Everyone stared at them with wide eyes, while Sunny and Nephis was just confused
"What?"
The three of them stayed silent before a loud sigh escaped them. Effie asked first
"Are you sure you're not dating Princess?" the rest of the cohort nodded
Sunny and Nephis froze, one kept their calm face, the other had an extremely surprised face. Nephis stared at Effie without any expression on her face, but there was a small tint of red on her ears. Sunny fought against the blood rushing up his neck until his Flaw forced him to answer
"No. I am not dating Neph" Sunny looked down to his food with an embarrassed expression
Effie and Cassie scoffed at Sunny's answer, and Effie was about to say something along the lines of "But do you want to?" but she felt the heat in the room entering burning levels, so she tactically decided to shut the fuck up
All of them quickly ate their meals, two in disappointment since they couldn't get more from Sunny. Three were delighted to get out of the conversation, one was happy to get out of the awkward conversation, two was happy to not embarrass themselves more
------ a week later (yes, yes, I'm lazy af)
"Come on! Just die already!" Sunny groaned and rushed forwards with his odachi raised up high
Medusa hissed and lunged towards the strange chest monster. Sunny and Nephis was taking a stroll around the Ivory Tower before this damned chest attacked them out of nowhere
So now, Saint, Medusa, Nightmare, Crene, and Nephis was fighting the chest that Sunny recently found out was a Great Monster
The whole plan was to kill it with Medusa's poison, however, everytime they try to attack it, it would specifically avoid Medusa
Sunny gritted his teeth and dashed forward, it was preoccupied with defending itself against everyone
Sunny took a sideway slash towards the things ankle, and a small cut was left. The thing looked down at Sunny, which gave Saint the opportunity to slam her shield against its legs, tripping the Monster
Nephis ignited her sword on fire to strike down on the Monster. It raised its hands to block the attack, but now it was vulnerable to Nightmare's hooves slamming down on it's strange chest like body
Medusa slithered forward and bit down on the chest part, her fangs sinking into its body
Sunny and Saint went in to sever its legs, but only Saint was successful, Sunny only managed to cut it halfway
Nightmare and Crene was working together to tear off its left arm, while Nephis went to try and burn off its right arm
The thing screamed and tried to fight back, but it was futile since multiple Acended was holding, cutting, tearing, crushing, and burning it down
It screamed for one last time before Medusa fully bit down onto it, crushing it's chest like torso. Relieved, Sunny fell backwards to lay on the slightest scorched grass
The Spell's voice resounded in the heavy panting Sunny was making
[You have killed a Great Monster, Mordant Mimic]
[You have received an Memory]
[Your Shadow grows stronger!]
Sunny smiled happily at the shadow fragments rushing into his soul, he opened up to check his runes
[Shadow Fragments: (2021/7000)]
He gotten a few fragments from hunting a couple of Nightmare Creatures he found to get some Memories for feeding the gluttonous shadow's he has
Sunny then checked the runes for his new Memory and was quite happy at the sight until a shadow was veiled above him
Nephis stood above Sunny with an calm expression before reaching her hand down to pull Sunny up. Sunny gladly took her hand and pulled himself off the ground with a small groan
"Do you have any wounds?" Nephis asked
Sunny shrugged before saying
"A few bruises here and there, other than that, nothing much"
He was about to walk away before Crene told the both of them
["He took a direct hit from the Monster, no matter how special your blood is, you should be internally bleeding, but just a little"] Crene snorted before nudging Sunny on his ribs, which prompted a slight grimace on his face
"Okay, seems like I am internally bleeding" Sunny grunted
Nephis didn't say anything, she used her Dormant ability to heal Sunny of his wounds. Sunny felt relieved and concerned about the warmth spreading through his body, he was relieved of the slight pain of the wound, but was concerned for Nephis because of her Flaw
Nephis grimaced so slightly that only Sunny could notice it. As soon as the warmth of Nephis flames entered him, it also left quickly
Sunny sighed and summoned [Endless Spring] to give it to Nephis. Nephis gladly took it and drank mouthful of water
She wiped the water from her lips and gave it back to Sunny, he went and dismissed it
They heard a couple of whispers and turned to look at the Twilight Keepers gossiping amongst each other
Sunny glanced around at the Twilight Keepers for a bit before telling Nephis
"We're late, we should go home"
Nephis nodded and grabbed Sunny's shoulder. Sunny nodded and Shadow Stepped to the Gateway
Both of them used the Gateway and appeared in a living room
The living room they were in was pretty spacious, a couch with an expensive projector that Sunny bought with his own pockets! A second floor that Sunny claimed for himself, expecially because of Effie, while Nephis sleeps in a room that is right next to Effie's room
The only reason Sunny wanted to live in this house was the fact that he felt uncomfortable being with so many people in the Immortal Flame's manor, and this house was near Rain's house. The reason Nephis was living here, was because she didn't want to stay in the manor since it brought unpleasant memories, and because she wanted to be with Sunny, but she will take that to the grave. Effie was here because she loved teasing Rain
And speaking of the devil herself
"Ah, you two are here" the boisterous hunter laughed loudly as she quickly locked both Sunny and Nephis in a bear hug
Both of them was lifted into the air as both of them quickly patted the hunters back with strained breaths
"Yup, we're here" Sunny luckily managed to blurt that out as Effie dropped both of them
Sunny and Nephis caught their breath as Effie left to munch down on whatever was in the fridge
They then heard footsteps, and then, the sound of a tray dropped onto the floor loudly. Both of them looked up to see Rain surprised
Rain shool off her shock and stood straight before saying
"G-good afternoon Lady Changing Star! Sir Shadow Star!" Rain still said Sunny's name as his 'True Name' because she found it hard to believe that her biological brother was him
Sunny raised an eyebrow before sighing loudly
"I told you to stop calling us that, our nicknames are fine" Sunny walked towards Rain and patted her head before walking off to find a hair tie for his extremely long hair... And to test out his new Memory
Nephis watched Sunny walk up the stairs with little interest before turning to look at Rain. Rain immediately straighten under Nephis gaze, while Nephis grabbed Rain's should to lead her to the kitchen to make sure Effie doesn't fuck it over, Sunny already scolded all three of them last time about it
'.... He is way more scary than he thinks' Nephis humbly thought to herself after remembering Sunny grinning madly while fighting a Fallen Beast.... Alone..... As a Sleeper, and the cockroach actually somehow won
Nephis overseen the cooking, while Rain helped cut the vegetables, and Effie being picky about what to eat
Nephis was preparing ramen for no particular reason, other than the fact that Effie and Rain begged for her to try. She was about to cut something, but something nudged her leg
She looked down to see a small chest with multiple tiny legs, the thing looked up before scurrying away to elichted a screech from both Effie and Rain
Effie summoned her spear and pointed it towards the small chest and then screamed
"What the fuck is that?! Shoo, shoo! Why the hell is it so durable?!" Effie kept whacking at the small chest monster before it lunged and bit Effie's shin
Sunny scrambled into the kitchen and forcefully pull the chest monster from Effie's shin. He pulled it off and dropped it on the ground with a small thud
Sunny bended down and pointed at the small chest monster with a finger
"No, I told you to make them scream, not try to eat them" he scolded the small chest monster
Rain slowly moved away from all three of them before Nephis grabbed her by the back of her collar to keep her here. Effie started to try and attack Sunny for attempting to scare them, yelling a couple of words that Nephis didn't care for
Nephis and Rain finished with the ramen while Sunny kept running from Effie. Nephis placed two bowls on the dining table before heading back to see Sunny grabbing all the rest and used some shadow arms to grab all of them. He placed them and Effie immediately started to eat, Sunny and Rain joined soon, and Nephis was the last to eat
They didn't talk about much, other than the fact that Effie mentioned something about a movie about Sunny and her? Strange, they had not heard about this until now
Something seemed to click in Rain's head when she heard it, she immediately asked
"Have you not seen it yet?" Rain pointed at both of them with her fork
Sunny and Nephis shook their heads before saying
"No one told us" Sunny shrugged
Effie and Rain scrambled to turn on the projector. They forced Sunny and Nephis to sit side by side on the couch and started the movie
The movie started with a small child with white hair. Sunny and Nephis instantly groaned at the sight
The scene when on about the things, feeling nostalgic about the academy scene and watched until they reached the Forgotten Shore
Sunny and Nephis was surprised at how real the Forgotten Shore looked, but it did lacked the dread of the place
Until 'Sunny' appeared, Nephis was disappointed at how they portrayed Sunny as a flirtatious, overly confident person Sunny was supposed to be cunning, smart, and a small bit confident in his ability, but overly confident
Sunny thoughts about him was mostly just
'..... I don't act like this'
Both of them was scowling at the projector as Effie and Rain exchanged worried glances with each other
The movie went on, they saw the journey through the coral labyrinth, the trench through the Bright Castle and the siege of the Crimson Spire
And the end fight, oh if only could Sunny and Nephis just kill the director. Like, Sunny would never act like this! Hell, he killed Caster!
But the end scene was pretty okay to them. But the projector did randomly explode in the end, and the shadows slowly moving away from Sunny, as if it was scared of their own master