effective she would be against a Fallen Demon.

The boar dragged it's feet across the floor, preparing itself to charge at the girl. It dashed forward, causing tremors to spread across the island every time it's hoofs made contact with the ground.

The girl kept walking forward at a leisurely pace, not worried whatsoever about the hulking monstrosity bulldozing towards her. She simply held out her pointer finger, waiting for it to reach her.

Once it was within range, the boar dragged it's oversized tusks across the ground, uprooted the dirt of the island. The girl dashed forward, not hesitating for a second with that manic smile on her face.

She lightly stepped to the side, extending her finger in the direction that she had just dashed away from. The tusks rose into the sky, barely missing her. However, Sunny would have thought that her finger would have been within it's path.

His eyes widened as an object flew into the sky. He at first thought that it was her arm, but the object was much too large for that. As it fell back to the island, it impaled itself into the dirt.

It was the boar's tusk.

The boar let out a horrific screech, as the girl's finger was still extended where the tusk got detached. Without waiting, she dashed forward, swiping her finger across the boar's skin.

Sunny was bewildered as he saw the flesh of the boar split opened where her finger traced, blood spraying all over the girl. Butterflies appeared out of nowhere, spawning out of the damaged area.

'Her Aspect… does it allow her to bypass defense? Does it give her body the properties of a sword?'

As Sunny watched, he realized that neither of those guesses were correct. If it were the case, she would simply keep attacking until it was dead. Instead, she searched the body of boar, and once she found a random point, she'd aim for it with her fingers.

'Does it allow her to see weak points? But the damage is too exaggerated…'

She didn't seem to target specifically vital points, so it must have been a limitation of her Aspect. He wondered if she was only limited to using her fingers.

She fought with movements that spoke of experience, as if she had been fighting her whole life. Eventually, the boar was starting to get overwhelmed by the deep wounds being inflicted on it.

As the boar started to get immobilized, she jabbed her foot into open flesh, using it as a foothold to climb up the boar's back. Once she got to the top, her crimson eyes scanned it's back, before she drew a line with her finger.

It's back split open, revealing it's spine. She drew another line, this time on it's vertebrae. It cut cleanly open, severing it's spine as it finally died.

Sunny tilted his head in curiosity, as the girl had caught his interest. She seemed to enjoy killing, while also having the skill to do so against stronger opponents. Sunny wasn't planning to interact with her much outside of allowing her to come with him to the Sanctuary of Noctis, as he was only somewhat curious about her behavior in the face of a Fallen Demon.

He shrugged to himself, about to Shadow Step over to her location. Just as he was about to do so, he saw her turn her head.

…In the direction of his shadow.

Sunny paused, watching as her mad smile split across her face. She opened her mouth slightly, whispering a few soft syllables that caused a pit to form in his stomach.

"…I've never killed a shadow before."

Sunny wondered what she had meant by that. Did she truly have the means to target his shadow?

Sunny's eyes widened as he realized something about her fight against the boar. Every time it got attacked, it seemed to be damaged deeper than the wounds that were inflicted on it indicated.

'You can't be serious… It's just a Dormant Ability!'

Her attacks targeted the soul.

She walked towards Haughty, her pointer fingers extended as she emanated a violent pressure. The usually arrogant shadow was uncharacteristically tense, as it faced off an enemy that Sunny could only describe in one word…

DEATH.

***

Seele(?) approached the strange shadow. It existed without an object casting it, and it was in the shape of a human. The strangest part of it was the fact that it had a Soul Core — well it looked different than any other soul core she has seen. It was a black orb, which she guessed was due to the fact that it was a shadow.

It didn't matter, Seele(?) wanted to kill it. She wanted to kill it so badly.

She stared at the crimson lines spreading across the shadow, wondering if tracing them like normal would work. It wasn't a physical object, so it might follow different rules.

Seele(?) licked her lips, her glowing eyes revealing to her the best way to kill something. She was born the moment the other version of her had woke up from that dream of her's, taking over whenever she used this ability. She was a strange existence, since her memories were seperate from the other her.

She walked towards the shadow, wondering if it would get scared and run away. Maybe it would get cocky, and simply sit there with the belief that she couldn't touch it. Either way, she was going to make sure it died.

As she giggled to herself at her morbid thoughts, she froze as a boy emerged from the shadow. He had hair that looked like ash, and golden eyes. He seemed… young, with a few effeminate features. He wore a light set of armor that wrapped around him like a cocoon, and he had an annoyed expression on his face.

Despite how harmless the boy seemed, Seele(?) froze. The crimson lines across his body were plentiful and bright, and the stench of death reeked from him. His soul seemed to stretch towards the two shadows that followed him.

'Two Cores?'

"You're a little freak of nature, aren't you?"

Despite what she was thinking, Seele(?) wasn't the one who had said that. Instead, the boy in front of her was the one who seemingly insulted her. She cracked her fingers, getting ready to dismantle him into seventeen pieces.

"I wouldn't try that. Otherwise, I'll have to cut off those pretty fingers of yours."

She instinctively flinched, stepping back as her survival instincts kicked in. Something was telling her… that he could have killed her by now if he really wanted to.

The boy put his hands on his hips, looking her up and down. She noticed his eyes lingering on her chest for some reason, with his face reddening somewhat. He averted his gaze, causing Seele(?) to look down at her own chest.

She didn't think there was anything interesting about it, which only caused her to grow more confused. The boy coughed, drawing her attention back to him. At this point, her eyes started to strain, causing a headache to pierce her skull.

"What's your name?"

Seele(?) wondered what she should tell him. She didn't exactly have a name, since she was born as a Flaw. However, it was currently her body, so she should at least tell him the body's name.

…Despite the urge to kill him, she didn't want to get killed herself.

"…This body's name is Seele."

The boy in front of her narrowed his eyes, his hand grasping a weapon that wasn't even there. Seele(?) took another step back in order to play it safe.

"…Is this originally your body?"

Seele(?) bit her lip. It seemed that she had let slip that she thought of Seele and herself as seperate individuals. It seemed that the boy was quite sharp when it comes to such matters.

She wondered if she should lie or not. The boy was already suspicious of her, and she wasn't sure that she could defeat him if he decided to fight her. Despite the fact that his soul seemed weaker than the boar, it radiated some strange, radiant quality to it.

Not only that, but his presence felt much more lethal than the boar.

Seele(?) decided to answer his question truthfully.

"…I am the girl's Flaw."

The boy blinked, narrowing his eyes at her as he obviously didn't understand what she was getting at.

"I was born when she woke up from a dream. I take over her body when she uses her eyes."

Despite how vague her words were, the boy seemed to perfectly understand what she meant after a moment. She wondered if he had encountered something similar…

"Would your eyes still be active if you slept?"

Seele(?) tilted her head, not understanding the purpose of the question. She still answered it however, since she didn't want to take any risks.

The boy grinned. Seele(?) saw a large shadow appear in front of her, causing her to want to look behind her. However, she couldn't take her eyes off the boy, who's eyes changed from a golden hue to a lightless abyss. Those eyes seemed to embrace death, becoming one with it.

Seele(?) was absolutely enamored with it.

"I guess it's goodnight then, you psycho."

Feeling something strike the top of her head, the red lines disappeared as everything went black.

***

Sunny covered the girl with the Finality's Farewell. He zipped up the jacket, making sure that it properly covered her body. The jacket reached Sunny's knees, and the girl was slightly shorter than him, so he didn't have to worry too much about something getting exposed.

He picked her up, carrying her on his back as her head rested on his shoulder. He thought back to the encounter, somewhat confused by how the girl — Seele's Flaw interacted with him.

When he had stepped out of the shadows, she seemed to almost fear something. Maybe she had seen his two shadow cores, but he doubted that would be enough to scare her. At the end however, she seemed to be in… awe?

Sunny wasn't quite sure how to describe it, but his intuition was telling him that it would definitely be a problem later on.

'Actually, I don't plan on meeting her again once I get her to the gate. There's no way that she'd cause issues for me!'

After around an hour of walking, he had arrived at the Sanctuary of Noctis. Due to the added weight on his back, it took quite awhile for him to to get back. Which also meant that he lost precious time to get more Shadow Fragments.

He saw some people looking in his direction with strange expressions. Sunny scowled at them, causing them to frantically turn away. He overheard some of them talking with each other…

"Did you see that! The Starkiller is so noble that he'd rescue a girl even if it inconveniences him!"

"I'm not blind you idiot!"

Sunny's brow twitched. He wasn't noble or anything! This was for his own gain!

Sunny paused. What exactly did he gain out of this?

He couldn't think of anything. It seemed that he had wasted his time carrying this girl to the citadel.

…Well, he was already so close to the gateway, so he might as well finish what he started.

Just as he was about to reach the pedestal that held a knife — the gateway of the Sanctuary of Noctis — he felt the winds around him pick up. He looked up, his eyes widening in shock.

Pun intended.

A giant bird of prey, her feathers white, her sharp beak and devastating talons forged out of lustrous, polished steel. Her enormous wings were wreathed in thunderclouds, and bolts of lightning danced around her body like a radiant mantle.

Just as the bird was about to land right on top of him, the bird transformed in a flash of lightning. Now, in the place of the fearsome bird, was a woman.

She was tall and slender, her posture straight like an arrow. She was wearing light steel armor, its pauldrons, and greaves decorated with white feathers. Her long blond hair was fluttering in the wind like a cascade of pale gold. She has amber eyes, and her face was cold and stunningly beautiful, more akin to a goddess than a human being.

Sunny gulped, seeing her eyes staring straight at him.

This was Saint Tyris — also known by her True Name, Sky Tide — the Saint of of the Chained Isles.

"Awakened Sunless."

Sunny quickly got a hold of himself, bowing as much as he can while bearing the weight of another person.

"…Lady Sky Tide."

Her gaze went to the girl resting on his back. Sunny tried his best to ignore the drool dripping down on his shoulder. Saint Tyris looked back towards Sunny.

"I had recieved a report that there was a strange girl roaming the Chained Isles. I didn't recognize her description, so I thought she must have been a Sleeper."

She glanced back at the Seele's sleeping body.

"…But it seems you beat me to it."

Sunny gulped again. Herta was more down to earth, so he hadn't been as intimidated by her as he was with Tyris. The Saint of the Chained Isles didn't feel very human.

"Ah… I just happened to run into her. She was passed out when I got her."

Sunny didn't divulge the fact that he had knocked her out. He didn't want to say anything that could cause a Saint to turn against him for whatever reason — even if it was unlikely.

Tyris nodded, turning away as she leaped into the sky with monstrous strength. He watched as lightning streaked through the air, her body transforming into that of a bird once more.

Sunny wondered what the purpose of that conversation was. He doubted that it was simple small talk, but who knew? He couldn't decipher anything from her emotionless expression.

He sighed, walking forward a few steps before reaching the gateway. Once he got close, he felt the body on his back start to slowly fade away, particles flying through the sky.

In a few seconds, she was gone, having Awakened after escaping the Dream Realm.

The Finality's Farewell fell onto the floor, not having a body to hold onto. Sunny dismissed it, turning away from the gate. He didn't disappear with her since he hadn't reached the minimum time limit needed for him to leave.

Sunny sighed, wondering if his actions were going to bring unforetold consequences. Knowing his luck, he wouldn't be surprised if he somehow made a great mistake in letting out someone as dangerous as that girl.

Somehow, Sunny felt like he had done the right thing…

…Whatever that means.

***

Sunny walked across a chain connecting the previous island to the next, carrying some… luggage on his back. Luggage that begged to come with him when he was leaving the Sanctuary.

Maybe that was an exaggeration.

It was starting to become night, painting the sky in hues of pink and orange.

"So… you met a crazy girl and you decided to save her?"

Sunny scowled at the girl that was hitching a ride on his back. Why was he giving out so many rides today?

'I'm a divine shadow… that has been demoted to a rickshaw!'

Sunny grumbled at his strange life. The only reason he even played along with her was because he didn't want to seem suspiciously different from the Sunny that she previously knew.

"I didn't save her. I just… took her to the gate so I'd never have to see her again."

Sunny felt Sparkle press her chin against the back of his head. He was starting to get really annoyed with how cozy this brat was getting with him. Who was she to act like they were close friends?

"If you left her to die, you would have achieved the same result. Better yet, you don't have to worry about her deciding to come back here."

Sunny scoffed. The thought of her returning here was ridiculous when she could simply stay at another Citadel like Bastion.

"What exactly makes you think any reasonable person would want to come back here?"

"Because you're here."

Sunny blinked, looking back at Sparkle. He couldn't quite see her due to her position, but he could use his shadow to see her face. She had that same unserious look on her face, which caused Sunny to assume that she was joking.

"That wasn't a good joke."

"I'm being serious, you know~"

"You don't sound very serious."

For the first time, Sunny heard a sigh from Sparkle. Her arms that were previously wrapped around his neck moved up to the top of his head. She started to move them around roughly, ruffling his hair and causing him to almost lose his balance.

"Wha— we're on a chain here!"

"If you don't want to fall, just let go of me."

Sparkle spoke in a calm voice, devoid of any humor. This contrast startled Sunny, who gripped her thighs tighter so she didn't try anything stupid.

She suddenly stopped rubbing his head, leaving her hands on top of it. Instead of the violent digging, she gently brushed her hands through his hair, getting it back to how it usually was.

"Let's play a game. If you answer three questions wrong, you lose."

Sunny blinked, he wondered where she was going with this after almost getting the two of them killed.

"How old am I?"

"…You're nineteen. Do we really have to play?"

"Yep!"

Instead of answering him, she replied with another question.

"What is the name of my Aspect?"

Sunny frowned. He knew her age due to the Vessel of Remembrance, and the same went for her Aspect. She seemed to share a lot with him in the past, but he didn't think that he would have told her just as much.

He still didn't understand why she was asking this.

"…It's called The Fool."

"Bingo!"

Sunny felt a strange feeling of unease at her actions. He didn't feel like he was in danger, but he didn't feel completely safe either.

"And what's my Flaw?"

Sunny stopped breathing for a second, wondering if she was aware of the fact that he knew what it was.

"…You're always at risk of succumbing to Elation."

"Exactly~"

Suddenly, the entire vibe started to change. Sunny didn't think she was mad for knowing her Flaw, but it wasn't like he could predict her actions. He tensed up, waiting for what she was going to do next.

"Now, what brings me the most Elation?"

Sunny blinked. He… wasn't sure, but he knew some of her likes and dislikes, so he could take a guess.

"Pranking people… maybe?"

"You should study more, Shadow Boy~"

It seemed that he was wrong about that, but there was no way he would know that. He doubted she knew what brought him the most joy.

"Let's make it a little spicy… who do I love the most?"

That one was actually pretty simple. She didn't make it much of a secret.

"It's Aha, right?"

The Aeon of Elation, who Sparkle practically worshipped. Sunny knew she didn't have any relatives — none that she remembered at least. Due to this, he could only come to one logical conclusion.

"You're so stupid Shadow Boy! That wasn't the right answer."

"Huh?"

Sunny was pretty confident about his answer, so how come he was wrong?

"If it's not Aha, then who is it?"

Sparkle completely ignored his question giving him another one.

"Sunny, what is my real name?"

Sunny stumbled, almost dropping Sparkle as he did so. Her voice was inflectionless, showing that she wasn't playing around anymore.

It looks like his luck had run out. His Flaw compelled him to answer truthfully.

"…I don't know."

There was a long pause. The two of them stood their, the sunset illuminating their bodies. They couldn't see each other's faces, and Sunny didn't try to use his shadow to do otherwise.

He heard a soft whisper behind him.

"You're seventeen years old, and you were born on December 21st during the Winter Solstice. It just so happened that you were born under a solar eclipse, making you [Fated]."

Sunny didn't understand why she was rambling about him, but he didn't interrupt her.

"Your Aspect is called Shadow Slave, and is of the Divine Rank. You got it from a glorious appraisal after killing an Awakened Tyrant in your First Nightmare."

Sunny flinched at her words. He didn't think his past self would have told her that…

…Would he?

"The thing that brings you the most joy is your sister. The one who you love the most is… also your sister."

She seemed to want to say something else, but Sunny wasn't bothering himself with that.

'Isn't that kind of personal?! You can't go around telling people this stuff, me!'

"Your Flaw is that you can't lie."

Sunny felt his heart stop for a moment.

"Whoever says your True Name becomes your master, taking away your freedom."

The veins in Sunny's eyes started to become apparent as they became bloodshot. A bead of sweat started to roll down his temple.

'…She can't know that, right?'

Even if he had told her all this, unlikely as it is, it's impossible that he would have given her his True Name. There isn't a single person in the world he'd ever tell that to.

Dark thoughts entered his mind.

"Your True Name is…"

'No…'

Sunny felt an icy claw grip his heart, massaging it as it prepared to crush it in a single move.

"…Lost From Light."

A second later, Sunny watched as she fell into the Sky Below. His eyes reflected nothing but rage and fear, as Sparkle gazed blankly at him as she slowly grew smaller.

'…Why couldn't you just keep pretending? Isn't that what a Clown is good at? Then, none of this would have happened.'

Sunny reasoned that it was for his own good. Once the issue with AR-26710 was solved, he wouldn't have to worry about another person trying to enslave him. However, as he watched her figure grow smaller, he felt a voice in the back of his head scream at him.

It sounded suspiciously like his own.

Sunny looked down at Sparkle's falling body for a second, before turning back towards the Samctuary of Noctis. He wasn't in the mood for fighting Nightmare Creatures any longer.

She had suspected that he had lost his memories, and questioned him in order to make sure. If it had ended at that, Sunny wouldn't have went as far as to throw her into the Sky Below. Once she revealed that she knew his weaknesses, he knew that he couldn't let her live.

[Are you an idiot?!]

Sunny paused for a moment, wondering where that voice had come from. It didn't seem to have come from his subconscious, so where…

[Don't think about it too much. Anyways, you made a big mistake, you dumbass. I thought I made bad decisions, but at least I had the perfect ability to fix them.]

Sunny frowned. Was he making up voices now?

[I'm not made up! I'm… whatever. It doesn't matter what I am. What matters is that I'm talking to you!]

'…Who are you to judge me?'

[I'm the only person who can judge you, so just let me talk, got it?]

Was he really going to listen to the voice in his head after committing homicide?

[Of course you are. You've done this before, you know, and it's way worse now than it was before.]

Sunny could have sworn that the voice in his head shivered, despite not having a physical body.

[Oh right, you don't remember. Anyways, we need to have a long talk, young man.]

Sunny sneered as he stared up at the sky above.

'…You're not my dad.'

[Of course not, he's dead! Back to business, did you feel any sort of remorse about your actions in the past five minutes?]

'What is this, a therapy session? Of course I didn't!'

[And why do you think that is?]

Sunny sat down on the large chain, thinking to himself.

'…Because I was protecting myself. If she didn't reveal herself to be a threat, I wouldn't have done anything.'

[Woah… that's something only a sociopath could say with confidence! Seriously, you scare me man…]

Sunny tilted his head in confusion.

'What's a sociopath?'

The voice was silent for a second, before sighing.

[A hotheaded person that can only think about themselves. You know, violent and stuff…]

Sunny frowned.

'I'm not violent!'

[Right.]

'…I literally can't lie.'

[Only to others.]

There was a long pause.

'Come on now…. There's no one else here. Why don't you be honest with yourself for one? Just admit it. Don't you dare become a hypocrite.'

[Come on now…. There's no one else here. Why don't you be honest with yourself for one? Just admit it. Don't you dare become a hypocrite.]

Sunny grimaced and ground his teeth together. It felt like two voices were overlapping atop each other.

And both of them were his own.

'Say it!'

[Say it!]

Reluctantly, he opened his mouth and whispered:

"I killed her because I wanted to survive. I killed her… because it was easy."

And just like that, he suddenly felt better.

Sunny scowled, getting annoyed by this strange conversation he was having with… someone. Maybe he really was losing it.

'Just… shut up.'

[If you say so. I'm not sticking around for long.]

With a sigh, Sunny stood up.

[One last thing.]

Groaning, Sunny allowed the voice to say it's last few words before it would finally shut up.

[Dont die too much!]

"You're pretty cute when you're annoyed by something, Sunny."

Out of instinct, Sunny swung in the direction that the voice came from. He heard a yelp, as his fist hit someone's face.

He watched in disbelief as Sparkle stood there clutching her nose. Blood was gushing out, staining her porcelain face with red.

Somehow, she had come back, despite falling to her certain doom.

'…She can't fly, right?'

She wiped away the blood with her sleeve, turning towards Sunny. She leaned forward closing her eyes.

"…What are you doing?"

"My nose. Fix it."

Sunny sighed, gently grabbing her nose before quickly twisting it in place. She flinched at the pain for a moment, before going back to her happy expression.

…Wait a minute.

Sunny reached out his arms, wrapping his hands around her neck. She yelped in surprise, grabbing on to his arms as he started to strangle her.

Her grip was weak. It was as if she wasn't even trying to stop him from choking her to death. If he used his shadows, he was sure he could snap her neck instantly…

So why was Sparkle looking at him like that?

It was a familiar expression, one from a long time ago. When he was a child. When he still had people who loved him. Despite the similarities, this felt different…

Sunny released his grip, stepping back as he looked towards Sparkle in disgust. The girl massaged her throat, never losing that look in her eyes despite the fact that he had tried to kill her. Sunny grimaced.

"…You're gross. I'm not even..."

She shrugged.

"Does it really matter?"

She paused for a moment, before smirking.

"Did you find one of the answers to my questions?"

Sunny coughed, a blush rose to his face as he thought about the question she was referring to.

"…Yeah. Let's just get out of here. I still need to kill some Nightmare Creatures."

Sparkle hopped onto his back, holding onto him without hesitation. Both disturbed and comforted, he walked ahead with a torrent of thoughts running through his mind. They were silent for a few moments, before Sunny spoke up.

"You have horrible taste."

Sparkle pouted, flicking the back of his head with her finger.

"…I'll have you know that my taste is great. There are a whole lot of women who are attracted to guys that would kill them..."

Sunny coughed in surprise, almost causing him to lose his balance. The thought was… not very comforting.

"…For real?!"

"Yep! A lot of girls these days are weird like that."

Sunny hoped he'd never have to meet a woman like that.

Wait…

"Doesn't that make you even weirder than them?"

Sparkle blew a raspberry at him, spraying spit all over the back of his head. Sunny turned his head and glared at her, causing her to laugh as she wiped it off with her segmented sleeve.

"That's not nice. You don't say that to a girl after choking them, you sadist."

Sunny blinked, wondering what choking a girl had to do with anything. If he choked a guy to death, would that make any difference?

"…What's a sadist?"

"Uh… don't worry about it. Just keep your cute little head focused on hand-holding and stuff."

"Hand-holding?!"

Sparkle sighed as if she had been expecting this.

"Why is that, of all things, what you focus on?"

Sunny bit the inside of his cheek, uncomfortable with the question.

"…Isn't that a grown-up thing? My mom told me not to do that with anyone unless I… uh… you know…"

There was silence for a moment. Nothing could be heard besides Sunny's footsteps and the rattling of the massive chain. After a few moments, laughter could be heard across the Chained Isles, startling the corrupt wildlife as they moved away from the noise.

Sunny pouted in embarrassment, wanting to do nothing more than to punt Sparkle across the Dream Realm. He decided that he should probably change the subject…

"By the way, how did you get back up here?"

Instead of responding, white sparks appeared in front of Sunny, revealing a floating rapier. Sunny stared at it for a moment, as the rapier started to poke and prod him. Despite the threat of being stabbed, Sunny didn't feel very threatened by it.

He saw multiple nodes, but it didn't seem like a Memory. It was much too complex, and seemed to have more functions.

It must have been a strange Echo.

"I just hopped on and Quiet Dancer carried me back up here. I had to use the Dark Wing to make me lighter though…"

Sunny snickered.

"You're too fat to be carried by your Echo!"

"You can't call me fat! I mean, look at me!"

"Who said you are fat? I was actually insulting the Echo for being weak."

The rapier poked him more aggressively.

Sunny couldn't remember a time in which he had a genuine friend. As a child, other kids didn't play with him since he was too selfish. As he got older, his behavior only got worse as the only person he could worry about was himself. He'd hurt others for his own gain, and he would keep a good distance so they couldn't hurt him.

Today however, he decided to ignore that logic. Despite the fact that he would hurt Sparkle even more as time went on — both physically and mentally — he was sure that she wouldn't do the same for him. Just this once, Sunny decided to let his guard down while in the midst of a world of horrific monsters.

If someone still loved him even after inflicting great amounts of pain, it would be rude to not accept them — even a little.

It was stupid to trust a person who could fake all their facial expressions, but he did so anyways. It went against his very nature.

Still, he didn't think he would regret it.

Or maybe he would. He couldn't see the future.

Chapter Text

Sunny and Sparkle had arrived at an island, one that was infested by Fallen Nightmare Creatures. Using his shadow sense, he could feel countless moving abominations within the island, with some of them fighting each other to grow stronger.

Before hunting a few down to gain his third Shadow Core, Sunny had a few questions that he needed answers to.

However, it seemed that Sparkle had the same idea.

"How much did you forget?"

Sunny's train of thought froze for a second, but he decided to answer her anyways. It was only natural for her to want to know.

"The last memory I had was my appraisal during my First Nightmare."

"So that's… four years. Does that mean you're technically a pre-teen again?"

Sunny shrugged. It was a strange feeling, as it was like he was both thirteen and seventeen at the same time. He had the memories of a pre-pubescent teen, but his mind was closer to a boy on the cusp of adulthood.

Maybe he was just looking too much into it. Sparkle pinched a strand of his hair between her fingers.

"This look of yours probably has something to do with it."

Sunny nodded. It wasn't a stretch to assume that his hair and eye color might have had something to do with his lost memories. Sparkle released the grasp she had on his hair, asking him another question.

"Where is your real body?"

"I'm with these people called the Astral Express. Have you heard of them?"

Sparkle hummed in an affirming tone.

"The Nameless aren't really a secret organization or anything. They just go around exploring and helping people. You'll probably end up seeing some crazy things if you stay with them."

She didn't seem to have any more questions, so Sunny decided to ask his own now.

"When did you figure out I lost my memories?"

Sparkle hopped off his back, her trademark smile never leaving her face. Due to her Flaw, she was almost always in a state of joy, with the real danger being when she reaches a certain breaking point. Both to herself, and to others.

"You remember when I rode on your shoulders… I think two days ago? Normally, you wouldn't get all flustered, Shadow Boy."

She summoned her storage Memory, a small bag appearing in her hand. She dug around it for a bit, as the space within it was larger than it seemed from the outside.

"Plus, you acted really distant and stuff. It was like all your character development was thrown out the window. So… I did a confirmation divination."

She pulled out a pendulum out of her bag, having sway while being held by the string.

"You don't remember this, but this divination lets me confirm 'yes or no' questions depending on which direction the pendulum swings. It told me that you were the real Shadow Boy, so I asked a few random questions to figure out what the issue is."

"…And you just happened to ask if I had amnesia?"

"Yep!"

Sunny grimaced. How could a person be lucky enough to just stumble across the right question?

"All the stuff that you know about me… did I tell you about it, or did you figure it all out with divinations?"

Sparkle waved her hand as if he hadn't just asked her a serious question.

"You told me everything yourself. You only told me about your True Name recently though. Not that I know why you told me, with how dangerous it is."

Sunny looked at her in confusion. If she didn't know why he had told her about his True Name, the old Sunless must have been planning something. It was almost like he was preparing for the moment that his memories would be lost.

But that didn't make much sense either. Why would Sunny willingly lose his memories?

Well, there wasn't much he could do about that right now. He still had one last question to ask her.

"Where was I in the past four years?"

Sparkle's smile dimmed by quite a bit. If it wasn't for her Flaw, Sunny was sure that she wouldn't be smiling at all right now.

"…I can't tell you that."

Sunny narrowed his eyes. His temper started to flare. He didn't say anything for a few moments, trying to calm down so he didn't do anything impulsive.

"Why not?"

Sparkle sat on her heels, resting her head on her knees as she answered his question.

"With what I know, there has to be a good reason for you to have lost your memories. If I told you about it right now, I'm sure that it would cause some problems in the future."

Sunny lightly bit the inside of his cheek, wondering what she could of meant. Just for confirmation, he asked her how much she did know.

"Just bits and pieces. Due to the… nature of your occupation, you couldn't really tell me much."

…He wasn't some drug lord or anything, right? It sounded like he was part of some really suspicious underground organization.

"No, you weren't a drug lord, lol."

"…Can you read minds? Also, what's a 'lol'?"

Sparkle got up from her sitting position. Se shook her head in exasperation as she walked ahead. Sunny trailed behind her, sending his shadows out to locate Nightmare Creatures.

"You really need to get with the times Shadow Boy. You're not acting your age~"

Sunny scoffed, looking through his shadows. While he was doing so, his already pale face whitened to an inhuman degree. With a strange sixth sense, Sparkle turned towards Sunny in curiosity.

"What is it?"

Sunny forced out an awkward grin, pointing behind him.

"You know, I just realized that I don't really like this island. Why don't we check out another one?"

Sparkle blinked a few times. After a moment of realization, her ever present grin grew wider.

"Oh? Pray tell, what exactly did you see?"

Sunny shrugged, acting nonchalant.

"You know, trees, rocks, ruins — that type of stuff. For some reason, I really hate trees…"

Sparkle walked back to Sunny and wrapped an arm around his neck, pulling him closer to her.

"What is it's Rank and Class?"

Sunny gulped, his forehead becoming damp with sweat.

"…Fallen Tyrant at least."

"Which direction?"

"…East."

Patting Sunny's back — and with quite a bit of strength at that — Sparkle skipped over in the direction of the Fallen Tyrant that Sunny had located. Sunny whimpered as he realized that he might actually get himself killed. Sparkle turned around with a mocking expression on her face.

"What are you being a wimp for? You'll be able to get ten Shadow Fragments; that's not even including the minions!"

Sunny looked at the Fallen Tyrant through his shadow, shivering at the sight.

"Let's just say… it's not something anyone would want to see."

***

"…Wow."

"Yeah."

"That's disgusting."

"Uh-huh."

"Are we really going to fight that?"

"…Wasn't it your idea?"

The two of them hid behind a stone outcrop within a cave. They were close enough to the exit that they could easily sprint away in case of a cave-in. As they looked deeper into the cave, they observed the colony of…

…Spiders.

They weren't simply spiders however. In a crude fashion expected of the Dream Realm, these spiders had something writhing out of their abdomens.

These were humans — or at least humanoids — that had their mouths gaping open, as if they were subject to eternal pain with no escape. These spiders crawled around the cave, walking around bulging eggs that were not something that spiders normally laid.

Sunny stared at the eggs, not believing that eggs of those size would be something that spiders normally lay.

In the center of the cave, was a spider of a much larger size than the rest. Although it shared most of the features with the other spiders, there was a malformed woman where the head should be. She had the eight eyes of a spider, and her jaw was completely dislocated. A pair of mandibles sprouted from within her mouth, producing a gruesome sight.

Sparkle blanched, looking at the horde of spiders with disgust.

"…Maybe we should just get rid of them. They're kind of an eyesore…"

Sunny sighed, already committed to committing the nasty deed that he would prefer to not even remotely be apart of.

He was looking at a Fallen Tyrant, multiple Awakened Beasts, Monsters, and Demons. He could also see a pair of what seemed to be Awakened Devils near the Fallen Tyrant.

Sparkle pulled out a few sheets of paper. Among them were paper cutouts of herself. She laid the paper figurines on the ground, while carrying the sheets of paper in her left hand.

Sunny looked through his Memories, trying to figure out what would be the most useful convenient to use in this situation. He thought about sending Saint in with the Broken Oath, but there was still a good chance that she would get overwhelmed.

Memories: [Weaver's Mask], [Silver Bell], [Puppeteer's Shroud], [Vessel of Remembrance], [Midnight Shard], [Moonlight Shard], [Dusk Shard], [Prowling Thorn], [Mantle of the Underworld], [Ordinary Rock], [Autumn Leaf], [Blood Blossom], [Broken Oath], [Dark Wing], [Endless Spring], [Finality's Farewell], [Thief's Instinct], [Destroyer's Final Road].

Looking through his Memories, he summoned the Midnight Shard, the austere tachi appearing in his hand. He also dismissed the Puppeteer's Shroud, and summoned the Mantle of the Underworld, providing him with the protection of an Ascended Memory of the sixth tier.

Memory: [Mantle of the Underworld].

Memory Rank: Ascended.

Memory Tier: VI.

Memory Type: Armor.

Memory Description: [Vowing to never look upon the Goddess of the Black Skies again, the prideful demon retreated into the darkness beneath an unassailable mountain chain. He wasn't the first to lead his army against the gods. However, he was the first to shed their blood, as well as learn the secrets of his own.]

Memory Enchantments: [Living Stone], [Feather of Truth], [Stalwart], [Underworld Armament], [Prince of the Underworld].

[Living Stone] Enchantment Description: "This armor can repair itself while being worn."

[Feather of Truth] Enchantment Description: "The weight of this armor can be changed at will."

[Stalwart] Enchantment Description: "This armor provides extremely high protection against physical attacks, high protection against elemental attacks, and a moderate amount of protection against mind and soul attacks."

[Underworld Armament] Enchantment Description: "This armor can accommodate a Charm Memory to inherit and enhance its enchantments."

[Prince of the Underworld] Enchantment Description: "This armor grows stronger according to the amount of opponents its wielder defeats."

Vanquished Foes: [1244/6000].

The Mantle of the Underworld was a somber set of onyx armor. It was a strange hybrid of a robe and a set of armor, but the amount of protection it provided was unquestionable.

Sunny summoned the Blood Blossom, a charm Memory that enhances the strength of his Memories, Echoes, and Shadows based on the amount of blood he spills. It was an intricate pendant in the shape of a beautiful red flower.

He attached the pendant to the Mantle of the Underworld. Sunny's armor had an enchantment that provided a boost to any charm Memories it accommodates. Interestingly enough, he was starting to feel a little of the Blood Blossom's effect on himself…

Summoning Saint, Sunny decided to wait before giving her the Broken Oath. Saint also shared the [Underworld Armament] ability with the Mantle of the Underworld, meaning that the Broken Oath would cause extreme damage to both Sparkle and his own souls if he allowed her to equip it now.

Using Soul Serpent to better manage his essence, Sunny waited for Sparkle to finish her preparations. She had summoned a crown atop her head, which made Sunny stare at it for a few moments. It was strangely familiar.

He unconsciously reached for the top of his head, feeling the area where a crown would rest upon. Sparkle noticed this action, turning her attention towards him.

"Oh… this is the Dawn Shard. You gave it to me a while back. It's an Ascended Memory that boosts the power of Memories within an area."

Sunny blinked, keeping his eyes on the Dawn Shard. He had recalled seeing something like that in the Vessel of Remembrance.

A simple band of metal decorated with a single gem, an Ascended Memory. The Dawn Shard possesses a single, but also singularly powerful enchantment. It empowers all Memories around it. The area of effect of the enchantment is very large but the enhancement it provides is even larger. A Memory capable of increasing the power of another one by almost an entire Rank.

The Dawn Shard's powerful enchantment empowered all Memories in its radius, elevating the Awakened weapons to resemble Ascended ones in lethality. The Dawn Shard could still empower Ascended Memories to a substantial degree, but nowhere near elevating them to an entire new Rank. The effect on Transcendent Memories was even more modest. There was no limit to the number of Memories Dawn Shard could enhance and it was a passive enchantment as well, meaning that no Essence was needed to power it.

Sparkle tilted her head at his gaze, poking him to draw his attention.

"I could give it back if you want. It was yours in the first place after all."

Sunny was slightly startled by the offer. The thought of being able to boost his Memories was very appealing to him. Considering the wide array of Memories he had, there was no doubt that such an enchantment would prove useful.

…But for some reason, he didn't quite want to take it.

"…No, you keep it. I probably gave it to you for a reason."

Sparkle shrugged, standing up with Quiet Dancer by her side. Sunny did the same, quickly summoning the Broken Oath before passing it to Saint. Sunny felt some pain, but it quickly subsided as Saint walked away, inserting the Broken Oath into her armor.

Sending the Haughty shadow to augment his servant, Sunny walked out from behind the stone outcropping with Sparkle in tow. He had the Gloomy shadow doubling his physical abilities, making him much stronger than the average Awakened Monster. With Saint taking the lead, the Nightmare Creatures started to slowly surround her, moving with an organized formation.

This was only possible due to the Fallen Tyrant, which commanded the lesser abominations with an inhumane intelligence.

Saint looked around observing the spiders with what seemed to be disgust. However, instead of targeting the minions, she instead hit her shield with her sword, causing the creatures to flinch back for a moment.

Sunny stared at the reaction of the spiders, an idea springing up in his mind. White sparks surrounded his free hand, taking the form of a the Silver Bell that he had recieved in his First Nightmare. He watched as Saint got ready to rush forward…

A ringing sound echoed through the cave, causing all the spiders to writhe. The Fallen Tyrant was no exception, having lost the ability to control it's minions with vibrations. The sounds irritated the spiders, causing them to head to the source in a frenzy — their eight limbs scrambling as they rushed towards Sunny and Sparkle.

Meanwhile, Saint dashed towards the Tyrant, preparing to attack it with a swing of her blade. Instead of attempting to defend itself or attack physically, the abomination instead manipulated countless threads that lashed out towards Saint. The stoic shadow dodged to the side, avoiding the attack that cleaved through the ground itself.

Saint watched as the two Awakened Devils rushed past her, heading towards her master. She ignored them as she focused on the Fallen Tyrant itself.

Sunny jumped onto the back of one of the spiders, continuously ringing the Silver Bell as he stabbed the Midnight Shard into it's back. He dragged the blade down it's body, splitting it's human-infested abdomen in two.

[You have defeated an Awakened Monster, Web Horror.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

Sparkle aimed her fingers at another spider, which wasn't paying attention to her as it attempted to attack Sunny. She snapped her fingers, shooting a bullet of air that pierced it's head.

Quite Dancer zipped around the cave, poking holes through multiple spiders, maiming and sometimes killing the horrific beasts.

As the fight went on, rather than becoming weaker, Sunny felt himself grow stronger. The Blood Blossom boosted his Memories and Saint, and even boosted himself thanks to the [Underworld Armament] enchantment. At the same time, the Dawn Shard augmented his Memories, further enhancing the boost that they gave him.

Sunny dodged a string that threatened to pierce his chest. The Awakened Devils were attempting to kill him using the strange ability to use webs as a ranged weapon. Somehow, the webs that the Devils produced were controlled to lash out at Sunny, whether in a whipping or piercing motion.

Despite the complexity of avoiding such an ability, Sunny was able to weave between attacks effectively, almost as if it was ingrained within him. The strings felt predictable, which almost disappointed him.

He didn't know why, but Sunny believed that there was someone who could use such an ability much more efficiently.

A paper dagger shot through the air, stabbing one of the Devils in the eye. Quiet Dancer soon followed, working to finish off the Nightmare Creature. Sunny turned to the other Awakened Devil, rushing towards it with killing intent.

Sunny felt a well of power rise from his core. He instinctively dismissed the Midnight Shard, causing him to widen his eyes at his own actions. His eyes widened even more as energy started to vibrate from his hand. That energy coalesced, taking the form of a… bat?

Suddenly, Sunny felt different. He felt anger, annoyance, frustration, resentment, and rage. Despite this, there was nothing for him to point these emotions to. It simply felt like a natural part of him.

He dismissed the Silver Bell, dragging his hand across the baseball bat. Azure energy started to radiate from the bat, radiating the the emotion that Sunny was currently feeling. He pulled the baseball bat, leaning into a swing.

With a rage-induced shout, he swung the bat in a diagonal arc, hitting the bottom of the Awakened Devil's head. The bat crushed it's skull, while also causing collateral damage to the rest of it's body as it wasn't able to contain the force expelled from the bat.

[You have defeated an Awakened Devil, Web Guardian.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

Despite his confusion at what just happened, Sunny transferred the Gloomy shadow over to Saint, who was currently in a stalemate with the Fallen Tyrant. The baseball bat dissapeared, alongside the raging energy he had felt back on the Space Station. The Shadow hadn't sustained any wounds, which meant she was doing good in comparison to the abomination.

However, Saint was not able to land a blow that allowed her to kill the Nightmare Creature, and a single blow would be enough to kill Saint.

Of course, that all changed as Gloomy augmented Saint, increasing her power threefold.

Immediately, Saint hurled her shield towards the Fallen Tyrant, creating a crunching sound as it struck the humanoid body that sprouted out of where it's head should be. Not wasting any time, Saint rushed forward, wielding her sword in both hands.

In a frantic effort, the Tyrant released a maelstrom of strings, which could have easily diced Saint into pieces.

Saint slashed at the strings that would have hit her vitals. She ignored the less fatal ones, allowing them to inflict both shallow and deep cuts on her stone armor. A few were able to damage the statue within her armor, but Saint kept moving forward.

She thrust her sword towards the spider, stabbing through the deformed humanoid body. Saint twisted her sword, bisecting the body in two. The top half fell to the floor, a wet sound echoing throughout the cave.

[You have defeated a Fallen Tyrant, Web Empress.]

[You have recieved a Memory: Silk Shroud.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

Sunny grinned. He had just recieved an Ascended Memory of the fifth tier! Maybe his luck was finally starting to look up.

[…Your shadow is overflowing with power.]

Sunny looked at the announcement in confusion. His eyes widened as he realized what it was.

'Is this…?'

[Your shadow is taking shape…]

Suddenly, Sunny felt a rising heat within his soul.

[Your shadow is complete.]

Something inside of him exploded, drowning his whole being in indescribable suffering. With a startled yelp, Sunny fell down onto the cold, hard ground.

Chapter Text

Once the pain was gone, Sunny excitedly checked his runes to confirm whether or not he was right about what had just occurred. Sparkle went to harvest the Soul Shards of the slain Nightmare Creatures.

***

Name: Sunless

True Name: Lost From Light

Rank: Awakened

Class: Demon

Shadow Cores: [3/7]

Shadow Fragments: [6/3000]

***

Sunny grinned as he saw his Class. He was now an Awakened Demon, giving him two more Cores than almost all of humanity. The only exception being those who also had Divine Aspects — which Sunny was only aware of the existence of one besides himself.

He dove into his Soul Sea, finding himself standing within the sea of darkness and fallen foes. Sunny stared above him, seeing the three hanging orbs of darkness in the sky, reminding him of a solar eclipse.

His essence capacity had effectively tripled. Combined with the [Shadow Guide] Attribute of the Soul Serpent and his own [Essence of Divinity], Sunny was quite confident that there wasn't a single Awakened of his rank that could match him in terms of Essence efficiency.

As he exited his Soul Sea, Sunny made sure to check one last thing. He grasped for his connection to the shadows, sharing his senses with his shadow helpers. As he did so, he didn't see from three perspectives. One of which was his own, and the other two were Gloomy and Haughty.

Now, there was a fourth.

With the formation of a third Shadow Core, he had obtained a new shadow. He would now be able to not only scout more efficiently, but be able to gain an extra augmentation. He could effectively wield the strength of four of himself, while also being able to do the same for Saint.

Sunny looked towards his shadow, finding the newest member of the team being… bullied by the other two. He stared at his shadows incredulously, almost distracted enough that he didn't notice the presence next to him.

Sparkle stared at his shadows alongside him, a curious expression plastered on her porcelain face.

"So… which one is the new one?"

Sunny pointed towards the one that was being bullied by Gloomy and Haughty. The former looked like it was releasing all it's pent up rage upon the newcomer via violence, while the latter simply looked down upon them, as if it was telling them that it was a superior life form.

For some reason, Sunny felt like the Haughty shadow would cause him to cringe countless times in the future.

The third and newest shadow didn't seem deterred whatsoever by the actions of it's seniors. In fact, it seemed to have a strangely joyful demeanor. It was almost like everything served to merely fuel it's excitement, reminding Sunny of how he was before he became an orphan.

'Hm… I need a name.'

Considering the personality of this shadow, and the general naming scheme… he came up with quite the ingenious name, if he dared to say so himself.

'Right… welcome to the party, Happy.'

The shadow in question joyfully waved towards Sunny, exuding nothing but the most positive of characteristics. Compared to his other shadows, this was a breath of fresh air. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Sparkle found this interaction amusing.

"What's so funny?"

She had an infuriating smirk on her face as she walked away, not answering his question.

Sunny sighed as he sent one last glance at his shadows. There was a matter that called to his attention more than the formation of his new shadow core. When he had attacked the last Awakened Devil, he had felt a rush of energy rise from his soul. He had previously felt this energy while he was on the Space Station, but it hadn't displayed any obvious effect back then.

He knew that it wasn't Shadow Essence, as it was much more… destructive. In fact, he was convinced that the energy served the sole purpose of destruction.

'Wait… Destruction?'

Sunny paused for a moment, before checking his Attributes.

Attributes: [Fate's Chosen], [Essence of Divinity], [Child of Shadows], [The War], [Breach of Styx], [Blood Weave], [Pathstrider].

His [Gazed] Attribute was completely gone, and was now replaced with the [Pathstrider] Attribute. If he was correct about what it did, then it would have granted him the power of a path…

Attribute Description: [You have gained the ability to tread the Path of an Aeon.]

Paths: [Destruction], [Trailblaze].

It seemed that Sunny was correct about the Attribute. It had granted him the ability to wield Destruction, while also showing that he now walked the path of Trailblaze.

However, this brought up a few new questions.

Dismissing Saint and following after Sparkle, Sunny contemplated the source of these paths. Had he been considered a follower of the Trailblaze the moment he decided to join the Astral Express? When had he received the power of Destruction? How does he access the Destruction?

He recalled the giant figure that he had seen after being hit by the Doomsday Beast. Was that figure Nanook? If so, was that when he had gained the ability to use the Destruction?

He wasn't even sure he knew what conditions had to be met, or if there were any conditions at all.

Deciding to file away this problem for later, he instead redirected his attention to Sparkle, who was merrily skipping off ahead of him.

Earlier, Sunny had resolved himself to trust Sparkle. However, such a task was quite difficult to undertake.

Sunny himself wasn't the kind of person who could trust others. It didn't matter if he had a reason to trust them or not, because it wasn't in his nature to do so. Not only that, but Sparkle was an unpredictable character, and it was quite difficult to get a read on her.

Her ability to control her facial expressions was also a large factor in his distrust.

Sunny didn't believe she would purposely betray him, considering her… affection. However, that same affection may be used in a harmful manner. There was also the possibility that said affection was fake.

'I'm just going in circles here!'

Brushing a hand through his hair, Sunny decided that he should keep a safe distance from Sparkle when it came to an emotional level. It wouldn't do him any good to get attached, whether his past self would curse him for it or not.

Speaking of his past self, Sunny recalled the voice that had spoke to him after tossing Sparkle into the Sky Below. He at first had thought that the voice was simply an expression of his subconscious, or possibly the remaining ego of his past self.

However, he didn't believe that either of those were true. In fact, the voice he was communicating with had to have it's own thought patterns and personality traits. The voice seemed to have more of a conscious, but it didn't seem too attached to Sparkle herself.

It seemed to understand the value of human life as if it had lived through a thousand of them.

Sunny tried to see if he could contact the voice by directing thoughts in his mind, but it was no use. Either he had hallucinated, or it was simply a one-time thing. If it was the former, it caused Sunny to wonder if his mental state wasn't as good as he thought it was…

Looking towards Sparkle, he asked her a question:

"Hey… do you remember that warning you gave me a couple days ago?"

Glancing back, Sparkle nodded silently with an ever present grin.

"So, what was that all about? What is this mirror supposed to be?"

She shrugged.

"Who knows? All I know is that this ‘mirror’ is supposed to help you out with something before betraying you."

It seemed that Sparkle's divinations weren't something that would allow her to gain a perfect vision of the future. Maybe she was only able to see the future through vague and obscure messages. Maybe it wasn't meant to be taken in the literal sense.

Sunny's head started to hurt at the sheer amount of speculating he had been putting himself through in the past few minutes. He decided to focus on more means of gaining power instead.

The first thing that had come to mind was Shadow Dance. To reach the next step, Sunny believed that he simply needed to battle countless opponents while assimilating their fighting styles. He wasn't sure where he could go to find a large group of hostile Awakened, so that wasn't an option just yet.

Challenging the Second Nightmare was also an option, but he didn't know of any Nightmare Seeds, nor did he think he was quite prepared to challenge it. He would also need a reliable cohort before risking his life to become an Ascended.

With that in mind, Sunny could formulate a plan to increase his total strength. He would first need to collect more Memories, expanding his arsenal. This would increase his ability to adapt to more situations.

It would take some time to do so, but Sunny did not want to enter the Second Nightmare without improving his mastery of Shadow Dance. The treacherous battle art was the source of Sunny's ability to fight. It would be a bad move if he couldn't at least get it to the second step.

Plus, he would get another Legacy Relic!

There was also the matter of getting more Shadow Fragments for Saint. According to the Vessel of Remembrance, he would need to sacrifice Memories. It seemed that progressing the taciturn knight would be quite expensive. Actually, speaking of shadows…

Sunny checked Serpent's runes. If they shared the same class, then the Shadow that he had recieved from his Aspect Legacy should have become a Dormant Demon.

Shadow: [Soul Serpent].

Shadow Rank: Dormant.

Shadow Class: Demon.

Shadow Attributes: [Shadow Guide], [Soul Weapon].

Shadow Abilities: [Serpentine Steel].

Shadow Description: [When the end came, Shadow was the last of the gods to be destroyed. Many have resented him for creating death, but in the end, death embraced all.]

Serpent had indeed become a Demon alongside Sunny. It had even gained an Ability from the increase in Class!

Focusing on the runes for [Serpentine Steel], he read what the Ability did.

Ability Description: [Shadow Serpent's Soul Weapon form can assume the shape of any weapon.]

'I see…'

The ability to switch weapons wasn't anything too special. However, this was a major boon for Sunny, a practitioner of Shadow Dance. His entire fighting style was centered around being formless, unrestricted by the limitations of the mind, allowing the body to follow through with these unpredictable movements.

He had quite a lot to do if he wanted to become stronger.

With an audible sigh, Sunny walked out of the cave with Sparkle. She had removed the Soul Shards of the spiders while he was checking his runes, so they now had to decide how they were going to split them.

***

"Seventy-thirty!"

Sunny blinked in astonishment. The two of them were sitting around a campfire, roasting the meat of some unlucky monster that they had ran into. Interestingly enough, he had this strange ability to easily cook any type of abomination, which Sunny was sure he wasn't capable of before.

Something to look into.

On the other hand…

"Are you crazy?!"

Sparkle looked at him in confusion as she spilled out the Soul Shards from her storage Memory. That bag must have had a lot of space in it to store so many trinkets and Soul Shards.

"I don't think it's a bad deal. I mean, you get to spend time in my company! Isn't that worth way more than a mere extra twenty percent?"

"No. No it isn't."

"…Oh."

She seemed genuinely surprised by his answer.

'Does she take me for a fool?'

"Of course not, silly. I'm the Fool here!"

Sunny's eye twitched.

"Stop reading my mind!"

Sparkle pouted like a child.

"I'm not reading your mind… you're just too obvious!"

'That's not true… right?'

Shaking his head, Sunny redirected the conversation back to the topic at hand.

"Can't we just split the Soul Shards fifty-fifty? I'm being generous here, since I did most of the work."

She wagged her finger at him.

"I gave you the privilege of giving me a ride, so you should be grateful for the chance of being able to feel these puppies."

His shadows suddenly straightened up. For once, they all seemed to be in sync as they looked intently at Sparkle.

Cupping one of her breasts, Sparkle lightly squeezed. Despite this, Sunny was completely unmoved. With a completely stoic expression on his face, Sunny gave a perfect rebuttal.

At the same time, his shadows suddenly seemed much too interested in this conversation.

"You're right; I was the one to give you a ride. Therefore, shouldn't I be compensated for being demoted to a mere steed?"

Although Sparkle was meticulously wielding randomness to confuse and fluster Sunny, the boy who had survived in the harsh and unforgiving outskirts alone could not be moved by mere chaos nor lust. He had tempered his mind in the cruel poverty-ridden world, using it as a weapon to gain what he desired while crushing his adversaries.

Starting to actually frown, Sparkle thought for a few moments, before her eyes practically lit up.

"You know, my throat is still sore from earlier. I might have to go to the doctor, so you should give me some of your Soul Shards since you were the cause. I mean, some planets have brutal medical bills."

Sunny shook his head in dissapointment.

"First of all, you should word things better so that you don't cause a misunderstanding. Second, nothing would have happened if you hadn't done such a provoking action. If you approached the situation more delicately, such a thing wouldn't have happened. And third…"

Sunny took a bite out of his roasted meat, taking a moment to chew. It was quite tasty if he was being honest. Nightmare Creature meat was naturally more nutricious than mundane food after all.

"…If you purposely startle a dog and was bitten by it, who would be at fault? You, or the dog?"

'Checkmate.'

Honestly, Sunny sometimes surprises himself with his own intelligence.

However, something wasn't quite right.

'Why was she blushing?'

Indeed, Sparkle's face was currently flushed to a startling degree. He would have assumed that she might have been a bit miffed at having been defeated so flawlessly, but she was smiling.

Actually, her smile seemed… a bit deranged.

Even worse, her eyes were glowing a pink light, changing from a butterfly to a five-leaved flower. She was breathing quite hard as well.

'…Oh.'

She had crossed the threshold of her flaw.

"Hehe… you're really driving a hard bargain here."

Standing up, Sparkle sauntered over to him. Sunny gulped, wondering what kind of things she could do in this uninhibited state.

"The thing is… I know about something that you can't refuse."

Sunny narrowed his eyes, watching as she sat down directly in front of him. She grabbed his hand, with Sunny not resisting unless he believed that she would do something dangerous.

She was extremely unpredictable in this state, more so than she is normally. Treating her with a certain level of caution would be extremely important.

"How about we make it eighty-twenty. In exchange, you could cop a feel."

A bead of sweat rolled down Sunny's face. He stared at his hand, which was dangerously close to her chest. Her unique eyes stared at him in anticipation, almost like she was expecting him to decline.

Which meant…

"Deal!"

He absolutely must accept her offer. If he didn't, who knew how far this would escalate?

Sparkle stared at him blankly for a few moments, before her smile widened even more. If he was being honest, he didn't know how it was possible for a person to take up so much space on their face with a mere smile.

"It's settled~"

Pulling his hand towards her chest, Sunny accepted that his fate was sealed. Despite the pillowy softness and perkiness, alongside the small bump that he was able to locate through the cloth, he felt like he had lost. He simply couldn't enjoy himself, knowing that he had given away so many Soul Shards out of fear of this devious woman.

'Next time…'

With a burning determination in his eyes, Sunny knew that he must win next time. It would become eighty-twenty in his favor, and he wouldn't fold even if she was affected by her Flaw.

He must win, no matter the cost.

…He ignored the cheering shadows in the background.

Chapter Text

Dark clouds started to gather in the night sky of the Chained Isles, sending those who stayed there a premonition of bad weather.

Sunny laid on his back, not sparing any attention towards the drooling Sparkle next to him. She had a derpy grin on her face, most likely dreaming about blowing things up or committing war crimes.

At least, she would. If only it was possible to dream in the Dream Realm.

Her rampage had went on for a while, but it seemed that she had finally tired herself out after staying in her elated state for so long.

Sunny checked his runes, looking at his catalog of Memories. After Saint had slain the Fallen Tyrant, he had recieved a new Ascended Memory. It would be stupid of him to not check what it was capable of, since it was very likely to be a powerful tool.

Memories: [Weaver's Mask], [Silver Bell], [Puppeteer's Shroud], [Vessel of Remembrance], [Midnight Shard], [Moonlight Shard], [Dusk Shard], [Prowling Thorn], [Mantle of the Underworld], [Ordinary Rock], [Autumn Leaf], [Blood Blossom], [Broken Oath], [Dark Wing], [Endless Spring], [Finality's Farewell], [Thief's Instinct], [Destroyer's Final Road], [Silk Shroud].

His newest Memory was the Silk Shroud. If Sunny was correct, then it would most likely be a garment or armor Memory based off the name.

When he had checked the runes associated to it, he was in for quite the surprise when he learned that it wasn't either of those.

Memory: [Silk Shroud].

Memory Rank: Ascended.

Memory Tier: V.

Memory Type: Charm.

Memory Description: [A spider's web cannot be escaped from. As such, it is naturally a very durable material, weaved to withstand the force of their prey.]

Instead of being either a garment or an armor, he had ended up gaining a charm. Sunny wasn't quite able to gleam what it was able to do from the description of the Memory, but fortunately, he had the ability to see a Memory's enchantments.

Enchantments: [Web Reinforcement], [Armor Stitches], [String Guide].

Having three enchantments on a single charm Memory was extremely lucky. Sunny could either give it to himself or Saint, and the enchantments of the Silk Shroud would be boosted by the [Underworld Armament].

[Web Reinforcement] Enchantment Description: “This charm reinforced the armor of the wearer with tenacious threads.”

[Armor Stitches] Enchantment Description: “The armor of the wearer would stitch itself back together after taking damage.”

[String Guide] Enchantment Description: “The wearer will be able to control their body as if it was a puppet.”

The first two enchantments were relatively straightforward, and would undoubtedly be a huge boon for Sunny. However, he didn't quite understand the third enchantment, which meant that he would have to test it himself.

As he was still wearing the Mantle of the Underworld, so all he had to do was summon the Silk Shroud. In a blinding flurry of sparks, the charm had appeared in his open palm.

The Silk Shround was a small, circular Memory with a hook on it's edge. It had a white symbol reminiscent of a spider.

Attaching the Memory to the Mantle, Sunny watched as translucent webs spread across the dark armor. It practically covered the entire thing, but one wouldn't be able to tell unless they were aware of the clear webs in the first place.

Poking the webs with his finger, Sunny applied a decent amount of force. However, the webs did not budge at all, displaying the tenacity of the strings. Sunny presumed that the only way to cut through the webs is to use a weapon Memory, which meant that it was practically unbreakable via mundane means.

He didn't bother testing the [Armor Stitches] enchantment, as that would require him to actually break through both the webs and the Mantle. Instead, Sunny decided to test the last enchantment, activating it by using his Shadow Essence.

Once he was sure the enchantment activated, he tried to think about moving his body. Despite the fact that he wasn't moving his body through conventional means, his arm raised up limply, as if it was pulled on an invisible string. Strangely enough, he was able to look into his own biological structure, which gave him a greater understanding of how to control himself.

'…How the hell is this supposed to be useful?'

Swinging his arm around using the enchantment, Sunny thought about the possible uses of this. He might be able to control his body even if he was drastically injured, and he might even be able to control his body to a higher degree in combat.

But would that really work? It might have been more optimal to just fight normally instead of controlling his body in two seperate ways. That type of fighting would put too much strain on his mind.

Standing up on his feet, Sunny decided to put it to the test. He summoned the Midnight Shard, taking a deep breath as he was about to perform the Shadow Dance. His mind was cleared of almost everything, only focused on the optimization of his movements and the circulation of essence throughout his body.

His mind became formless, and his body soon followed.

As he moved, his shadows followed this fluid dance, ever-changing without a single solid form. The same went for Sunny, who danced without following a specific style. Each move was graceful and completely unrelated to the previous move, making Sunny truly seem like a malleable shadow.

Activating the enchantment, he was now puppeteering himself. Despite the change in controls, he only slightly stumbled. Somehow, his mind was able to look into his very biological structure, controlling his muscles, tendons, joints, and ligaments with absolute clarity.

This sensation was very strange to Sunny, as he was controlling himself at an extremely precise scale. When an individual moved, their body functions as an automatic response to achieve the desired result. However, Sunny was manually controlling the smaller details of his body to initiate his movements.

Deactivating the enchantment, Sunny stopped performing the Shadow Dance. He stared at his hands for a moment after dismissing the Midnight Shard, coming to an epiphany.

He was able to understand how his body was able to do what it did at a much deeper level. He had never went to school before, so he wasn't well-versed when it came to the human anatomy. However, he was now able to see what his body had to do to achieve a desired result.

Which allowed Sunny to control his body to a more precise degree.

If he was able to learn how to use this ability to it's fullest extent, he might be able to achieve it's functions without even using the Memory. He could completely change the way his mind thinks, essentially becoming reborn as he strayed from the limits of the human brain.

At least, he would assume so.

Either way, this was certainly a path that Sunny had to explore. If he was able to master the ability to control his body on a smaller scale, he would become an even deadlier fighter; especially when combined with Shadow Dance and the augmentations of his shadows.

Laying back down on his back, Sunny realized that he would need to test this on actual opponents. Once he did, he would be able to figure out if this was a viable way to progress or not.

Summoning Saint, he commanded the statue to watch over Sparkle while she was asleep. Just in case, he left one of his shadows to both monitor the area and augment Saint if necessary. Stepping into the shadows, Sunny zoomed off in the form of a shadow as he searched for a Nightmare Creature to fight.

Sunny scowled as rain started to pour from the sky. He ordered Saint to cover Sparkle with her shield, as he didn't think being directly under rainfall would be very pleasant.

As he was thinking about what island he should go to, he recalled something that Sparkle had told him.

That coin he had found on the Iron Hand Island was supposedly useful. If that was the case, then shouldn't Sunny go and pick up the rest that he had left behind? Once he did, he could go out and look for a Nightmare Creature to test his Memory against.

With that in mind, Sunny changed his direction.

***

Soon, he arrived on the Iron Hand Island.
The severed arm of the unknown metal giant was still there, making Sunny wonder once again what force could have torn it off the creature's body. Judging by the size of that thing, the owner of the arm must have been of monstrous proportions itself.

The remains of the winged demon that had swallowed the mysterious coins were there, too.

However, they did not look the same.

By now, only the bones of the fearsome abomination remained, all its flesh long devoured by the gluttonous scavengers of the nightmare world. The grass around the carcass was now higher, too, and had changed its color from the usual green to bright red.

The grass looked… satiated.

Sunny grimaced.

Out here in the Dream Realm, no creature or plant was really what they seemed. Otherwise, the thick forest on the island where he had battled the pack of Fallen Wolves would have been long ago destroyed by the Crushing.

Even the most innocent things were twisted, corrupted, and predatory. Without sufficient caution, even a blade of grass could be deadly.

…But he wanted those coins.

Approaching the wide patch of bloodred grass, Sunny hesitated for a bit, and then took a step forward. He felt the ground moving slightly beneath him, the rustling of the raindrops changing tone as they fell on the grass.

With a deep frown, Sunny summoned the Moonlight Shard and circulated his essence, sending it flowing furiously through the coils of the Soul Serpent. He also collected both his shadows and wrapped them around his body.

The grass swayed slightly, and then grew still.

A subtle smile appeared on Sunny's lips.
Indeed, everything in the Dream Realm was dangerous and deadly… including humans. In fact, Awakened were perhaps one of the most fearsome tribes of creatures in this world, if not in terms of raw power, then at least due to their cunning, wickedness, and unpredictability.

For something as weak as a blade of grass, it was wise to avoid angering one of the Awakened, especially one as dreadful as Sunny.

'Ah. It feels nice to be feared.'

With nothing threatening him anymore, he walked over to the spot where he had seen the coins last and bent down, trying to find the alluring golden disks.

They were just where he had left them.

The acid stored in the Demon’s stomach had melted the grass, but now, new blades were already rising from the ground, taller than before. It took Sunny some time to find the coins between them… the rain did not help, either. But in the end, he discovered all three.

The coins were identical to the first one: they were cast from gold and heavy, a beautiful wooden ship with a tree growing around its mast depicted on one side and the face of the mysterious stranger on the other.

Hiding the coins in his pack, Sunny wiped the rainwater off his face and looked at the remains of the winged demon. In a flash of lightning, he saw the whole creature, red grass growing through its white bones, darkness nesting in the empty eye sockets, terrifying fangs crowding the massive, powerful jaws.

Even in death, the creature looked frightening.

'Where have you come from, ugly?'

With a sigh, Sunny looked at the sky, allowing rain to pelt him in the face for a while. Whatever little chance he had of tracking the flying abomination by following the trail of its blood was now gone. What else could he do?

Closing his eyes for a moment, Sunny walked a few steps and retrieved a piece of gnawed wood from the mud. Just as he had remembered, it resembled a broken corner of a chest, with a strip of metal reinforcing the seem. Both the strip of metal and the wood itself had been violently torn from the rest of the chest, it seemed, by the bite of the dead demon.

Which meant one thing… there had to be at least one chest full of mysterious coins somewhere out there, probably.

But how was Sunny supposed to find it? The Chained Isles was a vast land, full of numerous dangers and hidden places. All he knew about the creature was that it had been mortally wounded by the dwellers of the Dark Side and then succumbed to the Crushing.

Speaking of the Crushing… the rattling of chains thundered in the distance, announcing that the Iron Hand Island was entering the ascent phase. Sunny had to leave this place quickly. The next time he returned, the bones of the demon would most likely already be turned to dust.

Gritting his teeth, Sunny walked over to the skull of the abomination and dislodged one of its fangs with a powerful kick. Picking up the jagged bone dagger, he studied it for a few moments, and then put it in his pack.

If all else failed, he would try to find an Awakened with affinity to revelations and convince them to perform a divination upon the fang.

Well, he did have a little Fool that could help him out with that, so he didn't think he had to worry about it too much.

Sunny threw a last glance at the dead Demon and the surrounding area, trying to see if he had missed a clue. However, there was nothing.

With a troubled look on his face, he dissipated into the shadows and hurried back to Sparkle and Saint. He decided that testing his new Memory could wait.

'She's probably wondering where I dissapeared off to.'

***

'Ugh… what's that idiot doing?'

An impatient Sparkle was rapidly tapping her feet as she stood under Saint's shield; a comedic sight of Sunny had seen the way she shied away from the droplets of rain falling from the sky. It was dark, muddy, and the constant torrent of rainfall echoes all across the island.

Sparkle was not pleased. Not pleased at all.

She was completely unlike how she was earlier, having been faced with the inconvenience of being stuck in the dangerous corrupted wilderness within this heavy rain. However, there was another factor as to why she was like this.

She was in debt.

When Sparkle crossed the boundary between ‘annoying elation’ and ‘insane elation’, she would lose all her mental inhibitions as she only thought about having fun. Once it was over however, she would exhaust her Flaw, being put at a point where she was only slightly cheerful.

Thanks to the rain, she ended up not being affected by her Flaw at all due to the sheer annoyance it brought her.

This was the true personality of Sparkle, behind the unfunny jokes and gremlin-like behavior brought upon by her Flaw.

Looking around, Sparkle sighed as she couldn't see anything clearly. Looking up towards Saint, the female statue looked back down towards her in turn.

"Sunny really has no idea how to treat a lady, huh?"

The shadow silently nodded, completely agreeing with Sparkle's statement.

Chapter Text

Having met up with Sparkle and receiving a harsh scolding, the two of them had arrived back at the Sanctuary. Curious about the purpose of the coins, Sunny asked if she had any divinations she could use to figure it out.

Luckily, it seemed that she did.

Taking one of the coins, Sparkle informed Sunny to not interrupt her as she entered her room. Not knowing what else to do, he leaned against the wall next to the door.

After a few moments, Sparkle exited the room. She handed him the coin back before telling him what he should do with it.

"I had a dream divination about the altar. Something might happen if you take them over there."

Mumbling a quick thanks, Sunny snuck on the Altar Island and placed all four of his coins on the cold surface of the stone monolith, then waited for a bit.

Nothing happened.

'Huh.'

Dissapointed, Sunny looked around to see if there was anything else he could try. Holding one of the coins in his hand, he waved it around to see if anything would occur. Seeing that nothing was happening, he went back and placed it on the altar.

Not wanting to miss anything, he waited patiently. After a while, the clouds parted, revealing the moon. Illuminated by pale moonlight, the four coins gleamed with a golden light.

…A moment later, the surface of the coins suddenly shone with ethereal radiance. The features of the person etched on them became sharper, then disappeared into the light.

When the light dissipated, the coins were gone.

Sunny stared at the empty spot where they had been just a few seconds ago with a bewildered expression.

It was then when the Spell suddenly whispered into his ear:

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

Sunny stared at the place where the coins used to be, then blinked.

'What just happened?'

He dropped the coins on the altar, it was illuminated by the moonlight, and disappeared. And then, he received a Shadow Fragment.

'No way…'

Holding back excitement, Sunny summoned the runes and read:

Shadow Fragments: [10/3000].

The last time he checked, there was only six. He had definitely, without a doubt, just received a shadow fragment for each of the strange golden coins.

'So it wasn't an ordinary coin, after all!'

A satisfied smile appeared on his lips.

Not only was the coin special, it was even not cursed. On the contrary, it was blessed!

'Well, that was the easiest shadow fragment I have ever received…'

Looking up at the moon, he realized that both the altar and the moonlight were necessary.

And also… was he seeing things, or had the obsidian dagger moved ever so slightly?

With a skeptical frown, Sunny tried to lift the damned knife, but just as before, nothing he did had any effect on it.

'Ugh, whatever!'

His recent discovery was enough of a reward in and of itself. He had received four shadow fragments — the equivalent of killing a Fallen Monster — without having to risk his life one bit. On its own, this amount was not that considerable… but what if he found a thousand, or even a few hundred of these miraculous coins?

What if he reached the treasury where the chest bitten into by the winged demon was hidden?

That… would change a lot.

The problem was, Sunny had no idea where to look.

Pacing back and forth, he thought for a while, and then said to himself:

"I should probably find an expert on all things Chained Isles."

Somebody who might know about this type of Nightmare Creature, their behavior, and usual haunts… somebody who had spent long years in this region of the Dream Realm and was friendly enough to talk to Sunny.

'Now who do I know who fits into all these criteria?'

Sunny stopped pacing, lingered for a few moments, and then turned his head to the ring of massive menhirs.

A strange expression appeared on his face.

***

In the early morning, a lone figure approached the hallway leading to the White Feather clan's residence.

Saint Tyris and her people occupied the northern part of the Sanctuary's interior. Sunny had no idea what went on there, since he had never been invited, but he knew that both entrances to their compound were usually guarded.

Today was not an exception.

Before Sunny could step foot inside the hallway, a young warrior in a cuirass decorated with etchings of hawk feathers appeared from an alcove and glanced at him with a vigilant expression.

"State your business, Awakened… Ah! Sir Sunless."

Sunny stared at the young man with an earnest expression, then smiled.

'Heh. He called me Sir! It seems he recognizes greatness when he sees it.'

"Oh! I am here to see Master Roan. He once told me to come find him if I need anything. So… here I am. In need of something. Can you fetch him really quick?"

The guard blinked a couple of times, then frowned:

"What is this about, exactly?"

Sunny grinned, lingered for a few moments, and then said honestly:

"...Demon hunting."

Sunny had no idea if Master Roan was currently in the Sanctuary, but judging by the fact that the guard did not immediately send him away, he probably was.

With a respecting nod, the guard whistled softly and returned to his alcove. Nothing seemed to happen for a few minutes, but then, Sunny hear the sound of approaching footsteps.

A young woman wearing a simple white garment appeared from behind the curve of the corridor and glanced at him, then gestured for him to follow.

Sunny shifted slightly, then moved forward, walking behind the girl.

'What would you know? I am walking into the lair of a Legacy clan of my own free will. Never say never, I guess…'

He had really never expected himself to do something like this any time soon.

Instead of walking further into the compound, they entered a narrow staircase and ascended to the very top of the Sanctuary. There, massive stone monoliths lay flat on top of the menhirs, creating an almost uninterrupted surface.

There was a whole separate world above the Citadel, as it turned out. Grass and moss covered the expansive stone circle, which stretched far into the distance. Sunny could see guards standing at the outer edge of it, keeping watch on the neighboring islands. Here and there, siege weapons were placed at irregular intervals, aimed at the sky.

Right above the White Feather residence, a graceful structure was built on top of the ring of menhirs. With tall windows and beautiful ivy climbing its walls, it resembled a large stone chateau. The walls of the mansion were still wet from rain and shone softly in the light of the rising sun.

A path led from its door to an airy pavilion at the edge of the stone monolith, with a round table standing in its center.

The mighty griffin was laying near the pavilion, its head hidden under one of the eagle wings, while Master Roan himself seemed to be enjoying a hearty breakfast inside.

The young woman gestured for Sunny to go forward and walked toward the mansion, soon disappearing behind its door.

'...I guess this is how Saints live.'

For a moment, Sunny was full of envy. The chateau on top of the Sanctuary seemed so beautiful, simple, and peaceful… the complete opposite of the noisy, overcrowded, and poisoned world where he had come from.

Of course, that peace was a lie. The Dream Realm might have seemed like a paradise sometimes, but that paradise was dire and twisted, hiding all kinds of horrors that were ready to descend upon you at any moment.

'Whatever. I don't even live in the outskirts anymore, so I wouldn't say my living situation is that bad.'

Entering the pavilion, Sunny greeted Master Roan with all respect he could muster. The older man smiled and invited Sunny to seat with a relaxed gesture.

"Good morning, Sunless. I must admit, I didn't expect you to seek me out so soon. Did something happen?"

Sunny sat down, smiled politely, then shook his head.

"Nothing that I would want to concern you with. You see… I am not here to talk about something that happened, but more about something that might happen."

Master Roan raised an eyebrow and laughed:

"Don't tell me… wait… are you here with a business proposal? Am I about to become a customer of Sunny's Brilliant Emporium?"

Sunny choked. A strange development that had occurred in the gap of his memories was that he had a shop where he'd buy and sell Memories. If he were to guess, it must have been to increase Saint's Shadow Fragments.

"Uh… no. What? Where did you hear about that?"

The handsome Master grinned.

"I hear things."

'What are those bastards saying behind my back?!'

Sunny forced out a smile, then shook his head.

"No, no. I am not here as a highly respected, rich, and famous entrepreneur. I am actually here as an advanced scout of the Sanctuary of Noctis."

Master Roan grew serious.

"Oh. Continue."

Sunny nodded, then hesitated for a bit, and finally said:

"After we parted two days ago, I returned to the Sanctuary. On my way back, however, I rested for a while on the Iron Hand Island. And there… well, I found the remains of a Nightmare Creature there."

The older man frowned slightly.

"That's not unheard of. Iron Hand is usually safe, but you know how Chained Isles are. Nightmare Creatures migrate, sometimes naturally, sometimes to avoid the Crushing."

Sunny scratched the back of his head.

"That's true. However, the abomination was a Fallen Demon. It is strange to see one that close to the Sanctuary, and especially so because I have never seen or even heard about that type of creature. It was rather scary."

Roan's frown deepened.

"A Fallen Demon on the Iron Hand Island? That is indeed strange. You've done well to bring me this information, Sunless. Did you get a good look at it, by any chance?"

Sunny sighed.

"Well, you see, it was in the depths of night."

Then, he smiled.

"...But, luckily, I can see perfectly in the dark! So, yes. I got a very good look. Let me describe it…"

He described the demon to the best of his ability, not sparing any detail. He even remembered every wound and injury on the abomination's body, hoping that their nature can shine a light on what exactly had killed the bastard.

The longer Sunny talked, the darker Master Roan's face became. Finishing his report, Sunny glanced at the older man and asked:

"So… what type of a Demon was that, exactly? And why have I never encountered one before?"

Master Roan shook his head.

"You are lucky to have never met one of these fiends, kid. They are a very rare and vicious breed of Nightmare Creatures, known as Chain Worms. Luckily, it was already dead. Otherwise, I doubt that we would be having this conversation right now. Even I am reluctant to face a demon such as this alone. No offense, Sunless, but if that thing was alive, you would have ended up as its dinner."

Sunny hesitated for a bit, then asked cautiously:

"Chain Worms? Why are they called that?"

The older man sighed, then looked at the breathtaking vista of the Chained Isles in front of them.

After a while, he said:

"It is because these creatures feed on metal. Once one of the heavenly chains is weakened, they appear from the Dark Side to feast on it. Steel weapons are useless against these abominable things, so fighting one, let alone many, is almost an impossible task."

Master Roan stared into the distance with a bleak expression, and then added darkly:

"I've seen whole islands crumble into the Below because of their hunger…"

Master Roan grew silent for a few moments, then smiled after noticing Sunny's troubled expression:

"The heavenly chains near the Sanctuary are all fine, though. So you have nothing to worry about."

'That's not what I am worried about…'

Sunny had already received a piece of valuable information that could help him find the mysterious treasure. But he wanted to know more…

Before he could ask another question, however, a sudden shadow shrouded the pavilion, the stone chateau, and the expanse of weathered stone surrounding it — as though a cloud moved across the sun, hiding it.

The sleeping griffin stirred and raised its head, its vertical pupils narrowing.

Just a moment later, the shadow disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. Simultaneously, a strange sound reached Sunny's ears — it was as though a thousand wings rustled as they cut the air.

Then, a woman was suddenly standing at the edge of the stone ring, her silhouette outlined against the rising sun by a bright halo.

It seemed as though she had always been there, but Sunny could swear that there was no one near them just a second ago.

'Oh…'

The woman was tall and slender, her posture straight like an arrow. She was wearing a light steel armor, its pauldrons and greaves decorated with white feathers. Her long blond hair was fluttering in the wind like a cascade of pale gold.

When she turned around, Sunny saw two piercing amber eyes staring at him, and shivered. Her face was cold and stunningly beautiful, more akin to that of a goddess than of a human being.

…The woman's pupils were narrow and vertical, exactly like those of the mighty griffin.

The ruler of the Sanctuary had returned home.

'Crap!'

With a shudder, Sunny forced himself to look away and hurriedly bowed.

This was his third time meeting Tyris of the White Feather clan, also known by her True Name, Sky Tide… one of the few Saints of the human race, the demigod in charge of the Chained Island.

Just by virtue of existing, the Saint exerted a strange influence on everything that surrounded her. As if the world itself was reacting to her. The blades of grass seemed to bent slightly toward her, the winds sang subtly lower as she approached, and even sunlight appeared to become a bit brighter in her presence.

Master Roan shifted and rose from his seat.

"Good morning, sunshine!"

Sunny flinched.

'Uh… what?'

It took him a couple of seconds to realize that the fearless griffin rider was addressing his wife, and not him.

'Sunshine… sunshine?!'

Is that how he addressed a Saint?!

'Well, she is his wife, after all. I guess?'

Once he thought about it, everything made sense. But still, the idea of addressing a Transcendent as 'sunshine' seemed very weird, for some reason.

'I'd probably get killed if I tried that…'

Sunny cautiously looked up and saw a wide smile on Roan's face. Saint Tyris herself, however, was as cold as ever.

"Good morning, Ro."

Even her voice was cold and heavy, like the howl of an approaching storm.

Turning her head slightly, Saint Tyris looked at Sunny with a silent question.

…Countless poets would have been ruined if they saw the elegant curve of her eyebrow.

'Huh… wow... wait, what am I thinking about?'

Master Roan patted Sunny on the shoulder and said:

"Awakened Sunless visited to tell me about a demon he encountered on the Iron Hand Island. It was a Chain Worm… already dead, fortunately. Still, we should explore the nearby island. Don't you think?"

Saint Tyris lingered for a few moments, then shook her head.

"No need. The only failing chain on the Isles is far away from the Sanctuary, connecting Shipwreck Island to the Twisted Rock. This is where the Chain Worm came from. I just saw it myself."

She turned away, then sighed slightly.

"Of course, we will have to prepare. All islands are connected, after all. After the Twisted Rock falls, its demise will echo through the entire region. Many islands will shift, causing changes to the severity of the Crushing on others. The migrations patterns of the Nightmare Creatures will be affected, too."

'I should probably get going.'

Sunny cleared his throat, then said awkwardly:

"Uh… it's been an honor to meet you again, Lady Tyris. I… uh… shall take my leave, then."

Sky Tide nodded indifferently, then said:

"Thank you for informing us of your finding, Awakened Sunless."

He nodded, then rose from his seat and cautiously took a few steps away.

When Sunny was almost out of the pavilion, however, the cold voice of the Saint stopped him:

"Wait."

He turned around and forced out a smile:

"Yes? How can I help you?"

Tyris looked at him for a few moments, then said in a calm, emotionless tone:

"The Han Li Clan is attempting to start an expedition to cross the Hollow Mountains. I'm sure you are aware of the reason."

The corner of his lips twitched.

'No, I really don't know.'

Sunny cursed his amnesia.

The beautiful Saint lingered for a second, then elaborated:

"As Caster of the Han Li Clan was a member of your cohort in the Forgotten Shore, I felt that it was only natural to tell you."

With that, Sky Tide turned away, letting Sunny know that he was free to go.

He hesitated for a second, then walked away.

'Caster…'

Sunny unconsciously rubbed his wrists. That name was extremely familiar, and brought up some strange feeling within him…

Chapter Text

Although he was curious about who this Caster person was, Sunny needed to head back to the real world. Strangely enough, the amount of time he needed to stay in the Dream Relm was less than other Awakened.

He guessed that it must have been due to the fact that he had multiple Cores. In fact, with his new Demon core, he felt his connection to the real world become reconnected much quicker than before.

To not draw attention, he made sure to always wait a little longer before leaving.

Touching the altar that served as the gateway of the Citadel, Sunny went back to the real world.

***

As Sunny opened his eyes, he felt the medical fluids within the pod slowly drain. Once it was completely empty — save for himself — the pod opened up, allowing Sunny to leave.

Stepping out of the pod, Sunny looked in both directions to see if anyone was nearby. Of course, he would have known thanks to shadow sense, but he wanted to make sure just in case.

Leaving the training room, Sunny walked through the empty Passenger Cabin. He could feel the shadows of the passengers in the Parlor Car, so that was where he went.

Entering the Parlor Car, he heard March 7th exclaim something.

"Conductor, can I get a juice, please? Thank you~"

Pom-Pom groaned at March's behavior.

"Ugh... We're jumping in five minutes! You can have something to drink when it's over!"

"...But I'm thirsty now!"

'What a rowdy bunch.'

Not sparing them another glance, Sunny walked over towards Himeko, who was sitting on one of the sofas. When her eyes found him, she sent him a motherly smile.

Blinking, Sunny coughed into his fist before greeting her.

"Uh… good morning Miss Himeko."

"Good morning to you too, Sunless. And please, just Himeko is fine. We'll be seeing a lot of each other after all."

Reluctantly, Sunny nodded.

"In that case, just call me Sunny. It's what most people call me…"

Recalling the reason he had approached her, Sunny asked Himeko a question.

"…Where exactly are we going? We leave today, right?"

Nodding, Himeko told Sunny about the planet they were going to.

"Our next stop is a small planet called Jarilo-VI. It's been thousands of years since the last time the Express paid a visit. The data bank shows it was a lush and beautiful place."

Himeko paused, seemingly lost in thought.

"But after all this time, it's possible that dramatic changes have occurred."

Sunny tilted his head.

"Dramatic changes? What do you mean?"

Sunny had never heard of entire landscapes changing. The best example he could think of was when Europe became uninhabitable due to gruesome wars thousands of years ago. He wasn't quite sure due to his lacking education, but it was supposedly so bad that it was still dangerous to this day.

That wasn't even taking into consideration the Nightmare Creatures that came through the Nightmare Gates, roaming around as they please without humans nearby. If they were at least of the Fallen rank, then there was no way that they would die from mere pollution.

The thought caused Sunny to wonder if humanity would one day lose to the Nightmare Spell, despite surviving against it for countless millennia.

Himeko blinked, not seeming to understand the question.

"…Well, tectonic plates could shift the landscape around quite a bit. There is also the possibility of man-made causes, like mass industrialization."

Sunny didn't say anything for a moment, pondering her words.

"…What's a tectonic plate? And what is Industrialization?"

A few moments of silence passed. Himeko's face had a puzzled expression.

"Sunny, have you never learned these things in school? Was it one that focused more on survival and combat?"

Sunny blanked for a few seconds. He never went to school in the first place, so how should he answer?

'…Oh.'

An awkward smile appeared on his face.

"Ah… Actually, I've… never went to school before. I was homeless before being infected by the Spell."

A shocked expression appeared on Himeko's face. Sunny wasn't surprised, since it would obviously be strange to hear that a well-renowned Awakened used to be homeless.

'Well-renowned, huh? I'm really moving up in the world!'

Sunny turned his head to see March trying to contain her laughter. She must have overheard their conversation.

Sunny scowled.

"What are you looking at? Poverty is a real problem in the world, you know?"

March waved her hands in appeasement.

"Wait, wait! It's not my fault for laughing! It's your fault for saying it so casually! I couldn't help myself!"

Staring at her for a few moments, Sunny suddenly smirked.

"What? Have you been to school?”

"Wha— I've definitely been to school before… probably. I think?"

Sunny watched as March started to question herself. It wasn't like she would remember if she had or not.

'Folks, this is why you don't tell people your problems, even if it's practically harmless.'

Anything could be a weapon if one tries to make it one.

A cough pulled Sunny's attention back to Himeko, who had an apologetic look on her face. She must have snapped out of her initial shock.

"I apologize. It was quite insensitive of me to ask you that."

Not quite comfortable with being apologized to, Sunny simply shrugged.

"It's fine. I don't really go around telling people about myself unless I have to, so you couldn't have known."

In reality, Sunny wasn't really bothered much by merely being in poverty. The only reasons he had hated it was due to the principle of the matter. He didn't enjoy being at the bottom of the societal hierarchy.

Of course, being malnourished was also a problem.

'I wonder how tall I'd be if I wasn't always starving…'

The thought brought a bitter feeling to his heart. Awakened men tended to be really tall, so he always had to look up when speaking to them.

'Maybe I could slice off their ankles.'

Filinging away the idea for later, Sunny refocused on the conversation.

Pausing for long enough so that Sunny could have his inner monologue, Himeko smiled towards him.

"Still, if you have any questions about anything at all, feel free to ask me. Or March."

The last part was stated in a joking tone.

"Huh?"

Snapping out of her thoughts at the mention of her name, March looked back towards them. Himeko smiled in her direction, waving her off.

"It's nothing, March."

Looking at them skeptically, March hesitantly accepted her words.

"Well… if you say so."

Turning her attention back towards him, Himeko took on a more serious tone.

"In all seriousness, anyone except March would be a reliable choice."

Sunny could figure that out just by talking to the pink-haired girl.

Ending their conversation, Sunny looked around the Parlor Car. He noticed that everyone besides Dan Heng was present, which caused him to wonder what the stoic boy was doing in his room.

He saw Welt standing by the windows. Sunny approached the older man, mainly curious about ‘what’ he was.

Noticing his approach, Welt nodded towards Sunny. He then looked out the window, which showed the Supply Zone of the Herta Space Station.

He then spoke in a friendly tone.

"Jumps are like this: They may feel novel the first few times, but you'll slowly get used to them after a few more."

'…Well that was random.'

Sunny wondered if their was a hidden message that he wasn't grasping due to his inept social skills.

"As for the mechanism... Well, if you're interested, I'll explain it to you in detail when we have more time."

Actually, Sunny was interested, as he was only ever exposed to the harsh outskirts of Earth's cities, and the unforgiving wilderness of the Dream Realm. However, he doubted that he would be able to understand most of what Welt would say.

"For now, just sit and wait. Remember to close your eyes — it helps with the dizziness."

Talking with Welt for a bit, Sunny realized that he really couldn't ask his question without sounding rude or prying. Besides, it wasn't like he had any proof that Welt wasn't an Awakened.

Sunny had his own secrets to keep, so he wasn't going to dig for information unless he felt it was necessary.

Going towards a sofa, Sunny sat down in preparation for the jump. He saw March standing in an unbalanced manner in the middle of the Parlor Car. She had an extremely focused look on her face.

"…What are you doing?"

Not looking towards Sunny, March answered his question.

"Oh, don't worry about me. I just wanna see if I can stay on my feet this time~"

'I… wasn't worried about you though?'

Not bothering to voice his confusion, Sunny instead asked another question.

"What's the point?"

March glared at him from the corner of her eye.

"Don't be silly — this is fun! I like keeping busy, otherwise I start obsessing over... pointless things."

'Fun?'

The only things that Sunny found fun was running around the Dream Realm and killing Nightmare Creatures, so he couldn’t really relate.

Maybe he should get some new hobbies?

'Maybe I could run a Nightmare Creature restaurant.'

Now that he thought about it, it didn't seem very fun. It sounded more like a way for him to rake in the big bucks, by holding a monopoly over Nightmare Creature cuisine.

Which brought up the question again; what did Sunny find fun that wasn’t life-threatening?

Looking towards March, he hesitantly asked:

"…What does the word ‘fun’ mean, in the most literal sense?"

"Huh? I guess… things that you enjoy? Things you want to do?"

'…Useless.'

Sunny could see why Himeko recommended that he didn't ask March any serious questions.

Suddenly, an announcement rang through the Parlor Car. Pom-Pom's voice rang through the train.

"Hello? Hello hello? All passengers, please return to your seats."

March completely ignored the announcement.

"...I won't fall over! I won't fall over!"

'She's going to fall over.'

A smirk on his face, Sunny waited for the Express to jump.

"The train is about to make the jump! Hold on, everyone!"

"Five."

Sunny felt the train starting to a shake as a few chess pieces toppled over on a chessboard.

“Four."

Sunny looked out the window, seeing that they had exited the Supply Zone, floating in the endless expanse of space.

“Three."

Despite Welt's suggestion to close his eyes during the jump, Sunny was completely entranced. Looking out the window behind the sofa he was sitting on, he absentmindedly reached out his hand for a peculiar purple star.

"Two."

Strangely enough, the star wasn't outside the Parlor Car. It was instead close enough for Sunny to grasp. Sunny closed his hands around the purple four-pointed star, another consciousness guiding him to do so.

"One."

He suddenly felt a jolt, the purple star disappearing from his hands as if it was a mere illusion. He found himself on the floor, staring up at the ceiling of the Parlor Car.

'Uh… what the hell was that?'

Sunny wondered if he was going schizophrenic.

***

Meanwhile deep within him, a newborn soul moved slightly deep within the depths of the Stellaron, keeping it stable despite Sunny not being built to contain it himself.

Within the shadows in the void of space, a star was born.

A star that shouldn't have been born.

Chapter Text

"After all those millennia... is this what Jarilo-VI has become?"

Himeko frowned as she gazed down upon the planet. Sunny wasn't sure a planet covered entirely by snow was very ‘lush’ or ‘verdant’. March had a perplexed expression on her face.

"Huh? So that snowy planet is our destination this time?"

Himeko sighed.

"Yes... Looks like this trailblazing expedition won't be easy."

A moment later, Pom-Pom spoke through the speakers of the Express.

"Spatial readout anomaly! Star rail stability is down to twelve percent! Schedule alteration: Seven-day stopover time extended indefinitely!"

Listening to the announcement, Sunny curiously asked:

"Anomaly?"

Himeko answered him as she stared at the planet.

"The complex locality of this world has been... affected somehow. The star rail has been blocked off by something. Take an ordinary train as an example: It's like the tracks up ahead have suddenly snapped, and the way forward leads straight into a collapsing abyss... The only sensible thing to do would be to brake hard, right?"

Pom-Pom and Welt had entered the Parlor Car, catching on to the tail end of Himeko's explanation.

"If we try to force our way ahead, there could be a hefty price to pay!"

March frowned at Pom-Pom's statement.

"This again... Don't tell me, it's gotta be..."

Welt was the one who continued.

"The results of the preliminary analysis are here — the anomaly stems from a Stellaron, as always."

Sunny's eyes widened. He had been hearing that word quite a lot recently, considering that he had one waiting to detonate inside of him.

"Stellaron…"

Nodding towards him, Welt confirmed Sunny's suspicions.

"Yes, Sunless — just like the one that's been placed inside your body."

Looking back towards the planet that was experiencing an Ice Age, he wondered what the Stellarons really were. Why was there one inside him? Why were they so dangerous? Where did they come from?

However, one question in particular stood out to him, since it was relevant to the current situation.

"What should we do?"

If Stellarons were really that dangerous, then it wouldn't be something that they could just ignore. It was blocking their path after all. Based on Welt and March's words, he could guess that they must have had a way to deal with them before.

Thankfully, Himeko answered his question.

"Don't worry. It's not the first time our route has been obstructed by a Stellaron. Stellarons are clouded in mystery — even Herta isn't able to fully understand them... but at least we know how to neutralize their influences."

Welt adjusted his glasses with his index finger.

"The only thing we can say for sure is that their arrival causes massive changes to civilizations and ecosystems. They also generate distortions in space such as Fragmentums."

He remembered from Herta that the space station was partially affected by a Fragmentum. It's description reminded him of Nightmare Gates.

'Why do things have to be so complex?'

Maybe he should have just stayed in the outskirts. One of these days, he might actually get himself killed by an Unholy Titan!

"There must be an inextricable connection between the Stellaron we're dealing with here, and Jarilo-VI becoming a frozen planet."

As Sunny looked down at the planet, he realized that it wouldn't be too surprising for something supernatural to be able to do something like this; and on such a large scale as well. In fact, he could bet that a Corrupted Titan could achieve a similar effect, probably only on a multi-continental scale though.

Out of curiosity, Sunny asked:

"Where do Stellarons come from?"

Himeko answered him.

"Our current theory is that Stellarons are seeds of disaster planted by a certain Aeon throughout the universe. We can't continue to Trailblaze without removing the source of the disaster."

Sunny knew where this was going.

"That means we've gotta get get busy!"

And March only confirmed it.

The people on the planet naturally wouldn’t be able to save themselves, as they would need to rely on the power of Awakened to deal with the Stellaron. Not only that, but the Awakened would need to know how to do so.

Considering the fact that Jarilo-VI doesn't have any contact to the outside world, they would naturally be limited to only their own Awakened. Hell, if their situation was similar to Earth's, there might not even be any Awakened on the planet.

In that scenario, there would be no way to save themselves without an outside force.

And unfortunately, Sunny was a part of that outside force. His face fell in dismay.

"Sunny."

At the call of his name, he turned his attention back to Himeko.

"I'd like to entrust this trailblazing expedition to March, Dan Heng, and you. In particular, I'd like you to lead."

"…Huh?"

Sunny understood going on the expedition himself, but leading others wasn't really in his skill set. His whole thing was being sneaky while stabbing others when they least expect it, so wouldn't it have made more sense for Dan Heng to lead? He had more experience when it came to Trailblazing after all, and he wasn't March.

However, Sunny didn't voice his complaints. He knew that the main reason for it was because of what had occurred on the Forgotten Shore, despite the fact that he couldn't recall it. Not only that, but his strategic thinking against the Doomsday Beast must have left an impression.

Due to this, Sunny simply nodded in agreement.

"The objective is clear: Find the Stellaron responsible for the disaster and the spatial distortions, and bring it back to the Express. We'll deal with the rest."

At Himeko's words, March turned towards Sunny. She leaned forward a dangerous amount, causing Sunny to lean back.

"Awesome! We get to work as a team again, Sunny!"

However, for a split second, Sunny made contact with her clothing. He saw a radiant tapestry of nodes, connected by numerous strings of light.

'Wait… that's a Memory!'

It seemed to be quite powerful as well. How did she get her hands on a Transcendent Memory of the third tier as an Awakened? He guessed that she must have brought it — which would mean that she had really hefty pockets — but he couldn't discount the possibility that she somehow killed a Transcendent Demon.

Despite how unbelievable such a statement was.

'If March has a Transcendent garment, what about Dan Heng?'

Actually, it was probably a custom Memory made by someone with a Memory-making Aspect. Sunny didn't think that it was possible to get such a garment Memory through natural means.

'Well, I'll just ask her later.'

Sunny noticed that neither Himeko nor Welt were coming. Although he understood the former, as it wouldn't be very safe for a non-Awakened to be in the midst of danger, he wasn't sure why Welt couldn't come.

"Why is it just us three?"

"Because you three made a great team back in the space station. My guess is that if you spend even longer together, we'll see something even more impressive."

Sunny… didn't really understand.

Welt sighed.

"So it's still not our turn…"

Himeko patted the spectacled man on the back.

"I know you really want to go, but we should give the youngsters a chance to get out there on their own. It'll be a good opportunity for them to bond."

Turning towards Sunny and March, Himeko continued.

"Sunny, March, if you two are ready, why not go and find Dan Heng? He's probably already started collating the ecological data and survey results for Jarilo-VI. It's always good to know more about the destination before you start a journey."

Nodding, Sunny turned to head over to Dan Heng's room as Himeko and Welt took a seat in the Parlor Car. After a few steps, he paused and looked back at March. She was simply standing there as she looked towards Jarilo-VI with a complicated expression as she mumbled something to herself.

Out of curiosity, Sunny used Shadow Step to silently get behind March. Not noticing him, she continued to talk to herself.

'Who even does that?'

Sunny froze as he realized that he has talked to himself before.

"A planet covered in snow and ice... Will I find my answer here...?"

"What answer?"

Jumping with a little shriek, March whirled around with an accusatory finger.

"You— Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Sunny tilted his head.

"So… are you going to answer my question?"

Instead of doing so, March started to push Sunny in the direction of Dan Heng's room.

"Maybe you should mind your own business!"

Sunny looked back at her with a smug smirk.

"Maybe you shouldn't talk to yourself, you lunatic."

"Shut up!"

Himeko watched this interaction with a pleased smile on her face. She spoke to Welt, who sat just next to her.

"Don't they get along great, Welt?"

Welt, who was currently forcing himself to survive Himeko's deadly coffee, started to cough at both her statement and the bitterness of the liquid.

"Ack…! Uh, do you think so? They look like they would strangle each other if given the chance…"

"Exactly!"

"…I'm not following."

***

Standing in front of Dan Heng's room, Sunny attempted to knock on the door with March by his side. However, before he could do so, Dan Heng's voice echoed out of his room, telling them that they could come in.

'Seriously, what type of ability is that?!'

Sliding the door open, the duo could see Dan Heng looking over some data at his desk. The boy turned around towards them, looking directly at Sunny.

"Are you doing okay after your first jump? Dizziness or retching are normal reactions. You'll feel better once you get used to it."

Rubbing the back of his hand, Sunny answered his question while asking one of his own.

"Well, I don't have any issues right now… but is it normal to hallucinate right before the jump?"

Blinking, Dan Heng thought about it for a moment. After a few seconds, he gave him a hesitant answer.

"…No, that isn't normal at all. Since you're an Awakened, it can't be a mundane illness. You couldn't have been hit by a mind attack, right?"

Sunny shook his head. Although he doesn't remember why, he knew what a mind attack felt like. He didn't feel anything seeping into his mind recently.

Shrugging it off, Dan Heng looked back at his screen that was filled with data.

"I went through the Express' database, and it seems the environment on Jarilo-VI has undergone drastic changes in the past few centuries. It was not a frozen planet to begin with..."

March pitched in suddenly.

"Welt says it was caused by a Stellaron!"

"He said so? Hm... considering the spatial obstacles that the star rail has encountered, it's highly possible. I've conducted a preliminary survey and found that there's one area with a relatively normal temperature on the surface of the planet. By ‘normal’, I mean a temperature that just about allows for human survival. If I had to choose a site for initial investigation on this Trailblazing expedition, that would be it."

'…What?'

Did that mean… that humans were practically extinct on this planet? If there was only a single area in which they could survive, then the best case scenario would be that a small civilization of humans are alive, but it's very unlikely.

Sunny could tell that this was going to be a real pain. Even though he was an Awakened, that didn't mean that he could survive extreme cold. His tolerance to the elements was exponentially higher than a normal human, but not to this degree.

Sighing, Sunny explained what they were going to do.

"Himeko wants you, me, and March 7th to go together."

Dan Heng nodded.

"As I expected. Before you came, whenever March wanted to go anywhere, Himeko would make Mr. Yang and me go with her."

'I wonder why…'

Sunny side-eyed March, who was glaring at Dan Heng in betrayal.

Sighing, Dan Heng continued.

"And even after you arrived, I didn't suppose I'd be the one to be liberated of that duty."

Standing up from his seat after turning his screen off, Dan Heng walked over to the other two.

"I assume the Trailblazing objective this time is to find the Stellaron on Jarilo-VI and dispel the effect it's exerting on the Star Rail... right?"

***

As the Express got closer to the planet in order to land, the three of them stood in the Parlor Car, getting ready for their expedition.

And by getting ready, this meant that Sunny was trying to convince himself that this wasn't a bad idea.

'Well… I could learn more about Stellarons? I might get a really strong weapon? I might get blessed by a god again? All three?'

After a couple minutes of looking at the frozen planet, he realized that he might actually freeze to death. That, or get impaled by a huge icicle! His luck was simply that abysmal.

'Damnation!'

At his expression of pure terror, March attempted to reassure him.

"Relax, Sunny! Dan Heng and I are experienced Trailblazers! We got your back!"

Sunny stared at her for a second, before scoffing in disbelief.

"Yeah… that only makes it worse."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"My chances would probably be better if I didn't have to look over my shoulder every three seconds."

"…You hear that Dan Heng? He thinks you're a hassle to deal with!"

"…I think he was talking about you, March."

Looking between the two boys, March pouted at the fact that she was being teamed up on. Sighing, Sunny continued to look at the approaching planet. The soft hum of the Astral Express was the only sound anyone could hear.

After a few minutes, March broke the silence filling the Parlor Car.

"When I first saw this planet, I thought: A world covered in ice... could it have something to do with my past? Now I can't stop thinking about it."

Sunny wondered why she was suddenly bringing this up. After a moment, he realized that she must have been answering his question from earlier, when she was mumbling to herself.

"Still, the ice that trapped me was Six-Phased Ice — a very rare substance. I don't think you can find it on your average planet... plus, it might have just been the ice produced by my Aspect."

Sunny felt a little obligated to respond. Unfortunately, he couldn't say anything positive due to his Flaw.

"I doubt that this planet is where you're from."

'Nice one Sunny, just rub salt in the wound, right?'

Surprisingly, March nodded to what he said.

"To be honest, I think I'd be kind of annoyed if I found out this was my homeworld. It looks freezing... pretty girls aren't frost-resistant!"

'…Seriously?'

She just kept staring at him, not elaborating anymore.

"…What? Is there something on my face?"

She snapped out of her trance, suddenly giggling to herself.

"Nah~ I was just imagining all the fun we're gonna have here... hee-hee!"

Sunny and Dan Heng looked at each other. The latter sighed.

"...I feel sorry for this world. First the Stellaron, and now you..."

Sunny facepalmed, realizing that he was in for a lot of trouble. That trouble was standing right in front of him with a confused expression on her face.

"Let's… go…"

March nodded with a chipper vibe around her.

"Alright! Here comes, the Jarilo-VI Trailblaze Team!"

Chapter Text

"…Wasn't this planet supposed to be cold?"

The three of them had disembarked from the Astral Express, and were currently standing on the frozen planet. Strangely enough, Sunny wasn't feeling like he was being frozen to death, despite the fact that the low temperature should have been dangerous for him.

Dan Heng seemed to have the answer to cure his confusion.

"The Trailblaze Path grants us faint power. It allows us to better adapt to harsh environments."

Sunny did receive the [Pathstrider] Attribute, and one of the Paths he had available was the Trailblaze. He expected to gain some sort of boon from it, but he would have thought that it might have been combat related.

Of course, being able to brave harsh environments was quite convenient as well.

March sighed as she looked around the frozen landscape.

"Snow as far as the eye can see. Which direction should we take?"

In response, Dan Heng answered her question.

"Based on the coordinates, the target should be up ahead."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."

March started to walk ahead, obviously unfettered by the snow. Of course, her Aspect was related to ice, and her Dormant Ability made her more powerful in colder temperatures. She was naturally in her element on this planet.

'Hm… I should probably send out my shadows.'

Using Gloomy to augment himself, he sent out Haughty and Happy to explore the area. Sunny created a mental map of the area as his shadows scoured the landscape for danger and enemies. On a planet like this, there was bound to be entire hordes of Nightmare Creatures that crawled out of Nightmare Gates.

As Gloomy climbed onto him, a dark coating spread across Sunny's body, signifying that he was being augmented. It wasn't visible to anyone else, as it was only something that Sunny could see due to his affinity for shadows. He'd assume that anyone else with such an affinity would be able to see it as well.

Sunny suddenly paused, before continuing as if nothing happened. The other two didn't notice his sudden stop.

'I see…'

As Gloomy augmented Sunny, he was able to locate the source of the Destruction. Removing the shadow from his body, he used his shadow sense to gain more insight. After a moment, he looked at Gloomy with a curious expression.

'…Huh. You have some secrets in there, don't you?'

The shadow simply crossed it's arms at him.

When Sunny had augmented himself with Gloomy, he was able to feel the Destruction. However, when the shadow went back to it's passive state, the Destruction followed it. Essentially, Gloomy was what allowed Sunny to access the Destruction path earlier. All he had to do was mentally pull on the Path in order to wield it's power.

However, Sunny didn't attempt to do so just yet. From what had happened while fighting the spiders on the Chained Isles, it would seem that his personality would change to that of Gloomy’s. If that were to happen, he'd end up with an uncontrollable temper, and a violent bloodlust.

'That would only cause problems for myself.'

Sunny decided that it would be better to test it if he were to get into a fight. Not only would he be able to test his power, but he would be using it in a suitable situation. The Destruction shouldn't be used in a peaceful situation.

After all, it was all about destroying things.

Allowing his shadow to augment himself once more, the three of them proceeded forward. March seemed to be humming a tune, which caused Dan Heng to sigh at her behavior.

"Remember, we should stay vigilant. We know very little about this world."

March casually waved his concerns off.

"Calm down. Between the three of us, nothing will stand in our way. I mean c'mon, Sunny, you've got your shadow stuff, I have my special ice powers, and Dan Heng... Uhh, he's got that mysterious past thing going for him... So, if people start creating trouble for us, they're gonna regret it!"

Sunny thought about her words for a second, before nodding.

"Yeah, they're going to regret it!"

"...So how long does ‘copycatitis’ last?"

Dan Heng seemed to be lost in thought for a moment.

"I don't think I've ever heard of ‘copycatitis’. Is that a new illness?"

March looked at Dan Heng to figure out whether he was being serious. Once she had ascertained that he was, she groaned.

"Dan Heng… ‘copycatitis’ isn't real! What I meant was that Sunny was copying my lines!"

Sunny blinked.

"It’s not?”

***

"This place still hasn't been corroded, yet Fragmentum monsters have already made it here. I fear the Stellaron may be exerting a significant influence on this world."

Sunny, Dan Heng, and March 7th all stalked the group of roaming Fragmentum monsters from behind a small hill of snow. Haughty had located the enemies, and had notified Sunny immediately.

There was a soldier that seemed to be consumed by glacier-like armor, almost resembling a frozen corpse. All of it's humanoid features were hidden, being completely covered by the ice encompassing it. Floating around it was a few flying bat-like creatures. They were completely rigid, despite their ability to fly. There were two types of them: crimson ones that emitted heat, and blue ones that seemed to exude frost.

The moment he saw the enemies, he was able to formulate a plan for the best way to subdue them. He turned towards March and nudged her. She summoned her bow, getting ready to shoot them down. After a few moments of silence, she looked back at Sunny.

"So… when do I shoot?"

Sunny shook his head with a confused expression on his face.

"You don't."

March stared at him blankly. Suddenly, she snapped her fingers as if she came to a realization.

"…Oh! So you two are going to handle this yourselves!"

Sunny and Dan Heng looked at each other. The latter rested a hand on March's shoulder as if he was going to tell her something important.

"March. You're going to defeat them yourself."

Her grin was frozen — pun intended — on her face. She shakily raised a hand as she pointed to herself.

"…Me?"

Nodding, Dan Heng explained to her the plan. It took a while, and despite the amount of times she had raised her voice in protest, the Fragmentum creatures didn't notice their presence.

In the end, they were all torn apart in a gruesome manner. Of course, the process will not be described so that it will garner much more attention at a pivotal moment. After all, who reveals their secret techniques in a battle against fodder?

"Wait… I don't think the head is supposed to look like that."

After getting her hands dirty, March returned to the sight of Sunny attempting to draw something in the snow as Dan Heng watched in interest. Naturally, she wasn't very enthused by the fact that the two boys were having a relaxing time while she was fighting to the death with Fragmentum monsters.

She didn't even get any Memories!

Sunny glanced up at her for a second, before making a small sound of surprise. He didn't think she would get done so fast. It seemed that Dan Heng was right about her Aspect being limited by her mind.

Now he realized that he probably should have watched if he wanted to know her full capabilities.

'Eh. It'll probably be fine.'

Looking down at the drawings at his feet, Sunny analyzed them. He had gotten bored, so he decided to just start drawing random things. The first drawing was of his stalwart shadow, Saint. The fine details weren't able to be displayed due to the fact that he was drawing on snow, but he'd say he did a pretty good job.

The second was of himself. He made sure to draw himself to proportion, giving himself long legs and a broad chest to match. The bulging muscles and chiseled jaw were very accurate.

The last drawing was something he had conjured out of his imagination. An imposing mech with a speech bubble right next to it:

"I shall set the seas ablaze!"

For some reason, Sunny thought the drawing was less menacing, and more cute.

'Wait, that can't be right. Am I losing it?'

Now that March was back, it was about time for them to leave. Kicking up snow to cover up the drawings, the three of them proceeded down the path. The winter wasteland was very empty. The only signs of life being the few Fragmentum monsters that they had encountered earlier.

And that was why Sunny's shadow sense was extremely sensitive to living beings.

Looking at a suspicious pile of snow, Sunny signaled for the other two to stop moving. March seemed to catch on as she stared at the same snow pile. She suddenly gasped.

"Did you see that? I think something's moving..."

Dan Heng looked in the same direction they were, but he didn't seem to understand what was wrong.

"Mm... It's just an ordinary snowdrift. Are you sure you're not seeing things?"

Sunny raised a finger to his lips, catching Dan Heng's attention. He pointed down towards his shadow, which had changed shape to form a string of letters.

'Human.'

Staying eerily silent, Sunny used Shadow Step to become incorporeal. In a couple seconds, he had appeared behind the pile of snow after reassuming his physical form.

Suddenly, Sunny reached into the pile of snow with nothing but brute force. Dan Heng and March heard a scream as a vaguely humanoid figure appeared out of the destroyed pile of snow.

The hiding individual was a tall, lean, fair-skinned man. He had medium length dark blue hair tipped with slate gray at the neck, and long bangs swept over his left eye. His eyes were slightly downturned and mint green with cat-like pupils. He wore a silver cuff on his right ear.

His upper attire includes several layers, the outermost being a magenta suit-like jacket with white and purple accents, short sleeves and long coattails. Under the jacket was an asymmetrical black half-shirt with an open front and tall dress collar. Beneath the shirt was a grey vest with darker grey markings and cut-outs at each hip which exposed his skin. Black belts crossed over both his abdomen and chest. On the right shoulder was a spiked silver pauldron. He wore mismatched black and magenta gloves with silver metal detailing. His pants were dark blue-grey with a black belt and numerous straps on each leg, and he wore brown and black dress shoes topped with silver metal ornaments.

"Yeowch! Wait a sec, we don't really need to get rou-"

The sleazy man was suddenly interrupted by a dagger being pressed to his neck. The Moonlight Shard was summoned instantaneously due to it's [Unseen] enchantment, which left him no room to react. The man paled considerably at the cold feeling of the blade, which was amplified by the freezing weather.

Sunny had the man grabbed from behind, restricting him so that he couldn't perform any sudden moves. Dan Heng and March stared at them in shock for a moment, before she shook her head.

"Uh… isn't that a little dangerous, Sunny? You're not going to… kill him, right?"

The boy in question stared at March while the restrained man sent her a pleading look.

"Of course I'm not going to kill him…"

They all let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm still trying to come up with a plausible reason for doing so. I don't want to be a criminal."

The man being held hostage started to sweat, which was quite a feat considering they were in the cold.

"I… think we have a bit of a misunderstanding here."

Sunny let out a small smile. It wasn't a very kind smile however.

"Well, maybe everyone here would understand if you started to explain."

Seeing a chance, the man spoke out in hope.

"What do you want to know?"

Suddenly, Sunny's smile disappeared as his eyes narrowed.

"Why don't you tell me why you're pretending to be so weak?"

Chapter Text

At Sunny's question, the captured man just smiled as if he didn't have a dagger next to his throat.

"…Whatever do you mean, my friend?"

Sunny pushed the suspicious man off, no longer wanting to threaten him. March and Dan Heng hurried over to his sides. The former seemed to have some major complaints with how the situation was handled.

"Are you nuts?! You can't just… go around holding people at knife point!"

Not keeping his eyes off the man, Sunny answered both of their questions with a confused tone towards the first one.

"First of all, I'm not a nut. I would have thought that I resemble a human more. Secondly, your Memory dampens your presence by a single Rank, so it's obvious that you would be a Master."

Dan Heng looked towards the supposed Master, scanning him from head to toe. Yet, the sleazy man didn't seem to be one. However, if Sunny was right, then the man was wearing a Memory that would make a Master seem like an Awakened.

The man casually brushed off the snow from his body. Looking towards the trio of Trailblazers, he sighed.

"My fine fellow, was that really necessary? Is crawling around in the snow a crime these days? I mean, c'mon, surely it doesn't warrant a dagger to the neck?"

Rubbing the back of his head, Sunny replied slowly after thinking for a second.

"Well, it was necessary. It's not a crime, but it's a pretty easy way to get yourself killed. And yes, it did warrant a dagger to the neck."

"…That was a rhetorical question."

"I know."

Sunny’s Flaw didn’t force him to answer rhetorical questions, but he decided to do so anyways.

Seemingly at a loss for words, the sleazy man coughed into his fist.

"...But then again how can I blame you? I mean, I caught you off guard. It had to happen — you could even say I deserved it, huh? Besides, I've made a gallant group of new friends as a result, hehe..."

The man started to cautiously look around the area, looking as if he was frightened of a certain something or someone being nearby.

"...Is Captain Gepard around? H—He's an old buddy of mine..."

Sunny, Dan Heng, and March 7th looked at each other, and found that neither of them knew who the man was referring to. March turned back towards the man.

"Who?"

The man sighed in relief, as if a major load was taken off his back.

"Wait, you're not Silvermane Guards? Well, why didn't you say so? Turns out we're on the same side after all!"

The man performed a dramatic bow, one that reminded Sunny of someone else…

"Pleasure to meet you, the name's Sampo Koski."

Seeing March and Dan Heng looking at him in expectation, Sunny was forced to introduce the three of them.

'Man, being a leader is tough.'

"My name is Sunless. The tall one is Dan Heng, and the loud one is March 7th."

Ignoring the indignant ‘Hey!’ from March, Sunny was about to ask the man about the nearest point of civilization. However, once he had stated his name, Sampo started to send him a strange look. He seemed to be deep within his thoughts.

"…By any chance, people don't usually call you Sunny, right?"

Blinking, Sunny nodded at the question. This man only got more suspicious by the minute. First, he was hiding in a pile of snow. Second, he seemed to be evading law enforcement. And finally, he easily guessed Sunny's nickname.

He narrowed his eyes, tensing up slightly.

"How did you know?"

The man waved his hands in front of him in order to appease him.

"I mean, Sunless is a bit awkward to say consistently. It would only make sense that you would have a nickname, and Sunny was the only one I could think of."

Sampo quickly brushed aside the matter in a frantic manner, showing that he wasn't quite sharing everything he knew.

"Excellent, I'll remember the name. I never thought I'd run into friends from the same line of work out here in this frozen wasteland. Business is bad these days, but fear not, Sampo Koski isn't interested in hoarding. There's more than enough treasure to go around, so let's get rich together! Hahaha."

Sampo looked to his sides before leaning forward. He spoke in a lower tone than before.

"Say, why don't we join forces? I have reliable intel the main strength of the Silvermane Guards is being deployed to the front line. This is a golden opportunity..."

Sunny blinked as he made eye contact with his allies. They both shrugged, showing that none of them had any idea what Sampo was talking about.

"What business are you talking about?"

Sampo shook his head with a wry smile on his face.

"...Come now, friends. I can understand the mistrust, but there's no need for the charade. Then again, I know the rules, vigilance is the name of the game in our profession. It's my fault for letting my enthusiasm and sincerity get the better of me... anyways, a meeting like this has to have been written in the stars. Ask me anything you like — I won't skimp on the details. Still, make it snappy, you're never more than ten feet from a Silvermane Guard..."

'Yeah, this guys is definitely a wanted criminal.'

Sunny looked back towards Dan Heng.

"Any questions for this guy?"

Dan Heng sighed as he stepped forward, allowing Sunny to fall back next to March as he talked to Sampo. The girl looked at him with a curious expression.

"Why didn't you ask me if I had any questions?"

Sunny shook his head in exasperation.

"The fact that you even needed to ask that is the reason why."

"Huh?"

March didn't seem to understand what he meant. Not that he expected anything else.

Dan Heng inquired about the situation from Sampo.

"Is there a settlement nearby?"

Sampo chuckled.

"Settlement? What a literary turn of phrase. Why, there's only one place in this world where the living still reside — our beloved Belobog! The further away you get, the dicier things become. The City of Preservation, the Towering Citadel, humanity's last bastion against the Eternal Freeze... It may sound a bit over the top, but those names are grounded in truth. The only place humans can eke out an existence is behind those impregnable walls."

'…He knows.'

Based on the way that Sampo told them about this Belobog place, it sounded more like a grand introduction to foreign tourists than simple directions to lost locals.

Despite how isolated this planet should have been, this random Master seemed to know that the three of them were not from Jarilo-VI, and was attempting to play dumb. Of course, he was failing.

Dan Heng paused, most likely noticing this inconsistency.

"…Why were you hiding in the snow?"

Sampo pointed towards himself in an exaggerated motion.

"Me? You guys scared me to death... There I was looking for relics to sell, when all of a sudden you came stomping over. I thought the Silvermane Guards were paying me a visit. Seriously though, try treading a little lighter next time, hmm? If you run into the Guards, they won't hide in a snowdrift... and you'll be in a cell before you know it."

Sunny sighed. They were barely getting anywhere at this rate. It seemed that he needed to make things more clear to Sampo.

"I have no idea who these Silvermane Guards even are..."

Sampo put on a surprised expression.

"You...You really don't know? The Silvermane Guards are Belobog's soldiers, enforcers, and police. Let's just say they're not the most flexible of people... and they like paying visits to folks in our line of work."

'Man, this guy really is a bad actor. Nobody acts that dramatically!'

"Seems like you guys really are new to the business. To be young and naive again... How about this. As a senior in the field, which I'm sure you don't mind me saying, I'll give you some free guidance. There are ways of doing things in this profession, and you better get familiar with them. Moving in the shadows, finding the goods, pricing your stock, hiding from the Guards... there's an art to all of it."

March seemed to be getting tired of Sampo's charade, despite the fact that she probably hasn't even noticed that it was a charade yet.

"No need, why don't you just take us to the city? We don't really know the way."

"The city? Already? I haven't even started trading yet. Showing you the way is easy enough, missy, but it would cost—"

Sunny twirled the Moonlight Shard between his fingers, making sure to never lose eye contact with Sampo.

"...B—But it would be my pleasure! ‘Kindness’ is Sampo Koski's middle name. Follow me, friends, and keep quiet. We don't want to be spotted by the Guards."

As Sampo lead the way, March asked him a question:

"So why were you hiding from the Silvermane Guards?"

He replied in a very unconvincing manner.

"Uh, I was just storing a few relics away from prying eyes, nothing serious. If it weren't for the uncompromising nature of our civil service, there'd be no need for secrecy."

'Are you an idiot? You don't say that it wasn't anything serious unless you are specifically asked if it was serious or not!'

Sampo threw back another question in a horrible attempt to redirect the conversation.

"So whereabouts are you guys from, anyway? I don't mean to pry or anything, I just care about my friends! No pressure..."

Chapter Text

'…The snow is getting worse.'

Indeed, the torrent of snow falling from the sky was starting to becoming a raging blizzard. Luckily, Dan Heng, March, and Sunny himself were resistant to the cold thanks to the Trailblaze. However, it would severely reduce their visibility.

Thankfully, Sunny didn't need his eyes to see. He tapped into his shadow sense, which was only slightly disrupted by the snowstorm. Although the shadows shifted due to the snow, he was still able to differentiate objects.

Sunny wondered how Sampo was able to resist the cold. Earlier, he was able to see the weave of his clothing, which showed that he had an enchantment that dampened his presence by a single Rank. Sunny wasn't quite sure how he knew this, since he couldn't immediately understand what a weave did.

His best guess was that he must have seen something similar beforehand, and was able to deduce that based on the intricate structure of the weave. Sampo might have been wearing a Memory that helped him resist the cold, and Sunny wouldn't be able to tell.

As the trio followed the suspicious man known as Sampo, Sunny sensed a shift in his shadow sense. A small amount of living shadows were heading in their direction. He could take a guess about the identity of these shadows, but he didn't make any hasty decisions.

Meanwhile, Sampo was trying to lecture them on the best way to evade captivity.

'This guy is seriously a joke.'

"...Rule number seven: Never leave a footprint. I have my own special technique called ‘invisible snow-walking’. Helps me throw off pursuers in no...time..."

Sunny resisted the temptation to sigh. Sampo had an expression of dismay plastered on his face at the sight of those figures. These figures were slightly covered by the snowstorm, but not to a degree in which they couldn't be seen. Of course, it did make their visibility slightly worse.

The approaching group was a team of soldiers that wore silver and blue armor. There armor completely covered their bodies, symbolizing a sense of mindless unity. A few of them carried halberds, while the others held rifles.

Among them was a single person who didn't wear a helmet. His armor was much more elaborate and ornate, as it had protruding crystals of ice forming on it. However, despite the obvious inefficiency of the armor's design, Sunny felt like the armor was much more durable than the other soldiers.

The man had messy light-blonde hair and chilling blue eyes. His face was youthful, yet filled with resolve. Despite the armor covering him, it was obvious that he had a well-built body, one that seemed to be honed from countless battles. In his hand was a ridiculously large object, which Sunny guessed was supposed to be a shield.

'Tch. Handsome bastard!'

The man was quite attractive, and this had Sunny seething at the injustices of this world. Naturally, he glared at the blonde who made him feel inferior.

Dan Heng looked at the approaching soldiers with trepidation.

"...Who are they?"

Sampo let out a nervous chuckle.

"Uh, you remember the Silvermane Guards I mentioned? That's them... help me, old friends! I don't wanna be caught!"

Sampo took a few steps back, hiding behind the trio. March gaped at the audacity of the man.

"This is your problem! Not ours!"

However, it seemed that the guards didn't seem to agree. One of them pointed in their direction as he shouted:

"It's the suspect and his accomplices! Arrest them!"

Sunny paused for a moment. He pointed at himself and asked in confusion:

"Me? An accomplice…?"

Sunny narrowed his eyes. He didn't like where this situation seemed to be going. In a low tone, he whispered to the other two.

"March, Dan Heng. Only the blondie is an Awakened. Make sure to hold back against the others so that we don't get charged for murder."

March mumbled to herself.

"You're one to talk."

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

It seemed that Sunny wasn't supposed to hear her comment. Summoning their weapons, the three of them faced the group of soldiers. At the sight of the white sparks that denoted the calling of a Memory, the supposed leader of the group called for the others to fall back.

"Don't engage them! You won't be able to fight against these three."

Sunny blinked. It seemed like their captain wasn't all brawn after all. He looked behind to find Sampo.

The man was gone. Not a single trace was left of the sleazy criminal.

'…Did he go to the Dream Realm?'

The manner in which a Master went to the Dream Realm was completely different than an Awakened. When an Awakened went into the Dream Realm, their real body falls asleep, while their soul enters through their anchored gateway.

However, Masters do not have such a distinction between their body and soul.

After triumphing against the Second Nightmare, Awakened become Ascended — also known as Masters. Once this happens, their body and soul merge, becoming one in the truest sense of the word. Their bodies are reconstructed from scratch, which meant those who were either crippled or dead in the real world will gain a body that matched their soul.

To enter the Dream Realm, Masters did not need to go to sleep. In fact, they were able to sleep without entering the Dream Realm, allowing them to never have to enter the wretched world again. If they chose to enter the Dream Realm, all they had to do was create an anchor in the real world, before pulling on the other anchor that was linked to a gateway.

The process changed again when they became a Transcendent — also known as a Saint. However, that was something to discuss at another date. It wasn't relevant to the current situation at all.

In essence, Sunny guessed that Sampo must have pulled on his connection to the Dream Realm in order to escape.

'…If I see that guy again, I'll definitely kill him.'

Sunny was the most honest man in the world. Two worlds, actually.

March tightened her fist that was wrapped around her bow in anger.

"Grr, that Sampo cheated us all. Wait till I get my hands on him..."

The leader of the guards approached them with his shield in hand. He stopped a fair distance in front of them, not coming too close. Sunny could tell that he was wary of March, since she would be able to attack from such a distance.

The man introduced himself with his bolstering voice.

"I, Gepard Landau, captain of the Silvermane Guards, order you to relinquish your futile resistance."

Sunny watched as a small group of these Silvermane Guards circled the three of them. However, instead of surrounding them, they ran past them in order to chase down Sampo.

'Forget it, it's useless.'

Sampo had completely disappeared from Sunny's shadow sense without exceeding it's range. The theory that he ran off to the Dream Realm only gained more substance.

Meanwhile, one of the remaining soldiers loudly exclaimed:

"Suspect! Relinquish your resistance!"

Gepard just palmed his face in exasperation. It seemed that the guard who had just spoke out had a tendency for not being able to keep his mouth shut.

March didn't seem to happy about that, if the way she grit her teeth was any indication.

"Ugh, so I'm a criminal, huh? Forget Sampo, wait until I get my hands on you!"

Suddenly, March rushed forward with terrible speed. She dismissed her bow from her hands as she dashed towards Gepard. The captain of the Silvermane Guards seemed to be taken by surprise by this sudden assault.

Sunny heard Dan Heng groan at her rash actions, but he didn't share the same sentiment.

She cocked back her fist, augmented by the severe cold of Belobog along with her Aspect. The area around her grew extremely chilly, to the point where even the protection granted by the Trailblaze wouldn't be able to withstand it. Those around her would surely freeze to death in such conditions.

However, Gepard did not. Sunny surmised that he must have had his own way of withstanding the cold, which surpassed that of his own.

He promptly blocked the flying fist with his enormous shield, wielding it with a surprising speed despite it's size. The force of the punch sent him skidding a few meters back, with his arms shaking from the recoil.

Sunny gawked at the sight.

'That… was actually pretty cool?!'

Pun intended.

The red on his cheeks was from the cold by the way.

Although her fist rocketed directly into the shield, her hand and arm were not injured whatsoever. Her arms were entirely covered in pinkish ice, all the way up to her shoulders. The ice wasn't even remotely scratched, which revealed it's impressive durability.

At the same time, the ice was strangely flexible. Her elbows were able to bend despite being encased in seemingly rigid ice.

Sunny and Dan Heng shared a look of understanding.

They definitely shouldn't get involved.

Not giving Gepard a chance to recover, March leaped into the air with overwhelming might. Such a maneuver was extremely impractical in a normal fight, as it would lead to the one performing it to become a sitting duck.

Whatever a duck was.

However, this was not a normal fight. This was a battle between those who regularly combated creatures that defy the rules of nature. They were empowered by their own sets of abilities, wielding weapons that were able to cut the world itself.

This was a battle of extraordinary magnitude.

A battle between Awakened.

In this current situation, Gepard had three choices. The first choice was to block her incoming strike. Considering what had happened the first time, his legs would certainly give out if he was attacked at this angle. Crossing off the first option, his second choice was to attack while she was still airborne.

Of course, such an option would have been completely viable between normal humans. However, against an Awakened, a blunt blow would not be able to completely incapacitate her unless he were to strike her head. Considering that she was falling feet-first, such an attack would be impossible to pull off.

The last option was to avoid her attack entirely. Naturally, this was the only one without any flaws. He would be able to attack the moment that March landed.

Sunny completely dismantled Gepard's thought process with a combination of Shadow Dance and his [The War] Attribute. The only way for Gepard to make any other choice was if he used his Aspect, and Sunny wasn't sure what it was.

So, Gepard showed him.

As March 7th's figure approached him with her legs folded, as if she was about to perform a drop kick, Gepard smashed his shield into the ground. The ground shook slightly from the force.

No… it wasn't from the force.

Rather, it was because something started to form from the spot he had slammed down his shield. A crystalline structure started to spread like a snowflake, slowly encompassing Gepard's figure. Meanwhile, he held up his shield to defend himself.

March's eyes widened in surprise as a transparent, mystical shield appeared in front of her. Instead of being fettered by this obstacle, she instead grinned as power coiled through her legs. Soul essence pumped through her muscles, strengthening her upcoming blow.

Just as March was about to hit the shield, she extended her legs with frightening strength. The sound of something shattering echoed through the snowstorm. The transparent shield crumbled into thousands of pieces, having not been able to withstand the force of her attack. These small pieces glistened like snowflakes, blending in with the snowstorm that was raging around them.

It seemed like March had won.

…But the battle wasn't over.

A hand suddenly grabbed onto March's ankle, causing her to yelp in confusion. Gepard roared as he swung the girl around, not allowing her to get a grasp of her surroundings. He had completely let go of his shield, putting all his strength into a single throw.

Sunny and Dan Heng stepped in opposite directions. Suddenly, a pink blur passed between the two, skipping a couple of times on the snow before hitting a small hill. At that moment, the area exploded in a torrent of white specks.

March was half-stuck in the area of impact, having only her legs sticking out. Suddenly, another burst of snow flew in all directions, revealing March getting back on her feet. She had an enraged expression on her face, with snow stuck in her hair.

"Is that all you got!"

Sunny cheered her on with an excited grin on his face and a fist in the air.

"Yeah! You tell him, March!"

Dan Heng stared at Sunny in disbelief.

"You can't be serious… why are you blushing?"

Sunny blinked for a second, suddenly coughing into his fist like nothing happened.

"Ah… it is pretty cold, don't you think?"

‘I can’t just tell him that I thought that was badass… it would ruin my reputation!’

Chapter Text

Gepard picked up his dropped shield as March practically stomped back towards him. Sunny and Dan Heng made sure to give her enough space that she didn't accidentally freeze the two of them from close proximity.

After being tossed into a larg pile of snow, she was practically covered in snowflakes. Sunny wasn't sure if she was mad about being thrown, or if it was because of her currently-ruined appearance.

He wouldn't be surprised if it was both.

Gepard sighed as he braced his massive shield.

"Stand down. You would only make this more difficult for yourself by fighting."

March scowled is discontent.

"Oh yeah? Well, even if you get through me — which you won't — there's two more guys you'll have to deal with!"

'Wait a minute. You can't drag me into this!'

Sunny pleading was left unheard.

March summoned her bow again as the pink-shaded ice on her arms melted away. Somehow, she was able to melt her own ice without decreasing the temperature around her.

She seemed like she was going to shift to a more long-range offensive strategy. However, that would be quite difficult against an opponent that had such a massive shield. Not only that, but Gepard's Aspect allowed him to create a wall of ice.

Of course, it seemed relatively fragile compared to March's Six-Phased ice, but it should allow him to block a few shots from her bow.

'…More fragile?'

Considering that Gepard's Aspect seemed much more defensive than March's, wasn't it strange for his ice to be more fragile, considering that their souls were both of the Awakened Rank?

If Sunny were to encounter another Awakened with a shadow-related Aspect, he would automatically have an advantage over them. The reason for this was because his Aspect was much more potent than them.

This was because Sunny had the highest Aspect Rank possible: Divine.

He doubted that their was another shadow-related Aspect of the Divine Rank, since shadow Aspects were generally very rare. It would be even more rare for one to have a Divine Aspect.

Essentially, this was why Aspect Ranks were very important. If two people with similar powers and of the same Rank were to face each other, the difference between them would be skill, experience, Memories and Echoes, and their Aspect Rank.

However, a higher Aspect Rank generally meant that one would have higher skills and experience. The Rank of one's Aspect was granted based on the appraisal of the Nightmare Spell during the Nightmares. As such, it was much more common for someone like Sunny to have more experience and skill than someone who had a shadow-related Aspect of a lower Rank.

Interestingly enough, that did not apply in this situation.

Although March 7th's Aspect Rank was most likely higher by a decent amount, Gepard was fighting against her with the same amount of skill and experience, if not more. Even if March performed better than Gepard within the First Nightmare, the latter must have spent significantly more time fighting against threats on Jarilo-VI.

Considering the fact that Fragmentum monsters were roaming around, it was not unlikely to say that Nightmare Creatures were doing the same. Naturally, he would have to face these abominations as the captain of the Silvermane Guards.

However, this did not change the fact that March's Aspect was much more potent and durable. Sunny didn't know what Gepard's other Aspect Ability was, but it also must have been related to defense. In that case, Gepard wouldn't have any offensive maneuvers to change the tide of battle in his favor.

March pulled back the string of her bow, aiming it at Gepard. An arrow of glistening pinkish ice appeared, created for the purpose of violence despite it's pretty appearance.

Gepard covered himself with his shield, once again creating a wall of transparent ice. The snowflake-like barrier was large enough to cover a dozen people, and that was only if they were not huddling together.

Even if March managed to break the barrier, she wouldn't be able to damage Gepard. He would be able to go on the offensive the moment she fired, and she would have to go through the process of dismissing her Memory and coating her arms in ice again.

In battle, every second counted, so Sunny wondered:

'…What is she doing?'

***

'…I'm starting to run out of fuel.'

March mused as she charged her arrow with essence. Her Soul Essence was starting to get low, with only around a quarter of her Soul Core left. She had used large quantities of it to lower her temperature, and had spent even more when she broke Gepard's barrier with a kick.

She had to keep expending Soul Essence in order to keep herself at such a dangerously low temperature, which allowed for her Dormant Ability to activate. The augmentation provided was extremely powerful if she was cold enough, and the chilling temperature of Belobog meant that she didn't need to use her Awakened Ability too much. Otherwise, she might have actually ran out by now.

Of course, she would still freeze to death if she crossed a certain threshold. However, it took much more for March to reach that limit. If she didn't have that limitation…

'Heh… even those idiots would have to idolize me as the Great March!'

***

Sunny sneezed, followed by Dan Heng. They both looked at each other.

Sunny rubbed his nose as Dan Heng stared at his hands in confusion.

"…Is it really that cold?"

***

March continued to charge up her arrow, fueling an enchantment that wasn't related to her own Aspect Abilities.

Although her Legacy Relic shared her Aspect Abilities in the form of enchantments, it had it's own enchantments that were unique to itself. It was a Memory after all, so it would be ridiculous to think that it couldn't have it's own enchantments.

This enchantment in particular, had a very specific effect.

After a few more moments, she released the string, sending the arrow flying. It rocketed towards Gepard, destined to pierce his barrier.

However, the arrow suddenly fizzled out, splitting to become countless fragments of ice. Those fragments of ice transformed into dozens of ice sculptures shaped like bunnies.

'Because they're cute!'

Indeed, although the enchantment didn't create bunnies in the first place, March decided to use her Essence to shape them into bunnies. It wasn't like she needed that Essence in the first place.

She had just enough to pull off her plan.

The bunnies rained down upon the barrier, causing Gepard to look up in confusion. Suddenly, they all started to explode into icy mist, lowering the chilling temperature even more. The frozen haze disrupted his vision, which was already affected by the raging snowstorm that was occurring.

The onslaught of explosions shattered Gepard's shield, leaving him practically defenseless without a way to see March. He frantically looked around, attempting to catch even a glimpse of the pink-haired girl.

A shift in the mist caused him to raise his arm to protect himself. He wouldn't be fast enough to use his shield, so this was the best he could do.

A sickening crunch could be heard as a kick landed on Gepard's forearm. March's leg was encased in ice, which only made the attack even more brutal.

Gepard grunted as he was blown away. He rolled along the snow until he was completely out of the mist. He quickly got back onto his feet as he checked his fractured arm.

March panted as she walked out of the mist. She was now completely out of Essence, so the temperature around her was starting to rise again. Her augmentation was getting weaker as well, which meant that she was running out of time.

Just as she was about to lunge forward, a figure suddenly appeared. Sunny grabbed her arm to stop her from moving.

March widened her eyes.

'This… idiot!'

***

Sunny watched as frost started to spread up his arm. It was absolutely freezing, and there was a good chance that he might get frostbite. Despite this, he simply watched as one of the guards that had chased after Sampo returned to report to Gepard.

"...And the prime suspect? The one with the blue hair?"

'Hm… maybe I should let go.'

Sunny removed his hand from March. He shook his hand to get some feeling back into it, since it was numb from the coldness of March's body. As he did so, March suddenly grabbed his hand, alarming him.

"Hey! What are you…"

Suddenly, the cold started to recede. The pinkish ice started to melt off of his hand, slowly bringing it back to normal.

'…Well that's convenient.'

Sunny had stopped March mainly because she had shown signs of running out of Essence, as well as the fact that she would only cause problems if this fight went on any longer.

Luckily, a guard had returned to distract Gepard, which gave him the perfect chance to step in. He could have used Saint to restrain him if necessary, but he didn't want to expose his Shadow to Gepard.

"Apologies, Captain! W—We lost him during the pursuit. We can't find his footprints..."

'Yeah, there wasn't any pursuit in the first place.'

Sampo wasn't even in the same world as them anymore, so there wouldn't be any way to chase him down. Gepard sighed.

"No matter, we have his accomplices. He'll be close by, plotting his next move."

Sunny and March both shouted in indignation.

"Don't compare me to that wretch!"

"Yeah, we'd never team up with someone like him!'

Having drawn their attention, March continued.

"I'm not trying to talk our way out of this, but... we're not friends with that scoundrel. Did you see how fast he ditched us? We rescued him from the snow out of the kindness of our hearts. We had no idea he might be using us to get past you! Are you really dumb enough to fall for his..."

Gepard shook his head resolutely.

"I'm a captain, not an adjudication panel. As a Belobog citizen, you have the right to defend yourself, but that can only take place under the scrutiny of the Architects, not now."

"But we're not from Belobog!"

At March's exclamation, Sunny pointed at himself.

"Do our clothes look anything like what you guys have here?"

Of course, it was possible that they had similar clothes, since they have only seen guards be Awakened so far. However, it was a gamble that Sunny had to take in order to salvage the situation.

One of the guards suddenly shouted:

"Silence! What kind of nonsense are you—"

Gepard raised a hand, silencing the guard.

"As you were. We must not be tempted into careless judgment. Look at their attire. Indeed, it is not in the Belobog style."

'Heh. My genius knows no bounds, just like my treachery!'

Sunny paused.

'Wait, I'm not treacherous!'

The Spell seemed to be influencing the way that he viewed himself. He might need to bleach his mind from such contamination.

March nodded.

"Exactly! A—And we even have photos!"

She reached for her camera after letting go of Sunny's hand, clicking through it to show Gepard.

"You've probably never seen what your planet looks like, right? I took this one. Behold, Jarilo-VI..."

The soldiers suddenly started to huddle around to see the displayed picture.

"...You mean to say that this... white ball... That's here? That's our home? How can that..."

Gepard seemed to be contemplating something as he gazed at the image of Jarilo-VI.

"It is said that a long time ago, strange visitors from beyond the sky would visit us here... but that after the Eternal Freeze, the blizzards made passage impossible... and Belobog would cease to witness such arrivals."

One of the soldiers spoke to Gepard.

"But these people are—"

Gepard shook his head.

"This decision is beyond us. If what they say is true, then only the Supreme Guardian may decide their fate. Our job is to present them before her. Nothing more."

Gepard nodded towards the trio, causing Sunny to believe that he had successfully mended the situation.

"Outsiders, follow me. Belobog lies beyond this blizzard."

***

'This… this is just insane.'

Sunny stared in awe at the massive city in front of him. Belobog stood like a shard of civilization wedged in the cold, heartless embrace of Jarilo-VI's frozen wilderness. The city was a marvel of human ingenuity, its gleaming spires and intricate facades towering against the vast expanse of snow-covered mountains that surrounded it.

Despite this, there was a sense of gloominess emitting from the city. It stood as a symbol of everything that had been lost, the final remains of humanity in this freezing hellscape.

Gepard looked upon the city, an almost solemn look in his eyes.

"Welcome to Belobog — the City of Preservation."

Chapter Text

"...Hey, it feels like it got a bit warmer!"

March exclaimed as they entered the city alongside the Silvermane Guards. According to Gepard, this was the Administrative District.

Bridges and elevated walkways crisscross the district, connecting the upper echelons of the city with the lower, while beneath, the ground is often blanketed in a thin sheen of snow, untouched and silent. Every corner of Belobog's administrative heart is dominated by the weight of its purpose — organized, efficient, and coldly calculated, its skyline a silent monument to the threats that lay outside these stalwart walls.

If he was being honest, Sunny felt quite out of place here. The civilians that were scurrying to their place of business or to complete their errands seemed quite high-class. For an outskirt rat who survived off of scraps and synthpaste with a handful of credits, such a sophisticated civilization was quite alien to him.

Gepard paused at March's words.

"...That's because you're in Belobog, the last bastion of humanity."

March blinked at his peculiar choice of words.

"Last bastion?"

Sunny was actually quite curious about the cause of the planets current climate. Back on Earth, snow was something that could only have been seen every decade or two, at least where he had lived. If he recalled correctly, the city he lived in was somewhere in Asia.

Gepard stood silent, seemingly trying to recall something. After a few moments, he explained to the trio.

"Seven hundred years ago, monsters from beyond the sky set the world ablaze. The land was turned to scorched earth, with raging infernos and billowing towers of smoke stretching beyond the horizon. In the midst of the conflict, the Eternal Freeze descended without warning. Suddenly, sweeping winds brought blizzards which buried the invading Legion. Belobog was all that remained."

'Legion?'

Was the Antimatter Legion connected to the Stellaron in some way? If that was the case, then the reason that they had invaded the Herta Space Station…

Sunny mentally shook his head. It was much too early to craft any theories. He'd need more substantial information first.

"The steadfast Architects built this city. Under the protection of Qlipoth the Preservation, Belobog remains forever warm in the face of unrelenting cold."

'Another Aeon.'

He had already been gazed upon by Nanook, and that experience hadn't been very pleasant. It was only worsened by the fact that he was having an existential crisis at the time.

March suddenly leaned in whispering in a low tone so as to not let Gepard hear.

"...He's sure saying some weird stuff."

Sunny sighed. Of course she didn't pay attention to a thing Gepard had said. He was worried that he might have to give her an overly-simplified recap later.

Despite having only known each other for a couple days, Sunny was getting a very good grasp of her character.

Dan Heng shrugged at her remark.

"A marked change in tone. It sounds like he's quoting from a historical record."

March nodded before furrowing her brows.

"Uh-huh, so why is he telling us all this?"

"You wanted to know."

The three of them stiffened slightly at Gepard's sudden words. The man seemed to have heard their entire exchange without an issue.

***

"We saw strange creatures outside the city... They must have come from a tear in corroded space. A Fragmentum, correct?"

Dan Heng inquired as they walked through the streets of Belobog. Gepard slightly widened his eyes at his question, but it was almost unnoticeable to someone who wasn't paying attention.

Of course, Sunny kept a shadow’s eyes on Gepard, so he was able to observe him without directly looking at him.

Just in case.

"How do you... That's right. Out there in the blizzard, there are still many threats... including the monsters you saw."

Dan Heng looked back in the direction they had came, back to the harsh, frigid landscapes of this frozen world.

"Monsters of that type rarely venture outside the Fragmentum... meaning the corrosion affecting your planet is already very serious."

Gepard sighed, showing that the situation was truly looking desolate.

"The Silvermane Guards are continuously engaged with the enemy, but I'm afraid the situation is bleak... After your meeting with the Supreme Guardian, I would like to consult you on this matter. We're lacking in intel."

As they walked, they naturally drew in the attention of the passing pedestrians. An unknown group following the Silvermane Guards was bound to stand out among the streets.

"Look, Captain Gepard's back!"

"So impressive... I want to become as strong a Silvermane Guard as him!"

"What happened? Seems serious..."

"Who are those guys behind the captain? Look at their attire, so strange..."

'…How annoying.'

Sunny didn't like how he was suddenly turned into a spectacle. It only made sense, considering that his Aspect was meant for assassinations and such. At least, he would assume so considering the fact that it was mainly specialized for stealth and scouting.

Right now, he really wanted to step into the shadows to hide out of sight.

However, his displeasure was quickly turning into amazement.

From outside Belobog, Sunny caught a glimpse of a massive building that pierced the sky itself. However, it only seemed more impressive and worthy of awe up close. As they approached, Gepard spoke to them.

"We're here. This is Qlipoth Fort, the heart of Belobog and headquarters of the Architects."

Qlipoth Fort loomed on the horizon like an ancient, forsaken relic, its jagged silhouette cutting through the mist of hazy clouds that clung to Jarilo-VI. Towering walls of stone and steel, weathered by time and battle, encased the fort like the bones of a long-dead giant. The structure seemed almost alive, pulsing with a cold, oppressive energy, as if it were the ultimate protector of the last rope of civilization.

Above, the sky hung heavy with clouds, casting a somber gray hue over the jagged peaks that surrounded the fort. Smoke curled upward from distant chimneys, and the air was thick with the scent of burning coal and metals from the heaters that were spread across Belobog.

Qlipoth Fort was an astronomical feat of engineering, standing strong despite the dire state of this dying world. It stood as a symbol of hope. A symbol of warmth in this frozen hell.

A symbol of Preservation.

…A second later, Sunny internally cringed at his theatrical description. It's not like Qlipoth Fort was that impressive. At this point, it was like excessively glazing a donut.

‘…Whatever a donut is’

"The Architects?"

Gepard once again adopted his ‘textbook explanation’ tone.

"The saviors of humanity. Long before the arrival of the Eternal Freeze, the Architects braved the doubts and derision of the people, never wavering from their construction of its defenses. History has proven that their decision was the correct one."

He gestured towards the towering structure in front of them.

"The Architects named this fortress after Qlipoth, Aeon of Preservation. Under their direction, humanity has withstood external enemy attacks and held off the Eternal Freeze. Even today, we resist the Fragmentum's corrosion. This fortress is also the residence of the Supreme Guardian."

March asked curiously:

"What's a Supreme Guardian?"

"The leader of Belobog, elected and appointed by the Architects. The Supreme Guardians have watched over this city for generations, sheltering the people from harm. The current Guardian is Madam Cocolia Rand. Every major strategic decision is issued by her."

Without warning, March suddenly elbowed Sunny, causing him to glare at her.

"…What?"

March covered her mouth with her hand as she whispered with a cheeky smirk.

"You know… this Supreme Guardian sounds like a big deal."

"…And?"

Of course she was a big deal. Sunny wasnt stupid. In fact, he believes that he's quite impressive in the intellect department.

Sunny's eyes lingered on a trash can. He had to remind himself that he could check it out later.

'Ah… the treasures to be discovered!'

March huffed.

"Obviously, the plot is leading to me being the long-lost daughter of the Supreme Guardian."

Sunny almost burst out laughing as they walked up the stairs leading to Qlipoth Fort. Instead, he settled with a stifled snicker.

March narrowed her eyes.

"What's so funny?"

Sunny replied in humorous tone.

"Shouldn't the daughter of the Supreme Guardian be… elegant or something? You probably chewed on rocks as a kid."

A voice cut in on their conversation.

"The Madam Cocolia Rand does have a daughter."

'…Are we really that loud?'

Gepard had once again listened in on their conversation, which Sunny had thought was relatively hidden.

At his words, Sunny looked at the smug, self-proclaimed daughter of the Supreme Guardian. Her barbaric demeanor was a sharp contrast to the prim and proper design of Belobog. There was no way that she was actually the equivalent of a princess to this — actually, to any group of people.

It couldnt be true, right?

March smirked as if she knew something they didn’t.

"Heh… my theories are never proven wrong, you know?"

Gepard shook his head.

"The Supreme Guardian's daughter is currently within Belobog, so… I don't believe your theory holds any weight."

March's face didn't even slightly twitch, eternally stuck in that smug expression. Not noticing or not caring, Gepard continued.

"And your companion here is right. The daughter of the Supreme Guardian must be suited to lead and stand as a symbol for the people of Belobog, and — no offense — but I don't believe you have those qualities."

March started to… vibrate? It seemed like she was about to explode.

Seeing her fragile state, Sunny smiled.

"She's probably a whole lot prettier than you too."

***

After an unspecified amount of time, they had finally reached the top of the ridiculously long stairway. At some point. Sunny had augmented himself with a shadow in order to keep himself going.

'Seriously, how does one make a stairway so long that an Awakened Demon needs to augment himself?'

Sunny looked to his left, watching as March looked at him with nothing but pure hatred. He waved at her with a disarming smile, but that only caused her to glare even harder.

She had somehow survived the onslaught of poorly-disguised insults that he had thrown her way. To rub salt in the wound, Gepard would occasionally add on with completely innocent remarks that damaged her pride even more.

Sunny looked down at the Happy shadow, that seemed to be telling him to not be a bully.

'…I'm not a bully. I was just stating the truth!'

…That might have been only because of his Flaw, but his point still stands!

Gepard nodded to one of the workers here. The worker in question hurried away as he went deeper into Qlipoth Fort. Gepard turned back to the trio.

"I will now bring you to see Madam Cocolia. Please have your words at the ready. Her time is precious, so she prefers concise communication."

March suddenly snapped out of her sour mood.

"Uhh... We're gonna see her right now? Can I at least find a place to freshen up first?"

It seemed that she still had quite a bit of snow in her hair. Despite this, it wasn't easily noticeable. Somehow, it practically blended in with her hair, seeming like a natural facet of her bright-pink follicles.

Sunny paused before nervously turning back to Gepard. What if he messed something up and got a bounty placed on his head?!

"Is there any etiquette we need to observe?"

Gepard shook his head.

"Rest easy, the Madam Guardian doesn't care about formalities. Not to mention, you've only just arrived, it would be unexpected if you were familiar with Belobog customs."

Well that's a relief. Sunny was really worried about breaking some obscure taboo…

"I've dispatched a messenger to send word, Madam Cocolia will be aware of your arrival. Come with me."

Chapter Text

The rest of the Silvermane Guards returned to their posts, allowing for only the four of them to enter Qlipoth Fort. It made sense, as space would easily start to run out if such a large group walked through the halls.

March's eyes traced the interior walls of Qlipoth Fort as the group walked to the Supreme Guardian's office. Pictures of what seemed to be previous holders of the coveted position were placed in an orderly fashion — showing respect towards the former leaders of Belobog.

'Bah! It's just a whole bunch of relics.'

A few minutes ago, she might have actually been interested in the paintings — of course, not as much as a nerd like Dan Heng. Even so, she was a naturally curious young woman!

Now though, she had a somewhat biased view against the Supreme Guardians. Mainly because a certain midget thought it would be funny to debunk her completely harmless theory!

At first, she had really thought that it might have made sense! After all, she had no memories from before she had been found by the Astral Express.

'And he thinks that I used to eat rocks as a kid? Me?’

When Sunny suddenly looked in her direction in confusion, March realized that she had been staring at him during her little monologue. Face reddening in embarrassment, she looked away to find something else to catch her interest.

'Crap… what if he sics the Abyss Watchers on me?'

March almost forgot that Sunny had his own private militia full of lunatics. It completely consisted of Forgotten Shore survivors who had decided to follow Sunny. Rumor had it that these guys were a rambunctious ragtag group of misfits.

As she looked for something else to draw her attention, March suddenly noticed something that almost made her trip.

'Wha— how did I not see that earlier?!'

When she had duked it out with Gepard during their little misunderstanding, she had delivered a heavy kick to his arm, causing it to fracture. Normally, such a kick should have broken his arm, but March brushed it off as a fluke.

Naturally, his arm was in a pretty weird position, and he couldn't really use it.

Now though, his arm seemed to be functioning completely fine as it held onto that ridiculously large shield he had.

'…Why hasn't he dismissed it?'

Indeed, it was strange. It wasn't common for an Awakened to not have a weapon Memory, as the Nightmare Spell typically grants one as early as possible. If the shield was a Memory, it would only make sense to dismiss it when there wasn't any use.

'Is Gepard still suspicious of us?'

The thought left a sour taste in March's mouth. They had gone through so much trouble just to get here, and he was still suspicious?!

Suddenly, Sunny walked towards March's direction, mumbling a quick apology to Gepard as he brushed past him. Once he had reached her side, he whispered in a low tone; much lower than he had previously.

"That was a good catch. The shield is just a mundane object."

March blinked. It seemed that Sunny was looking at her line of sight. However, wasn't his Aspect related to shadows? How would he be able to differentiate a Memory and a mundane object without testing it himself?

"How did you find that out?"

Sunny shrugged, giving her an extremely vague answer.

"I just touched it. Then, I looked at it."

March's gaze lingered on him for a second, before huffing at his dry response.

"Fine, be that way!"

She'd probably find out on her own, whether either of them liked it or not.

***

Sunny silently enjoyed her annoyed expression. Honestly, it was really too easy.

When March had averted her gaze after being caught staring, Sunny kept looking in her direction just to embarrass her a bit more. Luckily, she seemed to have noticed the inconsistencies about Gepard; both the injured arm and the mundane shield.

The former would normally take around a day for the average Awakened to heal from, while the latter simply wouldn't make sense for one who constantly battled Nightmare Creatures.

The Nightmare Spell generally granted Memories often enough that it would be extremely difficult to never get a weapon, even for those who aren't mainly combatants.

The armor was definitely a Memory, but it didn't seem like he had any others on him. If he did, it wouldn't make sense to use a mundane shield.

Nobody could possibly be so unlucky that they couldn't get a mere weapon Memory, which was the most common type.

Filing away this unusualness for later, Sunny whispered something else into March's ear. After a combination of hushed sounds, the duo seperated.

March called out to Gepard to get his attention, causing him to look back.

"Um… is your arm okay?"

He seemed confused for a moment, before a look of realization flashed across his face.

"Ah, yes. My Dormant Ability let's me restore my bones, so I'm quite used to getting them broken. Although, it does take awhile…"

That didn't quite explain how his arm didn't completely snap like a twig, but it was still a good amount of information. Learning the Aspects of one of Belobog's strongest — if not the strongest combatant was very important.

Sampo is a fugitive, so he doesn't count.

At some point, the winding halls halted. In front of the group was a massive set of swinging doors, practically reaching the ceiling of Qlipoth Fort. Sunny wondered how a normal individual was meant to open such a heavy door.

As he pondered about it, Gepard knocked twice on the door, sparing a few seconds before slowly opening the door with frightening ease. It was to be expected of an Awakened, so Sunny wasn't too surprised.

'Seriously, how does a normal guy open this door?'

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a feminine voice echo from within the large room.

"...But that's a meaningless sacrifice, how can you—"

Suddenly, another female voice spoke out; although it sounded much older.

"Ahem... You may leave, Bronya. Visitors have arrived."

As Sunny was finally able to see inside the room, Sunny saw the two women who were speaking.

The first of them was young woman with long gray hair and matching gray eyes. She wore a short white dress with blue and gold details, two purple-and-blue earrings, thigh high black boots, black tights and translucent gloves. She had a blue and black hair tie, and wore a golden symbol on her left breast that had the appearance of a mask.

The second of the two women sat behind a desk within the large room, causing Sunny to infer that this was the current Supreme Guardian: Cocolia.

She had blonde hair that shared a similar style to the other girl — who's name was supposedly Bronya — but tied into a ponytail that hung over her shoulder. She had purple eyes and a curvaceous figure. Cocolia wore the same earrings as Bronya, and wore a white and black outfit along with black leggings that revealed her hips. She had a green scarf that had numerous medals attached to it.

As Sunny looked at her, he blinked in realization.

'Oh… so she’s the top dog around here… whatever a dog is.

The Supreme Guardian was neither a mundane human nor an Awakened — not the rank anyways. Rather, she was a single step above that: a Master.

Bronya had a conflicted expression on her face as she hesitated, before eventually gave in to Cocolia's demands.

"Yes, mother."

Sunny exchanged looks with Dan Heng, seemingly thinking the same thing as Bronya walked past them without even sparing a glance. The door slammed shut behind them.

They had somehow intruded on a family feud.

Gepard slightly bowed towards the Supreme Guardian.

"Madam Guardian, I have brought three outsiders to see you."

Cocolia nodded with an amiable smile on her face.

"The messenger informed me. Well done, Gepard. You may leave."

Straightening up from his bow, Gepard nodded towards them before exiting the room. Another indication of the door being shut reverberated throughout the room, signifying his departure.

As Cocolia placed all of her attention on the three of them, Sunny suddenly had a feeling of unease; almost like a promonition.

'…Look at me, overthinking things.'

Despite his tone, Sunny narrowed his eyes. As he looked at the beautiful woman in front of him, he felt like something was off.

Well, he'll either figure it out or he won't. Who knows, maybe nothing was wrong in the first place.

Not that Sunny would take such a risk.

"Welcome, visitors from beyond the Eternal Freeze. Or perhaps I should say: From beyond the sky... no?”

“I am Cocolia Rand, Belobog's Supreme Guardian. I would be grateful if you could tell me why you have come."

Chapter Text

Dan Heng's gaze lingered on Cocolia for a moment, before cautiously asking:

"So you don't doubt our identity?"

Cocolia replied in a humorous tone as she tittered.

"Do you wish me to doubt it? Or perhaps you're not confident in that identity yourself? Haha... No, I do not doubt it. I can see that you are not from this world."

Cocolia's eyes shifted to the monumental paintings on the walls of her office, gazing at them reverently.

"The Architects remember the history well, else we should forget it. I know that in the distant past, before the Eternal Freeze descended or the Legion invaded, this world was once prosperous beyond measure..."

"An Aeon connected our planet to other worlds, and we discovered the endless possibilities of the boundless universe. We also came to know of Qlipoth, the Amber Lord. Under THEIR attentive gaze, we built the city walls."

She looked back at the trio of outsiders before her.

"...So, do not be surprised. For seven hundred years, the Architects have received no further communication from the stars... but I knew of your existence. Tell me why you have come."

'Well that makes things easier.'

Dan Heng had thought that a full explanation would have been in order. Fortunately, the Supreme Guardian was not completely ignorant about the world outside their planet; especially compared to the rest of Belobog.

He glanced back at his two companions. March seemed to be daydreaming about something; which was made apparent by the distant expression on her face. Meanwhile, Sunny seemed… strangely out of it. He kept rubbing his eyes for whatever reason.

'Is he tired?'

Anyways, it seemed like the role of explaining everything fell upon him. March would probably get sidetracked in the midst of it, while Sunny was the newest member of the Express. He wouldn't know all the relevant information.

"We came here for something known as a Stellaron."

Cocolia had an inquisitive look grace her features.

"A Stellaron?"

"Objects that fell from the blue on separate worlds. Their appearance spelled disaster. Many of the planets we've visited have suffered their effects. You mentioned invasion by the Antimatter Legion. Soon after their arrival, this planet suffered the Eternal Freeze. At the same time, the phenomenon known as Fragmentum space corrosion began to occur. Correct?"

Cocolia paused for a few seconds.

"...Correct."

Dan Heng nodded.

"The Stellarons were cast by the Aeon of Destruction."

March suddenly chimed in, seemingly having snapped out of her daydream.

"Which is why the Antimatter Legion and Stellarons often show up together! Worlds seeded with Stellarons give birth to Fragmentums. As for the Eternal Freeze... it must have been a product of the Stellaron — unique to the environment of your world."

March placed her hand on her hips.

"You can see us as... kindhearted interstellar public servants, lending a helping hand to any world affected by a Stellaron!"

Cocolia frowned slightly.

"Your analysis of our current circumstances is clear. We have indeed suffered the disasters you speak of, some of which prove vexatious to us even today... but why should you care? Even if this Stellaron you speak of did bring about disaster, I fail to see its connection to you. I don't believe that anyone would go to such lengths to help a world unrelated to them... unless they had something to gain."

It was to be expected that she would be suspicious of completely unknown people being willing to help with such a crisis. Dan Heng would have thought that she might have been incompetent if she wasn't at least a little skeptical.

"You're right. Our reason for coming here is not purely selfless. If we don't seal the Stellaron, we cannot leave this planet."

Cocolia pursed her lips, her eyes widening by a fraction. Her reaction seemed quite strange, but maybe Dan Heng was just overthinking things.

"You... know how to seal the ‘Stellaron’?"

Dan Heng simply shrugged. He wasn't quite sure how it was done, but Welt had some sort of technique to seal the Stellarons.

"We have the relevant means."

After a few moments of contemplation from Cocolia, she finally agreed.

"Very well, I believe you. If our present situation is truly the result of this so-called Stellaron, then your arrival is the hope that Belobog has waited seven hundred years for. I am willing to assist you in any way possible to help you locate the Stellaron.

She checked a clock on her desk.

"It's getting late, and you must be tired. I will arrange for you to stay in our most comfortable hotel. Rest there, and get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow, at noon, I will dispatch someone to escort you here, and we can discuss this urgent matter in greater detail."

A full sound resounded throughout the large room.

Cocolia's gaze suddenly shifted away from Dan Heng, staring at where Sunny should have been. Out of curiosity, he looked back to find out what happened.

'…He couldn't have been that tired, right?'

Dan Heng resisted the urge to facepalm. Sunny was lying face down on the floor, having seemingly passed out without warning. He obviously wasn't dead, since his body slightly moved with each breath he took.

Unfortunately, they couldn't exactly wake him up. Although Dan Heng wasn't sure what happened, he knew that Sunny was probably in the Dream Realm right now. They would have to wait for a full night worth of hours before he would wake up, and that was assuming he went back to the gateway as soon as possible.

'So problematic.'

***

Sunny pressed his lips together as he walked away from the gateway. It seemed that this… ‘narcolepsy’ decided to act up and send him to sleep. At such a pivotal moment as well!

'Honestly, how could I be so unlucky?'

Actually, Sunny knew why it had happened at such an important time. He was [Fated], so his luck was always going to be extremely amazing, or terrifyingly horrendous.

Sunny wasn't sure whether it was a blessing or a curse, but he didn't think that it would stop causing him problems anytime soon.

Walking along the stone pathways of the Sanctuary of Noctis as he waved to those that greeted him, Sunny really hoped that Cocolia didn't decide to execute him because she saw his sudden collapse as a sign of disrespect. She seemed pretty agreeable from what he had seen…

Speaking of seeing, Sunny saw an… interesting sight in front of him.

His jaw almost dislodged from his skull as he gaped at the scene before him. He took a couple of steps back, not wanting to be seen.

Even if Cocolia didn't execute his real body, he'd end up dying from this psycho!

There were two women discussing something with each other. Sunny recognized the first of which, as she was the lone Saint of the Sanctuary. The world held a completely different atmosphere around her, almost like the wind bent to her will.

Which was true, as she was Saint Tyris, also known as Sky Tide.

The second woman however… was not someone he was expecting to see.

She was a young woman with long purple hair and light purple eyes. She wore a purple scarf with red and white details, as well as a white, black, and purple leotard with black shorts. On her left arm was a red band tied together with a purple sleeve, and on her right a fingerless glove that goes up to her elbow. She also wore a pair of black and blue boots of different lengths.

Sunny really did not want to see this woman, nor her psychotic Flaw ever again!

Unfortunately, it seemed that fate had a thing for putting him in bad situations.

'What was her name again… Seele?'

At least, that was according to that alter ego of hers. Wait, but what if it wasn't an alter ego, and was actually the original personality? What if that wasn't her real name in the first place?!

For someone who gets off on killing, there was no way that lying was deemed as a line she wouldn't cross!

'This lady is no good, no good at all!'

His mother had warned him about such women, and Sunny was anything but a bad son!

Stepping into the shadows with his Aspect, Sunny moved to a larger mass of shadows, blending in with the environment. He slowly moved closer, wanting to hear about whatever they were discussing.

"…So it is not possible for a Saint to take you to another Citadel?"

The so-called Seele shook her head, a serious expression on her face — a far cry from the hedonistic violence that Sunny had seen earlier.

'Hm… her eyes aren't red this time.'

"No… I—the place where I'm from doesn't let people leave or come in. And from what you told me, I doubt that anyone would even know where it is in the first place."

An isolated world? In that case, it would be quite difficult to move her to another Citadel. The only possible way was for a Saint to come to the Chained Isles themselves, before going on a long trip back to their own Citadels.

Seele averted her gaze, staring straight at where Sunny was hiding. He almost tried to escape, but her eyes weren't focused on him. She must have just been looking in his direction by pure chance.

"…Anyways, Awakened don't really exist where I'm from. I've never even heard of them until a guy I know explained it to me after I was already a… Dreamer, I think it was called? All this time, I thought when someone became one of those monsters, they just got infected by a disease."

Saint Tyris nodded with her emotionless visage.

"The Nightmare Spell does operate similar to a disease. Those who are infected might die in the Nightmares or the Dream Realm, and there is always the risk of going insane from it all."

"However, for those who are able to withstand the dangers of it, such as yourself, they are granted extraordinary powers. It's both a blessing and a curse, depending on who you're asking."

Sunny thought that this might have been the most he had heard Sky Tide speak to someone. To be fair, he only met her a handful of times, but it still seemed out of character when compared to the image he had of the expressionless Saint.

However, Sunny was somewhat intrigued. According to Seele, she had never heard about Awakened, and by proxy, the Nightmare Spell before now. Even Sunny, who was a mere outskirt rat had known what it was.

At the same time, the universe was quite vast. Sunny didn't know where she was from, but there was always the possibility of her upbringing being worse than his.

He wasn't so arrogant as to believe that he had it worse.

Seele seemed to be wondering about something for a minute, before hesitantly asking Saint Tyris something.

"Um… do you know a guy with grey hair and gold eyes? Actually, maybe they were black?"

'A guy with grey hair and gold eyes? Pfft, what a ridiculous combination.'

Sunny giggled in the shadows for a couple moments. His laughter slowly died down, leaving nothing but silence in this world of shadow.

'…Wait, she's talking about me!'

It seemed that the resident Saint of the Sanctuary of Noctis was also confused for a second.

"…You must be referring to Awakened Sunless. I was… also surprised by his appearance the last two times I saw him."

If Saint Tyris was surprised, then she certainly had never looked it. Honestly, how does one communicate with another without even making basic expressions? People would assume that she is heartless!

…Maybe he should stop with the rude thoughts. She was a Saint, so she had four Aspect Abilities. That was four chances for a mind reading ability!

Seele's face brightened up considerably before her face suddenly froze. She seemed to find the ground interesting as she went back to a more serious demeanor.

"Right… so… this Sunless guy. Do you know where I could find him? I think he was the one who brought me back…"

'Yep. Greatest conclusion of the century, everybody. Who could have guessed?'

Sunny dryly remarked in his head. It wasn't like either of them knew he was here, so there wasn't any purpose in worrying about Seele finding him.

"He's right there."

Sunny blinked twice in his shadow form, wondering if he was imagining things.

Tyris just pointed at the shadow that he was hiding in. Seele followed her finger in confusion, ending up with her eyes landing on him.

'…Does she actually have the ability to read minds?'

If so, that wasn't very consistent with the whole weather manipulating thing Sky Tide had going on. Sighing, Sunny materialized from the shadows with his best, and fakest, smile.

Seele jumped back with a bewildered expression on her face.

Bowing towards Sky Tide with the hopes that he wouldn't be murdered for eavesdropping, he asked her a question.

"So… how did you know I was there?"

She looked down the stone passage, back to where Sunny had stepped into the shadows.

"I saw you use your Aspect over there, so I just followed your shadow."

Sunny's lips slightly parted in amazement. That was… actually pretty simple.

'I guess I need to step up my game.'

For an assassin like him, being seen by others was not good whatsoever!

Tyris looked between the two of them, before nodding to herself.

"I have business to attend to. Awakened Sunless, would you show her around? As you must know, she is new to the Sanctuary."

'I only knew that because I was listening in.'

Not wanting to concur the wrath of a Saint, Sunny agreed immediately. He was already lucky that he wasn't executed on the spot for being suspicious, so he shouldn't push his luck any further!

Actually, how come Tyris didn't have any issue with his sneaking around?

As she left them behind, jumping into the sky to transform into a massive predatory bird, Sunny looked back at Seele hesitantly. The girl kept looking between himself and the floor next to him in confusion.

"…That's not normal, is it?"

Sunny's gaze lingered on her for a moment, wondering where she had gotten those Memories. She didn't have anything when he had first met her — or rather, the more insane version of her.

'I should probably ask about that weird Flaw.'

The only thing stopping him from doing so was that Seele might ask him what his own Flaw was. It was generally a taboo to ask those you didn't know about their Flaw, but Sunny doubted she knew that.

Of course, he would be doing the same thing. The only difference is that Sunny would be forced to answer, and she wouldn't.

Thinking about the best way to answer her question, Sunny simply shrugged.

"You know, I thought about disappearing, and I disappeared! It's a pretty good party trick… not that I've been to any."

Chapter Text

'Well… this is a predicament.'

Sunny sneakily glanced at Seele, who was peeking off the side of the Sanctuary of Noctis with a horrified expression on her face. Under them was the Sky Below, which was an abyss that seemingly had no end.

Saint Tyris had tasked him with showing Seele around the Chained Isles… or maybe she only meant the Sanctuary of Noctis?

Either way, Sunny couldn't just abandon this duty, for two specific reasons. First of all, he had been caught eavesdropping on her conversation with Seele, so he didn't want to test his luck any further. Secondly, she was the Saint of the Sanctuary of Noctis.

That alone made going against her unwise.

The question was, where exactly should he take her? He had shown her the location of the residences granted to the Awakened, finding her a spare room in the process. After that, he showed her the market, before leading her to the northern part of the Sanctuary, in which the White Feather Clan was situated.

There weren't any more notable places on the island; none that he knew of at least. Sunny wasn't sure how much he should show to Seele, but he didn't want to do an unsatisfactory job. If he did, maybe there would be an execution occurring near the gateway of the Sanctuary…

In any case, he couldn't really figure out what to do next. So, he decided to ask his client!

"Anything you want me to show you?"

Seele looked back up at Sunny, still showing hints of fear at the possibility of falling into the Sky Below. She stared at the empty abyss for a second, before asking:

"Is there a flower field nearby?"

Sunny blinked in astonishment. He had expected her to ask if she could go somewhere with plenty of Nightmare Creatures, or wherever else psychotic killers tend to go.

Actually, her whole behavior recently hadn't been even remotely similar to when he had met her while she was a Sleeper. In the single minute he had talked to her, she had been seeming like she wanted to take any opportunity she saw so she could kill him, but did not for whatever reason.

While Sunny was showing her around the Sanctuary she was relatively silent unless he he talked to her first. She didn't seem shy, at least, he didn't think she would be based on how she had talked to Sky Tide. On the other hand, Sunny had to put on a sickeningly pleasant act as he interacted with the stoic Saint.

Rather, it seemed like she was more nervous about something. There was a large clock near the gateway so that Awakened could check the exact time, and Sunny had caught her burning her eyes into the hands of it. Seele seemed to be in a rush for something in the real world.

He wasn't sure what it was, but it must have been quite important.

Either way, she was much more serious and… normal. Completely unlike the crimson-eyed alter ego from before, who seemed to act out of some perverse hedonism.

It seemed that there was at least some truth to her Flaw.

Sunny paused for a moment, somewhat hesitant to ask her why she wanted to see a flower field of all things.

Seele averted her eyes at his gaze, a hint of red on her pale face.

"…I just thought that it might be interesting. There aren't any where I'm from."

She lightly rolled the red band on her arm between her thumb and index finger.

"It's fine if you don't want to."

Sunny sighed. He had a hunch that seemed to be proven correct. As someone from the outskirts, things that are taken for granted by most were practically unattainable for him.

Considering that wherever Seele was from must have not been very well off, it would make sense that she would want to see such parts of nature that are inaccessible to her in the real world.

But still… a flower field?

"…I know a spot. Follow me."

Sunny happened to know of a floating island that had a flower field on it. It was relatively close to Iron Hand island, being seperated by only one landmass. It wouldn't be too hard to reach it.

It would be much more difficult to survive once they arrived.

Looking back at Seele — who was beginning to stand up from her seat at the edge of the island — he informed her:

"Where we are going, every enemy will be stronger than us. We're going up against monsters that could kill us in a single clean attack."

Seele raised an eyebrow, looking at him like he was some sort of idiot.

"Yeah, cuz our lives aren't worth as much as a few flowers. How could we possibly get through those monsters?"

She took on a sarcastic tone, seemingly baffled at how idiotic it would be to fight stronger enemies.

Sunny shrugged, pointing at his eyes.

"Just use your Aspect. It's basically meant for these types of situations."

She froze in her place. Her gaze grew distant, almost as if she was listening for something. After a moment, she simply shook her head.

"It's blurry, but I remember her meeting you when she was controlling my body. She'd probably try to cut you open the first chance she gets…"

‘Is she talking about her Flaw? She can talk to it?’

Seele paused for a moment, before suddenly waving her hands.

"I mean — she's not really that bad! Uh… she doesn't really seem interested in hurting other people. Just you."

Seele seemed to have realized just how bad that sounded, if the way that she covered her face was any indication.

'…So if there were a hundred people to kill, I'd be first. Good to know.'

Although he thought that the way Seele defended the Flaw was a bit strange, he was a bit worried about the fact that she only had such a strong desire to kill Sunny himself. It was a bit strange…

A complicated expression was shown on Sunny's face.

"…So, why does she want to kill me?"

Sunny dryly asked as Seele closed her eyes. He wondered if she was talking to her Flaw right now.

"She said the lines of death were all over you. More than usual."

'Honestly… she's practically just giving out all her information!'

Sunny was quite grateful for her naivety. At the same time, he felt kind of insulted, as he went through great lengths to keep his secrets a secret.

He hadn't been all that successful recently, but it was about the principle of the matter!

Seele had a peeved expression on her face.

"Seriously, you're all she keeps talking about! ‘Reeks of death’ this, ‘Will die a horrible death’ that… is your Flaw this annoying?"

Sunny was slightly startled at the question, but quickly relaxed. It wasn't that intrusive of a question, so all he had to do was make sure she didn't pry with a follow-up question.

"…My Flaw is pretty annoying, but I can work around it. Piece of advice: don't ask people about their Flaws. It's pretty rude to ask about someone's biggest weakness."

Seele tilted her head.

"…I don't think my Flaw is much of a weakness."

Sunny scoffed as he shook his head.

"No… it definitely is. Imagine I tried to kill you right now. You would have two choices: fight me without your Aspect, or fight me with your Aspect. If you do the first, you wouldn't be able to fight me effectively, leading to your loss. If you do the latter, then you are taken over by a being who has a fixation on killing me."

Sunny wasn't quite sure why he was going out of his way to explain this to her, but he brushed it off as a way to avoid taking responsibility if she ended up dying.

"At that point, I'd be facing a predictable enemy that has an obvious goal. As long as I'm cautious, I've already won."

Sunny pointed at her light purple eyes.

"It doesn't matter what your Flaw is. Anything can be abused as long as you know what it is you're abusing."

Seele didn't say anything for a second, before suddenly deadpanning.

"How long did it take for you to come up with that speech?"

Sunny blinked in confusion.

"Uh… I just made it up."

Seele sighed, clearly not believing him.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say."

Sunny's eye twitched, clearly annoyed by her casual dismissal of his words. He was almost tempted to tell her that he can't lie!

"Anyways, just don't tell anyone about what your Aspect and Flaw do. You already made a pretty big mistake telling me about it."

Seele slowly nodded, seeming to have completely absorbed Sunny's words. He wondered how much he would get paid for training Awakened…

With that, Sunny's self-enforced duty of warning this newbie about the dangers of the Dream Realm was complete. Now he just had to take Seele to the flower field.

If she was willing to, at least.

"Do you still want to see the flower field? If you do, you won't get the chance to hold back."

The same was true for Sunny. Based on his notes in the Vessel of Remembrance, the island was practically infested with plant-like Nightmare Creatures, creating a jungle of corrupted lifeforms. Supposedly, the only safe spot would be the flower field itself, which was on the side opposite to where they would arrive.

The thought of his past self crossing through that horrific jungle was quite frightening. What had he even been doing there?!

Seele seemed to be deep in thought, before resolutely nodding her head.

'And here I was, hoping she'd change her mind. All this to look at some flowers?'

Sunny wondered what was going through Seele's head. Who in their right minds would risk their lives just to catch a glimpse at some plants — no matter how nice they looked on the outside, they were still apart of the same corrupted ecosystem as Nightmare Creatures.

Honestly, Sunny thought that she might have been just as insane as her Flaw!

"…Are you sure that your Flaw won't try to kill me?"

Seele didn't say anything, listening for the voice of her other self.

"…She said she'll hold off for now. She wants to see the flower field too."

Seele's eyebrows creased as she frowned, causing Sunny to grow slightly worried about whatever her Flaw had told her.

"Is something wrong?"

Seele shook her head.

"No… she's just being a bit of a jerk."

That did nothing to appease Sunny's worries, but he ignored it for now. He was quite curious about whatever her Flaw had said, but there was nothing he could do if Seele didn't want to tell him.

He paused for a second, suddenly coming to a realization.

"Hey… does your Flaw not have a name?"

Seele blanked out.

"A… name?"

Sunny sighed in exasperation.

"You know, just like how your name is Seele, and mines is Sunless. Oh, you can call me Sunny by the way."

Seele sent him an indignant glare.

"I know what a name is! I mean, wouldn't it take time to find a good one? I can't just half-ass this…"

Sunny had a cheshire grin on his face.

"Well, you can figure that out on your own time. It's not like I care all that much."

Seele scowled at his words as Sunny walked off.

"You can't be serious! You were the one who brought it up in the first place! You need to help out too!"

Seele hurriedly walked over to him, not wanting to undertake such a burden alone.

"Not my Flaw, not my responsibility."

Sunny responded in a carefree manner. Such logic couldn't really be refuted by mundane means.

"Yeah, it is! It's definitely your responsibility!"

"What?! No it isn't!"

This exchange continued for a few minutes. Sunny was starting to feel exhausted from all the arguing, so he decided to end this with a single question.

"How is this my responsibility?"

Seele looked at him for a moment. She pursed her lips as she stared at the chain long chain connecting the Sanctuary to another island.

"I'm not gonna tell you that. You can ask the other me if you're so curious."

Sunny had a smug expression on his face. That was basically the same as saying that she didn't have a plausible reason.

He didn't say anything, instead opting to walk onto the massive chain. Seele followed him from behind, cautiously treading the steel links.

Now that he thought about it, they had argued quite a bit over practically nothing.

He knew he couldn't get along with this girl!

***

"You know, he was getting pretty friendly with her."

Sparkle added another stitch to the doll. She glanced up at Sid, an Abyss Walker who insisted on keeping her company as she set up her special dolls. Behind her was a small pile of dolls, each of which bearing a resemblance to Sparkle herself.

As for Red Herring herself, a couple beads of sweat were visible on her forehead. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail, allowing her to not worry about her hair getting in the way of the process. Her usual smile wasn't completely there currently, as her lips were only slightly upturned.

Making dolls wasn't for the weak!

Leaning near her doorframe was a woman with dirty blonde hair. Sid had a cheeky grin spreading across her face.

"…Well, a friendly Sunny is completely different than what would normally be considered ‘friendly’."

Sparkle's voice was dryer than usual, having not drank anything in a while.

'Maybe Sunny could let me borrow the Endless Spring for a while…'

She immediately banished that thought from her slightly elation-intoxicated mind. Her little shadow tended to get caught up in some pretty dicey situations, so she couldn't exactly take away such a reliable source of water. Not even for a second.

Sid's grin only widened even more.

"They were practically cursing each other out. I heard her shout at him about ‘taking responsibility’. The boss really moves fast."

Sparkle's eyes widened slightly. Her lips curled up a bit higher, feeling a little more elation.

'Look at him… actually developing social skills.'

To be fair, Sparkle wasn't much better off. The only difference was that she could control her body perfectly, which made her the ultimate actor.

Besides, acting was practically the name of the game when it came to her strange Aspect.

"…That's not the right reaction you know? You're supposed to get really jealous…"

Sid seemed to be quite disappointed that she couldn't get the reaction she wanted from Sparkle.

'They just never learn, huh?'

There was something of a tradition among the Abyss Walkers, in which they try their best to fluster Sparkle in any way they can. So far, the only person who had succeeded was Sunny himself…

Of course, he hadn't told them how he was able to do it, so he remained the lone champion.

Sparkle hooked the needle between the seams of the doll, closing up a small opening.

"…Don't you think Sunny grows pretty quickly?"

Sid blinked, not quite understanding the nature of the question.

"I guess? He's definitely way taller than he used to be. Still pretty short though."

Sparkle chuckled.

"No, that's not what I meant. I'm talking about him as an individual."

"…He's just the same as always, isn't he?"

'I guess others would see it that way.'

Compared to the rest of the world, Sparkle knew him for what he really was. From a malnourished fourteen-year old with a talent for killing Nightmare Creatures, to an intergalactic criminal.

She understood the dark recesses of his mind, and knows about his deepest secrets. Secrets that he would kill, and has killed to keep.

'At this rate…'

It might not be now. It might not be for a few months. Maybe even a few years. However, Sunny would soon understand it despite his amnesia. Something that she herself didn't understand.

What he truly wanted.

Once that happened…

"…He won't need me anymore."

"Did you say something?"

Sparkle smiled, shaking her head in denial.

'That got dark pretty fast.'

Her elation-addled mind had completely sobered up. In a way, she was both joyful for him, yet also unsure of herself.

Once Sunny found his role in the world…

…What would be left for Sparkle?

Chapter Text

Once they had reached Iron Hand island, Sunny and Seele rested with their backs against a rock. He wanted to make some preparations before they got to their destination. He sent out the Happy Shadow to scout out the next island, as he didn't want to be surprised by some sort of apex predator.

Sunny tossed the Endless Spring over to Seele, who awkwardly caught it as she stared at the Memory in curiosity.

"It holds an infinite amount of water. Drink as much as you want."

"…Really?"

Instead of drinking out of the Memory, she flipped it so that the mouthpiece of the flask faced the floor. Water kept pouring onto the ground… and didn't stop. After a few seconds, a puddle started to form.

Glancing between the amazingly useful Memory and the ever-expanding puddle, Sunny sighed.

"I know… it's the greatest thing you've ever seen. It could probably be used to save millions from dehydration."

Seele looked at the Endless Spring with a strange smile on her face.

"You wouldn't mind if I took this with me, right? You know… to save millions from dehydration."

Sunny immediately shut her down.

"Screw the millions! If you don't want to drink any for yourself, then I'll just take it back."

Seele immediately took a large swig of the bottle, chugging down enormous amounts of water with large gulps. Once she was done, she wiped her mouth before handing it back to Sunny.

The treacherous shadow took a quick sip himself before dismissing the Memory. Sunny paused as Seele sent him a nasty look.

"…What?"

She shook her head with a disgusted expression upon her face. Sunny just shrugged at her response, seeing that he wasn't going to be getting any answers out of her.

***

'Can't he at least clean it before drinking out of it?'

[…I don't see the issue.]

Seele scowled at her other half. Sanitation was really important!

She had seen quite a lot of people die from unknown diseases in the Underworld. Most of them were contracted by simple things like drinking out of a cup previously used by another. Nat would probably nag at her if she learned about this…

[Hmph. Why should you worry about those pesky diseases? With your current body, I doubt that they could effect you.]

…She brought up a pretty good point.

[And he is much stronger than you, so it's impossible for him to get infected by anything.]

Seele's eye twitched. She didn't necessarily disagree, but it was still pretty rude to say something like that.

She sneakily glanced at Sunless, who had his eyes closed for whatever reason. She would usually be able to see another's Soul Core whenever she looked at them, but he seemed to be the exception.

Instead, she saw two orbs of darkness within his shadow. She caught sight of one of his shadows moving away, carrying another orb with it. She wondered if he was in a similar situation to herself, in which her own soul wasn't very orthodox.

At the same time, she had two souls in a single body, so there might have been a similar circumstance for him.

"Hey… Sunless?"

He opened his eyes, revealing them to be completely enshrouded in darkness. Did his eyes change whenever he used his Aspect?

"Just call me Sunny. What is it?"

[Don't ask him why he has multiple Cores. Only ask if it is possible to have multiple.]

'Huh? Why though?'

Even though Seele couldn't see her other self, she could practically feel the sneer on her face.

[Were you not listening to him earlier? Don't pry into other people's secrets.]

Seele raised a brow, causing Sunny to have a look of confusion on his face.

'That's rich, coming from you. You're only saying that because he's your favorite!'

[Sh—shut up! I won't help you anymore! You could die for all I care!]

She went silent, most likely sulking in her Soul Sea. Seele mentally scoffed at how ridiculous her Flaw was.

"Uh… weren't you just calling my name?

Remembering that she was supposed to be asking Sunny a question, she asked:

"…How does someone get more Soul Cores?"

He didn't say anything for a second, seemingly thinking about something.

"…You can't be a human. The moment another Core forms in your soul, you would be a Monster."

***

Sunny thinks that he answered the question pretty well without exposing anything. His words held truth to them. Sunny wasn't really a human, but rather, a divine shadow. AR-26710 was a fairy knight, and as such, the two of them weren't really humans.

By using the class ‘Monster’ and the normal variant of the word as a way to make her believe that only Nightmare Creatures can have multiple Soul Cores, he wouldn't have to worry about his special qualities getting leaked.

For some reason, Seele's eyes widened. He didn't think that it was that surprising for a normal human to have a single Soul Core.

Sunny brushed it off as he stood up, patting down the Puppeteer's Shroud from any dirt. He paused for a second, before turning to Seele.

"Can you turn around for a second?"

She seemed a bit confused, but she looked away without any complaints. Once she did, Sunny dismissed the Puppeteer's Shroud, before immediately summoning the Mantle of the Underworld.

The reason for this was that the Happy shadow caught sight of some horrific abominations. Considering how strong they were bound to be, it only made sense for Sunny to put on his best armor Memory.

Sunny tapped Seele's shoulder, allowing him to notify her that he was done while also being able to check the strength of her Memories.

…A sour expression almost appeared on his face. How could the world be so unfair?

Why did everyone around him have Transcendent garment Memories!

Sunny realized that connections were much more important than he had thought. No matter how many Nightmare Creatures you kill, an Awakened couldn't casually get Transcendent Memories on their own.

Although Sunny was curious about who could have possibly given her these Memories, he doubted he'd know who it was.

Seele blinked at the Mantle of the Underworld, realizing that he had practically changed right behind her.

"…Couldn't you have done that somewhere else?"

Sunny shook his head.

"No point in wasting time. Let's go."

***

Seele followed Sunny as they walked on the massive chain leading to the island that would supposedly lead to a flower field. If he was telling the truth, then they would probably find some horrific enemies.

'Seriously, is it really worth it?'

[Of course it is!]

'…So now you want to talk.'

Seele agreed that treading even the most dangerous jungle in the world wouldn't be too tall a task in order to see a flower field. However, that only applied to herself. Why did Sunny go through such lengths in order to help her? He could have simply told her where the island was, and hope that she didn't get lost.

[Hm… maybe… hehe.]

Her Flaw giggled in her mind, seemingly having found something funny.

'…Alright, spit it out. What is it?'

[…I don't think I should tell you. You probably wouldn't be able to understand anyways.]

Seele grit her teeth at her Flaw's words.

'What is that supposed to mean?'

[If you want to know, why don't you look through some of Natasha's romance novels. They might be boring, but you need all the help you can get.]

Seele… had no idea what her other self was talking about.

[Forget it. More for me…]

Seele was slightly disturbed by her Flaw right now, which had never happened before. Her more… unhinged version of herself never seemed to pose a threat to her, but now, she was a bit worried.

'What are you doing reading those crappy books?!'

Was she trying to corrupt Seele's mind? She didn't want to know about anything a Christmas cake would read… not that she knew what a Christmas was.

'Perverts, the lot of them!'

Before Awakening, the connection between the two was… shoddy at best. They weren't able to communicate with each other like they did now, and they couldn't clearly see through the other's perspective. They also hadn't shared memories, so there were numerous gaps.

Because of that, Seele wouldn't have known what her other self had been doing in the past few months. Fortunately, she only ever fought against Fragmentum, which was quite useful for protecting the Underworld. Thanks to this, Seele was able to deduce that her Flaw wasn't very sinister, despite having never met her.

Just a little crazy.

Using external means, Seele had been able to communicate a way to share her body equally. They used a day by day schedule, in which her other half would also be called out when the Underworld needed help.

Naturally, this meant that Seele had almost no idea what her other self was doing when she was in control. She had known that she would spend large amounts of time at Nat's clinic, but she was never told what exactly she had been doing there.

It turned out that her Flaw was actually just a pervert!

[I'm not a pervert! You're just mad that you will die alone, and I won't!]

'We share the same body, you retard!'

[That's a strong word from somebody who was abandoned by her parents and thrown into an orphanage!]

'…Kill yourself.'

[You first.]

Seele sighed. Her Flaw was definitely going to be the death of her someday.

The thought was strangely ironic, considering her Aspect.

***

Was it too late to opt out?

Sunny stared at the sight before him, wondering if it was really worth it.

The jungle loomed like a living nightmare, its dense canopy a suffocating cloak that seemed to swallow the sunlight whole. Thick vines, twisted and thick as serpents, hung down from the trees, their surfaces slick with moisture. The air was heavy with the sharp, earthy scent of rotting vegetation, the underbrush thick with a tangle of thorns and creeping moss that clung to every surface. The oppressive heat clung to Sunny's skin, making each breath feel as though it had to be ripped from his lungs.

But it wasn't the suffocating humidity or the endless maze of towering trees that made this jungle truly terrifying. It was the Nightmare Creatures. Abominable things that roamed its shadowed depths, horrors born of nightmare and myth. Their eyes glowed like coals in the dark, set deep in faces that were not quite human, not quite animal. They moved in unnatural silence, too fast, too quiet for the mind to comprehend. Sometimes, all that could be heard was the eerie scraping of claws against bark or the faint, guttural growl that rumbled through the underbrush.

The ground was alive with movement — swarming, shifting shapes that seemed to slither in the corners of his vision. There were the enormous, lumbering beasts that only half resembled anything known to man or animal, with matted fur and twisted limbs, their mouths filled with rows of jagged, crooked teeth. The air itself buzzed with the venomous hiss of unseen predators, the ones that hunted by scent and sound, too swift to be seen before they struck.

The jungle was alive, but it was not with life as humans knew it. It was a place where nature had gone mad, where the creatures that slunk through the shadows had evolved in ways that defied logic, their very existence a threat to any who dared trespass. And yet, within this malevolent wilderness, there was a terrible kind of beauty — a beauty born of raw violence, a delicate, dark ecosystem of terror. No one ventured here without reason, for the jungle did not forgive.

And this was what the two of them had to face if they wanted to reach the field of flowers.

'…Better chances than against a Saint.'

Sunny believed that his chances against these creatures of corruption was much better than they would be against the stoic powerful Saint of the Chained Isles. Dealing with monsters was much easier than going up against an intelligent human with four different Aspect Abilities, and much more experience than Sunny himself.

Sunny scowled slightly before looking at Seele. The girl had summoned an amethyst scythe that sent chills down Sunny's spine. It was fearsome, and must have been imbued with some insidious enchantments.

He knew that Seele was strong, as he had seen her kill a Fallen Demon with her bare hands — as a mere Sleeper, no less. Now that she was an Awakened, and was properly armed with a weapon, they might be able to match whatever was within this forest.

However, that did not mean that they should let their guard down. They were standing in a small clearing, which the creatures in the jungle seemed hesitant to enter. Sunny could feel countless shadows moving throughout this deadly jungle, and knew that they all had the ability to kill the two of them.

'…Guess we just have to kill them first.'

Chapter Text

Seele's eyes flickered from one spot to another, watching as the shadowy silhouettes of horrific abominations moved from one point to another. They Nightmare Creatures stayed hidden, not once revealing their terrifying forms of teeth and claws.

Seele tightened her grip on her scythe. She had been in fights before: in the Underworld, battles against the Fragmentum monsters was quite common. Not only that, but she sometimes had to deal with troublemakers that only caused more issues.

However, the enemies she had fought before were predictable. After fighting against the Fragmentum a couple times, learning their patterns wasn't too difficult. It got to the point where even normal humans could fight against them. They all took on similar forms, never taking Seele by surprise.

Unfortunately, Seele had no idea what was inside the jungle before them. Despite her experience, she was only used to fighting a certain type of enemy — to the point of mastery, actually. The only thing that would be carried over now is her understanding of combat as a whole.

Sifting her eyes across the wall of trees and vines, Seele gave her scythe a little twirl. Although she had never used it in a fight before, one of her Attributes made her much more dexterous with her hands. As such, she was able to wield it with a certain amount of proficiency.

"On the count of three, run to the left side of the jungle."

Sunny spoke in a low tone, evidently cautious of the unknown monsters residing in the jungle, preparing to jump them at a moment's notice. For some reason, this island was especially hot, causing a thin sheen of sweat to cover Seele's forehead.

Or maybe she was just nervous.

"3."

Seele bit her lip, snapping herself out of her trance. If she made even a single wrong move, she would die.

All for some flowers!

"2."

[If you don't want to see them, you could just bail out now. I'm sure Sunny wouldn't mind.]

'…You know better than anyone why I can't do that.'

[Then switch with me. I'll deal with anything that gets in your way.]

'…Fine.'

They had agreed to have her other self take the reins. Otherwise, Seele would have only been limited to her Awakened Ability. In that case, it would be extremely difficult to face foes that were much stronger than her.

"1."

Seele activated her Dormant Ability… before finding herself in a sea of flowers, laying on her back. Butterflies fluttered around her, disturbed by her sudden appearance.

Seele sat up, watching as the butterflies returned to her position. They rested on different points of her body, enshrouding her in purple and red. She narrowed her eyes.

"Get off."

Surprisingly, the butterflies listened to her command. They fluttered their wings as they perched on the flowers within her soul sea, with others simply gliding through the air. Seele looked up at the night sky above her.

Above the sprawling sea of flowers, where petals fluttered in the soft, whispering breeze, two moons hung in the sky, their luminous glow casting an ethereal radiance across the land. The first moon, a deep, tranquil blue, hung like a silent sentinel in the heavens, its pale light cool and distant. The second, a fiery red, rose beside it, burning with an intensity that seemed to pulse with life. The two moons, locked in their celestial dance, shared their light in a delicate interplay — blue and red beams crossing, mingling, and bouncing off each other in a mesmerizing display.

Where the light met, the world beneath seemed to shimmer and change, as if the flowers themselves were alive with color, their petals painted in hues both soft and surreal. The sea of blooms stretched endlessly, the flowers swaying in unison as if caught in some ancient rhythm of the earth. Blue and crimson light rippled over them, casting long, delicate shadows that stretched like fingers over the ground. It was as if the very fabric of the night had come alive, suspended in the quiet balance of light and color.

The air was thick with the scent of blossoms, but even that seemed to shimmer in the moonlight, carried by the soft hum of a world that held its breath, waiting. The blue moon offered a sense of calm, a gentle promise of peace, while the red moon brought a touch of fire, a sense of untamed energy that vibrated through the air. Together, they created a world of impossible beauty, where the night was not just dark, but full of light.

Seele sighed, falling on her back as her other self took control of their shared body. She wouldn't be able to return to the real world until her Dormant Ability was deactivated.

Fortunately, she would be able to see the real world from here, which wasn't the case when she was a Sleeper.

Seele just hoped that her Flaw could show a little restraint.

***

Seele(?) ricocheted between trees, dancing between vines and branches. A beast that seemed like a red, striped cat lunged at her as she rushed through the jungle, causing her to avoid it's powerful jaws by jabbing the end of her scythe into the ground — using it as a pole to propel her upwards.

The massive cat landed on the ground, it's head crashing against the moist ground of the jungle — smearing it in mud. Seele(?) lashed out with her war scythe, causing the weapon to rotate at terrible speeds as it hooked under the neck of the tiger, slicing through the lines of death as the beast was decapitated in a flurry of butterflies.

[You have defeated a Fallen Monster, Vermillion Tiger.]

[The boundary between life and death grows thinner.]

Seele(?) felt her one of her cores absorb the residuals of the creatures life, while the other one absorbed the remnants of it's death. She had grown used to this sensation of empowerment, having fully saturated her cores as a Sleeper.

She did not have time to think about the announcement from the Nightmare Spell, as another monster lunged at her the moment she killed the last. Hanging from a branch with it's long, slithery tail, a snake larger than a dozen people bared it's fangs at her, threatening to swallow her whole.

Before it could attempt to sink it's venomous fangs into Seele's(?) pale skin, a graceful, female knight made of marble grabbed the snake with it's hands. It couldn't completely wrap her gauntlets around the massive serpent, which allowed it to coil around her body, giving it a chance to crush the knight via constriction.

'Is that one of those Echoes?'

The soul of the beautiful stone knight wasn't the same as the souls of other Nightmare Creatures, tainted and defiled. Instead, the marble knights soul was pristine, with a soul that consisted of those black orbs she had seen from Sunny's shadows.

Speaking of his shadows, two of them appeared from the corner of her eye, wrapping around the stone knight. Suddenly, the snake hissed as it's hold was being resisted. The hands that held onto it's enormous body clenched around it's scales, crushing a chunk of it in a burst of blood and gore.

Seele(?) had no time to ponder about whatever had just happened, as she was being assaulted by multiple creatures at once.

'What a drag…'

She activated her Awakened Ability, suddenly appearing at different places without even moving. Butterflies that seemed to be manifested out of energy fluttered around — the world seemingly standing still. Purple afterimages of herself remained in spots where she had previously stood, unmoving as they stood in a different stance.

The afterimages faded away, reforming into even more butterflies. The jungle was obscured by the fluorescent insects, creating a sense of beauty in this horrific island of natural selection.

The beasts that attempted to eat her alive were minced into several pieces, having been attacked without Seele(?) having ever touched them. Her Awakened Ability allowed her to move from one point to another instantaneously, while being able to attack anything between those points.

It costs quite a lot of essence to use; especially if it was used repeatedly in quick succession on multiple enemies. Currently, one of her cores were only half full despite having not used any essence on anything else.

Seele(?) felt blood splatter on her head, causing her body to tense as she looked up. A broken smile spread across her face.

'This is… insane.'

Time seemed to move in slow motion as the abominations went into a free fall somehow, Seele(?) was able to keep track of everything that happened above her.

Sunny stabbed one in the skull with a stiletto, using it as a platform to avoid a carnivorous plant. The plant clasped it's maws around the creature, eating it in place of the boy. An ape wielding a massive tree trunk tried to crush him.

Just as the trunk was about to crush Sunny's head, he disappeared as a human shadow coiled around the the trunk. Once he reached the ape itself, he leaped out of the shadow, swinging a bat that had violent sparks of energy radiating from it.

The ape's skull was completely obliterated, turned into a mess of blood and brain matter. Sunny threw the bat at a mosquito that seemed to be the size of a human child, ending it's life in an instant.

White sparks danced around Sunny's wrist, forming into a bracelet. With a flick of the wrist, a small kunai attached to a string flew in the direction of a humanoid creature with crimson flowers sprouting out of it's body. Pulling on the string, the kunai wrapped around it's neck as the creature was pulled in Sunny's direction.

The bracelet and kunai disappeared, but the Nightmare Creature was still being flung in Sunny's direction. He threw his stiletto at a tarantula, piercing it's head as it started to twitch, curling in on itself before eventually going still.

Once the humanoid monster reached Sunny, the boy swung behind it by wrapping his arm around it's neck. He kicked off the flower-infested creature, sending it to Sunny's previous position.

Considering the fact that this entire sequence of events was happening in free fall, it was quite difficult to know where his previous position was. Rather, it was more like the monster was sent to where Sunny would have been if he kept falling.

The carnivorous plant from before devoured the monster, allowing Sunny to avoid his fate of being eaten himself. He landed on the ground, standing right next to Seele(?) who stared at him in disbelief. She looked at the lines that red lines of death that littered his body, intersecting much more than the average person.

Despite that, he had dealt with an entire group of abominations with nothing but his mind; all while not being inflicted with a single wound. She looked at the carnivorous plant, which had red puffs of air exiting it's mouth — almost like it was coughing.

In the next second, it fell, dying to whatever poison it had consumed from the flower-infested humanoid Nightmare Creature.

Sunny scowled.

"We caused a commotion. More Nightmare Creatures are coming, so we have to get out of here."

She nodded dumbly, watching as the stone knight dissolved into his shadow. She wondered if all echoes were normally summoned and dismissed in such a manner.

'…Seele, were you watching?'

[Of course I did!]

'Remember what I told you earlier? When you called me a jerk?'

[…I already told you, I don't need protection!]

Seele(?) could practically feel the embarrassment radiating off of the original Seele. Was what she had said really that strange?

'Fine. Don't blame me if you get yourself killed.'

If Seele could read some of Natasha's books, then maybe she would finally understand why this was so important!

[I'm not reading those, you idiot!]

As Sunny and Seele(?) sprinted in the direction that would lead them to the flower field, she wondered why she was stuck with such a prude.

Chapter Text

'Seriously, what is my luck?'

When him and Seele had ran into the jungle, avoiding the countless predators that fought to survive in the harsh process of natural selection, he hadn't been watching his footing. While Seele was battling against Nightmare Creatures ahead of them, he had tripped on a protruding root.

Once he hit the ground, a thorny vine suddenly slithered around his neck. It dug into his skin, pulling him into the air with drastic force as his veins were cut open.

Fortunately, he didn't bleed. [Blood Weave] ensured that.

He had to use the Midnight Shard to cut the vine off, but had dropped it after he was slammed into a tree. In less than a second, multiple Nightmare Creatures had lunged at him, fighting with an unintelligent harmony.

Sunny wondered if they were being controlled by an external force…

Anyways, he had quickly summoned the Moonlight Shard before stabbing the closest Nightmare Creature in the skull. After that… his perception suddenly changed. He forgot everything around him, and only kept two goals in his mind.

'Kill your enemy. Prevent yourself from being killed.'

It was almost like he had retrieved a missing piece of himself. His mind was constantly processing the concept of murder — to murder his foes, and to not be murdered himself.

Everything had felt like a puzzle. At that moment, he had inserted the final piece, allowing him to fight with frightening clarity. He had to figure out how to avoid their attacks while in midair, controlling them despite his precarious situation.

It was as if he was both the puppeteer and the puppet, controlling himself and the abominations around him. As a result, his only injury was the mark on his neck from when he was grabbed by the living vine.

At the same time, he had used the power of Destruction, using it to easily dispatch the opposition.

The power truly seemed to stem from the Gloomy shadow, which meant that his Aspect seemed to have some synergy with the Paths. However, he didn't think he had a way to wield the Trailblaze in combat, which caused him to wonder if this was only a one-off thing…

Despite the fact that both him and Seele were unharmed, a feeling of unease creeped into his heart.

'Are they controlled by a Tyrant?'

Considering the fact that the Nightmare Creatures seemed more focused on killing outsiders granted some credibility to this theory. A Nightmare Creature that was a Tyrant or higher would be able to control the abominations. When the jungle wasn't disturbed, the beasts were allowed to kill each other, as they would have no other source of sustenance.

What truly worried him however, was that if the Nightmare Creatures were under another's command, their leader would have to be at the Corrupted Rank. And that would only be the best case scenario.

A Corrupted abomination would be equal to a Saint, who have Transcendent souls. However, not all Saints could boast that they had defeated a Corrupted Tyrant. It would only be worse if the threat was a Great abomination… but he doubted that such a being would be on the Chained Isles.

For mere Awakened like Seele and himself, such a threat would most likely spell out their deaths.

Sunny's thoughts trailed off for a second, before he suddenly scowled.

A shadow as approaching them from the sky. Based off of the fact that the shadow was getting larger, it must have been descending at an extraordinary pace. He sent the Haughty shadow forward by a few meters, making sure that it kept moving ahead as Sunny himself did.

After a few seconds, Sunny called out to Seele, who looked at him with crimson eyes.

"Keep going in that direction. I'll meet up with you once I'm done with this wretch."

She seemed confused, but nonetheless nodded her head. Naturally, she wouldn't be as aware of her surroundings as Sunny himself was.

Sunny recalled Saint; the stalwart warrior rose from the Haughty shadow as she held out her hand. He sent all three of his shadows to augment the statue, giving it quadruple her original strength.

Sunny watched as Seele sprinted ahead, agile in her steps as she avoided the roots and vines that attempted to grasp her…

Sunny's eyes widened.

He had thought that the creatures within the jungle were controlled by a Nightmare Creature of a higher Rank and Class: at least a Corrupted Tyrant. What Sunny didn't account for, was that the Nightmare Creature controlling them was right under his feet all along.

The jungle was a Nightmare Creature. A Corrupted Titan that relied on it's thralls to kill anyone that decided to essentially intrude it's body. Sunny and Seele were foreign diseases, and the Nightmare Creatures populating the jungle were antibodies, tasked with purging the invaders.

The island was hardly explored, which meant that the true nature of the jungle wasn't known to those that came: either because they escaped as soon as possible, or couldn't leave alive.

…No, the jungle itself wasn't the Nightmare Creature. If it was, how had he used Shadow Step on the tree trunk that the ape had swung on him? The being that controlled both the jungle and all the life that lives in it must encompass the entire island, so what could it be?

Sunny had no time to ponder about the true nature of the jungle as he stepped on Saint's hand. The stone knight tensed, preparing to throw her master with the strength of four of herself. Turning the Soul Serpent from a tattoo to a fearsome onyx odachi, Sunny also tensed as he prepared to be rocketed.

'Congratulations Serpent. You are about to get your first kill.'

Despite the fact that the Shadow was only of the Dormant Rank, his other weapons did not have as much range as the long odachi. In fact, they were all much more suitable for a close-range brawl. Just in case he didn't get sent directly at the flying Nightmare Creature, he needed to be able to at least injure it.

If he can do that, then the flying creature will come plummeting right down.

A second after that thought, Sunny rocketed into the air.

'Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!'

Lamenting his choice of using this idiotic plan, Sunny hoped that he wouldn't end up falling off the island. His eyes darted across the open sky, searching for the Nightmare Creature that had tried to attack them.

'…Damn.'

They were small, feathered creatures that resembled birds to an astonishing degree. Despite their small size, their beaks were longer than Sunny was tall, giving them the ability to completely impale him if he got too close. The sounds of their wings vibrated through the air, creating an almost intolerable sound.

Which was bound to happen, as Sunny rapidly flew towards the birds. He had thought that he was dealing with a single Nightmare Creature, not a swarm of predatory birds!

'I knew that this was a bad idea!'

Forgetting that he had created this plan himself, Sunny summoned the Dark Wing as white sparks surrounded his back. The cloak that allowed Sunny to glide slowly formed itself on his back…

…But it did not appear fast enough.

The bird's beaks stabbed into his body, mainly in the joints of the Mantle of the Underworld. Sunny screamed as his arm was completely pierced near the elbow; a long beak poking out of both sides of the limb, ending with a small feathery creature on one end.

He tilted his head as one of the birds zoomed right past his cheek, drawing blood as it scraped by, before [Blood Weave] pulled it back in. If he hadn't moved, that would have went straight through his eye.

A single miscalculation could be deadly. The assumption of a large shadow being a single enemy led Sunny to believe that he was going to simply maim a Nightmare Creature, bring it down to the ground before killing it. Instead, he was completely surrounded as he was stabbed and pecked, losing bits and pieces of his flesh.

Sunny could hardly move, wincing as they clamped down on his limbs with their massive drill-like beaks. Pain coursed through him, making him yelp at the feeling of his body getting slowly torn apart.

However, as his pain started to become unbearable, another feeling started to rise within him. It burned through his veins, intoxicated his mind, and willed his body. It felt similar to the feeling when the energy of Destruction violently flowed through him, but much more raw and intense.

It wasn't mystical in nature. Instead, it was a feeling that Sunny held within him all along.

Hate.

A bird attempted to prod at his head, aiming for his face as it fluttered at terrifying speeds toward him. Unnoticeable, Sunny had slightly opened his mouth, moving his head back slightly.

Right before the bird had stabbed into his face, Sunny widened his mouth before clamping down on it's beak with his teeth. The Nightmare Creature was stuck, having lost it's only weapon to his jaw.

Moving his right arm — which was being clamped down on and pierced through by birds — Sunny reached out to the trapped abomination. Wrapping the gauntlet of the mantle around it's small body, Sunny squeezed.

[You have defeated a Fallen Beast, Bonepecker.]

A sickening squelch was heard as Sunny spat out the beak in his mouth. The birds started to move in disarray, having previously been moving in harmony with each other as they suspended his body. Now however, they started to flutter in random directions, without any rhyme or rhythm.

'Do they communicate with their wings?'

The wings had made an intolerable sound, filling the sky with a rapid hum. If the birds were communicating in such a way, then that meant that Sunny had effectively broken their ways of doing so by killing one of them.

Having gained more freedom of movement with his arms, he attempted to crush another one of the birds.

'…No good.'

His arms weren't moving as much as he liked. However, that did not mean that he was out of options.

Moving his head towards one of the impaled birds, Sunny opened his mouth. Placing it just beneath his teeth, he chomped down on the bird.

[You have defeated a Fallen Beast, Bonepecker.]

'Disgusting.'

Sunny reluctantly repeated the process of biting down on the impaled birds. The one's that haven't yet done so practically ignored him, flying off in random directions. One by one, his teeth were stained by the blood and guts stored within their tiny bodies.

Sunny wanted to throw up. The taste of Nightmare Creatures was only good when they were cooked, and it heavily depended on which one was eaten. The raw flesh of these corrupted birds was not something that Sunny wanted to eat, so he spat them out immediately.

Even worse, feathers kept getting stuck in his teeth!

Just as he was about to pass out from the pain, the remaining birds couldn't keep him held up anymore. They plummeted to the ground, falling at speeds that would kill the average Awakened.

Normally, Sunny could have used Shadow Step to survive, but he couldn't do so when in contact with a living creature. Currently, he still had a few surviving birds attached to him, meaning that he couldn't enter the shadows right when he made contact with the ground.

Sunny was going to die.

'At least these little bastards are going to die with me.'

A bloody smile reformed his face. Feathers were all over his body — mostly around his mouth. The sight was equally horrific as it was laughable. To die due to such a small mistake…

He thought about any other ways to survive. Even if he summoned Saint, her body was made of stone. It might hurt him even more than landing on the wet soil of the jungle. If he used the Prowling Thorn as a grappling hook, he would end up ripping off his arm. The Dark Wing had been dismissed, but even if he had summoned it, he wasn't in a good enough position to glide with it.

'Huh. I guess that's it.'

Sunny wondered who or what he should curse first. Seele, who had asked him to take her here? Tyris, who had tasked him to familiarize Seele with the area? Or maybe it was St****, who he had taken the place of out of some strange sense of pity and responsibility.

…What was he thinking about again?

His eyes started to shut as he slowly forgot about the pain ailing him. In a second, he would make contact with the floor, shattering multiple bones in his body as the soil absorbed his blood.

At least, he should have.

Instead, he fell on… something he didn't recognize. It was like two branches had broke his fall, cradling him as he slowly went into a deep sleep.

A voice resounded.

"You cannot die yet. I still have uses for you."

***

Seele(?) sat in the flower field, Sunny lying on the floor — he was unconscious, having been pierced by multiple strange birds. Their bodies were small, yet their beaks were large, causing her to wonder how they were able to fly.

Sunny didn't bleed. However, she still bandaged his wounds by tearing off small pieces of the garment Memory she had. It would take a while to fix, but it was a sacrifice she was willing to make.

Seele(?) supposed that it was something like an investment, except that she didn't actually lose anything. The Memory would repair itself on it's own once she sent it back to her Soul Sea. In fact, she would have done so already if Seele hadn't vehemently rejected her.

[What if he wakes up while you're naked! That's my body, you know?!]

'As if he has any interest in a malnourished brat.'

Considering the living conditions in the Underworld, Seele(?)'s ribs were pretty visible. It wasn't to the point where she was actually malnourished, but it was obvious that she didn't eat much.

Actually, she was quite well-fed compared to the rest of the Underworld; mostly because of how often she would be gifted small amounts of food as thanks for protecting them.

Neither Seele nor Seele(?) were one to reject free food.

Sunny rolled over, mumbling something in his sleep. Seele(?) stared at him for a moment, before leaning forward. The boy must have been delirious from the pain…

[What are you doing?]

'What if he's saying something interesting? I know you're curious too.'

At Seele's silence, Seele(?) moved her ear closer to Sunny's head.

"…Fly… Wolfie stole… the trashcan… not… me… please don't set… me… ablaze…"

His mumbling turned incoherent, before suddenly making sense again.

"Hey… El… stop copying me… you raccoon!"

Sunny's face twitched, suddenly becoming more somber.

"It's my fault… you should… leave…"

…He started to snore loudly. If the Nightmare Creatures didn't seem to avoid this place like the plague, he would have certainly attracted the whole island!

'…Did you get any of that?'

[Eh… it was probably just a normal dream. Random things happen all the time in your imagination.]

Actually, wasn’t it impossible to dream in the Dream Realm? At least, that was how it was for Seele(?).

Seele(?) shrugged. It didn't matter what dreams Sunny had. Her only purpose was to protect Seele, and he would certainly help in serving her role…

[…Why are you blocking your thoughts?]

Seele(?) smiled.

'Just testing something.'

Chapter Text

Sunny's eyes fluttered open. His body felt hot, and there was something brushing against his head. His eyes adjusted to the light, finding… nothing except for the sky.

He sat up, taking a look around as he did so. He was in a field of vibrant flowers, the veil of trees surrounding the beautiful field swaying dangerously. A small stream of water carved through field, clear water flowing as it spilled off the edge of the island, creating a waterfall.

Sunny winced as he felt various spots on his body ache. He looked over himself, finding pieces of cloth covering the spots where he had been injured. The Soul Serpent wrapped around his pale naked body, controlling his Essence even while he was unconscious. Ignoring the pain, he stood up, stumbling on his mangled leg.

His body was riddled with holes, each of them varying in size. Sunny was lucky that he hadn't been pierced in the torso, or he might have lost a whole organ. A mad look gleamed in his eyes.

Those birds played with him like it was a game of darts. If he was being honest, he wanted to raze the entire jungle to the ground, burning their home to ashes.

Sunny wanted to remove every trace of their existence.

At the sound of footsteps, Sunny turned his head. Seele walked over to him with a makeshift sack in her hands. Her light purple eyes flickered across his body, checking to make sure that his wounds weren't exposed. Her gaze lingered around his abdomen, before quickly averting it back to his eyes.

"You should put something on."

Sunny realized that he was indeed naked. Honestly, it was preposterous that he had forgotten that fact in the span of a couple seconds. He tried to summon the Mantle of the Underworld, but it didn't appear. His face paled slightly.

"My armor… did it get destroyed?"

Seele blinked before pointing to a spot on the floor. Following her finger, he found multiple pieces of metal that was littered with holes. The Mantle of the Underworld seemed to be cut cleanly in some areas, almost like it was dissected open.

Seele coughed.

"…I didn't really know how to get it off, but I made sure not to break it permanently."

'By 'I', she's talking about her Flaw.'

Sunny nodded, mumbling a quick thanks to Seele before dismissing the armor to his soul sea. He summoned the Puppeteer's Shroud, the light set of armor covering him from the neck to the tips of his toes.

Seele sat on the ground, opening up her makeshift sack. Within it, the meat of slain Nightmare Creatures was displayed, becoming the duo's meal. She stared at the food for a second, her face reddening out of embarrassment.

"Uh… could you cook this?"

Sunny's eye twitched. Why would she ask a man who was at death's door to cook for her? Was she stupid?

Looking at her flushed face, Sunny realized that she probably didn't know how to cook. It was the same for him… before he suddenly gained the ability to make meals out of the most inedible of Nightmare Creatures. He still didn't know how he was able to do that…

Sunny sighed before sitting down next to Seele. Scooting over so that their shoulders almost touched, he spoke to her:

"I need some firewood. Once you get back, I'll show you how to cook these correctly."

"…Really?"

Sunny rolled his eyes.

"Did I stutter? I'll have you know that I'm the most honest man in the Universe. Two universes, even."

Strangely enough, Seele just smiled at him. She stood up before running back to the jungle to look for firewood. Honestly, Sunny was glad that he didn't need to help her differentiate between wood suitable for starting a fire and normal wood.

Sunny didn't judge her for being inept at a basic life skill. He never had the need to cook himself, as he survived off of synthetic food that was able to be eaten right out the package. He suspected that Seele had a similar reason.

Looking down on the countless slabs of meat of different shapes and sizes, Sunny immediately separated the contaminated and non-contaminated Nightmare Creature rations. He summoned the Endless Spring, taking a swig of the bottle of water to quench his thirst.

Looking up at the sky, the sun didn't move too much from it's previous position. If Sunny were to guess, it must have been around an hour — maybe two since he had passed out. He didn't have any issues with bleeding, since [Blood Weave] kept all his blood coagulated in his body. However, he still had been dealt damage to his muscles, bones, and nerves.

Sunny wondered if he would need Saint to carry him back out of the jungle.

He watched as Seele hurried back with a bundle of wood in her arms. Her footsteps were… graceful. The flowers below her were barely disturbed from her movements. Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him, but he could have sworn that they bloomed just a little bit more…

'…What am I doing?'

Sunny snapped out of his trance. Why was he thinking about such meaningless things?

…His head hurt. Had he been hit in the brain? How was he still alive?

"…Sunny?"

The boy in question paused as he stared at Seele. His eyebrows creased when he frowned. His long eyelashes pressed together when he squinted his eyes. He tried to rapidly blink. He tried closing one eye at a time, alternating between the two…

'Why are their two Seeles?'

Her figure overlapped with that of another. Sunny was able to differentiate between them due to some major differences, but they both still looked greatly like each other.

The first of which was Seele herself, her face having a confused expression etched on it. It was the other Seele that gave him pause, causing him to narrow his eyes at her appearance.

Both her hair and eyes were of a much lighter shade of blue, and her smile seemed much too timid.

Sunny wondered if he was actually hit in the head.

[No, you weren't.]

The second Seele suddenly vanished as if she was never there.

He paused for a second. A voice both internal and external spoke to him, using his own voice… but at the same time, it sounded a little deeper.

[Heh. I know, right? Anyways, you weren't supposed to see that. It was my fault, since I leaned in too much over on your side.]

…Sunny wasn't sure what was so funny, but he didn't bother asking.

This was the voice that had spoke to him when he had attempted to kill Sparkle. Countless thoughts rushed through Sunny's mind, slightly panicking at the sudden reappearance of the voice. Who was it? Why did it talk to him? Was it an enemy?

[…And you could ask me all that later. Don't you have to help your Seele out with a bit of cooking?]

Confused about the voices strange word choice, he complied. Sunny didn't want to arouse any suspicion from Seele, such as her asking if anything was wrong. He just wanted to go back to the real world, but not only was his connection not restored yet, but he was injured!

[A day in the life of Sunless Vol—nevermind. Anyways, I guess things aren't too different for us no matter how high or low on the tree we are.]

'Why is he talking about trees?'

Sunny shook his head, causing Seele's frown to deepen. He instead focused on the matter at hand, pointing at one of the piles of meat.

"There are multiple ways to tell when meat is unsafe to eat; especially for Nightmare Creatures. It's possible to eat even poisoned meat if you have the means to cook it, but that would take too much time to show you."

Although she seemed slightly confused from his behavior, Seele paid rapt attention to his instructions. He explained how to discern the difference between contaminated and un-contaminated meat.

Seele was a relatively quick learner. Actually, it seemed more like she had an innate talent for this. He showed her how to properly roast the meat, getting it to the point that it would be cooked but not burnt.

[I would have given that a ten out of ten, but I feel embarrassed that you're a better cook than me. Also, you should have made borscht. Six out of ten.]

'…What's borscht?'

[Something that you'll probably never get to eat if we consider this weird sci-fi you're in. I guess being able to leave Earth really changes how society evolved…]

Sunny had no idea what the voice was talking about. It sounded like him, but didn't act much like him.

[That's because I'm you, but not you.]

Sunny bit into some meat that he held by the bone. It tasted quite good considering the fact that this was Seele's first time. The girl herself practically inhaled her own meal.

As he chewed his food, he pondered the words of the voice. How could someone be something yet not?

'…That didn't explain a thing.'

[What do you get when you imagine a tree?']

Sunny blinked.

'…A tree?'

[Close, but not quite. Well, I won't explain it to you in depth yet. To put it simply, I'm Sunless, but I'm not you. Our lives were entirely different from the very start.]

Sunny narrowed his eyes.

'How does that even make sense? Just because we share the same name doesn't mean that we're the same person.'

Sunless was such an uncommon name that Sunny wouldn't have been surprised if he was the only one in the universe.

[You probably are. I'm simply not from your Universe.]

Sunny suddenly stopped chewing.

'…What?'

[Our birthdays, first names, and genetic origins are the same. But the way that our lives turned out are pretty different. Want to know more?]

Sunny's eyes lingered at the burning flame in front of him. It was held on top of some rocks, since Seele didn't want to burn the flowers for whatever reason.

'If you're not me, how do you know so much about me?'

[When the link was established, I was able to look through your memories… no, I lived through them myself. I actually know you better than you know yourself.]

'Well that's just reassuring. Wait… how did I just lie right now?'

[You know that tree I told you about? Well, your Flaw isn't powerful enough to break through that tree. It's like you're just talking to yourself. Also, if it makes you feel better, the only reason that you can't access my own memories is because I'm much stronger than you.]

Sunny was a little curious…

'How much stronger?'

[…If I had to guess, probably the equivalent of the Divine Rank for you. We don't have the Nightmare Spell, and I have no idea how strong a Divine would be, so I could be wrong.]

Sunny mentally groaned. He now had a self-proclaimed version of himself from another Universe that was supposedly around the Divine Rank. Not only that, but they didn't have the Nightmare Spell!

…They didn't have the Nightmare Spell?

[Stuff just works a bit differently over here. Madmen trying to trick trees, crazy girls having crazy fights, and I'm always involved in some way!]

'…I don't have a clue about what you're saying. Could you actually explain in detail?'

The voice that claimed to be anotherSunless sighed.

[Let's see… I was born during the eclipse, yadda yadda yadda, parents got killed by a force that wants to wipe out humanity, got thrown in a lab, got powers, used my talents to protect humanity, and that's a whole novel volume worth of content crammed into a short summary. I even have a last name… well, it was given to me by someone else, but it still counts!]

Sunny zoned out after the first five words.

[Oh right. Your sister Rain doesn't exist.]

Sunny's pupils dilated.

'…Do you mind repeating that for me?'

Chapter Text

'What do you mean Rain doesn't exist?!'

The other Sunless didn't speak for a second.

[It's not anything too crazy. My parents died earlier than yours did, so she never had the chance to be born.]

Sunny glanced at Seele, who was piling meat into her mouth. Did she have a black hole for a stomach?

The thought of Rain having never existed — even if it was in another world — really flipped a switch deep in his mind. It brought his thoughts back to his own Rain, and caused him to wonder if she was doing fine…

[…You know, I'm surprised that you haven't asked why I'm here in the first place.]

It was an obvious attempt to redirect the topic, but Sunny decided to indulge his alternate self — if he could even be called that.

'…Fine, I'll bite. What are you here for?'

[A guy I know suddenly disappeared from my Universe. I used you as a way to find him.]

Sunny wondered who this person could have been. Why would anyone need to travel to another universe? To escape something? Or would it be to find something?

The possibilities were endless.

[…Well, I found him. After this, you'll probably never hear from me again.]

Sunny had a confused expression on his face.

'…What do you mean?'

The other Sunless suddenly laughed. Sunny didn't know what was so funny about his question.

[Sorry, but I'm only talking to you right now because I felt that it would be rude to just not explain anything. As a functioning adult, I have way too many brats running around to waste time watching a short, evil version of myself.]

Sunny wasn't short, nor evil! He was a very benevolent gentlemen of a respectable height!

He saw Seele look at him while chewing on her food. She swallowed, making a strange face for a moment, before suddenly calling out:

"What's wrong?"

Sunny froze in place, realizing that he had been making weird facial expressions while talking to a voice in his head.

"…Just a voice in my head that insists that he's me but not really me. He's kind of an asshole."

[Hey!]

Seele's eyes widened, before nodding in understanding. Why did she look like she came to an epiphany?

'…So, who are these brats you're talking about?'

A long silence consumed the flower field, where only the sounds of eating and rustling flowers could be heard.

[…If I tell you, you'd probably lose it.]

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

'C'mon, just tell me!'

He heard the other Sunless sigh.

[You're both extremely lustful, yet also someone that blushes at the mere mention of handholding. If that isn't a recipe for disaster, I don't know what is.]

He paused, his voice suddenly becoming confused as he added on:

[…Wait a minute, is that the secret? I was also like that once — even if it was to a lesser degree. I thought it was because I was the only guy around…]

Sunny had absolutely no clue what the other Sunless was talking about.

[R—right, sorry. Anyways, I'm going to leave now. Forever, probably. Oh, and one last piece of advice…]

Advice from someone who was equivalent to a Divine Rank human? That wasn't something that Sunny would turn down.

[…Use protection.]

At those strange words, Sunny felt something within him snap. Not in the emotional sense, but in the mental sense.

The connection between the two was completely severed. He hadn't even noticed that it was even there before!

His last words slightly baffled Sunny. He was already wearing the Puppeteer's Shroud, so what protection could he have meant?

'Bastard. Being all cryptic.'

Sunny stood up, brushing off the dirt from the Puppeteer's Shroud. He turned towards Seele, who stared at him in confusion.

"We should leave now. Who knows how long the Nightmare Creatures would leave us alone for?"

For some reason, this flower field was completely safe from the horrors of the jungle. The beasts within it simply stalked them from the edge, never exiting the embrace of shadows cast by the trees and vines.

Seele looked down at the flower field for a second, before redirecting her gaze back towards him.

"…But you're injured. I don't think you can fight like that."

Sunny casually shrugged.

"You don't need to worry about that. I have a secret weapon up my sleeve…"

***

Seele watched as Sunny tried to move his body. It looked a little awkward, but he was somehow able to move just fine.

He had equipped a Memory that had a symbol reminiscent of a spider. Somehow, he was able to use it to move like he hadn't been injured in the first place. Considering his wounds, certain parts that are required to move his limbs should have been destroyed; or plucked out completely.

Yet, he still moved like all his tendons, ligaments, and joints were still in place. Seele had quite a few Memories from when she had first been sent to the Dream Realm, but none of them did anything so drastic.

After getting used to moving, Sunny suddenly summoned two more Memories. The first of which was the bracelet that was attached to a kunai with a metallic string, while the second was a cloak that reminded her of a fly's wings.

Sunny's shadows crawled up his body, with one of them going towards the bracelet while the other went to the cloak. Seele had seen his shadows strengthen both himself and his Echo to an astounding degree. Being able to use them to enhance things seemed very versatile — to an almost horrific degree.

That wasn't even accounting for the fact that he could become a shadow himself, being effectively untouchable.

'I wonder what his Flaw is.'

Earlier, he had seen him mentally conversing with another entity, which was eerily similar to her own Flaw. Considering that they both seemed to have strange souls, Seele thought that their Flaws might have also been similar.

[Another reason why you sho—]

'Shut up!'

Seele was completely tired of her Flaw's ridiculous suggestions.

[…Fine, but you'll understand soon.]

'I don't care, just stop talking!'

"Seele, come over here."

At the call of her name, Seele glanced up to see Sunny waving a hand towards himself. She hesitated for a second, before taking a few steps towards him.

A seed of guilt sprouted in her heart; for a few different reasons.

Once she got close to Sunny, she watched as he threw the kunai at a tree, allowing it to pierce the bark with surprising power. Suddenly, his Echo exited from his shadow, revealing a female stone statue wielding a broadsword and a shield.

His third shadow enshrouded the Echo, enhancing her strength drastically. The Echo looked at Seele for a second before it marched over to the other side of the flower field, standing right next to where the clearing ended and the trees began.

Sunny took a deep breath — maybe to calm down his nerves. He seemed to be disturbed by something.

"Listen. While Saint goes off to distract the Nightmare Creatures, you and I are going to use the trees to escape."

Seele studied him for a moment, before asking with a frown on her face:

"Why? Can't we just… run on the ground?"

Sunny chuckled, but he didn't sound very amused at all.

"No… even the ground is out to kill us. Do you understand how Nightmare Creatures are classified?"

Seele nodded. Once she had Awakened, all the strange abnormalities surrounding her was explained. Aspects and Flaws, Attributes, Memories and Echoes, the Dream Realm… everything that had to do with the Nightmare Spell was crammed into her head by the most annoying teacher she could possibly have.

Sunny continued:

"The creatures in the jungle are all being controlled by a Tyrant. There are two types of Tyrants that I know of: those that create their own minions, and those that enthrall others."

His eyes darkened.

"When it comes to the former, the minions are always at least one Rank lower than their progenitor. I believe that anything born in this jungle is a spawn of the Tyrant. And since we were fighting Fallen Nightmare Creatures…"

He tiredly sighed.

"That means that they are being controlled by a Corrupted Tyrant in the best case scenario. Not only that, but it might also have the ability to enthrall people — although I'm not too sure about that theory."

He stared at the flowers below him.

"I think… that this flower field is the heart of the Tyrant, or at least an equivalent."

Seele blinked. Was that really possible?

Her face took on a grim look. She didn't know much, but she knew enough to know that fighting a Corrupted Tyrant was the same as a death sentence.

Sunny suddenly smiled, almost like he had found a semblance of hope in this situation.

"But I've found out the best way to avoid the leader. As long as we avoid touching it in any way, we should be fine."

Seele frowned.

"But what exactly is 'it'?"

Sunny pointed at the ground.

"The soil. Maybe it's the entire island. Anyways, I figured it out when I couldn't use Shadow Step while standing on the ground. It doesn't work when I'm making contact with living creatures."

Seele paled. They had been standing on such a danger this whole time?

"Anyways, we just need to use the trees to travel. I was able to use Shadow Step on them earlier, so I know that it's not really a part of the Tyrant. Saint will be a distraction while we escape."

Seele looked in the direction of the taciturn knight. Could she really survive long enough for them to escape? How would she even attract so many Nightmare Creatures.

Saint suddenly walked into the jungle, banging her sword against her shield. Seele could hear the rustling of leaves from all over the area…

An arm suddenly wrapped around her waist, causing Seele to yelp. She felt herself being pulled into the air, before something rough grounded against her.

In a blur, she was suddenly atop a tree. She immediately looked around, making sure that nothing was nearby. Sunny whispered to her:

"Everything is going after Saint. We have to move as fast as possible."

"R—right."

Although she was somewhat disoriented due to being dragged up a tree, she quickly got on her feet before summoning her scythe. Even if they were safe, it was better to be prepared for anything.

Sunny seemed to have the same idea as a bat appeared in his hand. Out of the corner of her eye, Seele spotted one of his shadows moving in the direction of Saint, most likely to augment her.

As they leaped from branch to branch — almost slipping off a couple times — Seele saw a change in Sunny's demeanor. He seemed to be a little angry, considering the snarl on his face.

[A 'little' angry?]

…He seemed very mad. Seele wasn't sure what could have caused this, so she pondered the matter for a bit…

The guilt within her only deepened.

[You won't feel guilty if you would just listen to me!]

Seele's face reddened. Why was she stuck with this deranged, unhinged, psycho of a pervert again?

After a couple of minutes, they had arrived at the same spot that they had entered the jungle. The two shadows that Sunny had sent out came back to join him…

Was it just Seele, or did the shadows greet each other?

'I've got to be seeing things.'

She lightly panted due to the speed in which they ran. Seele had spent quite alot of Essence to strengthen her legs, which almost caused her to run dry.

She caught the bottle of water that was tossed towards her. She greedily drank from the Memory of infinite water, before passing it back to Sunny. She narrowed her eyes when his lips made contact with the bottle.

[It's just some water. Don't think too much about it.]

'It's just gross, you idiot!'

[…We share the same thoughts, so I don't know why you're lying to yourself.]

Seele's eyes slowly shut before opening again. She covered her red face with her hands, groaning as she thought:

'Can't you just mind your own business?!'

Chapter Text

Gloomy slid off Sunny's body, causing the bat in his hand to disperse into ether. His facial muscles relaxed as he lost the demeanor that he gained when wielding the Destruction. He dismissed Saint, calling back the two shadows that had went to support her.

She had killed a few Nightmare Creatures — increasing his shadow fragment counter by around twenty. The small, yet gradual increase in power helped to saturate his newest Shadow Core, which would in turn allow him to form a new one.

"…I'm sorry."

At his companion's voice, Sunny turned to look at Seele. He could practically hear her gritting her teeth as she averted her gaze.

He wasn't sure what she was apologizing for, so he asked:

"What are you talking about?"

Her eyes gazed straight into his own. Her lips pursed and her eyebrows creased, forming a frown on her features.

"Because I asked you to take me here, you ended up getting hurt pretty bad… I'm not asking for you to forgive me or anything, but it would be wrong for me to not at least apologize."

Sunny stared at her for a second, before sighing in exasperation.

"What the hell… it's not like I lost an arm or anything. What's the point of apologizing for something so small?"

Seele narrowed her eyes, glaring at Sunny.

"Small?! You got stabbed in so many spots, I'm surprised you're still alive! Anyone else would have bled to death!"

Sunny scoffed, raising his hand as he flicked her on the forehead with his middle finger.

"Bleeding is too pedestrian, so I don't bleed. You shouldn't expect one such as I to follow the rules of humans."

Seele placed a hand where she had been flicked, growling at him with her teeth bared.

"Stop acting so cocky!"

A sly smirk slithered onto her face.

"I mean, all this attitude from a guy as tall as you? I guess your body couldn't contain it…"

Sunny's brow raised, a knowing look on his face.

"Aren't you shorter than me? Those heels are really giving you a confidence boost, huh?"

He paused, looking down at the article of clothing on her feet.

"…Speaking of which, how the hell do you fight in that?"

Although she was slightly embarrassed from being called out for her height, Seele gave him an unsure response.

"Uh… I'm not sure. Maybe I'm just really good at it?"

Now that he thought about it, March also wore heels — although they were not as long as Seele's. Sunny felt like they were much too obstructive for someone to fight properly with.

'Is there some sort of secret to it?'

Seele frowned slightly as she paused for a moment, before hesitantly asking:

"What do you want?"

Sunny blinked.

"…Pardon?"

Seele huffed as she crossed her arms, turning her head away from him.

"I'll do whatever you want — or give you whatever you want. I won't complain, not as long as it's possible."

Sunny's mind raced at a mile a minute. He was able to get her to do anything that he wanted?

Countless scenarios and ideas were formulated inside his brain. Some were mischievous, while others were pragmatic. Of course, thoughts of the more unsavory kind passed through his mind as well…

Pulling himself out of his self-made hole of debauchery, Sunny seriously thought about her offer. He didn't want to do anything too drastic, nor did she have much to offer him that he didn't already have. Despite her resolve, she couldn't do anything that she literally wasn't able to.

…Maybe he should test the limits of her resolve.

Gulping, Sunny took a few steps towards Seele. Once he was right in front of her, he looked around to make sure that nobody was nearby… which made him feel pretty stupid, since he would have known if someone was anywhere near them.

‘This is so cringey…’

He leaned forward, his mouth moving as he whispered a few words to Seele.

"Hey, can you…"

Her emotions were written down on her face — which meant that the metamorphosis of her face reflected her true thoughts. At first, Seele seemed slightly confused. She had to ask Sunny to repeat his words multiple times to make sure that she wasn't hearing things. He wasn't quite sure why that was the case, since he thought his request was pretty straightforward.

She narrowed her eyes as if he was some sort of idiot. Then, her expression turned towards contemplation, as if she was weighing the benefits and downsides of his offer.

"I…"

Seele's suddenly cut herself off, seemingly worried about something.

She looked back at Sunny, a small furrow in her eyes.

"…I don't really know how I would explain this to the people I know in the real world, but I don't mind."

'You sure didn't look like you don't mind…'

Seele continued, a hint of trepidation in her voice.

"…Are you really sure? I mean, I’m not that good at this whole thing… I’m sure that there are better options.”

Sunny narrowed his eyes. For some reason, he felt like she might have somewhat misunderstood what she was supposed to do. Due to the compulsion of his Flaw, Sunny cautiously responded:

"I mean, I guess I'm okay with it?”

Although his answer was vague and non-committing, that somehow seemed to be enough for Seele.

…By the time Sunny realized what the problem was, it was already too late.

After Seele spoke, Sunny just stood in his place. He didn't let his surprise show on his face — mainly for his own safety. The misunderstanding between them was much too great; solving it would only result in one of their deaths.

At least, he assumed so.

All Sunny did was nod and smile at her words, leaving her blissfully unaware of the storm brewing in his mind.

The walk back to the Sanctuary of Noctis was very awkward, at least for Sunny. Seele's serious demeanor had been replaced with a timid, yet not unhappy expression. He hadn't asked her to do anything lewd, but considering his request, he might as well have.

'Damn… this isn't right.'

What Sunny had originally wanted to do was to measure how far Seele was willing to go with her offer. Then, he would have given a much more appropriate request depending on her reaction.

However, he had not expected her to genuinely accept his request. Such a decision that could decide a person's entire future couldn't have been decided on the spot — with a person they barely knew at that.

And the worst part… was that Seele seemed way too damn happy about it!

As he thought about what he had asked, he realized that despite how ridiculous it was; there were certain benefits if it was real. If Sunny had been given such an offer by a powerful individual — of course, with much more contemplation — then he might have accepted as well.

…Well, not really. He didn’t like working for others much. The rewards would need to be phenomenal.

If he even tried to brush it off as a joke or pretend that nothing ever happened, she might let her Flaw go on a rampage! He couldn't possibly take that risk… so he stayed quiet.

He'll play along, allowing her to live this strange delusion. Not for her sake, but for his own. Death was not a celebrity that Sunny wanted an autograph from.

Looking at Seele, Sunny slowly asked her something:

"…Why did you really want to go to the flower field in the first place?"

She looked back at him, the look in her eyes different from before. Sunny felt that the entire way she viewed him had changed, and that made him very uncomfortable. It reminded him a little of Sparkle.

Just a little bit though.

Seele seemed surprised at the question, but she answered it without hesitation.

"The place that I'm from is very cold — cold enough that plants can't survive. But it wasn't always that way."

Her voice trailed off for a second before continuing:

"My Soul Sea is made up of flowers. I've never seen any before, so I wanted to make sure that they were the same."

'Flowers?'

Compared to his own Soul Sea, it wasn't that strange. However, it was still very strange in the grand scheme of things.

The rest of the way back was uneventful. Sunny tried his best to turn his attention away from Seele, not wanting give more fuel to the fire he had burned himself in.

However, he simply could not do so. His situation was simply that severe.

Sunny thought about what his mother would want him to do in this situation. Before he was infected by the Nightmare Spell, his memory of her had started to fade away. However, [The War] not only enhanced his strategic thinking and skill during combat, but also his memory. Thanks to this, the only parts of his life that he didn't remember were the parts that he had forgotten after arriving in the Herta Space Station, and his infancy.

Sunny guessed that his brain must have not developed the ability to store memories very well at that point in his life, recalling things by feeling rather than description.

If his mother were to look at him now, she would probably reprimand him for getting into this situation in the first place. Then, she would probably make him see it through to the end, which would be quite long if nothing unexpected happened.

On the other hand, his father would have probably just laughed at the absurdity of the situation. He had died quite early in his life, so Sunny only remembered a couple months worth of time with him. Despite his short temper, the man had a tendency to not take things very seriously. Not only that, but he had also been quite mischievous…

…Sunny couldn't do this halfway. It was his own mistake, so he should obviously take responsibility for the consequences of his actions. His treacherous nature had gotten the better of him, and placed him in a unique situation. If he didn't handle it correctly, he might actually die.

It was only a possibility, but it was one he was very afraid of.

Sunny couldn't possibly face his parents if he messed up… he'd be a failure!

More than that… Sunny smelt money to be made.

Once they had arrived at the Sanctuary of Noctis, Sunny felt the connection between his soul and body reconnect itself. Coincidentally, the time he had to spend in the Dream Realm had run out the moment he had returned to the Sanctuary.

Sunny turned towards Seele, a strange determination glinted in his golden eyes.

"I'm going back to the real world now. You'll be fine on your own, right?"

Seele scoffed at his words.

"Of course I will. What do you take me for?"

"An idiot."

"Huh?"

"…Hey, can you do something for me?"

Seele blinked at his words. She tilted her head in curiosity.

"Sure. What is it?"

'Not even an ounce of hesitation.'

Sunny was almost shocked at how easily she had agreed to that. However, considering how she had accepted his earlier request, it was not all that surprising. Fortunately, this favor he had of hers was much more tame.

He thought about his words for a second, trying to make them as Sunny-esque as possible. He didn't want to sound unnatural.

Looking into Seele's eyes, Sunny spoke:

"When someone does something for you, don't apologize. It's kind of annoying…"

Before she could react to his jab, he frantically finished what he was trying to say.

"Instead, just thank them. That way, things would be a whole lot less awkward!"

With that, Sunny stepped into the shadows, zipping away at terrible speeds.

He did not want to stay even a moment longer. Sunny's real body might be killed at any second!

‘Am I really going to pursue world domination with a secret organization under me…?’

Sunny cursed himself for coming up with such a stupid idea.

Unfortunately, he had to commit…

***

Seele watched as a silhouette moved across the ground, entering the Sanctuary of Noctis without being caught by the guards. As such, Sunny was able to get away unhindered.

'He must have been in a rush too…'

Seele herself still had to wait an hour or two before she could leave. She decided to just wait in the room that Sunny had shown her until it was time.

Staring off at where the strange boy had gone, Seele spoke a single word for nobody to hear.

“…Thanks.”

Chapter Text

Sunny had found himself on an unfamiliar bed under an unfamiliar ceiling. He slowly rose up, stretching his body for a moment. As he looked around the room he was in, he realized that it was quite luxurious; what he would normally expect out of the upper class.

'I guess everything went well?'

In truth, Sunny had no idea what had happened after he fell asleep. However, he could deduce that he wasn't in any mortal danger, as he wasn't in a jail cell currently.

Not that such a mundane thing could contain him. Shadow Step was simply too powerful.

He looked down at his clothes, finding himself only wearing his shirt and pants. Normally that would have been fine, but Jarilo-VI was simply too cold to not wear a jacket. It was fine since he was indoors, but he wasn't planning to stay inside for long.

A divine shadow such as himself could not be confined to a room!

Summoning the Finality's Farewell, he used Shadow Step to appear outside of the hotel he was just in. He looked up at the night sky of Belobog, before walking aimlessly in a random direction.

The streets of Belobog, bathed in the soft, silvery light of the moon, seemed to hum with a quiet, almost mournful energy. The air was crisp, carrying with it the faint scent of iron and snow. Above, the sky stretched in a canvas of deep indigo, dotted with stars that flickered like distant, forgotten lanterns. Street lamps lined the avenues, their pale glow casting long, distorted shadows on the cobblestone roads, which twisted and turned like veins through the heart of the city.

A chill settled over the city, a reminder of the unrelenting winter that gripped Belobog with a frozen hand. The towering structures of steel and stone, built to withstand the harshest of elements, loomed like silent sentinels in the night. Their facades were etched with intricate patterns of frost, delicate and crystalline in the dark. Between them, narrow alleys seemed to pulse with the faintest echoes of life — distant laughter, the shuffle of boots on ice, the occasional murmur of a hurried conversation that cut through the stillness.

And yet, despite the cold and the gloom, there was a certain beauty in Belobog's night. The snow, gentle as it fell, clung to the city like a blanket, transforming the harsh, frozen world into something softer, quieter. The light from the streetlamps danced upon the ice, casting shimmering reflections on the glistening roads, where each step seemed to leave a brief, delicate imprint. It was a beauty born of necessity, carved into the heart of a place that had learned to survive against the odds.

Despite the state of this planet, Sunny couldn't help but think that Belobog had a strange appeal to it. He wasn't quite sure how to describe it, but he wouldn't mind living here for the rest of his life — which was impossible due to a few problems he had.

Even so, the simple, quiet life that most people had was something that Sunny longed for.

…Something clicked with him.

It was like a missing puzzle piece had just been placed, covering the contours of what made him Sunny… but it was not complete. Rather, this only felt like the beginning.

He frowned at the strange feeling that welled up within him, not understanding why he felt such a way — or what he was feeling in the first place. Ignoring this confounding sensation, he simply kept walking as he felt the cool air on his skin. Every breath he took created a warm mist, contrasting the low temperatures of Belobog.

Sunny didn't feel very tired, so it should have been fine if he took a short walk, right? He had just woken up after all, so he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep until morning.

Slipping a hand into his pants pocket, he dug out his phone. Booting up his cellular device, Sunny leisurely tapped random apps. If he opened up a game, he would play it for a couple minutes before closing out of it. If it was some sort of social media, he would mindlessly scroll through it. His eyes were completely glued to his phone, but he used his shadows to see where he was going.

…Unfortunately, he couldn't find anything on his phone that had to do with his past.

There was nothing else to do, so he simply kept tapping random things.

Suddenly, his finger froze in place. He had been mindlessly searching for anything that could grant him clues on his past, but couldn't he just search something up? That would be much more effective than just scrolling at least…

An imaginary lightbulb flickered in his mind, causing him to quickly go into his search engine as he typed his object of interest:

"Sam."

A few results popped up, but they didn't lead to what he had actually wanted to see. He tried again — this time, specifying what he wanted to find.

"Sam criminal."

His results had changed, each of them following the same topic. Sunny smirked as he clicked on them one-by-one, checking to see if he could find any information…

'Great Clan stronghold burnt to a crisp… Jepella Rebellion…'

As he went through the results, he realized that some of these sounded quite familiar to him. The more recent ones on the other hand, did not.

Sometimes, whole cities would be burnt down. Other times, labs would be raided.

And in each one, a single title would appear:

Stellaron Hunter.

Sunny paused for a moment, before typing that in the search engine. Tapping on the first website, a few images appeared — accompanied by names and descriptions. After looking at them for a second, Sunny realized that they were wanted posters. Six of them, to be precise. And the amount of credits on their heads…

Sunny almost drooled. He wiped his chin with his sleeve though, just in case. Each of them had multiple images coming from different angles, which allowed him to get a better view of their appearances.

The first one was a woman who seemed to be in her late twenties: Kafka.

Kafka is described as being very beautiful and charming — a young woman with red wine-colored hair that was tied in a messy ponytail with two loose bangs hanging on either side of her face. Her eyes are of a similar, lighter color, and she wears dark, round sunglasses on top of her head along with a pearl earring in her right ear.

She wore a white dress shirt that exposes the top of her back and shoulders along with a black jacket that is draped over her shoulders. There was a silver butterfly pin on its left lapel, and on the back there was a large, spider-like pattern in the center, along with webs on both shoulders and a burgundy inside. There was also wine-colored straps with golden accents on both her jacket and thighs, and gloves of a similar shade. She has large silver rings on each of her fingers, and her gloves have silver spiderwebs on the backhand.

She wears black, high waisted shorts and nylon tights, with a thigh garter on her right leg. She also wears black boots with two different lengths: the right goes over her knee, while the left goes slightly over her ankle.

There was a short description about her Aspect, which seemed to be related to using strings as weapons as well as being able to control people with her voice. There were also reports that Kafka was a Saint, which made sense considering how high her bounty is.

He gazed at the picture as a strange feeling welled up within him. Sunny looked at the next one: Blade.

Blade is a man with fair skin, long dark blue hair with red tips, and red eyes. He wore an oriental-styled black tailcoat with red clothed insides and gray trousers. The tailcoat was embroidered with gold and dark blue colors, and he wore a black belt alongside a styled metal decoration on his left thigh. He also wore a black glove on his right hand, and bandages can be seen wrapped around his right arm, right thigh, and on his left hand.

His Aspect was unknown, but was suspected to be related to regeneration. Sunny wasn't sure why, but that didn't sound quite right to him…

Similar to Kafka, he was also a Saint.

The next image caused Sunny to narrow his eyes. After all, it was his master: AR-26710, who's True Name was Fading Firefly.

Sunny blinked as he realized that they were called SAM, and not just Sam. Not like there was any way for him to be aware of that, since capitalization wasn't obvious during conversations.

Sunny wasn't quite sure how to describe SAM, besides having a large build and being adorned from head to toe with metal plating. The armor was fearsome and intimidating, which was suitable for an Ascended Terror.

Their Aspect was also unknown, since the flames that they used were from the armor itself. Not only that, but their Rank was also unknown — although they were suspected to be a Saint.

Considering the fact that one of AR-26710's Memories was a dress, Sunny was quite sure that it was a woman. However, considering that the public described SAM as a male, he decided to withhold judgement for now.

…Sunny still believed that AR-26710 was a 'she'.

The next Stellaron Hunter was a petite young woman by the name of Silver Wolf. It was a strange name, but it might have simply been an alias.

She wore a short, black coat along with a crop-top which covered the upper part of her body, exposing her navel. She also wore black unbuttoned shorts with a decorative piece of black and purple fabric that hangs off the back, along with a white belt that had a game console attached at the hip.

On her head she wore purple glasses, as well as a black bow which she uses to tie her hair into a loose ponytail that becomes a drill. She also wore a pair of black, white, and blue boots, along with a knife attached to her right leg and short fishnets up the calf on the left.

Her Aspect was related to technology. She was a Master just like AR-26710, which meant that there was a good possibility that they challenged the Second Nightmare together.

There were not many Aspects that had a connection to modern technology. After all, Aspects generally had to do with fantasy, not science. However, as time passed after the descent of the Nightmare Spell, some Awakened gained Aspects that allowed them to turn modern weaponry into Memories — or make Memories that were based on modern weaponry.

These Memories were generally very limited when it came to enchantments. When it came to deciding between a bow or a gun, it generally came down to preference, talent, and overall chemistry that their choice of weapon has with their Aspect.

Even rarer than a firearm-related Aspect was one that was directly connected to things like computers. From what Sunny was seeing, her Aspect seemed to be of that kind.

There was only one more Stellaron Hunter remaining, which cause Sunny to almost trip when he looked at the pictures.

'…Who the hell is Mongrel?!'

Chapter Text

Sunny's jaw almost crashed into the floor as he looked at the bounty in front of him. The wanted man's face was concealed by a mask, so he couldn't quite see his face. However, he knew that this was too much of a coincidence.

The final member of the Stellaron Hunters was a man named Mongrel.

Mongrel wore a beautiful onyx armor that radiates a sense of solemn, dark menace. His face was hidden behind a fearsome black mask, with three twisting horns rising from it like a jagged crown. His hair was stark white, and there are two pools of impenetrable darkness in the place where his eyes were supposed to be. His weapon of choice was a long, curved odachi forged of lusterless black steel, engraved with strange runes of darkness. It rested on his shoulder, seemingly devouring the bright light of the illusory sun.

Sunny stared at this image, feeling like everything was just getting even more confusing.

'…Damn, I look cool.'

At that strange thought, Sunny refocused on this strange revelation:

Mongrel — considering certain similarities — was Sunny, the treacherous Lost From Light.

The mask that Mongrel was wearing was his only Divine Memory, Weaver's Mask. Although he hadn't summoned it yet, he remembered what it looked like. It had the ability to hide his identity from even the most powerful of divination abilities, reverses his Flaw so that he could only lie, and another mysterious, unknown ability that he didn't have the guts to test out.

The armor that Mongrel wore was Sunny's Mantle of the Underworld. He had recently used it a couple of times, and it was currently repairing itself in his soul sea. Fortunately, the only two people he had used it in front of was Sparkle, who must have already known about it, and Seele, who seemed to be quite ignorant about Awakened matters.

Thinking about the girl with a split personality, Sunny had the urge to punch himself in the gut. That stupid request that he had made was bound to be the death of him, and he hadn't even tried to clear up the misunderstanding.

Sunny had no idea what he was thinking, since he could have made any number of outrageous requests.

Strange situations aside, Sunny only grew more confused as he gazed at the odachi that Mongrel held in his hand. Summoning the Soul Serpent in it's weapon form after making sure that he was hidden from prying eyes, Sunny quickly compared the two weapons.

He sighed as he allowed the Shadow to revert to it's tattoo form. The weapon wasn't the exact same. The length of Serpent was a few inches longer, while also being much darker in color. The odachi that Mongrel wielded was engraved with runes that seemed to absorb light itself, which wasn't a property that was shared with Serpent.

Anyways, considering most of the available information, Sunny deduced that he must have been Mongrel at one point in time. Most likely for the past two years that Sparkle refused to tell him about, he was a Stellaron Hunter.

Which completely changed the situation regarding his Shadow Bond.

'Did I tell AR-26710 my True Name of my own volition? Or was it because of my Flaw? If Sparkle knew about it because I told her, it shouldn't be impossible, right?'

Not only that, but considering the fact that they were literally called Stellaron Hunters, and tended to have connections with multiple Stellaron disasters, they might have had something to do with the Stellaron inside of him.

…No, they must have been related to it.

Thinking about it, he must have been acquaintances with them at worst, and… friends at best.

'…I'm not going to humor anything more than that.'

Of course, it was possible that betrayal was on the table, but Sunny somehow doubted that. Considering the message that was left behind by his past self, it was highly unlikely that he had departed from the Stellaron Hunters on bad terms. After all, he had somehow trusted AR-26710 despite the fact that he was her slave.

So… Sunny could only come to one conclusion.

The whole debacle with losing his memories must have been some extremely elaborate mission. His past self had written that message with the knowledge that Sunny was going to lose his memories, so it only made sense, right?

'Why does everything have to be so convoluted?!'

Sunny decided that he'll judge whether the Stellaron Hunters were his enemy or not when he encountered them himself. He couldn't possibly make such a decision based on nothing but bonds he couldn't remember.

He sighed, deciding that he should probably head back to the hotel. The sun was starting rise, as rays of light started to push the shadows away, causing them to grow starker.

The walk back to the hotel was relatively peaceful. The cold of Belobog was only a mild chill, as the Trailblaze gave him a resistance to extreme temperatures. Belobog itself was much less colder than the rest of Jarilo-VI, due to the specific location and the heat provided by the heaters littered around the city.

Before he had fallen asleep the previous day, he had wanted to leave one of his shadows behind to keep watch over Cocolia. He didn't know why, but the woman gave him a bad feeling. Unfortunately, although he could make his shadows keep watch while he is asleep, he couldn't use them in the Waking World while he was in the Dream Realm.

As such, he wasn't able to stalk the Supreme Guardian.

Sunny paused. That didn't come out right… even it was what he had planned to do.

Just as Sunny was about to reach the hotel, Sunny spied a coffee shop having their sign flipped to 'open'. Seeing this, he recalled the cup of coffee that he had drank from right before his First Nightmare.

'…Not all coffee could be that bitter, right?'

***

Paying the kind old man with credits — which he seemed to have quite a lot of — Sunny took a seat at one of the small tables within the humble coffee shop.

The coffee sat before him, a deep, rich brown so inviting it seemed to pulse with promise. The steam rising from the cup curled and swirled in delicate tendrils, carrying with it the scent of roasted beans, dark chocolate, and a whisper of caramel. He leaned in, inhaling the aroma as it wrapped around his senses, coaxing memories of cozy mornings and quiet moments from his childhood.

Sunny took the first sip slowly, letting the liquid linger on his tongue. It was velvet — smooth and thick, with a weight that seemed to settle comfortably in his chest. The bitterness of the coffee was perfectly balanced, never harsh, only the subtle tug of dark roast that spoke of the care taken in each step of its making. There was a hint of something sweet — maybe a distant trace of vanilla or the faintest touch of brown sugar — that danced alongside the deep, smoky flavors, a perfect counterpoint to the strength of the brew.

As it slid down his throat, warmth spread through him, a gentle fire that spread from his chest to his fingertips. But it wasn't just the heat that made the cup irresistible. There was a complexity in the taste, layers that revealed themselves slowly: the earthy richness of the beans, a whisper of toasted nuts, and something more elusive — a floral note, perhaps, like the faintest touch of jasmine or lavender, adding an unexpected lightness to the experience.

With each subsequent sip, the cup seemed to deepen, unfolding more and more. It was both familiar and new, a revelation wrapped in the simplicity of a perfect brew. The aftertaste lingered — a gentle sweetness, like honey kissed by a hint of spice, keeping him anchored in the moment, unwilling to let go.

And Sunny hated both honey and the insects that create it, which goes to show how delightful this cup of coffee made him feel.

He closed his eyes, savoring the fleeting pleasure of the drink, knowing this was more than just coffee. It was an indulgence, an experience. And as the last drops vanished from the cup, he felt a quiet longing, a desire to hold onto this warmth a little longer, to taste it again before the day fully demanded him.

'…If I had a way to give this place a rating, it would be five stars.'

Unfortunately, that wouldn't be possible. The only reason why Sunny had any cellular connection was because his phone seemed to be a little special. Those who lived in Belobog didn't have any connection outside of Jarilo-VI, so it was impossible for Sunny to have a way to give any sort of review.

Sunny decided that he must come back here at least five times before he leaves.

Thanking the old man behind the counter, Sunny exited the coffee shop. Right in front of him was the hotel in which he had woken up in… which was surrounded by a swarm of Silvermane Guards.

Sunny blinked as he saw March and Dan Heng being led to the grey haired girl he had seen yesterday at Qlipoth Fort — Bronya, he believed her name was. She held a rifle with a bayonet at the end in her hands.

'What is going on…?'

Bronya spoke in a powerful and stern voice:

"I am Bronya Rand, acting commander of the Silvermane Guards. In the name of the Amber Lord in the highest, and under order of Supreme Guardian Cocolia Rand, I hereby arrest the suspected infiltrators under the charge of plotting to incite rebellion."

Sunny started to piece together the situation… they really were going to get killed because he fell asleep in the Supreme Guardian's presence!

'Dammit! If only I had drunk some of that delicious, delectable, impossibly sweet coffee before we met with her… all of this could have been resolved!'

Sunny blinked.

'Wait a second — rebellion?'

Bronya continued as Sunny skulked through the shadows in an attempt to get closer.

"As agent of the Supreme Guardian, I herewith temporarily strip you of your freedom of action and speech. When you are tried by the adjudication panel, you will be given the opportunity to defend yourselves against the accusations."

Sunny thought about his options for a moment, before making quite the rash decision. Burning a little bit of essence, Sunny dived into the shadows — where he belonged.

"Resistance will prove futile. You must come wi—ah!"

***

Bronya yelped in surprise as she was suddenly grabbed. Her rifle was violently wrenched out of her hands, cluttering to the ground as the person that was holding onto her whirled around so she was facing the rest of the Silvermane Guards. The protectors of Belobog all pointed their guns at her.

No… they were pointing them at the one who was holding her hostage. However, didn't that just mean that Bronya herself would also be shot? Cold steel pressed against her neck, making the threat to her life obvious.

"What is this, the second time I held a blade to someone's neck? I really hope this doesn't turn into a pattern."

The suspect that had grabbed her spoke in a snarky tone, as if he wasn't committing a heinous crime by holding her as a hostage.

"…Sunny, where were you? We couldn't find you in your room when we looked."

By the sound of the voice, Bronya guessed that it must have been the green-eyed boy that spoke. This 'Sunny' individual must have been the one that was holding a weapon against her neck. Based on the feeling of it, she guessed that it must have been a dagger of some sort.

'What do I do?'

In truth, Bronya was not prepared for anything like this. Despite the fact that she was an Awakened, she didn't think that she could escape the grasp of the man holding onto her. It felt like he had the strength of four Awakened within his body — no, even more than that.

Not only that, but he had somehow gotten behind her without either the Silvermane Guards or herself noticing. If his Aspect was stealth related, it wouldn't make sense that he could have been physically strong enough to completely restrain her. The opposite was true as well.

"Oh, me? Well, I was too busy drinking a cup of coffee fit for a king. Honestly, you should try it. The old man that runs the place is really nice, you know? Oh… but he wasn't accepting tips."

Sunny's casual tone was broken up by a chuckle, before the blade against her neck dug a little deeper. Bronya scowled.

'What a lunatic!'

No wonder her mother had wanted these criminals to be arrested as soon as possible. Only the worst of them could have a conversation about coffee while preparing to commit regicide!

His laughter suddenly cut off. Bronya felt his breath brush against her neck, revealing that he had turned back in the direction of the Silvermane Guards. Although they held him at gunpoint, they made no move to shoot. After all, Bronya would most definitely be shot alongside him.

Her captor had to have known that.

"Now then… I have no idea what's going on, and frankly, I don't give a shit."

Bronya blanched as she felt Sunny play with her hair.

'This… miserable scum!'

"But… there is something that I do know. There's what, a couple dozen of you? Was your plan to outnumber us or something? I mean, all I see is a whole bunch of weaklings."

Bronya could practically feel the smirk that Sunny must have had on his face.

"Anyways, as you can all probably see from inside those stupid helmets of yours, I've got the strongest of you in my arms. Ah, don't enjoy it too much Miss Bronya. I don't want your mother to be more cross with me than she already is."

Bronya wondered if he ever stopped talking. Any more of this, and she really would have been fine with her death as long as this bastard could die as well.

"So, I'm giving you all a choice. I'm a generous guy, so I'll give you all a chance to live! No need to thank me!"

"Drop your guns, and you guys get to live along with the princess here. Don't, and well… the Supreme Guardian might have to get some tissues."

Silence permeated the streets for a few moments.

"…Do I have to spell it out? I'm saying that I'll slit her throat! Please make the right choice. I don't really enjoy killing pretty girls…"

Chapter Text

Sunny was mentally sweating bullets as he held Bronya at knifepoint. Dozens of rifles were aimed in his direction as he threatened to kill the daughter of the Supreme Guardian.

Normally, Sunny wouldn't have been very threatened by mundane weapons. Although he wasn't wearing it, the odds that a mundane bullet could get through the Puppeteer's Shroud was extremely low. Even if the Awakened armor of the fifth tier couldn't protect him, Sunny was an Awakened Demon. Not only that, but he wouldn't bleed from a gunshot wound.

Of course, this only applied to mundane weapons. Even though the guns were not Memories, Sunny could feel a mystical property radiating from them — and the Silvermane Guards that wielded them as well.

The guards were not Awakened, and their rifles were just that — rifles. Normally, there wouldn't be any threat, however…

Sunny's thoughts drifted to his hostage. Bronya had yet to make any attempt to release herself. Considering that Sunny was augmented by all his shadows, it made sense that she didn't have the strength to escape. What truly confused Sunny was the fact that Bronya hadn't used her Aspect to at least make an attempt. Obviously, her Aspect had to be combat related — otherwise, she wouldn't have been allowed to lead the Silvermane Guards to arrest the trio.

The artificial smirk that Sunny had on his face widened slightly.

'I see.'

It wasn't that she hadn't attempted to use her Aspect. Rather, she had already activated it. The feeling that he had gotten from the soldiers was a result of her Aspect — a strengthening of her allies and their weapons.

If he were to take a guess, the boost that was applied to the Silvermane Guards was her Dormant Ability, while the strengthening of their weapons was an Awakened Ability. Of course, it was possible for it to be the other way around; or for both effects to be the result of a single Ability.

If it was the latter, then that meant that Bronya's Aspect Rank must have been relatively high.

Either way, Sunny came to one conclusion based on the gleamed information.

'She's willing to get killed as long as I'm taken down as well.'

Bronya's clothing was not a Memory, and would therefore provide no protection against even a mundane bullet. Considering that she didn't have an Aspect that provided augmentations, it was highly likely that an enhanced rifle could shoot through her entirely — hitting Sunny in the process.

It was quite the cunning — if not suicidal — plan. In fact, it could have succeeded if Sunny hadn't deduced the nature of her Aspect. He also doubted that the Silvermane Guards were willing to shoot Bronya just to finish him off.

It was definitely possible that the augmented bullets could hurt Sunny. However, that would be under the assumption that Sunny was a normal Awakened.

With three shadows wrapped around his body, all of Sunny's capabilities were augmented to be quadruple of what they originally were. Four times stronger. Four times faster.

Four times more durable.

Sunny wouldn't even need the Puppeteer's Shroud to tank a bullet.

Allowing one of his shadows to discretely slide off his body, Sunny took a look at the situation behind him. March and Dan Heng had summoned their weapons, which meant that an escape wouldn't require too much time to initiate.

…But even if Sunny could survive being shot by the augmented rifles, the same couldn't be said about March and Dan Heng. In fact, Sunny guessed that they haven't even noticed the mystical presence of the Silvermane Guard's weaponry.

As his shadow returned to augmenting himself, Sunny spoke in a mocking tone:

"What? Are you really going to shoot the future Supreme Guardian herself — without her ever flourishing as your leader? I didn't think you guys could be so heartless…"

Sunny couldn't see any of their faces, but he could see the hesitation in their body language.

When Sunny had decided to hold Bronya hostage, he saw only two outcomes. The first of which was that he forced the Silvermane Guards to drop their weapons, giving all three of them a clear opportunity to escape. The second of which… was a little bit violent, even for Sunny.

He would have to kill Bronya, getting rid of the effects of her Aspect. Once that happened, the streets in front of the hotel and coffee shop would bathe in the blood of both royalty and soldiers.

Then, he would become a criminal in the truest sense of the world.

'The lengths I have to go to save my own skin…'

Sunny genuinely hoped that the Silvermane Guards would stand down. It would make things much easier for both him, and his criminal record. Besides, how would they imprison them in the first place? Shadow Step was the answer to practically any problem regarding confinement.

Silence reigned the streets, even with people exiting their homes and places of work to see what all the commotion was all about.

Nobody dared to speak… until someone did.

A single Silvermane Guard lowered his gun, hesitation apparent in his voice.

"You… if we drop our guns, will you stay true to your word?"

Sunny grinned.

"Of course! I'm the most honest person in the world — two worlds even! I'm not a fan of violence, you know?"

A few moments passed. Suddenly, the soldier who had asked the question slowly laid his gun on the floor.

"W—wait! Don't believe anything he says! You'll only give the rebels more of an advantage!"

Sunny blinked as Bronya squirmed in his arms. Now that he thought about it, he really was acting like a wanted criminal now…

Tightening his grip to secure Bronya, Sunny spoke in a whisper so that others would not be able to hear. Otherwise, he might actually end up going to prison…

"You're really getting on my nerves, calling me a rebel of all things. I'm a law-abiding citizen… on particularly good days."

Sunny lingered for a second, wondering if he was really going to say this. It was less embarrassing since Bronya couldn't see his face without turning around, but still…

"Did you know that there are plenty of things worse than death? Especially for a girl as pretty as you…"

Sunny felt disgusted by what he was implying. Even he had limits when it came to what the Nightmare Spell would dub as his 'treacherous ways'. Honestly, he was grateful that his Flaw limited him to only insinuate the threat rather than state that he would do it himself.

'I'm really going to have to scrub my tongue clean after this.'

Bronya froze in his grip. Sunny saw the side of her face pale, which showed that he had achieved the desired result.

Looking back at the Silvermane Guards, he nonchalantly stated:

"I'll need all of you to put your guns down. If even one of you has a weapon, I'll take that as a declaration of war."

Slowly but surely, the Silvermane Guards disarmed themselves. Sunny made sure to keep an eye on each and every one of them. Despite the fact that they were normal humans, it wouldn't do him well to underestimate any of them.

Once they had all put down their weapons, the same Silvermane Guard from before spoke again.

"There… we did as you asked. Now let her go!"

Sunny tilted his head in confusion.

"Ah… maybe you didn't hear me correctly. When did I ever say that I was letting her go?"

Sunny stood silent as the onlookers felt dread seep into their nerves. A chill crawled up the spines of both the Silvermane Guards and the onlookers. Based on their expressions, Sunny could guess what must have went through their minds:

'How could such a person possibly be human?!'

He chuckled, causing Bronya to flinch. They wouldn't be wrong. An Awakened Demon was a classification reserved for Nightmare Creatures after all.

"All I said was that I wouldn't kill her. This might be your first time handling negotiations, but I feel like it's common sense to never let go of a hostage until they aren't needed anymore."

March and Dan Heng hadn't done anything yet — probably to see where he was going with this drastic plan of his. It would get pretty dicey if they interrupted, due to the fact that Sunny had made couple bluffs.

Which was the reason why Sunny made sure to whisper to Bronya when he had made his… questionable threat. If March or Dan Heng had heard it, they might have thought that he was going too far.

Before anyone could say anything, Sunny made sure to confirm something for the soldiers.

"Don't even think about picking up your gun. If any one of you try something, her head might roll across the ground."

As the clear warning resounded throughout the streets, Sunny dismissed the Moonlight Shard before chopping Bronya on the back of her neck in quick succession. A slight grunt exited her lips before she fell limp, unconscious in his arms.

Carrying the unconscious heir to the Supreme Guardian in his arms, Sunny turned towards his two companions. He kept a shadow on the lookout to make sure that nobody made any sudden moves.

Looking between March and Dan Heng — the former giving him a dubious look as the latter sighed in exasperation — Sunny awkwardly asked in a hushed tone:

"So… where do we go now?"

Chapter Text

Dan Heng sighed as Sunny complained about the constant onslaught of Fragmentum monsters.

"Was this really the best place to run off to?"

After Sunny's little… performance, they took Bronya's unconscious body along with them as they tried to escape law enforcement. Considering the situation, Dan Heng thought that it was quite important to have some form of leverage against the Supreme Guardian.

Sunny wasn't aware of it since he was asleep, but March and Dan Heng had went around as he slept in his hotel room. Thanks to this, they had found a restricted section of Belobog: the Fragmentum.

Of course, it would be quite dangerous due to the Fragmentum monsters, but it was better than having to fight humans. At least, that was how Dan Heng rationalized it.

March glared at Sunny.

"What are you complaining about? You're not even fighting!"

The boy's arms were occupied with the task of carrying the Supreme Guardian's daughter around. As such, Sunny was in no state to be swinging a sword around.

Sunny scowled.

"Why don't you try carrying a hostage around? She keeps squirming around, and the monsters aren't helping!"

…This must have been at least the twelfth time that Sunny and March had started an argument since they entered the Fragmentum. Dan Heng wondered why Welt couldn't have dealt with this instead.

His thoughts were disturbed when Sunny suddenly stopped walking. Dan Heng and March both stopped as well, understanding what his sudden halt of movement meant.

"Two of them around the corner. They're both one of those fire soldiers."

They had encountered quite a few monsters that were produced by the Fragmentum. They generally fell into two categories: soldiers and bats. These soldiers and bats would either wield ice or fire. The latter would be the perfect counter to March's Aspect, so she tended to stay back and provide support against them.

Thus, Dan Heng would have to be the one who engaged them.

Flourishing his spear, he prepared for the Fragmentum monsters to round the corner. The orb imbedded into his spear started to rotate, enhancing his Aspect.

The spear — Cloud-Piercer — that he wielded wasn't a Legacy Relic. Actually, Dan Heng couldn't quite recall where he had recieved either of the two…

His Legacy Relic was actually the orb that connected the shaft of the spear to the blade.

The spear itself had a few effective enchantments engraved into it. The first of which was that any living being pierced by the spear would have a minuscule, yet gradual lethargy to any and all biological functions. Of course, the effect wasn't very powerful unless he landed multiple attacks on a single enemy.

Considering that many battles could end in a single attack, it was only useful for extremely drawn out encounters, or against enemies much stronger than Dan Heng himself. Even then, the effect is weaker the higher his enemy's Rank and Class is.

The second enchantment that the Cloud-Piercer had was a sharpness enchantment. It wasn't anything special, but it was still a universally useful enchantment. It was much easier to fight when you didn't have to worry about your weapon not being able to pierce armor.

The third enchantment… was a little special. Dan Heng didn't plan on using it unless there was some sort of emergency, as it took quite a long amount of time to prepare the enchantment for use.

His Legacy Relic had the ability to merge with any weapon Memory he wanted, allowing him to turn it into a pseudo-Relic. The Cloud-Piercer had become a soulbound Memory, being able to progress alongside Dan Heng.

It also had a few more functions, but those weren't relevant currently.

As the burning soldiers peeked out of the corner, Dan Heng rushed forward. The air around him parted, allowing him to completely ignore air resistance.

A common misconception was that Dan Heng's Awakened Ability allowed him to control the weather. Although that was how he had explained it, that was simply because it was somewhat complicated.

His Awakened Ability allowed him to transmute Essence.

For example, he could turn his Essence into wind that he could completely control. This allowed him to displace the air around him, increasing his movement speed.

Dan Heng's Essence can be transmutated into anything; as long as he had a deep understanding of it's chemical structure.

He tended to use his Aspect to manipulate the elements, which seemed to be much easier when he was outdoors. Dan Heng couldn't quite understand it, but his Awakened Ability tended to be less potent while in places like the Herta Space Station.

Looking at the positioning of the two burning Frangmentum monsters, Dan Heng dashed past the one closest to him, instead impaling the one that was further from him through the skull.

[You have defeated an Awakened Monster, Incineration Shadewalker.]

Quickly removing the spear, Dan Heng dodged to the side to avoid the burning halberd that threatened to split him in two. He immediately lunged back into the fight, swinging his spear like a pole.

The Incineration Shadewalker blocked the blow with it's halberd, halting the momentum of Dan Heng's spear.

Despite this, Dan Heng did not attempt to disengage. Instead, he simply put more pressure where their weapons intersected. Using his spear as a conduit, he channeled his Essence through it…

Sparks started to fly.

The crackling of electricity resounded across the Fragmentum as the Incineration Shadewalker started to convulse. With a simple thrust, Dan Heng stabbed the immobile Fragmentum monster in the chest, slaying it once and for all.

[You have defeated an Awakened Monster, Incineration Shadewalker.]

***

"Ah… I didn't even get to do anything."

At March's voice, Sunny sent his shadows out further. There was no longer a reason to keep them here, since the imminent threat was subjugated.

Looking through the different perspectives of his shadows as they glided across the Fragmentum, Sunny suddenly froze.

'…How persistent.'

Turning towards Dan Heng and March — the former was returning to where the other two stood — Sunny bared grim news.

"We're being chased by multiple search parties. They're being led by some girl with glasses… seems like an Awakened."

March frowned.

"Why are the Silvermane Guards after us in the first place? I mean, I don't think we committed any crimes…"

She leered at Sunny.

"Not until you got involved, at least."

Sunny simply shrugged.

"Cocolia was pretty suspicious from the start."

Dan Heng blinked.

"Really? In what way?"

Sunny paused for a few moments.

"Uh… my intuition told me!"

It was quite unfortunate that Sunny had to have fallen unconscious. If he hadn't passed out from narcolepsy, he would have been able to leave one of his shadows behind to monitor the Supreme Guardian. Maybe they wouldn't have been in this situation…

Either way, that didn't change the fact that the trio was surrounded by multiple parties of Silvermane Guards — probably to retrieve the girl in his arms. Although they don't want Bronya to die, they also didn't want her to be kidnapped by people who could do anything they wanted with her.

His shadows circled the area around them, monitoring both the Silvermane Guards and mapping out the area. Despite this, Sunny found an issue.

If it was just himself, he would have been able to easily escape — even if he couldn't use Shadow Step. However, not only was he not alone, he was holding an unconscious woman in his arms. The gaps between the search parties was enough so that they could watch each other's back.

Even though they could easily outrun the mundane soldiers, they knew the area much better than them. It would be much more difficult for them to escape against people who were native to Belobog.

…Therefore, Sunny could only come to two conclusions.

He wasn't too sure whether he could use Bronya as a hostage again to get away. As such, Sunny decided to take more drastic measures.

"…Alright, let’s take a vote. Option one; kill them. Option two; let me get captured while you two retreat… with our hostage, of course."

March and Dan Heng stared at him for a moment, before the latter asked:

"I don't think I heard you correctly. What did you say?"

Sunny tilted his head.

"We should either let me distract them until they capture me, or just kill them."

March's lips parted slightly, a perplexed expression on her face.

"Wait… what exactly do you mean by 'kill'?"

Sunny frowned. What was there to explain?

"You know… ending their lives. I'm not sure what's so confusing about this."

Dan Heng studied him for a moment.

"Okay… so you think that we should kill them. Using our weapons to take their lives."

Sunny smiled.

"Yeah! Do you get it now, March?"

Dan Heng palmed his face.

"No… Sunny, we can't just kill them."

March's gaze swiveled between the two of them as Sunny blinked.

"Of course we can! I mean, if you two don't think that you can take on some mundane soldiers, I could deal with them myself. Besides, I just said that I could be distraction!"

***

March was starting to get confused. Why were they suddenly having a conversation about killing? That wasn't something people should casually be talking about…

"That isn't what I meant! It just isn't right!"

It was rare for Dan Heng to raise his voice. He only ever did that when something really ticked him off…

Sunny had a confused look on his face.

"It's not like they could fight back against us. There's only a single Awakened among them, and there are three of us. As long as they die instantly, then they won't even feel it. Again, if you don’t like that idea, then just send me over! I’ll be fine."

March was slowly getting more and more disturbed. Due to her Flaw, she knew that Sunny had a few screws loose, but this disregard for human life was simply insane.

Both for others, and himself.

Biting her lip, March hesitantly asked:

"Do you… do you really not care if they die?"

A look of realization appeared on Sunny's face. Just when March had thought that he might have seen the problem here, Sunny suddenly scowled.

"Of course I care if they die! That’s why we have the other solution! Letting me attract their attention would let you guys escape, and I’ll just find my way back! It’s not like they could hold me…”

Dan Heng visibly grit his teeth.

"Okay… let's say that you did captured. I’ve heard of special shackles that can restrict Aspects. What will you do if you can’t escape?”

Sunny paused, seeming as if he realized a problem.

“That’s a good point. In that case, I guess killing the guards is the only foolproof way… how unfortunate.”

Dan Heng massaged his temples.

“So, in a scenario where you can’t escape, you’d rather just… kill the Silvermane Guards? What would you do after that?”

In response, Sunny blinked.

“Well… yeah? I mean, they chose to pursue us. They’re voluntarily risking their lives… and if my guess is correct, they probably have the means to hurt us.”

He suddenly shuddered as he coughed after a long stretch of silence. He blinked.

“Oh, right. After that, wouldn’t it make sense to go for the source? She’s the one who’s actually sending these guys to their deaths… who thought it was a good idea to send normal people into a Fragmentum?”

That last question seemed to be directed towards himself. With a sigh, Dan Heng mostly calmed down as he listened to Sunny’s reasoning.

At the same time though, there was a stiffness, as if he couldn’t go through with the plan.

“…No. We won’t let you get captured, and we won’t kill any of the guards. As for the Supreme Guardian… who knows how that would affect Belobog as a whole?”

Sunny scoffed.

"Well, if you have any better ideas, feel free to tell me. We’re starting to run out of time, and once we do, then we’ll have no other choice.”

Dan Heng seemed as if he was going to accept that outcome as he opened his mouth, before unnaturally stiffening as he hesitantly denied it.

“…No, we can’t do that. They’re only normal people. Somehow, we need to find another way to escape.”

Sunny seemed confused, as if he noticed that moment of acceptance as he pursed his lips. Then, he shook his head as he shrugged.

“I guess that’s fine. Then, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to rush over to Qlipoth Fort to get rid of the Supreme Guardian. I doubt things will get too bad, since she seemed to leave her heir behind… who’s right with us after we held her hostage. Damnation… wouldn’t the same thing repeat itself then?”

He frowned in contemplation.

“Uh… I guess we just have to fight the guards then. If it was just me, I could have easily avoided them… but that’s probably not going to happen. The lady in the glasses is coming directly for us, and she doesn’t seem worried at all. We can’t hide, we can’t run… and holding back will definitely get us killed. It looks like you two are going to have to throw away your grievances if you want to live. After this, getting rid of the Supreme Guardian will be the next goal so that the chain-of-command, then we look for the Stellaron, get rid of it, and everything will be fine!”

After rambling, Sunny looked between Dan Heng and March — who both wore expressions of disbelief. He blinked a few times, before smiling.

“Don’t worry. It’s just a Master. I’ve killed a Great Devil before, you know?”

The sound of flesh being struck resounded across the Fragmentum.

***

Pain bloomed in Sunny's cheek. Looking for the source, he saw March with her hand outstretched and tears that threatened to flow from her eyes. Dan Heng stared at her with widened eyes.

"You…! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Sunny narrowed his eyes.

"I hope that you did that because you saw a bug. And to answer your question, there isn't anything wrong with me."

His face scrunched up.

"Actually, what's wrong with you?! Both of you! We're not kids… every night, we get sent to a world full of monsters that want nothing more than to kill us! This isn't some fairytale where everyone gets a happy ending!"

He paused.

"Why are you even crying anyways?"

March didn't say anything for a moment, before a wry smile appeared on her face.

"You know, I don't think Rain would be proud of her brother being a murderer."

There was a long pause.

Dan Heng swiveled over to her, seemingly having realized something.

Nothing registered with Sunny however, as he recalled his shadows back to him. They slid onto his body, quadrupling his strength. His golden eyes faded to an endless pit of darkness, with a warning deep within it's depths.

"…You have five seconds to explain how you know that name."

Before March could say anything, Dan Heng spoke:

"March, don't say anything…"

He was cut off by the extroverted girl.

"It's my Flaw! Sometimes, other people's memories get shoved in my head… it's really confusing, but it felt like I was you."

Dan Heng finished his sentence with a sigh.

“…Stupid.”

Sunny's fingers dug into Bronya's skin, which could have caused him to draw blood if he didn't notice what he was doing.

What type of Flaw was that? This must have been the second time that he has seen a Flaw that doesn't really have any obvious negative impact. The first of which was AR-26710.

Honestly, it seemed more like a blessing than anything else. Being able to see the memories of others…

Looking down at the knocked-out body of Bronya, Sunny huffed before tossing her at March. Due to the suddenness, she almost dropped the Supreme Guardian's daughter.

"I'm leaving. If you two end up in danger, don't count on me to rescue you."

Using Shadow Step, Sunny disappeared from their sight. He was still nearby, but March and Dan Heng didn't need to know that.

After a moment of silence, March awkwardly inquired:

"I kind of messed up, didn't I?"

Dan Heng sighed. He was starting to look decades older at this point.

"That would be an understatement."

Chapter Text

Within the shadows, Sunny had a contemplative expression on his face. This… shouldn't be possible.

Why was there a large expanse of shadows under Belobog?

'I guess that's something to look into.'

Sunny attached himself to Dan Heng's shadow, becoming completely imperceptible from either him or March. Through his shadow sense, Sunny could feel one of the search parties approaching the two, meaning that a conflict was inevitable.

Honestly, Sunny couldn't understand what went through their heads. What was wrong with killing the Silvermane Guards? They were the ones that were pursuing them, so it would only be right to fight back. Besides, they must have been prepared to die when they decided that they should be going after three Awakened. Shouldn't they respect that resolve?

'Where do they get off judging me? How have they even survived this long in the first place…'

Sunny was envious of March and Dan Heng. He couldn't remember the past four years of his life, but he would bet everything on the possibility of his path being caked in blood. Being able to live a life in which one didn't have to kill seemed quite nice…

Which was why they were going to learn the cold truth now. Not killing an enemy is much harder than simply ending their life, especially when said enemies had no desire to hold back. In the guards perspective, they were rebels; enemies of Belobog. Sunny doubted that they would have the opportunity to worry about whether they might fatally injure one of them, as the soldiers would be going against superhumans.

This single difference in goals could decide whether or not Dan Heng and March would lose. It wouldn't do them any good to underestimate them just because they were normal humans. Not only that, but they had an Awakened among them, which adds another level of unpredictability.

As such, Sunny was going to hide in the shadows to observe this encounter. He was curious about what the other two might employ, since they seemed quite confident in their ability to deal with this situation without spilling any blood. Maybe they had restraining Memories, or tricks that they had created with their Aspects.

As the Silvermane Guards appeared, Sunny watched the imminent encounter from the safety of the shadows. The petite girl that led the Silvermane Guards on this pursuit argued with Dan Heng for a couple minutes, demanding that they hand over Bronya — who was being held limply in March's arms — and to surrender so that they can be arrested.

Since the crime was staged by the Supreme Guardian, there were very low chances of them escaping execution — or at best, long-term imprisonment.

Naturally, March and Dan Heng weren't very accepting of those conditions, and after laying Bronya against a wall, they engaged the Silvermane Guards in combat.

The two of them fought valiantly against dozens of soldiers, with bullets and halberds wizzing around to stop them. March decreased the temperature to a degree that even normal humans can survive, but still causing the metal plates of their armor to stick together if she was lucky. Dan Heng meanwhile, showered them with quick bursts of water, making them even more vulnerable to the cold.

Meanwhile, the spectacled Awakened — named Pela — seemed to be a noncombatant. However, her Aspect was definitely combat-related. Sunny could see the effects that it had on March and Dan Heng, making them much weaker than they already were.

aIf he had to take a guess, Sunny guessed that her Aspect had the ability to make someone more fragile.

After all, a stray bullet had pierced March's shoulder, which shouldn't have been possible considering that the Silvermane Guard's weapons weren't being augmented by Bronya's Aspect anymore.

A scream was torn from March's throat as she threw a kick that had more strength then she meant to put into it. Her leg connected with a soldier's lower face, caving in his helmet as he fell to the ground.

Considering that he was struggling to get rid of the helmet, he certainly wasn't dead. However, if nobody removed the helmet off his skull, he might suffocate to death.

Looking around to make sure that nobody was looking, Sunny appeared behind the fallen Silvermane Guard. In less than a second, the guards helmet split open, revealing a gruff face along with a broken nose. The guard looked around in confusion to find who had cut open his helmet, but found nothing.

Sunny dismissed the Moonlight Shard in the shadows, sneaking around the streets of the Fragmentum. Keeping an eye on the state of the battlefield, he could see that Dan Heng and March were starting to sustain major injuries. A few bullet wounds in non-vital areas, shallow cuts from the halberds; and they were starting to succumb to exhaustion as well.

Every added enemy is an exponential increase in difficulty, not additive. Two Awakened going against dozens of Silvermane Guards and an Awakened that decreased how tenacious their bodies were wasn't something that they could shrug off.

He saw a soldier attempt to retrieve Bronya, who had been left behind to free up March's arms. Using Shadow Step, Sunny quickly knocked him out, once more disappearing from the battlefield.

'…Should I get involved now?'

Sunny wondered if it was too risky to allow them to keep fighting. They were quite injured, and unlike Lost From Light himself, they could bleed. And they were bleeding quite a lot as well.

Just as he was about to exit the shadows, several orbs fell in the middle of the street. Smoke started to fill the streets, causing Sunny to narrow his eyes.

The already-exhausted Dan Heng and March passed out. However, the same occurred for the Silvermane Guards and Pela, who fell unconscious from the smoke that flooded the area.

'…Poisonous gas?'

If that was the case, Sunny would have felt a large amount of living shadows become wild shadows as the people around died. Instead, they stayed the same as they always were, meaning that this was sleeping gas instead.

One that was stronger enough to subdue Awakened.

A voice resounded across the street.

"I have one thing to say: Sampo never lets friends who've helped him come to harm. I say what I mean... and I mean what I say."

…Well, this looked like a development.

Exiting the shadows while ignoring the sleeping gas around him, Sunny picked up Bronya from her position against a wall. Sending his shadows around, Sunny located Sampo Koski — the Master that had dipped after the Silvermane Guards had first encountered the trio.

Carrying Bronya, he saw Sampo flinch at his sudden appearance. The sleazy man sighed in relief once he got a better look at him through the smoke.

"Phew… I knew someone was missing. So, where were you while your friends were fighting an uphill battle?"

The man slung Dan Heng and March over his shoulders. Sunny simply shrugged.

"I was here the whole time."

It was the truth. He was hiding in the shadows, making sure that nothing irreversible happened. After all, these two were his responsibility currently. If they died on his watch, it would probably hurt his résumé.

Sighing, Sunny continued.

"Also, they aren't my friends."

Sampo chuckled at something he must have found funny, which caused Sunny to narrow his eyes.

"What?"

"Oh… nothing. I was just thinking that she really has her work cut out for her."

Sunny blinked in confusion.

"Who's ‘she’?"

Completely ignoring his question, Sampo took a few steps before speaking:

"Follow me. I know a doctor that could help these two out."

His eyes lingered on Bronya in curiosity.

"…Isn't that the Supreme Guardian's daughter? What're you bringing her along for? Not that I’m accusing you of anything…"

Sunny stared at Bronya for a second, before smiling as he replied to Sampo:

"Insurance."

***

'…All of this, under Belobog?!'

Sunny's eyes widened, wondering how this place was hidden. Noticing his surprise, Sampo explained:

"Welcome to the Underworld, my friend. Where nothing but the most unfortunate dwell."

The Underworld of Belobog stretches before the eye like a forgotten world, a place where the dying light of the surface world can never quite reach. It was a labyrinth of shadowed streets and echoing chambers, a city of eternal twilight where the hum of ancient machinery was the only sound that pierces the stillness. The air was thick with the scent of rust and coal, the remnants of long-buried industry, and a constant low rumble reverberates through the ground, as though the city itself was alive, breathing beneath its stone skin.

The buildings were made of dark iron and crumbling stone, towering structures that lean at odd angles, their facades covered in grime and soot from centuries of neglect. The walls were lined with worn-out cables and pipes, their purpose forgotten, their rusted veins pumping lifeblood into a world that clings to what little energy it has left. Dim lanterns hang from the ceilings of narrow alleyways, casting pools of pale, flickering light, their glow too weak to push back the pressing darkness. It's a place where hope feels distant, where survival is the only currency that matters.

Sampo lead Sunny through it's dark streets, having arrived here with a secret entrance within the Fragmentum. The Underworld felt like a reflection of what lied above — making the Overworld seem like a place of luxury rather than a city that borders against a subzero extinction.

…This place reminded Sunny about the outskirts of the city he had lived in back on Earth. As he and Sampo passed by the denizens of the Underworld, Sunny could practically feel the depression in the atmosphere.

Sunny stopped walking as he caught a glimpse of something in an alleyway. Looking into it, his eyes made contact with a child that seemed to be no more than ten years old. The boy glared at him, cheeks sunken in.

'…Malnourished.'

Unpleasant thoughts and memories filled Sunny's mind, but he ignored them. Laying Bronya against a wall while leaving a shadow to watch over her unconscious form, Sunny approached the child.

Sampo looked back to see where Sunny had went, just to find him waking into an alleyway.

"Hey! Where are you…"

Once Sampo saw what he was doing, he sighed in exasperation.

"Don't even bother. That kid doesn't take anything from anyone… real stubborn about it too."

Sparks danced in Sunny's hand, a bottle forming in it. The boy took a step back, wary of the sudden phenomenon that occurred in front of him.

Tossing the Endless Spring at the boy, Sunny watched as he fumbled with it for a second. Looking up at Sunny, the boy scowled.

"I don't want it. Go bark up someone else's tree."

Sunny scoffed.

"What, do you think it's for you? I just don't think there's enough space in this hellhole for a brat's corpse. Besides, do you even know what a tree is?"

He crouched down until he was around the boy's height. Considering the lack of nutrition, Sunny still ended up being a little taller despite the fact that he was crouching.

"Let me tell you something kid. Unless you have parents — which I doubt — nobody really cares about you. So if somebody gives you something, then that means they want something in return. Right now, I think that your dead body would be an eyesore. So if you don't want to cause problems for others, you better keep yourself alive. Got that?"

The kid stared at Sunny in apprehension, before sniffing the Endless Spring. Sunny grinned.

"You're a smart one, aren't you? You should always be suspicious of people that give you food and water. But… I don't think you know what poison smells like."

Snatching the Endless Spring out of the kids hands, Sunny took a sip out of it. Passing it back to the kid, he spoke:

"There. No poison."

The boy pursed his lips, before hesitatingly sipping from the Endless Spring. His sip started to dissolve into chugging…

Sunny patiently waited for around a minute, before his brows furrowed.

"If you keep drinking, your stomach might burst."

The boy stopped drinking, having an embarrassed expression on his face.

"Right… here."

The boy tried to return the Endless Spring to Sunny, but it wasn't necessary. The Memory disappeared in dancing sparks of light. The kid looked at his hands in fascination as Sunny walked away, finding Sampo who looked at the kid in confusion.

"…How did you do that?"

Sunny picked up Bronya. He felt the pressure from his Flaw build up, forcing him to answer the question.

"Kids like those understand things like hate better than love. They're more accepting of people doing things for selfish reasons rather than selfless ones."

Sampo looked back at where the child stood with an unreadable expression on his face.

"I don't think that's a good thing."

Sunny scoffed.

"Of course it isn't. But what else do rats have? All they can do is struggle to survive… the whole world is their enemy, so why should they care about it?"

With one last glance at the malnourished child, Sunny sighed as he followed Sampo. He didn't know if the kid's parents died, or had deemed him as too much as a burden, abandoning him.

Even so, as long as he thrashed and kicked until he couldn't, the boy might end up being just fine.

Sampo just sighed.

"Still, that doesn't seem like a way anyone should live."

Chapter Text

Bronya's eyes cracked open slowly. She noticed a dull pain in the back of her neck. Softly rubbing it in confusion, Bronya looked at her surroundings as she rose from her bed.

Or at least, what she thought was her bed.

'…This isn't my room.'

As she looked around, the contrast that this place had with her luxurious room in Qlipoth Fort was apparent. Wooden floors, minimalist furniture… was that medical equipment?

'A clinic?'

The clinic was a sanctuary of quiet respite amidst the clamor of the world. It’s walls, painted in soft, muted tones of ivory and pale wood, seemed to absorb the weight of the day, leaving behind only a sense of calm. The air, lightly scented with herbs and the faintest hint of antiseptic, carried a soothing coolness that wrapped around those who entered, as if inviting them to exhale the tension of their lives.

Bronya just sighed. Why was she even thinking about this? She should be more worried about how she had gotten here. Maybe it had to do with the full pain in her neck.

There were two other occupants nearby. A black-haired boy and a pink-haired girl. Both of them seemed to be quite injured, considering the amount of bandages that enshrouded their bodies. They both laid on beds of their own, just to the left of Bronya herself.

Unseen to anyone else was grayish aura surrounding the two unconscious youths — bordering on white. It was practically transparent to Bronya, and didn’t affect her visual perception.

The representation of one’s morality was shown through how bright or dark one’s aura was. By the rules of her Flaw, if a person had a bright aura, then they believed themselves to be morally good. If it was darker, then they felt that they were evil. It wasn’t an accurate portrayal of morality, but instead revealed how a person saw themselves.

The two youths both seemed familiar, but she wasn't sure why…

The sound of a door swinging open startled Bronya, an embarrassing sound of surprise escaping her pink lips. Hoping that nobody heard that, she turned her head in the direction of the now open door.

'…A child?'

A boy that couldn't have been less than half a decade younger than her entered the clinic, his eyes sweeping the room as if he was searching for something.

The boy had extraordinarily pale skin, that had not a single blemish staining it. His hair was a shade of grey similar to Bronya's, and held a strange, dark luster. His eyes were a pair of golden orbs, which seemingly radiated — and absorbed — an eerie light.

His face was like that of a porcelain doll, with his long eyelashes and full lips. His eyes glimmered with an indescribable sharpness, but also carried a darkness in their golden depths…

Bronya's eye twitched. Not only was her overactive mind being a pest, but she felt that her pride as a woman was being threatened. By a child, no less!

He wore a loose, plain white shirt, coupled with a pair of black pants. His forearms were exposed, revealing what seemed to be a coiling, inky snake tattoo. It almost seemed to be alive.

'Isn't he too young to have a tattoo?'

Bronya narrowed her eyes, confused. Her Flaw didn't show a single hint at what the boy thought of his morals. She hasn't seen a single person that didn't have an opinion of their own morality. There are those that see themselves as good people, and those that see themselves as bad people. There are also those that don't see themselves as either, but that in itself is an opinion.

To not have any opinion… didn't that go against human nature?

The boy looked at the unconscious teens for a second, before looking at Bronya herself. He seemed to contemplate something for a moment, before saying:

"Hey. I'm Sunny."

The boy that introduced himself as Sunny looked at her with a gaze that reminded her of some of the political elites in Qlipoth Fort. The kind in which they tried to compare the benefits and losses of certain decisions.

Realizing that she hadn't introduced herself, Bronya attempted to speak. However, she was suddenly cut off by Sunny.

"I already know who you are, Bronya Rand. After all, I'm the one who brought you here."

Looking at her for a second, he asked:

"Considering that you didn't try to shoot me with that gun Memory of yours, I'm guessing you don't recognize me?"

Bronya frowned. Why would she try to shoot a child? That wasn't something that should be expected from someone of her station. And why should she recognize him?

His voice was eerily familiar though… and his name as well.

Sunny simply sighed before taking a seat in a wooden chair.

"The doctor that runs this clinic will be back soon. You're not injured or anything, but you were out for… around three days?"

He mumbled something to himself, seemingly confused about why she was out for so long.

Bronya stared at Sunny for a second before asking:

"Why would a child be left here unsupervised? I'll need to have a long talk with the one who operates this place about leaving children around medical equipment."

Looking at her strangely, Sunny took a look around the clinic.

"…I don't see any kids around. I was standing near the entrance the whole time, so nobody should have been able to get in…"

Bronya frowned. Who was he trying to fool?

"I'm referring to you. It goes against one of Belobog's laws regarding medical practices to leave an unattended child in a room containing medical equipment."

***

Sunny was aware that his height was quite unusual compared to other male Awakened, but that was a simple matter of having been malnourished. Not only that, but his height was relatively average when compared to mundane humans.

So what was it that made Bronya think that he was a child?

Sunny put a hand up to his chin in contemplation, before removing his hand as he looked at it. Poking his own face, he drew a strange look from Bronya.

His eyes lingered on her for a second.

"…I guess I do look pretty young. But I'm seventeen, got that?"

Bronya just looked at him with disbelief written all over her face. Sunny simply shrugged at her.

"Anyways, the guys that brought you in here thought of you as a hostage. What was that all about?"

Sunny walked over to a table, in which Natasha had left a tea set. She told him that he could help himself, so he was bound to take her up on that offer.

He observed Bronya as he took a sip from a cup. She stared at him in confusion, before a flash of realization appeared in her eyes. Her eyes flickered to the injured Dan Heng and March, as panic revealed itself on her face.

Looking down at his cup of tea, Sunny smiled.

'This is pretty good!'

Turning towards Bronya, Sunny briefly spoke.

"Want some tea? It might not match up to whatever you usually get, but it's really good considering that we're in the Underworld."

When Sunny spoke of the Underworld, Bronya suddenly stood up.

"How…? The Underworld? But the entrance should have been closed off…"

Bronya rushed towards the door, seemingly forgetting about the whole situation with the trio's supposed crimes.

Just as she was about to leave, she paused before turning back to Sunny.

"…Did you see a third person come in with those two?"

Sunny paused for a second. Did Bronya not see his face back then? He was behind her the whole time…

'Heh. Maybe I should mess with her a bit.'

Sunny plastered a serious look on his face.

"Yeah. There was a blue-haired guy that carried them over here. He looks sleazy, like he would rob you the first chance he gets."

Bronya nodded, showing him a grateful smile.

"I see. Thank you for the information."

Sunny struggled to not laugh.

Bronya opened the door, stepping outside the clinic. When it shut, he sent the Happy shadow out to keep track of her. With that, Sunny sat back on his wooden chair as he sipped out of his cup, waiting for his companions to wake up from their deep sleep.

He paused mid-sip, realizing that he didn't actually have to stay here. Leaving the Haughty shadow behind, Sunny quickly gulped down his cup before placing it back with the rest of the tea set.

Exiting Natasha's clinic, Sunny breathed in the air of Boulder Town, which carried the scent of coal. He took a couple steps, before looking back at the clinic with an annoyed expression.

Sunny walked back in for a moment…

…And exited with two kids being held by the collar.

As they screamed and protested, Sunny just tossed them onto the ground. Placing his hands on his hips, he looked down on them with a disinterested expression.

"You two didn't really think you could get past me, right? Haven't you two learned your lesson?"

Compared to the child he had given the Endless Spring to, the children of Boulder Town were much better off. The outer portions of the Underworld had horrendous conditions, similar to the outskirts of Earth’s cities.

The two brats — Hook and Julian — kept trying to sneak into Natasha's clinic ever since she had left for some business earlier today. Sunny had to keep them out so they didn't play around with any medical equipment. Of course, two children couldn't possibly get past an Awakened with a scouting Ability such as himself.

Unfortunately, the two runts were persistent.

Hook grit her teeth.

"You can't stop Pitch-Dark Hook the Great and her Moles! Even if it kills me, we'll never give up! So you better run before I get serious, witch's guard dog!"

Hook was a young girl with yellow eyes and blonde hair that's tied into two ponytails. She wore a large ushanka and a thick coat. She was the self-proclaimed leader of a group called the Moles.

It's just a couple kids that play around.

Sighing, Sunny turned towards her accomplice.

"Anything to say for yourself, Julian of the Thousand Faces?"

Julian was a boy that was around the same age as Hook. His hair was a brownish-green, and he had dark eyes.

Julian simply crossed his arms and nodded at Sunny's question.

"Yeah, you better run before we get serious!"

Sunny wondered how he could make sure that these kids didn't try to break into Natasha's clinic. He wanted to go out and look for Sampo, wherever he was, but he remembered causing a purposeful misunderstanding with Bronya. He didn't necessarily need to be with them to watch everything play out…

Prank aside, he still needed to make sure Hook and Julian stayed out of the clinic. How would he convince some kids?

He couldn't threaten to tell their parents, since most of the adults were at the mines. At least, that was the case for the parents of these two.

Pondering for a moment, Sunny felt an idea spark in his head.

"Hey… let's make a deal."

***

"Oh, Pitch-Dark Hook the Great… where could you possibly be…? This divine shadow is starting to get a little hungry."

With the thrashing and screaming Julian slung over his shoulder, Sunny pretended to be looking around for Hook. He challenged them to a game of hide-and-seek, in which they wouldn't try to get into Natasha's clinic if he won.

In truth, he was just bored.

Looking at a few crates, a maniacal grin spread on his face.

"Looks like a little Mole is cowering in fear behind those boxes over there. She might have an easier time if she just gave up now~"

A second later, Hook scurried out from behind the boxes, horrified by the screams she heard from Julian.

"F—fine! You win, so we won't try to get into Nat's place anymore."

Sunny placed Julian back on the floor. He grinned, but it wasn't his usual false smile of deceit and treachery.

"Listen up brats. If you want something from someone, you have to behave around them. You know that bowl of candy in Natasha's clinic?"

At their nod, Sunny continued:

"I can get as much as I want since I don't cause trouble for her. If you want to be able to do the same, you can't go around breaking into their homes, alright? You have to think about the long-term! For example, after I spend multiple years working my butt off for Natasha, I might find the perfect chance to… Never mind. You two are too young to understand…"

Raising a finger like he was giving a lecture, Sunny changed his explanation.

"Just think of it like this: The more helpful you are, the more people feel like they owe you. So you just got to abuse tha—"

"Abuse what?"

Freezing, Sunny slowly turned his head to look upon the figure that had suddenly appeared, as if out of nowhere. Honestly, how was she so sneaky? It shouldn't have been possible for a mundane human to be able to evade his shadow sense so easily…

Natasha was a woman with purple eyes and a fair complexion. She had blue-gray hair that's bob-like in front with two symmetric strands reaching her shoulders, the back tied in a ponytail. There was a mole under her lip on her left side.

She wore a white layered dress which resembles a doctor's coat, with a blue-gray layer and crimson lining. She also wore high leather boots with blue-gray details. Her left arm was bare, while her right arm was covered in a leather elbow-length glove with a torn crimson band tied to her right shoulder. She wore a white bow that was reminiscent of a nurse cap.

On her belt Natasha carried a plush bear, as well as a small leather bag, a glass tube with mushrooms, and a flask of green liquid in it. She also wore a similar pear-shaped flask as a necklace.

Despite the strange accessories — which actually served a purpose — there was a certain mature charm that Natasha seemed to exude.

A charm that Sunny appreciated quite a bit.

Coughing into his fist, Sunny turned towards the older woman with a calm grin as he answered her question.

"Oh, you know… abusing the goodwill of others! Got to learn early, you know…?"

Sunny really hoped that she didn't take his words seriously.

Thankfully, Natasha simply giggled at his words; a sound that was music to his ears.

Hook made a sound of disgust, one that Julian replicated.

Sending a quick glare at the two, Sunny turned back to Natasha.

"Uh… how much of that did you hear?"

She tittered, sending him a knowing look.

"Ever since you found Hook. Honestly, you really are good with kids."

"R—right."

‘Is this the part where I say that ‘dying star’ line? Damnation… I should have gotten some practice!’

Gulping, Sunny redirected the topic.

"Did you find that girl that could help us?"

Natasha nodded, looking back for a second.

"She should be here any second now…"

As if on cue, a familiar flurry of butterflies appeared out of nowhere, revealing a figure that Sunny knew very well… unfortunately.

One that he had been avoiding every time he took a trip to the Dream Realm for the past few days.

'…What in the actual fuck is going on?'

Looking between the pinkish-purple eyes of Natasha and the crimson eyes of Seele's alter ego — who seemed surprised to see him before glaring at him in anger — Sunny plastered a false smile upon his face.

"What a coincidence! Who knew that you happened to be in this specific galaxy, in this specific star system, on this specific planet, in this specific town, while knowing this specific person? It's like fate itself brought us together."

Sunny was panicking on the inside.

'Out of any two women that I could encounter at the same time… why was it these two?!'

For better context, maybe a short flashback sequence would be required…

Chapter Text

"As you can see, we are now in the illustrious Boulder Town! This also happens to be where I tend to conduct most of my respectable business practices…"

Sunny did not think that he believed that Sampo was a person that conducted respectable business of any kind. He chose not to speak on it, and decided to look around Boulder Town instead. The first thing he noticed was that the area was much more well off than the area in which they first came in, as he didn't see anyone that looked like they hadn't eaten for days…

Boulder Town's appearance was reminiscent of the rest of the Underworld, yet the buildings seemed to be relatively well-taken care of. There weren't any malnourished children — at least, none that Sunny could see — and the people here were noticeably less gloomy. Sunny wouldn't go as far as to say that they were living well, but it seemed to be much better than the situation outside of Boulder Town.

Sunny and Sampo drew some eyes, which was to be expected considering the fact that they were carrying around unconscious teens in their arms. Not only that, but some of the wounds that March and Dan Heng sustained were quite gruesome. If a normal person was injured in the same way, Sunny doubted that they would see another day.

At the thought of his injured companions, Sunny sighed.

"Where is this doctor you talked about?"

Honestly, Sunny was surprised that there was a doctor down here. Due to this, he was expecting an unsavory individual that would ask him for a lot of money in exchange for helping out Dan Heng and March.

…Those two were going to owe him. Sunny charges interest.

At his question, Sampo simply said:

"Don't be in such a rush, my friend. We're already here!"

Blinking, Sunny looked up at the building in front of them. It seemed larger than most of the houses around, which made some sense. After all, this was supposed to be a place that can hold multiple patients, while also having the space for medical equipment without giving people difficulties when it came to moving around.

Without even offering the basic courtesy of knocking, Sampo simply barged through the double doors that lead into the clinic.

"Natasha, it's me! Sampo Koski has graciously brought you more patients!"

Sunny hesitantly entered the clinic, hoping that the doctor here wouldn't mind the sudden intrusion. Sampo truly had no manners…

Stepping into the clinic that gave off the scent of sterilized air, Sunny glanced around. Finding the room completely empty… his shadow sense couldn't pick up on anything either.

'Is this Natasha person not here?'

"Sampo… what trouble did you get into this time?"

Sunny almost jumped, startled by the sudden voice he heard. Looking around, he found the source of the voice before them.

The doctor sent Sampo a scathing glare for a moment, before her eyes widened at the sight of the unconscious Nameless. Ignoring the sleazy man for a moment, she ordered:

"Place those two on the beds over there."

Sampo let out a nervous laugh as he carried the two over to a couple of unoccupied beds. The doctor redirected her gaze to Sunny himself — or rather, Bronya, who was being carried in his arms.

"Is she…?"

Sunny was confused for a second, before realizing what she had wanted to ask.

"Oh, no. She's not injured or anything. Just unconscious."

She shook her head.

"That wasn't exactly what I meant, but that can wait until after I'm done patching those two up."

Although Sunny wasn't quite sure what she had wanted to ask, he agreed that healing the other two was much more important.

Placing Bronya on another bed, Sunny took a seat on a wooden chair. The doctor put on some gloves as she walked over to where March and Dan Heng were. She paused and turned towards Sunny, seemingly about to say something before Sampo interrupted.

"You don't have to worry about him watching. He's an Awakened too, so you don't have to hide your Aspect."

Her eyes widened slightly, before silently nodding at his words. She turned back to the injured patients before her as white sparks danced within her palms.

She was summoning a Memory.

Sunny blinked in confusion. Why would anyone need to hide that they were an Awakened? He turned towards Sampo, who lowered his tone to answer his unspoken question, seemingly not wanting to disturb the doctor.

"That's Natasha. She's probably the only doctor in the Underworld, and one of the only three Awakened here — one of them is me. As you can see, yours truly is the only Master…"

Sunny's eye twitched.

"Just get to the point."

Sampo let out an exaggerated sigh.

"…You see, the Supreme Guardian banned any talk of Awakened with normal people in the Underworld."

Sunny thought about Sampo's words for a second… before realizing that this didn't make any sense at all.

"Why would she do that? How would she even keep track of that?"

Sampo crossed his arms, donning a serious expression for the first time since Sunny had met him.

"I'm not too sure about the first question, but as for the second…"

He paused for a second.

"In the Dream Realm, Citadels tend to have a few components that can be used by the Saint that control them. Basically… Belobog can be considered a giant Citadel, and Cocolia can be considered as the Saint that controls it."

Sunny frowned. Belobog was a city that had the blessing of an Aeon itself, so it was bound to have some mystical properties. However, being aware of everything people say to each other…

"Does that mean she can hear any conversation?"

Unless that authority didn't extend to the Fragmentum, she must have heard that Sunny planned to kill her. Cocolia might be wary of him now…

Sampo shook his head.

"Not exactly. Instead, she can impose a single, permanent rule on Belobog. None of the previous Supreme Guardians used it in case there was an emergency, but Cocolia decided to change that."

He chuckled for a second, having found something funny.

"The Overworlders don't know about it, and there are very few Underworlders that do. Me, Natasha, the third Awakened, and a few of the older people know anything about the Nightmare Spell. I don't know why she would waste the single rule on something that seems so useless, but I could take a guess."

Sunny stared at Sampo for a second, before asking:

"Well? What is it?"

Sampo just shook his head with a humorous grin on his face.

"It's just a worst case scenario. I don't think Cocolia is that crazy. I'm sure that the Supreme Guardian must have some good reason as to why she would do such a thing."

Sampo didn't sound very convinced of that — especially after calling the Supreme Guardian crazy. Chances are, the purpose of the rule wasn't very benevolent…

"…Wait. What even happens to people that break that rule?"

Sampo shrugged.

"From what I know, even though the rule is permanent, the consequence of breaking it can be freely changed. The thing is… I only know of a single violation of the rule."

Sampo's grin disappeared off his face.

"This guy woke up from his First Nightmare, and started showing people the powers he had gotten from it. He had a heart attack a couple seconds later."

Sunny narrowed his eyes. Wasn't this just tyranny at this point? He didn't like it one bit.

Seeing his gaze, Sampo just patted Sunny on the back like they were old friends.

"Hey now, it's not all bad! It only applies to people that reveal the existence of the Nightmare Spell directly. If somebody stumbled on an Awakened killing a Nightmare Creature by accident, nothing would happen."

Sunny tilted his head.

"How do you know that?"

Sampo's smile twitched, seemingly annoyed by something.

"This girl, the third Awakened down here, just goes around doing whatever she pleases. Always swinging that scythe I gave her around like there aren't any consequences… what if I get in trouble due to association?!"

He sighed.

"Honestly… it's a good thing that it's only related to the usage of Aspects. You won't break the rule if you summon a Memory. Otherwise, you would have died when you gave that kid some water. It's a pretty convenient loophole."

Sunny blanched. He realized that he was much closer to death than he thought. However, something didn't really make sense to him.

"Wouldn't summoning a Memory be the same as revealing the existence of Awakened? How come that doesn't count?"

Sampo shot him a look that screamed: ‘I don't know!’

"There's no point in testing it, since the moment you cross the line, you die. If I had to guess, maybe it's because Aspects are what characterize an Awakened, while Memories aren't. Or maybe it's fine as long as people don't consider you to be the source of strange abilities, but the Memory instead."

Sampo shook his head.

"Anyways, you'll be fine as long as nobody actually perceives your Aspect. If it's something that isn't noticeable, you could still use it in front of others."

He looked in the direction of where Natasha was treating March and Dan Heng.

"Of course, magically healing people isn't very low key…"

Chapter Text

The Memories that Natasha had summoned were laid out on a tray. There were a few potions, bandages, and a stitching set among them.

Sunny thought that it was quite unusual for Natasha to conveniently have Memories that were perfectly suited to her profession as a doctor. It was even more strange when one considered that the Underworld was separated from the Overworld — which in turn was separated from the rest of the world.

Maybe he should ask about it later.

Natasha first picked up one of the strange potions she had, uncorking the bottle. This one in particular had a green liquid in it.

She first went over to Dan Heng, pouring the green liquid within the potion over each of his wounds. Sunny wasn't very sure what it was supposed to do, but since it was a Memory, it must have served some purpose. Maybe it helped to clean the wound in some way.

Suddenly, a needle with a string attached floated into the air as if it was alive. It almost disappeared, zooming across Dan Heng's body as it stitched together his wounds with frightening precision. In less than a minute, the needle returned to the tray, having sealed the multiple wounds spread across Dan Heng's body.

A roll of bandages unfurled itself, floating on it's own as it delicately wrapped itself around him. Natasha had already turned away from Dan Heng, pouring another one of those green potions on the wounds that littered March's own body. Once she was done, she walked over to where Sunny and Sampo were sitting.

The process repeated itself, with the floating needle and bandages operating automatically. Natasha pulled off her gloves, throwing them into a trash can before pulling a chair up to Sunny and Sampo. Taking a seat, Natasha sent Sunny a gentle smile.

"Your friends will be fine. They're quite tenacious, even when compared to the average Awakened."

Sunny was tempted to clarify that they were not his friends. However, he decided that it wasn't really relevant to the current situation. She glanced towards Sampo, who had an annoying expression plastered on his face.

"It looks like your tendency for getting into trouble is starting to cause problems for others, Sampo Koski."

The man in question waved his hands in a placating manner.

"It's not anything like that! Honestly, they were the ones who…"

Sampo trailed off as he looked towards Sunny, who was dragging finger across his neck without Natasha noticing. The message was clear.

Gulping, Sampo redacted his words.

"Ah, well I suppose it is my fault. Silly me…"

Natasha sighed at his antics.

"What are you up to, Sampo? Why do you insist on getting caught up in Overworld affairs that have nothing to do with you? If it's a whole lot more attention from Wildfire you want, you're going about it the right way."

A look of indignation crossed Sampo's face.

"Hey now! Sampo Koski's primary concern is taking care of his friends. These guys scratched my back. How could I live with myself if I didn't scratch theirs?"

He paused for a second, before grinning.

"And another thing! Where does Wildfire get off... assuming that these fine folks won't come in useful to them, huh? I mean, you never know."

Sunny wasn't quite sure what Wildfire was, but he wasn't liking how Sampo insinuated that he was going to work for them.

"Then what are you going to do about that Overworld girl?"

Sampo stared at the unconscious Bronya for a moment, before simply shrugging.

"My friend Sunny over here brought her, not me. If you want to know, just ask him."

He looked at his bare wrist, pretending that it was a watch, before saying:

"Would you look at the time? I just remembered that I have some business over in the Dream Realm, so I must bid the both of you farewell!"

Sunny narrowed his eyes, before suddenly realizing what Sampo was trying to do.

Before he could even say anything, he felt space warp slightly. It wasn't to an extremely noticeable amount, but Sunny was somewhat sensitive to these things.

Suddenly, Sampo had disappeared from both his line of sight and his shadow sense, which meant that he went to the Dream Realm.

'Does this guy think that he could abuse that trick just because he's a Master?'

That settled it. The moment that Sunny became an Ascended, he was going to do the exact same thing whenever he was in a tricky situation.

Natasha sighed again as her attention was redirected towards Sunny.

"Sunny, right? As you may already know, I'm Natasha, the lone doctor in the Underworld."

He felt a little awkward about being left alone here, but ignored it as he nodded.

"My name is actually Sunless, but people just call me Sunny."

He paused for a second.

"How come you have so many healing Memories? It couldn't have just been luck, right?"

Natasha shook her head.

"It's thanks to my Aspect. I'm able to turn everyday objects into Memories. I can't really control the enchantments though…"

Sunny blinked. He was aware of Aspects that allowed one to create Memories, whether it was by forging a weapon or crafting a charm or tool. However, the only example that he was aware of had to actually forge the item. He couldn't simply turn a random object into a Memory…

…Who was he thinking about again?

Anyways, it seemed like the trade off was that the enchantments couldn't be controlled. It was an Aspect that was tailored to convenience rather than specialization.

Sunny wasn't sure how she was able to evade his shadow sense, nor why she barely had a presence, but maybe it was a Memory that she had.

Sunny sighed before pulling out his phone. Luckily, he still had connection to the internet, which meant that he could access his bank account.

He mentally smiled as he looked upon all those zeroes.

He then realized that he might end up losing a few of those zeroes.

Medical assistance from an Awakened couldn't possibly come cheap.

"…How much do I need to pay you?"

Those words crawled out of Sunny's mouth, his reluctance to throw away money for those two idiot evident. Maybe if they listened to him — the one who was responsible for this expedition — they wouldn't be in this situation!

Natasha looked at him strangely for a second, before a flash of realization appeared on her face.

"Oh! No, no… you don't need to worry about that."

Sunny frowned.

"Well, I'll probably be busy for a while, so it'd make more sense for me to pay you now…"

Natasha chuckled as she shook her head to refute him.

"What I meant was that you don't need to pay me anything. This clinic is meant to help anybody that need it. If I charged everyone that came here, Boulder Town would probably end up looking like the rest of the Underworld."

Sunny almost gaped at her words. A person that didn't need money?

If Sunny was an Awakened doctor, he would definitely be charging a premium for his services!

His fingers twitched around his phone.

"…Just to clarify, you don't need any money whatsoever?"

Natasha nodded.

"Simply making sure that everyone stays healthy is enough payment for me."

Sunny placed a hand on his chest, looking down at it in confusion.

'That's strange… didn't Herta say that my heart doesn't beat anymore?'

He stared at Natasha for a second.

"Alright then. Since they're healed now, is there anywhere that I could take them?"

"You could just leave the three of them here. I'll make sure that all their needs are taken care of, so you don't need to worry about that."

…Free board as well? A strange feeling welled up in his chest, one that he couldn't identify.

Natasha looked at him for a second, before a playful smile graced her lips.

"That doesn't apply to you though, since you aren't a patient. If you'd like, I could show you to a nearby hotel. I'll ask them to waive the fee for you."

A bead of cold sweat trailed down Sunny's face. The feeling within his chest only grew stronger.

Natasha sat up from her seat.

"But before that, are you hungry? I can cook something up really quick. Free of charge."

The words 'free of charge' reverberated through Sunny's skull. His unmoving heart felt like it was pierced by an arrow. Despite this, he didn't feel any pain. It was an unfamiliar feeling, and yet, Sunny instinctively knew what it was.

'Was I always this weak to free stuff? No… that doesn't matter right now. What does matter is…'

Sunny nodded at Natasha's request, following her through a door that led to her place of residence — which would contain her kitchen.

A strange smile appeared on Sunny's face. A smile that the Gloomy shadow silently mocked him for.

'I'm in love!'

Chapter Text

After eating a surprisingly hearty meal at Natasha's place, she had led him to the Goethe Grand Hotel. Strangely enough, the hotel shred the first part of it's name with the Goethe Hotel in the Overworld, the place in which Sunny had woken up in the previous day.

'Such spite…'

Wearing the Puppeteer's Shroud, he laid upon the surprisingly comfortable bed, Sunny turned off the switch that controlled his consciousness…

***

Finding himself back in the Sanctuary of Noctis, Sunny stepped into to his personal room. He planned to simply sleep until he could actually return to the Waking World. Mental fatigue still accumulated gradually even if an Awakened slept in the real world, so he still required sleep in order to function properly.

Jumping onto his bed, Sunny shut his eyes as he waited for the embrace of sleep to claim him. With a relaxed sigh, he sunk into the soft mattress of his bed.

'Hm… I haven't seen Sparkle in a while.'

He wondered if he should pay her a visit later. Once he did, he could probably ask her about those guys that were calling him boss a couple days back.

…Was he forgetting something?

As if on cue, a sudden knock on his door brought him out of his quiet respite. A vein bulged on his head as Sunny didn't even bother to get up. Sending out one of his shadows, he checked who had decided that it was a smart idea to disturb the slumber of Lost From Light.

When he saw the fidgeting girl that was waiting outside of his room, he couldn't help but sigh. It seems that he had forgotten about the request he had asked of Seele.

She glared at a passing Awakened that was staring at her strangely.

"What? You got a problem?"

Sunny snorted as the man hurried away. He wasn't sure why he was so afraid of a glaring Seele. She seemed more like a ruffled kitten than anything else.

Sunny landed on his back after he slid off his bed. Laying there for a second, he decided to stop being lazy as he used Shadow Step. He appeared in front of the door, opening it to greet the purple-haired girl.

She looked at him for a second, before raising an eyebrow.

"Who pissed in your cereal?"

Sunny realized that he must have looked quite annoyed right now. He wasn't able to receive the sleep that he should have gotten, so he was quite peeved.

"I didn't eat any cereal, so I couldn't tell you."

Seele nodded.

"Right. So, what's cereal? Is it good?"

…Sunny had the same question. Somehow, he knew what cereal was despite having no memory of ever eating it before.

"It's something that you eat after pouring it in milk. They come in these rectangular boxes, and there's a whole bunch of types… I think."

He paused for a moment.

"Actually, it tastes better if you pour the milk in after. People who put the milk in first should go to hell."

Sunny realized that he had some strong emotions about the correct way to eat cereal. Maybe he should get his head checked…

…At Natasha's clinic, preferably.

If his heart could still pump blood, he was sure that it would skip a beat whenever he thought about the woman.

Cleansing his mind before he got too excited, Sunny thought about an inconsistency in Seele's words.

"Wait, how do you know that phrase if you don't know what cereal is?"

She shrugged.

"It's a pretty common saying where I come from. I don't think anyone ever thought about what it actually meant."

Sunny felt like he shouldn't think about it too much. The world was simply too weird to waste energy thinking about useless things. Rather, he had a much larger problem to deal with. One that was staring him right in his face.

Waving his hand as he moved to the side, he invited Seele to enter his room. Peeking out into the hallway, he looked left and right multiple times in order to really sell it to her. From now on, every action he took had to be as calculated as possible.

Shutting the door before locking it, he walked past Seele. Pulling out a chair, he sat on it in such a way that his chest pressed against the backrest. He observed Seele for a second, calculating his next move.

How exactly should he construct this character of his?

Did he really need to construct a character? Maybe his own personality would suffice…

Mentally nodding to himself, Sunny spoke:

"Before we proceed with your initiation, why exactly do you want to join my… secret organization?"

When Seele had offered to do any one thing that Sunny desired, he had asked a specific question in order to gauge how far she would go. A ridiculous question that most people would probably brush off as a joke.

To be specific, Sunny had asked:

"What if I asked you to join a secret organization that wanted to rule the world?"

He hadn't asked her to do such a thing. He simply wanted to know what her answer would have been if he had asked her. Unfortunately, Seele had thought that he really wanted her to join an organization that worked in the shadows.

And for whatever reason, she had accepted! Even worse, she seemed to find some benefits to doing so. As such, Sunny couldn't find it in him to take his words back.

Mainly because he didn't want to suffer the wrath of her supposedly innocent alter ego.

Seele blinked at his question.

"…Well, it's kind of embarrassing."

Urging her to continue, Seele then said:

"When I was a kid, I got in a brawl with as homeless man in order to drink from a bucket of water. I was really thirsty at the time, so even though I got really beat up, I lasted long enough for him to give up."

Sunny had no idea what this was leading up to, but he patiently listened. Maybe there would be an interesting development.

"A few days later, I found him at death's door in a clinic."

…So that was the interesting development!

A wry smile appeared on Seele's face.

"I hate it when people suffer for my sake. So I promised to myself to make a world where nobody has to live at the expense of others."

Sunny frowned. He thought that such a dream was both naive and impossible.

"Do you actually believe that you can make such a world a reality?"

To his surprise, Seele simply shook her head.

"Maybe I did at one point, but people aren't that simple."

Sunny saw her fist clench.

"Pain will always exist. The only way for every single person to live in true peace, is for every single conflict to magically disappear. From street brawls to kids arguing about candy. Everything."

Seele sighed.

"But at that point, won't that just lessen the meaning of happiness? Everybody would be happy, but are they really? If there's nothing to compare happiness to, it just loses all it's worth."

Sunny was… actually impressed by how mature Seele actually was. He had expected a rant about justice and altruism, but instead got an entire speech about how peace in the truest sense wouldn't be possible, and how the very concept of it destroyed the meaning of peace and violence.

If only his companions were as flexible as Seele. Maybe they would have already solved the Stellaron crisis.

"…You didn't actually answer my question."

Seele blinked.

"Oh… my bad."

She seemed deep in thought for a second.

"If I was a part of an organization that ruled the world, maybe I could save my home. And you're strong, so I thought: 'Maybe he's actually insane enough to do it.'"

Staring at Sunny for a second, Seele smirked.

"Are you really trying to rule the world?"

Sunny was about to vehemently deny that accusation. Considering his Flaw, he would have to tell the truth regardless.

…But as he thought about it, was ruling the world really that bad? Actually, it sounded quite amazing.

Of course, it was bound to be very difficult. Not only would he have to be the strongest, but he would have to be surrounded by the strongest. Sunny knew better than anyone that two against one had better odds than one against one. Having an organization of powerful people with himself at the top seemed quite tempting.

However, he was weak. If he wanted to have that kind of power, he would need to challenge the Nightmares, gain more Cores, have a luxurious armory of Memories and Echoes, weave strong connections with people in high places, and much, much more.

He would have to surpass the Saints, becoming a being that transcended Transcendence itself. But he couldn't stop their. Even if he became the strongest human by reaching Supremacy, there were bound to be Nightmare Creatures of Cursed and Unholy Ranks skulking around.

As long as there was something stronger than Sunny, he couldn't possibly feel safe.

He would need to go even further. He would have to challenge the Fifth Nightmare to become a Sacred being, and challenge the Sixth Nightmare to become Divine. Once he did so… wouldn't it have been practically impossible for his life to be disrupted by another?

The gods were dead. Sunny alone would stand at the top with only the Aeons as a threat. Even then, they didn't have a tendency to directly interact with worldly affairs, designating their followers to fight their battles for them.

'Damnation… maybe I've actually lost it.'

Sunny felt desire like no other well up in his chest. This wasn't desire for things that he was familiar with, such as food, sleep, or things that he probably shouldn't be thinking about right now.

…No, he was wrong. This was a desire that Sunny understood very well, expanded to magnitudes that he couldn't possibly quantify it.

A desire for security.

It was a simple thing. Sunny didn't trust others to keep himself safe. He went with the Astral Express to keep himself safe. Everything that he does was to survive.

However… there was one thing that didn't want Sunny to live. Something that had wanted him dead from the very beginning.

The world. Both worlds, even.

It did everything that it could to kill him. Why else would he be put up against an Awakened Tyrant within his First Nightmare? Why else would it give him a Flaw that took away his greatest tool — the ability to lie? Why else would he have Shadow Bond, a chain that could be wrapped around his neck as long as someone said a measly three short words — words that anyone could know as long as they ask him?

[Fated] will cause all kinds of unlikely things to happen to him. Both good and bad. In order to survive the Attribute, he needed to become powerful enough that he couldn't be fazed. He needed to be able to shrug off the weight of the world itself.

He didn't want to be just a part of the world — it's plaything. Sunny wanted it all. Every last piece of it.

He could see it now. There he was, relaxing on the balcony of a beautiful castle. Eating a bountiful meal prepared by the greatest chefs in two worlds. Staring upon the most gorgeous of views in two worlds. Enjoying the company of only the fairest of women in two worlds…

Maybe he was getting ahead of himself with the last one. Not even becoming Divine could save his looks…

And there it was; a horde of Unholy Titans scrambling to devour his Divine soul. Sunny nonchalantly sipped out of a glass of milk — he was a growing boy after all, and he would certainly have a growth spurt... someday.

With nothing but the wave of his hands, the stampede of unspeakable horrors dissipated into nothing.

It wouldn't matter what the world tried to do against Sunny, as he would simply be too powerful to be hindered by it. He would not be the world's toy, rather, the world would be his own. The world would simply have to watch; whether in fear or respect.

This would be Sunny's ultimate vengeance.

To stand atop that which wishes his demise.

Was there anyone else that could commit such a grand act of treachery?

It started low, a dry rasp from deep in his chest, almost hesitant, as though his mind were grappling with the audacity of his thoughts. But then, as the idea took root, the laugh grew, rising in pitch, gaining speed, until it erupted from him, an uncontrollable roar of hysteria. It echoed off the walls, reverberating through the room like a storm of madness.

The sound was wild, chaotic, like a man who had just discovered that the world was his to burn — and that he could do it with a single flick of his wrist. His laughter reverberated in his bones, in his blood. It was the sound of something breaking free, something feral, something unstoppable.

Seele's smirk fell off her face, instead contorting into an expression of pure disbelief.

"…What the hell did I just get myself into?"

Sunny's laughter died down. Slowly but surely, the sound devolved from a euphoric melody to a quiet joy, before the room became quiet altogether.

It was madness. To do something as insane as crushing the world itself out of pure spite was something only a lunatic could genuinely believe. And yet…

'If this is madness… then why do I feel so complete?'

Sunny's cynical inhibitions shattered — grinded down to dust itself. He looked down at Seele — which was comical, as he was the one sitting in a chair while she stood in stupefaction.

Rather, he was looking down on the world, his eternal enemy.

Sunny grinned as he disembarked from his chair. This would be a long, rough battle. One that Sunny would have to endure great pain in order to fight.

'The world? Yeah, I'll win against it. After all, I am Lost From Light…'

"…If that is my will, who dares to stop me?"

Chapter Text

"…There was a test?"

'Now there is.'

Sunny smiled.

"All you have to do is pass my test, and you can become my right-hand man."

He paused for a second.

"Right-hand woman. That's what I meant."

Seele scowled in discontent.

"Weren't you the the one that asked me to join your little cult?"

Sunny tilted his head.

"It's not a cult. It's a secret organization! A cult does creepy rituals and stuff to try to summon some sort of evil abomination, while secret organizations work in the shadows in order to accomplish their grand goal!"

Pausing for a second, Sunny continued:

"Besides, didn't you want to save… wherever you come from? As long as you pass this test, I'll definitely help you out with that."

It was the truth. In exchange for Seele's help in his quest for world domination, Sunny would gracefully put her home under his protection. His benevolence and generosity truly knew no bounds.

He liked free things, but he also didn't like free things. As such, he made sure to sneakily slip in some credits into Natasha's account when she wasn't looking. He had found a strange hacking app on his phone, so it wasn't very difficult to transfer the credits after finding her bank account.

Seele sighed.

"Fine, I'll do your stupid test."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"You really will help, right?"

Sunny simply scoffed, a smirk plastered on his face.

"Of course I will. I'm the most honest man in the world after all. Two worlds, even. The rules are simple. All you have to do is find me."

Seele raised her brow.

"Like… hide-and-seek?"

He frowned for a second, before nodding.

"Yes, I suppose that it is basically just hide-and-seek. Anyways, for today, tomorrow, and the day after, I'll be hiding in a single spot on this island. I won't move to a different location at any point, so you don't have to check the same places multiple times. I won't hide in the shadows, and I won't hide in small spaces."

Making sure that Seele understood the rules, Sunny used Shadow Step to signal the start of the game while also going to his chosen hiding spot. Swimming through the shadows, Sunny did not exit the residential building. Rather, he just welcomed himself into another's room…

***

"…Finally finished."

Sparkle exhaustingly mumbled to herself as she rested her head on her desk. Countless dolls that resembled her were piled up in an empty corner of her room, having been haphazardly tossed there by her whenever she completed one of them. She had just finished the final one — which was also the only normal doll out of the bunch.

The rest were… not something that would be able to get through customs.

Her eyes had lost the amused glint that they usually shone with, and there were dark circles under her eyes. Her hair was a little messy, and she was much paler than usual.

Sparkle's signature smile had disappeared, leaving a perpetual scowl on her face.

She had stayed up to make dolls for multiple days, and the fatigue was starting to catch up to her. It had gotten bad enough that her Flaw had completely dissipated, something that had only occurred a handful of times.

Usually because of something that Sunny would do, whether it was good or bad.

"I'm so bored…"

Unlike others that tended to have Flaws that brought them great pain, Sparkle's Flaw was one that did the opposite — both in the most literal sense, and because she didn't like who she was without it.

Right now, she was no longer Sparkle, a silly troublemaker that just wants to have as much fun as possible — preferably with Sunny.

She was just…

Her thoughts were cut off when she heard movement where her bed was. Sparkle turned her head in confusion, blinking as she saw Sunny tuck himself under her blankets. Her lips parted as she wondered whether or not she was seeing things.

"Sunny?"

She spoke in a soft tone, completely unlike her usually chipper and excessively enthusiastic voice.

Sunny's strange golden eyes gazed at her for a second, before he tiredly asked:

"What's wrong with you? You look like you were cooped up in here for days."

Sparkle huffed in annoyance.

"It really hurts my feelings when you insult my appearance."

Sunny rolled his eyes.

"Right… whatever you say. Besides, I wasn't insulting you."

Considering that Sunny was probably the only person in two worlds with an inability to lie, Sparkle was slightly confused.

"Then what did you mean?"

Sunny coughed into his fist. With how long she had known him, Sparkle recognized that as a cue that his answer was embarrassing.

'Fuck… nice one Hanabi. He came here for whatever reason because he was comfortable, and you just had to ruin it by asking too many questions. Can't you just keep your mouth shut for just a second? Maybe someone as useless as you really should have just killed yo—'

"I was just pissed because you somehow look pretty no matter what."

"…Oh."

Sparkle swiftly turned around before covering her face with her hands. She could practically feel the heat that radiated from it. The corners of her mouth were slightly upturned.

Those words had completely resuscitated her Flaw.

"Since when were you so flirty?"

She turned back around to see Sunny staring at he in confusion.

"I… I am?"

Sparkle shook her head with mirth.

"Nevermind. Anyways, what is there to be pissed about? You're probably the prettiest guy I know."

Sunny glared at her.

"Don't you mean handsome and muscular? And… how many many guys am I being compared to, exactly?"

Sparkle looked at his face for a second, before looking at the rest of his body.

'Yeah… definitely a pretty boy.'

Sparkle had a smug expression on her face. Was he getting jealous?

"Want to tell me why you want to know?"

She adjusted her word choice, making sure that the question was whether or not he wanted to answer rather than directly asking the question.

Sunny's eye twitched, revealing that he was particularly annoyed by her question.

"No. No I don't."

Just by looking at his face, Sparkle could guess what he was thinking:

‘What was the purpose of her asking such a tactless question? Can't Sparkle just take a hint, inferring the answer herself? Why was he always surrounded by troublesome people?’

Sunny sighed.

"I'm going to go to sleep. If a purple-haired girl knocks on your door, tell her that I said she passed the test."

'A test? What is he talking about? And who's this girl…'

Sparkle froze. The elation from her Flaw plummeted, bringing her back to a sober state.

Now that she thought about it, one of the Abyss Watchers had said something about a girl being around Sunny. At first, she wasn't too worried about it. She had thought that he was just learning about how to make friends.

However, didn't they leave the Sanctuary of Noctis alone the previous day? With Sunny around, many strange things were bound to happen around them. As such, it wouldn't be too far fetched to say that an intimate moment could have occurred — even if only by accident.

Not only that, but the girl was an Awakened. She was bound to be attractive, right?

'No… Sunny wouldn't get that close to a person just after a day, no matter how attractive they are.'

In the Forgotten Shore, it had taken almost two months of wandering the coral hell before Sunny could open up to her. Of course, there were certain… circumstances that pushed him to do so, but considering that she was the only person around him during that period of time, she doubted that he could have formed any bond — much less a romantic one in less than a day.

Although Sparkle was glad that she was just overthinking things, she still felt somewhat uneasy.

Looking at Sunny, she wondered if it would be okay to probe around a little.

"Inviting another girl to my room? Aren't you getting a little bold?"

To her surprise, Sunny chuckled.

"I guess I have been pretty bold lately."

Sparkle abruptly stood up from her chair, walking over to where Sunny was. His eyes were closed, but considering the way he frowned, he must have saw her through his shadows. Sparkle didn't care.

With a small hop, she jumped onto her bed, throwing one of her legs over Sunny's midsection. He opened his eyes, looking at her in confusion as she straddled him.

"…Sparkle, I'm too tired to play with you right now."

"It's a good thing I'm not playing around then, right?"

Sunny's eyes flickered downwards for a moment. He sighed.

"Alright. Tell me what's wrong."

He seemed to have figured out that she was upset about something. Maybe she had a particularly nasty expression on her face…

Actually, she was surprised by how calm he was. She would have thought that he would be squirming around in discomfort, or throwing her across her room by now.

"…Sunny, you're going to show me this girl."

"…Am I?"

"Don't test me."

Suddenly, Sunny sat up, becoming face to face with Sparkle. He placed his hands on the sides of her head. She felt her heart skip a beat as heat rushed up to her head. She must have looked like a tomato right now.

He leaned forward…

'Wait… is this really happening? Does he actually see me as a woman? But didn't he always reject me? Did the memory wipe actually help me? Is Sunny going to help Sparkle become a woman today?!'

Sparkle watched with both confusion and anticipation as he leaned forward. She closed her eyes, waiting to once again taste those soft lips.

Just for him to ram his forehead into her skull.

"Who do you think you are, bossing me around? I'm going to become the king of everything, so show some respect you half-assed jester!"

Sparkle groaned as she felt a splitting headache consume her.

'…That's it. I'm killing him before fucking his corpse. That other girl could watch.'

She laughed at the morbid joke. Despite this, she wasn't feeling very elated at all. Instead, she was stuck between both anger and arousal.

She looked up at Sunny as she picked herself back up. Sparkle lunged at him, trying to get his neck between her lithe fingers. Before she could get her hands on him, she was suddenly restrained by his arms.

'Tch. Why does such a small guy have to be so strong?!'

When it came to physical abilities, the only thing that Sparkle beat him in was flexibility. It was quite the impressive feat, since Sunny always had reminded her of an acrobat whenever he fought.

She could have tried to escape his grasp, as she had the ability to soften her bones — courtesy of the Sequence 7 potion: Magician. However, it would only have worked successfully if she was restrained by an object, not by a human.

She scowled against his chest.

"Let me go!"

"Sparkle, I'm going to take over the world."

Sparkle paused.

"Okay… so are you going to fuck me or not?"

He kicked her off the bed. Before she made contact with the ground, she extended her hand to hold herself up, before springing up to her feet.

"Hey! Answer the question!"

"First of all, no. Second of all, I forgot to tell you, but your dress has been slipping for a while. Third of all, you're not funny!"

Sunny's face was almost crimson, and he seemed particularly indignant about being solicited.

Sparkle pouted at his words.

"I thought it was funny…"

She looked down at her red floral dress for a second, before realizing that quite a bit of her chest was on display. It didn't show too much, but she couldn't quite go out like this, could she?

Readjusting it, Sparkle looked towards Sunny. He looked back at her for a second before sighing. He shuffled to the side, patting the empty space next to him.

She looked towards her desk, where the last of her dolls was. This one was completely normal, with no special effects imbedded into it. She grabbed it, bringing it along with her as she plopped down next to Sunny.

She passed the doll over to him, causing him to hesitantly take it out of her hands. He stared at it for a second, gazing at the smug expression stitched onto her face.

"…This is pretty good."

Sparkle felt pride well up in her chest. A compliment from Sunny was an honor of the highest order! After all, he wasn't one to lie or exaggerate.

"It's yours now. This way, you'll always be thinking about your dear Sparkle!"

"…Damnation. Why did I say anything?"

Sparkle wrapped herself around him like a koala… although she doubted Sunny knew what a koala was.

He stared at her in annoyance for a second, before redirecting his gaze back to the doll that was modeled after herself.

She watched as Sunny let out a horrified shriek after he looked at the bottom of the doll, which had a small opening just for him.

"The real thing is better by the way~"

He glared at her in disgust.

"I'm going to sleep. Don't try anything…"

Sparkle just giggled.

He really had a unique way of cheering her up.

Chapter Text

“What’s wrong, Death? Don’t you think that it’s ridiculous to keep playing human, traitor?”

Following the Herrscher’s words, Lightning crackled through the hall, spreading across the walls, floor, and ceiling. Thunder boomed, threatening to blow Sunny’s eardrums.

‘Damnation…’

He was in no means fast enough to dodge lightning. Despite that, the golden snake of devestating light did not hit him.

After all, it was an attack that he provoked the Herrscher to use.

Using his instincts, Sunny had jumped through the window the moment the air began to feel fuzzy. As shards of glass began to rain down from the sky, he grit his teeth while he looked down at the distant ground.

He had leaped from the fifth story of a building, which would inevitably kill him before the psychotic calamity that pursued him.

As he fell through the air, his mind calculated the precise distance between him and the ground. While doing so, space distorted as portals began to open up. The first was directly below Sunny, while the other was above the ground that threatened to turn him into a red stain.

As he went through the portal placed below his descending body, the momentum carried him as he leaped out of the other portal, airborne for a few moments before gravity caused him to crash back down. Stumbling on his own two feet for a moment, his eyes widened as he saw the figure before him.

A blonde woman with amber eyes faced him, a bloodthirsty sneer on her face. Clad in samurai-esque armor — which was way to revealing — she held a bow made of pure lightning in one hand, with an arrow in the other. She twirled the arrow around her fingers with ease, as if she was holding a physical object and not a construct of energy.

‘This… is so unscientific.’

Sunny wondered if he should run, before deciding against it. Not only could she shoot lightning at him, but the stormy clouds above were not just for show. He had entered the building to avoid them, after all.

And now he was out in the open.

The Herrscher looked upon Sunny with unconcealed resentment, her mouth opening as thunderclaps in the distance sounded along with each syllable.

“Why do you deny our purpose? We are Honkai. As long as humanity continues to stand, we will hasten their extinction. And yet… you, the incarnation of Death itself, continue to mingle with these… abominable lifeforms?”

Sunny was starting to feel a little awkward. It seemed that she was mistaking him for someone else.

She continued, her voice tinged with hatred:

“Do not think that I did not see that stunt you pulled? Void, is it not? You must have been the one to slay our elder sister, moments before her descent? You must be mad… to go against your own kind?!”

‘No, you really have the wrong person…’

Even so, Sunny was going to make sure this monster died. With an infuriating grin to hide his nervousness, he provoked her with scathing words, targeting the weak spots that she had revealed to him.

“Oh, Void? I almost forgot about that one. They didn’t leave much of a lasting expression. It was like taking candy from a baby… but the candy? That was their life.”

Sunny was simply lying. He had never faced a Herrscher besides the one before him.

However, with the way that she referred to the Herrscher of the Void as a sibling, he was confident that he could provoke her into attacking.

As he spoke those words, there was no physical reaction from the Herrscher. Even so, Sunny was satisfied.

He saw how the Honkai energy she emitted began to flow differently, depicting a change in mental state.

After a few moments of silence, the Herrscher of Thunder grinned. It was a manic smile, one that was followed by the thunderstorm above intensifying.

“Ah… you must not hear her voice anymore, but do you know what mother has been whispering in my ear?”

Although he was unsure who this ‘mother’ character was, Sunny shrugged.

“Nope.”

Her pupils constricted as the air grew thick with murderous intent.

“Kill the blasphemer.”

Before Sunny could even ask what she was talking about, her bow and arrow dissipated into fleeting sparks. Then, a small, metallic object flew out of a nearby fountain, falling into her hand as she tossed it up and down.

The Herrscher suddenly chuckled.

“Wouldn’t it be ironic? To kill you with a weapon humans invented?”

Feeling a sense of unease, Sunny’s vision focused on the object she was playing with. As it rose into the air, he couldn’t help but quirk a brow.

It was a coin.

Catching it, the Herrscher held out her hand, the coin grasped as if she was going to flick it. At the same time, she tilted her hand forwards, seeming as if she wanted to aim the coin at him.

Lightning trailed across her body, coalescing at the point where her hand made contact with the coin. Smirking, she added:

“They call it the railgun, don’t they?”

Sunny brows furrowed for a moment, before his eyes widened in panic. He realized that with her supreme electromagnetic control, she could certainly replicate the effects of a railgun with nothing but a small metal object!

He stood still, not daring to move until he could see a cue.

Focusing on both her physical movements and erratic, shocking Honkai energy, Sunny was able to trace a single moment in which it spiked.

And at that same moment, both Herrscher and Hyman moved.

With a bang, the coin broke past the sound barrier as it traveled through an imaginary tunnel of electromagnetic waves. The coin was being forcefully pulled in a singular direction, melting as it moved with excessive force while making contact with electricity.

Right before it fired, Sunny had created a one-way portal before him. Above the Herrscher’s head was the destination of the portal.

‘Crap!’

Sunny felt his eyes burn from the sheer pressure of the approaching projectile. The coin moved at a speed far-surpassing the railgun, incinerating the very atmosphere itself.

His skin, his flesh, his hair, his previously-singed clothes, his blood, his internal organs… nothing was spared from the devestating heat brought by the friction of a coin moving at such speeds.

He tried to scream, but his vocal cords had melted, flowing down towards his lungs like lava. Those same lungs had lost all form, vaporizing as his body began to convulse — not because of the agony, as his nerves had already turned to ash. Rather, the heat within him was causing him to bloat, inflating as the methane gas within his stomach ignited, before eventually…

Pop!

He turned into a mess of melted flesh and guts.

Fortunately, he had died before the worst of the pain could assault him — not that he could have felt it without nerves, but it was the principal of the matter!

The portal dissipated into nothingness long before the coin could reach it, allowing it to fly undisturbed. Silently into numerous buildings as it moved too fast for sound to follow, a display of towering structures with large chunks seeming as if they were erased from existence were created.

Staring down at Sunny — who had become one with air as he evaporated into the atmosphere, she scoffed.

“Your treachery will never be forgiven…”

***

Sunny violently twitched as wet coughs escaped his throat. Losing his balance, he almost fell of the edge of Chiba Academy’s Science Department’s roof before a strong grip kept him from falling. Tears welled up in his eyes as he felt the phantom pain of being burned to death.

“Hey…”

He furiously patted his body, making sure his body wasn’t turned into molten liquid as he began to hyperventilate.

“…nny!”

His bloodshot eyes began to dart around, searching for the false goddess of thunder.

“Sunny!”

At the call of his name, Sunny’s gaze fell on boy — a college student — with snow-white hair and icy blue eyes. There was a clear expression of alarm on his face, and his hand was gripping Sunny’s shirt, keeping him from falling off the building.

He blinked for a second, before shouting so loudly that the students below could hear:

“Kevin!”

Covering his ears at the mind-numbing shout, Kevin sent him a glare.

“What was that for?!”

Sunny scoffed.

“I’ve been telling you, haven’t I? No matter how much you pathetically grovel, she’s not going on a date with you! To be more specific, your only redeeming quality is that you have a pretty face. Bastard.”

Sunny had been expecting a glare or a wince, not a look of confusion.

“What? Sunny, that was almost a week ago. I haven’t even brought it up with you yet.”

Kevin squinted his eyes.

“Are you okay? You look… sicker than usual. And there was that whole thing…”

There was a short pause before Sunny huffed in indignation.

“Coughing up blood everyday doesn’t make me sick, thank you very much. Plus, I’m always okay. In fact, I’m fantastic!”

Lingering for a moment, he continued:

“By the way, what day is it today?”

Kevin frowned for a moment, before sighing in resignation.

“It’s Wednesday.”

Sunny nodded before hopping down the ledge he had been sitting on. He turned towards Kevin, saluted him with a grin, and continued to the door that led to the stairwell.

“Unfortunately for you, my friend, it looks like I have an appointment with a woman… unlike you. Have fun without me…!”

As he opened the door, he paused, looking back at Kevin — who had a baffled expression.

“Actually, don’t have fun without me. Don’t even think about it, Snowy~!”

Stepping through, Sunny closed the fort behind him as he ignored the exclamation of; “Stop calling me that!”

However, instead of descending, Sunny pulled out his phone. His previously cheerful expression contorted into a scowl as he looked through his contacts.

‘The Herrscher arrives on Friday… and this entire campus is going to get destroyed.’

With only two days, Sunny made a choice he normally would have hesitated with. Tapping on an emergency contact, he held his phone up to his ear as he listened to the excruciatingly long ringing sound.

After a few seconds, someone picked up.

“Hey, Mobi— huh? Who are you? Oh, an assistant? Well, could you get Mobius on the phone? I have business with her. Thanks!”

After a few seconds that consisted of impatiently tapping the floor with his foot, he got a hold of his target.

“Hey— what? No, I’m not going to let you cut me open… and yes, joining Fire Moth will definitely lead to that. I don’t care if you’ll sign a legal contract to not experiment on me, you give me the creeps!”

Groaning, Sunny adopted a more serious tone.

“Listen. So, I need you to send a message to your boss… only if I become your assistant?! You already have one!”

Chapter Text

Natasha glanced between the two teens with a puzzled look on her face. Seele's alter ego glared at Sunny with her crimson eyes. He twiddled with his thumbs, whistling a disharmonious tune as he looked everywhere except for Seele.

"You sneaky bastard… where were you hiding?"

He coughed into his fist.

"I was taking a long nap in a… friend's room? Yeah, a friend."

Sunny wasn't really sure what his relationship with Sparkle really was, so he decided that this was the safest term to use when referring to her.

Natasha suddenly interjected into their conversation, not understanding anything that they were talking about.

"So… do you two mind explaining how you know each other?"

Sunny sighed.

"Ran into her when she was a Sleeper. Found her mincing up Fallen Demons like it was just a warm-up."

Natasha sent a stern look to the girl in question.

"Is that so?"

The other Seele huffed as she averted her eyes. It seemed that Natasha wasn't very amused by the ridiculous act of fighting Nightmare Creatures two Ranks above her.

Trying to change the subject, Seele's Flaw asked:

"How did you even end up on Belobog? Isn't that too much of a coincidence?"

Sunny shrugged.

"I just took a train ride, and here I am. As for whether or not this is a coincidence… didn't I tell you earlier? Fate happens to do some strange things to people."

He grinned.

"I won't be able to leave this place until the the crisis on this planet is solved. It looks like you're pretty lucky."

Sunny had promised to save Seele's homeworld. Although he had expected it to happen far into the future, when he had more power than he had now, he didn't have much of a choice now. Saving Belobog would allow him to leave the planet while also fulfilling his end of the deal he made with Seele, so that was what he was going to do. Even if he had to do it alone.

Fortunately, he had quite the scythe in front of him. Two weapons were better than one… he felt like he got the saying wrong.

Seele blinked, her red eyes turning back to purple. She looked at Sunny in confusion.

"But I didn't find you."

Sunny awkwardly smiled.

"Yeah… I just wanted to get some sleep. I wasn't too worried about whether or not you succeeded in finding me or not."

A moment of silence passed between the embarrassed Sunny, the confused Natasha, and the indignant Seele.

He yelped when he saw white sparks dance in her hands — signaling the summoning of a Memory.

"Wait, wait, wait! Let's not get too hasty now! I'm literally offering my services to you! The past is the past, don't you think?"

Natasha's eyes flickered between the two of them as she said:

"…Maybe you two should go talk outside. I don't want you two to come to blows inside the clinic — I still have patients to tend to."

Sunny and Seele stared at each other. The two of them got up, exiting the clinic without looking away from the other. They stood in front of the clinic, the streets of Boulder Town still relatively empty outside of the occasional group of kids playing around.

After a moment, Sunny smirked.

"Partially summoning a Memory in order to get out of a conversation without providing an explanation? When did you come up with that?"

Seele scowled.

"Stop flattering me. Besides, the whole point of a secret organization is to be… secret."

Sunny agreed with that statement. Still, he hadn't thought that Seele was that crafty. Using the threat of an imminent fight breaking out, she had managed to get some privacy with him without Natasha asking any questions. If she had asked Sunny directly… he would have to answer her truthfully.

The two of them took a seat on the steps in front of the clinic. Seele spoke first:

"Was it really just luck that you ended up here? You didn't… track me down or anything, right?"

Sunny scoffed.

"I wouldn't be able to track you from the Dream Realm into the Waking World. And no, it's not really luck. As I said earlier, it's fate."

She frowned in confusion.

"What does that even mean?"

"Exactly how it sounds. I have an Attribute that causes unlikely things to happen around me, which is all orchestrated by fate. It's a concept that was woven into the very fabric of reality."

Sunny wasn't quite sure who had told him this, but he believed it to be true.

He paused for a second, a grim chuckle escaping his lips.

"If you really think about it, we are all fate's slave. Me, you, Natasha, and every single living thing in these accursed worlds of ours. We might simply be doing fate's bidding, having no will of our own. It makes me want to crush it. But that also might simply be what fate wants me to do."

He shifted his attention back to Seele, who was sending him a strange look.

Sunny snorted.

"What? I told you that I was going to take over both worlds. As far as I'm concerned, fate is a part of those worlds."

Fate was something that was a constant threat to Sunny. It wouldn't be enough to simply escape it's machinations… he would have to destroy the very concept of it.

He wasn’t sure if it was possible, but frankly, he didn’t care.

Seele shook her head.

"At this point, I'm not really surprised that a madman like you would want to do something like that. It's just… the thought that everything I've ever done was decided by something else really pisses me off."

Staying silent for a moment, she suddenly snarled.

"…She won't stop asking me to go kill it with her."

Sunny blinked as he tilted his head. He assumed that she was referring to her Flaw.

"Yeah… maybe you should wait on that. It's not something you could do as an Awakened."

How strong would one need to be to defeat fate? Sacred? Divine? Something beyond even that?

Either way, that seemed like a far-off goal currently. He had more pressing matters to worry about, including, yet not limited to: solving the Stellaron crisis on Jarilo-VI, searching for a Nightmare Seed, figuring out how to achieve the second step of Shadow Dance, obtaining more of those magical coins, and securing Natasha's hand in marriage.

Now that he thought about it…

"This might be a strange question to ask, but is Natasha single?"

Sunny was confident that Seele would assist him, as she was his subordinate.

"Two words: Off. Limits."

"…Huh?"

Seele's eyes practically screamed murder. She jabbed a finger into Sunny's chest.

"You won't be trying anything with Nat. If you say anything even remotely flirty with her, I'll cut it off."

Sunny gaped in astonishment. He guessed what 'it' was supposed to be, and he wasn't very amused by such a thing.

"Wait a second, aren't you being a little unreasonable? I mean, I'm not hitting on you or anything. I understand if you don't want to help me, but why would you want to actively stop me?"

Seele opened her mouth. However, nothing came out, causing a look of realization to come over her face. She scowled at him for a second, before saying:

"…Can you protect her?"

Sunny stared at her.

"Hell no."

Seele nodded.

"Then I guess it's okay… wait, what?"

Sunny smiled at her.

“You bring up a good point. There goes that route, I guess.”

Seele groaned in frustration.

"Can you just explain normally for a second?"

Sunny shrugged.

"I don’t want to.”

Chapter Text

Sunny didn't think that he seemed that desperate.

Really, he wasn't desperate at all!

Considering how much downtime he had suddenly obtained after the incapacitation of March and Dan Heng, he had gotten a little caught up with Natasha. The offer of free things was something that he couldn't ignore.

In reality, he was playing a game with himself in which he pretended to be infatuated with Natasha. It was a good way to keep his mind off of things for a bit, so he kept up with that charade.

It would take much more than a good first impression to find a place in his heart. Besides, it was already filled by his darling little sister…

Sunny's eyes darkened slightly as he thought about her.

'Let's forget about that for now.'

Either way, Sunny had long given up on the possibility of romance. Such a thing required great amounts of trust. Although Sunny had abandoned the fear of exposing his secrets, he had no desire to tell others what went on in his mind. At most, he might attempt to create a Legacy Clan in order to further his goals.

But that came with it's own set of problems. Creating a base of operations in the Dream Realm, gaining the necessary funds, adopting those with high potential, and finding a worthy spouse.

Sunny was currently in the Chained Isles, which had two known Citadels. They were both already run by a Saint, so unless he stumbled across one by chance, he wouldn't have an exclusive foothold for his Legacy Clan.

As for money, Sunny was actually quite rich when it came to credits. He could probably buy a large and luxurious mansion if he so desired, while still having enough funds to live the rest of his life without working. He suspected that his impressive wealth was obtained using less than honorable means, but when had Sunny ever been honorable?

The thing is, Sunny didn't know what the credits to Soul Shards conversion rate was, so he would have to put in some research when it came to that.

As for adopting valuable prospects, that would be insanely difficult. There were three Great Clans in the Dream Realm, Valor, Song, and Night. If any Awakened showed any potential, they would certainly be scouted out by these three families, which would provide them with both prestige and resources.

That wasnt even including the factions that existed outside of the Dream Realm due to the Great Clans' monopoly. Sunny had once believed that their were only a little more than a dozen Saints, but that only applied to the ones that operated in the Dream Realm under the three Great Clans.

There was a strange rule imposed by the rulers of the Dream Realm. Supposedly, only those with special permission are given the opportunity to become Saints. Those who do not have this permission are completely exiled to the real world by the Great Clans, as they seemingly have the means to monitor those that challenge the Third Nightmare.

As long as these Saints stay in the Waking World, they will not be bothered by the Great Clans. Sunny wasn't quite sure why this restriction exists, but he suspected that the leaders of the three Great Clans had a problem with two things.

The first was the number of Saints. They had the obvious desire to regulate the amount of people that challenged the Third Nightmare, but didn't want to kill those Saints. Sunny didn't believe that they didn't have the means to do so, so this brings him to the second problem:

The Great Clans didn't want the Saints in the Dream Realm. He guessed that this was because they were worried about a bloody rebellion being started by the unaffiliated Saints, which would bring about the deaths of multiple of humanity's strongest champions. This would undoubtedly hurt both worlds.

However… there was also the possibility that instead of the Great Clans wanting to keep unaffiliated Saints out of the Dream Realm, they wanted to keep them in the Waking World. It would be the same effect, but the intent behind their actions would bring completely different meanings.

Unfortunately, Sunny couldn't find any reason for them to want to do so. Of course, he wasn't a leader of a Great Clan, so he couldn't guess what they truly wanted.

Either way, even if an Awakened with high potential didn't get scouted by a Great Clan, they might dedicate their abilities to their nation in the real world — similar to what Seele was doing for the Underworld.

Honestly, when Natasha had told him that the third Awakened in the Underworld would be able to assist him, he hadn't thought that it would be Seele of all people. The world must have brought some twisted pleasure from his confusion.

Well, it was still convenient for Sunny.

As for the last hurdle that needed to be crossed over in order to create a Legacy Clan… well, it would have to do with Sunny actually making a Clan. To do that, he would have to actually go out and find a woman to Propogate with.

As for Sunny's choice of words, that was because it would be exactly that. If he wanted to make a Legacy Clan, he didn't expect to find a suitable spouse that just so happened to be romantically attracted to him. It would be a matter of mutual benefit. Nothing more.

Sunny found that he didn't mind too much. As long as he could use his hypothetical Legacy Clan to increase his overall power, he wouldn't have to worry about something so small. His goal was to achieve revenge on the world by surpassing everything that existed on it. Once he did that, then there wouldn't be any issue with him pursuing something more genuine.

‘…What am I even thinking about?’

Either way, Sunny was in no way prepared to create a Legacy Clan. One he became a Master — no, a Saint, then he would have enough power to actually accomplish that feat. Even so, that didn't mean that he couldn't prepare for such a thing.

Sunny gazed at Seele with a look of appraisal.

'We're both pretty agile, so would that kind of thing pass down genetically? Is it multiplicative? Would their child be… super agile?!'

He looked up and down her body, causing her to look at him with an uneasy expression. She unconsciously wrapped her arms around herself as he looked her over with a serious look.

'A little malnourished, but that could be easily fixed. Her face is quite nice. Her hips are quite wide too, lessening the burden of child birth.'

Sunny silently nodded to himself. Seele flinched, instinctively feeling that her life was in danger.

'Her Aspect is quite powerful as well. Since the Aspects of the parents sometimes have a hand in the Aspect of the child, it would be quite interesting to see the results between a divine shadow and whatever her strange butterfly powers are.'

Sunny held his hand out — palm facing upwards. Ethereal sparks coalesced in his hand, slowly taking the form of a journal.

Sunny opened up the Vessel of Remembrance to a blank page. He handed it over to Seele, who looked at the notebook in confusion.

"It's fine if you don't want to, but it would be useful if you could write down your runes. Ill explain what I could do too.”

His gaze darkened.

"The bare minimum that we are going to face is an Ascended human — someone that is a whole Rank higher than us. Chances are, things are probably going to get a whole lot worse. It would be better for the two of us to know each other's capabilities."

Normally, Sunny wasn't too enthusiastic to share his abilities in such detail. However, this was an exchange. As long as Seele gave Sunny all of her runes, he would give information about his own abilities.

Of course, it wasn’t an equivalent exchange, but why would Sunny tell her his greatest secrets?

Seele blinked at him. She glanced down at the notebook, before looking back up at Sunny with a strange expression.

"That's fine and all, but… I don't have a pencil."

'Oh.'

Sunny rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish smile.

"It has an enchantment that automatically writes down whatever you want. Just think about what you want to write… oh, you can exclude Memories."

The Vessel of Remembrance only had two enchantments. The first gave it infinite pages, while the second allowed for thoughts to be translated into writing.

Seele gave the Memory a curious look. She closed her eyes — presumably to look at her runes without any other visual stimuli. Sunny watched as words started to magically appear on the blank page.

After a few seconds, Seele opened her eyes. She looked over the information on the page before handing it over to Sunny.

Reading the runes that Seele had given him, Sunny smirked. He had really hit the jackpot, hadn't he?

***

Name: Seele.

True Name: [Final Destination].

Duality Cores: Awakened.

Rebirth Residue: [0/1000].

Death Residue: [68/1000].

Attributes: [Boundary Walker], [Swift Hand], [End of All Things].

[Boundary Walker] Attribute Description: "You have faced death itself, escaping from it's grasp. You tread the fine line that separates it from life."

[Swift Hand] Attribute Description: "Your blade strikes fast and true."

[End of All Things] Attribute Description: "You ignore the law of death, bringing about the truest end to those slain by your hands."

Aspect: [End Monarch].

Aspect Rank: Sacred.

Aspect Description: [You are a butterfly that traverses between the lines of life and death. Death is your weapon, and rebirth is your blessing. With these eyes of yours, you judge what deserves to exist.]

Innate Ability: [Dual Cycle].

Ability Description: [As a being with two souls, you have two cores.]

Aspect Ability: [Compound Eyes].

Ability Description: [Your eyes can see the lines of death itself. By tracing these lines, you can kill anything.]

Aspect Ability: [Boundary Shift].

Ability Descripion: [You can phase through space as you attack.]

Flaw: [Life and Death].

Flaw Description: [You have two souls. The dominant soul changes when you perceive the lines of Death.]

***

Scanning the runes, Sunny silently thought:

'What a monster.'

Everything about her runes made her seem extremely imposing. Wielding absolute Death as a Dormant Ability?

For a completely normal Sacred Aspect, it's Abilities were horrific. Even though Sunny had a Divine Aspect, he was jealous of how unreasonably powerful [End Monarch] was.

It almost caused him to believe that Seele was an Emanator of some sort. However, Sunny didn't see anything in her Aspect Description or Attributes that stated anything about an outside force being the source of her powers — similar to how Sunny had recieved Shadow God's blessing in his First Nightmare.

…However, as he read the the runes, he felt a strange sense of distant familiarity.

Was this déjà vu?

Chapter Text

Sunny shared his Aspect Abilities and his normal Attributes with Seele. He excluded everything else, including his ability to augment himself with his shadow. In his opinion, allowing others to assume that his Aspect was more utility-focused would help if he ever needed to surprise them with physical strength.

Once he finished, Natasha walked out of the clinic, looking towards Sunny.

"I came to tell you that your friends are awake."

With that, Natasha entered the clinic again, leaving him alone with Seele.

He blinked. He hadn't expected March and Dan Heng to regain consciousness this quickly. Considering the fact that the two of them were heavily injured, he had expected a couple more days before they would wake up. After all, Bronya had woken up today as well, and she had merely been knocked unconscious.

Maybe Natasha's potions had a hand in this hasty recuperation?

Either way, this was actually quite convenient for him. Sunny would be able to break the news to them before he and Seele set out to try and fix the Stellaron problem on Jarilo-VI.

"You have friends? And they're inside the clinic?"

Sunny squinted his eyes in annoyance.

"I do have… uh, a friend? Anyways, they aren't in the clinic."

Her expression turned skeptical.

"You don't sound too sure… and ho—"

Sunny interrupted her:

"Your asking too many questions. I don't do well under pressure… sometimes."

He stood up from his seat on the stairs leading up to the clinic. He walked over to the door of the clinic, Seele following right after him.

Opening the door, he found Dan Heng and March, the two of them being completely free of bandages and stitches. There wasn't even a single sign of their injuries.

When they noticed him, March excitedly waved at him.

"Hey, Sunny! Check this out, I'm good as new!"

She started to flex her arm with a proud expression on her face.

Dan Heng sighed at her antics.

"What's the current situation?"

Sunny's gaze lingered on the two of them for a second, before he shrugged.

"Turns out that Belobog is being controlled by a tyrant that has forsaken the Underworld. Don't use your Aspects down here. Especially not in front of normal people. If a normal person learns that you're an Awakened, you'll get a heart attack and die."

The two of them gave him befuddled looks. He sighed.

"Just… don't do anything more than summoning a Memory. Even then, do it as little as possible so that you don't accidentally break that rule."

Not bothering to make sure that the two of them understood, Sunny narrowed his eyes.

"Anyways, I'm a busy man. I'm going to deal with the Stellaron crisis myself. You two can do whatever you want."

March blinked.

"Huh? But… the two of us are already healed. You don't have to worry about us."

Sunny shook his head.

"I'm not worried about you two. Frankly, I just have no use for two kids who are all talk."

The atmosphere in the room suddenly shifted.

"Fighting without killing? Do you two think of yourselves as gods? You know… if I was by myself, I would have been able to escape without dealing with them. You two don't have the strength to have the privilege of sparing others. Resolve means nothing when you're weak."

Sunny crossed his arms.

"As you are now, you don't have the power to back up your words. If you two are so concerned about killing, then just give up on fighting. The weak have no right to impose their will on the world. The world will simply break you instead."

He sneered.

"And break you it did."

Sunny was utterly unimpressed by their actions. They were willing to fight against a large group of mundane soldiers that were accompanied by an Awakened that was able to make their bodies weak enough to be harmed by such mundane attacks, all without killing them. Such a thing was completely fine…

But it was the height of hubris.

March and Dan Heng didn't have the power to spare their enemies while still defeating them. Their arrogance was what brought their downfall upon them, having only been saved because Sampo had decided to assist them. Of course, Sunny was there too… but he would have definitely killed the Awakened that led the soldiers before saving them.

As a precaution.

In a way, Sunny understood the desire to not want to kill others. When he was a child, he was excessively gentle despite his selfish tendencies. He would cry when he accidentally killed a bug while other kids would pick them apart.

However, he knew that he couldn't survive like that when he became alone. Sunny had to adapt, become ruthless, and do whatever it took for him to not crumble against the cruelty of the world.

If March and Dan Heng had the power to stick to their ideals, then that would have been simply sublime!

Of course, they didn't, and that led Sunny to believe that it would be for the best if he forgot about working together with them. His options would only become more restricted, causing them to serve as nothing more than deadweight.

Sunny turned around, looking at Seele. The purple-haired girl was seeming surprisingly fidgety — most likely feeling awkward about being present for this conversation.

"Seele, let's go."

She glanced back March and Dan Heng before nodding.

"Uh… right."

As they walked out of the clinic, the two of them were silent. After a minute, Sunny awkwardly asked:

"So, what do we do now?"

Seele sent him a strange look.

"I thought you had a plan."

Sunny simply groaned in exasperation.

"To solve the Stellaron crisis, we need to go to the Overworld. I have the feeling that the Supreme Guardian already knows about it, so we could try to interrogate her to locate it. The thing is, I don't know about any way to get back to the Overworld."

Technically, the path that Sampo had used to bring him here should have worked. However, Sunny had already checked that area the day before using his shadows. The Fragmentum had intensified, spawning monsters that were of the Ascended Rank and of higher Classes.

He wasn't sure if their was anything stronger than that, but he didn't want to go there unless it was a last resort.

For some reason, Fragmentums did not create Nightmare Creatures. Instead, they created monsters that followed the same Ranks as humans.

Humans were ranked in this order: Dormant — which ranged from normal humans to Dreamers, Awakened — when one surpasses the mundane and enters the realm of superhumans, Ascended — when the body and soul become one, and Transcendent — when an individual's soul becomes one with the world.

As for Supreme, Sacred, and Divine… Sunny didn't know any humans that have gotten to such level of strength. If there was any beings that had attained such power, they might have been controlling the world from behind the scenes, hidden out of sight.

When it came to Nightmare Creatures, their Ranks were the inverse of humans. Dormant and Awakened were the same, but they then became Fallen, Corrupted, Great, Cursed, and Unholy.

Not only that, but they also had Classes, which denoted the amount of soul cores they have along with certain characteristics. Beasts had no capacity for intelligence, while Monsters grew a more instinctual, animalistic intellect. Demons gained a twisted intelligence, one that was sometimes equal to, or greater than humans.

As a Devil, Nightmare Creatures started to develop strange yet horrifying abilities. As a Tyrant, they gain the ability to create a legion of minions. These minions could be spawns of the Tyrant, other creatures and humans caught under a mind hex, or something even more unusual. Once they became a Terror, they gain the ability to influence a large area. An example would be something like a passive soul attack on any living creature nearby.

Once they obtained a seventh soul core, becoming a Titan… Sunny didn't actually know. It might have simply resulted in a cumulative boost to all their abilities, or have another imperceptible change. People tended to believe that Titans were simply much larger, but that wasn't always the case.

Sunny only knew three people that could have multiple Soul Cores. Sunny and AR-26710 were Divine Aspect holders, having souls that were tenacious enough to form multiple cores. Seele had her Duality Cores, which was due to the fact that she had two souls.

Excluding these exceptions, he had never heard of an actual monster that didn't follow the same rules as Nightmare Creatures. The only other example was the Antimatter Legion, but they were the servants of an Aeon.

This caused Sunny to wonder: What exactly is a Stellaron?

Looking at Seele, he sighed. He had been hoping that she knew of a way to get to the Overworld.

"So, do you got any ideas?"

She pursed her lips.

"I guess… we could ask Oleg?"

Sunny grinned.

'Finally. Some progress!'

He paused for a moment, before nodding.

“So… you know how you asked me about giving the other Seele a name?”

She frowned, nodding in response.

“The ‘other Seele’? Seriously?”

Sunny awkwardly coughed.

“Yeah… anyways, I’ve come up with a name! It’s supposed to mean something specific, but… whatever. The point is, it sounds cool!”

Seele narrowed her eyes at him, obviously not expecting anything great.

“Just spit it out!”

Sunny huffed.

“Veliona.”

She kept studying him for a moment, before letting out a confused noise.

“That was… weirdly normal. Fine, I’ll take it.”

Sunny’s eye twitched.

‘Weren’t you the one who was trying to make me get one?!’

Chapter Text

'So… how does someone get themselves in this situation?'

Sunny and Seele had been planning on heading to the Great Mine in order to find Oleg, the leader of Wildfire — a group that works to keep piece within the Underworld.

From what Sunny had learned in the past couple of days, Wildfire helps out the Underworld in plenty of ways. Upholding justice, fighting for resources, and distributing goods. Fortunately for him, Seele happened to work for them, giving him a one-way ticket to the top dog!

This left him somewhat confused, as Seele was one of Sunny's subordinates in his new secret organization that he didn't have a name for yet, but he simply decided to absorb Wildfire into it when the Stellaron crisis was solved. They were bound to be grateful for his efforts, so it would all work out just fine!

However… Sunny had been monitoring Bronya with his shadow ever since she left the clinic. The Overworlder had somehow found herself in a little trouble.

So he had dragged Seele in the direction of the Supreme Guardian's daughter. He could still use the girl as a hostage if necessary, so he couldn't let her get killed off by some no-names.

And this led to Sunny and Seele blending into a small crowd, watching the strange situation in front of them.

Bronya must have attracted attention to herself by not concealing the fact that she was from the Overworld. Her clothes stood out quite a bit, but people would only have made such an assumption if she had broadcasted it without restraint.

She seemed to have gotten into a confrontation with some vagrants, who were all armed with makeshift rifles. Bronya had a deep frown on her face, agitated by them.

Meanwhile, there was Sampo standing in between them, attempting to diffuse the situation with a nervous grin.

"Now, now… Miss Bronya over here hasn't done anything wrong, has she? Maybe you should calm down before Wildfire catches wind of this…"

Suddenly, Bronya scowled at him.

"Weren't you the one that kidnapped me? If Wildfire is what enforces the law in the Underworld, wouldn't you get arrested as well?"

Sunny coughed. Actually, he was the one that had kidnapped Bronya. He had made her believe that Sampo was the one who had done it — both because he was bored and wanted to be entertained, and because he was somewhat spiteful when it came to man who disappears to the Dream Realm whenever it was convenient for him.

The sleazy Master sent Bronya an incredulous look.

"Wha— of course I didn't kidnap you! You were brought over here by my good friend… with consent, I hope."

Without any regard for the argument between Bronya and Sampo, the vagrants aimed their guns at the girl.

He saw Seele attempt to rush in out of the corner of his eye, and grabbed her hand before she could get involved. She sent him a look of both confusion and irritation. Sunny silently shook his head. Seele wouldn't be able to reach them without using her Aspect to warp over there, and that would break the rule that was enforced on the Underworld to be broken.

He would rather not watch as Seele died from a supernatural heart attack.

Neither Sampo nor Bronya would have been severely injured by a gun wound. Sampo could simply shrug it off, while Bronya would only be bruised at most. However, a stray bullet may fly and hit one of the bystanders, who have no protection against mundane attacks.

It was somewhat strange. If a mundane human were to punch an Awakened, it would hardly do any damage. However, if an Awakened were to replicate the attack while using the same amount of strength, the damage that would be dealt would be drastically higher. It was like an attack from an Awakened carried an unnatural force that allowed them to harm other Awakened, which were protected by this same force.

Mundane attacks didn't carry this force, diminishing the amount of damage it would have done otherwise. Fallen Nightmare Creatures could be thrown into a star and survive, while a Saint with a fire-related Aspect would be able to utterly atomize the Nightmare Creature.

Of course, a Saint with an Aspect that creates fire would be able to create flames much hotter than a mere star, assuming that their Aspect Rank was at least Awakened or Ascended. Otherwise, the lacking synergy of their Aspect Abilities wouldn't let them reach such heat.

Even so, if an Ascended were to create a fireball — even if it wasn't as hot as a star — it would do much more damage to a Fallen Nightmare Creature.

With a simple command, the shadow that was attached to Bronya detached, moving towards the vagrants. Saint rose out of the shadow, separating Sampo and Bronya from them. The statue clenched her fist, winding it back as she stared down the vagrants.

However, instead of caving their faces in with her gauntlets, she crushed their rifles with nothing but her heavy fists. They splintered, breaking apart into countless shards. The blow created a small shockwave, blowing away the vagrants.

The crowd was startled, frightened by the sudden appearance of the stone knight. Saint was dismissed, returning to the dark expanse of his Soul Sea.

By using Saint, Sunny was able to stop the vagrants without exposing the existence of the four Awakened here. Saint's existence might have been exposed, but she was not an Awakened. Since she was a Shadow, she was closer to a Nightmare Creature than an Awakened.

The people in the Underworld were aware of Fragmentum monsters, so they would most likely associate them to Saint instead. Of course, they would be quite confused about where she had come from, along with the fact she hadn't actually attacked anyone, simply disarming the vagrants. Such behavior was unusual for creatures spawned by the Fragmentum.

Speaking of the vagrants, they were all unconscious. Sunny didn't think that the shockwave was strong enough to knock someone out, but what did he know? Normal people were fragile after all…

Exiting the crowd with Seele by his side, Sunny approached Sampo and Bronya. The former breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sunny! My bestest of friends! Ah, and is that Miss Seele as well? It's a good thing, you showed up when you did, with such a strong Echo as well! My heartfelt thanks~"

His face robotically shifted to an expression of exaggerated anger.

"These vagrants have got some nerve looking for trouble in Wildfire terri—"

Seele cut in with an annoyed tone.

"Shut it Sampo, this has 'you' written all over it. Wildfire has countless issues on its plate right now. We don't need a side order of Koski."

Sunny wasn't surprised that the two of them knew each other. Considering that they were two of the only three Awakened in the Underworld, it would have been quite difficult to be unaware of each other.

…However, it seemed like Seele wasn't much of a fan for Sampo's character.

With a serious expression, Seele turned towards Bronya.

"I hear a Silvermane Guard is paying the Underworld a visit... is that you?"

Sunny stared at Seele in confusion. Her demeanor had suddenly changed. It was like she had become much more composed than before. If a few words could easily fluster her earlier, he doubted such a thing would work on her now.

Bronya sent both Sunny and Seele a strange look, mumbling something under her breath.

"…Have I met you two before?"

The two of them blinked, glancing at each other. Sunny was a little offended that Bronya would forget about him considering that she had seen him earlier today.

"You literally saw me an hour ago at the clinic. Am I really that forgettable?"

Seele simply shook her head, obviously confused by the question.

Bronya sighed.

"No, I do remember you from back then. What I meant was..."

She paused for a second, suddenly shaking her head.

"Nevermind, it isn't important. As for you…"

She glared at Sampo, causing the man to flinch.

"You kidnapped me and brought me to the underground. What is the meaning of this?"

The man stuttered at her question, not having any way to answer it. After all, the one who actually kidnapped her was Sunny himself.

Seele scoffed, snarling towards her.

"Hmph, listen to her. 'What is the meaning of this?'”

‘…Isn’t this kind of uncalled for?’

Sunny was very confused. Seele continued:

“...She still thinks she's an Overworld princess. Do you know what's become of us down here while you live the easy life? Did you even consider the fate of the Underworlders?"

'Whoa… Seele, aren't you being a little confrontational here? Just because she's a little higher up on the social hierarchy doesn't mean you have to flame her like this… did Veliona take over?

Taking a look at her eyes, he saw that they were still purple.

Sunny was quite surprised by this change. It seemed that Seele had a deep seated hate for those on top. He wanted to ask her about it… but it wasn't really any of his business. He didn't go about telling people about why he hates certain things, so he won't bother her with such a question.

Bronya's brow furrowed.

"The Silvermane Guards aren't 'living the easy life.' We are constantly engaged with the enemy — defending Belobog from the scourge of attacking monsters... and protecting all those above and below the surface."

'A logical reversal from Bronya! How will the thorny Seele respond to the stalwart daughter of the Supreme Guardian?'

Of course, Sunny was cheering for Seele. He knew her for much longer than Bronya… even if the difference wasn't much. What type of boss would he be if he couldn't support his subordinate?

Seele rolled her eyes.

"Hah, do you even hear yourself? You? Protect the underground? Redeploying every Guard to the surface, sealing off the only passageway... Protecting the so-called Architects, more like it."

'There it is! A brutal dismantlement from this viscous woman! With no chance for a comeback, the win goes towards Seele!'

Although Sunny was having fun at their expense, he also wasn't completely comfortable with being in the midst of this argument. Making eye contact with Sampo, it seemed like the older man agreed with that sentiment.

Bronya pursed her lips.

"The Madam Guardian has her reasons..."

Sunny pinched Seele's waist, causing her to jump.

"Alright, that's enough messing around. We've dealt with the issue, so let's go see Oleg."

She sent him a scathing glare before turning towards Bronya.

"You're coming with us. Chief Oleg wants to see you, and he's got more than a few questions."

Sunny blinked.

"Wait, why is she coming along with us?"

She sighed.

"He wanted whoever found the Overworld girl to bring her to him. Since we were already going to meet him… two rats with one shovel?"

Sunny squinted his eyes.

"I don't think that's the saying…"

Chapter Text

Sunny peeked out of the alleyway with a concerned expression. He watched as Seele and Bronya glared daggers at each other, the dislike they have for the other being apparent to all those who pass by.

It would have been an eerily familiar sight if they weren't glaring at each other.

'What a strange thought.'

Keeping a shadow on them to keep watch, he looked back into the alleyway. He raised a brow.

"Alright, what is it?"

Standing in front of him were March and Dan Heng, who had left the clinic in order to talk to him. Sunny felt like he had a pretty good guess about the topic in which they had come to converse with him about, but he would rather hear it from their own mouths. Who knows, maybe they had come to get on their knees and beg for him to take them along.

The pair looked at each other, a silent conversation occurring in front of him as March waved her hand around towards Dan Heng. Sunny had no idea what she was trying to convey, but it seemed like Dan Heng understood the message.

The green-eyed man sighed.

"My Flaw is that I can't betray."

Sunny blinked in befuddlement. He had thought of Dan Heng to be relatively cautious… cautious enough that he wouldn't expose his Flaw. He might do so if it was necessary, but how was his Flaw relevant to anything currently?

"Okay… so why are you telling me?"

Sunny couldn't think of a way that not being able to betray others would have anything to do with their current situation.

Dan Heng shook his head.

"You're probably thinking that my Flaw only applies to betraying other people. In reality, I cannot betray anything. This includes my own ideals and morals."

Tilting his head, Sunny thought about the implications of this Flaw. It seemed like it prevented Dan Heng from being flexible, forcing him to abide by his own principles. Maybe that was why he was so reluctant about killing the Silvermane Guards that were pursuing them — hesitant enough that he was severely injured in the process.

Sunny shrugged.

"So what? If you're going to use that as an excuse for me to bring you along, I'll just tell you now — that only makes you even more of a liability. I'll most likely end up in a fight with the Supreme Guardian. What would you do if it was her life or yours?"

Dan Heng's eyes widened slightly. He shook his head.

"Wait… I think you're misunderstanding something. The only reason I wasn't willing to kill the Silvermane Guards was because they weren't going after us with malicious intent. If the Supreme Guardian is really the source of the problems on Belobog, then I won't hesitate, even if that causes some minor problems to Belobog’s stability.”

Sunny stared at him for a second. He snarled.

"What the hell… you should have said that earlier!"

Honestly, that was much more reasonable than simply disliking the act of killing. That was something that Sunny could actually work with.

Turning towards March, the girl sheepishly rubbed the back of her head.

"Well… I don't really like bullying people weaker than me."

'…She was getting pretty brutal against Gepard.'

Sighing, Sunny decided to bring the two of them along. They might end up being useful after all.

Still… he now knew both of their Flaws. Dan Heng's Flaw was something that one could easily take advantage of, while March's Flaw — the real one — was that she can occasionally see the memories of other people.

March's Flaw seemed quite harmless, but he knew better than to think that. Sunny's Flaw took away his most powerful tool: his ability to lie. Seele's Flaw actively went against her desire to protect others, making her the vessel for an entity that seems to crave violence and death. And then there was AR-26710's Flaw… it had a description that seemed similar to an Aspect Ability, but Sunny guessed that it must have been more sinister.

As for March, he knew that she liked to take pictures. Memories were a precious thing to her, most likely because she had no memories to speak of. It was different from Sunny, who simply had a gap in his memories.

Maybe seeing the precious memories of others without consent was a wretched, perverted thing for her. Something that wouldn't be a problem for others is a living hell for her.

Flaws were a pain that most others wouldn't understand. A curse that was only effective against the one cursed by them.

Looking between the two of them, Sunny bit the inside of his cheek. He used the pain to make sure that he was thinking rationally. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke:

"My Flaw is that I can't lie. I'll let you two come with me."

Frowning at their surprised expressions, he sighed.

"Just leave mundane humans to me. I won't kill them, so don't worry about it."

He turned around, moving to exit the alleyway. Just as he was about to do so, Sunny felt an arm get slung around his neck with impressive strength, causing him to almost lose his footing. His eye twitched as he turned to see March grinning at him.

"…What?"

There was a strange look of relief in her eyes.

"You really won't kill me for knowing random stuff about you?"

'…Seriously?'

"No, I won't… but you should really keep your mouth shut. If I hear you talking about Rain again… who knows what I might do?"

March blanched, suddenly jumping back.

"Wha— I thought we were besties now!"

Sunny stuck out his tongue. Turning away, he heard an indignant shout and an exasperated sigh — coming from March and Dan Heng respectively. Ignoring them, he walked over to Seele and Bronya.

"Are you two ever going to stop glaring at each other? It was funny for the first… five minutes. Now, it's getting kind of annoying."

The two of them swiveled their heads in his direction, pointing at each other with scowls on their face.

Seele exclaimed:

"Maybe if she got off her high horse!"

Bronya simultaneously added:

"Maybe if she stopped being so rude!"

Frowning, Sunny grabbed both of their hands. Violently putting them together, he commanded:

"Apologize."

Sunny was sure that this would work. When was he ever wrong?

…Instead of doing what he asked, Seele just raised a brow while looking down at their hands.

"Why is your hand so soft?"

Sunny blinked. Looking at his free hand, he realized that it was quite smooth.

"…Isn't that normal? We're Awakened, so there wouldn't be any callouses…"

Bronya shook her head.

"No… this is quite abnormal. Do you have a special skincare routine?"

"…What's a skincare routine?"

***

"…What's going on with them?"

"Why are you asking me?"

March and Dan Heng watched the unusual scene in front of them. The Supreme Guardian's daughter alongside the girl named Seele were… feeling up Sunny's hands. Their faces were a mix of confusion and curiosity.

Meanwhile, Sunny just stood there with a baffled look on his face.

March stared at his hands for a moment, before nodding to herself.

"I'm going to see what all the hype is about."

Dan Heng simply shrugged. March took that as a green light to do what she wanted, so she happily skipped her way over to the three of them.

"Hey… what are you guys doing?”

Seele and Bronya sent her a cursory glance before continuing with what they were doing, seemingly troubled by the texture of Sunny’s hands.

The boy himself had a resigned expression.

“Just… don’t ask questions. Please.”

Chapter Text

"…Alright, that's enough!"

Yanking his hands out of their grasp, Sunny shoved them into his pockets. He didn't feel comfortable about their strange behavior. Especially since one of the two people that were groping his hands was his hostage.

Seele huffed, discontent about being forced to stop. She started to walk away.

"When you're ready, meet me at the entrance of the Great Mine."

Staring at her, Sunny sighed. He turned to get March and Dan Heng, but he felt his hand get grabbed, stopping him from going over to them. Turning around, he saw Bronya staring at him with narrowed eyes.

"You… you were the one that kidnapped me, right?"

Blinking, Sunny simply nodded.

"Yeah, I suppose I did do that. How'd you find out?"

He had misled her into thinking that Sampo was the one that kidnapped her and took her to the Underworld. Sunny had thought that she simply didn't recognize him, so he didn't find much of a reason to tell her otherwise. Still… it seemed like he had underestimated her intelligence.

"…Your voice sounded familiar, and I remember seeing you in the Overworld. Plus, I heard your name back then. You almost fooled me by pretending to be a child."

Sunny's eye twitched.

'I wasn't pretending to be a kid!'

He crossed his arms, speaking in an unbothered tone.

"Well, I don't have any more business with you. What are you going to do with that knowledge?"

Bronya frowned, obviously disturbed by how nonchalant he was being right now.

"...I will arrest you under the Supreme Guardian's decree. Nothing has changed. I am not your friend..."

Sunny sighed.

"Is that so? I guess we'll just have to see if you can actually pull that off."

Pausing for a moment, Bronya closed her eyes.

"...I saw you the day before the Goethe Hotel. Gepard took you to see mo— the Supreme Guardian. He told me you were visitors from beyond the sky. Just like the interstellar travelers of ancient legend — people of all kinds that carried the will of the Aeons."

She opened her eyes again, sending him an inquisitive look.

"Gepard said that you wanted to help us reverse the damage that the Eternal Freeze and Fragmentum continue to wreak on our planet by sealing a Stellaron... but that night, mother summoned me, and ordered me to take a detachment to arrest you. What happened? The Supreme Guardian didn't tell me the details and Gepard had to rush back to the front line... I don't understand..."

Sunny gazed at Bronya for a moment. She seemed to be quite out of the loop despite the fact that she was the Supreme Guardian's daughter. This brought him to the belief that whatever Cocolia was hiding was great enough that not even her own family can be allowed to know about it.

This only made the woman even more suspicious in his eyes.

Sunny simply shrugged at Bronya's question.

"I don't know why she wanted to arrest us. Either way, we really are trying to help Belobog."

Bronya stayed silent for while, staring intently at Sunny as if she saw something that he couldn't. He awkwardly shifted at her gaze.

Hesitantly, she asked him a strange question:

"…Would you consider yourself a good person, or bad person?"

Sunny didn't quite understand the nature of her question. Not only was it something that someone could easily lie about, but it also had no relevance to their current conversation.

He took a moment to think about it.

'…She’s not being specific enough…’

As he tried to decipher the best way to answer Bronya's question, he felt the familiar pressure of his Flaw press down on him. Considering that he couldn't think of an answer himself, he allowed his Flaw to reply for him, with the weak hope that it wouldn't cause him to answer in an embarrassing manner.

"I don’t know, and I don’t really care about whether I’m a good or bad person.’

Hearing the response, Sunny frowned. He could have thought of that himself…

Bronya frowned, seeming as if she was attempting to solve a puzzle. After a few seconds, she continued as if she had never asked her previous question.

"The Silvermane Guards withdrew to the surface long ago... I must avoid that identity here."

She looked directly into Sunny's eyes.

"Until we're back in the Overworld, I propose a temporary truce and cooperation. Your true intentions are of interest to me..."

Sunny stayed silent for a minute, deeply contemplating to himself.

Sunny hadn't thought that Bronya was such an open-minded individual. Despite her strict and rigid upbringing, it seemed that she was able to adapt to different situations and accept other perspectives. This type of flexibility was not something that he would have expected from her.

Taking his silence as a show of distrust, Bronya offered:

"If it helps you to trust me, I'm willing to answer your questions to the best of my ability."

At her words, Sunny's golden eyes glimmered at the perfect opportunity in front of him. Considering the fact that she was the Supreme Guardian's daughter, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume that she was aware of things that the common citizen wasn't privy to.

As he tried to come up with a question, Sunny realized that he didn't know what the Supreme Guardian had accused them of.

"What crime were we accused of?"

"...All the Supreme Guardian told me was that your identities were counterfeit, and that your intention was to overthrow the rule of the Architects."

'…Well, that's not a very nice thing to accuse someone of. I'm the real Sunny! The only Sunny!'

At least he was sure that the Supreme Guardian had framed them without substance. The only other possibility was for March to have done something while he was asleep.

Maybe he should ask her. Just in case.

Sunny's next question involved the fate of Jarilo-VI itself.

"Do you know where the Stellaron is?"

Sunny doubted that she did, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

As expected, Bronya shook her head.

"Truthfully, I've never heard of this Stellaron. But if all this catastrophe could be brought to an end simply by sealing it, then I hope its existence proves to be real."

Not at all surprised by her lack of knowledge, Sunny formulated his next question.

"Why did the Silvermane Guards withdraw from the underground?"

Bronya pursed her lips as if she was unsure of it herself.

"Fragmentum monster activity on the surface intensified, and hostilities on the front line were critical. To resist the invasion, the Architects had no choice but to redeploy the Guards to the front line... If we couldn't hold our defensive line, then we wouldn't be able to maintain our supply of aid to the underground, which would have collapsed without us. That was the Supreme Guardian’s explanation."

Sunny frowned, realizing that his guesses about Cocolia were much closer to the truth than he thought. The rule that was placed on the Underworld, which restricted the reveal of the existence of Awakened to mundane humans was a strange law to enforce on a civilization that is meant to be protected. Not only that, but the Underworld has been completely separated from the Overworld, causing a shortage in supplies.

And considering Bronya's words, he could only come to a single definitive conclusion.

The Supreme Guardian had forsaken the Underworld.

No… it might have been even worse than that. Her actions seemed purposefully destructive towards the denizens of the Underworld, having intentionally taken away knowledge of the Nightmare Spell. Chances are, if one were to become infected, their odds of survival would have been even worse than Sunny's were!

However, Sunny couldn't find any reason for Cocolia to do this. Was there any reason for her to attempt to cause as much damage to the Underworld as she could?

He subconsciously compared Bronya to Cocolia. Why hadn't she attempted to indoctrinate her daughter to follow her ways? Were they simply so despicable that such a thing wouldn't have been possible?

Sunny didn't exclude the possibility of Bronya not being as innocent as she seemed.

"…Why are you willing to cooperate with us?"

Bronya blinked at his question, a somber look appearing on her face.

"In truth... I've always felt like something important is being hidden. Whether it's the Architects, mother, or Silvermane Guards, there's always an... unnatural element to their actions. Since encountering the three of you, the unexpected seems to have arrived in waves. I never thought I'd enter the Underworld that has been sealed away for so long..."

A look of determination appeared in her eyes.

"I have a feeling that with you, I can pick up the lost threads... and dispel my uncertainties."

Staring at her for a second, Sunny nodded in acceptance.

"I think I understand now."

It was human nature to want to learn the truth when surrounded by lies. Sunny himself would have certainly grown paranoid if he was raised in the same environment as Bronya.

He sighed.

"That's all I have to ask. I'll go grab those two…"

Sunny sent a strange look towards March and Dan Heng. The former had a gloomy expression and was hunched over, while the latter patted her back in a show of comfort.

Bronya smiled, humming in agreement.

"Mm, we should be going to see Wildfire. Let's move."

'…Yeah, let's just forget that I kidnapped her and threatened to kill her. We're best friends now!'

Sunny's thoughts were dripping with sarcasm.

Chapter Text

Along with Bronya, March, and Dan Heng, Sunny headed over to Seele at the Great Mine's entrance… he had the sneaking suspicion that they were being followed, but he could have guessed who it was.

The area felt a few degrees warmer than the rest of Underworld — or rather, Belobog as a whole. Sunny thought that it was quite strange, since there were less heaters here than Boulder Town. Although he was curious, there were more important matters to attend to.

Sunny strolled over to the purple-haired girl, growing confused by the agitated expression on her face. Stopping in front of her, he tilted his head.

"…I don't think I was that late, right?"

Bronya blinked.

"There was a specific meetup time?"

Staring at Bronya, Sunny just sighed. He wasn't really prepared to explain this in front of Seele.

"Not a specific time… but when you keep a woman like Seele waiting…"

Sunny trailed off, eyes flickering between everyone present. Bronya and March both seemed confused, not understanding why he was hesitating. Dan Heng just sent him a look of pity, now knowing that Sunny had no choice but to answer Bronya's question. As for Seele… she sent him an expectant glare, arms crossed over her chest.

"Well? What happens when you keep a… 'woman like Seele' waiting?"

A few moments passed by without him speaking. Feeling the pressure of his Flaw, Sunny said:

"I'm not sure. Looks like the words slipped from my mind somehow…"

Sunny nervously laughed as everyone else stared at him strangely. He had been so nervous that he forgot what he was going to say in the first place. Who knew that he could be so lucky?

Seele scoffed, glancing at the rest of the group.

"This idiot aside, the situation in the mine isn't looking pretty. Everything just keeps on escalating…"

At her words, Sunny cocked a brow.

"…What is Wildfire doing in the mine?"

For the past couple of days, he had simply heard that there was some sort of conflict in the Great Mine through the good old rumor mill as he brought supplies for Natasha. Sunny hadn't believed that it was too important at the time, expecting a small brawl at most — but considering that this was where Wildfire was, it must have been more than that.

Seele frowned at his question, showing the expression of someone who didn't want to give a long-winded explanation about something, but did so anyways.

"Didn't I tell you? Long story short—"

This was a long story, and was certainly not short. Five paragraphs! That's a lot for someone like Sunny, who spent most his life reading faces, not books.

Seele started to spout her five-paragraph essay on Wildfire and how they are much better than the Silvermane Guards and have replaced them. She closed her eyes, raising a finger as if she was giving a lecture.

"The underground used to have many mines. However, in recent years, some sort of corrosion called the 'Fragmentum' started to spread. It's ruined a lot of mines."

Groaning, Sunny sat on the floor and crossed his legs. He could tell that this was going to take a while.

"The one we're heading into is relatively unaffected. A bunch of vagrants made it their home after their old turf was consumed by the Fragmentum. Actually, most of them are pretty honest folks..."

Sunny summoned the Endless Spring. Taking a swig, he turned towards Bronya.

"Want some?"

She shook her head.

"You literally just put your mouth on that."

Sunny shrugged. He offered the bottle to March and Dan Heng. The latter also declined, but the former simply waterfalled into her gaping mouth. Sunny was impressed.

"But with such a large group, it's inevitable that troublemakers will find their way in. They've been stealing from the miners and picking fights. And that's not the worst of it."

Sunny stared at the floor, watching as something he couldn't quite discern tried to wriggle it's way from under his shoe.

"Things are much more serious this time... For two days now, huge clashes have been breaking out between the miners and the vagrants. It isn't pretty."

'Huh? They have worms down here?'

Staring at the pale invertebrate flailing around on the cobblestone road as it tried to escape from under his shoe, Sunny allowed the weak creature to release itself.

"Mines are our lifelines in the Underworld. We have to keep providing Geomarrow to the Overworld in exchange for supplies."

'Thank you for releasing me from under your great foot, lord Sunny! Your benevolence truly knows no bounds!'

Sunny snickered as he watched the worm wriggle around.

"In order to quell the situation, Chief Oleg brought Wildfire into the mine and left me in charge of security for the towns. But the situation in the mine is critical — I have to back him up."

Seele opened her eyes, her hand coming down to rest at her side. Looking down at Sunny, her face scrunched up in displeasure.

"…Did you listen to anything I just said?"

Realizing that she had finally finished talking, Sunny simply nodded. Standing up, he bid farewell to his worm friend…

He suddenly frowned. Why was he friends with a worm? That… should have never been a thought that would express itself within his mind.

Seele turned towards Bronya.

"Oh, as for you... the Chief will decide your fate when we see him."

Bronya confidently nodded.

"Good, I've been wanting to come face to face with the leader of the Underworld."

Seele seemed quite irked by her response.

"Hmph, you're about to come face to face with reality."

The two girls glared at each other, nonexistent sparks flying between them.

***

The Great Mine was a sprawling labyrinth of rusted steel and ancient stone. Its cavernous expanse seemed to stretch endlessly, the hum of machinery echoing off the jagged rock walls. Flickering lights cast long shadows over the massive mining equipment, their dull glow illuminating a world caught between the pulse of industry and the ghost of something older, something buried deep within the earth.

Towering metal frameworks loomed like skeletal giants, their iron bones creaking under the strain of centuries of labor. The sounds of machinery in the background churned tirelessly, grinding through the layers of rock, scraping the earth's secrets to the surface in an unrelenting rhythm. Everywhere, the air was thick with dust, and the sharp scent of oil and metal hung in the heavy, stagnant atmosphere. Beneath it all, the faintest tremor of something far more ancient thrummed through the ground — an unseen force pulsing, waiting.

That force… was Geomarrow, the lifeblood of the Belobog — both the Overworld and Underworld.

Some of the miscellaneous minecarts lying around were filled with the amber, luminescent ores, heat radiating from them. Geomarrow was a resource that practically everything ran on. More importantly, it was needed to power the outdoor heaters that kept the temperature up.

It wouldn't have been a stretch to say that without Geomarrow, Belobog would have long-succumbed to the Eternal Freeze.

The five Awakened walked through what seemed to be an encampment, with many miners and other people littered around. They crowded around each other, their hushed whispers resounding across the mine.

March suddenly noticed something, instantly pointing her hand.

"Huh? Isn't that the doctor lady?"

Natasha was sitting next to a stretcher, a first-aid kit next to her. She seemed to be bandaging a wounded man's arm. How had she gotten here so quickly? They had left before her, and even if she had passed them at some point, Sunny was sure that someone would have noticed.

Sunny was mildly interested in such a trick.

The group walked over to Natasha, Seele calling out her name as the woman stood from next to the stretcher.

"Nat! I didn't think you'd be here. Where's Oleg?"

At her voice, Natasha's head turned with a weak smile on her face.

"Hey Seele, and Sunny… ah, and you three as well."

Her eyes lingered on Bronya for a moment.

"I haven't seen Oleg. The miners said they saw him take a group further in."

Sunny's gaze surfed across all the Underworlders here. There weren't any children younger than the age of twelve — most likely out of fear for the conflict reaching here. Worry was plastered across their faces, with varying levels of stress.

"Why is there so many people here?"

Natasha pursed her lips.

"Miners and their family members. They want an explanation from the instigators. This area up ahead is a vagrant dwelling, but they've sealed off the entrance. I guess they're afraid that angry miners might try to take revenge."

She sighed.

"I heard that many were injured in the clashes, so I hurried over here to see if I could help."

Seele pressed her hand against her temple.

"How could the situation here become such a mess?"

Natasha replied:

"I heard that First Mining Team found a Geomarrow vein with incredible deposits... The initial estimate put it at the largest discovery in the last thirty years."

Chapter Text

Sometime, somewhere…

Sunny stared at the cane that he had sto—found in the Astral Express. Welt always brought it along with him wherever he went, so Sunny had gotten quite curious about it.

Later, he walked around the frozen wilderness of Belobog. A few Fragmentum monsters lurked through the snow, giving Sunny an opportunity to test out his new toy.

…The issue was that he had no idea how to use it. It wasn't a Memory, but it still seemed to radiate some sort of power.

'…Does Welt just swing this thing around?'

Holding the cane with both hands, Sunny immediately swung at the closest Shadewalker. The cane bashed into it's skull, a sharp noise cracking across the area.

[You have defeated an Awakened Monster, Everwinter Shadewalker.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]