The northern wall burned in flames, a constant cacophony of clashing steel reaching even the Shining Castle.
Sunny observed the situation with interest.
'A Fallen Devil… troublesome.'
And probably more than that, of course. If Nephis and he joined forces, they could handle it, but the problem was that there were at least a dozen Fallen Beasts out there, and he couldn't rule out running into a monster or two either.
Even so, despite the situation, he smiled. It was a good opportunity to put his abilities to the test.
He looked at the chaos with a bittersweet feeling. This crisis would be a valuable experience for the survivors; on the other hand, an immense number of lives had been lost. As far as he knew, there had been at least five hundred people at the northern base.
Even if they were lucky and only half perished, that would still be two hundred and fifty of the best Sleepers in history.
Unwilling to remain idle while dozens of people died, he ran down the stairs to the first floor of the castle. Two people were waiting for him there: Vaen and Nephis. The former gave him a weary look, but hidden beneath that exhaustion was a burning, deadly desire.
It felt strangely familiar, for some reason.
Vaen looked at him and asked cautiously,
"How bad is the situation?"
Sunny looked back at him, a cold darkness wandering through his irises.
"Very bad. A Fallen Devil, several dozen Fallen Beasts, and we can't rule out a monster or two."
Contrary to his expectations, the weariness on Vaen's face did not deepen—quite the opposite.
The flame burning in his eyes, the desire in his soul, seemed to grow even stronger, as if a bonfire that had survived a stormy night had just been fed.
Sunny smiled. This was what they needed—what the world required to be saved.
A second Nephis… or rather, as many as possible.
"In that case, there's no time to wait. Every second lost could cost someone their life."
Just as they were about to take their first step out of the castle, a thunderous crash echoed through the chamber. The doors had been flung open.
Everyone summoned their Memories, ready to fight whatever horror might come.
Instead of a terrible, ravenous beast, they were met by a familiar, comical-looking guy—one Sunny knew.
Only this time, he didn't look funny or cheerful. Instead, a deep desperation burned within him.
"Boss!"
Jack ran inside and rushed toward him. Behind him came a woman and a baby.
"You have to help me! Please!"
After letting go of his wife's hand, Jack threw himself to the ground before Sunny's feet.
He looked up, his eyes trembling with emotion, an immense desperation hidden within them.
"Mike! He… he's fighting out there!"
He lowered his head until it touched the floor.
"Please… help me save him."
Sunny looked at his disciple with pity, a very different expression from his usual one.
While Nephis and Vaen took the woman and child to a safe place,
Sunny knelt down and placed a hand on Jack's shoulder.
Then, a barely audible, broken whisper pierced his being.
"P-please… don't let him die… I couldn't… not without him."
- - -
Seishan slowly opened her eyes.
Her eyelids trembled; lifting them felt like a titanic effort.
She was tired—very tired—but despite that, she kept her composure.
'What the hell happened?'
She managed to open her eyes fully, but saw only darkness. Fortunately, she could also feel something tightening around her head.
'I've been kidnapped.'
Her head felt heavy and drowsy, weaving a thread of thought felt like trying to solve long mathematical equations.
She smiled. She had never been good at math, after all.
'So he made his move.'
She had been watching Gunlaug for a long time—ever since she arrived at the Forgotten Shore, she had kept an eye on him. Or rather, several.
She had assigned her best subordinates to monitor Gunlaug.
During the first few years, she discovered several things he was doing, tripping him up every time he tried to set a plan in motion.
Then, two years ago, she let him be. She thought he had given up.
But no. A few months ago, her servants began to die—not many, just one every few weeks.
But it was enough to raise suspicion. The problem was that she never found proof; she only knew her servants had died because they never returned to her.
She even came to think that there was a nightmare creature actively hunting the women under her command.
But no. In the end, the answer was simple: Harus.
'That damned hunchback.'
Harus had appeared shortly after Gunlaug on the Forgotten Shore and followed him for several months, but he disappeared two years ago, declared dead during the first wave of monsters.
It wasn't hard to connect the dots.
So she watched Gunlaug even more closely, always alert to anything that might happen. Still, she never found anything.
It was eerie. There was no evidence, no traces—only the certainty that the people under her command never returned.
Her mind, somewhat relieved after a while, began to recall what had happened before she fell asleep.
The last thing she remembered was leaving the castle with Gunlaug, walking along the hill, and then—
Darkness. That was where everything ended.
She trembled.
The fact that she had been kidnapped so easily didn't torment her.
What did was…
'Why am I alive?'
There were two possibilities. They wanted to use her as leverage against Vaen and the others.
Or they had another use for her.
As if answering her thoughts, a rhythmic sound of steel striking the ground began.
Belatedly, she realized she hadn't analyzed her surroundings.
'How strange…'
From what she could feel, she was still wearing her armor, tied to a chair, and there was the smell of earth around her.
Her body had no major injuries, only several bruises—probably from when they transported her.
The sound of footsteps grew closer, until she felt them enter the same room and stand before her.
'Three people.'
She had always had a strange sense for detecting people, related to the blood of the Beast God.
She slowly raised her head toward where whoever stood before her should have been.
But instead, something terrifying happened—she felt a gaze.
Not from the people in front of her, not within the room. It wasn't as if an oracle were watching her.
'Where?'
She extended her senses, concentrating as much as she could despite the fog corroding her mind.
Far away, deep and deeper within the earth.
'No…'
Even farther…
Beyond the walls, a being pierced the world with its eyes, reaching toward her.
Only it wasn't looking at her—it was looking even farther.
To the west.
Then she felt her senses dull once more. The last thing she caught was Gunlaug's poisoned voice.
"Ah, Seishan, you truly were a headache…"
- - -
Upon reaching the northern wall, he realized that, in truth, the Sleepers had held the assault surprisingly well so far.
They had managed to evacuate most of the artisans and those incapable of fighting, keeping the beasts at bay.
Even so, it was a slaughter. At least a hundred people had died, from what he could see.
And many more probably would.
Vaen looked him in the eyes and said in an authoritative voice,
"Go support the front. I'll assess the current situation with my lieutenant."
Without another word, Sunny ran through the chaos toward a pillar of fighters battling a pair of Needle Messengers.
Beside him, Nephis had already unleashed her flames, carving a path toward another central point of resistance.
Sunny surveyed the battlefield, searching for another position to support.
'Damn it.'
The problem was that there wasn't one. The remaining Sleepers had gathered into several smaller groups, hunting the beasts one by one.
And before he could do anything, a presence rushed past him toward the battle.
'This idiot.'
Jack charged toward the first group of Sleepers he saw. At that moment, they were struggling badly against a Needle Messenger.
With no other choice, Sunny summoned the Azure Sword and followed him from behind.
The fight before them was brutal. With every movement of the beast, a horrific wound appeared on one of its opponents.
Luckily, they seemed to have a healer, preventing immediate deaths.
But everything changed with the arrival of Sunny and Jack. The two of them completely shifted the course of the battle, distracting the monster while the others caught their breath.
Wanting to test his abilities, Sunny didn't wrap himself in his two shadows. He stood relying only on his own skill and current power, which were infinitely superior to any other Sleeper on the Forgotten Shore—except Nephis and Vaen.
The fight was easy. Sunny distracted the creature while Jack inflicted light wounds, gradually weakening it. By the time the rest of the Sleepers rejoined the fight, half the work was already done.
A few seconds later, Sunny wrapped his two shadows around his sword and delivered the finishing blow.
[You have killed a Fallen Beast, Needle Messenger]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
After regrouping those still fit to fight and pulling back the healers and wounded, they advanced toward the next group.
This one was in far worse shape. Without a healer, several had already died, and the rest were in increasingly poor condition to fight.
The arrival of reinforcements was a tremendous relief.
And so it went—group after group they rescued, the situation grew worse each time.
More wounded. More dead.
But also, with every step forward, Sunny gained three soul fragments.
So far, he had killed about five Fallen Beasts, earning fifteen shadow fragments in just a few minutes—though, of course, all of it at a superhuman cost.
Now they were heading toward the last group of survivors.
With Jack at the front, of course. The entire time they'd been here, he seemed rushed, often doing reckless things just to end the fight faster.
Honestly, Sunny didn't know how the guy was still alive.
'Well, actually, I do. That idiot is ridiculously lucky. How annoying.'
Just as they reached the last group, they noticed the battle was already over.
And then Jack ran even faster.
"Mike!"
In the distance, lying on the ground and utterly wrecked, Mike was somehow still alive.
Sunny had seen corpses in better condition than him.
A smile crept onto his face, but unfortunately, the reunion would have to wait. He still needed to support Nephis and Vaen in the fight against the Fallen Devil.
He gave the boys one last look.
Jack was carrying Mike bridal-style toward the rear, where the healers were.
Mike, of course, was complaining and blushing, but in his state, there was nothing he could do.
Sunny ignored them and headed toward the two massive groups of Sleepers. Apparently, they had already killed the Needle Messengers on their side and were preparing to fight the Devil.
But there was a problem.
'How are we supposed to bring that thing down from up there?'
The damned abomination was too large—like a flying building of flesh—and incredibly resilient. Sunny doubted anything could pierce its thick hide, and even if it could, it wouldn't be enough to bring it crashing down.
Or so he thought.
The next moment, he noticed a change atop the Shining Castle. A large group of Sleepers stood at the highest point, loading a siege engine.
Only it wasn't small at all—it was enormous, reminiscent of the massive rail cannons of human fortresses.
And when it fired, Sunny realized it was far more than that.
A gigantic, arrow-like projectile shot forth at staggering speed, unleashing a thunderous screech and multiple sonic booms along its path.
The creature noticed too late. When it tried to evade, it was already too late.
The projectile slammed into its side, tearing through its entire left flank, rendering two wings useless and leaving a horrifying wound.
The next moment, that building of flesh and nightmare crashed onto the wall, unleashing an even greater chaos.