After half a month of exploring the desert, both of them decided to rest under a massive tree
[You have slain an Acended Demon, Iron Armor Legislator]
[Your Soul shines brighter!]
[You have acquired a new Echo]
Nephis wiped the blood off her face as she dismissed [Witness Venom] and saw Sunny near its face
"Saint really got a shot" Sunny grunted and pulled an arrow out of the 6-armed abomination eye
Nephis stared at Sunny before cutting a hole through its chest to fish out the Soul Shards
"Hey!" someone's voice entered both of their ears
Sunny, without saying a word, threw [Prowling Thorn] next to the voice head
"Are you crazy?!" the voice screamed
Sunny turned to look at it before pulling [Prowling Thorn] string with a sigh
"So that's how it sounds like" Sunny scratched the back of his neck
Sunny went to investigate whoever is talking, while Nephis kept cutting up the Demon-literally a Demon
Sunny approached the two skeletons, examined them, then shrugged
"Alright, I have decided to ignore you" Sunny turned around
"Hey! Don't just ignore me!" the skeleton screamed
"What?!" Sunny angrily turned around
And whatever words Sunny spoke with the two skeletons, Nephis didn't hear. And when she went over to the area where Sunny was talking with them. She heard
"Alright, you get to be our guide" Sunny turned his head to see Nephis
Sunny grinned and pointed at the skeleton that was the more quiet one. Nephis nodded
------ Half a month later
"This is as far as I can go" The skeleton-Sunny recently found out his name was Eurys, how? Dunno-stopped the boat
Sunny and Nephis-which was siting next to each other-stood up
"Alright. Thanks by the way" Sunny smiled as he looked upon the river
(Ngl, I don't have much to work on how and where did Nephis find a 2nd Nightmare Seed so uh)
[2 brave challengers has entered the 2nd Nightmare!]
Sunny saw a small town destroyed, it soon been rebuilt and the town slowly disappeared as a few Stone Saints, similar to Saint, build it in backwards so it was being torn down
And the second the vision stopped, Sunny was splashed with water
"Wake up" Sunny fumbled and accidentally hit the thing's leg
"Ow" he held his shin
Sunny looked up and froze
'He looks exactly like Saint, minus the armor' the 'Saint' stared at him before speaking
"Hello?" a seemed like a normal thing but yet, his lips didn't move
"A-ah, yeah I'm awake" Sunny scratch the back of his neck
The 'Saint' tilted his head before sighing without moving his lips
"You're a bit strange, maybe I used too cold of water" He turned to look at the bucket before tossing it to the side
He said a few words that Sunny couldn't process because he was still processing that, one, he looks like Saint, two, how could he talk
Sunny laid on the rock hard bed before standing up with a groan
'I need to find Nephis fast' Sunny walked out of the door and saw a few buildings
Sunny explored a bit before noticing that, all of them could talk without moving their lips, and that everyone looked slightly different as in shorter arms or a small buldge
Sunny rubbed his head before exiting town. And summoning Saint when no one was looking
Saint emerged out of his shadow, staring at him
Sunny crossed his arms
"So, you going to speak?"
Saint stared at him more, Sunny also noted that instead of looking at him with disdain like the other failures, she looked at him with pity
"Master, your appearance" Saint's voice was almost heavenly, alluring, desirable, and also filled with pity
But...
Sunny jerked backwards, slightly scared
"Ok, hearing you speak its a bit creepy" Sunny sighed without even moving his lips
"Anyway, how could we speak?"
Saint stayed silent for awhile before saying
"My creator made that only my brothers and sisters could speak together, somewhat telepathically. It's similar to speaking to you I assume" Saint heavenly voice spoke again
Sunny scratched the back of his neck before nodding
"Yeah, just slightly more creepy"
Saint stared at him awhile longer before assuming a fighting stance
Soon, a person appeared through an alleyway
"Huh?" he seemed a bit confused before a face of absolute terror came onto his face
"A-a perfect Stone Saint! W-what are you doing here?" He looked like he wanted to run as fast as he could until his legs would break
Sunny stared at both of them, he could see disdain written in Saint's eye
'Not good'
Before he could say anything, a couple more people appeared. Some were wearing simple tunics, some were wearing light armor
The ones wearing armor pulled their weapons and pointed their weapons at Saint and Sunny
"What are you doing here? Are you working with her?" he addressed both of them
Saint didn't move or speak, so Sunny had to speak for her
"I'm here because I am, and I am working with her, what's the problem?" Sunny held his hands up
The people wearing light armor-some of the people not wearing armor-seemed angry, even though their faces didn't change
"Problem? Problem?! She is not welcomed here!" he lunged forward towards Sunny
Saint effortlessly cut down the person that lunged at her. The rest stared at the now dead Stone Saint before most of them lunged at Saint, intending to kill her
Saint effortlessly killed one, two, three, four, and kept killing them with disdain in her eyes. The voice of the Spell resounded into his ear, but he ignored it
Sunny was stunned, not because why they randomly attacked, not because they seemed to hate Saint, it was because of the bodies
Sure, he seen bodies before and didn't feel much, in fact, he has killed a few people before. But the bodies for some reason, made his heart ache
He felt like these people were his friends, not all of them but a few, and the bodies seemed so real, so natural to him, so grotesque
Sunny felt like puking, he felt like he ordered someone to kill his friends
Sunny held his mouth and staggered, he fell onto the floor. Then suddenly someone grabbed his shoulders
"Hey, are you ok?" it was the same person who woke him up
Sunny stared at him dazedly before shaking his head and standing up with trembling legs
The Stone Saint helped him up and started walking away from the massacre
"What happened back there Thorson?" the Stone Saint said
Sunny was a bit confused
"W-what did you call me?" Sunny spoke out with a confused and scared tone
The Stone Saint looked at him with confusion in his eye before saying
"That's your name. I don't know what happened but we need to go now"
Sunny stared at him
'M-my name? I t-thought it was only an illusion' Sunny thought
Before he could say more, a sword pierced through the Stone Saint chest. Both of them looked at it with surprise before the man let out a scream
He fell down, pulling Sunny down with him. Sunny fell face first, slamming down before Saint pulled him up
The Stone Saint turned around and saw Sunny and Saint
"T-Thorson? What's happening? W-why ar-" he was cut off when Saint cut his throat
Red dust splashed onto Sunny's face as his trembling legs gave out, he fell onto of the Stone Saint on the ground
He felt more red dust on his face as he tried to push off, but fell down again, making more red dust stick to his face
Sunny soon have up on trying to push of, and instead, he fell backwards and wiped the red dust on his face
He looked at his fingers, covered in red dust. He looked through his shadows, his entire upper body was covered in red dust. He looked at Saint, she was covered, head to toe with red dust
Suddenly, he felt fear towards Saint. He slowly crawled back, trying to get as much distance away from Saint
Saint just watched him slowly crawl away, she only moved when he got a bit too far
Sunny had to forcibly calm his heart, yet it didn't work. He turned around and ran, ran as fast as he could, to escape her
Saint ran after him, but careful to not get too close
Sunny kept running, running, running until his legs gave out, breathing became difficult, thinking was too taxing and the only thought was
'I was Thorson'
Sunn-no, Thorson pushed off the ground and kept running, even though his legs were barely working
Thorson looked behind to see his village killers still chasing after him, she kept chasing him for no apparent reason
He ran and ran.....
For a whole week, he ran until his legs truly gave out. Thorson fell onto the ground pathetically before turning around to see her, looming over him
"G-get away!" he scrambled
Instinctively, he summoned a sword and threw it at the killer. She dodged it without much effort and reached down to hold his wrist
"What's wrong?" her voice was beautiful, alluring, desirable, enthralling, and yet, he didn't want to hear her
He scrambled again, before he somehow felt more rejuvenated, he looked down and saw that he had three shadows
Confused, he stared at it for a split second before turning around and running for his life
He ran for another week. Fell down, scramble, suddenly feeling rejuvenated and started running again
The exhaustion was unbearable, but he had to endure, for his friend, why? Because he was Thorson
The killer was still pursuing him, she kpet saying things such as 'Remember your name' but he was smarter than to listen to his predator
Thorson kept running, and running, then he fell down. And this time, he couldn't run anymore
He fell, his legs didn't respond to him. Not giving up, Thorson started to crawl as he could hear the footsteps slowly coming closer
"G-go away! Why are you so hellbent on killing me?!" Thorson screamed
The Devil didn't respond, instead, she grabbed him by the collar
She brought his face close to hers and said
"Get yourself together, remember your name"
Thorson strained himself on the Devil's grip before accidentally stabbing a sword he gotten somewhere into her stomach. And yet the Devil didn't flinch
He failed his arms, punching the Devil with his hands. Then suddenly she disappeared, it seemed like she dissolved into the air
He fell on his ass, terrified before letting out a shaky breath
'She's gone. The Devil is gone' he felt like smiling and crying at the same time
Eventually, he got up and started walking somewhere
After a unknown amount of time has passed, he laid down and slept. He then woke up and kept walking
He kept walking and walking for so long that he barely remembered anything before that acursed Devil hunted him
After a long time that couldn't be specified, but Thorson knew it had been a long time. Thorson forze, noticing a presence....
Death, all he could smell was death and Nothing else. Terrified, Thorson turned around and ran
But the disgusting stench of Death only kept getting worse and worse before he tripped and fell
He wanted to scream but he forgotten how. Only silence as the stench came closer and closer until he could feel it in front of him
A sniff was made right next to his ear, another on his back, another on his head. Then the thing snorted
He gather up his courage and looked up to see the thing that would kill him
He saw a raven-black steed with wings and pure white eyes staring into his own, as its body slowly turn into white mist, at this point, only its hooves and some of its back has turned into mist
Then suddenly...
["Are you an Divine Shadow?"] a voice echoed in his head
He didn't respond, he couldn't even if he wanted to. Then something changed in the air
"What do you want?" the same voice he heard a long time ago, that acursed Devil
He turned to see her pointing a sword at the beautiful steed with coldness in her eyes
The steed snorted before speaking in her mind, Thorson couldn't hear what they were talking about, and didn't care
He tried to stand up and run away, but was pushed down by the steed
He only heard dreadful silence as the two Devils talk to each other, awaiting his own death
He gave up
'I'm sorry everyone, I couldn't survive' he thought wistfully
He turned to look at the two Devils, with hatred in his eyes, he wanted to look at the two Devils before dying
Then suddenly, the Stone Saint Devil, looked at him with hopefulness in her eyes
She forcefully grabbed her shoulders and looked deep into his eyes
Then she spoke
"Remember your True Name, remember it"
Thorson didn't want to listen, but even if he doesn't, he would die so he might as well do it
'True Name? What's a True Name' he thought
All three of then stayed silent before Thorson suddenly twitched
'T-True Name... My True Name is Lost From Light' his eyes gained some recognition
The Stone Saint Devil shook his shoulders and spoke
"Do you remember now? You have a True Name, you are Sunless, you are a human" she shook him more and more
After a long time, a missing piece of a puzzle clicked into Thorson's mind
'I'm Lost From Light, I'm Sunless, I'm a human. I-I am here because there way no other choice, I wanted to find Changing Star, no, her name was Nephis' he forcefully pushed off the ground, with the surprise of the beautiful steed
"I remember now, thank you Saint, and whatever you are" Sunny pointed at the steed
Saint dusted herself off before curtly nodding
Sunny examined her before asking
"You seem more powerful, what happened?"
Saint satred at him before saying
"I have, I Ascended. I was removed from my source element for so long that I lost my original power, I think, my memory before you came was blurry at best"
Sunny nodded before yelling in surprise
"You what?! Oh god, how long have I been here?" Sunny scratched the back of his neck
Saint thought for a moment before saying
"In the measure of you time... Around, 10 months"
Sunny stared at her before stumbling and clenching his head
"10 months! Damnation! Why didn't you prevent me from becoming like that?!" Sunny stared angrily at Saint
"Did you forget that you ran from me?" Saint nonchalance baffled Sunny
"Right" Sunny sighed, somehow, before turning to the beautiful steed
"So, what's your deal?" Sunny noticed that the white mist spreading on its body increased by a little
["I need you to help me kill my former comrade... He is almost taken over by the Nothingness"] the steed shifted a little
Sunny nodded before asking
"I could probably do that, but first, you'll need to help me find my friend first"
Saint somehow awkwardly coughed when Sunny mentioned Nephis, but he decided to ignore that
["Very well, my comrade is approaching a village and I think I heard someone from that village mentioned a name, Lady Nephis"]
Sunny froze before yelling
"That means he going to attack the village! We need to go now!" Sunny tried to run but the steed bit down on his arm to pull him back
["I agree, but you will have to kill me first. The Nothingness is also trying to take over me, I have only survived this long because of how recently I have been exposed to it"]
Sunny gritted his teeth before asking
"And how am I supposed to kill you? I can already tell that you are of the Acended Rank"
The steed looked at him before shaking his head and nudgjng Saint with its snout
"Oh right" Sunny didn't waste anymore time and commanded Saint to stab the steed
"Wait, how are you supposed to guide us if you're dead?!" Sunny realised too late as the Spell voice resounded in his ear
[You have slain a Acended Devil, Hippocrene of the Shadow]
[Your Shadow grows stronger!]
[You have received a new Shadow!]
Sunny checked his new Shadow's runes and was quite happy
[Hippocrene of the Shadow
Rank: Acended
Class: Devil
Shadow Fragments:(000/300)
Shadow's attributes:[Mark of Divinity], [Immortality], [Shadow Soldier]
[Mark of Divinity] description:
This being has been noticed by the Gods
[Immortality] description:
No being is ever truly Immortal, but this being is extremely hard to kill, you could tear it to pieces, crush every single bone in its body, and it will still live, you have to obliterate the entire body to kill this being
[Shadow Soldier] description:
This steed has fought in numerous wars and is very experienced in most combat
Shadow's abilities:[Airwalker], [Stern Rider], [Illusion Master]
[Airwalker] description:
This magnificent steed is able to harden air to step on it, it can also use this ability to make shields out of air
[Stern Rider] description:
You are unable to be fall, push, forced off this steed unless it wants to. And your attacks will be more deadly when you are riding this steed
[Illusion Master] description:
This steed is a master illusionist, its illusions are unbelievably hard to break through, and when it is broken, this steed will take damage to the Soul]
Sunny felt a grin came onto his face, but then he slapped himself
'No time, need to save Nephis' Sunny sighed and made his new Shadow step out of his shadow
The beautiful steed stepped out of his shadow and looked at the certain direction
Sunny pointed at the direction it was facing and said
"There?"
The steed snorted so Sunny assumed he was right. Sunny climbed onto the steed and it immediately ran towards the direction
"WOAH!" Sunny nearly flew off, but it was like his legs were glued to the steed
Sunny leaned and rested on the steed's back
"Hippocrene, nah, that's too long, let's see. Hippo? No, ippo? Nah, I know! Crene, your name is now Crene" Sunny patted the thing, which it snorted again
The steed ran for a long time that Sunny gave up counting at 3 days. But eventually they reached their destination
'... No'
The whole town was destroyed, corpses everywhere, building destroyed, roads cracked
'Damnation!' Sunny commanded Crene to run through the village
They went through the road and soon they heard a scream. Sunny immediately turned Crene towards the sound
They saw a long stream of mist with small piece of black scales so they followed it. And soon, they saw its head
Sunny wasted no time and made Soul Serpent into a spear and made Saint come out of his shadows
Sunny also made Crene let go of him so he can check out on the scream while Saint and Crene deal with the creature of mist
Crene and Saint immediately attacked the creature, and Sunny saw that Crene has fangs and horns that he somehow didn't noticed
Sunny soon saw two people in a corner, and one of them looked at him with wide eyes
"S-Sunny?" a voice that was different, yet he could recognise it
He smiled softly and said
"Yeah, it's me Neph. You stay here, I'm going to go kill that thing" Sunny turned around and ran towards the battle
Nephis reached out but was pulled back
"Leave him! He's going to die, let's save ourselves!" the Stone Saint she was with yelled at her
Nephis felt anger at him, for even considering leaving Sunny, she thought she lost someone important again, and when she saw him for the first time in 10 months, someone tries to make her leave? No, no, she won't allow that
"Let go! I am helping him!" Nephis tried to shake off the Stone Saint
The Stone Saint held his grip tighter and started to forcefully pull Nephis away
"I said no!" Nephis used her Dormant ability to enhance her body to kick him the chest, firmly shattering it
Nephis didn't care and summoned her sword and ran towards the battle
------
Sunny gritted his teeth as he dodged a another swipe of the Terror's long tail. He could tell it was a Terror because he could see its Soul Cores through the mist
He couldn't even get close to it because of the mist, and the mist seemed like the one from the Hollow Mountains and he didn't dare try
So he was distracting it while Saint shoots its Soul Cores with arrows, while Crene just bit on the Soul Cores, so far they managed to destroy 4, how?
'... It's all luck' Sunny grunted and dodged another swipe of its tail
He kept dodging-barely-while Saint kept shooting arrows. Until he heard footsteps
He turned to see Nephis, and she was holding her sword up like a javelin, and threw it with monstrous strength. It completely annihilated the second to last Soul Core as it shrieked
Using that distraction, Saint let loose one final arrow and destroyed its last Soul Core
[You have slain an Acended Terror, Basilisk of Shadow]
[Your Shadow grows stronger!]
[You have acquired a new Shadow]
Sunny felt pain all over his body, he fell to his knees as Nephis held him in her arms
He couldn't think of anything but could hear one thing
[Your Nightmare is over]
The reality broke apart but Sunny couldn't care less because the pain was unbearable. He has formed a Soul Cores before sure, but not two at the same time
Time flew by and soon, he felt immolating heat surround him, and yet it didn't hurt, in fact it was warm and comfortable to be in
Suddenly a pair of arms gripped around him, but his head hurt due to feeling everyone through Shadow Sense in the building
"Argh" Sunny grabbed his head and lowered his Shadow Sense until it was bearable
Letting out shaky breaths, he noted that one, there's pure white fire everywhere, two, someone is holding him, three, there is a couple of people stand-WAIT PEOPLE?!
Sunny stared at them with a confused expression. There was actual people!
"Uh, hello?" He smiled awkwardly as the people expression turned from fear to absolute disbelief
"Get them clothes! And alert the academy!" one of the more burly men yelled at the others
Sunny now noticed that he was naked, he quickly summoned [Puppeteer Shroud]
He looked at the seemly living fire. He reached his hand to where its face should be and caressed its cheek
When he did, the fire died down and he could clearly see Nephis. She was holding his hand on her cheek while whimpering
"I thought I lost you" she smiled
Sunny smiled before saying
"You're naked by the way" Sunny's smile turned into a small grin
Nephis ears turned a bit red before summoning a white tunic and longs pants
Nephis stood up, pulling Sunny up with her before looking at the stairs. Sunny sighed and bowed slightly
"Shall we go M'lady?" Sunny grinned
Nephis chuckled and pulled Sunny by the arm