Chapter 14: Peaceful Voyage
The Antarctic winds howled a wild tune, and the freezing waters crashed against onyx scales in a chaotic yet natural rhythm.
The sun hung low on the horizon, painting the world in a myriad of colors. It wasn't going down anytime soon for the next few months now that the Antarctic winter had ended.
Currently, Sunny was lying on Serpent's large back as it swiftly swam through the treacherous ocean waters. He stared at the colorful sky with an absent-minded expression. Jet was close by as well, although she hadn't been faring too well lately...
Sunny shivered.
'Ugh... I forgot how cold the open waters could be...'
Of course, in his time as a Sovereign, he had totally forgotten just how troublesome—and even deadly—a mundane cold breeze could be.
He sighed, his breath visible in the cold...
As he gazed at the boundless ocean, glimpses of his early adventures on the cursed waters of the Forgotten Shore came back to mind.
'Brings back memories, huh?'
He smiled wistfully... 'Back then, everything was so simple, wasn't it? Just me, Neph, and Cass, surviving from day to day in a deadly environment...'
He remembered when they huddled together for warmth every night. When they shared stories while eating meals together before sundown...
When it was just... them. Surviving. Together.
Of course, it hadn't been all sunshine and rainbows either...
Sunny suddenly chuckled to himself, covering his face with his soft leather gloves.
Jet raised an eyebrow but didn't bother to open her eyes yet.
'Ah, I'm nostalgic of the Forgotten Shore. Hah! My Forgotten Shore self would have killed me if he were here!'
Then he slowly grinned as if expecting his daydream antagonist to manifest on their cozy shadow "raft."
'Why, let him try! He really needed a humbling back then... that arrogant bastard.'
Unbeknownst to Sunny, Gloomy looked at his fellow shadows beside him and shook his head in exasperation... the audacity!
Sunny lifted his hand, half expecting said angry wraith of the past to stand there... but alas, that was not the case.
He sighed with slight disappointment...
'Well, it's been a while since I fought myself...'
But then a weak grin came across his face.
'Although... we'll see about that in a few months should we enter that cursed tomb again.'
Honestly... Sunny was worried about entering that specific seed of a nightmare that Fate itself would lead the 7... no, 8 of them towards. That Third Nightmare was strange... so, so strange and unpredictable.
'It sits outside of Time itself... what if my previous run had left imprints there? How would it react if multiple of me were to show up..?'
He rubbed his glabella, feeling a headache approaching. If only his regression had happened a little later... then he would have had [Mind Weave] as well. His thoughts kept running...
Letting out a frustrated huff, Sunny ran a hand through his strangely long, dark hair...
"Problems, problems... Gods, when did I become the savior of these damn worlds!?"
It was all so surreal... his point of regression had only been a few days ago, and so much had happened. So many emotions had been felt, so many had been saved... and so many lost.
Sunny shook off his anxious doubts, clenching his fists while his expression hardened with resolve.
So much was going to change.
He would welcome the change.
He will bring that change.
Fate and the worlds be damned.
Sunny rose from his seated position, staring at the distant horizon. Golden sparks ignited in his deep onyx irises...
The low-hanging sun stared back at him, welcoming his burning passion as its colorful image was mirrored in the ocean waters.
None would withstand his cunning, his treachery, his grit.
A dark smile spread across his face. He opened his arms wide as if wanting to embrace the world, the cold winds only making him feel more alive than ever.
"For if that is my will, who dares stop me!?"
...
For a moment, there was nothing but the howling winds.
"Ughh..."
A weak groan resounded from nearby, closely followed by worried, yet slightly excited cawing.
"Jet! Jet!"
'Huh?'
Sunny turned his head... and saw Jet weakly trying to move toward the water. She looked like a corpse barely hanging on...
'Well, no shit.'
He quickly rushed over, lamenting the fact that his moment had been kind of ruined. Sunny kicked Crow Crow—who was already picking at Jet's lifeless body—aside and checked her status.
What he saw made his eyes widen as he cursed under his breath.
"Crap... I thought that beast would be enough for the journey."
He heard a hoarse woman's voice call out to him, her simple request hiding a deep, gluttonous undertone.
"Ugh, Sunny... c'mere for a second... I'll just nibble a little."
A shiver went down his spine, and he quickly created a bit more distance.
'Curses! Why is it just me who's always surrounded by gluttonous, dangerous women!?'
He composed himself eventually, glancing at the freezing waters with reluctance...
"Just stay here for a moment. I'll bring you some juicy souls to feast upon, you barbaric woman..."
He gave a quick side glance at Crow Crow. "And you, Crow Crow, watch over Jet. No picking at her! She's still ali—well... you know what I mean."
"Watch! Watch!"
Upon the Echo's affirmation, Sunny walked toward the edge of Serpent's torso and took one last deep breath before diving straight into the ocean.
He was met with cold shock that permeated through his whole Ascended body. The salty taste made him momentarily flinch out of habit before he forced himself to move again.
'Curses! I never expected to see the day when natural elements would be so bothersome again! Gahhh, so cold!'
Despite his inward complaining, Sunny swam deeper into the seemingly bottomless ocean. The [Essence Pearl] manifested in his mouth, letting him breathe and be more agile underwater. All his shadows wrapped around his body. A pair of fins took shape on his feet, while his Shadow Sense spread out and let him see everything he needed to... once again, he was thankful that the ocean darkness wasn't considered true darkness.
'Where are you... where are you...'
Sunny slowed down, his onyx eyes locking onto his target in the distance.
'There you are.'
He grinned and shot himself forward, causing a strong ripple in the waters. A dark trident formed in his hands just like one of the ancient deities that Nephis had taught him back then. 'What was their name again? Poseidon?'
He shook his head inwardly, refocusing on his prey. As he closed in on the distant silhouette, he was able to make out some of its features...
It had 8 long, tentacle-like limbs, and its "body" was covered in many mirror-like eyes that all locked onto his approaching figure at the same time. The marine creature would have been fully imperceptible to most due to its skin's camouflage... luckily, he had his Shadow Sense.
'Hello there, my swimmy friend...' Sunny slowed himself, brandishing his trident with a primal focus that felt almost... incredibly invigorating! This gamble with his life—now that he was a mere mortal again—gave his battles a certain edge again that he didn't even know he missed!
'What the hell am I blabbering about!? Focus, you bastard!' Despite his inward scolding, he couldn't shake off this excitement... 'Is this thing messing with my mind?'
Sunny grew a dangerous smile. The mind-altering ones were always the most annoying... luckily, they were actually compensating for a weak physical power most of the time.
'Got you!' He shot his shadow trident at the octopus abomination with deadly precision, but at the last moment, as if anticipating his intention, it shot to the side and let out a deafening screech.
His grin widened... the trident had missed, but that didn't matter as a new one was already coalescing in his palm, which would take a few seconds...
But as he kept observing the abomination with practiced precision, something unexpected happened... it squirted out a pitch-black cloud and completely vanished from his perception...
'Wha-...' But it was too late as he heard a ripple of water approaching him. His trident wasn't even ready yet.
'Crap!' Out of pure instinct—or perhaps sheer luck—Sunny dodged to the side, frantically looking around to no avail.
'I'm blind!? Shit! Why!?' His heart was racing as he felt a sense of desperation that actually unnerved him. He quickly came to a realization. 'It's... it's true darkness! Think! Think!'
His thoughts were quickly interrupted as he felt the faint ripples again. He forced himself to move to the side again, relying on pure instinct that had been honed by thousands of past battles to predict his opponent.
As he stopped at a distance once more, his shadow trident had finally materialized in his grip. He got into position, tensely trying to somehow anticipate the inevitable attack this time... but the insidious mind attack was making him more nervous and emotional than he'd consider optimal.
"Screeech!"
A sudden sound to his right made him instantly turn as he shot his trident at the exact location it came from.
'Got you now!'
But if he got it, then why did he not receive a message from the Spell..?
'Crap.'
He was suddenly pierced on the left side by countless small needles, making him scream out a muffled sound.
But then he felt it. It was a tentacle that was wrapped around his torso, anchoring itself to his flesh using the countless needles. He was roughly pulled toward it in a not-so-promising "hug", and despite his panicked state, Sunny instantly summoned the [Moonlight Shard] and quickly twisted his body to slice off the limb that held onto him.
Now free, he shot himself away again and turned into an intangible shadow to unlodge the spiked tentacle. A few memories were taking shape as well... but he needed a few seconds for them to finish.
He left the shadows, the tentacle now gone, but the damage still there, even with his [Weaves] doing their best to mend the worst of it. He grimaced, his smile there again, but weaker now.
In his tiny moment of respite, he had managed to somewhat gather his thoughts again, the surprise having mostly worn off, yet his emotional state was still unnaturally elevated from the insidious ability.
He had figured out a few crucial things about his adversary. 'Should be something like a Fallen Devil with an affinity for true darkness. The devil's ability is probably that infuriating emotional manipulation.'
He felt the first few memories finish forming and felt his confidence grow again despite the complete darkness surrounding him.
'Come at me, stupid squid!'
As if on cue, a ripple was traveling through the waters once more. And this time, Sunny was prepared.
He grabbed the hilt of the [Cruel Sight] in its short sword form and poured essence into it as he closed his eyes...
Suddenly, in the eternal darkness of the ocean depths, a star of pure white light ignited and pushed the darkness far away.
The approaching devil suddenly froze in terror and screeched in pain, unable to close its myriad of eyes.
Sunny felt his Shadow Sense return and immediately sensed the startled silhouette of the bastard.
If he could laugh, he would have done so by now. Instead, he only grinned viciously and held out his hand for one final shadow trident that was taking form, charging for a shot...
'Look who's scared now. But don't worry, "I" won't kill you.'
A second later, the trident shot forward with startling speed, hitting the lower part of the devil's body and cleanly ripping off all of its limbs...
'Look who's a septocus now, you bastard.'
**
Lying on the back of an enormous Serpent, Jet was staring at the bright sky with a weak grimace as she tried to catch the annoying bird that kept flying over her. "Ughhhh... stop moving!"
"Help! Help!"
Suddenly, the waters rippled, and a slender, half-covered figure emerged.
"Sah-ne! Sah-ne!" Crow Crow quickly moved to hide behind the dripping, dark figure.
Sunny climbed onto Serpent's back again, his hand holding a mutilated ocean monster that was once something akin to an octopus... its countless small eyes were all sliced, and all of its limbs were only twitching stumps. Its incredible survivability turned against it.
Sunny sighed tiredly, tossing the half-dead thing at her.
"Hey Jet, I've got some food for ya."
Jet looked at the mangled beast with something resembling a feral hunger. "My... y-you shouldn't have..."
Sunny turned around respectfully. The sounds of weak screeching and slimy noises made him shiver a little.
'Crazy woman...'
He gave her a moment and turned his focus to the distant horizon once more...
Things had gone surprisingly well despite everything. The Winter Beast was dead. The people of Central Antarctica were saved as well. If only he could have stayed hidden too. But he knew that was wishful thinking. He had to make a change of plans... his past self had shown off his strength in a deceptive way back then, hoping to paint a false picture in the minds of his enemies.
Only it hadn't lasted long as he was forgotten by the world shortly after.
This time, Sunny was done holding back his true strength. Humanity needed him, and he had long accepted his role as its protector when he stood at the edge of the Dreamrealm, seeing their worlds merge in terrified awe.
Of course, there was also the possibility of his fame affecting the acceleration of corruption. But what could he do? Let himself be forgotten again? Or just get stronger. Enough to balance out the new threat?
He sighed... "I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. For now..."
On the distant horizon, a faint dark line was starting to rise...
"...Eastern Antarctica, here I come."