One would control the vessel, while the other retreated inside to cool off and drink water. Luckily, with the hot air blowing from below, they didn't need all of the sails to achieve their goal, which made things easier.
It had taken Sunny almost a month to reach the divine flames before, but the flying ship made the journey faster. Using several Aspect Abilities and ingenious tools, they were also able to navigate the abyss with a sufficient level of precision, quickly reaching the Tear and continuing to descend in a wide spiral.
The memory of the golden string of fate was still burned into his mind, so, by knowing where the Twisted Rock had been located in relation to their position, Sunny was able to guide the ship toward the rift in the ocean of divine flames.
By the evening, it was already visible, looking like a tiny black hole in the incinerating tapestry of furious light.
However, the rift wasn't really that small. It just appeared so because of the distance. Sunny had almost missed it the first time, flying threw the very edge of the rift and being burned by the divine flames. This time around, they were going to keep to the very middle of it, separated from the immolating orbs of white fire by many kilometers of empty space.
Hopefully, that would be enough to keep them from dying of heat.
The sails were hoisted, and the ship continued to plummet toward the flames, supported only by the sorcerous power of the sacred tree and the ancient enchantments permeating the hull. Sunny was left alone at the helm, the rest of the crew seeking shelter in the main cargo hold, where the air was coolest.
He had summoned the Undying Chain and the Memory of Fire, augmenting the protective charm with all three of his shadows. As the flying vessel came closer and closer to the rift, the leaves of the young tree rustles above him, and ghostly runes suddenly appeared on the surface of the ancient ship.
Slowly, the heat retreated a little. Standing on the upper deck was still hard and uncomfortable, but at least tolerable — especially with the help of his charm.
Sunny carefully guided the vessel into the rift, keeping to the very center of it, as far away from the walls of divine fire as he could. It was as though he was guiding the ship through a vertical tunnel that twisted slowly, moving left and right, forward and back.
Luckily, descending didn't require a lot of skill from the helmsman. Sunny was barely acquainted with how to steer a boat, let alone a flying one the size of a frigate, so he wouldn't have been able to do much if things went wrong.
But they did not.
Some time later, the ancient vessel left the rift and submerged into the darkness once again, the skies above burning like a sea of flame. He sent the ship flying toward the island that loomed in the void, not to far away, and let out a relieved sigh.
They had made it.
***
They moored the ship to one of the horizontal stone masts protruding from the island, and disembarked. Walking across the obsidian pillar, everyone reached the solid ground and stopped, staring at the somber landscape in front of them in stunned silence.
The Ebony island was just as the last time Sunny had visited it. It was cut out of dark stone and floated in the endless emptiness, surrounded by drifting slabs of shattered obsidian. A tall and magnificent pagoda stood in its center, built of a flawlessly black, lusterless material that seemed to devour any light that touched it.
Here and there on the desolate surface of the island, remains of mysterious structures stood, long turned to ruins. Several obsidian pillars protruded horizontally from its edges, stretching into the empty void like strange wharves. The flying ship floated near one of them, fastened to it by strong chains.
Effie stared at the Ebony Tower, then turned to Sunny, her face uncharacteristically pale.
"...I can't believe you made it all the way here alone. How did you even survive?"
Sunny hesitated, then shrugged.
"Barely. And with a bit of luck."
With that, he sighed and headed toward the dark tower.
Near its doors, it was time for the four of them to say goodbye to the Fire Keepers. Cassie's cohort, and the rest, were not going to follow them into the Nightmare — some would maybe challenge their own in the future, when they felt ready, but one year was really not enough to prepare most of Awakened for this harrowing trial.
Instead, the Fire Keepers were going to remain on the obsidian Island. Some were going to establish a temporary base there, while others would guide the flying ship back to the Sanctuary of Noctis, and then return with more supplies and enough materials to continue working on the vessel itself.
In that manner, they would travel between the Sky Below and the Chained Isles, awaiting the return of the challengers for as long as needed.
The farewell was a bit emotional, at least on the part of the members of Cassie's cohort. She entrusted the command of it to Shim, the healer, and turned away, the silver half-mask obscuring her expression.
No one knew if they were going to see each other again. For the survivors of the Forgotten Shore, parting with those who they cared about was nothing new.
However, it never became easy.
Sunny opened the gates of the Ebony Tower and guided the others into its dark halls, ascending one level after another. Effie and Kai were looking around, curiosity mixing with fear on their faces. Cassie paled terribly on the second level, where the harrowing rot had once grown from the severed arm of a deity, but did not say anything.
The hall of runes affected her even worse. Kai and Effie were guided through it by Sunny, their eyes tightly shut, but the blind girl could not do the same. Her keen intuition and enhanced senses, sometimes, were akin to a curse.
However, for that very same reason, her mental resilience was also unmatched. She gritted her teeth, and persevered.
Finally, they reached the last level, and drowned the stone arch of the portal with divine flame, taking turns feeding their soul essence to the Cruel Sight. With their combined efforts, activating it did not take as long as when Sunny had tried to do it alone.
Soon, they were standing inside a graceful white gazebo, the portal disappearing behind them.
In front of them, though, was the tranquil haven of the Ivory Island.
Slates of shattered marble floated around it. There was a beautiful meadow near the gazebo, and a peaceful grove of trees, their branches rustling under the gentle wind. Some distance away, connected to the gazebo by a stone path, stood the magnificent pagoda built out of pristine white material that was neither stone nor wood. It was beautiful, graceful, and slightly surreal, as if too sublime to exist in the mortal realm.
And around it, the bones of a dead dragon lay, reflecting the radiant light of the sun.
They walked past the clear lake and through the jaws of the great beast, finally entering the solemn darkness of the ancient hall of chains.
Where Hope had once been bound.
Once inside, the four of them froze, suddenly overwhelmed by fatigue. Seven chains lay on the pristine white floor in front of them, each ending in a broken shackle. The shackles were marred and torn, their mangled surface inscribed with a myriad of runes.
A strange shimmering rose from their surface in ethereal wisps, coalescing into a chaotic, everchanging mass of pure darkness that pulsated in the very center of the great hall.
But it wasn't darkness, not really. Instead, it was a rift in the fabric of reality, one that could devour even light itself.
Hypnotized by the visage of the Seed, Sunny felt it, deep in his soul.
The magnetic, insidious call of the Nightmare.
This time, finally, he was going to answer it.
Sunny sighed, and then looked at his companions.
They had already said everything that needed to be said, discussed everything that could be discussed.
There was no reason to linger.
"...Are you ready?"
Effie, Kai, and Cassie remained silent for a while, staring at the pulsating darkness. Their faces were pale and vulnerable, devoid of the usual masks of confidence.
Finally, the blind girl whispered:
"What are we waiting for? It is… it is just the Second Nightmare."
Sunny smiled, then suddenly laughed.
"Indeed…"
With that, he gripped her shoulder for a moment, and then stepped forward, heading toward the pulsating rift in reality. With each step, the world seemed to dim a little, turning darker and darker.
Effie, Kai, and Cassie followed.
…A few moments later, they were gone.
The hall of chains was gone, too.
Sunny found himself standing alone in complete darkness, surrounded by utter nothingness.
In this nothingness, he heard the voice of the Spell:
[Awakened! Prepare for your Second Trial…]
He smiled darkly.
'Just like the First one… well, let's see where I land this time. I doubt that it can be any worse than before…'
The voice of the Spell thundered again, making him shiver.
[Five brave ones… welcome to the Nightmare!]
The darkness moved, turning into something else, something different.
…Sunny, however, was not paying attention.
'Wait… five? Did it say five? Who's the fifth one?! What…'
He didn't get to finish that thought, though.
His vision cleared, revealing…
[End of volume three: Chained Isles.]
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Chapter 601: Kingdom of Hope
Sunny dreamt of boundless blue skies.
Beneath them, a patchwork of islands floated in the air, laid on the backdrop of velvety darkness like a beautiful mosaic. Some islands were verdant and green, some were desolate and empty, and some were covered by ancient ruins, the weathered stones overgrown by moss.
All of them were bound by colossal iron chains that rattled loudly as the islands rose and fell, hovering above the abyss, a scattering of pale stars shining somewhere far, far below them. In the center of the mosaic, an ugly wound gaped, a vast tear in space where nothing but emptiness remained.
A lone island soared above that tear, seven torn chains hanging from its slopes, a beautiful white pagoda standing on its surface in a mantle of clouds.
Suddenly, the sun rolled backward, soon disappearing behind the eastern horizon. The skies darkened, and then were illuminated again as a radiant moon streaked across them, swift enough to turn into a blurry trail of light. A moment later, it was day again, and then, it was night once more.
The skies grew torn between light and darkness, time flowing in reverse with terrible speed. Sunny watched as the islands beneath him slowly changed their shapes, as ruins rose from the ground and assembled into unwavering structures, as the stars burning in the abyss grew brighter and brighter, new ones igniting each moment, until the whole void was suffused with a furious white light.
One after another, fallen islands rose from that annihilating light, the chains that had tethered them to the rest of the mosaic repairing themselves. Soon, the tear in its center was no more, and instead, a vast ashen wasteland of scorched isles appeared in its place. The Ivory Tower descended from high above, taking its place at the very heart of the wasteland.
An instant later, the ashes were no more, revealing a breathtaking aerial city that sprawled across dozens of islands, all of them connected to each other by arching bridges and overflowing aqueducts built out of pristine white stone, with vibrant flags fluttering in the wind and sparkling waterfalls flowing into the abyss below.
Slowly, Sunny's gaze was pulled west, toward the very edge of the Chained Isles. There, one of the Great Chains anchored them to the lands beyond, and a mighty fortress stood at the precipice, similar to the other border strongholds he had seen before. The island next to it resembled a vast stone bowl, with rows of seats cut into its weathered white slopes and a circular arena laying at its bottom, painted dull red.
And even further than that was an island with a strange river that flowed endlessly through it, forming a circle around an ancient statue of a beautiful woman wielding a spear in one hand, and gripping a beating human heart in the other, her nakedness covered only by a beast hide tied around her thighs, her face lost in the shadows.
That was the island where Sunny found himself.
...And of course, he was thrown straight into the damn river.
'G—goddammit! Why does this keep happening to me?!'
Sunny was so angry that he didn't even feel any panic, unlike the previous two times the Spell had decided to give him a cold and wet welcome — first on the Forgotten Shore, then at the Sanctuary of Noctis.
This time, at least, he had an idea of where he was, and in which direction to swim if he wanted to reach the surface.
Sunny strained his muscles to struggle against the strong current…
And finally realized that something was terribly, terribly wrong.
His body refused to listen… or rather, it did, but in a way that made no sense at all. His limbs didn't move as he willed them to, and instead of swimming, he simply thrashed around, submerging deeper and deeper into the cold, dark water. His senses were all messed up, too, so he couldn't even understand what had gone wrong.
'W—what the hell?!'
Now, Sunny finally was starting to panic a little.
This went way beyond what he had experienced in the First Nightmare. Back then, the body given to him by the Spell had felt almost the same as his own… this time, however, it was way too unfamiliar!
Was this what Master Jet had warned him about?
Sunny tried to keep calm and swim ashore, but moving through water, especially with such a strong current, was not an easy task. It required a lot of coordination and a fair bit of balance, which he simply lacked right now. No matter what he tried to do, his efforts only made things worse.
He fell deeper ad deeper into the river, drowning slowly.
His lungs were already starting to burn from the lack of oxygen… they also felt as weird as the rest of him. His vision was already darkening…
Sunny gritted his teeth, which suddenly sent a wave of pain through his mouth and jaw, and then stopped struggling, letting the current pull him down. Then, he concentrated on his shadow sense… and, as soon as his body struck the rocky bottom of the river, stepped through the shadows to appear near the stone statue.
Sunny fell into the grass. Coughing violently, he tried to suck in a breath of fresh air, only to find out that even that was a struggle. His lungs were refusing to work as they were supposed to, and even though he managed to inhale, it was still not enough to chase the sensation of suffocating away.
'What… is going on… damn it!'
Sunny sprawled on the ground and closed his eyes, cutting off all of his senses to concentrate on trying to take control of the mess of his new body.
'Don't think. Thinking will only make things worse. This thing has to have instincts… you now have them, too…'
He cleared his mind of any thoughts about breathing and oxygen, and soon, his instincts did, indeed, take over. It was like the story of a centipede that was asked how it walked, and fell down, unable to move. As soon as Sunny stopped thinking about inhaling, his body did so on its own.
Suddenly, his lungs were full of sweet air, and he was strong and vigorous once more.
'Oh, thank gods…'
Sunny did not move for a few moments, breathing deeply, and then tried to understand what type of a vessel, exactly, had the Spell chosen for him…
Before he could, however, a beautiful voice suddenly sounded above him, full of curiosity and amusement:
"What a strange thing you are…"
Sunny opened his eyes and struggled to rise to his feet, turning his head swiftly in the direction of the speaker.
When he did, he froze.
In front of him, kneeling near the statue, was perhaps the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had soft skin and a delicate, exquisite face, her chestnut hair streaming down her shoulders like lustrous silk. Her eyes were suffused with light and shone gently, like two silver stars.
Sunny had seen a lot of stunning beauties in his lifetime, but no one could even remotely compare to the quiet, breathtaking grace of this stranger. Just one look at her made his heart race, and his face flush. She was more like a fairy than a mere mortal…
And, maybe, she was.
The beautiful woman was wearing a simple red tunic that left her shoulders bare, and wielded no weapons. Despite that, her presence was vast and permeated the whole island. It was as though the blades of grass bent slightly to be closer to her, the rays of sunshine changed their path to caress her skin. As if she didn't exist in the world, but instead, the world existed around her.
And something... something about her felt strangely familiar.
Sunny opened his mouth, stunned, and said:
"Uh… greetings?"
…Or at least, he tried to. However, what came out of his mouth instead was a hoarse, bestial growl.
'What the…'
He tried to speak again, and once more, his mouth produced a low, threatening gnarl.
The woman frowned.
"One of Shadow God's creatures… how curious. I didn't know that there were any of you left here, in the Kingdom of Hope."
Sunny stared at her, dumbfounded. Then, he lowered his eyes and finally looked at himself.
'Oh… crap…'
Well, at least one of his desires had come true. Sunny wasn't short anymore. In fact, he was at least two meters tall.
The problem, however…
Was that he wasn't a human.
His skin was light grey, the color of stone. His legs were long and digitigrade, bending backward and ending with powerful, sharp claws. He had four arms, each longer and stronger than that of a human, and a long twisting tail. His face was like that of a demon, with sharp features and a mouth full of terrifying fangs. Two curved horns were growing from his forehead, and his hair was long, black, and coarse.
His eyes were fully black, with no irises and two vertical, furious pupils.
…What's worse, Sunny didn't seem to possess the vocal cords of a human.
He couldn't speak.
'Oh, crap!'
The beautiful woman looked at him, and smiled.
Her smile was dazzling and breathtaking, but made Sunny feel cold and scared, for some reason.
"You shouldn't have invaded my lands, little creature. But don't worry… I will gift you a death most glorious. This, I promise before the gods."
She rose, standing tall in front of the ancient statue.
"After all, I, Solvane, am nothing if not merciful…"
Chapter 602: Swarm of Shadows
'Slow down there, lady…'
Sunny tried to take a step back, but ended it staggering and almost falling down. Somehow, he managed to keep his balance, crouching as his talons dug into the ground. His four arms rose, sharp claws aimed at Solvane.
All that talk of glory and death made him very, very tense.
'Solvane… wait. Solvane?'
A low growl escaped from Sunny's mouth as he realized who was standing in front of him. So this beautiful, graceful woman… she was the ghastly living corpse he had destroyed in the cargo hold of the crashed ship? Or rather… would be?
He had traveled into the past of the Chained Isles, after all, or at least an illusory reenactment of it. It made sense that Solvane had not succumbed to her harrowing fate.
...Yet.
Sunny shivered, remembering the silent pleading and boundless torment in the empty eyes of the Wormvine's host. How could those terrible eyes be the same as the radiant ones looking at him right now?
Suddenly, he was overwhelmed by pity, compassion, and sorrow.
And fear.
Because if he was right and this was really the same Solvane, then this dazzling stranger who had just promised to gift him a glorious death… was a Saint.
And a Saint promising to kill him was not something Sunny had ever wanted to hear.
He peered beneath the surface of Solvane's lovely figure, and saw a single sphere of light burning brightly in her chest, so radiant as to appear almost blinding. Her soul core… the soul core of a Transcendent.
His vertical pupils narrowed, a single thought ringing in his mind:
'Run!'
Sunny felt that his body was much more powerful than his own, inhumanly so, but without knowing how to properly control it, outrunning a Saint was out of the question. If it had ever been. So, his only hope was Shadow Step…
He already started to fall into the shadows when a beautiful silhouette suddenly appeared near, a graceful hand falling from above to grasp one of his arms into an iron grip. If not for Bone Weave, his wrist would have shattered like glass.
The hold of a Saint was as inevitable and inescapable as death.
Sunny couldn't escape into the shadows anymore, and summoning any Memory would have taken too long to be of any use…
All except for one.
A ghostly stiletto suddenly appeared in his trapped hand and awkwardly shot upward, leaving a thin scratch on Sovane's perfectly smooth, silky skin.
She glanced at the scratch, which was slowly welling with blood, a single crimson drop falling on the verdant grass. Her luminous eyes glistened.
"Is this fate, then? A sacrifice of blood was made, on the altar of War. Little shadowspawn, how special you are! Ah, so be it…"
With that, she smiled radiantly.
In the next moment, her other hand moved forward, and before Sunny could even feel fear…
The world exploded with pain, and then turned utterly dark.
***
Shadows… shadows…
Sunny was surrounded by shadows.
Some were close to him, and some were far. Some were small, and some were large. Some moved, and some were still.
He was one of the shadows, too.
No… not one. A swarm of them. A legion of shadows, all hidden in one vast and lightless soul. Silent and tranquil, free of all burdens. Free of all desires, free of reason and will.
For now…
'Ugh… my head hurts…'
Slowly, Sunny regained his senses. The first thing he felt was pain, and then, the steady beating of his hearts. Hearts? Yes… apparently, he had two now. As well as four lungs.
His body was heavy and unfamiliar, too large, too cumbersome, and too strange. Something hard and cold was pressed against it, making him feel a dull pain in his limbs. His head ached, too, as if he had been struck on it hard enough to shatter a weaker skull.
Well… he had been. Had he not?
The breathtaking beauty, Solvane, hit him. She killed him.
'Damnation… why am I still in pain if I am dead? What nonsense is this?!'
Full of outrage, Sunny tried to chase the pain away. But it remained. Why wouldn't it disappear? It wasn't supposed to torment him still.
Unless… he wasn't dead.
And the Saint had not, in fact, killed him with one strike.
Sunny hissed, and opened his eyes.
What he saw made him stare for a few moments, and then laugh. Or rather, he wanted to laugh, but what came out of his mouth instead was a chilling, deeply disturbing, uneven wail.
'Oh, gods… this is just too on the nose, really! Come on!'
Sunny was so amused because the hard and cold things pressed painfully against his body… were the sturdy bars of an iron cage.
He was in a cage again, and there was a steel collar wrapped around his neck.
Sunny was, once again, turned into a slave.
'Hey, Spell! Is this funny to you? Are you happy with yourself, you wretch?!'
His new cage was way smaller than his previous one in the Night Temple. In fact, it was barely large enough to fit his lanky body with all its limbs, claws, and horns. The cage was hung from the ceiling by a rusty chain, and his every move caused it to sway lightly, the bars digging painfully into his flesh.
Sunny growled angrily and looked around, trying to make sense of his previous sensations. What were all the other shadows he had felt close by…
'...Crap.'
All around him were rows of hanging cages of different sizes, and each of them imprisoned a creature of some sort. There were monstrous wolves, stone gargoyles, giant slithering worms, bulging mounds of flesh with gaping circular maws, and all kinds of abominations, some of which he had seen and fought before, and some that he had never even heard of.
There were closed metal boxes that produced the sound of hundreds of small feet rustling against their surface, and cages large enough to fit a Chain Worm. In fact, there was a Chain Warm trapped in one not too far away from Sunny. There were even cages that contained humans.
Sunny stared at this dungeon of horrors for a bit, and shivered.
'What the hell is this place…'
Chapter 603: Menagerie of Monsters
Sunny stared at the menagerie of monsters for a bit, getting used to the fact that his eyesight was different now, too. His eyes seemed to be much keener and were naturally able to see in utter darkness — as opposed to being gifted this trait by his Aspect — but had trouble differentiating colors.
The world was basically black and white, or rather consisted of various shades of grey, similar to how he used to see the world through shadows. His sense of smell was also enhanced, overloading his mind with an avalanche of new information. It was hard to concentrate on any one thing, let alone make sense of all this mess.
'Ah, who cares. Let's just get out of here.'
Just like in the Night Temple, the cage limited his shadow sense. However, this one did not sap him of shadow essence, which was a pleasant surprise.
Sunny's joy was short-lived, however.
As soon as he tried to Shadow Step away, he realized that he couldn't teleport through the iron bars. What's more, even his shadows couldn't slide through them, as though there was an invisible barrier blocking their way.
Sunny gritted his teeth, and felt a sharp pain as his fangs sunk into the soft flesh inside his mouth. He tried to curse, and produced a furious growl instead. After that, he simply remained motionless for a bit, staring at the other prisoners of the dungeon with gloomy resentment.
'Curse it all.'
Finally, he shook his head and awkwardly knelt at the bottom of the cage, grasping the iron bars with all four of his hands. Moving twice the amount he had possessed previously was a bit of a challenge, but he did manage after a couple of attempts.
'Fine. There are other methods… I'll melt this whole damned cage, if necessary.'
He stretched one hand through the bars, and summoned the Cruel Sight.
And then… nothing happened.
The only thing that changed was that his steel collar turned a little colder for a moment.
Sunny frowned, his black eyes growing even darker, then tried again.
The somber weapon did not appear. There was no tenebrous mist shrouding his hand, and no feeling of a small portion of his shadow essence disappearing to grant the Memory a physical shape.
Feeling unease, Sunny lingered for a second, and then tried to summon the Midnight Shard.
Once more, his collar grew colder for a moment, and nothing happened.
'What… what is going on…'
One after another, Sunny tried to manifest all of his Memories, to the same result. His Memories refused to appear, and not even a single spark of ethereal light ignited in the darkness of the dungeon. It was almost… as if they were all gone. Stolen.
Even Weaver's Mask…
Panicking, he hurriedly summoned the runes, hoping to see that he was wrong, that the list of his Memories did not turn empty.
'No, no, no, no, no!'
But…
The familiar shimmering runes did not appear. There was nothing in the air in front of him, just cold and dark emptiness.
'Wait… what?'
Sunny called the runes forth again and again, but they were inexplicably gone. His collar was now as cold as ice.
'Can't be!'
It was almost as if…
As if he was completely cut off from the Spell.
When the realization hit him, Sunny leaned heavily on the bars of the cage and remained motionless for a while, utterly stunned.
What kind of a Nightmare was that?
How was it even possible to lose connection to the Spell?
Spell! It was the Spell, damn it! The terrifying, almighty Spell!
Who could snatch an Awakened away from it?
He wasn't even able to enter his Soul Sea…
The scale and scope of this tectonic change simply failed to fit into his mind. Sunny had spent so long living with the Spell that he almost didn't remember what existing without it felt like. It was as though an integral part of his being was suddenly taken away, leaving him hollow and incomplete.
'I don't understand…'
…He was still trying to cope with this new reality when heavy footsteps suddenly resounded in the ghastly dungeon. Raising his head, Sunny saw a giant of a man walking between the hanging cages, his powerful figure radiating a sense of vast, solemn strength. The man was wearing a worn leather armor and a tattered red robe, its edges frayed and torn.
On his back, a barbarous curved blade hung, wide and heavy enough to split any abomination in half, and on his belt, heavy chains rattled with each step.
The giant's face was hidden beneath a hood, but Sunny didn't need to see it to know that he was looking at an Ascended.
And that Ascended was walking straight to his cage.
'Now is my chance! But, uh… to do what, exactly?'
Sunny was not accustomed to his new monstrous body, and was devoid of the ability to summon Memories. He was unarmed and defenseless. He didn't even know if his Aspect still worked.
What was he supposed to do? Try to fight a Master with his bare fists… claws, or whatever… or wait and see what happens?
In the end, the cautious part of his mind won.
Sunny silently stared as the man in the red robe approached the cage, glanced at him, and then somehow made the iron bars disappear without a trace.
One moment they were there, and the next, they were gone, throwing Sunny to the ground.
The giant cruelly slammed his massive fist into Sunny's head, and before he had a chance to shrug off the disorientation, a thick chain was already fastened to his collar.
Then, Sunny was dragged somewhere, sliding across the dirty floor as the collar dug painfully into his neck.
Not too long after that, bright sunlight suddenly blinded him. A sharp pain pierced his black eyes, and a moment later, Sunny was thrown ruthlessly to the ground, landing on it in a graceless heap. Still unable to see, he felt the chain being removed from his collar.
Slowly, his eyes adjusted to the light, and even though his vision was not as good as it had been in the darkness, Sunny was able to see that he was sprawled on the stone floor of a circular arena.
All around him, rows of seats rose, cut from pristine white stone to form a vast amphitheater. The theater was not crowded, and yet there were a lot of humans seated in it, looking down at him with joy and excitement. They were dressed in simple tunics and other kinds of archaic garments, most of them of some shade of red.
The arena itself was not white like the rest of the amphitheater… instead, it was dull red, too.
Or rather, it might have been pristine once, but now, its stone surface had absorbed too much blood and changed color.
Sunny looked up and saw another monster being let off its chain some distance away.
A cold shiver ran down his spine.
…Yes, he was a slave again.
But it seemed that, this time, fate had made him a very different kind of slave.
'Wait… don't tell me…'
As the crowd of spectators cheered, the other monster roared, spun around… and fixed its bloodthirsty eyes on Sunny.
'It's a damned colosseum!'
Chapter 604: Shadow Gladiator
There were wooden fences built throughout the arena, partitioning it into many small enclosures, each connected to a next one by a rusty iron gate. Currently, Sunny was at the very edge of the colosseum, with one of its stone walls behind him. Three sturdy fences formed the rest of the killing box, sharp spikes mounted on them to prevent the combatants from trying to escape.
…And that was unmistakably where he found himself — a colosseum. A theater of death where slaves fought each other for the entertainment of the crowd, unless they wanted to be slaughtered by the other gladiators or their own masters.
Granted, this one was rather strange. For one thing, the slaves were predominantly wild beasts and monsters of all kinds, as opposed to captured humans. The crowd was behaving weirdly, too. After his experience in the Dreamscape, Sunny expected to see the spectators overwhelmed by bloodthirst and dark, cruel fascination.
Instead, these people seemed to be joyful and proud, almost solemn. It was as though they were genuinely happy for the gladiators, even a little bit… jealous? The crowd was undulating and shifting, singing one word over and over again:
"Glory! Glory! Glory!"
Their voices merged into an echoing, thunderous roar.
'What the hell is wrong with these bastards…'
Sadly, Sunny didn't have a lot of time to think about the weirdness of the audience. He had bigger problems on his plate.
Right in front of him, another creature was let go of the chain, its powerful body covered in dirty brown fur. Four mighty paws, a long muzzle with terrifying fangs, and six eyes burning with madness… it was very similar to the Dread Wolves he had thought at the island covered by strange, twisted trees.
And it wasn't alone.
Two more beasts appeared from behind the first one, falling low to the ground as guttural growls escaped from their maws.
'Damnation!'
Sunny shifted his gaze, trying to discern the Rank and Class of the murderous beasts. They seemed a lot smaller than the Fallen Monster he had killed before, at least — simply the size of a bull instead of a full cargo vehicle. His newfound ability to peer into the souls of living things and see their soul cores was going to come in handy...
However, what he saw beneath their tough hides left him confused. Instead of spheres of radiant light, the creatures had hideous masses of swirling darkness at the center of their beings, veins of it spreading throughout their souls like cancerous growths. In the depths of that darkness, something unclear seemed to be moving, as if trying to break free.
The sight of it was both frightening and repulsive.
It reminded him, somewhat, of the harrowing rot he had witnessed in the Ebony Towe, growing from the severed arm of Weaver.
'...So this is what soul cores of the Nightmare Creatures look like.'
Sunny had no idea how to judge the Rank of such cores, since he only knew to measure the usual ones by their size and luminosity. The growths of darkness in the dread wolves seemed to have two swirling nods each, which at least told him that they were mere monsters.
Not that it helped him very much.
How was he supposed to fight against three monsters while barely being able to stand upright in this new, unfamiliar body?
'Curse it!'
…He was also not at all happy with the fact that this gaunt and powerful body was standing more than two meters tall, devoid of any fat... and stark naked, with all his stuff hanging loose for everyone to see.
Or bite off!
Plus, there were a lot of women in the crowd...
Hiding his discomfort, Sunny stared at the wolves, his black eyes full of menacing resentment. His lips parted, revealing sharp fangs that were in no way inferior to that of the monstrous beasts. A low growl escaped from his mouth.
'Come on… look how big and scary I am! You wouldn't want to fight a scary demon like me, would you? One would have to be insane to attack such a monstrosity…'
Sadly, this was exactly what Nightmare Creatures were. Insane…
The wolves lunged forward, madness burning in their bloodshot eyes. Their maws opened, foam glistening on jagged fangs. The crowd roared.
'Damn it all!'
Sunny commanded the shadows to wrap themselves around his body, which suddenly turned black and lusterless, as though cut from obsidian. Thankfully, at least that part of his Aspect still worked… almost instantly, his might quadrupled, and so did his speed.
He dashed through the darkness and appeared from the shadow of one of the wolves, his four hands shooting forward to grab the beast, sharp claws sinking into the soft flesh. Sunny was still struggling to control his body, and for that reason, his movements were much slower and messier than they could have been.
But, embraced by the three shadows, he simply used brute power to overcome that disadvantage.
Raising the massive monster above his head, he hissed and pulled with all his might. Lean muscles moved like steel cables under his onyx skin, and in the next moment, a river of blood flowed onto his horned head from above as the body of the wolf was mercilessly torn apart.
The crowd went wild, their voices growing loud and triumphant — at least of those spectators who were close to his enclosed box.
'What… what are you screaming for, idiots…'
Sunny was more than a little startled by the violent strength of his new body. It was much more powerful than his human one… however, it was also much taller, and his center of gravity was much further from the ground.
For that reason, Sunny miscalculated his posture completely, lost his balance, and toppled over as soon as the dread wolf's body lost its integrity.
He crashed onto the bloodied stones, instinctively raising two of his four hands to cover his throat. Almost instantly, one of the remaining two monsters was upon him, its maw opening wide before closing around his neck like a crushing bear trap.
Luckily, Sunny's arms were already in the way, so instead of tearing his throat open, the wolf only managed to bite into them, sharp fangs burrowing through tough skin, piercing flesh, and scraping against bone.
Overwhelmed by the explosion of terrible pain and the sudden fall, Sunny momentarily forgot how to control his limbs and operate the shadow demon's body. The second wolf jumped on him, tearing his abdomen with long claws.
'Argh!'
Not good… this was not good! He was pinned to the ground, defenseless, seconds away from being disemboweled and having his head torn off. And he couldn't even remember how many hands he had, and what to do with them…
Sunny shuddered, then opened his mouth and roared. His bestial scream washed over the wolves, momentarily stunning them.
Then, he moved his two upper hands, grasping the first wolf by the jaws, and simultaneously threw his lower arms around the second one. Twisting his body, Sunny threw the monster digging into his abdomen off and pinned it to the stones, at the same time pushing the maw away from his neck.
Growling menacingly, he pulled the jaws of one of the monsters apart, while crushing the other in a devastating embrace.
The three of them struggled furiously for a few moments, more and more gashes and lacerations accumulating on Sunny's body. The pain flooded his mind, clearing it of all unnecessary thoughts.
All that remained was a cold and murderous will to kill.
He strained the muscles of his demonic body to the limit, and finally felt the spine of one of the wolves snap in his embrace, and at the same time, the lower jaw of the other one separate from its skull.
A pitiful wail assaulted his ears, and he threw the paralyzed monster away, ripping the other's jaw off entirely.
Both wolves fell to the ground, while Sunny was finally able to rise. His fists came down like sledgehammers, crushing the skulls of the abominations into paste.
The massive bodies of the Nightmare Creatures shuddered, and then grew still.
Sunny was left kneeling, his chest rising and falling heavily. His naked body was covered in deep lacerations and blood, most of it not his own. His eyes were as black as the bottomless abyss of the Sky Below, and his four hands hung low, claws marred with strands of brown fur, bone dust, and disgusting greyish-red sludge.
The crowd cheered loudly, more spectators starting to pay attention to his box with disturbingly joyful and sincerely pleased expressions on their faces.
Sunny sucked in the air into his four lungs, his two hearts beating wildly, and slowly rose to his feet. He scowled, painfully aware of the absence of the familiar voice announcing his kills. The Spell was silent.
'...Now what?'
As though to answer his question, a rattling of chains resounded from somewhere up ahead.
And then, the rusty iron gate in the front fence of the box rose, opening a path to a new one, this one closer to the center of the arena and permeated with the smell of death even more.
Sunny stared at the newly opened path with a bleak expression, then let out a low growl and walked toward it, now acquainted with his towering body a little bit better.
'Damned Solvane... that witch! I am going to kill her… kill her again, I mean. Anyway, she's going to answer for everything before the Nightmare is over... this, I promise before the gods!'
Radiating a menacing aura of anger and resentment, Sunny passed beneath the rusted gates and entered the second box.
Chapter 605: Hideous Demon
As Sunny was walking toward the next enclosure, he had a few seconds to think.
The first thing he realized was that, despite the fact that the Spell remained silent, he had in fact received the shadow fragments from the three dread wolves. The feeling of his cores, and thus body, growing a tiny bit stronger was there, even though it was hard to sense the minuscule change in all the chaos.
'Strange… this is all so strange…'
His connection to the Spell seemed to be gone, cut by the steel collar on his neck, and yet not all of his powers disappeared. Sunny couldn't access his Soul Sea and summon Memories or runes, but he still possessed the ability to absorb fragments. He was also able to command his shadows to augment his body, as well as use Shadow Step... even though its range seemed to be limited by the walls of the arena.
What did it all mean?
Well… from the look of it, while the Spell was gone, his Aspect remained. There was a lot of meaning hidden in this simple fact, but Sunny had no time to unpack it.
What else was his Aspect capable of?
Walking under the rusty gate, Sunny hesitated for a split second, and then summoned the Soul Serpent.
A moment later, almost unnoticeable on his obsidian skin, an intricate tattoo of a coiling serpent appeared, wrapped around his arms and torso. When Sunny sent shadow essence coursing through it, the coils shone with dark radiance, revealing themselves for everyone to see.
His lips moved, revealing powerful fangs in a frightening grin.
'So you are here as well, buddy…'
What did it mean? It meant that Sunny didn't have to fight unarmed anymore. It also meant that Saint was with him, as well.
He might not have been the most deadly of creatures at the moment, still unaccustomed to this new lumbering body. But the two of them?
Together, Sunny and Saint were a duo most fearsome.
Full of new confidence, he entered the second killing box, sending his shadow sense forward to encompass it.
What he saw there made him squint a little.
…There was already a battle going on in the enclosure, a pair of humans desperately trying to fight off a swarm of small, swift lizard-like creatures. Both of them wore white tunics, the younger one unarmed, while the older one had a simple sword in his hands and a leather cuirass protecting his torso.
There were several human corpses laying on the ground, terribly disfigured by the sharp claws and triangular fangs of the abominations, with their once-white clothes soaked in blood.
Sunny shifted his gaze and saw the vile darkness spreading through the souls of the lizard-like gremlins. From the look of it, they were all Awakened, the same as the wolves he had fought — Sunny measured the strength of the monsters during the battle and judged their Rank to be the same as his.
The younger man was an Awakened, as well, with a single radiant soul core, while the older one had none at all. He was a mundane human.
As Sunny watched, the older warrior was finally overwhelmed and fell to the ground, the gremlins easily tearing through his cuirass and sinking their claws and teeth into the soft flesh beneath.
The young man screamed and dashed to help him, but it was already too late. Even though the Awakened youth managed to kill several beasts with his fists and pushed the others away, his partner was already mortally wounded. He shuddered, a river of blood flowing from a ghastly gash in his neck, and weekly pushed the hilt of the sword into the younger man's hands.
The crowd went wild, happily chanting the same damned word…
"Glory! Glory! Glory!"
The last surviving human raised his head, pain and sorrow mixing with hatred in his light blue eyes.
He didn't get to dwell on his loss for long, though, because the remaining gremlins were already rushing to tear him apart.
…Some, however, found a new target.
Sunny grunted and tried to control his body as precisely as possible. He didn't command the Soul Serpent to assume the form of a weapon or summon Saint yet, preferring to keep his cards hidden, for now.
The lizard-like abominations did not seem too dangerous, anyway. At least not with their remaining numbers and their attention split between two targets.
'Curses…'
The four-armed demon's gaunt body was too tall, heavy, and unwieldy. Every motion required more effort, and was slower than he was used to. Even though there was inhuman strength in the shadow creature's steel muscles, which was supposed to translate into explosive speed, dragging so much mass around was still different from operating a small and slim human body he had possessed before.
'Who would have thought that I would miss being short one day?'
Four gremlins jumped at Sunny at the same time, more of them lagging a second behind. Their narrow eyes shone with rabid bloodlust, and their jagged claws were aimed at his flesh, lusting to rip it apart.
Wrapped in shadows, with the coils of the Soul Serpent shining darkly on his skin, Sunny took a step forward and caught all four creatures from the air, then slammed their skulls against each other, crushing them.
Even though he was having trouble controlling his new body, how could these beasts ever hope to survive a battle against a demon?
And a very special one, at that…
Sunny bared his teeth and lunged forward, a low growl escaping from his mouth. His four arms moved, crushing flesh and bone. Several beasts managed to slip past his assault and sink their claws into his thighs, one even trying to bite off a big chunk of flesh.
Sunny hissed from pain and crouched, using his claws to rip four more gremlins apart. There was no free hand to finish off the last one, so he simply bit off its arm with his sharp fangs, feeling the bone crunch and the disgusting taste of corrupted blood on his tongue.
'Argh! I'm going to vomit!'
Sunny spit a mouthful of fetid, dark blood and silenced the shrieking creature with a bone-shattering backhand slap.
Suddenly, the box became deathly silent.
He groaned, overwhelmed by pain for a moment. The damned abominations had died rather easily, but not before doing a lot of damage. He might have overestimated his newfound prowess... or underestimated the gremlins due to their small stature and frail frames.
The irony...
Sunny gritted his teeth, this time careful not to pierce his own lips by doing so, then wiped his face and straightened. Finally, he glanced in the direction of the remaining group of abominations. To his surprise, they were already dead — the young Awakened had slaughtered them with the sword, somehow, and was now standing there motionlessly, frozen stiff by fear.
…The youth was staring at him with a pale face, eyes wide with terror.
Then, he took an unsteady step back and whispered:
"Oh… oh gods! Lord, protect me against the hideous demons of the night!"
Sunny looked down at him from his immense height, his cobalt black body covered in terrible wounds and blood, more streaming from between his sharp fangs.
He suppressed the desire to roll his eyes.
'Hideous? Rude…'
Chapter 606: Fate of a Slave
Sunny glanced down at the young man, then slowly moved toward him. The Awakened shuddered and took another involuntary step back, then gritted his teeth and lowered his stance, raising the sword into a proper defense position.
"Lord, shine thine light upon me! Let my s—soul burn unextinguished, as the sun can never be extinguished…"
'Huh… I've seen suns fade away and disappear before. Never say never, fool…'
Sunny listened to the strange prayer and allowed one of his shadows to slide off his menacing body, flowing to the ground like a dark veil. After that, he hissed from pain and stopped near a mangled human corpse.
He stared at the trembling youth for a few moments, and then bent down, stretching his hands toward the body.
The young man flinched and fell silent, then shouted:
"Get your vile hands away from him, demon!"
Sunny ignored the Awakened and used his claws to rip the white tunic off the corpse. Then, he straightened and glanced at it with displeasure, his black eyes narrowing.
This one was not too dirtied by blood, bud sadly, its previous owner was of a normal size for a human. As such, the tunic was way too small for Sunny's new towering body. He snarled, and then tried to tie the tunic around his waist like a makeshift loincloth.
There was a big problem, though… his tail.
Sunny froze, somewhat confused about what to do. Then, he awkwardly tore a hole in the tunic and made another attempt, this one, thankfully, successful.
With his nakedness finally covered, he instantly felt better and turned his attention back to the trembling youth.
The young man was staring at him with wide eyes, periodically glancing at the unceremoniously disrobed corpse at his feet. Finally, he opened his mouth:
"You… you barbarous beast! Have you no shame?!"
Sunny grinned, revealing two rows of sharp fangs and four long, terrifying canines.
In the next moment, though, his smile dimmed, because there was suddenly a familiar pressure rising in his mind.
So, his Flaw remained, as well…
'Damn it.'
He hesitated, then slowly shook his head. Instantly, the pressure disappeared.
'Figures. I can't escape the damned curse even if when I'm mute… how is this even fare?'
The Awakened blinked.
"No… of course not, why would a demon know shame… it's… wait! You... you can understand me?"
With the Spell gone, its magical ability to translate any language in the Nightmare was gone, too. However, Sunny found himself able to discern what the young man was saying, as well as the only word the spectators seemed to know, even if it demanded some effort.
The language they spoke was not exactly the same as the ones he had learned before, first in the Academy and later during his travels in the Dream Realm, but similar enough to make out some of the words. He was able to deduce the rest.
Sunny stared at the youth from above, then nodded darkly.
The young man blinked.
"Wait… you are not one of the Corrupted, then? What kind of a creature are you?"
Sunny scowled. The word meant something that was tainted, infected, changed, and perverted… a being cursed with some form of corruption. But what exactly was the Awakened asking? Was he referring to the Nightmare Creatures, perhaps?
He hesitated, then shook his head again, and pointed to the coils of the Soul Serpent glistening on his skin.
The youth frowned, confused.
"A snake… a serpent? Can that demon be Shadow's kin? No wonder the Warriors hunted him down, then… their God and Shadow are old enemies…"
'Uh… is he talking to me? Or to himself?'
Sunny lingered for a moment, then took a step forward. The Awakened flinched, torn away from his pondering, and raised his sword higher.
"Stay away, demon, or I will…"
He felt silent when the gaunt, towering monstrosity walked past him with absolute indifference.
Sunny wasn't going to fight the youth… unless the fool chose to attack first, of course. Made into a gladiator or not, he was not going to play the part of an obedient slave. He had no qualms with killing humans, but not to satisfy anyone's thirst for entertainment, especially not of anyone wishing to be his owner.
They would have to come down in person if they wanted to force him…
He studied the dead humans. Men, women, young and old… the only thing in common they had was the color of their white garments. Some had been unarmed, and some had wielded weapons. The weapons were what he was really interested in…
There was a couple laying on the red stones, none of them bearing any enchantments. He picked up a battle axe, glanced at it, and then threw it back to the ground. What was the point of having a mundane weapon? His claws were sharper and far more devastating.
…Luckily, the young man seemed to have decided against using the sword against him, too. He just stood there, staring at the corpses, a dark and inconsolable expression on his face.
The steward of the arena, whoever that was, did not seem to want them to kill each other, as well.
With a sound of scraping metal, another rusty gate rose, opening the path to the third box, this one even closer to the center of the coliseum.
Sunny and the young Awakened glanced at each other warily…
And then walked toward the gate together.
***
Sunny's next cage was larger and more comfortable… well, he at least could stand up straight in it.
Not that he was in any mood to do so.
In the end, he had been forced to fight his way through seven killing boxes, the last circular one at the very heart of the coliseum. In each box, a new Nightmare Creature, or a group of them, awaited — those abominations who had prevailed in their own battles at the outer circles of the arena.
In this way, only the strongest and the most ferocious of the enslaved creatures had a chance to reach the center. The further they went, the louder the cheers of the spectators became.
And on the final stage, their salvation awaited.
Kill the final enemy, and get the chance to live another day… only to be forced to go through this meat grinder again, undoubtedly. Collecting more wounds, more kills…
More glory.
Sunny had received a lot of injuries, as for the glory, he wasn't so sure.
Currently, he was sprawled on the bottom of a hanging cage, his body a map of gashes, lacerations, and bruises. Everything hurt, but at least he wasn't bleeding… that was the benefit of losing his chance to receive Shadow God's lineage.
He was slowly healing.
In the cage next to him, the Awakened with light blue eyes sat, an empty and hollow expression on his smooth, youthful face. The young man had somehow managed to survive, as well, but grew quiet and despondent after they were brought back to the dungeon.
Sunny didn't blame him.
He was a bit desperate, too.
Yes, they had survived today… but just barely.
And who knew how many such days there were going to be, in the future?
Somehow, he had a disturbing feeling that once someone had entered the arena… they never left it alive.
Sunny closed his eyes, exhausted.
So what if his fate was to die as a slave in this cursed coliseum… fate was not something immutable.
It was just very, very hard to change.
Was he or was he not the heir to the Demon of Fate?
If anyone could do it, it was him...
Chapter 607: Shifting Sand
Caged in the darkness, Sunny had a lot of time to think. All around him, a horde of Nightmare Creatures waited for their turn to be slaughtered in the bloodsoaked arena, a few unfortunate human slaves among them. Here in the nightmarish dungeon, both abominations and people were the same, equal in the face of inevitable death.
His thoughts returned to the very start of the trial, to the announcement the Spell made. Five brave ones… someone else had entered the Nightmare with them, and Sunny had a good idea who.
Mordret… the Prince of Nothing still lived, against all odds, and had found a way to reach his goal. Perhaps his reflection had hidden in the eyes of Saint Cormac, and then slid unnoticed into either Effie's or Kai's.
Was one of his friends dead?
No… no, that didn't make sense. If Mordret had devoured one of the souls aboard the ancient flying ship, then someone would have noticed. The Fire Keepers were a close group, and knew each other too well to miss a sudden change in the demeanor of one of them.
As for Effie and Kai, if they had fallen victim to Mordret's terrifying Ability, then there would have been only four souls entering the Nightmare.
But who was to say that the Prince of Nothing had to invade a soul once his reflection jumped into the person's eyes? Maybe he could just hide in the reflections, biding his time and waiting for an opportunity to find a better vessel.
And speaking of vessels…
Sunny studied his monstrous body, his black eyes full of a somber apprehension.
Why had he been sent into a body of a demon? The Spell was supposed to find suitable vessels for the challengers… had he been made into a hideous abomination because of his three shadow cores? After all, it was hard to find a human with a soul worthy of a Divine Aspect.
If so… was Mordret in the body of a Terror right now?
Hidden in the darkness, Sunny shivered.
Yes, this was most likely the case. This fact had the potential to either reveal itself to be a blessing, or a curse.
In theory, all five of them had the same goal — to resolve the conflict of the Nightmare and Ascend. So, having a Terror fight on their side would be a boon, no matter how much resentment Sunny had for the bastard. He also suspected that Mordret wielded the ivory knife, increasing their chances of success even further.
But Sunny also remembered what Master Jet had told them… not all of the Awakened trying to conquer the trial of the Spell had to pursue the same goal. Sometimes, their solutions and ideals clashed, making them enemies.
The idea of having Mordret as an enemy in this already insurmountable hell scared him. The Prince of Nothing… was maybe the most dangerous opponent he had ever faced.
Would Mordret turn on the other four humans that had entered the Seed? It was impossible to tell. He was not cruel for the sake of cruelty, and was not nearly as insane as everyone seemed to think. His hatred was directed toward Valor, and not them. But at the same time, Sunny could not say that the banished prince was completely of sound mind.
Something about him… when Sunny looked Mordret in the eyes, it felt as though something was missing in them. It was a very small difference, but one that made facing the Prince of Nothing strangely unsettling.
Mordret was a wild card, one whose actions Sunny simply could not predict.
'...No point in dwelling on it right now. Unless I find a way to escape this morbid place alive, all that awaits me is death, anyway.'
He shifted and hissed slightly as pain radiated through his body, originating from countless wounds.
Sunny thought back to his battle in the arena.
Strange… it was all so strange.
Some of his powers were gone, but others remained. His Aspect seemed to be unaffected, by his connection to the Spell was gone.
Then, did this mean… did this mean that an Aspect was not a part of the Spell, but instead existed outside of it?
Trapped in an unbreakable enchanted cage, Sunny scowled.
A long, long time ago… back when he had passed the First Nightmare and received his Aspect… it had felt as though the power was coming from somewhere deep within him, as opposed to from an external source.
Was the Spell only awakening inherent powers that were locked inside human souls, and not creating them?
'Wait a minute…'
Come to think of it… Auro of the Nine had claimed to be an Awakened, and while the youth sitting silently in the nearby cage had not said it, he was an Awakened, too. But in this ancient past, the gods were still alive, and so were the daemons.
Their terrible war had not started yet, and Weaver had not disappeared to create something that would spell doom for both the six gods and the six daemons… to create the Nightmare Spell.
If Sunny's suspicions were correct, of course. Than meant the Nightmare Spell had not even existed yet, in this era.
But Awakened did.
As well as Nightmare Creatures… or the Corrupted, as the youth had called them.
Sunny's vertical pupils narrowed.
Were the Nightmare Creatures… not created by the Nightmare Spell, as well?
'What the hell…'
The very idea seemed strange and ridiculous. The Spell had appeared in the waking world, causing the first Nightmare Creatures to be made from the bodies of those infected by it, and for the first generation of the Awakened to be born.
It summoned those Awakened into the Dream Realm, which was populated by the abominations, and pushed them toward seeking out and challenging the Seeds of Nightmares. Unless a Seed was conquered, it eventually opened a path for more monsters to enter reality.
The very idea of Nightmare Creatures, Aspects, and Awakened was inseparable from the Spell.
And yet… somehow, it was?
'What... what does it all mean?'
Sunny ground his fangs, overwhelmed by a myriad of thoughts, and a lot of confusion. It seemed as though the very foundation of his worldview had suddenly turned out to be built on shifting sand…
He closed his eyes and scowled, feeling a dull headache approaching, then raised two hands and rubbed his face, careful not to slice it open with the claws.
Suddenly, the cage next to his swayed. The young Awakened stood up and grabbed the bars, staring into the darkness.
A few moments later, he said hoarsely:
"Demon… hey, demon. Wake up. They're coming!"
Chapter 608: Reincarnated as a Demonic Gladiator in a Magical World
"Glory! Glory! Glory!"
Sunny growled, falling to the ground, the heavy body of a stone gargoyle pressing him down, its claws buried in his chest. A dark radiance rose from his skin, the scales of a coiling serpent becoming more visible, and then, one of the forearms of the abomination shattered, pulled apart by his hands.
The creature roared, its tail shooting forward like a spear. He had no time to dodge or deflect the blow, so instead, Sunny simply endured the blinding pain of the stone spike piercing his shoulder, and pushed with his feet, straining to jump up.
As the result, his horns struck the gargoyle in the chin, impaling it through the skull.
Something cold streamed down his face, and, momentarily blinded, Sunny struck the abomination in the chest with all his might, sending the stone goliath flying back.
The gargoyle exploded into a rain of stone shards when its body struck the floor of the arena.
Sunny breathed heavily, his torso a mess of torn flesh, and then tiredly searched for the remaining enemy, which was supposed to be fighting the Awakened youth… if he was still alive.
His second day in the coliseum had been both easier and more harrowing than the first.
It was easier because Sunny was slowly growing accustomed to his new inhuman body. For someone else, this process might have taken longer, but he had always put adaptability and control of his physicality first.
Both the flowing battle style Nephis had taught him and Shadow Dance were meant to make the practitioner as flexible and versatile as possible, the latter especially being the pinnacle of malleability.
So, he had plenty of practice to prepare himself for waking up in the body of an actual demon, ironically. Who would have thought?
…But this day's battles were also much more lethal. At first, Sunny had thought that his luck was just this bad, but after he and the young Awakened had barely survived the first two boxes, the youth shared a bit of knowledge that put everything into perspective.
Apparently, by surviving the previous day's slaughter and making their way to the center of the arena, the two of them earned the privilege of being added to the main herd of gladiators. In other words, everyone — and every thing — they faced today had won seven consecutive fights in the past, as well.
This was the creme of the crop of the enslaved combatants, more or less.
And the final stage was also going to be different…
'Damnation…'
He sensed two swift shadows some distance away, then finally saw them. His eyesight wasn't the best in daylight, so Sunny relied on shadow sense more and more…
The kid was still alive, wielding a simple sword and a rusty shield that he had picked up in their second fight. He was dancing around the gargoyle, showing a good grasp of combat technique and more that a little bit of talent.
The young man was inexperienced, but incredibly talented. His battle prowess was perhaps on par with what Sunny himself had shown on the Forgotten Shore. Or even greater.
…Not that it was going to help the youth. What was the point of knowing how to wield a sword, when that sword had no chance of piercing the enemy's stone skin?
"D—demon! I can't hold it off much longer!"
Sunny sighed, then stepped through the shadows, appearing behind the gargoyle in a whirlwind of claws. With a loud roar, he crashed into the towering creature and caught it in a deadly embrace. The steel cables of his muscles moved under the obsidian skin, and with a low growl, Sunny lifted the heavy abomination into the air.
'Gods… is this how much Saint weighs?'
Even for his demonic body, the burden of a monster of similar proportions, made entirely out of stone, was almost too much.
Almost…
Without stopping his lunge, Sunny carried the gargoyle forward like a speeding train, and smashed the creature against the spikes mounted on the wall, impaling it on them.
The crowd roared, expressing their joy and admiration of his brutality.
Sunny watched as mad light was extinguished in the eyes of the abomination, then took a step back on fell heavily to one knee.
'Can… can you shut up for a moment… you bastards…'
Today, he hated the spectators even more than he had yesterday.
The Awakened youth was already beside him, staring at the dead gargoyle with a dark expression. Then, he glanced at his sword, and finally at the four-armed monstrosity near him.
"Demon, you… you don't look too well."
Sunny slookws at him with his black eyes, no recognizable human expression on his strange, bestial face.
'No way, you noticed? Damn, what a fool…'
Sunny, indeed, did not look too well. In fact, he looked terrible, with his obsidian skin torn in many places and sliced muscle tissue visible beneath. The most disturbing thing about it was the fact that his mangled flesh was awash with crimson blood, but none of it flowed out of the wounds, as if possessing a will of its own.
He had not faired as well as he had thought he would in the battle against the gargoyles, in large part because the monsters had turned out to be much more powerful and swift than the similar creatures he had fought before… in the future.
Although Sunny was reluctant to do so, he suspected that he would have to reveal at least one of his two hidden cards — the Soul Serpent or Saint — before too long.
The youth hesitated for a few moments, then suddenly stepped forward and put his hand on Sunny's torn chest.
Sunny hissed, shocked by the unexpected gesture.
"Don't move, demon… I'm trying to help you…"
'What the hell…'
Suddenly, the young man's light blue eyes shone with cerulean light, and his curly blond hair moved, as if brushed by an otherworldly wind.
A warm sensation spread from his palm into Sunny's aching body. Slowly, the pain receded, and at the same time, the torn fibers of his flesh started to repair themselves, growing back together.
In a dozen seconds or so, miraculously, the terrible wounds on his body had almost closed. The young man, however, paled considerably and stepped back, his breathing fast and rugged. It seemed as though his soul essence was largely drained.
'Well, I'll be damned…'
The fool... was a healer.
Sunny couldn't know whether to laugh or cry. On one hand, Awakened healers were incredibly rare, and having one as his only ally was of tremendous benefit.
On the other hand, his only ally in the battle arena also turned out to possess an Aspect that was absolutely useless in a fight… so there was that, as well.
The iron gates rattled, opening the path to the next killing box.
Sunny hesitated for a few moments, and then rose to his feet.
'No, this is good… I can kill anything the slavers throw at us. He just has to keep me alive.'
He glanced at the pale youth, then nodded curtly and headed toward the gates.
Before walking through them, however, he stopped and tore off the long tip of the dead gargoyle's tail, then handed it to the young man.
The stone spike of an Awakened Nightmare Creature was bound to perform better than a mundane weapon, at least.
The Awakened stared at him for a bit, then sighed and dropped the sword onto the ground.
They walked through the gate, and Sunny's face instantly darkened.
'I know that smell…'
The Chain Worm he had seen before in the dungeon was already crawling through the other gate, its terrifying maw dripping with black blood.
The crowd began its chant again, ecstatic to see the Fallen Demon advance to the next box.
"Glory! Glory!"
He sighed, full of dread and hatred.
'Alright. Alright, bastards. I'll show you glory…'
Chapter 609: Glory
Sunny tore the Chain Worm apart, pieces of flesh and puddles of blood covering the red stones of the arena like a ghastly carpet. Then, shrouded in impenetrable shadows, he thrust his hands into the mangled carcass of the slain abomination and ripped three bloody soul shards out.
…Ironically, killing the Fallen Demon had not been too hard for him. A long time ago, Master Roan had described these vile creatures as incredibly formidable and deadly opponents, someone that even he would not have wanted to face alone. But that was because Master Roan was a human.
Chain Worms fed on metal, and as such, steel weapons and armor were useless against them. Sunny would have been in trouble if he was still in his human body, and most of his arsenal of Memories suddenly became ineffective. However, he was a demon now — one of the shadowspawn, or Shadow's kin, or whatever it was he had been turned into.
His claws, his fangs, and his shadows were the perfect weapon to destroy such abominations.
Of course, fighting against a creature one Rank higher than him was not easy. But, augmented by three shadows, he had managed to dismantle the massive abomination without too much trouble. In fact, killing the Chain Warm had been much easier than killing Master Pierce. He wasn't even wounded, at least not seriously.
The crowd grew silent, shocked by his display of ruthless brutality, and then exploded with cheers. Glory, glory… it seemed that they enjoyed seeing someone triumph against a stronger opponent much more than anything else.
'Crazy bastards…'
Sunny glanced at the spectators with resentment, then walked over to the young Awakened and pushed the soul shards into his hands. The youth looked at them with a frown.
"These… are these soul shards?"
'Gods. How can he be an Awakened and not know what a shard looks like?'
Sunny stared at the young man darkly, then nodded and raised one hand to his chest, making a fist.
The Awakened hesitated:
"Don't you want to consume them yourself?"
Sunny snarled, then shook his head. Finally convinced, the youth crushed the shards in his fists and froze, a funny expression appearing on his face.
"Wh... what a strange feeling…"
'...Whatever.'
Sunny wasn't giving the shards away out of altruism. For better or worse, the young man was now his partner. The stronger he became, the better he would be able to aid Sunny, both in battle and while using his healing Aspect.
And Sunny was going to need a lot of healing. That, he was sure of.
After that was done, they proceeded to the fifth cage, and then to the sixth. And finally, to the last.
By that point, Sunny was nearing his limit.
Both battles after the Chain Worm had tested him in ways he had not expected, draining him of essence, damaging his body, and putting a heavy strain on his endurance. He was exhausted and overwhelmed by pain, the merciless sun shining blindingly in the blue skies and making his black eyes ache.
At least the Crushing seemed to ignore the island where the colosseum was located. In fact, Sunny had not felt the island move either up or down even once. Perhaps it had a permanent altitude, like the Sanctuary of Noctis.
The seventh battle… the last one they had to survive today… was, indeed, different.
The central stage of the arena was circular in shape, with six gates in its walls. Four were already opened, and two still stood closed.
Corpses of several terrifying creatures were laying on the red stones, steam rising from the pools of blood surrounding them. And in the middle of the killing stage, two humans stood, their faces hidden behind the helmet visors.
Both were tall, strong, and clad in archaic armor. Their garments were painted bright red, and so were the plumes of their helmets. One was armed with a spear and a shield, while the other wielded an axe and a sword.
These were worshippers of War God, just like the spectators singing from the stone seats of the great amphitheater.
The young man shivered:
"Warmongers… these mad dogs…"
Sunny tilted his head, paying no attention to the raging crowd as he studied the two humans. Both were Awakened, and from the look of it, of sufficient power and skill. They were calm and solemn, their eyes empty of even a hint of fear, and instead full of confidence and savage joy.
…Glory. That was what all of them were here for, willingly or not. The masters of the arena wanted their slaves to fight for it, but they also wanted to achieve it themselves. After the initial culling had taken place, the final obstacle the gladiators had to overcome each day was to kill some of their slavers.
And the slavers had to survive the onslaught of the slaves, if they wished to live.
In fact, all of the battles in the arena served a singular purpose — to deliver the best and the most formidable opponents for the worshippers of War to temper themselves against, or die trying.
'Mad dogs, indeed.'
All these people were insane. Sunny was now more sure of it than ever.
It didn't change anything, though. He still had to kill the two Awakened warriors, if he wanted to survive. Or rather, if he wanted to earn the chance to be killed in the arena some other day.
With a low growl, Sunny sent one of the shadows to the ground. In this fight, being aware of his surroundings was going to be more important than raw strength. No Awakened human could challenge him in terms of raw might, after all… unless their Aspect was solely focused on it.
But such an Aspect was the least dangerous an enemy of his could possess. It was easy to understand and predictable, at least.
It was the versatility and unpredictable nature of Aspects that made Awakened so dangerous…
Without much fanfare, the four of them lunged at each other, an almost palpable killing intent permeating the arena.
The two warriors fought with tremendous skill and combat prowess. The two warriors fought bravely and furiously, moving like two parts of a single organism.
The two warriors fought with incredible insight and cunning, both wielding clarity like a deadly weapon. Truly, they were worthy of being the followers of War.
…But in the end, both of them died.
How could they resist a creature that could turn their skill against them, who had faced terrors so vast that most humans would have been driven mad by a mere glimpse of them, and who lived his life wearing countless lies like a mantle?
Sunny watched as the corpse of the second human fell to the ground, awash in blood, light dimming in his unbelieving eyes, and sighed.
'Here's your glory, poor fools… how does it taste? Is it sweet? Is it bitter? Or does it taste like nothing at all, like the empty lie that it is?'
Turning away from the dead men, he glanced at the crowd, expecting to finally see sorrow and displeasure on the faces of the spectators.
He had just killed two of their own, after all.
But his hopes were instantly crushed.
The people gathered in the amphitheater were not at all perturbed by the death of their brethren. Instead, they were even more excited, pride and joy gleaming on their faces.
Laughing and smiling, they pointed at him and yelled one word, other and other.
Only this time, it was a new one.
All of them were shouting:
...Shadow!