Having cleaned all the blood out of his hair, Sunny turned to the Queen's puppet.
"Am I done here?"
"Not just yet, Suming."
Sunny still cringed at being called such a name.
"Well then, what now?"
"Hmm, well, after little Shan saw you fight… She felt a little ashamed of herself. Both of you are the same age, and yet-"
"Mother!"
Seishan cut her mother off in an embarrassed tone.
Sunny just stared at the two with a blank gaze.
"...You want me to train her?"
"Exactly."
Sunny was quiet for a moment.
"Can't you do it? I'm sure you're much more skilled than me."
"Don't say that… I'm sure she has a lot to learn from you!"
Sunny sighed.
"Then, can I have a Memory?"
The Queen turned to Seishan with a wry smile.
"See? I told you."
Seishan could only sigh in exasperation.
The puppet then turned to him.
"What Memory would you like then, Sunless?"
"One that provides a strong resistance to fire would be good."
The puppet nodded.
"That can be arranged. Now come!"
The puppet led them to a large cavern within Ravenheart. Within the cavern seemed to be a spacious sparring arena.
Glancing at Seishan, Sunny made his way to the opposite side of the arena.
The puppet sat comfortably on a protruding stone in the shape of a chair, watching them.
Both Seishan and Sunny raised their hands, preparing for battle.
…And a minute later, Seishan was lying on the ground, panting.
It had ended in Sunny's crushing victory.
'She's simply too inexperienced right now…'
The Seishan that Sunny had known was trapped within the Forgotten Shore for ten years, constantly sharpening her skills. By the time he had Awakened she was already as powerful as some Masters, not unlike Sunny himself. He had never seen her go all out, but as he measured his power against the current hers, he didn't think the future Seishan had a chance either.
Of course, she was by no means weak. If she faced an average Awakened or even a trained legacy, they likely wouldn't have stood a chance. But unfortunately for her, she was facing Sunny. The mere fact alone made it seem like she fought like an amateur.
As Seishan slowly recovered, a man dressed as a butler walked in.
Bowing before the Queen's puppet and Seishan, he made his way over to Sunny.
"Awakened Bast greets Song Suming."
Sunny could not stop cringing inwardly at the name.
"Please hold out your hand, young miss."
'Young miss…'
Even if he had already heard these sorts of things, it didn't mean he was used to it.
Holding out his hand, the butler grabbed and transferred him a memory.
[You have received a Memory.]
Checking the runes, Sunny saw that he had received an Ascended memory of the third tier called [Heat Locket], and it was a charm that focused all of its power into boosting his heat resistance.
'Good!'
Sunny nodded at the butler, who bowed to the three people in the room before leaving again.
As Sunny finished looking at the runes, Seishan had finished standing up.
Raising her hands again, she looked at Sunny with determination.
…And within a minute, she was on the ground again.
Looking at Sunny with a grin, the Queen's puppet could only mutter to itself:
"Just where did you come from…"
***
After beating up Seishan for several hours, Sunny left.
He had not been told to leave or anything, he gave Seishan some pointers and said he was leaving. Entering the throne room, the Queen looked at him with a gaze Sunny wasn't sure he liked.
Grabbing his shoulder, she sent Sunny away.
As Seishan tiredly entered the room after Sunny left, the Queen turned to her.
"Shan… Looks like I'm doubling your training hours now."
Seishan could only shiver at her mothers gaze.
***
Reappearing within the dark room containing the Dream Gate, Sunny did not bother walking out, instead he simply shadow stepped away, dismissing his disguise in the process.
Awakened Sunless slowly stepped out of a dark alley, walking home in the brisk evening air.
…Arriving home, Sunny entered to find it empty.
Jumping onto his sofa, Sunny relaxed for a bit as he typed away on his communicator, compiling a report.
An hour later, he began to weave. Sunny created a memory that he had wanted to make for a while now, the Essence Pearl.
And a few hours later, he was done.
Sighing, he tiredly leaned back.
And just as he did, he heard the sound of his door unlocking.
Leaning his head all the way back, Sunny looked at the upside down figure of Jet entering.
"Hey."
"...Hey."
Taking off her coat and hanging it by the door, Jet slowly made her way towards the refrigerator, clearly exhausted.
Taking out the leftovers, Jet sat at the dining table, eating ferociously.
Deciding to eat as well, Sunny sat across from her with some of his own food.
"Rough day?"
"Yeah. Master Cor is going to attempt the Third Nightmare soon."
"...Oh. He'll be fine, so don't worry about that fossil."
"It's just that… If he dies, then I might have to take over as his successor! I've already told him there's no way I can do it! But he just insists that I do it!"
"It'll be fine. Cor's survived since the dawn of the Nightmare Spell, you know? What's a Third Nightmare to that guy?"
Sunny remembered Saint Cor from the past. Wake of Ruin was definitely the reliable sort and wasn't the type to die easily. Even if Sunny didn't know the future, he still would have been certain of his survival.
"I guess so…"
The pair continued their meal in comfortable silence before Jet retired to the Dream Realm for the night.
Sunny continued his cycle of weaving and refining, and two days later, he entered the Dream Realm.
Taking a deep breath, Sunny looked around the Sanctuary of Noctis.
"Awakened Sunless."
Sky Tide immediately called out to him, as if she was waiting.
"...I'm not late, am I?"
"You are not. We will be leaving within the hour, so prepare everything you need."
"Understood."
Sunny simply disappeared into his quarters to refine his essence while waiting, and when his shadow saw Sky Tide approach the fountain square, he left.
Approaching the Saint, Sunny couldn't help but ask.
"Is anyone else coming?"
"No."
Sunny felt the wind blow across his face.
'...This is gonna be awkward.'
It was going to be just him and a Saint…
Sunny did not show any emotion on his face though, maintaining his respectful gaze.
"So, when are we leaving?"
"Now."
Tyris immediately began walking to one of the titanic chains.
Following closely behind, Sunny watched for any sudden movements.
And when they reached the edge of the island, the Saint's body shimmered and transformed.
A white feathered bird of prey appeared before him, its wings wreathed in thunderbolts with steel talons holding itself up.
'Why were they named White Feather before they even knew of her transformation? Was it her Aspect name or something?'
Deciding not to ask, Sunny looked at the massive bird before him.
"Get on."
The bird didn't open its mouth, but Sunny still heard the Saint's voice. It was as if the bolts of lightning or the winds were speaking to him instead.
'This is definitely gonna be awkward…'
Climbing on the bird's massive back, Sunny hung on as she took off.
Hanging on for dear life, Sunny felt the wind pelting his face.
'This is… much faster than Shrike.'
The thought saddened Sunny a little bit, but as Shrike was built for endurance rather than pure speed, his mind didn't linger on it too much.
Flying towards the north of the Chained Isles, Sunny quietly refined his essence on Sky Tide's back.
…Some hours later, they arrived.
'Flying on a Saint's back is truly wonderful…'
Not a single nightmare creature had bothered them, and she was able to avoid the crushing easily. It was the simplest traversal of the Dream Realm Sunny had ever seen.
Landing on the Northern Island, they walked towards the ruined fortress situated on it. Descending down a narrow flight of stairs, Sunny glanced at the endless sky below. Reaching the bridge hanging from rusty chains at the bottom of the stairs, the two carefully waited at the first step of the bridge.
The mournful sound of loud bells rolled through the darkness.
Sunny looked at the magnificent structure before him, it was a tall and somber cathedral that seemed to be cut from black stone that had seven belfries descending into the abyss below it.
Staring at the velvet abyss before him, Sunny looked deeply at the glimmering starlight.
The second bell was rung, its clamoring echoing through the darkness.
"Let's go."
Nodding, Sunny followed Sky Tide as the wooden gates of the temple slowly screeched open.
Whispering, Sunny asked Tyris a question.
"Are there any rules I should be following or anything?"
"No. Just don't start fights, I suppose."
'Good!'
As there wasn't an extremely dangerous prisoner contained within currently, the Night Temple was simply a resupply station for Knights of Valor. But now, with the existence of Saints, moving things across the Dream Realm had become far less of a chore, and so the Night Temple only got the odd visitor here and there.
The only reason Sunny hadn't already infiltrated it was because he was unsure if they had set any traps, and he was still far from reaching Ascended.
'I just need a few more months…'
Entering through the ornate gates, the two Awakened guarding the gate gave Sky Tide a respectful nod while glancing at Sunny curiously.
Looking at them, they weren't nearly as threatening as the Lost who once contained Mordret here, in fact, many of them were on the younger side and were only here to help with logistics.
Sending his shadows inside though, Sunny saw many strong Awakened.
There were about fifty Awakened here, but among them Sunny saw a Master or two, but not a single Saint.
Sunny could only think of one reason Valor would station so many people in such a remote place.
The Hollow Mountains.
Without a Saint, traversing the Hollow Mountains was completely impossible, so they must have only been here to explore the base of it without entering, gathering information.
"Lady Sky Tide."
The sentinel greeted Tyris.
Nodding in return, Tyris kept her response short.
"Where is Cormac?"
"Inside, please follow me."
They hadn't even bothered to check Sunny's identity, as if he was with a Saint then obviously he could be trusted.
Entering, Sunny wasn't even searched, nor was he required to dismiss his memories, entering with the Puppeteers Shroud still on.
'How nice…'
Walking through the outer ring, Sunny looked at the floor. As the cathedral was upside down, the pointed roof served as a terrible floor, with uneven ridges littering the entire place.
'They couldn't even put a platform here or something?'
Sunny's shadow continued to carefully sneak around the cathedrals interior, making sure there weren't any traps or enchantments hidden within.
The Awakened seemed to pay no mind to his shadow sense sweeping the place, that or they just didn't notice. Either way Sunny was glad as this made it a lot easier for him.
His shadow arrived at the gateway where an ivory knife was placed, shifting his vision, Sunny saw the fate looped within.
'...It's still there?'
The fate of the One in the North's death…was still contained within the knife.
'Strange…'
Sunny was still unsure whether or not the knives being intact meant they were still alive. Noctis' knife still remained, but Sunny had not found any trace of him in the present day.
"Tyris."
Master Cormac approached them, looking tired.
Sunny's eyes scrunched up slightly when he realised this was the first time he'd ever actually seen Cormac's face.
Cormac's face was gaunt and severe, he appeared to be in his late twenties and his thin black hair covered parts of his face.
"Cormac."
Tyris addressed Cormac in a formal tone, while Cormac spoke without any decor.
"What's the situation?"
Cormac sighed, sweeping his hair off his face.
"At night, something appears. We don't know what it is, or what it looks like. We only know that several of our people have died now."
"...Does it attack the temple?"
"No, but anyone outside is vulnerable."
"How many people have disappeared so far?"
"Four. Three Awakened and One Ascended."
Sunny sucked in a deep breath.
For this time, losing an Ascended was quite severe.
Tyris turned to Sunny.
"What do you think?"
"I'd have to search for any traces first, but it's likely a Devil. If a Master was taken, then it's at least Fallen."
Tyris nodded and turned back to Cormac, who was now looking at Sunny.
"Who's the runt?"
Sunny silently clicked his tongue.
'Bastard.'
Tyris answered calmly, stepping in front of him slightly.
"This is Awakened Sunless, one of the Sanctuary of Noctis' best scouts."
Cormac nodded and turned away, no longer interested.
Motioning for Tyris to follow him, he spoke plainly:
"Come, I'm sure your journey was long so let us eat."
Tyris began following him, only to turn back as Sunny wasn't following her.
"Awakened Sunless?"
"Please go without me, I'm not hungry. I'll start searching for traces right away."
Nodding, the stern Saint continued walking.
A dark glint in his eye, Sunny turned and left the temple, nodding to the guards on his way out.
Although he had indeed gone out to scout, he had left most of his shadows within the temple. They were currently scouring every nook and cranny of it, searching it thoroughly.
After all, Sunny… didn't know what the ritual to gain the ivory knife was. He thought that perhaps there'd be one written somewhere around here.
…Several hours later, Sunny had found nothing.
The libraries and storage rooms of the cathedral had long been cleaned out, and there were no hidden rooms or passages he could find either.
Sunny sighed, he was currently climbing on the underside of the island, trying to find anything as he was carving a piece of stone with a dagger.
And luckily, he had.
Even though he had no luck with the ivory knife, he still found traces of the suspected devil.
Within a crevice of rock, he found a large hole. Sending his shadow within it, he found that it was actually quite a large network of passages, almost as if it were a giant anthill.
Sending his shadow further in, Sunny spent another hour searching the passages.
After navigating the horrifically confusing maze, Sunny noticed movement.
A winged serpent was currently traveling through the tunnels at a startling speed, black smoke shrouding its figure.
Doing his best not looking at it directly, Sunny shifted his vision.
'A Corrupted Devil…'
Not interested in facing it, Sunny immediately disappeared into the shadows.
Swiftly gliding towards the Night Temple, Sunny rushed towards the room Tyris was currently sitting in.
"Lady Tyris!"
"Sunless?"
She looked around in slight confusion, unable to see him.
"Down here."
She then looked towards the ground just to see a human shaped shadow, waving at her.
"What is it?"
"It's moving! It's a Corrupted Devil that has been burrowing in the island above! It's a winged serpent and it's very fast!"
Standing up immediately, she began summoning a memory.
"Lead the way."
The shadow immediately bolted towards the gate, Tyris sprinting after it.
"Open the gates!"
The bored sentinels were jolted awake, immediately rushing to open the gate.
Now running across the bridge, Sky Tide jumped into the sky below and unleashed her transformation.
Sunny, now standing atop the bridge in his human form, pointed towards where his shadow had found the hole earlier.
Sky Tide silently shot towards, with not a single gust of wind being kicked up by her mighty wings.
And just as Sky Tide reached the burrow, the serpent shot out of it.
Steel talons slashed at the unsuspecting serpent, dealing heavy damage to its large body. The serpent immediately twisted its massive body out of the way, and with a flap of wings it began its counter attack.
Dark flames billowed from its mouth as calamitous winds shot towards the thunderbird. But with a screech, the flames were obliterated by ferocious lighting and the winds were snuffed out immediately.
'She's a direct counter…'
Most Saints could already reasonably fight Corrupted Devils, but a Saint as powerful as Tyris alongside an aspect that mostly countered it too? It was going to be a slaughter.
His gaze lingering on their fight slightly, Sunny turned away and disappeared back within the temple.
He had fools to rob after all.
Although he hadn't found anything to do with the ivory knife, he had found something that might have been even more interesting.
Within the room containing the gateway, behind the slab of obsidian stood the statue of a beautiful woman holding a star and a bolt of lightning.
It was a statue of the Storm Goddess.
When Sunny was sweeping through the Night Temple earlier, he had noticed something with his soul vision.
Within the bolt of lightning held by the Goddess, a soft golden glow was contained within.
The glow of divinity.
Sunny was not sure what it was, but he was sure something valuable was contained within.
Earlier, while he was scouting, he had picked a suitable piece of stone and had begun carving it. With his decent craftsmanship and divine touch, he had created a mostly convincing replica of the lightning bolt out of the stone on the island's underside.
'Those brutes won't notice the difference anyways. Probably.'
Hidden in the shadows, Sunny waited silently.
Having heard the fighting outside, many of the Awakened had rushed towards the gate with their weapons ready just in case the Saint had failed.
So currently, the inner sanctum was empty.
Waiting for the last Awakened to disappear into the outer ring, Sunny emerged from the shadows.
Carefully climbing along the ceiling, Sunny approached the statue of the Storm Goddess.
With a hand steadier than any surgeon, he slowly cut around the bolt of lightning and removed it from the statue.
Backing away just in case it was rigged to explode or something, Sunny inspected the lightning bolt.
He could not quite see what was inside, but the golden glow was most certainly coming from inside of it.
Grinning madly, he approached the statute and carefully inserted the replica he had created into its hand before sealing the stone around it once more.
Tossing the bolt into the Covetous Coffer, Sunny admired his work through the shadows.
'Unless someone's stared at that lightning bolt every damn day, I doubt anyone's gonna notice.'
Dusting himself off, Sunny glanced at the ivory knife before disappearing into the shadows once more.
Emerging outside, he saw the steaming body of the winged serpent falling into the sky below.
'No… the soul shards!'
That was an entire fortune just waiting to be harvested!
And it seemed the Awakened of the Night Temple agreed too, as several harpoons shot towards the body of the serpent.
With the serpent dead, its will had dissipated, and so the harpoons were able to pierce its flesh with only a bit of resistance, preventing it from falling any further.
The Awakened cheered as they began to slowly hoist it upwards bit by bit, bringing towards the temple.
Sunny was currently standing on one of the many balconies above them, making sure the serpent was truly dead.
Sighing slightly, he was above to make his way down to join them, only to hear what sounded like the rustling of countless feathers next to him.
"Well done."
Tyris had joined him on the balcony, and was looking at him with a neutral gaze.
'Should I ask…?'
Pushing past his hesitation, Sunny cleared his throat.
"Lady Sky Tide, did you receive a memory from that Devil?"
"I did."
Sunny continued a little nervously.
"Well… by any chance does the description mention a way to remove the ivory knife from the altar here?"
Seeing as the nightmare creature was likely related to the Night Temple, Sunny thought he may as well ask. Sunny thought this way because after seeing the massive maze of passages inside the island, he figured that the serpent must have lived here for a long time.
Sky Tide tilted her head slightly as she looked at him.
"Why would you need to know that?"
"Well, I am an explorer of sorts, you see… Having seen the obsidian knife in the Sanctuary, I was curious about the ivory knife too."
"No, I mean why would you need to know a ritual to take it?"
"...What? What do you mean?"
"The knife. You can just take it."
"..."
Sunny was speechless.
He could've just taken it?
Then why was it on a suspicious looking altar?!
"That… why has no one taken it then?"
"Because no one knows what it's used for. People have taken it before, but they've returned it after they couldn't find a use for it."
Tyris then seemed to realise why he was asking.
"You want to take the knife?"
"That is correct, Saint Tyris."
The recluse Saint seemed to fall into thought for a second.
"I'll ask Cormac for it then."
Sunny was delighted to hear that.
"You would do that? Thank you so much!"
Maintaining his humble persona, Sunny bowed slightly.
With the matter settled, they both made their way to the rest of the Awakened as Tyris looked for Cormac.
On the way down, Sunny couldn't help but think back to when he had been a prisoner here.
When Master Piece had asked him why he had come to the Night Temple, Sunny had answered truthfully. He told him that he was here to research the ivory knife, and when he had said that… Pierce had called him a clueless fool
'Was that why then? The knife was of no importance to them? Or because I could've just sent a request to take a look at it? I thought he was just calling me an idiot…'
And maybe he was. To have been fooled by Mordret so thoroughly back then.
Thinking back to his previous stay in the Night Temple, Sunny shivered slightly.
Now joining the rest of the Awakened near the ornate gates, Sunny glanced at the body of the serpent.
It had been firmly attached to chains leading to the temple's roof and walls, and Awakened were carefully dropping down to retrieve its soul shards.
When they arrived, many Awakened thanked Tyris dearly as she nodded impassively at them.
Cormac approached them, only slight mirth in his gaze.
"Well done Sky Tide, is there anything you want?"
"I'd like the ivory knife."
"The knife? Why?"
"I was just curious about it."
Her bland answer stunned Cormac slightly, who sighed before agreeing.
And that was how Sunny had gotten his hands on a knife capable of killing an immortal Saint blessed by a god.