Sunny shivered at the sight. The eye wasn't just staring at him... it was like it was staring right through him.
At his soul.
Sunny felt his soul weakening, so he did the only thing he found suitable before his soul becomes completely dead.
Fight.
He rushed in at Nyxian, but just before he could land his attack, a loud bang came from behind her. The wall was destroyed, and through it came a black steed.
It was a shadow creature.
Sunny felt something lulling him to sleep... it was so comfortable. He could really use a rest right now.
But no. He can't.
Before the feeling could spread, he rushed in at the steed, slashing at its mane.
The steed, however, wasn't about to give up that easy.
It dodged the attack, then galloped toward Sunny at an immense speed. Sunny tried dodging the horse, but it's horns impaled him before he could do anything.
He was in agony.
But there was nothing new here. He suffered before. This was nothing. He slashed at the steed, but it blocked with its horns.
They continued this onslaught for what felt like an eternity, when Sunny could finally see it.
The 4h step of Shadow Dance.
He had to become one with the enemy. But he didn't have the necessary abilities to do that, so he had to put that on the back of his mind right now.
But there came a cost. He had to anchor himself before to the person he was.
Sunny was trying to
He peered into the horse's very essence of being, mimicking its very existence.
"Yes... this is great! Finally!! Come at me, you damned horse! I will kill you! Blood!! Blood!!!!!"
Sunny was losing himself. He couldn't hold on to himself.
It felt so good to be a Nightmare Creature only caring about killing....
Killing.... Blood....
Death.
But no, he couldn't.
He had goals to obtain. He had to survive. He was Sunless, the strongest Sleeper in all two worlds.
He was Lost from Light.
He was going to be free.
Finally, Sunny shook the weird feeling off, and achieved his mastery of the 5th step.
He kept battling with the creature, until finally, he killed it.
[You have slain an Awakened Terror, Nightmare.]
[Your shadow grows stronger....]
[You have received a Shadow.]
He suddenly felt an influx of shadow fragments coming into his soul.
Before he could relish in his victory, however, something caught his attention.
Nyxian.
He had a Nightmare to finish.
She was making her way to the Eye, seemingly trying to sacrifice herself. Sunny followed her quickly, slashing at the deep gash on her chest.
She met the blow with another of her own, and the clash of steel began.
Clang. Clang.
The clash went on for hours. Sunny was in a thrill. He finally had a real human to fight.
Of course, he could summon his Shadows to help, but he wouldn't.
He wouldn't let this chance slip away from him.
But, his time was running short, and truth be told, he was starting to get tired.
'I guess it's time to wrap this up.'
Summoning Saint, he dashed at Nyxian from the front, ordering Saint to go from the back.
Nyxian met his attack with her sword, and ducked under Saint's slash from the back.
But Sunny anticipated this.
He kicked her ribs hard enough to shatter rocks, which sent her flying to the wall.
"Any last words, Teacher?"
Nyxian scoffed.
"You cannot escape your fate, Sunless. You can run however you want, but you will always be what you were meant to be. A Slave."
Sunny cut her throat off, hearing a voice whisper into his ear.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Nyxian Star.]
[Your shadow grows stronger....]
'Good riddance... what is up with people telling me i can't be free?'
Sunny was ecstatic. He was finally going to be free. He was going to go home.
But something was wrong... why hadn't the Nightmare ended?
And then, Sunny realised something. He had to slay the Eye.
It was evolving at a rapid pace, Nyxian did something before she was slain.
But Sunny was one step ahead. Before the Eye could fully evolve, he circulated all his miniscule essence into his arm through Serpent, and threw his sword with all his might, directly at the Eye's pupil.
The eye rumbled at the impact, losing it's life. Before it could, however, something was dripping.
[You have slain a Great Titan, Asteria's Eye.]
Sunny was bewildered.
'A Great TItan??? What??? How?!?! How did i even kill it?!?!?!'
But then, a sharp pain pierced his very being.
[Your shadow is overflowing with power...]
[Your shadow is taking shape.]
[....Your shadow is complete.]
Sunny sighed in relief.
"Finally... that was horrible."
As if answering to his call, the Spell whispered once again.
[Your shadow is overflowing with power...]
[Your shadow is taking shape.]
[....Your shadow is complete.]
Sunny throbbed in pain. But he noticed something. The illusion was collpasing.
The Nightmare was ending. This is it.
He was going to be free.
But he felt a call to something... like it beckoned him to go to it.
The drop that fell from the eye.
Sunny crawled his way to it, pain making his very existence unbearable.
Sunny reached the drop, and then...
He drank it.
He braced himself, expecting pain to come once again...
But it never came.
And then he thrashed in pain again.
'I should've never said something.'
After an eternity, or what was actually a few seconds, the pain stopped.
[Your Attribute has evolved.]
[You have received a new Attribute.]
Sunny summoned his runes to check, looking for what Attribute evolved.
It was [Lord of Shadows].
It was now [Shadow Sovereign.]
He also checked the new Attribute, [Death's Gaze], which made him see whenever an enemy was close to death and what his weaknesses were.
All in all, he gained a lot in this past month. He was relishing in his achievements, when suddenly he found himself in a void.
[Wake up, Sunless! Your Nightmare is over.]
[Prepare for appraisal...]
This was the moment. He was finally going back home...
[Dreamer! Your trial is over.]
[A lonely shadow woke up in an everlasting void, with nothing in sight. Its powers were sealed, and all it had were it's memories. The shadow suffered for an eternity, reminiscing all its past experiences.
Until, the shadow broke. The void rumbled, crumbling by the shadow's sheer will to survive. The shadow found itself in a long forsaken temple, and left alone in a forest to die.
But the shadow prevailed. It continued fighting, escaping the forest after a week. The shadow found a teacher, and it trained relentlessly for a month.
The shadow was going to revive a long dead goddess, but the shadow had other plans. The shadow went on a rampage, killing both his teacher and the goddess' last remaining part. It's eye.]
[You have slain an...]
The Spell went on to list everything he has slain.
[You have killed a goddess' disciple and her most treasure possession. You defied all laws and slayed an ancient eye.]
[Your achievements are outstanding!]
[Final Appraisal: Magnificent! You tread the long forgotten realm alone, for you truly are treacherous.]
Sunny kept reading the runes.
'Magnificent? Was what I did really that much? My last Nightmare was glorious, now it's magnificent!'
[The Second Seal is broken.]
[The Third Seal is broken.]
[Awakening dormant powers...]
Sunny felt a profound change in his body.
His soul and body were merging at a rapid pace. It was far faster than what a Sleeper was supposed to go through after Awakening...
But Sunny was different.
He Ascended immediately. He completely skipped Awakening.
After the merging stopped, he felt a weird sensation in his body.
It was as if he was more in tune with his soul, he had control of it. He felt...
Powerful.
Terrifyingly so. Far more powerful than what a Master was supposed to be.
As he was listening to his body, the Spell whispered.
[Awakening Aspect Ability...]
[Aspect Ability acquired.]
[Your Aspect Ability has evolved.]
He held his breath.
He checked his runes in a hurry, looking for what changed.
Name: Sunless.
True Name: Lost from Light.
Rank: Ascended.
Class: Tyrant.
Shadow Cores: [5/7].
Shadow Fragments: [3447/6000].
He looked at the number of fragments, shocked. He hadn't expected to get this much.
'Maybe it's because they had an affinity to shadows like me...'
He continued reading, until he reached his abilities.
[Shadow Control] Ability Description: [Your shadows are more independent than most, and are invaluable helpers. All shadows respect your authority.]
It seemed he had authority over all shadows now... it was going to be of great help.
Especially with [Shadow Sovereign.]
Aspect Ability: [Shadow Manifestation].
Ability Description: [You can manifest shadows as tangible objects].
Sunny froze, then read the description again several times over.
Then, he let out a triumphant laugh.
He kept laughing, sprawled all over the void's dark floor.
But his laughter stopped after he heard something.
[...Wake up, Sunless.]
[Your nightmare is over!]
*******
Thanks for reading the 2nd nm arc, i had fun writing it