Sunny and Nephis had been walking and resting in cycles for a few days, and he could confidently say that he hated the jungle more than the forgotten shore. The creatures weren't the problem since they were more than capable of taking out the strongest that the fallen ranked had to offer with a bit of preparation. Neither was the endless daylight that caused them to search for shade every time they wanted to sleep. But the heat was Sunny's biggest problem so far. The closer they got to the center of the forest, the hotter it got.
They had to find shade every hour to not die from heatstroke, something that if he died, Nephis would never let him live it down. Despite his complaining it was actually Nephis who suffered more since she didn't have an armor that allowed her to resist the heat like [Puppeteer's Shroud]. She had to wear [Starlight Legion] almost all day until they slept since she had no other armor. They luckily had been getting memories since they arrived, but only in the dormant rank so he fed them to Saint.
Remembering Saint, Sunny opened his runes until he found Saints.
[Marble Saint]
Shadow Rank: Ascended.
Shadow Class: Demon.
Shadow Fragments: (0/300).
Shadow Attributes: [Battle Master], [Stalwart], [Spark of Divinity].
Shadow Description: [...]
Shadow Abilities: [Weapon Sage], [Underworld Armament].
Sunny had been in a good mood ever since Saint Ascended, which he would follow soon enough after the nightmare. This was another reason why things were going well so far, even perfectly, Sunny thought. Saint being Ascended made a world of difference, most notably in fights, as Saint was now stronger than both Sunny and Nephis combined. They had even been able to take down an awakened Titan they had spotted on the way, which resembled a pile of vines that moved at incredible speed. Saint, augmented by both of them, made quick of it and they were able to get Nephis back into Devil-hood from all the killing they did.
He wouldn't even be surprised if their part of the forest was cleared of nightmare creatures for the moment.
"What are you thinking about?" Nephis asked as they walked side by side.
'She's getting really good at telling things from people.' Sunny noted, but he didn't blame her, since Nephis had made sure he was okay.
"I'm just thinking of the progress we've made so far. Saint's Ascension, getting back you to devil-hood, and me making my way to tyrant-hood."
Nephis offered a small smile before responding, "Well yes I suppose we've gotten stronger, though I find it ironic that Saint becomes a master before we do since she's under your control."
"Don't remind me, but yeah it is pretty funny thinking about it."
Nephis shook her head before golden sparks formed at her hand and [Weaver's mask] appeared in her hand. Sunny had given it to her ever since they ventured out. Feeling burnt alive was already painful enough, but with the burning heat and her flames, she sometimes did catch on fire, regular fire which she could not control. So, Sunny decided to give her the mask to help her out, something he regretfully hadn't done till now. Even so, Sunny couldn't lie that when Nephis put on the mask in front of him she looked pretty cool and badass.
"So, how do I look?"
"Amazing, beautiful, cool."
'Damn my flaw!' Sunny cursed, his face turning slightly red.
"Glad to know then, honey." Nephis then dismissed the mask
Nephis wearing the mask reminded him that when they returned to the waking world, he would probably turn his hair white like Nephis's while wearing the mask to stay hidden as he didn't like being in the spotlight, not like Nephis liked it more but she could at least tolerate it. She was the burning light and he was the shadow that stood under her but devoured everything that tried to douse the flame. Suddenly Sunny's ears shot up a little as he heard what sounded like faint singing. He nudged at Nephis's side a little to grab her attention as they halted.
"Do you hear that?"
"I-I think so... it sounds like singing?"
"Should we check it out?"
"I think so, maybe we can catch tonight's dinner there since we're out of meat."
They broke into a sprint towards the faint singing, moving with precision and silently. The way towards it was surprisingly easy and fast as the path towards whatever was singing was seemingly cleared of hanging vines and roots. The hairs on his neck rose as he felt an ominous feeling rise in his heart as they got closer. Steeling himself, he continued moving forward with his Shadow up head to give him eyes on what's ahead, or whatever counted as eyes for his shadows.
Once there the singing sounded all around them, as if it was coming from the forest itself. Looking around, Sunny tried to look for the source of the sound as his shadows spread across the area in search of any potential danger or surprise attacks, and to alert him if something came their way. Instead, both Sunny and Nephis had stunned faces as they looked at the source of the source of the singing was... a magical glowing tree.
Its leaves were shining in the blazing sun like golden petals he saw in gardens in NQSC, but only now they looked more magnificent. Sunny wasn't a big fan of or interested in gardening or trees. But even he had to admit that the tree in front of them was breathtaking. Nephis also looked at the tree with amazement, reverence even. Even the Soul Devourer couldn't compare to it, with its docile look making it seem out of place in a death zone.
It was tiny compared to the trees in the jungle but still above average for trees in the waking world. After the surprise wore off Sunny tried to listen to what the song was saying, but strangely it was speaking in a language foreign to any on earth. Perhaps it was the language used in ancient times, but even then, they spoke English too, or at least the ones he talked to in his first nightmare.
It was actually strange the more he thought about it. On Earth, there were tons of languages among humans from the primitive age all the way up to the nightmare age where they were currently living. People had settled on only speaking English after the spell came but before that people were speaking all types of languages like Spanish, French, German, and more. But the people living in the Dream Realm had to have multiple languages too just like them, it seemed unlikely that they only spoke English, and yet that was seemingly the only possible way. He would need to have a chat with teacher Julius about languages once they got back.
Moving cautiously towards the tree Sunny stopped, worried that the tree might be putting them in a mind hex, he summoned the pendant that gave him moderate protection against mind hexes and tried to sense if he was under a mind hex. If he was under a mind hex, it was too subtle to be noticed. Once up close to the tree, he saw deep carvings engraved into it, runes that he couldn't decipher.
'Is it saying tree right here? Or is it saying grass? And what about here is it trying to say experiment? Or perhaps the tree is an experiment? No wait that could mean something completely different if I read it in another rune language...'
Before he could try to get a better understanding though, his shadows spotted something that rang warning bells in his mind. White mist slowly crawled towards them from the tree line, and to make it worse his shadows, once consumed by the mist, could neither sense nor see anything and struggled to find their way out.
Sunny turned to see Neph summoning her [Dream Blade] and closing the distance between them before pushing her back behind his. Sunny summoned his daggers that had repaired themselves almost completely since their last hunt as the mist suddenly lunged at them and consumed them both in its vast and endless expanse that went as far as the eye can see. Which wasn't much considering his vision and shadow sense were subdued almost entirely.
Sunny suddenly felt a gaze almost impaling him as it scanned him head to toe, as if judging him for his crimes like a judge would. Sunny simply raised his daggers higher and scanned the surroundings like a hawk, making sure he left no blind spots and Nephis was surely doing the same for him. The hot sun suddenly felt far away as he could barely make out the shining orb high above that barely lit up the white mist.
Footsteps could be heard on his right as Sunny turned to see a vague figure seemingly blending in with the mist, but also near them. Once it got close, he got a better look at it, and what he saw made him shake a little and almost drop a dagger. The figure that was looming nearby was none other than... The Forsaken Knight from the cathedral that he, Nephis, and Sunny killed. Turning around Sunny was about to warn Neph before realizing that Nephis was no longer behind him, or nearby him for that matter as Sunny could no longer see Nephis. Turning back around Sunny faced the Knight once more who looked even more opposing than before as the mist seemingly empowered him like how the true darkness it had wielded once before had. But also, it had silverly parts infecting its armor like a plague, or perhaps it was the mist mark on it.
They stood in front of each other, neither one making a move and opting to simply stare each other down. Sunny was in disbelief at what he was seeing, he was sure that it couldn't be here unless Nether, or whoever was the creator of the knight also made them here which he highly doubted. He also doubted that it was the same one he had fought at the cathedral as he was certain that Saint had killed it after devouring what could've been its heart.
'The mist must be messing with my mind... but where is Neph?' Sunny wondered where she could have possibly gone.
The Knight seemingly grew bored of waiting for Sunny to make the first move as it dashed towards him at incredible speed and went straight for the head as Sunny barely dodged it by pulling himself back before hitting the hard ground. Even the ground seemed unnatural as it was similar to the floor back where he had fought the damn thing except it was polished white marble instead of the dark brown wood mixed in with black stone.
The knight didn't give him a moment of respite as it swiftly continued its onslaught of attacks, sending its sword in a downward thrust. Rolling to the side he jumped backwards and got back to his feet, facing the knight who stared at him with pure disdain like he was a pest that needed to be killed. Sadly, for him, Sunny had faced death countless times and survived it all like the cockroach he is.
Sunny wrapped all his shadows around him and felt himself be stronger than any Dreamer should be. He threw his left dagger toward the little slot for its eyes but it was blocked and swatted away as if it were annoyed by its sword. He clashed directly with the knight as their two blades were locked in an intense battle as they crossed each other back-to-back. He was surprised when he saw that he could now go clash for clash without being sent back by the knight, although he was straining his muscles to be able to meet each crossing. Eventually, he started to use essence with the help of Serpent because his pure raw strength started to fade, as well as the adrenaline he felt from facing the knight again.
Sunny rolled as the knight threatened to chop his head off with a horizontal slash and he resummoned the thrown dagger as he landed a hit on the knight's foot. Getting back up he slashed at the knight once more and made a huge indent in the chest plate as it brought its longsword back around to which Sunny used both his daggers to block the attack. They pushed their blades against each other's, hoping the other would tire out before they did.
After a few moments Sunny, treacherous as ever, ducked before pulling his daggers down. Sadly, it seemed to predict him as it pushed its longsword down and grazed his back. He felt the fibers of the [Puppeteer Shroud] cleanly get cut off and some of his skin too he yelped. He would've gone back but the knight's blade was still behind him so instead he went for revenge as he jumped upward and delivered an upward double slash with his daggers to its helmet. The lower part of the helmet cracked and exploded into huge black and silverly shard pieces.
He kicked back against it as it dropped its blade and tried to grab Sunny but failed as he escaped and landed on the floor. Picking its sword back up it slashed at Sunny but was repelled by his dagger. It continued with a horizontal slash, then sidestepped to the left and slashed at a weak spot, but he blocked the first one and parried the second one, dealing heavy damage to its cross guard. The Forsaken Knight weapon was also its flaw and weakness, so Sunny was positive that its weakness was also in destroying the blade. If not, then he was majorly fucked.
They clashed for only the dead gods know how long as Sunny started pushing back against the knight and landing a few direct hits on its sword at the cross guard. After a few more minutes - or perhaps an eternity - he managed to damage the sword severely, but he wasn't doing well too for the matter as he had multiple deep wounds that were healing, but only after a day or so as they were deep.
'It hits like... like... like a Fallen Devil is supposed to I suppose.'
Sunny knew that was a lie of course, after all Sunny could never come close to being at the strength of a true Fallen Devil. Instead, Sunny theorized that the mist was simply replicating the Forsaken Knight that Sunny had fought before, which also could've meant it went through his memories which was a frightening thought. Either way, the replica of the Forsaken Knight was a much weaker version of the real one which meant that Sunny was actually stronger than it currently was, or at least on par in raw strength.
But strength alone isn't enough to win any battle against a nightmare creature. Sunny was also much smarter and trickier than the knight was which meant that Sunny was able to do and plan further ahead while it only reacted to what Sunny did. That was not to say that the knight was brainless as it seemed to be controlled like a puppet by the mist, which reminded Sunny awfully of the creature that lived in the sewers.
Hitting the cross guard once more it finally cracked under the constant pressure as they fought and the knight's image began to fade into the mist as it stepped backwards. Taking a deep breath, he summoned [Midnight Shard] and leaned on it for support to rest before searching for Neph. But instead of the knight simply fading into the background of the white mist, it began to transform before Sunny's eyes.
Its once shining black armor became a dark cloak, its helmet turned into a pale, gaunt, bony and pale face. It appeared like a hunchback - most likely because it was actually hunching its back - and was wearing pure black clothing that Sunny would wear if given the choice of his outfit. There were no adornments, and it was holding itself awkwardly with its emotionless eyes staring straight at him as he instantly recognized the man forming in front of him. Gunlaug's hidden blade and executioner, Gunlaug's best lieutenant but also the most feared, Harus.
Sunny felt anger boil all over his body as his body instantly moved towards Harus, sword pointing straight at his neck. Before Sunny could slice his head off though his vision, already severely impaired, was cut off completely, leaving him in darkness as he moved into a defensive position and extended shadow sense. He heard cracking sounds as he felt the shadow of Harus grow taller and taller until he was only slightly below the size when he last faced him.
He then heard teeth clattering against each other and realized it was trying to communicate to him using Harus. Before it could though Sunny threw his dagger precisely where he thought it was and it struck true as it shrieked inhumanly which almost made Sunny puke. Holding it back Sunny rushed towards Harus who had gotten over getting stabbed by his dagger as it reappeared in Sunny's hand. Sunny jumped high as a big hand flew under him. He tried to split its head open with Midnight but sadly it caught the blade in its hands and threw him away like an unwanted toy.
Sunny rushed towards Harus who was also dashing towards him as Sunny side-stepped right as Harus punched where Sunny was before. Using the opportunity he stabbed Harus in the chest before stepping on the dagger and stabbed another dagger in his throat. He shook violently as he held on tight to the dagger to not fall, but he wished he had as he felt a strong hand flying towards him. He ducked under Harus legs before it could get him and used [Midnight Shard] to slash at its back. Making some distance Sunny started to summon a memory as he resummoned the daggers and got ready.
Harus, true to his disgusting nature, obliged as it moved towards him before seemingly appearing behind Sunny. He tried to dodge but Harus predicted him and punched down on his back which shattered a few of his ribs and probably fractured his middle spine. Coughing small amounts of blood Sunny returned the strike with one of his own as he thrusted [Midnight Shard] to where his heart probably was.
'Damnation I might pass out from blood loss for once.' He might have gotten too used to Nephis healing him that he might have even gotten arrogant.
It shrieked once more as it tried to punch Sunny in the head to send them both to their graves. The memory Sunny was summoning finally appeared as it was the refrigerator that they always stored their food in.
[Cradle of Eternal Frost]
Memory Rank: Awakened
Memory Tier: III
Memory type: Tool
Memory Description: [Some hate the cold, others love it. One soul, curious and ambitious, tried to make winter last forever. Instead, they found comfort in the frost of their invention.]
Sunny and Nephis had obtained it after killing an awakened demon that was stuck inside the same memory they got from it. It tried to lure them in by raising meat above the memory every so often so Sunny sneaked over and pulled it outside of the box where Nephis used her flames and killed it. It was a frozen skeleton and Sunny realized that the owner must've froze inside it. But now he was using its invention as a weapon against Harus. As Harus struck at Sunny he raised the opening of the refrigerator as Harus's hand entered the spatial space of it.
Immediately Harus tried to take out his hand but Sunny held it tight as he felt frost consuming his hand. It then started crawling up his arm as his arm turned into an icicle in mere moments. Sunny had put his arms fully in it too before to grab food, but the cold never tried to freeze him since he was its owner. For strangers though...
Soon Harus stopped fighting as his figure turned into a sculpture of ice. The mist seemed to hesitate to reclaim Harus, as if it too would be affected by the frost. Sadly, once Sunny pulled back the fridge and dismissed it, Harus started showing signs of defrosting. Not wasting a single moment Sunny sprinted away before he could fully recover as he went to search for where Nephis had gone.
***
Far away two silver-haired girls were locked in a deadly duel. They clashed in a deadly exchange of blows as they dismembered arms and legs to do the same to the other. After a bit, they separated as the taller one struggled to breathe while the other seemingly enjoyed the misery it brought to the other. Nephis had been behind Sunny until she saw a white haired girl in the distance making faces at her. She wasn't easily angered or taunted but she recognized the face that was taunting her, it was her own but much younger than her current one. It was as if she were staring at a mirror of her past self back during the battle of the crimson spire.
She ran towards it and left Sunny behind, and only after chasing it for a bit did she recall Sunny but she could no longer recall where she came from and how to return to him. Soon the younger Nephis came out of the mist, though the mist seemed to cling to her like a robe it stared down at her with disgust. It didn't talk but she somehow knew why it was disgusted, she had changed, she had given the chance to go back to the waking world to Sunny. She said to him that she was willing to condemn everyone in the forgotten shores to secure her escape, and yet she gave up the chance to return and face the sovereigns and become stronger for Sunny.
She was no longer as ruthless as she once was.
They both summoned [Dream Blade], golden sparkles shimmered in Nephis' palms as it formed her blade while the copy simply forged it out of the white mist as it turned into a deadly white Dream Blade. They fought endlessly since then, Nephis using her flames to heal herself whenever she let her younger self dismember her while it healed itself with the mist every time Nephis chopped off one of its limbs in return. The ground had turned dark red from the blood they had spilt fighting, and yet Nephis only felt pain whenever she was dismembered as she had summoned [Weaver's Mask].
Even so, Nephis was certainly winning against it. Each time their sword met Nephis would use her skills to deal deadlier wounds to it than it could do to her. Each time they went back to heal Nephis's flames burnt brighter than the mist ever could. Eventually, she landed a fatal wound in its head, almost cutting off her neck completely as it stumbled backward with a grunt and yelp. Nephis leaned on her sword similar to how Sunny had done so whenever they had a moment of respite in a battle, he must've rubbed off on her but she would never tell him that.
The mist consumed the young Nephis until it morphed into a raven black haired boy who looked scrawny and weak, and yet Nephis knew that was an act. In front of her eyes, she saw her younger self turn into a younger Sunny back when he returned from the Dark City. Nephis knew it was a fake, but she could barely hold herself from running towards him. They stared at each other for a while before it moved towards her with a black blade in hand, aiming towards her throat as Nephis got ready for another fight against a replica of the man she loved dearly.