You have slain a Corrupted Demon: Dark Brother.]
[You have slain a Corrupted Demon: Dark Sister.]
[Your soul shines brighter.]
Nephis heard the voice of the spell, and for a brief moment, allowed herself a flicker of mental rest. It hadn't been the hardest battle she had ever fought. Her Aspect didn't falter as much when facing beings made of pure darkness... but even then, those two Corrupted Demons were no ordinary foes. They were dangerous. Lethal. Real.
Thanks to Saint, it hadn't been too difficult. Sunny's loyal Echo still stood imposingly in front of her, the stone saint holding her spear with an almost proud expression—despite her immutable face. And Nephis, fortunately, was still in one piece. A few minor wounds, of course... but she hadn't had to regenerate any limbs. That alone was already good news.
But then, she saw it.
She watched Saint begin to fade, as if dissolving into the shadows. There was no explosion, no sound—just a silent retreat. All that remained was a faint trail of essence hanging in the air, drifting like sparkling dust toward her Memories.
And Nephis knew exactly what that meant.
She ran.
There was no hesitation. Despite the exhaustion, despite the burning in her muscles, her body surged forward with furious urgency. She ran as if her very soul were being dragged ahead of her.
Because, in a way, it was.
Sunny's life depended on her.
It took her less than ten seconds to reach the place where he should have been. The battlefield had changed—her fight with the dark hunters had separated them by hundreds of meters, yet now that stretch felt like an abyss.
When she arrived, the scene before her was a scorched wasteland.
Where once stood black-barked trees, only torn roots remained, and the ground was split like ripped flesh. Some trees had vanished altogether, devoured by the dark ash that covered the world like a shroud.
But Nephis wasn't looking for trees.
She turned her head frantically in all directions, eyes wide with panic. She looked like a hunter gone mad, someone who had lost something far too precious to describe with words. Her chest heaved violently with each breath.
And then she saw him.
Beneath two charred trees lay a male figure, motionless.
Black hair.
Sunny.
He was lying at the foot of one of the trunks, eyes closed, no breath visible. Around him, the dark ash had been stained red.
That... wasn't normal.
Ash usually devoured blood. Always. It absorbed it, erased it as though it had never existed. But this time, it hadn't. This time, the blood had won.
The black, twisted flowers that covered the area were also stained crimson. They followed no pattern, no symmetry—just a chaotic scattering, as if left behind by the last desperate movements of a silent battle.
And yet... there was beauty in the scene.
A painful beauty.
Sunny lay like a fallen angel, his pale skin a stark contrast against the darker ash around him. The blood-drenched flowers surrounding him seemed to bloom from his very body, as if his suffering had planted life in a place where none should grow.
Nephis felt her heart tighten.
It wasn't just fear she felt... it was rage. It was helplessness. It was something more primal than either. Seeing him like that made her want to burn the entire world if that's what it took to protect him.
And yet there he was. Silent. Vulnerable.
Still alive... he had to be.
His blood, woven with the [Blood Weave] ability, had done something more. It had won a small battle against the ash. It had left a mark. A testimony.
Nephis stepped forward as if the ground might shatter beneath her weight, and knelt beside him, her hands trembling.
She couldn't lose him.
Not now.
Not him.
When she approached Sunny's inert body, there was no slowness. No dramatics. No calculated steps. Only desperation.
And when she reached him, well...
Sunny was just unconscious. He had a deep cut on his chest, made by a long weapon. That was likely the source of all the blood. But he was breathing naturally. His chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm.
Not ideal, obviously... but Sunny had been in worse.
Nephis knew that. She knew it well. Sometimes she even told herself she was overreacting. But... who could blame her? She just cared about her boyfriend.
Of course she healed him.
White flames burst forth without hesitation, wrapping around Sunny's body like a warm mantle. His wound closed almost instantly, the flesh knitting together as if it had never been torn. The only problem was that he didn't wake up.
He remained unconscious.
Most likely, he had simply exhausted his essence. That had to be the cause of his collapse.
It had taken her less than ten seconds to reach him and heal him. It had been instinct, pure reaction. But then the real problem revealed itself.
Nephis trusted Sunny's strength. She had seen it firsthand, time and time again. She had witnessed his inhuman tenacity, his lethal ingenuity, and how terrifyingly effective he could be.
She and Sunny... were probably two of the strongest Ascended in history.
And yet...
Defeating four Corrupted Demons?
Especially while so disadvantaged, against beings that embodied pure darkness?
It didn't make sense.
He had probably spent essence conjuring shadows again and again, using every ability to its limit. She knew his shadows were weak against such enemies, but also that Sunny could be creative. Unpredictable.
Still... four kills?
Then she felt it.
Fortunately, she hadn't lowered her guard.
A subtle fluctuation in the air. A nearly inaudible sound, like a feather slicing through wind. With her sword already in hand, Nephis slashed vertically, cutting a flying arrow in half before it could strike the back of her neck.
Without turning.
Her gaze scanned the small forest in seconds.
And then she sensed them.
When someone looks at you with the true intent to kill... with hunger and pure hatred... it's hard to miss. For someone like Nephis, with hundreds of battles behind her, it was instinctual.
Two presences. Two hunters.
Nephis's gray eyes glowed with dangerous light.
And in a single leap, she was beside them.
The two archers—nightmarish creatures—barely had time to react. Who were these things? Who dared try to kill Sunny while he lay wounded?
Who were these cursed bastards of the dark?
It didn't matter.
Because then, hell descended upon them.
Nephis was not human. In that moment, she was an unstoppable force—a white flame tempest let loose. The forest, the ash, the very air trembled.
The two archers barely managed to draw their daggers, forged from pure darkness. They had abandoned their bows, realizing they wouldn't have time to fire another arrow.
But it was already too late.
Their vanguard had been massacred.
And now, Nephis's fury was upon them.
They attacked in unison. Daggers of darkness slashed toward Nephis... and she dodged them with brutal elegance, her swordsmanship bordering on the inhuman.
The two Corrupted Demons moved like whirlwinds of speed and shadow.
A shame it wasn't enough. Even if they managed to land a strike, it didn't matter: any wound Nephis received was healed instantly by her white flames. It was almost unfair.
She no longer wore the stoic mask that usually defined her. Though her face remained calm, if you dared to look closely—truly look into her eyes—you would see it:
Pure hatred.
And so, in less than two minutes, the fight was over.
The two Corrupted Demons never stood a chance.
⸻
[You have slain a Corrupted Demon: Dark Archer.]
[You have slain a Corrupted Demon: Dark Huntress.]
[You have received a Memory.]
[Your soul shines brighter.]
⸻
She heard the voice of the spell echo in her mind.
But there was no time to think about the Memory. She had to help Sunny. They still knew nothing about this dark island... and he was still unconscious.
She quickly returned to where he lay. She stared at him for a few seconds, as if sheer will could wake him.
It didn't.
So she lifted him onto her back. There was no other way to carry him, and honestly, he wasn't that heavy. Not for someone like Nephis.
With Sunny slung across her shoulders, Nephis began walking.
Because if this island was truly what it seemed...
Something worse was surely coming.
And this time, she wouldn't leave him behind.
She walked for several kilometers.
The terrain was uneven—ashen roots and jagged stones covered the path, and the sickly wind hissed through the blackened branches above her. Each step echoed too loudly. It wasn't just the silence of the place... it was that Nephis could feel it, deep in her bones.
Something was wrong.
With Sunny unconscious on her back, she couldn't move quickly. Still, she pressed on with unwavering resolve, her sharp gaze scanning the lifeless landscape.
Then, finally, she saw it.
A dark opening in the rock wall ahead—half-covered by twisted vines and almost completely hidden by the angle of the terrain. A cave.
Shelter.
Without hesitating, Nephis approached. The entrance was narrow, no more than a crack in the stone, but wide enough for them to slip through. She stood there for a second, silent, her instincts screaming louder than ever.
Something... wasn't right.
She didn't know why, but the unease that had been building since the battle refused to leave. It coiled inside her like a serpent, tightening with each breath.
Still, she stepped forward.
The moment she crossed the threshold, carrying Sunny into the shadows of the cave, she heard it.
A low howl in the distance.
Not a beast.
Not a voice.
Wind.
A storm.
Nephis turned her head and looked behind her, eyes narrowing. The sky above the dead forest had darkened unnaturally. From the horizon, a wall of gray was racing toward them—rolling like smoke, thick and endless. It wasn't just mist. It was dust, ash, wind... chaos.
A storm unlike any she had ever seen.
And then it hit.
The roar came a second later, so loud it seemed to shake the very earth. Ash and wind surged through the forest, tearing through the branches like knives, bending trees sideways. The world turned white and gray outside, a blizzard of death that swallowed everything in its path.
Nephis instinctively took a step deeper into the cave.
The entrance was now completely obscured by the storm, as if the world outside had been erased.
But inside... there was calm.
For now.
She stood still for several seconds, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness of the cave. Her white flames flickered briefly, giving her enough light to see the uneven floor and the ancient stone walls. The air was dry. Stable.
They were safe.
For now.
She looked over her shoulder. Sunny hadn't stirred.
"Of course you wouldn't wake up for that," she murmured softly, her voice dry but warm.
Then she walked deeper into the cave.
She had no idea how long the storm would last. Hours, maybe. Days, if they were truly unlucky. But one thing was clear—without this cave, they would have died the moment that storm arrived.
Nephis didn't believe in luck.
But sometimes... she had to wonder.
Still carrying Sunny, she moved deeper into the cave, far from the wind. The noise of the storm continued outside—a deafening, monstrous howl. But here, in the cold stone darkness, there was only the sound of her own heartbeat... and Sunny's quiet breathing against her back.