The heat clung to the air like a bad omen, a silent warning that night was approaching. Above, the sun—incandescent and relentless—began its descent, painting the sky in shades of orange and gold. But in this part of the world, twilight did not bring rest.
It brought death.
No one had time to react.
No one had time to think.
The skin-walker had seen Sunny's memories.
That meant the great abomination knew the truth. It knew that Sunny could distinguish normal humans from the skin-changers.
So it acted.
With a gut-wrenching, inhuman, and terrible scream, the creature let out a sound that should not exist. A voice corrupted, unnatural, reverberating in their minds with unbearable weight.
It was a sound that mere Ascended like them should have never witnessed.
There was no choice.
Only one alternative remained.
Fight.
The three skin-walkers lunged without giving them a chance to pick their own battles. They moved with lethal precision, separating the group as if they had calculated every possible reaction beforehand.
And shit.
Why was Sunny always the one in these situations?
Stupid fate.
This wasn't even funny anymore.
The teams were formed in an instant.
Effie, Kai, Cassie, and Jet against one.
Morgan, Seishan, and Nephis against another.
And the last one...
The last one stood right in front of Sunny.
The kind face of the master was long gone.
Now, the only thing left of its human appearance was a grotesque mask of flesh, clinging to a body that no longer belonged to a man. Everything else...
Was monstrous.
The sheer terror emanating from it was enough to chill Sunny's flesh and bones.
Then, the creature spoke.
—Joiiiin usssss.
A shiver ran down Sunny's spine.
It wasn't a real voice.
It was screams. Thousands of agonized, indescribable screams, fused into a single infernal echo that somehow formed words.
A horror that did not belong to this world.
He didn't have time to dwell on it.
He never did.
Because right now...
He was in the worst possible situation.
He had no chance of killing the great abomination before him.
The only thing he could do was hold out.
Hold out and trust that his friends wouldn't die.
Hold out and hope that, once their battles were over, they would have enough energy left to help him.
Sunny smiled.
This was far from the best situation.
The air grew heavier.
Golden and white sparks flickered in his palm.
Sin of Solace materialized in his right hand, its blade humming with a whisper only he could hear.
From the shadows, a tall, imposing figure emerged.
Saint.
His first Echo.
Her gleaming armor reflected the light of twilight, her stance firm and unyielding. Golden sparks danced in Sunny's hand once more as he tossed her a bow.
Then, his faithful steed emerged from the darkness.
Nightmare.
The black horse did not react to the great abomination's aura. He showed no fear. He did not even seem to acknowledge the monster's presence.
His horns, dark and razor-sharp, looked deadlier than ever.
With everything in place...
Hell was unleashed upon Sunny.
Nephis was mortified.
A crushing pressure settled in her chest as she stared at the abomination in front of her.
But the worst part?
The worst part wasn't having to face this monstrous thing again.
It wasn't even that it was stronger than the last one.
The problem was Sunny.
Why did he have to face that demon alone?
Sure, he was surrounded by his echoes, but even so...
It wasn't enough.
She couldn't go help him. She had her own battle right in front of her.
If they died here, Sunny would die.
Fighting just one of these creatures alone should have been impossible, even for her.
But two...
What came after impossible?
There was only one option.
Kill fast.
Rip apart the abomination in front of her before Sunny couldn't keep fighting anymore.
With that thought in mind, Nephis tightened her grip on her sword.
And another hell broke loose.
Sunny was exhausted.
How long had he been fighting this thing?
Judging by the state of his body, he'd say hours.
The real answer: less than five minutes.
And yet...
Well, Sunny had been in better situations.
He had abandoned his shadow Spawn form long ago. That form, made of shadows, was powerful, yes. But now, Sunny couldn't afford to waste essence. He didn't need to be a three-meter-tall beast.
He needed to be a rat.
A slippery rat, dodging impossible attacks, guessing the next move of a monster whose speed he couldn't even see.
Sunny was running.
Whenever the abomination got too close, he slipped into the shadows. But he couldn't stay there for too long.
For one, he wasn't sure if the creature couldn't reach him even there.
For another...
If he stayed hidden too long, the abomination would turn around.
And help its brothers against his friends.
So Sunny used Shadow Step and the Dance of Shadows to survive.
Every now and then, he struck at vital points with Sin of Solace.
But...
Even without an eye, that thing could still see.
Sunny couldn't.
So he had to be careful.
Though... well...
His wounds said otherwise.
His left arm was a mess.
It hung from his body by mere threads of muscle and torn flesh.
Some parts exposed the bone.
Others...
Only raw, skinless meat.
His torso wasn't much better.
Bone Weave wasn't all-powerful.
It wasn't invincible.
The ability that made his bones stronger had failed.
If he had to guess, at least half of his ribs were broken.
Some...
Probably shattered.
And the gash on his chest...
Was still bleeding.
Even with Blood Weave, the blood kept seeping out of the wound.
He didn't want to think about how deep the cut was.
In short...
Sunny, five minutes ago, was much more handsome than now.
And yet...
He was still dodging.
Still surviving.
He saw the ascended from Song distort the air with its speed, its hand becoming a blackened claw.
One millimeter.
Just one millimeter.
The claw grazed his left cheek.
Sunny vanished at the last second with Shadow Step.
But his cheek...
Didn't escape unscathed.
A fresh cut burned across his skin.
Shit.
This was bad.
He didn't know how much longer he could keep this up.
For a moment, his vision blurred.
But no.
No, he couldn't afford to fall here.
Not now.
Not here.
He had too many reasons to keep fighting.
To make sure Rain was safe.
To survive with Nephis and his friends.
And while he was at it...
Why not destroy the Spell too?
If his magnificent girlfriend had such a ridiculously insane dream, well...
Someone had to help her achieve it.
And then...
Then they could have a family.
Or...
They could have a family first and destroy the Spell later.
That didn't sound so bad either.
Yeah.
Sunny was crazy.
But he wanted to live.
And with those thoughts...
Sunny kept fighting.
Kept surviving.
He had lost track of time.
He didn't know how long he had been trapped in this hell, dodging, enduring, clinging to life with everything he had.
But he had to keep going.
For himself.
For his friends.
For his future.
What followed was... horrible.
Minutes. Maybe more.
Sunny kept surviving.
There was no other word for it.
He had lost his arm a while ago.
His once pale, porcelain-like skin was gone.
All that remained was torn flesh and scars.
There was a limit to everything.
And it seemed that Sunny was reaching his.
But even so... he kept going.
Surrounded by shadows, with every muscle in his body screaming in agony, he kept going.
His mind had been reduced to a single purpose.
Stay alive.
Nothing else mattered.
Pain didn't matter.
Fear didn't matter.
Nothing mattered.
Only survival.
Sunny had become a machine.
No, worse.
A corpse refusing to die.
In the distance, the sun was slowly sinking below the horizon.
Night was approaching.
Shit.
No.
Sunny didn't want to die.
Not yet.
But even he had a limit.
His vision blurred.
His body swayed.
He felt dizzy...
Blood loss?
How ironic.
Blood Weave had made him forget what that felt like for so long.
No.
I don't want to die.
The thought barely took form in his broken mind.
But his body no longer responded.
He couldn't move.
His eyes closed slowly.
The abomination was approaching.
And he couldn't do anything.
In the distance, through his blurred vision, he saw something.
A light.
A yellow glow streaking across the sky.
Was he hallucinating?
Maybe.
Because then...
Someone called his name.
Another hallucination?
Maybe.
His ears had been ruined long ago.
He couldn't trust what he heard.
But then...
He saw another light.
White.
Blinding.
Moving toward him with the intensity of a rising sun.
The source of that light...
Was a woman.
Silver hair.
A beautiful, angelic face, blurred by his failing vision.
A star.
Her voice...
Sunny thought it was beautiful.
...Wait.
That's—
He couldn't finish the thought.
His body collapsed.
He felt the rough sand beneath his broken skin.
And with the last image of that star in his mind...
He closed his eyes.
A star had come to save her shadow.
Sunny's beautiful star.