The cave was alive with echoes, the air stank of rot.
Sunny crouched low, shadows and vines coiling at his feet, as the ruined cave filled with nightmare creatures. They spilled behind the illusionist — what he had started calling it by for its trickery and illusions — in a tide. Shambling horrors, things with too many limbs, eyeless creatures that reminded him too much about Cassie, gnashing the air as though they could see him perfectly.
Shuffling feet could be heard from the creatures that echoed across the cave. The cave walls pressed close, jagged rocks and damp places laid all over, and streaked with veins of mold and vines that bled a dim green glow. Shadows clung to every surface, flickering, stretching, dancing in unnatural shapes around the illusionist.
Sunny was at the center of it, [Midnight Shard] in his hand, the smell of mold and rot already souring his tongue. His shadows slithered at his heels, restless.
He muttered under his breath,
'Damnation. Why is it always caves nowadays that I find myself surrounded?'
He'd been in worse. He'd fought in worse. Hell, considering the situation in retrospect he was doing better than ever. Although he didn't have Nephis, he had a powerful crown that could heal him and make the illusionist's illusions useless. But there was something about the suffocating dark, the airless press of stone, and the presence the illusionist gave off that made every nerve sing with tension.
Then came the glow of dark eyes opening in the dark from different puppets.
The townspeople had once been human. Sunny could still see the shapes beneath the corruption, faces that had belonged to farmers, merchants, and children. But corruption had twisted them, hollowed them out, and filled them with something foul. Their flesh was gray, their eyes black voids, their bodies gaunt and broken. They lurched forward in a wave, jaws snapping, claws scraping across the stone floor.
Some were weak, their movements clumsy, their shadows faint — Dormant most likely from what Sunny could tell. But a few felt deeper, Awakened rank, but they all had one core. One had a farmer's scythe grafted into its arm like an obscene weapon. Another's jaw hung unhinged, filled with fangs where teeth had once been. And another that had a spiked tail in its ass which almost made him chuckle.
Sunny's lip tightened from frustration.
'I don't have time for this I have to reach Nephis. But when do I ever get a choice on a matter?'
Sunny thought as he thought about Nephis, alone and fighting her own hoard just above him. He had to end this quickly.
The first came at him, shrieking. He moved before the sound finished. Midnight flashed in a dark arc, the steel sinking into its chest and ripping free in a shower of blood. The creature crumpled, lifeless, before it even hit the ground.
The next lunged from the side. Sunny pivoted, body low, and swept the blade clean through its knees. Before it could fall, his shadow lashed out, strangling its throat and snapping it back with a crack.
Three more pressed in.
Sunny's movements were ruthless and efficient. A parry turned to a riposte, Midnight severing a clawed arm. A sidestep brought him behind another, the blade spearing through its spine. He spun, dragging the corpse as a shield to absorb the rake of talons from the third. With a grunt, he shoved the body forward, knocking it into the attacker, and then cut them both apart in one brutal swing.
Human once. Doesn't matter. Monsters now.
But there were too many. The swarm poured behind the illusionist, Dormant bodies piling in to drag him down while the Awakened hung back, as if directed to do so, circling, waiting for him to tire. The air, sour and hot, filled with a new smell, blood.
Sunny ducked beneath the sweep of the farmer-scourge's scythe, the blade shearing sparks from stone. He answered with a low thrust, piercing its gut, then stepped on its knee to snap the joint. It collapsed screaming, ichor foaming from its lips.
More claws. More teeth. His muscles burned, his breath steady but shallow.
Then came the sound he had been waiting for: a slow, dragging step.
The illusionist stopped being idle, deciding to end it now Sunny thought.
'That's fine, I'll simply cut him down piece by piece.'
It was taller than he had thought it was, nearly scraping the cave's low ceiling. Its body was a husk, skeletal, and covered in rotten strips of skin stretched tight as parchment, bone visible beneath. Its right arm had been fused with a crossbow, sinew and wood grown together into one grotesque weapon. Its presence hit Sunny like ice water, ancient and oppressive, crawling across the damaged cavern.
The thing's lipless mouth split in a grin. "Little shadow. You reek of fear."
Sunny spat blood. "And you reek of shit. Guess we're even."
The minions shrieked and surged again, emboldened by their master. Sunny met them with gritted teeth, carving a path through their ranks. Midnight sang with every stroke, his summoned vines strangling and ripping at any that tried to flank him. He fought like a blade in a storm — ruthless, efficient, precise.
But the illusionist was already moving.
Its crossbow arm snapped up, and with a guttural sound, the string released. The bolt tore through the air like thunder, a blur of steel and force. Sunny twisted aside, the projectile screaming past and detonating against the cave wall. Stone shattered in a rain of shards, the shockwave rattling his bones.
'Damnation! That thing hits harder than Nephis's strikes!'
The mummy tilted its head, sockets glowing faintly. "Dance for me little shadow."
The cave warped.
Stone shifted. Shadows stretched. A second Sunny appeared to his left, then another behind him. The cave split into false corridors, nightmare beasts multiplying, phantoms screaming. The illusionist's power wrapped the cavern like a shroud, drowning it in lies.
Sunny froze. Then he exhaled through his teeth.
Illusions. Cute.
His eyes narrowed, and he held Midnight steadily. He saw through them all — the false shadows, the phantom corridors, and the duplicate monsters. To him, the lies were merely thin veils draped over truth, fragile as glass. Was that how Kai saw lies with his flaw? Sunny decided not to think about it as he stepped past the fakes, blade sinking into the skull of a real beast.
Blood sprayed. The illusions flickered.
The mummy hissed.
Sunny sneered. "Wrong opponent, corpse. Your tricks don't work on me, at least not anymore."
He pressed forward. His body blurred, dancing between Dormants, cutting them down like stalks of grain. Each strike was clean, lethal. He was a shadow master among shadows, seemingly one step ahead of every claw, every fang. His vines lashed like serpents, binding legs, pulling throats, dragging the weak into darkness.
But the Awakened pressed harder, having finally joined the battle, forcing him back toward the cavern's heart. The illusionist loomed behind them, its bolts blasting craters in the walls, sending showers of stone and dust across the battlefield, and hitting his head with stones. The ceiling groaned ominously.
Sunny grit his teeth, 'Trying to bury me alive, huh? Figures.'
He ducked beneath another strike, then felt his chance slipping. His muscles ached, his blade slick with blood, the swarm closing in.
'Can't keep this pace forever. Not alone at least.'
His shadow stirred, and a being of darkness and shadows was brought out from it.
"Saint."
The cave dimmed. From the black at his feet, she rose: towering, armored, silent. The pale glow of the fungi gleamed off her darkened steel, her sword catching the light like a star. She planted herself at Sunny's side without a word.
Sunny exhaled, "Show off."
The illusionist's grin faltered a tad bit.
Saint banged her sword on her shield twice before she moved. Her sword swept in a brutal arc, cleaving through three dormants at once. The false ones shattered instantly; the real ones fell in ruined heaps. She pressed forward like a juggernaut, each step steady, unyielding, crushing.
Sunny followed in her wake, darting into every gap she opened, finishing what she began. Together, they were unstoppable — she the shield and sword, he the dagger and assassin in the dark.
The mummy roared, bolts firing in rapid succession. One struck Saint's helm, denting it with a screech. Another slammed into the stone near Sunny, the explosion rattling his bones and making him fall to his knees.
Sunny hissed, "Keep that up and we'll all be crushed."
He surged toward the mummy, shadows lashing to pin its limbs. For an instant, they held. Sunny lunged, Midnight, and a dagger aimed at its throat. The blade struck bone, sparks flying, but not deep enough. The mummy's skeletal hand lashed out, fingers like knives scraping across his neck.
"Fall into despair!" it shrieked, its presence suddenly felt overwhelming.
Sunny snarled back, eyes burning. "I already live in it!"
He shoved harder, twisting Midnight beneath its jaw. At the same time, Saint's halberd — which she switched to midfight — came down like judgment, cleaving into its torso. Bone cracked, rotten flesh tearing apart. For a moment, Sunny thought that he had finally killed the bastard.
Then the illusionist laughed.
The sound was wrong — guttural, wet, echoing across the cave like the scrape of stone on bone. Its body convulsed, jerking unnaturally as if held together by invisible strings. The gash from Saint's halberd split wider, Midnight still buried in its jaw.
And then, with a sudden surge of strength, it wrenched itself free.
Its skeletal arm lashed out, swatting Sunny like he was nothing. The blow caught him across the chest, and before he could brace himself, the world flipped. His back slammed into the cavern wall with enough force to shatter stone. Agony lanced through him. For a moment, all he could hear was the ringing in his ears.
Saint was hurled away, her halberd skidding across the rock as the towering figure staggered but did not fall.
The illusions faltured. The corrupted minions froze, then quickly made their way towards their lord.
Sunny coughed up blood, pushing himself up.
'Damnation... so much for a clean kill.'
The illusionist's jaw hung loose, half-split from his thrust, ichor drooling from the wound. But its presence was stronger, darker, more suffocating now. Its body jerked with unnatural energy, like a marionette controlled by something unseen. The crossbow fused to its arm twitched, the sinew creaking, bolts manifesting as if from nothing.
"You think shadows make you strong, little divine one?" it hissed, its voice fractured, broken in two. "Shadows are futile against me. Despair is mine!"
It lunged towards Sunny at incredible speeds.
Sunny barely brought his sword up in time. Steel clashed against bone, sparks flying from the impact. The mummy's other hand raked across his ribs, tearing flesh. He grimaced, twisting, trying to break free, but the strength behind its strikes was monstrous, far beyond what its rotten frame suggested.
Saint returned, halberd sweeping in a punishing arc. The illusionist ducked unnaturally low, bones cracking, and the weapon smashed against stone instead. Debris exploded.
The crossbow roared to life as the spewed a volley of arrows.
A bolt tore through the cave, hitting Saint square in the chest. She staggered, armor crumpling, sparks raining. Saint strained to bind the creature again, but it shredded her like paper.
'It's faster, stronger than me for sure. Damnation... this thing's just getting started.'
The fight devolved into pure chaos afterward.
Sunny darted forward, his blade a blur from using a bit of essence. He struck high, low, feinting, twisting, every movement coldly calculated. But the illusionist met him blow for blow, its clawed hands blocking, parrying, countering with inhuman speed. Each clash rattled his bones, each near miss left stone cracked or gouged.
And then it caught him.
One skeletal hand clamped on his wrist. The other came down like a guillotine. For a heartbeat, Sunny felt the world slow. Then pain exploded as his arm was severed at the elbow.
Some blood sprayed across the cavern floor.
He stumbled back, vision flashing red. Midnight clattered to the ground. The illusionist advanced, sockets burning with cruel hunger.
"Bleed, little shadow. Drown in your own blood like the creeten you are."
Sunny's mind screamed. His body screamed. But beneath it all, instinct took over.
The Crown.
Its cold weight pressed against his brow, a whisper of power threading through his veins. Dark sparks gathered around the stump of his arm. Bone knit. Flesh reformed. In moments, his hand returned, pale and shaking, but whole.
Sunny bent, snatched up [Midnight shard], and spat blood.
"Sorry to disappoint. I don't stay dead."
The illusionist hesitated. Then it snarled and came on.
The cave became a slaughterhouse.
Saint rejoined the fray, halberd whistling through the air, her strikes carving furrows into the stone. Sunny moved in her wake, the two of them pressing the mummy in a relentless rhythm. Shadows lashed, steel flashed, and the cavern shook with each impact.
The illusionist fought like a storm. Its crossbow fired between strikes, forcing Sunny to twist and roll to avoid instant death. Its claws raked across armor and flesh, tearing chunks free. Twice it nearly took his head. Once, its bolt tore through his thigh, shredding muscle.
But each time, the Crown burned, knitting him back together like a puppet.
The pain remained. The blood loss was high even with Blood Weave. But Sunny stood, teeth bared, eyes alight with fury.
'This thing doesn't stop. But neither do I.'
Saint was battered, dents spreading across her armor, ruby dust staining her weapon and covered her entire figure. But she too stood unbroken, her halberd striking with machine-like precision. Wether from pride or just unwilling to fall Sunny couldn't tell
Together, they carved their way back into control on the battlefield.
Sunny ducked beneath a claw, drove his dagger into the mummy's ribs, and twisted. Saint swept its legs out from under it with the haft of her halberd, then brought the blade down in a brutal downward slash. Bone splintered, blood spraying.
The illusionist shrieked, the sound shaking the cave itself. The ceiling groaned, dust and stone raining down. A bolt exploded into the floor, cracking it, sending fissures racing across the cavern.
Sunny staggered, his lungs burning.
The ground split. One fissure opened beneath him, swallowing his foot. He tore free just as a claw swiped past, gouging the wall. He spun, shadows coiling, and slashed deep across the illusionist's torso.
It barely flinched from the deep stab.
Sunny's arm went numb as the creature's fist crashed into his chest. He flew back, skidding across the floor, coughing blood. For a moment, the world tilted.
Then he forced himself up again.
The Crown pulsed. His wounds sealed, slowly, agonizingly, but they sealed. He spat a tooth onto the stone and glared across the cave. Sunny was tired, he had taken many blows to the chest and he didn't know how much more he could take mentally.
The corpse stood tall, cracked but unbroken just like Saint, blood leaking from a dozen wounds. Its sockets glowed with vile light, presence pressing heavier than ever.
Sunny raised Midnight. "You're tough. I'll give you that."
He bared his teeth in a savage grin. "But you're still just bones in a cave."
And with that, he charged again towards the illusionist, brimming with power.
***
Sunny was at his wits' end, but so was the creature... or at least he hoped it was.
The two of them circled slowly, steps grinding against the stone floor, eyes locked on each other. Breath rattled from his lungs in harsh bursts, blood dripping steadily from half-healed wounds. Across from him, the illusionist moved with twitching jerks, its frame cracked and splintered in a dozen places. Blood dripped from its half-severed jaw, pooling black on the rock.
Around them lay dozens of ruined corpses.
The corrupted townsfolk that were once puppets dancing to the illusionist's commands had been slaughtered to the last one, or the ones closest to them that he could summon. Limbs torn away, skulls caved in, torsos split. Sunny had tried to resist their pull from their leader, tried to cut the strings with his crown's enchantment [Voice of the Dragon King]. For a while, the Crown had done it. Its power surged through him with every heartbeat, leaking constantly from his body in a flood he couldn't control. That flood had even torn some of the puppeteer's threads, made some minions hesitate during the heat of the battle.
But in the end, it had been simpler to do what he always did. Kill them, after all that was the mercy of Shadow.
So he had slaughtered them all, and got a decent amount of shadow fragments from it.
His swings carried more weight than ever before, the force of his own will was enhanced from the crown, spilling from him with every cut. [Midnight Shard] bit deeper than it should, shadows struck harder when he summoned them, even Saint's movements seemed bolstered by the strange resonance flowing out of him. Sunny didn't know how to shape it, didn't know how to contain it, but used wrong or not, it was enough to fight this thing to a standstill, more or less.
The illusionist rasped, empty sockets burning. "You burn your soul like a torch. It will consume you just like that Nephilim."
Sunny tightened his grip on Midnight, smirking despite the blood on his lips. "Good thing I've got disposable cores then."
They moved as one.
The illusionist lunged, its crossbow locking onto him even as its skeletal hand slashed down. Sunny stepped into the attack to dodge, halting his breath to reduce distractions, shadows bursting from beneath his feet to elevate him. Midnight met the claw in a shower of sparks, then slid down and cut across its chest. The impact shook his bones as he cut deep.
At the same instant, the crossbow fired at him.
The bolt slammed into his shoulder, spinning him half around, putting his back towards it. For a heartbeat, Sunny thought his arm had been torn off again. Pain roared, his vision blurred and went white from the impact.
He snarled, forcing himself forward instead of backing up to retreat. With his wounded arm, he shoved Midnight deeper, nearly splitting the mummy's ribcage in half like he hoped.
The creature howled and grabbed him by the throat before he could dodge, lifting him like a toy into the air. Its fingers squeezed his throat with an insurmountable force. Sunny's legs kicked, trying to get it to release him, shadows thrashing around its limbs. He felt his throat bones start to give, his vision narrowing.
Luckily, Saint came to the rescue as she struck. Her halberd whistled through the air, burying itself deeply in the monster's back. The force knocked it forward, staggering, and its grip on Sunny loosened enough for him to wrench free with the help of his tentacle shadows. He hit the ground in a heap, coughing blood violently, his windpipe was completely crushed but already starting to knit back together and healed under the Crown's power.
He spat blood and rasped as he struggled to breathe, "Damnation... I'm starting to hate caves even more."
The illusionist ripped the halberd from its spine, blood spraying. It turned around in a whirlwind, crossbow firing at point-blank. Saint twisted, but the bolt still got her, carving a burning trench across her shoulder plate. Sparks flared, her armor screeching.
She did not fall, though, as it only grazed her armor before passing her and crashed into a wall.
Sunny pushed himself up, vision still blurry, and sprinted forward. He ducked beneath the illusionist's claw, slid on the bloody floor, and hacked at its legs. One snapped like wood while the other held. The creature lurched, anger showing in its face, only to be caught by Saint's halberd slamming across its jaw.
Bone shattered, Its skull twisted halfway around, but it still fought.
The cave groaned above them, cracks racing across the ceiling as stone dust rained down. The ground beneath their feet trembled with each clash.
Sunny panted, circling again, blood dripping from the half-healed wound in his shoulder. Every injury he took slowed him less than it should have — but each regeneration drained something from him. His soul burned, will leaking out in ragged pulses than its usual constant pulse. His hands trembled from fear and tiredness.
'How much longer can I keep forcing this? How much more can that thing take? How much more... can I take? Can't it be someone else's problem for once?
The illusionist answered the question by lunging again, faster than ever before.
They clashed in a blur of steel and claw. Sunny parried, slashed, and ducked with precision. Each motion was laced with desperation but also strength. The mummy's strikes grew more erratic but no less lethal, driven by the same relentless hunger that fueled Sunny's defiance in dying.
A claw raked across his side, tearing into flesh. He answered with a thrust through its chest, shadows latching to drag it down. It staggered but did not fall, its skeletal hand latching onto his wrist and nearly crushing the bones.
Saint tried to attack but it simple held her halberd, intercepting and knocking it away. Sunny seized the moment, twisted, and hacked off its arm at the elbow but failed as it refused to give in.
The creature shrieked — not in pain, but fury. Its presence flared, slamming into them like a physical force. The cave walls shuddered from the aura.
Sunny nearly fell to his knees under the weight. His teeth bared.
'Damnation... it's going to bring the whole ceiling down at this rate.'
He forced himself upright, shadows writhing around him, and raised Midnight in both hands. Across from him, the mummy steadied itself, dark blood dripping from its wounds, one arm gone but the crossbow still twitching madly.
They circled each other once again, both of them half-broken, both of them unyielding and unwilling to die.
"Fall," the illusionist rasped, its voice doubled and fractured. "You are nothing but a shadow. I am eternal and ever seeing, I will gladly take your body for myself after I kill you."
Sunny felt a force press down on him that almost made him fall. Getting back up, he spat blood and grinned, savage and sharp. "If you're eternal, why do you look like hell?" Sunny antagonized.
Then they clashed again, even fiercer than before.
Sunny ducked a bolt by inches, its heat burning across his cheek. He closed the distance, ramming Midnight into the creature's gut. It clawed his chest in return, nearly ripping free his ribs. He gasped but did not yield, twisting the blade deeper.
Saint struck from behind, halberd cleaving into the monster's side.
The three of them crashed together in a storm of steel, bone, and shadow.
The cave ceiling groaned louder, dust falling like rain.
Sunny staggered back, vision blurred, barely able to keep upright. His wounds closed, slower than before. The Crown burning him from the inside as it forced his body back together. His arm throbbed where it had been torn, his chest raw where claws had nearly opened him in two. But he felt his wounds closing slightly slower, he was running out of time, or will to be exact.
The illusionist stumbled as well, its body collapsing in on itself, bones cracking, blood pouring freely. Yet it still lifted its crossbow, twitching like a broken marionette.
They were both nearly finished.
Sunny drew in a ragged breath, shadows gathering at his heels. One more push. Just one more.
Then the cave rumbled.
He froze, eyes flicking up. From the ceiling, a cluster of rocks broke free, crashing down near the battlefield.
And then he felt it — two shadows slipping into the cavern, dark and predatory.
Sunny swore like a pirate, whatever a pirate was.
'Shit. Looks like we have company.'
Sunny looked at the illusionist and for the first time, a look of fear spread across his face before turning into fury.
"That damn Ne-"
*boom*
The cave shook as the ceiling exploded, dust and debris pouring from the ceiling like a sandglass running out. Sunny staggered, Midnight slick in his hand, his lungs burning. Across from him, the illusionist raised its broken frame, crossbow twitching erratically, sockets glowing with bottomless hatred.
Then the stone floor trembled as whatever erupted from the ceiling landed in the middle of the floor.
A sound like a loud roar that echoed in the mountains echoed through the cavern. The illusionist faltered, its head twisting toward the darkness at the middle. Sunny's shadows recoiled from his sword back to his figure as something vast slithered into being, scales scraping against rock.
A black Serpent.
It surged into the chamber with a roar of stone splitting under its bulk, its shadowy body coiling, its red eyes burning like red suns of abyssal fire. The sheer weight of its presence slammed into the battlefield, scattering dust and shards of rock in a cyclone.
'A onyx serpent... wait is that my Serpent!'
The illusionist staggered back a step. For the first time, Sunny thought he saw hesitation in the rotten frame.
Then the Serpent's massive jaws opened.
And from the abyss of its throat, light spilled out, a white fire to be exact.
The cave was bathed in it, shadows retreating, blood glistening in its brilliance. And with that fire came out a silver-haired girl.
Nephis stepped forward, emerging from the Serpent's maw like an angel descending. Her blade was already in her hands, burning with radiant flame. Her white hair caught the firelight, haloed by sparks, her silver eyes seemed to shine in the cavern's darkness. She did not stumble, she did not hesitate, she simply walked into the chaos with the poise of someone born from battle itself. Though, considering her background, she technically was born in a time of war.
Sunny blinked, blood running into his eye from his head injury. For a moment, he thought he was hallucinating from the amount of brain damage he took.
Then she moved, towards him.
The burning blade cut across the air, leaving trails of fire that seared the very shadows. As she advanced towards him, every step was relentless. The creature raised its crossbow, fired, and the bolt melted before reaching her, consumed in her radiance.
"Hello, Sunny," Nephis said, her voice calm, quiet, and absolute. But it sounded inhuman, formal, and more emotionless than ever.
'She's overusing her aspect,' Sunny realized, suddenly worried about her condition.
The illusionist shrieked, fury and dread tangled in its broken throat. It lunged at her with its claw, its presence crashing down like a storm.
Nephis' Dream blade rose.
Sunny had seen her fight a thousand times. But even battered, even drenched in blood, he found himself staring, stunned.
The flaming sword met rotten flesh.
Light devoured.
The illusionist's scream tore through the cave, echoing off the stone walls as its body unraveled, burned away from the inside. Its crossbow arm snapped, its jaw fell loose, and blood turned to vapor as it staggered back.
The cave groaned again, half the ceiling collapsing in a shower of stone. Sunny stumbled toward her, coughing through the dust, shadows lashing around him instinctively to shield them both.
"About time you showed up, Neph," he rasped, blood still on his lips, but a small smile formed on his face.
Nephis glanced at him, the firelight dancing in her eyes. Instinctually she reached out to heal him, "hold still."
Sunny spat crimson blood onto the floor, his wounds already closing under the burn of the Crown. His flesh had dark sparks where it reformed, his chest rising as some strength seeped back into his battered limbs.
"No need," he rasped, wiping blood from his mouth. "I had it handled... sorta."
He tried a laugh that turned into a cough fit.
"Damnation... remind me to never fight one of those things alone again."
Sunny staggered, wiping more blood from his mouth, then looked at her.
"How the hell did you find me?"
Nephis met his gaze, her face unreadable in the firelight. She lowered her blade, flames guttering low.
"I'll tell you later," she said simply, "and I think this belongs to you," holding out her hand.
Serpent, who had coiled behind her, disappeared in black sparks as Sunny heard the spell announce him receiving a Shadow, Serpent.
Sunny chuckled hoarsely, shaking his head as Midnight rested against his shoulder.
'Damnation, She always knows how to make an entrance.'
And then, as another slab of stone fell from the ceiling, he sighed.
"Later better be soon."
Their conversation was cut short sadly when the illusionist shrieked, its jaw hanging loose, fury trembling through its rotten frame. It lunged, not at Nephis, not at Sunny, but at both — crossbow firing, claw tearing, aura crashing down in a final storm.
"You should not have come here nephilim, now I'll have the honor to kill both you pathetic weak humans."
Sunny moved with shadows. Nephis moved with fire.
Midnight and Dream Blade struck in the same moment.
Sunny's will bled into his strike, his shadows wrapping around his sword, augmenting it, bones snapped from his strike. Nephis's flame carved through its chest, fire erupting from within.
The illusionist convulsed, twisted, and then screamed one last time. Its body split, burned, shattered. It collapsed into ruin, its presence vanishing like a tide sucked out to sea.
Silence crashed down in its place, broken only by the groan of stone above them.
And then—
A sound.
A wet, tearing sound.
Both of them turned.
From the pile of broken bones and burned flesh, the illusionist stirred. Its torso writhed, snapping back into shape with sickening cracks. The flame-eaten ribcage knitted together from the inside out, dark blood steaming. Its sockets reignited, burning with black fire.
Slowly, the creature rose.
Sunny froze, a curse forming in his throat.
Nephis raised her sword again, fire blooming bright, although he could see how tired she was in her eyes.
'Do I look the same? Probably, though I think I looked like that even before now."
The illusionist's jaw hung open, voice fractured but stronger than before, layered with something deeper.
"Shadows... flame... you think either can destroy me?"
It pointed the half-shattered crossbow toward them.
"You will die. Both of you."
Sunny tightened his grip on Midnight, his grin returning despite the blood dripping down his chin.
"Great, just what I needed, another round two."
Nephis's eyes narrowed, her blade lifting higher. "We end it here then, together, Sunny."
The cave shuddered, dust and stone falling like rain as the monster straightened to its full height again, its presence pouring outward and enveloping the cavern once more.
And in the silence between breaths, Sunny thought grimly,
'Damnation... this fight is just getting started now. The shadow fragments I get from this better be worth it."