In the night of the Dark City, on the roof of the cathedral in the middle of the Dark City, Sunny was leaning on the wall clouded by shadows, looking at his sister's runes, reading the messages in the form of memories.
Memory: [You don't stop do you?]
Description: [Revel: It sucks I have to use this to message you… Teacher Blade is not always available…
But whatever, you are doing great! Already in a steady way into becoming a Devil, and having three Shadows gives you a big advantage. You have to tell me how you got that armor though… Please don't tell me you actually fought a Fallen Terror…
Now that things settled, I can tell you. Rain is doing good, the training is going well although she complains a lot. She reconciled with her… 'parents', who, by the way, have a baby coming… One more sibling I guess... Or not, I still don't like them.
Mother also made an arrangement with them, when Rain becomes of age, she decides what she'll do, until then she lives with them, and trains in the manor.
I'm kind of tired of being the family's message carrier… It's crowding my Soul Sea!
Either way, stay alive, and find a way back!]
'Ha… If I knew how my Innate Ability worked, I would have made a connection sooner…'
Sunny looked at the other message, a smile permeated on his face.
Memory: [Moon got a boyfriend…]
A vein popped on his face, the smile disappeared, his protective brother's side surfaced… But it was soon processed… Moon… Got a boyfriend…
Description: [Howl: I know! Feels impossible, but the guy seems cool, he's a Master, and works for the government, I'm curious to see how it goes!
Bin: Unfortunately… I don't think it will go far…]
Surprise, Sunny was surpriesed… His dense sister got a boyfriend…
He scratched his hair.
"Well, if she's happy… I guess it's fine… But if he hurts her feelings…"
Shadows got deeper, reacting to their master's feelings… Sunny forgot his sister is a Saint.
He looked at the last message.
Memory: [Get back already.]
Description: [ Blade: I'm tired of creating these, get back already, I need to use the essence on something else.]
Sunny laughed, it was fun reading these. From time to time, for the last 4 months, new memories appeared on Revel's runes from time to time, messages from his family.
It's been 6 months since he entered the Forgotten Shore, 4 since their arrival on the Dark City. And much has been done.
He looked at his own runes.
Name: Sunless Song.
True Name: Hollow Death.
Rank: Dreamer.
Class: Demon.
Shadow Core: Dormant.
Shadow Core: [3/7]
Shadow Fragments: [1407/3000]
Memories: [Silver Bell], [Puppeteer's Shroud], [Nine's Regret], [BloodRaven], [Weak Link], [Midnight Shard], [Prowling Thorn], [Ordinary Rock], [Mantle of the Underworld], [Moonlight Shard].
Shadows: [Soul Serpent], [Dark Wraith], [Stone Saint].
Echos: -
Attributes: [Fated], [Flame of Divinity], [Heir of Shadows], [The Shadow], [The Blood's Shadow], [Embodiment of Death and Solice].
[Moonlight Shard] was a memory Nephis gave him, she got it on a hunt in the North section of the city, after Cassie looked at the enchantments, they agreed it was better for him. It had the enchantment of instantly summoning, a normal memory took some moments to appear, but those moments were an eternity in a battle. So it was really useful.
He also ended up giving [Endless Torture] to Motza, it fitted the hunter much more.
The rest of his memories he acquired either went to his new Shadow, Stone Saint or one of the Shadow Watchers.
Wraith was already Ascended, now he needed to ascend Saint, so all memories went to her. There was an argument that Transcending the wolf might be better, but if Saint already faced Fallen abominations as Awakened and won… He doubted any being in the Forgotten Shore could face her as an Ascended. The exception being the Terror of the Crimson Spire and maybe a Tyrant.
Shadow: Stone Saint
Shadow Rank: Awakened.
Shadow Class: Monster.
[81/200]
'That will take a while.'
Putting that aside, he looked around the area of the cathedral. There wasn't much to see, they were the same types of ruins of the once great city, the main attraction of this area was the building he was standing on.
It was also the place where he would almost die.
Sunless identified that this was the only cathedral in the whole city. He also infiltrated in the past by sending one of his shadows… But never after that. After all…
The great dark Knight of Hel's vision was here. He saw it with his shadow's eyes… True Darkness… The being was controlling it.
A Fallen Devil.
Sunny closed his eyes, remembering how he felt when he first saw it.
For the first time in a long time…
Sunless felt true fear.
True darkness was the enemy of shadows, so it was natural to feel fear for a shadow user to confront a true darkness user.
However, Sunny was different, because his sister was Revel, the Dark Dancer, in a way, she could even be considered an Incarnation of True Darkness. And even after he became a Sleeper and gained his connection with shadows, he never once felt uncomfortable with Revel.
She was his precious big sister after all… Why would he feel anything but comfort?
But now, he was facing a nightmare creature of True Darkness…
Maybe it was because he now was the Heir of Shadows and his connection with shadows became deeper, or maybe because his enemy was a Fallen Devil, or his shadow sense got stronger…
The reason mattered little, what mattered is that every time Sunless looked at the Knight, he sensed absolutely nothing.
A pool of emptiness and darkness.
When Sunny realized that, he started to tremble, he had only felt like that once before…
The Dollhouse.
The cursed place still haunted his thoughts… that week of feeling absolutely nothing, of starvation, of despair, of weakness.
He was breathing heavily, he didn't want to go back, to be weak again, to feel nothing again…
To be alone again…
To be empty inside…
Trauma… It doesn't have rhyme or reason, it's something that haunts you from inside, the mere thought of returning to the Dollhouse, of seeing something that reminded you of that feeling…
It was torture.
He then remembered the voice of his mother.
Don't let fear dictate your actions, unless you wish to be a slave to yourself.
He breathed in… And out…
She said those words to him after he came back from the Dollhouse, after he spent every waking moment paranoid about everything.
Calming down, he controlled his breathing, using a technique Frostblade taught him years ago… And got away, recalling his shadow.
He opened his eyes, the memory of what happened still fresh, even after 3 months.
"Eventually… I'll fight you…"
If there's anything the Divine Strategist taught him, it was to look at the bigger picture before focusing on the details. The same way knowing the specifics of a subject was useless if you didn't know the basics, you can't ignore everything on the battlefield to achieve one objective.
The Fallen Devil wasn't a threat right now, it only roamed the cathedral, never leaving the building. He had other things to do.
They were able to keep the tensions between the Bright Castle and the outer settlement low for now, it helped that Gunlaug had no grounds of challenging what Nephis was doing, anything he did would only escalate the situation, so the worst problem until now were some bloodless confrontations with the guards, nothing serious.
However, the Bright Lord was looking for any reason to challenge Nephis, to make an example out of her. He knew that thanks to Seishan, always keeping him updated on the situation at the castle.
She also said she was planning something, but refused to tell him…
'Meanwhile I have to tell her everything! Stupid flaw…'
Returning to what was important… Soon, they'll be able to leave the Dark City, get that memory his sister always talks about, then come back to challenge the Bright Lord.
If only a damn giant and a stupit cat didn't find a way to create beef with a group of guards…
Sunny sighed, remembering how Effie and Merlin almost destroyed their whole plan.
'Since when does leadership come with babysitting?'
Effie is a walking disaster waiting to happen, it's like the word 'consequence' doesn't exist to her. And Merlin is arguably worse…
When Sunny found Merlin in that alleyway, he never thought she would be a troublemaker. He thought it would take time for her to warm up to him, considering how she reacted to Nephis's actions.
But Sunny only needed to give her a few soul fragments and go on a hunt with her. Then, she pleaded loyalty to him… Just like that.
'Thrill seeker… Yeah Kira, that's a good way to describe her. Either way, she's a good companion.'
Speaking of companions, he looked at his three shadow companions.
Gloomy, Happy, and the new addition after he became a Demon, a puffed and proud one, the Haughty shadow.
"You guys are definitely not determined by my personality, I'm not like any of you."
All three looked at their Master like he was oblivious.
A purple haired woman walked up to him from behind, her deep violet katana in her sheath, an ever present factor in her waist. He turned to look at the beautiful hunter, who began speaking in a respectful, but flat tone.
"Lord Sunless, Lady Nephis wishes to speak to you"
Sunny sighed and moved out of the wall and towards her.
"Alright, thank you Mei. I'm done here anyway."
She scanned the area, her eyes searching for something, but she eventually asked.
"If I may… What were you doing here?"
He considered his words, choosing them carefully.
"I was thinking, reading… Planning. This place… Makes me remember the past."
Mei turned to him, observing his face. Then she spoke.
"You shouldn't dwell on the past, it makes you forget the future."
He absorbed what she said, she was right, however, Lunae had already taught him why the past was important.
"You shouldn't forget about it either, you can learn much about the mistakes of others… And your own."
Mei pondered… Then her voice got just low enough for him to hear.
"What if all you ever did were mistakes?"
"... Then learn from your life, and become the strongest you can ever be."
She looked at him evenly, she had something akin to longing in her eyes.
Sunless couldn't help but wonder why Mei always wanted for him to give her orders, why she never questioned what he said. From what he heard from Seishan, it was like that even before she joined the Watchers, but she followed Gamma before.
It was like she didn't trust herself to choose anything.
'What happened to you Mei…?'
However, before he could question, something caught the attention of the pair.
It was the sound of people talking, moving through the city with a light illuminating the path for them.
Mei looked over to Sunless, looking for orders. He didn't disappoint her.
"Go, stay out of sight and wait for my signal."
She nodded and immediately jumped from the cathedral to another building.
Sunless blended with the shadows and also moved. Thanks to the [Heir of Shadows] attribute, he was almost entirely invisible to a normal person when in shadows. He fell to the ground without making any sound, passing through the city ruins to get a better look at the group.
6 men, all with armor and a few memories that generated light, it was low, not enough to call the attention of any creature, but enough to see in front of him.
He ordered his Gloomy shadow forward to scout and analyze the group, the shadow connected with one of the members of the group. Sunny and Mei knew for a fact that it wasn't from the outer settlement, no hunting party was sent today, meaning they were from the Bright Castle, and judging the way they were passing through the streets, they weren't experienced hunters either.
So the real question was:
'Why are they here?'
Sunny began to listen through his shadow to figure it out.
"I had hoped that we would get him today… I was already in a bad mood."
"That guy doesn't give up. That damn singer… Who does he think he is?"
"No kidding, he should have just given his memories. Good looks only get you so far."
Upon hearing the words 'singer' and 'good looks', one person came to mind.
'Kai… What did the bastards do to him?'
Sunny felt Mei's shadow right above him through his shadow sense, looking at her, he nodded, giving her a signal to join him.
Mei nodded back, jumping down to meet her leader. He ordered the shadows to reduce the hunters fall and sounds as to not call the attention of the group of people.
Reaching him, the purple haired huntress stood right beside him, awaiting orders.
"They are holding Kai somewhere…"
"What should we do?"
Sunny considered the possibilities for a moment, and found an answer after he heard the leader say one more thing.
"... Moreover, he deserves it after what he said. Does he really think that b*ch of the outer settlement will change anything?"
Anger rose inside Sunny, he had considered keeping them alive for a moment, but both logic and emotion told him otherwise. After the pain of his flaw grew inside his head, he responded.
"Keep one alive."
The existence of the Shadow Watchers was mostly unknown. People knew the members, but only as individuals, not as a team, and Sunny rather kept it that way, which meant he couldn't be seen with Mei.
He could just defeat all of them on his own, even Mei could do it, but questions would arise of how powerful he or Mei was, and even why they were here if they were kept alive.
The guards had Tessai's backing, meaning they had Gunlaug's backing.
'It's better to pretend they were devoured by some nightmare creature.'
Sunless pointed to one of the members of the small group, the one who seemed that it would break first.
"That one."
Mei nodded and grabbed the hilt of her katana.
Summoning the serpent, he ordered it to transform into a spear, then, he remembered the combat style of Caster, shadowing his skill as a spearman.
He then got in a position to launch it, aiming it at the one spearheading the group, the leader it seemed. He wrapped the Haughty shadow in Serpent, making her even stronger and sharper as a weapon.
Mei was already in a running position, ready to run out of the alleyway and strike.
Even if the group had the advantage of numbers, it mattered little when Sunny was the bearer of a Divine Aspect, the lineage of Shadow God and a remnant of Beast God, not to mention his 3 soul cores and legacy training
Mei was no weak link either, being a veteran hunter of the Dark City, having a saturated core and the skill to match, not to mention her devastating aspect.
The guards had no chance.
Sunny wrapped the remaining shadow on himself and launched the spear.
After a few moments in the air, it found its target, piercing the skull of the leader with ease. He dropped to the ground, motionless.
[You have slain a Dormant human.]
[Your shadow grows stronger…]
'That's what you get for calling Neph that, you bastard.'
He smirked in satisfaction.
Mei moved before any of them could react, unsheathing her katana to slash the back of one of the members of the guards, slicing them cleanly.
Mei's katana was rather unusual, that's because Cassie couldn't see its enchantments, actually, she didn't even see a memory. Putting in her words: 'It's like the katana is Mei, and Mei is the katana'. All that they knew is that it wasn't tied to her aspect, as the runes didn't say anything about her sword.
And Mei didn't say anything either.
The man sliced by the swordwoman fell, body completely drained of life.
Not a single drop of blood fell on her.
The remaining four guards turned to look at her.
"You!"
"Purple huntress?! You'll pay for this!"
"You b*ch! Who do you think you are?!"
"Dam-!"
The last one couldn't finish, the spear that was stuck in his leader's skull transformed into a black Serpent, instantly going for his neck and biting it with the strength of an Awakened Demon. Crushing his windpipe and killing him, not even having the right to curse or scream.
[You have slain a Dormant human.]
The third didn't take long to fall, being distracted by the death of his comrade, he couldn't have noticed the shadow behind him. A black and crimson blade pierced his heart…
He didn't feel much pain.
[You have slain a Dormant human.]
Only two remained, terrified expressions contaminated their faces. They screamed in desperation, dropping their weapons and holding their hands up in surrender.
"W-Wait! We can talk about this!"
As Mei pointed her sword towards another one to kill, Sunless raised a hand, signaling for her to stop.
She immediately cleaned her blade and sheathed it, indifference remaining on her body language.
Sunless looked at the two guards that surrendered. They dropped to their knees, scared for their lives.
"P-Please! Spare us!"
"We will tell you anything! Do anything! Please, I beg you!"
Sunny sighed, it worked a little too well. Now that both of them surrendered, he needed to keep both alive for now.
"Alright, where are you keeping your hostage?"
The first guard trembled, but answered.
"I-It's not far from here, w-we can take you there."
"Ok then, lead us, and I won't kill you."
The two remaining members of the group of guards looked at each other, then nodded. Sunny then summoned [Weak Link] and tied them both in the chain, weakening them and forcing them to walk together.
Mei approached Sunny's side. And he whispered something to her, that only she could hear.
Mei's gaze sharpened, the grip on the hilt of her katana grew tighter.
—
"T-There, we imprisoned him inside that well…"
Sunless looked at it, feeling the presence of a familiar shadow through shadow sense. It was Kai.
He took several steps forward, getting closer to the well, then looked at the guards, Mei was standing right behind them.
"Hum, alright, thank you for your cooperation."
He dismissed [Weak Link], the guards looked at him with hope, but soon it was replaced with weariness. The first guard asked with fear in his voice.
"You promised not to kill us, right? Can we go?"
Sunless turned his back to them.
"I promised not to kill you. But I can't let you go, you guys will snitch what happened to Tessai."
He turned his head just enough to see their fear filled faces.
"Moreover, you kidnapped my friend and insulted someone I hold dear, I have no reason to let you live."
A purple slash destroyed all the hope of the guards of the Bright Castle, their sins had finally caught up to them.