Sunny saw everything.
He saw Arthur tear off one of the Tyrant's wings. He saw Sylvie and that bastard Regis rip off the other two.
He also saw the Tyrant begin to fall. He watched Arthur appear beside Jet, and he saw how she, without considering the possibility, struck him in the chest.
Sunny knew Jet's Aspect. He knew how deadly it could be, and Arthur had taken a direct hit to the chest.
He saw one of Arthur's cores shatter while another began to crack. But what filled him with the most dread was seeing the Tyrant's figure crush Master Jet and Arthur… crush Jet and his friend.
He froze.
His mind failed to comprehend the fact that, just like that, two of his friends had… had died.
'No, no.'
Sunny watched as the rest of the Fallen that hadn't been crushed began to rise from the ground after the tremor. Still, he couldn't move.
His mind couldn't process that, just like that, Jet and Arthur had died right in front of him.
If he hadn't been so shocked, he would have realized that Arthur was still somehow alive, since Regis was still fighting the Tyrant on the ground. And using the terrain to their advantage, Regis and Sylvie had the upper hand.
Finally, a dry hit to the back of his head snapped him out of his state of shock.
Seishan was standing behind him, looking at him with a frown, her eyes showing pure indignation.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? Get up and keep fighting."
Sunny blinked and shook his head.
Only then did he notice Regis's figure biting the Tyrant, indicating that if that thing was still going, Arthur was somehow alive. Jet was another matter. Still, if one was alive, the other could be too.
"I was shocked. I'm fine now."
'I'm not going to say anything about that hit she gave me, just in case!'
Sunny stood up, and a black odachi appeared in his hand almost instantly as the remaining Fallen lunged at him.
He barely managed to meet the first foe with a strike, neatly cutting its body in two halves.
Then, sharp blades of chitin struck at his armor, throwing him off balance. Using the residual momentum of his previous strike, he slashed with the odachi and severed the legs of a Fallen beast attacking him, then thrust his sword forward, piercing the head of another…
Something crashed into him from the side, causing Sunny to stagger.
Sunny paled as he realized that a moment later, he would fall and become buried under a mass of abominations.
Fortunately for him, the blood of the already-dead Fallen surrounding him manifested in multiple forms around him, all of them impacting the legs or weak points of the creatures.
Some died instantly; others were left so wounded that it wouldn't take much effort to finish them off.
Sunny didn't need to turn around to know it was Seishan's doing—the Lost Princess of Song.
He moved to steady himself, but at that moment, another tremor shook the mountain.
'For spell sake! What the hell is happening now?!'
A huge cloud of snow and stone debris rose into the air, and hitting the ground with a muffled yelp, Sunny had a hard time getting his bearings.
'Argh… damn it!'
Sunny sat up and looked around, expecting to see monstrous insects rushing to finish him off.
Actually, there were surprisingly few of them around him. Those that were alive, at least… crushed corpses littered the particular stretch of the slope where he was, flattened so thoroughly that it was hard to recognize the shape of the chitin-clad abominations.
Sunny struggled to regain his composure and frowned.
He couldn't see very far because a wall of white stone was blocking his view.
As Sunny was trying to understand why a wall of rock suddenly appeared in front of him, a stream of inky black liquid flowed down its smooth white surface. Then, the wall of stone slightly moved.
'Oh... crap...'
Craning his neck, Sunny managed to get a better look at the thing that he had assumed to be a stone cliff—and of course, it was not.
Instead, it was the Corrupted Tyrant that had been thrown by Sylvie and Regis. The creature seemed battered, with its milky-white chitin cracked in several places and leaking blood… but very much alive.
Although Sunny recognized that it wouldn't be for much longer—purple flames were consuming its body at an alarming rate.
At the same time as he looked up at it, the jade beetle's expressionless black eye shifted and peered directly at him. Its terrifying jaws moved slightly, where a cloud of black ash was already swirling, ready to be spat out.
For a split second, he was paralyzed by fear.
Then an idea occurred to him.
He had already done something similar in the past, but that time it had been against a Fallen Tyrant, not a Corrupted one.
Sunny used some of the little essence reserves he had left and used Shadow Step—but instead of fleeing or moving out of the way…
He appeared directly in the shadows created within the terrifying jaws of the jade beetle.
[Severed Wind] finally appeared in his hand—the sword he had obtained after killing a Fallen Terror in the Relictombs manifested in particles of silver light.
Immediately, he activated the enchantment: [Deflecting Current].
Enchantment Description: "A subtle current of turbulent air forms around the wielder, causing incoming attacks to be slightly deflected from their original trajectory."
The enchantment created a curtain of air around him, strong enough to alter the cloud of black ash from the Tyrant.
Sunny hadn't only summoned a Memory when he used Shadow Step—he had also called upon Saint.
The Transcendent Demon appeared, radiating a sense of vast, dreadful power.
In a single motion, Saint raised his sword, changed his grip, and drove it deep with all his strength into whatever the Tyrant had as a palate. The black sword pierced the Tyrant's palate and headed towards his brain.
The jade beetle tried to release another cloud of black ash while letting out a cry of pain that, moments later, turned into complete silence.
[You have slain a Corrupted Tyrant, Remnant of the Jade Queen.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
[You have received a Memory.]
Sunny grinned.
'A Transcendent Memory of the fifth tier!'
He immediately went to check what Memory it was, but at that moment, he began to see the purple flames starting to consume the Tyrant near where he was, and he dismissed Saint immediately.
'Thank you, Saint!'
Then he ran out through the corpse's mouth of the Remnant of the Jade Queen, and the cold air hit his face again.
He didn't have time to enjoy it, honestly… since there were still Fallen creatures around him and even some Corrupted ones.
Fortunately for them, after the death of the Tyrant, the battle did not last long.
The stone hive had already lost many soldiers, as well as its most powerful champions who were crushed. Without the guiding sentience of their ruler, the lesser creatures seemed to lack most of their intelligence and coordination.
And just like that, suddenly, silence settled over the summit of the mountain.
Sunny found a patch of rock and plopped onto it as well. He was completely spent.
'Ah, I'm hurt all over…'
While the pain of all his wounds began to enter his mind, he slowly remembered something important…
His eyes widened.
'Arthur and Jet!'
He groaned as he forced himself to stand up again and slowly moved toward where the rest were.
The distance wasn't much, but during the journey, he had to change direction several times to avoid corpses, purple flames or things he didn't want to try to recognize.
Finally, he approached the group of Sylvie, Seishan, and Regis.
The first woman was already in her human form and didn't have a single scratch on her body, but the same couldn't be said for her armor, which had holes everywhere and was broken in different places. Not to mention the fact that she must have been completely out of essence.
Something that caught his attention was seeing seven cores in her chest—which would perfectly explain how she managed not to spend her reserves even earlier and held on in a fight against a Corrupted Tyrant!
Beside her was Regis, and although he was in good condition… he was small.
Regis was a small orb with a face and two small horns.
Finally, there was Seishan, who was currently completely pale. The gray tone of her skin had disappeared entirely, she had rapid breathing, and her armor was completely broken.
In fact, the next instant, it left her body, and she was left in the casual clothes she was wearing beneath the armor.
Sunny finally approached the group and let himself fall to the ground, breathing rapidly.
Even with his exhaustion, he began to analyze Sylvie. There were many strange things about that woman—first, her horns were still hidden even in this environment of acquaintances; then, the fact that somehow she was now a Titan without having a Divine Aspect.
And mainly, the fact that she could speak telepathically with Arthur.
He cleared his throat slightly and asked:
"How is Arthur? And Jet? Is she…"
"They're both fine," Sylvie replied, looking at him with her golden eyes. "When the Tyrant fell on the mountain, Jet found a hole, and they both hid there."
Sunny nodded, though that didn't explain why they weren't with them now or why they hadn't returned to the fight.
Fortunately for him, apparently he had the question written on his face, and Regis noticed.
"They're both inside the mountain. The impact the mountain received from the fall seemed to have thrown them into the hole they were hiding in, deeper into the interior."
He nodded again and felt the discomfort in his stomach leave him.
But immediately, another worry entered his body.
They were both fine and had survived, but that didn't mean they would stay that way… they were inside a mountain—who knew what could be in there?
Some creature? Maybe a bomb?
The latter was the least of his worries—an Ascended could survive a bomb… Sunny wanted to believe.
The first was more complicated—depending on the rank and class of the creature, it could be a problem for them…
Sunny analyzed the two women again—Regis didn't need analyzing in that state if he had no facial expressions.
First, he focused on Sylvie. The woman with pale wheat hair wasn't tired—she was completely exhausted. Her golden eyes had lost the spark that always characterized her; her expression was serious, but that was just a mask—Sunny noticed it from the slight droop of her eyebrows.
Moreover, as if that weren't enough, her silver armor, which was definitely Transcended rank, was completely broken. A hole extended along her leg, showing her pale skin. Along her torso, multiple smaller holes could also be found.
Even with all that, he was still surprised that she and Regis had managed to kill a Corrupted Tyrant…
'Well… I got the kill in the end.'
But it was Sylvie and Regis who had done all the work, and in fact, they had been killing it.
Sunny turned to look at the Tyrant's corpse and frowned.
It no longer existed. Somehow, those purple flames had ended up consuming the corpse and, seemingly, also those of the Fallen and other Corrupted…
'What the hell is that?'
He knew that power came from Arthur and that Regis was using it in some way.
'Do Arthur and Regis share the same powers?'
Could that make sense?
Regis was part of his Aspect Legacy, so he could be connected to him in that way, using his Master's powers.
It would be strange, but it could happen.
None of his shadows shared anything similar, not even Serpent—but none of them were creatures like Regis either.
'I could ask him, maybe?'
Making a mental note to ask Arthur about that in the future, he shifted to analyzing Seishan.
The Lost Princess was in a slightly better state than Sylvie.
She also hadn't had to fight a Corrupted Tyrant, but she had faced nearly hundreds of Fallen with his help and that of both cohorts.
Her armor, before she dismissed it, wasn't broken anywhere, but the material was on the verge of breaking in most places.
But it was mainly her physical state that denoted her exhaustion.
Her typical gray skin was pale; her hair was stained with blood and creature remains. Still, it was her expression that denoted her exhaustion.
Even so, with all this, both women were on full alert for anything.
Seishan, even without her armor on, was ready to strike at any moment—surely summoning another in a matter of seconds.
Sunny finished his analysis of the women and concluded that he was even worse off than them.
His essence was on the verge of running out; his body had wounds everywhere that, thanks to Bone Weave, weren't bleeding, and his armor was almost broken too.
Fortunately, it was slowly repairing itself, and something positive about the fight was that his count of defeated enemies had increased quite a bit.
That alone was already a victory in his books.
Now came the hard part to face.
Sunny cleared his throat slightly.
"But… they'll be okay, right?"
No one responded for several long seconds, until Sylvie let out a sigh and replied in a slightly annoyed tone.
"They were fine a while ago, but I don't know anything else."
'Well, that's odd.'
"Sunny," Sylvie continued. "You're free to go if you want."
He nodded.
"Well, I'll be going, then. I'll send the signal to the First Army that this path is clear."
Both women gave him a small smile with what little energy they had left.
"See you, Sunny. Take care, and thank you for your help," Sylvie said.
Sunny nodded and left quickly before Regis could say anything to him.
Walking toward his Rhino, he decided to check the Memory he had obtained from killing the Tyrant.
He opened his runes, and they read:
Memory: [Sin of Solace].
***
Arthur was drowning in pain.
His soul in complete expression of agony—if he were to enter his Soul Sea, he would see the Aether that composed his cores dissolving into the white clouds.
He didn't know why, but his first instinct was to use his Intent to keep it from leaving. Trying to make the Aether be absorbed by his five remaining cores.
But he failed.
And that instinct was what prevented him from being able to use Godstep again—if not for the agonizing pain he felt at the moment.
Another thing he felt was Jet's contact, hugging him tightly and diving into a hole.
The next moment… the entire mountain shook, and the hole they were in began to grow deeper… and deeper, until, without realizing when—
—They were falling into the mountain's depths.
Jet holding him firmly against her body, protecting him from the debris and the potential fall.
After what felt like an eternity to him, the pain finally subsided, giving way to tranquility in his soul.
He could clearly notice it—he was much weaker now.
But it wasn't time to analyze his strength, because they were falling through the inside of a damn mountain!
"Jet!" Arthur shouted, feeling her firm grip. "You're crushing my ribs!"
Only then did Arthur realize something very important…
Jet was unconscious.
Arthur blinked several times upon realizing that.
In a sense, it made things easier… he used his strength to change their position in the air. One arm supported her legs while the other rested behind her back, holding her securely against his chest.
They had already been falling for several seconds, but the mountain they were on was over four kilometers high—and that was without counting how deep the bottom might be.
The only thing Arthur knew was that even as Masters, if the depth was too great, they wouldn't survive.
He couldn't see, because Owen's sensory network had broken at some point, so the first thing he did was expand his Aether sense as much as possible, covering nearly two kilometers when he did.
He could perfectly perceive the mountain's contour, and in doing so, he realized that the hole they were falling through had been created by humans.
If he remembered correctly, Antarctica was a place where many bombs and bunkers were developed during the Dark Times.
Perhaps the place they were falling through could have been a product of this.
What he still couldn't perceive was the bottom.
Still, by the way everything was trembling, he knew the fight was still going on, and he would have loved to go back and help them, but he couldn't leave Jet's unconscious body…
And using Godstep while carrying someone with him is twice as expensive. Furthermore, he could sense that he didn't have many fragments for that.
'Sylvie?' he asked mentally through their connection.
Immediately, he received a response.
'Art! Are you okay? Where are you? And Jet? Is she with you?'
'Yes, I'm fine, and Jet is with me… the 'where' is more complicated. We're inside the mountain, falling through its interior.'
There was a silence in the conversation, and Arthur began to worry slowly.
'Okay,' Sylvie said. 'The Tyrant is dead. Sunny stole the kill…'
Arthur frowned slightly.
'Wait! You said you were falling through the interior of the mountain?!'
He couldn't respond because Regis spoke at that moment.
'Didn't know Princess wanted to go skydiving.'
Arthur rolled his eyes and ignored him.
'Although, judging by the lack of a parachute... I'd say what you're doing is more of an experiment with gravity.'
'Damn it, Regis! Can you take this seriously?!'
'I am. I'm just trying to lighten the fall.' Regis replied.
Arthur closed his eyes, let out a sigh, and focused on responding to Sylvie.
'Yes, Sylv. It's an artificial hole. I can't feel the bottom yet, but we're fine. Don't worry about us.'
He noticed a shift in Sylvie's mood upon hearing that.
'Good. We're already finishing up here. We'll wait for you at the Rhino if you take too long.'
Arthur agreed mentally and focused on forming his plan.
Something he had been noticing for a while was that he wasn't using his Awakened Ability to its fullest.
Aether Manipulation: [You can manipulate ambient aether.]
Arthur sent essence into the ability, feeling the ambient Aether become malleable beneath his intent.
Until now, he had always forced it into rigid constructs, compressing it until it became solid enough to forge weapons.
But what if he didn't solidify it?
What if he simply compressed it?
In the next moment, he manipulated the surrounding Aether to achieve this goal, compressing it into an incredibly dense medium.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then the change became unmistakable.
The violent rush of wind lessened, and the relentless pull of gravity no longer felt quite so absolute. Instead of plummeting uncontrollably, Arthur felt his fall slow, becoming noticeably steadier.
His eyes widened ever so slightly.
It worked.
He was still falling—but now it felt as though he were descending through an impossibly thick atmosphere. Every meter of compressed Aether surrounding him bled away more of his momentum, turning what had been an almost lethal plunge into something he could actually control.
A grin tugged at the corner of his lips.
The realization sparked another idea almost instantly.
If he could make the surrounding Aether denser, then in theory, he should also be able to make it less dense.
If there was a way to create enough of a difference between the two…
Perhaps the resulting pressure could push against him instead of simply slowing his fall.
…Perhaps he could even fly.
The grin widened.
Sadly, it was neither the place nor the occasion to try something like that—mainly because of Jet being unconscious in his arms and the fact that he had just managed to sense the bottom.
Arthur slightly released the density to gain more speed and reach it sooner. When he was less than five hundred meters away, he increased it again until his feet touched a metal floor softly.
He frowned slightly.
He expanded his Aether sense again and didn't perceive any threats, though everything was completely dark. Fortunately, it was simple darkness, not True Darkness.
Arthur identified a small passage and headed in that direction after lightly illuminating his surroundings with Djinn of War.
The passage was built with a type of smooth stone, while the floor remained metallic. Each step he took echoed slightly. He also identified multiple lamps every few meters that were turned off and interconnected with each other.
Slowly, an idea of where they were began to formulate in his mind, and if that was the case, then they were lucky not to have fallen brutally.
Arthur continued walking with Jet in his arms until he found a door. But it had no way of opening from their side, and considering the purpose of this place, it made sense.
They were in a military bunker, and the hole in the mountain was where a missile would be launched.
'Well, this complicates things.'
Depending on the missile's power, it could harm them or not, but he also knew that this mountain had been chosen to create an evacuation route from one of the cities to Erebus Field.
Which meant that if for any reason this missile was fired, it would first break the entire route—and there was also the fact that he didn't know what the missile's target was.
During the Dark Times, there were quite a few missile launches, and most had different targets.
Maybe it will be sent to North America, where the Category Five Gate was... or perhaps to Europe, which was completely lost. Or maybe the target was Asia, the continent where most people lived—mundane people who wouldn't withstand a missile's impact.
He didn't know if the missile was already armed, waiting for an order, or if some automatic protocol was still active after so many years.
For that reason, Arthur stood completely still, and his first instinct was to go back the way they came and try to climb the seven kilometers he had fallen…
He could, but he would also run out of essence if he had to create platforms and then use Godstep continuously. Plus, there was the fact that Jet still hadn't woken up.
Creating platforms that could hold his weight didn't cost much and had a low essence cost, but now it was two people, and using Godstep with two people was also more expensive.
Besides, he wasn't even sure if he could use Godstep.
Class: Tyrant.
Aether Core: [5/7]
Aether Fragments: [397/4000]
Arthur frowned and let out a defeated sigh.
His Titan Core was almost empty, which was why it shattered instantly from Jet's strike. Then his Terror Core had been destroyed, but due to the pain, he hadn't realized that his Tyrant Core had also taken damage.
Causing him to lose fragments from it.
This was surely due to the fact that his Titan Core was almost empty, meaning it couldn't cushion the impact and affected his Tyrant Core.
This meant that yes, he could use Godstep—if he were alone.
Each use of Godstep carrying someone through the Aetheric Pathways doubled the cost, and that amount of fragments wouldn't be enough to cover the entire distance.
He could try to fly, but he would run out of essence before reaching the top, and he didn't know if he could do it either.
So the only thing Arthur could do was shrug and gently lower Jet to the ground.
After leaving her comfortably lying on a sleeping bag he took from his storage Memory, he sat down, leaning his back against the wall, and tried to close his eyes to meditate while he waited for Jet to wake up.
Maybe she knew something more about where they were and could get them out without setting off a missile.
But before that, he thought that seeing Jet unconscious was something that seemed very strange to him… and the moment Arthur shifted his vision to see Jet's fractured core—
His eyes widened, and his eyebrows threatened to leave his forehead.
'Jet's core is…'