Chapter 471: Quid Pro Quo
When Cassie was done speaking, Sunny remained silent for a bit. Then, he said:
"Anything else? More details?"
The blind girl shook her head.
"Because of the blizzard, it was hard to see what surrounded the crumbling island, and it was already too damaged to recognize it. So… no, no more details. Uh… you were wearing a metal armor, I think? Not the Puppeteer's Shroud."
Sunny massaged his temples with a bleak expression on his face.
"Well… it's not as bad as I expected."
Cassie tilted her head a little.
"It's not?"
A dark smile appeared on his lips.
"We already know that your visions are easy to misinterpret. You haven't seen us die, really… right? The light go out of our eyes, our bodies being torn apart, and so on. You just saw us badly injured and falling into the darkness. So what? I have already fallen into the Sky Below once, and here I am, good as new."
The blind girl hesitated.
"You fell into the Sky Below?"
Sunny waved a hand dismissively.
"Yes, but that doesn't matter. Wait, no… actually, it does matter. It's the reason I came to see you. I have almost forgotten because of this… charming revelation of yours."
After that, he grew silent, thinking about Cassie's vision of their death.
Despite Sunny's bravado, inside, he wasn't as nonchalant about it as he wanted to appear. Yes, her visions had been misleading in the past… but not all of them. Some were as straightforward as possible. And yes, although he had already gone through the endless void below the Chained Isles once, there was no guarantee that he would survive it second time, not unless he had chosen to do so himself.
After the Twisted Rock was destroyed by the Crushing, Sunny managed to survive due to three reasons: one of them was Mordret, one was that he had already been near the Tear, and the other was the [Where is my eye?] enchantment that he had used in a moment of desperation.
That enchantment had almost killed him, itself, and only failed to do so because his already exhausted shadow essence ran out just at the right time. If his reserves had not been depleted, and he was forced to endure staring into the eternity of Fate for a few seconds more, his mind would have been destroyed completely.
If he was thrown into the Sky Below once more, away from the Tear, there would be a very slim chance of him finding the rift in the ocean of divine flame again. Especially if he was as badly wounded as Cassie implied.
And there were giant birds fighting wyverns in the sky above.
So, what he had to do now was… well, what the hell was he supposed to do? The vision did not provide any actionable information. The only thing Sunny could think of was to work really hard to get himself a flight-capable Memory or Echo before winter.
And maybe make a will.
He sighed.
"So… what have you been doing to prevent the two of us from dying? How can you calmly dig around in the mud, knowing what is going to happen?"
Cassie lingered for a moment, then smiled.
"In fact, I am digging around in the mud for that very reason."
Sunny snorted.
"What are you hoping to find there? A pair of wings?"
She shook her head.
"No… I am just hoping to find a preserved root."
'A root? What can a root do to save us from dying?'
He kept quiet for a bit, then said:
"Alright. Suit yourself. Anyway, I wanted to talk with you about something."
Cassie looked into the depths of the forest, then nodded.
"About what?"
Sunny gathered his thoughts, then explained:
"I have found a Nightmare Seed. A very special one, that contains a very special Second Nightmare. And I want to challenge it after the winter solstice… actually, scratch that. I want to challenge it by the end of the autumn."
His initial plan was to give himself and his companions seven months to prepare, but considering what Cassie saw happening in winter, these plans had to change. Whatever it was that she predicted, facing it as a Master would be much more desirable than facing it as an Awakened.
…Unless her vision took place inside the Nightmare, of course.
Regardless, now, he decided to return to the Ivory Tower before the autumn was over. Six months was a tight amount of time to get ready, but now so different from his initial plan. He could make it work, provided that other people whom he wanted to take with him would, too.
"That Seed is also located in a very special place. In fact, it's right above our heads, in the Ivory Tower. I found a way to get there without being killed by the Crushing… although that other path is, arguably, just as dangerous."
Sunny pointed down.
"It's in the Sky Below. Effie and Kai are coming to the Chaines Isles to join me. We hope that you will challenge the Nightmare with us, too. Oh... and we'll need your help getting into the Night Temple. There's an item we need to retrieve there."
Cassie faced him and remained silent for a while. With her eyes being hidden by a mask and her face unmoving, it was hard to tell what she was feeling or thinking about.
Finally, she said:
"You want me to join? After what I have done to you?"
Unseen to her, a cold expression appeared on Sunny's face. He looked at the blind girl for a long time, then shrugged.
"Why not? We don't have to be friends to go into a Nightmare together. We don't even need to like each other. We can just be… temporary allies. Wasn't that what I was to you, anyway? If you can handle that, so can I. I don't mind being used, as long as I get to use you in return. Pretty simple."
Cassie turned away and didn't say anything for a few moments. Then, she answered:
"Alright. I will go to the Night Temple with you, and help you conquer the Second Nightmare. But… I want your help with something in return."
Sunny raised an eyebrow.
"My help? With what?"
The blind girl hesitated for a second, and then said:
"You have been to the Shipwreck Island, haven't you? The creature that dwells there… in a few months, I want you to help me kill it."
Chapter 472: Worthy Reward
Sunny stared at the blind girl with surprise clearly written on his face. Allowing this surprise to seep into his voice, he asked:
"The vine creature? You want to kill that thing?"
Why would she want to attempt to do something that dangerous?
Cassie nodded.
"Yes."
He shook his head.
"That bastard sprawls through the entire island, its vines buried underground. It is Corrupted, which means that our weapons will barely be able to cut it. And, if that was not bad enough, the vines produce clouds of deadly poison. Are you sure that you want to attack it?"
The blind girl lingered for a few moments, then answered calmly:
"It is a Corrupted Monster, indeed. It is terrifying and lethal, yes. But I am sure that we can destroy it, with enough preparation. Everyone has weaknesses, after all. That creature is susceptible to fire, for example. There must be other things we might be able to exploit, too."
Sunny thought for a while, then shrugged.
"Fine. I will help your cohort fight the monstrosity on the Shipwreck Island. I will not promise that we will succeed, though."
Cassie sighed.
"Then we have a deal. My cohort and I will remain in the Desecrated Growth until our business here is done. I expect it to take a month, at least. Maybe more. After, we will return to the Sanctuary, recuperate, and proceed to the Shipwreck Island."
She paused for a moment, and then added:
"And then, I will help you challenge the Second Nightmare."
Sunny smiled.
"If we don't die before that, you mean?"
The blind girl turned back to the roots of the dead tree.
"...Yes. If we don't die before that."
***
On his way back to the Sanctuary, Sunny had a lot to think about.
Firstly, there was the fact that he would have to cooperate with Cassie again, which made him feel all sorts of complicated emotions. The manner of their relationship, at least, was set clear — it was purely an alliance of convenience, and nothing else.
He could put away his resentment for the sake of mutual benefit. After all, Sunny could be a very pragmatic person when he needed to be.
Secondly, there was the perspective of returning to the wreck of the ancient ship, this time to do battle with the vine monster that ruled over the island. Sunny knew very well how dangerous that thing was, so he had a lot of preparations to do if he wanted to come out of that fight in one piece.
The divine flame augmentation of the Cruel Sight, however, was going to come in very handy.
And lastly, there was the ominous prediction that Cassie had made about both of them dying sometime in winter. Or falling into the Sky Below, at least. That… he didn't even know what to think about that. However, Sunny was not going to let this vision affect his decisions. The last time he had tried to act on the knowledge received through Cassie's prophetic gift did not end well for him… or anyone, for that matter.
The best thing to do was to keep it in his mind, but continue to act as if nothing had changed. At least he thought that this was the best course.
Tired and mentally exhausted from the long journey to and back from the Desecrated Grove, Sunny approached the Sanctuary of Noctis in the middle of the night. His shadow essence reserves were almost depleted, and his head buzzed from all the thoughts swarming inside of it.
Landing on the soft grass and hearing the familiar sound of water falling over the edge of the island, Sunny gritted his teeth.
"Forget about it, for now. First things first…'
The moon was high in the sky, which meant that he was finally going to get his sweet, enchanting reward.
His desire to find the source of the miraculous coins the dead Chain Worm had brought with it to the Iron Hand Island started this whole ordeal, and now, the coins would be its end.
His prize was waiting for him up ahead…
Entering the Sanctuary, Sunny walked through the empty garden and approached the clear pond in its center. Stopping for a couple of moments to make sure that no one was watching him, he then crossed the stone path leading to the small island in its center.
There, a white altar stood in the shade of an ancient tree, and an obsidian knife lay on its surface.
'The moment of truth…'
Sunny summoned the Covetous Coffer, took out one of the gold coins out of it, and placed it on the altar.
The coin shimmered, reflecting the moonlight, and then disappeared.
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
A big smile appeared on Sunny's face.
Summoning the runes, he read:
Shadow Fragments: [224/2000].
'It works!'
Initially, Sunny thought of going about using the coins in a slow and deliberate manner, throwing a dozen or so on the altar each time he had to return to the real world — to minimize the chances of being noticed and well as arising suspicion.
But now that the reward was in his sight, he decided against it.
No… he wanted all of it, right now.
He deserved it.
Putting the wooden box on the altar, he turned it to the side, and then put his hand inside. A moment later, a stream of golden coins flowed onto the white surface.
Then, they all started to disappear.
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
[Your shadow grows stronger…]
***
In the end, Sunny ended up sacrificing all fourteen hundred or so coins to the altar.
Frightened to believe that it actually happened, he summoned the runes again, then rubbed his eyes, and read the line describing his shadow fragments three times in a row — just to make sure that his eyes weren't deceiving to him.
Luckily, they weren't.
The runes now showed:
Shadow Fragments: [1657/2000].
'I did it… I did it!'
In the first two months on the Chained Isles, Sunny worked really hard to hunt down Nightmare Creatures and slay them. And yet, he had only been able to collect two hundred fragments. His last journey, harrowing as it had been, though… gave him so much more.
A wide grin appeared on Sunny's face.
'...Who said that greed is a sin? It's a virtue! A goddamn virtue, I say!'
Chapter 473: Mobius Loop
Because of the sudden influx of so many shards, Sunny got disoriented and swayed. His body was subtly rebuilding itself, growing stronger, more powerful… the difference was stark enough for him to feel it with every fiber of his being.
As Awakened absorbed soul shards — or shadow fragments, in his case — the capacity of their cores grew, and their physical capability was slightly enhanced. Usually, it happened at such small increments that the difference was hard to judge, but this time, Sunny had done something pretty preposterous and consumed fourteen hundred shadow fragments all at once.
He wondered if anyone else in history had accomplished the same feat.
'Not… not likely…'
Grabbing the edge of the altar to support himself, he endured the strange and euphoric sensation as best as he could.
How could anyone do such a thing, if — as far as Sunny knew — everyone except Nephis and him were limited to having only one core? They wouldn't even be able to absorb this much…
'Argh…'
Back on the Forgotten Shore, Sunny had gone from having almost no shadow fragments to fully saturating his core at a thousand. In the process, he went from being no different from a mundane human, to the pinnacle of humanly possible, to breaking past those limits.
Becoming an Awakened had elevated him even further above what was considered normal. He was much stronger and faster than any mundane human could ever hope to be, and capable of enhancing his prowess even more with essence, achieving truly superhuman might.
And now, he went through a transformation that was similar in scale to his rise on the Forgotten Shore, becoming so much more powerful. In fact, he was now probably the strongest Awakened both in the waking world and in the Dream Realm, with the exception of those whose Aspects directly enhanced their physique.
And even then, he could still double… even triple his physical ability with the help of the shadows.
'Insane!'
Sunny drew in a deep breath, then silently flexed his muscles, feeling a new strength course through his veins. He felt… incredible. Incredibly strong, incredibly fast, incredibly resilient.
But that wasn't all.
The capacity of both of his Shadow Cores was also dramatically enhanced, almost doubling in a matter of seconds. Therefore, his reserves of shadow essence were now also much deeper.
That meant that he could fight at his peak form for longer, use the active enhancements of his Memories more, remain in the form of a shadow for a bigger amount of time, control his shadows at a larger distance, and travel further when using Shadow Step.
In short… Sunny had just become even more of a menace.
Slowly getting accustomed to his new and improved physique, he couldn't help but smile.
Now that he had finally made use of the miraculous coins, his previous disaster of an expedition came into perspective. Despite how much he had suffered and how close he had brushed with death, it all felt worth it, somehow.
His goal was to grow stronger, and Sunny had just made a big step toward that goal.
…It felt good.
While Sunny was consumed with triumphant thoughts, his gaze fell on the obsidian knife that lay on the altar.
He lingered for a while, then cautiously reached with his hand and touched the cold stone handle.
'Will it work?'
That knife remained on the altar of the Sanctuary for as long as humans lived there. Pretty much every Awakened that had ever set foot into the Citadel tried to raise it off the white surface at least once… including Sunny.
But none of them succeeded. The knife seemed to weigh more than the entire island itself, as if it was glued to the altar. No matter how much people tried, no one had ever managed to move it even by a millimeter.
However, when Sunny used the miraculous coins for the first time, he seemed to have noticed that the obsidian knife moved a little.
Therefore… he had made a conclusion that if he were to place enough coins on the altar, the knife might become detached from it, and fall into his hands.
Holding his breath, Sunny wrapped his fingers around the handle.
'...Here goes nothing?'
Putting all of his strength into the pull, he tried to lift the obsidian blade of the altar.
The knife, however, offered no resistance at all. It behaved like any knife would, easily sliding off the white stone, which then caused Sunny to lose his balance and tumble to the ground in a graceless roll.
Sitting up, he stared at the knife in his hand with wild eyes. Then, he shuddered.
'Crap!'
Sunny half-expected for the entire Sanctuary to suddenly plunge into the Sky Below, or for the Gateway to stop functioning. That's why he wanted to just lift the knife a little, and then place it back down if something had gone awry. Instead, he was now a few steps away from the altar, with no way of getting back to it immediately.
…Luckily, none of his fears came true.
Despite the fact that the obsidian knife had left its usual spot on the altar, the island seemed fine. Everything was just as it had been a few seconds ago.
He exhaled with visible relief.
'Well… good. I wouldn't want to mess things up too bad for everyone here on the Chained Isles.'
Rising to his feet, Sunny looked at the obsidian knife. It seemed to have been cut from a single piece of black stone, with its blade sharpened and polished. There wasn't anything special in how the knife looked. In fact, it seemed a little bit crude, almost primitive.
There was also one little problem.
The knife did not turn into a Memory.
'Huh…'
Sunny had expected it to disintegrate into a rain of sparks and enter his core, just like Weaver's Mask had done, or like Shard Memories behaved when raised by a new wielder. Mordret had mentioned something to that effect when speaking about the ivory knife in the Night Temple.
He told Sunny that one had to spill blood on the black altar, to receive a Memory of the blade that rested on its surface.
But the obsidian knife did no such thing. It just remained in his hand, as material and palpable as one could imagine.
What was even stranger, though…
Was that the knife didn't appear to have a spellweave. It was, without a doubt, a magical item. Sunny could feel that it was, even if he didn't know what properties that entailed. However, when he looked beneath the surface of the knife, he didn't see the familiar pattern of ethereal strings weaving themselves around anchoring lights.
What he saw instead was just brilliant radiance, as though the knife was filled to the brim with soul essence. And in that radiance was just a single string…
It wasn't the same type of ethereal string, though.
It was a…
Sunny frowned.
A String of Fate.
A single String of Fate was somehow placed inside the obsidian knife, folding on itself endlessly, with its two ends connected to create a perfect, neverending circle.
Sunny stared at the strange String for a while, and then furrowed his brow.
'...Now, what is that all about?'
Chapter 474: Truth Be Told
Sunny studied the obsidian knife for a while, and concluded that he had no idea what this thing was supposed to be capable of. It wasn't a Memory, and it didn't have a weave, so neither the Spell nor his own ability to perceive and somewhat understand such things could help him.
The only thing Sunny knew for certain was that someone had plucked a string from the tapestry of Fate and placed it inside the knife, making a circle out of it… for some mysterious purpose.
Everything else was going to have to wait until the next time he heard from Mordret. The lost prince was bound to know more about the obsidian knife, since he seemed to know a lot about the Chained Isles and their past in general.
Now, however, Sunny had to deal with another problem…
He had to explain the disappearance of the knife to the White Feather clan, somehow.
Come morning — or at any moment, really, if someone decided to leave the Dream Realm or entered it in the middle of the night — people would become aware that the knife that no one had been able to lift or move was now gone.
Sunny had no doubt that it was not going to take a long time for them to figure out that it was him who had taken it.
And after that...
'What to do, what to do…'
In the end, he came up with a really crazy idea. Something that he would have never even considered, in normal circumstances. Something that went against his very nature.
…He went and told Master Roan the truth.
Well, the part that had to do with the miraculous coins, to be precise.
Visiting the White Feather compound in the middle of the night was a bit strange, but luckily for him, the older man turned out to be up. He was preparing to leave on a patrol, and so rose early to make the necessary preparations.
After Sunny was done talking, the mighty griffin rider stared at him for a while with a perplexed expression. Then, he asked to take a look at the knife.
Sunny reluctantly handed the obsidian blade over and watched nervously as Master Roan inspected it. He was really hoping that the White Feather clan would not decide to keep it… there were very few things Sunny could do if they did.
Finally, the strapping Master returned the obsidian knife to him and asked curiously:
"So you managed to lift it by using Noctis coins on the altar?"
Sunny nodded.
"Yeah… wait, you know about the coins?"
Master Roan nodded.
"A few have been found here and there on the Isles over the years. It seems that this was the preferred currency people who lived here thousands of years ago used. No one had ever discovered a literal treasure trove of them, though, as you did."
He thought for a bit, and then smiled.
"Actually, I think I have one stashed somewhere. Wait here for a bit, alright?"
With that, Roan disappeared into the stone chateau, and then returned ten or so minutes later, holding a familiar golden coin in his hand.
"Found it! I used to carry it with me a lot before, as a lucky charm. Let's go."
Together, they returned to the altar island.
The first thing Master Roan did was glance at the moon, and then place the coin on the altar. Once again, it gleamed and disappeared, leaving a bewildered expression on the handsome man's face.
"I'll be damned! I just received a bit of soul essence. You were right!"
He shook his head in astonishment.
"To think that these coins had such a use all this time, and no one was the wiser. Good job, Sunless!"
Then, Master Roan hesitated for a few moments, and asked:
"Can you place the knife back on the altar?"
Sunny did as he was asked, and then watched as the mighty griffin rider used all of his formidable power in a vain attempt to lift the obsidian blade off the white surface. When he was done with that futile attempt and stepped back to catch his breath, Sunny simply took hold of the handle and retrieved the knife without any problem.
"Interesting!"
Then came the moment of truth. Sunny tensed as he waited for the older man's decision.
After thinking about it for a while, Master Roan said:
"Well… I don't know if you know this, Sunless, but there is a sacred rule among us Awakened in the Dream Realm. The sanctity of this rule is unassailable and beyond reproach. And that rule is… finders, keepers."
Sunny blinked.
'What?'
The strapping Master grinned:
"So you don't have to worry about either me or Tyris taking that knife from you…"
Then, however, his smile dimmed.
"...Other people, though, might not be as reasonable. Even if no one knows what power this thing has, or if there even is anything special about it, someone might get too excited and act in a regrettable manner. So I'd advise you to put the knife back on the altar, until the time you feel like using it."
Sunny considered his words and had to admit that this, indeed, would be the best decision for now. Master Roan helped him confirm that no one else would be able to take the knife, and carrying it around before venturing into the Nightmare had no benefit.
Summoning the memory of how exactly the obsidian blade had been placed on the altar, he put it in its previous spot and took a step back.
Master Roan nodded.
"Good choice. Please, do tell us if you find out anything about its purpose… at least if it has anything to do with the well-being of the Sanctuary. If need be, we'll compensate you fairly to either take the knife off your hands or lend it for a bit, if that's what you prefer."
Sunny agreed to this condition, since it sounded reasonable.
With that out of the way, the strapping griffin rider looked at him with sparks dancing in his eyes.
"So, uh… what are you going to do now?"
Sunny frowned.
'What a weird question…'
"Go home, take a shower, deal with some real-world business. Why? What are you going to do?"
Master Roan laughed:
"What do you mean, what I am going to do? I am going to go on my patrol, and then I'll go… coin hunting, of course. I suspect that everyone in the Sanctuary is going to be searching for Noctis coins like madmen for quite some time after that discovery of yours. People are going to get really busy…"
Sunny remained silent for a bit, and then said in a very serious tone:
"Good luck, then. Oh, and one thing… if you find a big chest full of them, make your griffin stomp on it a few times before coming closer. Better yet, do that to every chest you encounter in the future. Never trust a chest not to eat you, is what I am trying to say… I sure won't!"
With that, he said goodbye to the handsome Master, placed his hand on the altar, and returned to the real world.
There was a lot he had to do there…
Chapter 475: A Few Things To Do
Some time later, Sunny was in his kitchen, eating the breakfast he had just prepared. He was thinking of all the things on his to-do list.
They were, in no particular order: selling the soul shards he had brought with him from the Dream Realm, and setting up a stable method to sell more in the future; returning to the Dreamscape to participate in duels on the professional arenas to practice Shadow Dance and feed the Mantle of the Underworld with victories; observing Rain and thinking of a way to deal with that whole situation; learning how to properly fight with a spear; visiting Neph; writing a report about the Noctis coins for Teacher Julius.
There were probably more things he had to do, but was forgetting. But he already had enough on his plate.
Finishing the breakfast and staring toward the door of the guest bedroom, where Effie still slept while her spirit wandered the Dream Realm, he shook his head and went out to sit on the porch as he drank some delicious tea.
It was early morning. Sunny enjoyed the pleasant view of the terrace district, watched as Rain walked to the public transport hub on her way to school, and then activated his communicator.
He was going to start with the simplest of tasks.
Navigating to the market section of the network, he habitually imputed his identification number to access the Awakened section of it. Sunny had browsed the wares there before, even if back then he barely had enough money to buy anything.
Today, however, things were different. Today, he was approaching the network as a seller, not as a buyer.
Sunny entered "soul shards" as the keywords and stared at the listings, appreciating the number of zeroes in their prices. It seemed as though the value of shards was not uniform… of course, the higher Rank shards cost much more. But people, strangely, also seemed to care about what Nightmare Creature the crystal came from, and how it had been defeated.
'What the hell?'
Apparently, there were… collectors among the wealthy mundane humans who were very interested in this sort of thing. Some superstitious Awakened also believed, for some reason, that absorbing "bad" shards would be detrimental to the purity of their souls.
'Weirdos…'
Sunny didn't know a lot of things, but one thing he did know was that there was not a single Awakened out there with a pure soul. Even the best of them were murderers by nature, and their hearts were painted black by the nightmares they had experienced.
Not to mention that there were no bad or good soul shards. They were all pretty much the same, coming from terrible monsters and earned through bloodshed.
Anyway, that was something he was going to consider when creating his own listing.
After getting the gist of the pricing, Sunny opened the form to create his own digital shop. Without thinking too much, he named it "Brilliant Emporium" and went on to fill out the entire form.
Then, it came the time to put his soul shards into the auction. Sunny wrote simply:
"Four soul shards coming from a Fallen Devil, Mordant Mimic. The creature was killed and eaten by the proprietor of the Brilliant Emporium himself. Before that, the Mordant Mimic had been pretending to be a treasure chest and devouring those lured by the promise of treasure. In the end, it bit off more than it could chew."
Satisfied with that, he finalized the listing and stared at it for a bit, as if expecting someone to bid instantly.
However, nothing of the sort happened.
With a sigh, Sunny deactivated the communicator and went back inside.
'Soon… I will be rich soon…'
***
It took several days for all four of his soul shard to sell. After that, Sunny had to arrange secure delivery, which was somewhat of a headache on its own. Overall, the process took too much time from his already packed schedule.
He also felt that he was missing some crucial knowledge on how to make his business really boom. Even though the product he was trying to sell was first class — there was not a lot of Fallen Rank soul shard out there, compared to Dormant and Awakened ones — the bidding had not really taken off. He did make a sizable amount of money, but not as sizable as it could have been.
Still, it was enough to purchase a couple of cheap lower Rank Memories. Sunny simply looked for the most useless ones, which no one else would ever want to buy, and made the minimum offer. Whoever it was selling them must have been happy beyond belief to finally be rid of these things.
Sunny was going to feed the Memories to Saint immediately after receiving them, but before that, he spent a lot of time training with the Cruel Sight in his underground dojo.
He had a solid understanding of how to use a short sword, but a spear was an alien beast to him. Even though Sunny knew the basic rules of combat technique and could perform somewhat effectively while wielding any weapon, he was far, far away from mastering them.
How fortunate it was then, that he had a renowned spear master — Raised by Wolves herself — crashing in his guest bedroom.
Granted, she couldn't really spar with him due to her condition. But he had Saint for that.
In the end, the three of them spent a lot of time in his basement. Effie was observing and explaining to him what to do, how to do it, and most importantly, what not to do. Saint served as his opponent and the mighty enemy to polish his nascent skill against. And Sunny… Sunny found himself once again in the role of a willing punching bag.
It was just like in that week they had spent in the hidden chamber of the ruined cathedral in the Dark City. Sunny even got nostalgic, remembering how cozy and nice things had been back then.
Now, however, things were much better. Not only was there an unlimited amount of delicious food they could eat during the breaks in his training, there were even medicine and ice baths to ease the pain in his bruised and beaten body.
Training with Saint was really effective, but she really didn't know how to pull her punches!
Just like that, a few days passed.
And then, something that Sunny had been dreading for a while finally, and inevitably, happened.
…It was time to accompany Kai to the premier of the Song of Light and Darkness.