Eventually, they reached the base of the colossal statue.
To get Cassie up hundreds of meter was definitely a problem - but they managed. They hoisted her up with the golden rope at intervals, handing it off to each other around every 20 meters or so. It had been a slow torturous process but not an impossible one.
Yoru also made sure that Cassie wished to ascend the statue, granting him and those who wished for it, the ability to ascend any surface with the click of his fingers, albeit not instantaneously. It was more like levitation than flight.
Now, the four of them sat in chairs conjured by Yoru, resting atop the statue's familiar neck. The false sun was nearing the end of its retreat, bleeding dull light into the horizon as the grey sky surrendered to night.
Despite their exhaustion, none of them slept.
"... and then the beast looked at me with mercy in its eyes, practically begging me to spare it. But I, as well as my spear, are foreign to such concepts. So I plunged it into the beast and slew it on the spot."
Yoru had been giving his third retelling of how he had killed the Scavenger, to which Sunny could only groan and say:
"Do you not get tired of hearing your own voice?"
Yoru bristled and lightly laughed.
"Of course I do. But it pains me to stay silent when I have so many extraordinary feats to share with the world."
Cassie giggled at this and Nephis stared at the flame of their camp, listening in quiet amusement.
Sunny sighed and faced away from him, refusing to indulge in conversation any longer, choosing to watch the dark sea rise instead.
Yoru, undeterred, continued:
"How can you not be amazed? Nephis, have you ever killed a creature a whole rank above you with nothing but a mundane weapon."
Nephis offered him a brief glance.
"I can't say that I have."
Yoru grinned.
"Well there you have it. I am the greatest Sleeper to live!"
Cassie tilted her head, wearing a wry smile.
"I don't think this should be a competition, but... Nephis has slain more scavengers than you. And not only that, but she even faced two at the same time."
Yoru's eye twitched and his grin froze.
'Damn, she makes a good point.'
"Fine, I concede... Nephis is the third best sleeper to live."
"Wait, then who takes the second spot? And why is nephis not number one?" Cassie asked, seemingly curious at who this mysterious sleeper was.
Yoru answered without hesitation.
"Me, of course. I take the top two spots."
From somewhere behind him, a string of curses erupted.
"We should split the spoils now," Nephis said calmly.
She stood up and grabbed the rucksack containing the various soul shards they had acquired.
She emptied the bag and eight gleaming shards fell out and rolled on the ground.
Without discussion, she slid two shards toward Sunny, two toward Yoru, took four for herself -then passed two of hers to Cassie.
Sunny watched this in silence. By the time Nephis and Cassie had absorbed their soul shards, he still didn't make a move to take his. After a while, he took another crystal out of the rucksack and moved all three to Nephis.
The silver-haired girl looked at him with surprise.
"Don't you want... to grow stronger?"
Sunny grinned.
"Of course, I do. But these won't do me much good right now. It's no secret that you are the main fighting force of our group."
He sighed.
"The stronger you are, the better our chances of survival will get. Plus, it's not a gift. It's a trade."
Nephis raised an eyebrow.
"A… trade? What do you want?"
Sunny deliberated for a few seconds before answering.
"It's rather simple. I will give you these soul shards, and all other soul shards I earn on the way to that castle…"
Then, he looked her in the eyes and said:
"In return, you will teach me how to fight."
Yoru threw in his own two shards as well and added:
"Uh, me to."
Sunny shot him a look that screamed copycat.
Yoru flushed. He had never felt like more of a self-insert until now.
"I got a sword Memory," he said defensively. "And admittedly, I have no idea how to use it. So yes! I want tutoring."
Nephis looked between them and contemplated. This time, she remained silent longer than usual.
She seemed to be studying their bodies, stripping them with her stare, analysing their height, weight and anatomy with just her eyes alone. Yoru resisted the urge to cover his chest like a scandalised maiden.
Just when her evaluating gaze was about to become unbearable, she took the soul shards and nodded.
"Okay."
He let out a breath of relief and thanked the dead gods for her finally looking away.
Sunny smiled.
"So when do we start?"
Nephis shrugged.
"Now."
Sunny glanced at the sun, which was already almost gone and shot Yoru a look.
Nephis continued:
"We will start with some words. That will be enough for today."
After hesitating a little, she added:
"Cassie, you listen too.
Mastery of combat can be divided into two aspects. One is body, and the other one is mind. Training the body is not easy, but it is rather simple. All you need is repetition and experience. In a fight, things happen too fast to consider every detail in the moment. That's why your technique must exist in your muscles and bones, so much so that it almost becomes an instinct."
She paused.
"You can achieve initial results through repetition. Then, it must be cemented through experience. The more battle experience you have, the deeper a technique will be assimilated into your body. There is no other way. A thousand hours of training won't be as impactful as one real fight. Only those who survive countless battles can be truly in command of the body."
Literally anything that Yoru had ever watched told him the same thing. Fear the man who lived a thousand battles than the - No! wrong quote. It didn't matter. Point was, its true and made sense.
Meanwhile, Nephis continued:
"Training the mind, however, is not simple at all. That is because, once you reach a certain level of skill, the mind is where the true combat takes place. The outcome is often decided before your body begins to move. And to master the mind, the first step is to understand the essence of combat. However, very few people truly do."
She looked at them and asked:
"What do you think that essence is?"
'Ah, here comes another famous quote.'
Sunny and Cassie both hesitated.
After a minute or so, Cassie finally answered:
"Victory."
And almost at the same time, Sunny said:
"Survival."
Yoru had a smug look plastered on his face and looked at Nephis.
"Hah, imbeciles..."
After receiving no reaction he cleared his throat.
"The essence of combat is murder. Isn't it Teacher Nephis?"
Nephis frowned at the name but slowly nodded.
"Yes... The essence of combat is murder."
Cassie flinched and opened her eyes wide.
Sunny frowned a little. Nephis, however, did not seem to care. In the same calm tone, she continued:
"At the core of it, there is only this: you are trying to kill your opponent, and they are trying to kill you. In the end, one of you will be killed, and the other one will be the killer. Everything else is just noise."
"Style doesn't matter. Weapons don't matter. Reason and intent do not matter. The only thing that matters is to be the last one standing. In this way, anything you do in combat must be viewed as only serving one of two purposes: either to kill your enemy or to prevent the enemy from killing you."
Nephis lowered her eyes.
"If you can understand that, you will have enough clarity to master the mind."