The sound of his own heartbeat was all he could hear, it was rough and uneven yet strangely comforting as it told him the only truth that mattered.
He was alive.
Sunny lay sprawled across the stone, staring into the void as the bleak sky wept above him.
Cold water pelted his body, soaking him to the bone, each drop sharp as needles.
After some time, however, a feeling of uneasiness entered his mind. Something was off. Sunny scowled, trying to understand where that feeling was coming from. Finally, he realized that it was his shadow. It was trying to draw his attention to something.
'For spell's sake, just let me rest you wretch'
He was too tired to do anything. Both his body and mind were exhausted. However, the shadow was very persistent. It remained adamant.
In the end, Sunny moaned and rolled over on his stomach, then slowly stood up. Nephis turned her head and looked at him.
"What is it?" She asked
He grimaced.
"My shadow…wants to show me something.. I think?"
Cassie shivered and crawled closer to Neph, who in turn sheltered her with the cape.
He scanned the surroundings… but he couldn't really see anything out of place. The cliff rose high above the storm-lashed sea, forming a small, rugged island. The ground was broken by jagged ridges, and the space between them lay scattered with piles of dirt and tall, irregular boulders.
Nephis lowered crouched, still next to Cassie, her longsword being summoned into her hand in a flurry of sparks. She was taut and silent, like a coiled spring, one breath, one misstep away from snapping into lethal motion
"Do you see anything?" She asked in a hushed tone.
"Not really…"
Lightning flashed, briefly illuminating the small island in silver light.
Sunny froze, the next words froze in his throat.
One, two, three…
Those boulders weren't boulders at all…
They were scavengers.
Eight of them no less.
He found his mouth suddenly dry despite the rain and the near death experience with the dark sea.
This was no safe haven.
This might be their final resting place.
Noticing his tense expression Nephis spoke up, weariness evident in her voice:
"Sunny?"
He turned towards her, placing his finger to his lips while signalling she should stay where she is.
She obeyed without question, though her eyes demanded an explanation. Cassie, trembling, did the same.
He closed his eyes and inhaled, he had to make a plan.
Could he silently deal with eight scavengers?
It wasn't out of the realm of possibility, him having two echoes and Nephis also helped tremendously so that even if he got caught midway, they still had a slim chance at survival.
The scavengers had not stirred. Perhaps they were asleep, or simply hiding in fear of greater predators. Perhaps they hadn't noticed the humans at all. After all… who knew how well they could see?
When he opened his eyes, his perspective had changed.
He no longer saw a death trap.
He saw a battlefield perfectly suited for him, afterall… what's more dangerous than a treacherous shadow in the dark?
He formulated his plan.
Hadn't he once dreamed of being a silent killer in the dark? Here was his chance. Move unseen. Strike once.
One by one.
Yes. It could work. It had to.
Sunny glanced at Nephis and Cassie.
"I'll take care of this."
And just like that, the shadows seemed to swallow him.
The rain roared, the wind screamed but his steps made no sound. He stalked through the black, every breath measured, every motion precise. The first target loomed ahead: a lone scavenger on the far edge of the field.
Even if he failed at the first strike, it was far enough away that he was fairly confident he could finish it before it attracted the attention of its cursed brethren.
He crept behind the seemingly oblivious creature.
'Now or nothing…'
Taking a deep breath… he leapt onto its back and plunged the Azure place into its weak spot.
Crack
He held his breath and waited for the spell's confirmation… but it never came.
His heart skipped a beat as his body went tense, preparing for the possible short skirmish that might occur.
But that never came either.
With careful movements, he slid the blade out of the chitin and inspected the creature.
Dead as can be.
But not by his blade.
He missed it at first, blinded by the storm. The curtains of rain shielding the grisly wound that cut up the carapace of the scavenger from torso to limb.
The carapace resembled nothing more than a can of synthetic soup from the front, what lay inside also wasn't any different, crushed organs and mangled flesh was all that remained.
Watching as the rain cleaned the azure blood off the massive corpse, Sunny gathered his thoughts.
He would feel somewhat embarrassed from the fact that he had performed an ambush on a long dead beast if not for the fear of what had killed it in the first place.
First, he had to make sure if the scavengers were truly dead.
Second, if they were in fact all dead then he had to make sure whatever killed them was still in the vicinity
Sending Gloomy to search the island as he was more likely not to be noticed, he put himself in charge of checking on the rest of the scavengers.
The results were… what he precisely expected.
On the other side of the ridge… was a hulking shadow that clung to rocks, far larger than any scavenger. Its carapace riddled with jagged protrusions as big as spears. With black chitin spreading across its bulk and crimson sheens decorating it like a bloodied armor.
Where pincers should have been, there sprouted two ghastly scythes of bone. They curved outward with a predatory elegance, each blade looked sharp enough… to cleave through a scavenger.
Which they definitely have.
It was a carapace monster, the same type that Sunny had seen take the transcendent soul shards.
'So that's the killer…'
Fortunately, his shadow was not seen or noticed by the terrifying brute.
Recalling it, he headed back towards his companions.
A couple of minutes later, he returned to Nephis and Cassie— with soulshards from the scavengers in hand. The girls were tense and nervous, waiting for his return in the darkness. Before coming out of the shadows, Sunny let them know that he was approaching.
"It's me."
Nephis moved, lowering her sword a little. Her face was a little grim.
"What is the situation?" she said, careful to keep her voice low.
Sunny slowly exhaled, finally feeling a bit safer. For the first time, he was genuinely happy not to be alone in this cursed place.
"There are eight scavengers around us. But they're all dead. The killer is one of those big monsters we saw, the thing with the crimson pattern on its carapace and scythes instead of pincers. It's hiding from the storm beneath a stone ridge not far from here."
A bolt of lightning flashed, illuminating everything around. In its aftermath, it looked as though two white sparks ignited in Changing Star's eyes. Soon, the reflection was gone, leaving them grey and inscrutable again.
She tilted her head and whispered, as though talking to herself.
"An awakened monster."
Sunny licked his lips.
"Yeah. So, what should we do?"
Nephis thought for a while, leaning on her sword. Then, she looked at him and said:
"Kill it."
On the surface, it sounded as if changing star was a complete lunatic, after all they were just sleepers, it was a miracle they could already kill awakened beasts.
…But he himself had thought out the situation and had come to the same frightening conclusion.
But he still couldn't help but protest.
"Are you crazy?" He hissed.
She shrugged, "We can't leave the cliffs before morning, and neither can the monster. However, once the sun rises, it will easily see us and attack. Then, our only advantage — the element of surprise — will be gone. If we have to fight it anyway, it's better to be the ones initiating the fight."
'Damnation, I guess we really do have to confront it'
Changing Star looked around and added:
"It's not completely dark yet. Although barely, I can still see. Once the night comes, this won't be the case. So we will have to attack it first, and do it soon."
Sunny nodded.
They huddled as they formulated the plan.
***
'This is a bad idea.'
That was the only thought that was going through Sunny's head as he stood on top of the ridge, obscured by shadows.
Glancing at his own shadow, he wondered what would happen to it if he died.
Would it also die? Or would it remain by his corpse long after he was gone?
The gloomy shadow seemed somewhat disturbed by the possibility.
'Servers you right, bastard… ah damnation, I should stop stalling the inevitable'
With a weary sigh, Sunny lifted his hand and summoned the silver bell.
The small relic gleamed faintly in the stormlight. He gave it the slightest shake. Its clear, melodic chime cut through the roar of wind and rain like a knife.
The hulking shadow below stirred at once. Its massive torso twisted with unnatural speed, and a pair of burning crimson eyes ignited in the dark. They searched, locked, and then seared into him with murderous hunger.
Sunny, being the wise person that he was, wasn't there to see it.
Jumping off the ridge and landing with relative ease, he did not look back even as he heard the ridge explode as the menace burst through it.
Sweat running down his already soaked back, he didn't stop his sprint until he had reached the marked spot, only then did he look back.
Greeting him was the picture of the monster, who was more than three meters tall, rushing at him like a speeding train.
…whatever the spell a train was.
Sunny swallowed dryly, forcing himself to freeze.
The monster's scythes glinted in the lightning, each one long enough to split him in half with casual ease. Its bulk shook the earth as it charged, every step cracking stone beneath its weight.
The awakened monster, blinded by bloodlust, thundered forward. Its limbs struck the golden rope with bone-jarring force.
The rope held. The boulders did not. They shattered like brittle shells, exploding into shards. But in that instant, momentum betrayed the creature. Its forelegs were jerked backward, and with a hideous screech, it toppled face forward, creating a shallow trench as it slid forward, forcing him to jump back
Without even pausing, the monster started to right itself, jerking itself upright.
… it would've succeeded, thus sealing their fate, if it wasn't for several tons of chitin suddenly pinning it from behind.
The scavenger echo had come into play.
Despite the fact that the Echo was wounded by the spikes growing from the monster's carapace, it succeeded in immobilising it, at least for a second.
A second was enough.
As though out of nowhere, Nephis, who was lying in ambush, appeared in front of the monster. Darting between its terrifying scythes, she leaned forward and delivered a devastating thrust with her long-sword, putting her whole weight behind it.
There was no reason that monster wouldn't have chinks and gaps in between its armor as its lesser cousins do.
Anything so armored couldn't be so flexible after all.
The tip of Changing Star's sword plunged into the narrow gap. Then, the sword disappeared into the monster's body, penetrating so deep that its hilt ended up brushing against the chitin.
'Yes!'
With this, the monster should be at least heavily debilitated.
However, in the next second, his expression dimmed.
Because the creature didn't even seem to notice the wound that was supposed to be if not fatal, then at least heavily debilitating. Straining its body a little, it suddenly twisted, throwing the Echo off its carapace, crashing into the rocks, and rose to its feet. The bone scythes scraped against the rock as it pulled them out from the ground.
Defenceless, Nephis was right in front of it, her sword still stuck in the monster's flesh.
'Shit! Shit! Shit!'
The scythe came down, ready to reap its next victim as changing star had no chance to evade or deflect.
It would have.
It should have.
If not for the sudden eruption of scales and fangs from the shadows.
The Drownscale lunged with a thunderous snarl, its obsidian hide gleaming in the storm light.
Its jaws clamped down on the descending scythe with bone-splintering force. The impact rang out like steel meeting stone, a deafening crack that cut through the storm. For a heartbeat, the killing stroke was frozen in place, the two monsters locked in a contest of raw strength.
Lightning flashed, bathing them in white light.
Looking at them, Sunny couldn't help but feel awed at the scene.
The abomination raised its other bone scythe ready to cleave the lizard in two, only for that to be stopped by the scavenger echo.
Seeing a possible opening, he rushed forward at the immobilised monster while wrapping his shadow with the azure blade.
The monster's crimson eyes flared as he approached, burning with a fury that made his chest clench. Even pinned, even held at bay by teeth and claws, its blood-lust was suffocating.
His blade lashed upward, azure blood decorating the azure blade. The sword slipped into another seam of chitin, deeper than the first, cutting through flesh and scraping bone.
And despite the danger he was in.
Despite the bellowing and screeching of the monster.
He had a grin plastered on his face.
…Which disappeared as soon as the monster freed itself from the claws of the scavengers.
The monster slashed at the drownscale, severing the lizards's leg and prying its other scythe from the crocodilian's jaw.
'Ah this isn't good'
The drownscale lunged once again… but couldn't reach the carapace monster's scythe as its front leg was reduced to a lump.
Before Sunny could properly react, the sharp tip of a bone scythe hit him in the chest with the force of a siege ram. The only thing he managed to do was to transfer the shadow from his blade to the Puppeteer's Shroud.
The force of the blow was still enough to make his ribcage cave in and send his body flying through the air like a rag doll.
… Somehow, Sunny found himself lying on the ground. His body felt weird, and he couldn't breathe. Something bitter was flowing from his mouth, making him choke.
Blood, he was drowning in his own blood.
His thinking was muddled.
In that moment, hovering on the edge of nothingness, Sunny realized that he was about to die.
He had to struggle against the fog that permeated his mind, slowing down his thoughts and dampening all emotions.
All except for fear.
Despite the fact that his body was broken and his mind was paralyzed, some stubborn part of Sunny was still refusing to give up. He wasn't ready to die. At least not without giving his all to survive.
He was revolted at the thought of giving the world the satisfaction of the win.
That would be so infuriating. Hadn't he told Hero that he was going to survive no matter what, to spite them all?
Hadn't he promised his sister he would return?
That he would spite the world?
No.
He refused.
But what could he do with a broken body that was about to die?
It came to him then.
The two truths behind the essence and purpose of combat were simple and solid, almost tangible. Even in his half-conscious state, he was able to use them as a stable foundation in the fog. Then, he reformed his mind around this foundation, building it along the stark lines of that truth.
Suddenly, he was able to think again.
What's more, his thoughts were clear and incredibly fast, free of all unnecessary distractions.
This was clarity.
This is what he needed.
Sunny looked at the monster that was entangled in a furious melee against the drownscale, whilst at the same time keeping the scavenger at bay.
Then he saw her.
Nephis had not been staying idle during all these events.
At the top of a boulder, her white hair was plastered to her face by the rain, her sword glimmering faintly in the storm-light. Nephis crouched, the very image of a predator ready to strike.
Sunny wanted to scream at her not to do it. His battered lungs refused. All that came out was a wet, gurgling rasp.
She leapt off of the boulder and landed on the monster's back, somehow evading the spikes on its back and plunging her long-sword into the beast's flesh.
The carapace monster started jerking around erratically, trying to remove the pest on it back.
But it was hindered by the handicapped drownscale, the injuries Sunny had dealt to its legs and the scavenger echo that had managed to find a different hold onto its scythe.
Sunny saw Nephis take a deep breath and then…
She screamed as flame poured out of her, into her sword, then igniting the monster from within.
The monster thrashed wildly, its now slightly illuminated form wreathed in pain.
The smell of burning chitin and flesh was somewhat spread through the air.
The drownscale somehow managed to lunge despite its missing limb and clamped onto the thing's legs, crushing them in its jaws and causing it to fall over.
It swung its scythe wildly, cutting off the scavenger's pincer and sending it stumbling back.
Nephis leapt off its falling form and managed to roll as she landed.
Yet the thing was not dead.
It was very much alive.
But that didn't matter, for it was now in the range of the Drownscale.
The chitinous monster fought desperately against the Drownscale, severing one of its hind legs and scaring the Lizards back as its scythes seemed to almost melt.
But nothing could save it as the crocodile bit down on the abominations head and twisted.
Crack
[You have slain an awakened monster, Carapace Centurion.]
The Spell's voice fell uselessly on his deaf ears. It sounded distorted and distant.
[You have received a Memory: Starlight Legion Armour.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
'I won.'
Sunny closed his eyes, finally allowing pain and exhaustion to flood his mind.
The fog was back, making everything feel like it was happening to someone else.
He was tired.
And he couldn't breathe.
Drowning in blood was not very pleasant.
As his conscience begin to slip, he heard the sound of someone's hurried steps.
And then, two soft hands gently touched his face…
Somewhat surprised, Sunny struggled to open his eyes. As his vision slowly focused, he saw Neph's pale face looming above him. Her short silver hair was wet, sticking close to her skin, her cape billowing in the wind.
She was kneeling beside his broken body, caressing his face with her hands. In her eyes, there was a strange expression.
It was though she was in immense pain.
'Wh-what?'
Gritting her teeth, Nephis moved her hands to his collapsed chest and pressed them lightly against it, causing a pulse of pain to radiate through Sunny's body.
Then, a soft, radiant brilliance suddenly ignited beneath the skin of her palms, reflecting in her grey eyes like two dancing white sparks.
Wasn't this the same flame she used on the monster?
Was she mercy killing him?
He thought back to the first night they spent on the coral mound.
'A… healer'
But… he had clearly seen her use it on the monster…
Changing Star's face contorted in a grimace of excruciating agony, and she let out a terrible, muffled scream.
Her skin became white as a sheet of paper, and as she bit her lower lip, drops of blood soon rolled to her chin.
As the radiance grew in intensity, Nephis shut her eyes tightly, tears streaming down her tortured, bloodless face.
Sunny, on the contrary, felt like he was in heaven. All pain disappeared from his body, replaced by gentle, all-encompassing warmth. He felt as though he was being cleansed by something pure and sacred.
By a white, pristine, purifying flame.
Under the influence of the flame, his dying body began to repair itself. His shattered bones were reassembled from the shards. His torn flesh regenerated and became whole again. His collapsed lungs and damaged heart were brought back to life and rejuvenated, instantly turning strong and healthy.
Suddenly, he could breathe again.
As his chest moved, drawing in a new breath, Nephis flinched away with a harrowing moan. The white radiance beneath her skin dimmed and disappeared, letting the darkness return to its rightful place.
Crawling away a few steps, Nephis stopped, kneeling on her knees and hands, she shuddered, then passed out.
***
Damn, that's a long chapter.
I tried my best to cook the best meal possible for all you starved readers... after all, no one in the world is cruel enough to rob you of my amazing writing.
Audience claps
I know I truly am the best writer of this generation
ANYWAY
We are almost done with the first part of the forgotten shore, all that remains is the ashen burrow then everyone (including me) will positively enjoy what i have planned for the dark city.
until next time, buhbye.