As Leon flew through the night sky, he had plenty of time to think about what he'd just done.
"That was close."
"That was actually insane." Noah said.
Leon slowly turned toward Noah and smiled.
"I think you're slowly getting influenced by me."
He knew that if he had stayed even a second longer, he would have been surrounded by Gunlaug's guards and his lieutenants. And even with Lyka and Birdie, that was not a fight he wanted to have.
Wondering how Gunlaug could have possibly slain a Corrupted creature, he thought whether he could pierce that golden echo.
He kept flying under the guise of the night sky.
Looking back, the shadow of the Crimson Spire rose from the dark city's silhouette — a dark needle against a darker sky. An uncontrollable urge pulsed within him as he stared at it.
'Should I?'
But right before he could, he heard a loud screeching noise.
Looking ahead again, he noticed a Nightmare Creature — a bird whose head was similar to that of a raven, and its body was pale white, without feathers. Four feet, maybe six, dangled beneath it, each one wrapped around the limp body of a human.
Leon looked closer.
'Fallen Monster...'
A slow smile spread across his face. He mentally commanded Birdie to fly upward.
Birdie's wings folded slightly, then surged, carrying them higher without a single sound.
"I promise, the Fallen Monster ahead of me will die."
Leon grinned, as he felt strength surge through him. His body also heated up uncontrollably.
***
Sunny had not expected today's hunt to be any different from the last.
Nephis and Caster would take on the creatures as the main force, while the rest simply provided support. The only difference this time, was that Effie was missing — apart from that, everything else was simply the same.
They had left at noon, heading east to the massive ruin of a collapsed lighthouse, situated at the edge of the city. Nearly twenty of them had gathered, with Sunny helping one of the pathfinders to scout ahead.
However, halfway through their destination, Sunny froze. He sensed something approaching as he shouted.
"Scatter!"
Sunny grabbed Cassie and lunged to the side, dragging her along.
The warning was too late for the pathfinder — a blur of pale limbs, and the woman was simply gone, torn apart before he'd finished falling.
Sunny cursed under his breath.
His shadow was nowhere near him, and he had to fight without its aid. Summoning the Midnight Shard, he put himself between Cassie and the thing that had landed in the middle of their group.
The Spire Messenger.
It was enormous. Its featherless body looked like marble in the dark.
It was simply hopeless to battle a Fallen Monster as Sleepers. Yet they had no choice.
Everyone divided themselves into smaller groups, and tried to hold off the Spire Messenger. They threw everything they had.
But none of it mattered.
The Fallen Monster casually ripped apart a couple of them, unfazed by the flurry of attacks aimed at it.
Nephis stepped forward.
White flames gathered around her blade as she closed the distance. The Messenger turned toward her, as the two clashed.
Sunny came in from the side, shadow finally returned, wrapped around his limbs.
Together, they pushed it back, kept it from simply walking through the remaining Sleepers.
Every exchange cost them. Every time they drove it back, it recovered faster than they did.
Sunny was holding up better than Nephis did. His attacks were directly met with the Messenger's talons — unlike the rest of the Sleepers, whose attacks were completely ignored.
Then Caster appeared out of nowhere from above, and drove his jian straight into the Messenger's eye.
The monster shrieked.
It flung Caster away like a ragdoll and staggered backward, the ruined eye weeping dark fluid.
Sunny and Nephis backed off. The Messenger steadied itself, grabbed a fistful of the bodies around it, and shot upward into the night sky.
It climbed higher and higher, screaming, staring down at them with its remaining eye.
Sunny watched it go, breathing hard. But then he noticed something moving in the dark sky above.
The Fallen Monster didn't see it. It actually couldn't, because of its damaged eye — and whatever approached came from the one angle where its ruin left a blind spot.
Due to him being able to see in the dark, Sunny saw the object moving closer and closer to the Spire Messenger, and fast!
The Spire Messenger's wing was then brutally torn off at the joint.
The sound came a half-second later — a wet, violent screech that echoed off the surrounding ruins.
The monster lost all sense of direction at once, shrieking, as blood rained downward. It dropped out of the sky like a stone.
Sunny stared in disbelief.
***
Birdie sped up rapidly through the night sky. Its wings swept back, and Birdie itself was dropping toward the Messenger.
At the last moment, Leon jumped off Birdie.
He closed his eye, and thought back to Effie.
The way she moved — the readiness in her shoulders, the tension across her back before a strike, the sheer density and strength contained in those thick muscles.
He copied her aspect.
His grip on the scythe felt more certain. Something in the architecture of his muscles shifted, and became stronger — more dense.
And then, of course, the hunger.
Gripping the broken halo in the form of a scythe, Leon donned the cloak and flew toward the Spire Messenger.
He twisted himself and drove the scythe across the Messenger's wing in a single arc. The augmentation carried it through, and the scythe made a grotesque, violent cut across the Fallen Monster's wing.
With the physical augmentation, Leon was fine, but he was still falling down.
Arching his body, he tried to reduce the resistance on him as he approached the monster beside him.
He grabbed onto the creature's back as they plummeted together. The Messenger registered his presence and swung a talon at him — and that was exactly when the augmentation ran out.
He still felt the hunger claw at him, and his body returned to his own — smaller, weaker version.
He barely twisted away from the talon. Leon hurled the scythe right onto the monster's neck. But the scythe barely scratched its body.
He widened his eye as the Messenger suddenly lunged its beak and tore into his shoulder. He screamed more out of reflex than choice, the sound swallowed immediately by the Messenger's own shriek as they hit the ground.
Leon grimaced in pain as he felt the Spire Messenger dig into his shoulder, nearly lopping his arm off.
His body also began exuding steam. He could feel himself heating up further.
'Have to... end this...'
At the very last second, the two crashed into the ground. The impact threw him away, as he rolled to a stop — face down in the rubble.
He summoned the crown immediately. The Lord of the Dead had charged his crown quite a lot, so he healed his shoulder back to normal.
He stood up to approach the monster again.
The Messenger balanced itself shakily. It stared at him with the one eye and shrieked again — this time it felt less like a battle cry and more like a tantrum.
Leon rolled his newly healed shoulder, testing its fluidity. He resummoned the halo in his hand — this time in the form of a katana.
He had been wandering the Crimson Labyrinth for a month. The entirety of that time had been a long, slow reminder of how weak he was.
The katana clashed against the monster. Leon could feel every single bone in his body break as he clashed with its beak.
Grimacing in pain, he continued to clash with it.
He did not care about the pain anymore — he just wanted to kill the monster.
After nearly a month, he had almost reunited with his friends. So Leon wanted to prove to himself, that he was not the same weak guy who nearly let his friends die to a tree.
'I'll take your head as a trophy.'
Grinning madly, he dashed toward the Fallen Monster.
The Messenger swung at him, but Leon ducked beneath it and tried to pierce the monster's body with his katana.
It swung again and caught him across the shoulder.
His arm was violently torn off. But he kept moving anyway, changing the halo mid-stride, driving the resulting dagger straight into the Messenger's remaining eye.
A sea of pain rushed through him as his arm fell to the ground, like a piece of meat in a butcher's shop.
Screaming in agony, the messenger shot its last wing around.
Leon healed his arm, completely exhausting all the charge on his crown as he fell back.
The Messenger staggered, both eyes gone, shrieking without direction.
Sunny and Nephis attacked the Messenger from behind.
'Huh?'
That was when he noticed the group of Sleepers around him. Or rather — the corpses of Sleepers who had fallen to the monster.
Sunny and Nephis released a barrage of attacks onto the Messenger as they tried to bring it down.
Leon was ecstatic to find his friends again, although, not in a very ideal situation. But, he knew it was not time for reunions.
Exhaling slowly, Leon formed a bow in his hands. He knocked his new arrow onto it.
[Blood Arrow]
Memory Rank: Ascended
Memory Type: Weapon
Memory Description: [A debt of blood must be paid in blood.]
Enchantments:
[Rain of Blood]
Enchantment Description: [The arrows are created from the wielder's blood, and as such, can rain on the enemies for as long as the archer has any left in their veins.]
[Restitution]
Enchantment Description: [If the arrow finds its mark, it will drink the blood of the prey and restore that which had been taken from the archer. If it misses, the archer's blood will be lost forever.]
Considering his proximity to the monster and its huge size, missing wasn't a realistic outcome.
The arrow pierced into the Messenger's featherless body, and stayed there, as the restitution mechanism began its work — blood leaving the monster, returning to him.
He fired again, and again. He could feel blood leaving him again, the cycle pulling the creature's reserves down with every second it kept moving.
The Messenger's movements grew sluggish, then frantic, then desperate.
Leon nocked one final arrow and started walking forward, with the bow's string fully pulled back.
'And now...'
Except he could not fire it.
Caster came out of nowhere, dropped from above, and drove his jian between the Messenger's eyes.
The messenger's body grew limp, and then collapsed onto the ground.
Leon stood there, holding a bow he no longer needed.
He looked at the dead Spire Messenger, and then at Caster — and the shit-eating grin the guy had.
Leon's eye twitched.
'That... bastard...'
His body which was already fuming with heat, immediately stopped heating up further.
The oath had been fulfilled.
***
Sunny was breathing heavily. His entire body felt stretched thin, muscles screaming with every inhale.
But he was glad to see Leon again.
The bastard had just dropped out of the sky, dragging the Spire Messenger down with him.
As he watched the blood pool beneath the messenger's corpse, he thought back to what he'd just witnessed — Leon ripping its wing apart mid-air, fighting it head to head like that was a reasonable thing to do.
'Just how strong has he gotten?'
He looked over at Leon, who was staring at Caster with a look that was slightly — or maybe not so slightly — murderous.
'Oh no...'
***
Leon stared at Caster.
After he had brought it down. After Sunny and Nephis had worn it down, after he had rained arrows into its body — Caster steals his kill?
"Leon... you just got major assist."
Noah said with a smug grin on his face.
Leon glanced at Noah, his face contorting in anger.
He gritted his teeth as Caster approached Nephis. His expression was smooth and softened, almost like he worried for her deeply.
"Lady Nephis, are you alright?"
'Lady NEPHIS?'
Leon walked over to Caster.
Caster turned at the sound of his footsteps and blinked, recognition crossing his face.
"You... You're from the academ—"
Leon grabbed Caster's collar.
"So you decide to steal my kill and then ignore me?"
Caster narrowed his eyes.
"What are you doing, fool? This is not the time to play aroun—"
Right before he finished his sentence, Leon manifested a dagger in his hand and held it to Caster's neck.
Caster froze.
"Playing around." Leon's voice was quiet. "You think I was playing around with a Fallen Monster."
It wasn't a question.
Even though Leon was initially furious that his fight had turned into a group hunt, he'd swallowed it — his friends' safety came before his ego. He'd accepted that much.
But this bastard had just swooped in and stolen the moment entirely.
Caster gritted his teeth, growing increasingly aware of the coldness of the blade near his neck.
Nephis grabbed Leon's wrist.
"Enough."
His hand didn't move. He shifted his gaze to her slowly.
Nephis looked exhausted. There was a faint tremor in her grip that she was trying to hide.
He let the dagger vanish into air, and gave one last glance toward Caster.
'I am killing him. I am definitely murdering this guy.'
Leon took a deep breath, relaxing his shoulders.
He then smiled, and pulled Nephis into a hug.
She froze completely, seemingly unsure of what to do.
He then released her, and turned toward Sunny. Still smiling, he crossed the distance and hugged him next.
Sunny had been expecting a handshake, but thought that this wasn't too bad either.
Leon stepped back and looked at the four of them. Sunny, Nephis, Caster, Cassie. The only Sleepers still standing.
He exhaled slowly.
Completely ignoring the mutilated corpses of Sleepers around them, Leon smiled even more brightly.
"Good to see you guys again."
He said in a calm tone.
"Leon?"
He heard a weak voice call out. He turned around and saw the face he wanted to see next.
Cassie was clutching a bone dagger, trembling, her head turned in his direction like she wasn't sure she'd heard right.
"Cassie—"
Before he could finish the sentence, Cassie jumped into his arms, and began crying.
Right as the moment got emotional, Caster spoke up again.
"Lady Nephis, this man feels dangerous to me."
Leon turned toward Caster. Nephis opened her mouth to speak, but was silenced by Leon's gesture telling her to remain quiet. He gently pulled himself away from Cassie, and walked toward Caster again.
Leon maintained his earlier smile, but this one looked more murderous. He spoke in a soft tone.
"What are you going to do about it?"
Caster grimaced.
"You — where were you, this entire time? You let so many of our comrades die just for your kill?"
Leon remained indifferent to Caster's provocations.
"Our... comrades?"
Caster's face contorted into something that looked like anger. But Leon could easily tell he was faking it.
"Do other people's lives not matter to you?"
Sighing softly, Leon shook his head.
"You say it like I'm the one who killed them."
Leon's gaze grew dark.
"But what do I owe these people?"
Noah put his hand over Leon.
"Don't listen to him Leon. You were too far away anyway. It was impossible to save them. He's just trying to provoke you."
"Owe these people? Are you saying you would stand indifferent to innocent people dying? Someone like that deserves to die."
Caster's face almost shifted into a grin, but remained angry.
A wide grin stretched across Leon's face.
"Deserves to die?"
Leon summoned Birdie at a distance.
Birdie flapped its raven wings, and landed right behind Leon with a loud thud.
Sunny and Nephis grabbed their weapons and raised it up. Cassie seemed to be clueless because of how silent and undetectable Birdie was.
Caster looked at Birdie behind Leon and paled in fear. His mouth shivered as he instinctively stepped back.
Leon reached up and stroked the beak without looking away from Caster.
"This is Birdie by the way. My... Echo."
Caster's entire body shuddered.
"Y'know, Caster." Leon's voice stayed pleasant. "Birdie's been starving lately."
He narrowed his eyes onto Caster.
"He told me that he likes it when his prey run fast on their feet."
Sunny and Nephis slowly lowered their weapons. They did not, however, stop watching Birdie.
Caster slowly raised his jain.
Leon's grin widened.
"So tell me."
He took a step forward.
"Can you do it, Caster?"
Leon slowly gripped Caster's blade. His palm bled, but Leon didn't take his hand away. Blood slowly flowed down the jian.
"Can you avenge your — comrades?"
He leaned in closer to Caster.
"Can you become the hero, Caster?"
Caster gritted his teeth, but his body still shuddered at the sight of Leon's majestic bird.
"He is an ally, Caster."
Nephis intervened.
He turned toward Nephis, who looked at him with a serious expression. To her reluctance, Caster tried to put down his sword, but Leon gripped it tighter.
He held the sword up, while smiling.
"Good. Dogs must know when to bark."
Caster's face contorted — and then Birdie ruffled its wings, and whatever he'd been about to say died quietly.
Leon let his jian go, and turned back toward his friends. Flames enveloped his palm, without him commanding the crown.
***
A few minutes later, they were walking back toward the outer settlement.
Even though many people had died, the mood did not seem too grim. It was as if they were all used to similar situations by now.
"So what now?"
Sunny probed.
Nephis sighed.
"Let's return for now."
"Leon?" Cassie's voice was curious. "Was that massive explosion yours?"
Leon, who had arranged himself across the back of Sunny's Carapace Scavenger Echo like a man with no bones, replied without opening his eye.
"Had to nuke a Fallen Tyrant."
"Fallen..." Sunny's voice came out slightly strangled. "Tyrant?"
Nephis's eyes sharpened at the word 'Nuke'.
Cassie's mouth opened and stayed that way.
The Scavenger though, almost enjoyed having Leon on top of it again. Like an old friend greeting someone after a long time.
Caster, for the first time since Leon had put a blade to his neck, looked at him with genuine unease.
"Oh, and — is this Harus guy important?"
Leon asked, still comfortable on top of the Scavenger.
Of course Harus was important. The hunchback was a lieutenant. But what Leon actually meant was whether Harus mattered to the cohort specifically, and how he compared to the other lieutenants in real terms.
Sunny nodded, but Caster interrupted.
"Fool. He is the executioner to Gunlaug, possibly the strongest Sleeper in the entirety of Forgotten Shore."
Leon raised an eyebrow.
"Is he really the strongest?"
Caster let out a short, humorless laugh.
"Don't even think about going near him. He would chop you in pieces."
Leon slowly turned his head away from the group.
"Oh."
He stared at the sky above.
"...Ohh."
How was that hunchback — who blinded his opponents and then stabbed them while they were confused — the strongest Sleeper on the Shore?
'I'd say Cassie has a better chance of beating him.'
She was blind, after all.
Sunny noticed Leon's odd behavior and probed.
"Is something wrong?"
Leon cleared his throat.
"I uh... I have no clue."
He'd healed the sword wound, certainly. He was less certain about the crown's effect on Lyka's venom.
Nephis frowned.
"Leon... are you lying?"
Leon turned his head very slowly in her direction and offered his most reassuring smile.
"I'm sure it's alright. Let's just head back for now. I'm really, really hungry."
'The poison shouldn't kill him... probably.'
Leon was sure that someone like Harus — a lieutenant, must have at least a few healers under him.
But would it even matter if Harus died or not? Of course it did.
If Gunlaug lost his strongest lieutenant, and found out that Leon was with Nephis, the golden boy would most certainly retaliate.
Sunny and Nephis both had approximately a hundred questions.
How did he survive for so long?
Was he okay?
But didn't ask a single one because of Caster's presence.
No one really trusted Caster entirely, so they did not want to divulge too much information.
The sun crept above the horizon as they walked, painting the ashen ground in pale orange.
***
As everyone walked back into the outer settlement, they were greeted by a large group of Sleepers.
Leon was at the back, not hidden by his cloak, but people still ignored his presence, as they flocked around Changing Star — like a group of pigeons in a park, flocking around bread crumbs.
Nephis excused herself and moved toward the main building.
Sunny seemed to stare at a certain man. Leon followed his gaze and observed the person.
It was a young man with a thin face, and a pale, unhealthy complexion. He looked hungry and weak, unlike anyone else in the outer settlement. His clothes however, were clean and tidy, without any signs of wear and tear.
Leon would later find out that this person was called as Harper.
'Interesting...'
Right as Nephis entered, many of her reporters swarmed her.
"Lady Nephis, we have urgent news for you."
She sighed quietly. "Can it not wait?"
The young man shook his head.
"This may very well change everything, my lady."
She stopped. "What is it?"
"Someone new has entered the castle. Someone powerful."
Nephis's expression didn't shift.
"Who?"
Before the young man could continue, someone else pushed forward — a red-haired boy who clearly couldn't contain himself.
"H — he defeated Harus, Lady Nephis."
Narrowing her eyes, Nephis looked at the person who just spoke. The red-haired boy flinched at her gaze.
The young man shot the red-haired boy a look, then smoothly continued.
"He entered the castle and walked directly up to Gunlaug. Challenged him for the throne."
Leon's mouth gaped open.
'What? When did I challenge anyone for the throne?'
"He then threatened Gunlaug. Said that even Saint Nephis would be no match for him."
'Such... Such bullshit! Although the Nephis part is true...'
"He then beat up Harus, and healed him as mercy!"
The men and women around Nephis spoke with a tone mixed with fear and admiration.
"They're calling him the Mad Scythe, my Lady. Word is he might come for you next."
Leon blinked.
'Mad Scythe... Which moron came up with this nickname?'
Noah was behind him, one hand against the wall, clutching his stomach as he laughed.
"Mad..." He wheezed. "Mad Scythe —"
He couldn't finish, while he was hitting the wall.
Sunny widened his eyes. He had always recognized Harus as someone he must kill, someone who mirrored his future... Yet, some random person had just defeated him?
And this person was... new?
'Wait...'
Sunny's thoughts slowed down as he slowly glanced at Leon, who was studying the building's exit with great professional interest.
'Mad... Scythe...'
Sunny pressed a hand to his face.
Although Leon wanted to boast about how he simply entered the castle and beat the 'Supposed Strongest Sleeper on the entirety of the Forgotten Shore', he knew Gunlaug and Nephis were in a cold war.
His reckless entry into the castle had already made things complicated enough. If people connected him to Nephis now, it would unravel faster than he could manage.
Leon knew that his recklessness had put his friends in danger once. He couldn't do it again.
He just needed to stay quiet, and stay invisible. Blend in like a perfectly ordinary one-eyed silver-haired person who had definitely not just beaten the so-called strongest Sleeper on the Shore.
Nephis remained silent for a while, before speaking.
"Did you find out who he is? Or where he is?"
"We don't know, my lady. He seems to be a young man with pale white hair and... and—"
He stopped explaining as he stared directly at Leon.
Next, the entire room followed his gaze.
Leon turned behind him, realized they were definitely staring at him, and turned back with a sheepish smile.
"Name's Leonar," he said pleasantly. "Nice to meet you."
Nephis stared at him with her mouth open.
Sunny let out a breath that was almost a laugh, turned away, and began walking toward the office.
Caster stood completely motionless, apparently having run out of reactions.
Nephis dismissed the reporters with a look, and gathered Leon, Cassie, and — regrettably — Caster into her office.
Caster summoned the bone Memory that provided the cohort and him with a sphere of isolated silence.
They then turned to look at Leon.
Leon lifted his hands in the air.
"That was completely unintentional. Trust me."
Sunny showed him an annoyed look.
"How does one beat Gunlaug's strongest lieutenant, accidentally?"
Leon shrugged.
"I went to see Gunlaug, and then that hunchback just attacked me, so I poked him with my sword. Didn't seem very complicated at the time."
Everyone stared at Leon, speechless.
"You... You entered a castle. Then threatened its ruler... and continued to... poke his lieutenant..."
Sunny said, almost amused by his own phrasing.
Leon smiled.
"See? Sunny gets it."
The room stared at him in collective silence.
Leon looked around at their faces and frowned.
"I am exhausted, and I haven't eaten in what feels like several years. Can we do this later?"
Everyone looked at Leon like he had just asked them to sacrifice their lives.
'What? What did I do now?'
Caster let out a shaky breath.
"You may have just shifted the power dynamics between Gunlaug and Lady Nephis and... You want to eat, right now?"
"You," Sunny said, fully expecting Leon's aloof attitude.
"You're just as unserious as always, huh..."
Noah laughed again.
"I wish I could record this. Weren't you saying you were so cool, Mr Mad Scythe?"
Leon opened his mouth to argue, decided he was too hungry for it, and closed it again.