Summoning his runes, he focused on the memory section.
Memories: [Silver Bell], [Puppeteers' Shroud], [Azure Blade], [Burrower's Claw].
'Hmm. Nothing new.'
Then what was the Spell talking about?
Suddenly, he noticed a new set of runes in the neighbouring cluster. His eyes widened.
Echoes: [Carapace Scavenger], [Drownscale].
'Echo… it's an Echo…'
Sunny couldn't believe his eyes.
Ordinarily, he would have been overjoyed.
But Sunny was more than overjoyed, besides the fact that it would enormously improve their travel speed, it would be invaluable to his quest to gather more fragments.
Diving into his soul sea, Sunny saw the new bright glowing golden orb circling his core and ordered it down.
The sphere slowly floated down and touched the dark water. As Sunny came closer, walking on the surface of the sea, its radiance slowly faded away, revealing the monster contained within.
A hulking, menacing carapace scavenger was calmly standing in front of him.
There was no madness in its eyes… or any feeling at all, for that matter. After all, it wasn't really alive. It was just an echo.
Shining runes appeared in the air around the scavenger.
Echo: [Carapace Scavenger].
Echo Type: Beast.
Echo Core: Awakened.
Echo Attributes: [Strong], [Armored].
Echo Description: [A cursed soldier of the fallen legion].
Before Sunny knew it, a wide grin appeared on his face. That scavenger was now his: it could be summoned and used to fight against his enemies, carry heavy cargo or perform other tasks.
Remembering what happened when he touched the drownscale, he curiously touched the scavenger.
The moment his palm touched the scavenger, a strange thing happened.
The Soul of Sea suddenly surged a little, and a new set of runes appeared:
[Transform Echo into a Shadow?]
'Huh… so I can turn this one into a 'shadow' but not the other one… what's the difference between the two?'
But the answer came to him easily.He had gotten this one himself.
Sunny steeled his heart. Then, he spoke confidently:"Yes."
However, nothing happened. A moment later, the runes changed:
[Not enough Shadow Fragments to perform a transformation.]
[Shadow Fragments required: 47/100.]
He frowned, disappointed.
'I see. So there is another use for the fragments. They can either enhance my own core or do something weird to Echoes.
How do I know which use is more beneficial without knowing what a transformation actually does?'
An Echo was plenty useful by itself. Sunny felt that it would be wiser to concentrate on strengthening himself, at least for now.
But wouldn't a possibly stronger enhance the speed at which he gathered these fragments.
'Oh screw it… that's a problem for future me.'
With that, he left the Sea of Soul.
'Now… what was I doing?"
Oh right… Cassie!
He glanced over at Nephis, she was still gathering the other shard from the beast.
Cursing as he walked through the mud, he hurriedly found Cassie hidden in the spot where he had left her.
She raised her head and… frowned slightly. "What took you so long? Everything went quiet a while ago… I thought… I thought something might have happened."
Sunny hesitated for a moment, caught off guard by the slight tremor in her voice. But he understood why. She was blind, defenseless, and trapped in this cursed labyrinth with only them to rely on.
So if something happened to either of them…
"Sorry about that… I was shocked about something," he muttered, then gave a wide smile and said in a placating tone, "Come, let's go to Nephis, let me show you what I got."
Cassie tilted her head at his words, her brows furrowing faintly.
"What you got?"
Sunny grinned wider, though she couldn't see it. "You'll find out soon enough. Trust me, it's worth the wait."
He gently took her arm and guided her through the muck. The air was heavy with the stench of blood and rot, but somehow, the thought of what now lurked in his soul sea made the world feel just a little less suffocating.
When they reached Nephis, she was crouched low, her pale hair glinting in the dim light as she pried the shard free from the monster's carcass. Her blade rested at her side, slick with gore.
She glanced up when they approached. "Everything alright?"
"More than alright," Sunny said, puffing out his chest with pride. "We just got ourselves a new… companion."
The girls just looked at him plainly.
'What with that reaction?'
He gave an exaggerated sigh. "Do I have to spell it out? I got an Echo!"
Nephis's pupils slightly widened. Cassie, on the other hand, was more expressive:
"An Echo? You actually got an Echo?!"
"Yes."
Since a larger group of monsters was now minutes away from catching up with them, information he discovered from Gloomy, Sunny didn't waste any time and summoned the scavenger.
The hulking beast immediately appeared in front of him, seemingly sewn together from tiny sparks of light. Soon, its black chitin became fully corporeal. Following Sunny's command, it shifted a little and raised its mighty pincers.
"Meet our new mule, bodyguard, and all-purpose problem-solver!"
'whatever the spell a mule is.'
Nephis observed the Echo with a somewhat satisfied expression. Then, a corner of her lip slightly curled up.
"Good."
Sunny looked at her with a smile.
"I think we can task it with carrying Cassie. Outside of battle, it will help us the most."
The blind girl's mouth fell open.
"Carry me? Like… like a mount?"
He chuckled and slapped the scavenger on its carapace.
"This bad boy can fit a petite girl like you with no problem at all. Trust me! I've been clambering these things a lot for the past few days. It's actually quite spacious on top of them. Especially if they're not trying to kill you."
Cassie hesitated.
"Well… okay. If you think it's for the best."
Sunny and Nephis helped the blind girl to climb on top of the Echo. Then, they used the golden rope to create makeshift reins for Cassie to hold onto.
***
It was pouring. Strong winds were howling between the coral blades, sending bits of mud and seaweed flying.
Sunny was running with all his might, as though his life depended on it — because it actually did. He was leading their small group, choosing the straightest path toward the cliffs with the help of his shadow. Nephis was a step behind him. The scavenger carrying Cassie was stomping through the mud with its eight legs in the back.
'Shit! Shit! Shit!'
Without the need to avoid monsters and death breathing down their necks, they moved with amazing speed. Side passages and crimson walls were flashing past them in a blur. There was no need to hold back and conserve strength for the long run — if they were late to reach the cliffs by a minute, their lives would be over. They had to give it their all.
Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled, the storm clouds had almost consumed all the light there was.
Then he felt it, a slight rumble.
The sea was approaching.
His soles.
His shin.
His knees.
It was then, in a sudden flash of lightning, when they saw a dark mass of stone ahead.
They had made it to the cliffs.
He turned to Nephis.
"Time is up! Start climbing!"
She caught him by the arm.
"Dismiss your Echo!"
Sunny didn't know whether the scavenger could scale the cliff. In any case, Cassie wouldn't have been able to hold on if it did. He helped the blind girl get down and then sent the monster back to the Sea of Soul.
Nephis lowered herself to let Cassie climb on her back, then tied them together with the golden rope. Not wasting any time, she gritted her teeth and stepped forward to grab onto the wet rocks of the cliff wall.
Looking back, he saw a scavenger being thrown against the coral, becoming chunks of flesh and chitin in an instant.That was all the motivation he needed.
He climbed more desperately, adrenaline rushing through him as he looked for more handholds.
Rushing to get as high as possible before the black torrent hit, Sunny looked back and screamed:
"Brace!"
In the next moment, a wall of dark water hit the rocks mere meters beneath their feet. As Sunny held for dear life, the whole cliff shuddered. A few boulders fell from somewhere high above, missing his head only by chance.
Somehow, all three of them were still alive.
But he didn't stop climbing, neither did Nephis, as the black mass of water only continued growing.
He frantically kept climbing, tearing his skin on sharp rocks. Every muscle in his body was in agony. If not for the shadow wrapped tightly around his body and his shadow fragments, Sunny would have been long dead. But even with its help, the surging dark water was getting closer and closer.
"Damn it! Damn it all!"
No matter how hard Sunny tried, he couldn't win back any distance. Soon, the water was at his feet. The sea slowly swallowed his legs, then his torso. He kept climbing, now fighting against the weight of the water and the force of the tide that was trying to tear him away from the cliff.
Yet he held on, refusing to let go.
The deafening roar of the tide drowned out every sound, a maddened cacophony of crashing water, breaking stone, and howling wind. The ocean was merciless, slamming against Sunny's body with the weight of an avalanche, trying to wrench him away from the cliff. His hands bled, slipping on the jagged coral as he clawed for another grip.
His lungs screamed for air. Salt stung his eyes. The weight of the water crushed down on him like the hand of some ancient god.
'No… I won't die here. Not now… not yet!'
He fought like a madman, climbing through the torrent. He gained a meter. Two. His body screamed. His vision blurred.
Then — the water surged again. It swallowed him whole.
He choked, thrashing, lungs begging for air —
Something struck him. A flash of gold in the black.
A rope.
Nephis's rope.
Sunny's hand shot out on instinct. He clutched it like a drowning man clutches life itself. The rope went taut, dragging him upward, tearing him out of the tide's grasp. His feet slammed back into the cliff wall.
He didn't think. He just climbed, hauling himself higher, higher — until a hand seized him from above and wrenched him over the edge.
Sunny collapsed onto the stone, coughing, retching, his chest heaving as though it might tear apart. His body trembled uncontrollably.
Beside him, Nephis lay sprawled on the ground, drenched, white-knuckled grip still crushing the golden rope. Cassie sat a little ways off, silent, pale, wide-eyed.
For a long moment, none of them moved.
Sunny wanted to laugh — a wild, hysterical laugh of relief. But his body was too broken for even that.
They survived.
***
Welcome!
Day 5 of the tomato chapter-thon! part 2: electric boogaloo
I worked hard on this one so you better compliment me alot fr.
ladies and gents...
The handmaiden OC competition will be in the G3 Discord server.
scroll down to fanfiction then son of song, and post your OC in my thread, the one with the most reactions wins.
make sure to post it in one message, more than one message isnt allowed.
ends in two days!
(may be more than 1 winner)