As sunny walked back to get Cassie he couldn't help but be a little uneasy
As he battled the demon with Nephis he didn't account for the possibility that the monsters would come which led to him having to send Shelly do dispose of them leaving only Nephis and him to fight the demon
When he was fighting all of his abilities seemed to activate without his control. Star of divinity made everything seem inferior and he could see what Nephis was feeling when she looked at him. He also saw that once the demon looked at it all the blows he landed paired with his gaze triggered [child of dread] but simultaneously his gaze triggered [Child of Hope]
He saw it in the demons remaining eyes. The fear. The desire to live and the hope that it could make it
Upon seeing how powerful his abilities were sunny couldn't help but smile. After all he had mainly been using his skills as a killer to deal with his enemies but now seeing the extent of his strengths and his attributes sunny was honestly a bit scared of his capabilities
As he made his way to the giant bone rib, he saw Cassie siting there swinging her legs over the ledge as she hummed a tune. They knew that the creatures of this region wouldn't be able to climb up the rib especially without breaking it.
Once he had got her and explained the situation sunny gave her a piggyback ride and walked with her back to that dammed tree.
As he walked, he recounted everything that happened in the battle as he filled Cassie in. Simultaneously sunny made a secret promise to fully explore the extent of all his attributes and abilities soon.
When he got to the ashen barrow, he says Shelly sitting on the ground like a toddler as he ate what seemed to be the last bit of the monsters as Nephis stood slightly nearby holding a decent amount of meat as well as the Soul shards from the demon and the monsters
Sunny saw Nephis begin to climb, and Shelly toss his share of the demon up the tree. Seeing that sunny dismissed Shelly and climbed the tree by the rope Nephis had let down for him.
Making sure they were comfortable sunny heard Nephis words and couldn't help but be a little bit pissed of
"This tree truly is beautiful isn't it"
Her diction showed a question, but her tone suggested a statement
Sunny breathed in a ragged breath the toll of the battle and journey weighing down on him. Or that's what Nephis and Cassie had believed Sunny however was currently trying to not burn the tree to the ground - 'You're a lot louder than I remember'
Sunny's head was buzzing with words. He wasn't being affected or compelled but he could still hear the trees call
The words and similar ones played in his mind, and he heard it all. But instead of being tricked and showing an expression of calm brainwashed Sunny's expression was one of a very angry teenager.
"Nephis Cassie don't eat any of the fruits from this tree"
"What? Why? They look amazing"
"Just trust me. Imagine how good it'll taste if you wait for a few days"
"Yeah, I guess you're right".
The spell of the tree hadn't taken hold completely yet, but it was still there. Insidious and manipulative
Sunny sighed and looked at the girls - "Nephis can you make a boat for us"
"a boat? Why?"
"Please just do it"
Nephis seemed to grumble a bit. Clearly disoriented and confused but she went to do it.
Sunny however asked her to start tomorrow. She was confused again but didn't question it and nodded
Shortly after the dark sea rose once more, Sunny waited till Cassie and her had gone to sleep once the sun had set
Sunny then began his climb.
Starting from the very bottom of the tree sunny made his way up. Slowly step by step, branch by branch. As he ascended the brown oak the whispers of the tree continued to assault him to no avail. Sunny stopped to catch his breath
Looking around sunny couldn't help but wonder if the trees deep crimson red leaves were a result of the blood it took from the beings dwelling close by.
Since sunny began his ascent, he had heard the spell numerous times speaking of the beasts that serpent and knighty were killing. Simultaneously with the [bag of holding] in hand sunny collected every one of the trees fruits resisting the urge to devour them
Right now, Sunny's count was roughly 65% to him. Becoming a demon. But he stayed true to his original goal and refused to eat the fruits or absorb the soul shards he had in the storage memory
Sunny continued his ascent and eventually reached his destination
The nest of the spawn of that vile bird. The very child of the being that stole his fate and caused him to be forgotten by the world
Walking for a bit sunny came across the large egg and looked around as well this time not being under the insidious hex of the tree
Above him were large numbers of the Soul fruit and to his side was a pile of glistening soul shards.
'Was the tree trying to hatch the vile thieving birds spawn'
Sunny shuddered. A great devil roaming the forgotten shore was not something he wanted especially since it was soon to become his base of operations in the near future
Sunnys eyes shifted away from the shards and looked towards the other direction. Mounds of corpses of creatures he could not discern. But in the pile, he saw the vague disfigured forms of human bones. Flesh long decayed
There were nightmare creatures there to. Vast and large. Small and insignificant. The largest one being the size of the demon he and Nephis had killed a few hours ago
Summoning Shelly from his soul sea sunny gestured to the pile of corpses lying in the corner and allowed the hungry demon to devour the corpses
Once Shelly was deep in his feast sunny summoned the shocking screech and asked it to go and fetch the shards in the corner. To which it did
What seemed like a few moments took ages. The shards collected by Sunny's echo numbering a staggering 400.
Looking to his right he saw his little demon halfway through Devouring the corpses. He left Shelly to his feeding and looked at the egg
Handing the shocking screech the Azure blade which unlike his past life had not been destroyed sunny asked it to slash the top of the egg open. Just enough to open it but not enough to damage its contents
Sunny did think about doing it himself but remembering how the egg seemed try and funnel the soul essence from him in his last life and how it was unsuccessful since sunny had only used shadow fragments
This life sunny had both shadow and soul essence
So, he wasn't taking a chance. The echo was a mere memory of what it used to be. A construct unable to use, collect or store essence which is why he gave it the task
Sunny looked at the fruits. He poured on the ground numbering 220. As well as the shards he had from the demon and monsters. He couldn't help but feel a pang of pain. This was enough to turn him into a demon
But he didn't stop. Looking into the opening the screech made on the top of the head of the egg sunny peered down and saw the mound of pink featherless flesh known as the Vile Thieving bird's spawn
The bird was weak and feeble. Compared to the large and terrifying talons of its parent that clawed into and stole his fate from his very being this one's very limbs seemed to be twigs.
Sunny looked at the disgusting bird sunny picked up a shard. And tossed in into the egg. He watched as the shard broke apart and its essence trickled into the bird
He continued for what seemed like an endless amount of time gifting all those soul shards into the bird. Sunny watched as its muscles seemed to grow stronger and its shape begin to form better fuller.
Once sunny finished with all the shards he took out the fruits. And did the same thing throwing it all into the shell letting the essence within grow and nourish the bird. And then it happened
The once feeble disgusting little creature now grown looking like a smaller version of its parent seemed to shudder in its sleep. Sunny saw the beast open its sickly green eye
Not even a moment later that eye lost its color - The spear of darkness that stuck in its skull ensuring the task was done properly
[you have slain a great tyrant: Vile thieving bird spawn]
[you have received an attribute]
Expecting it to end sunny was shocked as it continued
[you have received an echo]
[one of your sub attributes have evolved]
[A fragment of your lost power returns]
The influx of shadow soul fragments entering his soul stunned him on the dot. Unable to comprehend the events
Rushing to his Runes he saw them read
Under this weaver attribute the part where it listed all he weaves. The part that had originally simply said blood now said
[Bloodweave]: "You have reclaimed a part of your fated lineage. Your blood has been altered and imbued with odd tenacity equal to the Daemon of Fate
He assumed that it was the sub attribute the spell had announced because looking further down a new attribute existed
[Unseen Dream]: your existence cannot be seen by the dream God thus cannot affect its rising.
Sunny was ecstatic
This time he wouldn't have to exist in the shadows he could have a normal life. As far as normal was for him. He had a vague feeling that weaver had intentionally left him this little gift knowing sunny was greedy and would attempt to grow the bird to get it's
But the last boom he got was his count currently reading
1979/2000
He didn't know why. Perhaps it was because he fed the bird. Maybe it was his [hybrid] attribute. But either way paired with serpent and Shelly on a rampage somewhere deep in the forgotten shore sunny was a mere 21 fragments away from becoming a demon
If he had hunted more in the sea he could have become a demon already but sunny noticed that the further away you stray from the statues the more powerful creatures got. He had felt the vast shadows of transcendent beings swimming within the depths not far off from him. So, he controlled his greed and stayed relatively close to the statues
All he could do right now is thank the dead gods his plan of feeding the spawn of that vile bird all those shards and fruits and allowed it to evolve into a tyrant
Once sunny was done he harvested the 5 glistening shards from the bird's corpse and turned to Shelly. Currently it was still the brink of day so they wouldn't leave today. Instead, sunny began his climb down with a happy expression on his beautiful face
After all he was analyzing the Runes of his new echo. A great tyrant. How many of Sunnys enemies in his early life could cause him harm with the spawn of a being that even the gods hated
Echoes: [Shocking Screech], [Vile Thieving Birds Spawn]
Vile Thieving Birds Spawn
Echo Rank: Great
Echo Class: Tyrant
Echo Attributes: [Divine Thief], [Eyes of Avarice], [Strength], [Cursed Flame]
[Divine Thief]: This echo has the ability to steal something precious from those beneath it
[Eyes of Avarice]: An immense Greed for things that do not belong to it and the power to tale it - This echo induces fear and worry into those who look into its eyes
[Strength]: Once weak and feeble now stronger - a beast of power beyond mortal understanding
[Cursed Flame]: A power born through 2 Sins - A being born from the one despised by the Divine and Profane and the Sin of procreating with a Nephilim - A flame born from consequence
All of the attributes seemed to be exactly as its name
The divine thief allowed it to steal anything from a being below its rank and had a decent chance of stealing something from its own rank but almost 0% above its rank
Eyes of avarice seemed to be similar to his Child of Dread only it simply took looking into its eyes to make the being feel terror
Strength and green flame however we're odd abilities
Strength naturally was that the echo possessed great strength even for creatures of the great rank and green flame seemed to be in similar workings to Nephis divine flame
Sunny's brain had brainstormed many ideas but the only one he could come up with was that the vile bird sinned with a Nephilim that possessed an aspect in similar sights to Nephis but possibly a sacred one instead of divine
Sunny reached the lower branches and looked down dismissing the Runes of his soon to be favorite toy and looked down