Please reathis, it's interesting
Thoughts from now will be in '––' and out loud will be in "–––"
Tell me if I'm getting character personalities right, keep in mind I have to tweak them a little, like explain how they feel in detail at certain points
My final exam just ended for my college semester, so I was planning on making another shadow slave fanfic.
Options-
In this Sunny will be more willing for combat but still the schemeing battle genius he is, one of the major changes will be that he got to the cops on the 1st day of his 1st nightmare signs to receive training and got some basics, combined with his scheming and tricks he won't get the slave part of shadow bond. Sunny will belong to a family of assassins that existed since before the nightmare era. I got the idea from Killua Hunter x Hunter. Though Sunny will not have Killua's power, he will have all the beef with his family, with the exception of his sister Rain. I just, like literally as I was writing this, got the idea, double aspect, basically sharingan and maybe + other visual power, or just straight out jogan/ and or karma mark from Boruto (I have a good idea who will reside in him, and I'm smirking like a villain right now)
Note- my fanfic will not have character crossovers, only them or powers inspired by them.
I know many, if not most, do this, but my reason for his change in aspect won't be making small changes in his approach to the nightmare, and I plan on making some next-level scheming, like mad prince and torment level for more than one arc.
Fanfics are never fun if all the main cast is removed or if the arcs have become a little too original because people read fanfic to see what similar things could happen with them personally, and different approaches. But I do plan on taking a unique approach.
I also plan on making shadow slave reaction fanfic (from volume 1 and volume 8 cast), yes, two different fanfics, and volume 8 will react to this fanfic as an alternative AU when this fanfic reaches the end of the Antarctica arc. (as in the fanfics will mainly react to the actual shadow slave and use fanfic reactions as breaks.
Back to the story
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Something moving far faster than what the normal eye could see was moving around a horde of awakened monsters, slaughtering them with ease, even though the source of the massacre moved like a wild beast cutting through all the abominations with a combination of gymnastics and blade skills it still seemed graceful.
A Carapace Scavenger lunged at Sunny, but the boy jumped up, dodging its attack, and hopped onto its limb and lunged straight at its head and sliced it most of its neck, killing it, but he didn't stop and jumped on top of another and stabbed the sword in its neck from above.
Sunny's eyes were wide, like a madman in concentration, his body moved as he performed the second step of the shadow dance, his precision increased, he decided to stop holding back and moved even faster, the monsters were not even able to keep up with him now, after that, it did not take long as he slaughtered all the monsters around him.
Sometime later.
Sunny was sitting on the ground, using the corpse of a monster as a backrest, his left leg almost fully stretched out while his right knee was bent, with his right arm resting on it. He watched his shadow- Ravenous Fiend, or what he named it, Imp, a supreme devil, was reduced to gathering soul shards and corpses of all the edible monsters Sunny killed and put them in Marvelous Mimic, this shadow was a transcendent devil that had basically become a walking castle after he became a sovereign.
Thankfully, the shadow could still transform into the café and house, so the mimic had more than enough space for all the things, while not having to turn the mimic into a large castle.
While Imp was working, Sunny was taking a breather as he looked at his legacy relic.
Aspect Legacy: [Shadow Dance].
legacy relic 1- claimed
legacy relic 2- claim
legacy relic 3- unclaimed
legacy…
Reading intently, Sunny smiled, "It took 2 months, but I'm finally finished," he said out loud.
Sunny had performed the first step of the shadow dance and accessed his first relic in the first week of leaving, and was both surprised and pleased by the result.
For a moment, instead of claiming the 2nd relic, he stretched out his left hand and let the soul serpent slither out of his sleeve. Sunny looked at the now-awakened titan. The soul serpent was again 6 meters tall and as thick as an adult man's arm. But this was not what Sunny was surprised by when he reclaimed the 1st relic 2 months ago.
Sunny raised his other hand, and similarly, another soul serpent came out. This is what had happened, he never thought he'd get another soul serpent. Now, not only did he have a soul serpent to fight with, but he also had others that could stay in the weapon state.
Sunny couldn't hide the smile of glee, 'Now that I have this, unlike last time, I can have at least one soul serpent in Antarctica even if I leave one with Rain. This thing will go much smoothly if I play my cards right.' He thought with a smile almost greedily at the thought of having two transcendent titans or two soul serpents turning into something from his soul sea with its beast form's [Formless] attribute or dual welding two odachi.
Sunny stopped, 'Actually, no, I'm more comfortable with one sword, and having soul serpent watch my back is much better.' He thought and looked at the legacy relics again, and his eyes narrowed. 'Now the question is, will I get another drop of ichor? The shadow god gave me one already, so it might not do anything.' Then Sunny looked at the relic.
Legacy relic 2- claim
Sunny sighed and made his decision.
'Claim,' he thought, and got ready for anything.
[legacy relic has already been claimed]
Aspect Legacy: [Shadow Dance].
legacy relic 1- claimed
legacy relic 2- claimed
legacy relic 3- unclaimed
legacy…
Sunny blinked for a moment and sighed.
'Well, I can't get a duplicate of every relic,' he paused. 'So, divine memories would once have one existence? That makes sense. If divine beings can send me back in time, it follows that anything directly related to their existence would only exist once.'
Sunny got up and looked in the sky, the sun of forgotten shore was glowing again, it was time for daytime. He then looked around to see that Imp was almost done and started walking forward.
"That's enough imp, you can go back, and you to mimic," he said, and the two shadows stopped, imp dropped what it was carrying and went back into Sunny's shadow, followed by mimic.
Sunny looked around again, making sure everything was done in the Labyrinth. He took a quick look at his new memory collection, 'it feels nice, getting memories for killing abominations again,' he thought, and looked at the 3 memories he had gone to collect.
First, the Midnight shard from the Carapace Demon, an awakened demon from the headless statue, he spent his first night in Forgotten Shore all those years ago. He also got to see the soul tree, but had avoided it this time, he had work to do.
Second, Dawn shard, it was the crown memory that Sunny had turned into a supreme one, one of the strongest memories Nephis ever had. A crown the first lord of the bright castle, got from killing an abomination, a memory sunny and the cohort had gotten near the hollow mountains all those years ago.
The third and final one sunny collected, the Dusk shard. A sunny memory got by killing Cursed Herald, a fallen monster.
These were 3 of the 7 memories needed to seal the dark seal again.
Sunny had only collected 3 because he wanted the others to grow stronger by going on their journey to gather the other 4, 'just because I'm strong enough to handle everything here doesn't mean I can let my friends stay weak, besides, if I gathered all of them then the likes of cassie wouldn't have gotten memories like the [quiet dance] she got when they got the moonlight shard, that memory helped her a lot.' He thought.
Sunny started running towards the exit of the labyrinth. He knew for a fact that they had the other 4 by now, one was already with Effie, the spear she got from the 2nd lord of the bright castle, and the fact that Cassie used the quiet dancer to guide herself out of the room 2 months ago means they had the moonlight shard. He also knew how Nephis and Cassie would plan,
'They know I'm going to the 3 places the memories are, and I told them I'm getting things to leave the forgotten shore, they either figured out that I somehow know about the shard memories or think this is a coincidence, if they assume the latter then they'll wait for me to return so they can know more about the places, if they assume the former, they know I'll bring the memories.'
Sunny looked at his fist for a moment, 'I know they trust my abilities, by I know Nephis sees me as an equal, and she knows she can't get the 3 memories by herself, which means while they trust me they will be logical and assume my chose of location is a confidence or that I'll return without the memories but with information, in that case they'll prioritize getting the other 2 memories that are close to the dark city.'
As Sunny ran he saw the light from the exit, 'then again, theirs the thing I did with Gunlaug, I did give a different true name than what Nephis and Cassie know but Cassie can only see attributes and doesn't know my flaw prevents me from lying, they can think I went to the castle to stir a commotion for my own reason and lied about a true name,' he thought as he reached the exit and jumped out into the air, before he landed his shadow, nightmare, a transcendent terror appeared under him, sunny landed on it's back and the shadow horse moved towards dark city with a speed that no human in the forgotten shore could keep up with.
Sunny was clenching his jaw, 'Actually…!" Sunny thought and pulled Nightmare's leash and slowed it down just a little.
'I can't handle Nightmare at his full speed as an ascended. This is embarrassing.' He thought with a sweatdrop.
Soon, he reached the outskirts of the dark city and got off the nightmare, dismissing the mount, and made his way into the city on foot and used Shadow Step.
He had a place to be at right now, a certain well.
***
About 5 rough-looking people were walking down a road in the dark city, not knowing a certain shadow had already reached them.
One man looked at the largest of them, the one who looked like their leader, "Do you think he'll finally give his memory to us?" he asked.
The man looked at him, "he should, we've kept him starving for a week now, he'll break any minute now," the leader said with a smug smirk.
"Yeah, that guy-"
Their conversation about a man they had trapped in a well to forcefully take his memory continued, till it reached a topic about what was happening in the castle.
"That said, did anyone find out about what happened two months ago?" someone asked.
"Still not sure, the lieutenants are keeping the information from spreading, but some managed to already slip some gossip," another said.
"Apparently, someone showed up at Gunlaug's room that day, or night, and told him he'll kill Gunlaug, that guy also said his true name, it's the 'Heavens Chosen Emperor'!" that guy said exasperated a little.
Another whistled, "Man, that just might be the best true name out there."
The leader scoffed, "Don't believe in the buffs, so some guy, a sleeper with a true name that badass, managed to infiltrate the castle and threaten Gunlaug himself only to leave without doing anything? Obviously, someone made the story up," he said with disdain.
Another got a look of disgust, "must be one of the bitch's followers!" the person he was calling out was clear. It was Nephis.
They continued saying things about her and the cohort, not noticing how the shadows around them got deeper and colder with each comment.
One guy walking at the back of the group and laughed, "I'm sure lord Gunlaug will show the girl and her little play party their place-" his voice was cut off.
The others got confused and turned around to see what had happened, only to see their buddy on the ground, tied and being strangled by shadows, his throat strangled, limbs slowly bending at unnatural angles, but not killing him.
The others got looks of fear as they summoned some weapon memories and looked around, while one tried to free the one on the ground.
"WHO'S THERE!?" one yelled.
"YOU DUMBASS IT'S OBVIOULSY A NIGHTMARE CREATURE!" another yelled.
"If you know then lower you damn voices fools!" the leader reprimanded in hushed tones.
As they looked around, trying to ignore the muffled gasps and gags of their friend on the ground, and looked for the creature that attacked them.
Then a voice came-
"Nightmare creature, ay? Well, I've been called that before." A calm voice came, and they all looked up to their left.
There, on top of a ruined building's roof, a man clad in black was sitting, his chin resting on his fist, elbow supported but his left knee. His expression was nonchalant but calm, and rage was hidden behind his eyes. The artificial sun of the forgotten shore was right above his head, casting his shadow on the wall he sitting on, the shadow was fearsomely dark and… alive?
The men looked frightened, one even dropped his sword because his grip loosened, and another fell on his knees. All of their faces were scrunched in fear as their bodies trembled.
There was something about this… thing that was terrifying.
The leader faked courage and took a trembling step forward, though his quaking lips and trembling voice, he spoke.
"W-What are y-you!?"
Hearing that, the man blinked, and a smirk appeared on his face, frightening the sleepers even more.
The shadow spoke, "Me? I was known by many names, I'll be known by more, but for you lot," his eyes darkened, "I am death," he said menacingly and disappeared in a blur of speed.
The leader had just taken half a step back when he saw the man in front of him in a hunched position, his arm reaching out forward.
The sleeper was confused, "What?" Then he felt his sight turn blurry, and he coughed, and something unusual happened; he coughed up blood.
'What?!' he thought in panic and looked down, finally, he saw what had happened.
The creature of shadows had plunged its arm through his, securing his death.
The man looked up in horror as more blood fell out of his mouth. This thing had no expression on its face; in the creature's eyes, this man's death wasn't even worthy of being amusement.
This creature of shadows was sunless.
Sunny pulled his arm out of the man's chest and let his body fall, lifeless.
The others look on in horror as the man who was trapped in shadows on the ground died of suffocation.
Now only 3 remained.
Sunny looked at them as one fell on his butt, the one who was on his knees tried to scramble away and last one couldn't move, however, their survival was not to be as shadows moved and grabbed them from their ankles and dragged them back to sunny, who had a cold look.
Only one thing escaped his mouth as he looked at them with dark, cold eyes.
"Had you lot not run your mouths about my beloved, you'd all get less painful ends."
***
Sometime later, Sunny stepped in front of a well and moved the heavy object that covered it with one hand with no effort, something that would require the strength of 5 sleepers.
Sunny smiled as he looked down into the darkness and spoke loudly, 'Hey, someone in there?"
Then a startled yet relieved voice came, "Ahh, you guys finally came, I thought I'd die so hunger today!" the angelic voice, obviously male, said.
Sunny almost smirked in amusement and joy of seeing his friend again, "Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm not with the ones who captured you," he said.
After a pause, the voice in the well spoke again, this time panicked, "w-what?! Then what are you?" he asked.
Then smiled and was about to answer, but then he blinked as he remembered something, then a frown appeared on his face, "I almost forgot how annoying this conversation was," he thought with a sigh and navigated the conversation like last time.
Eventually, the man, now again on the path of becoming Sunny's friend, walked alongside him.
Kai was as handsome as Sunny remembered him to be, which caused Sunny to blink and then almost scowl in annoyance.
'Whatever, I'll be better when I become supreme again.' Sunny thought as he recalled his current appearance.
Kai smiled as sunny when he finally saw Sunny's human appearance and spoke, "Thank god you're human, I was worried you might actually be a nightmare creature." He said.
Sunny scoffed, "Yeah, even though you're a walking lie detector." Sunny was also tempted to say that there was no point in thanking the gods since they were dead.
Kai rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Hey, I didn't know if my flaw would work on nightmare creatures, sorry about that," he said.
Sunny looked forward, "It's fine, the situation has been resolved." He said and then stopped in his tracks, causing kai to stop and look at him.
"What happened?" Kai asked,
Sunny looked at him, "Kai, earlier you said you'd repay me for helping you, right?" he asked.
Kai blinked, "Uh, yeah. Why? Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked. he was a bit worried since he didn't know what impossible task Sunny might demand.
Sunny turned fully to face him and spoke, "I want you to be my friend." He said, causing Kai's eyes to widen a little.
"H-Huh?" he stuttered.
Sunny just looked at him, "I said I want you to be my friend, you know, the real kind, oh and I don't really care if you're a popular Idol, neither do I care what kind of benefits your personality or popularity can get me, I just want to be your friend because I know tell you're gonna be an honest friend, that's all." Sunny said, the statement was too… cheesy for Sunny, but that was the truth, unlike last time, Sunny didn't accidentally stumble upon Kai; this time, Sunny didn't want to get his hands on the memory market in the bright castle.
The honest truth was, Sunny wanted his friends back; he wanted the bonds he had with everyone like before the 3rd nightmare, even if he had to make them from scratch.
Kai's flaw and personally, would make it so that he would trust Sunny faster than anyone; all Sunny had to do was be honest, and this part was really easy.
Sunny turned to walk again, "I know this is kinda fast but that's just how I am, think about it and tell me if you to be my friend," sunny stopped for a moment and looked back over his shoulder, "that being said, I'm really ambitious, I will get us all out of the forgotten shore, and I won't stop there, I'll become a saint, then sovereign, and then further." Sunny smirked, "Danger will follow me wherever I go, and I'm not as kind and innocent as you think I am. I'll kill if I have to, if I want to, though I keep that part in control and try to avoid unnecessary killing; exceptions apply. Anyways, if you can handle being friends with me, then meet me in the morning two days from now at the place where the changing star's cohort resides." He said and started walking away.
Kai was too stunned to speak, but he gathered himself up and called out, "W-Wait!"
Sunny stopped and looked over his shoulder again, Kai asked.
"Who are you really?"
Sunny smirked, "I'm many things, and I'll be known by more, but might have heard of me by my true name, the Heavens Chosen Emperor." He said as Kai's eyes widened.
"The heavens' chosen emperor?! As in the one who infiltrated the castle and threatened Gunlaug?! W-wait- you actually got a true name in your first nightmare?!"
Sunny turned and started walking again as he waved his left arm, "Yes to all those questions." He said.
Kai was even more stunned, he was saved by the guy who rebelled against Gunlaug, the guy who is one of the few who got a true name in their first nightmare. But most of all––
Kai looked as Sunny took a turn and disappeared. Kai looked at his hands and thought, "h-he really wanted to be my friend, j-just because I'm me? I-I can have an actual friend who wouldn't care about my looked or singing?" it was embarrassing, he's a grown up but still some tears came out of his eyes as he remembered discovering that every he thought he could call his honest friend or close to him were only with him because of his singing talent or looks.
But the heavens' chosen emperor? He was honest, Kai still had hope in having at least one honest friend.
Kai smiled through some tears and looked up, "Thank you, sunny, really thank you," in that moment, Kai made his mind, he didn't know what sunny was thinking, but he would follow him, even if it meant taking on the dream realm, as Sunny's friend, shoulder-to-shoulder, for once, his flaw helped him.
Kai smiled and used his aspect to take flight, not noticing in the darkness of the dark city that he was standing near patches of blood, at the place where Sunny had slaughtered 5 people, their corpses missing.
***
Near the bright castle, 2 sleepers were on guard duty.
"Man, this is so boring." One complained.
"So? Even if it's boring, we get a place to eat, sleep, and live at, plus most nightmare creatures don't even come close to these areas, we're lucky if anything!" The other reprimanded him.
The first guard scoffed, "Whatever!" he said, and the other guard was about to speak when they both smelled something awful.
"Ugh! What the hell is that smell?!" one said as he looked to his right.
"Not sure, smells like human blood! Let's see what it is!" he said and the two walked towards the smell carefully.
When they reached it behind a wall of a destroyed house in front of the castle wall, their expressions turned into horrified ones.
"WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL!" one should.
"T-THIS! WHAT COULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS!?" the other yelled.
They thought as they looked at 5 headless corpses of sleepers that had left the castle a few hours ago, not only were their heads missing, but their bodies had horrifying wounds. One had a hole in his chest. Another's arms were missing, they had been ripped out by brute pulling force, not sword slashes, which made it far more painful. Another's joints were bent at unnatural angles, and one had too many deep gashes on his body to be recognised.
On the wall, a chilling message in blood was written.
'YOUR END IS NEAR GUNLAUGE'
It was Sunny's handiwork, though he didn't leave any sign that he did it.
The guards rushed into the castle to report to the lieutenants and Gunlauge.
***
In the headquarters of Changing Star's cohort, some people gathered for a meeting for the next hunt.
As everyone poured into the room, followed by the inseparable duo of Nephis and Cassie, they noticed a note on the table that was not supposed to be there.
Immediately, they all went into high alert, and Effie approached the letter carefully; it was pinned to the table with a kitchen knife.
Effie hunched over a little to see what was written on it. When she did, she blinked.
"Hmm, princess, I don't think this is from Gunlauge." She said, causing Nephis to narrow her eyes.
"Why?" she asked.
Effie took out the knife and held the letter up. it read:
'Let's meet 2 days from now, in this room, dear Changing Star' – Most Noble cockroach.
Reading that Nephis blinked, 'most noble cockroach?' she realized instantly, 'Sunny's back.' A hint of a smile appeared at the corner of her lips, something no one detected. Then she blinked, "wait, why did sunny write 'dear'?" she thought in wonder, again a warm, slight, almost unnoticeable warm feeling entered her chest, one that hadn't appeared since she met sunny 2 months ago.
Shaking it off, she looked at the group, "No need to worry, this person is trustworthy." She said with confidence.
***
Inside the Dark Cathedral of the forgotten shore, Sunny was sitting in his room.
He turned his head a little and looked in the direction of the Dark knight, "I wanna kill it so bad now, but I got my schedule booked," he said out loud and looked at a backpack-sized leather sack in his hands, it was a normal object not a memory, and it was about to change.
Sunny sighed, 'Time to make a copy of the [Bag of withholding] that I gave to Rain all that time ago. I can't show mimic to anyone, so I'll have to make a large storage space-based memory.' He thought and got to work.
"Mark my words this time that damned Dark Knight will die by my hands and mine only." He thought.
***
Kai was soaring through the air, making his way to the location, Sunny had asked him to appear at. It was already
Kai dropped down and made his way to the main building, he was smiling, excited to see Sunny again. "I wonder what he was doing for the past two days?" he thought when–
"You did show up." A voice came from behind him, causing Kai to jump a little and let out a "Ahh!". Then he turned around and smiled as he saw the person.
"Sunny!" he called.
"The one and only," he replied with a smile. Sunny looked up, "I'll assume this means you don't mind being my friend?" He asked.
Kai nodded with a pleasant smile, "Yes, I'm not sure what exactly you want to do, but your words were genuine when you said you want to be friends, so I figured I'll trust you."
Sunny smiled and started walking as Kai followed, "Kai, I'm glad you showed up, but I'll need you to do that today. I'm going to have an important conversation with my former cohort." He said, and Kai blinked.
"Former cohort? Did you leave it?" he asked.
"Yeah, we had some arguments and different views on things, we managed to fix our relationship, but I haven't joined the cohort again," Sunny replied, filling Kai in on the situation.
Kai noticed a small smile on Sunny's face as well as excitement in his eyes, considering Kai wasn't extremely perceptive to such things yet, it went to show how excited Sunny was.
Since Kai grew up with a normal and decent childhood, he went to a childish conclusion and with a cheeky smile asked sunny, "You seem unusually happy to see them again, sunny. Do you have a crush?" he asked teasingly, not knowing how accurately he hit the mark.
Sunny's eyes widened. With no one especially strong around him, he had let his guard down and let emotions show on his face; now Kai's innocent question had trapped Sunny as his flaw forced him to answer.
In this case, Sunny did the only thing he could, damage control, he quickly used shadow sense to make sure no one important was in hearing range and made sure only Kai heard his answer. he looked at Kai with nervous sweat on his forehead and answered, "Y-Yes…"
Kai's eyes widen, he didn't expect Sunny to answer. If Sunny did, Kai wasn't expecting a 'yes', but now that he did kai got excited and as soon as sunny gave his answer Kai, with an excited smiled asked, "Really? Who?!"
Sunny's face paled. He was about to ask Kai not to ask that, but Kai was too fast for that. Once again, he made sure no one else was listening and answered in a low voice. "N-Nephis, the Changing Star," Sunny answered.
'Damn it!' sunny thought, Kai knowing this wasn't a problem, but this was too embarrassing to admit.
Sunny looked at kai and held his shoulder in hurry as the guy realized exactly who sunny liked, sunny spoke in a hushed tone, "Kai no matter what don't tell anyone about this yet, please, promise me that." Sunny requested.
It took a moment by Kai nodded, "Y-Yeah, you got it! I promise I'll keep your secret a secret!" he promised.
Sunny sighed in relief, Kai was one person whose promise could be trusted in such matters.
After a moment of collecting themselves, Sunny and Kai started wailing again. After a few seconds, Kai looked at Sunny with a teasing smirk.
"So, how long have you been crushing on this person Sunny?" he asked.
Sunny sighed. this was a little tricky; if he answered in numbers, it'd be more than 10 years, but Sunny knew how to handle his flaw in such situations.
"Since before we reached the Dark city," he answered, a truthful answer. Kai just could never imagine that Sunny had regressed.
Kai blinked, "I see," then his expression turned more genuine and he asked, "So I've heard of her reputation in the castle, is your crush like the kind you have for someone famous or–" his question was cut off.
"Unconditional," Sunny said.
Kai blinked again, "Huh?"
Sunny turned his head as they kept walking, "My feelings for her, they didn't form because of some stories, I travelled with a her for a long time, I know her better than anyone else alive, I know all her strengths and weaknesses, all her skills and flaws, and I'm not talking about her aspect or combat abilities," sunny paused for a moment, "M-My feelings are genuine, to me she's someone important, someone I want to protect, but I'm not like her followers, my feeling for her doesn't make me want to be in her shadow, I have my own goals to achieve, if I have to better than her for them then I'll do it. but I still want her by my side, that's the kind of feelings I have for her. I value her more than my own life. It's complicated to explain, and this is not the best way to explain, but that's the best explanation I can give." Sunny said as they entered the building.
This was too cheesy for Sunny, but his flaw made it so he had to give a truthful answer, so if he had to do so, he might as well answer in a way that made him come off as more likable, right?
Kai looked at Sunny for a minute and then smiled, "I knew it, you are a kind person." He said.
Sunny blinked, then chuckled lightly, "I don't know about that," he said.
Kai looked forward, "This girl is lucky to have someone like you care for her." He said.
Sunny blinked, then he smiled. It felt nice to hear that. 'Damn right she is because I'm the best lover in two worlds, two timelines even.' he thought proudly.
When they reached the building, Sunny sensed the 4 people inside the meeting room and looked at Kai, "I'll go in first and get the meeting started, come in when I call for you." he said and Kai nodded.
Sunny turned and knocked on the door. He heard Caster call, "Come in." and again, Sunny looked annoyed, 'Why him again?' He thought, Sunny would like it much more to hear one of his friends' voices, or even better, his Nephis.
Sunny sighed and opened the door, stepping in. As soon as he did, he noticed all the gazes on him.
Caster was hiding annoyance.
Effie was grinning.
Cassie had a small smile.
And Nephis, her eyes were looking over him, Sunny blinked internally, 'She's looking to make sure I'm not injured, isn't she?' He hid a smile.
This is what Nephis did when Sunny introduced himself as master sunless too, make sure he was unharmed and heal any injuries if there were any, even if it meant being hurt but her aspect.
Sunny smiled a little as he looked at her, "I'm fine, no injuries whatsoever." He said, confusing the others, to them, the information came out of nowhere, but Nephis?
She blinked in surprise, then tilted her head to the side, 'He could tell?' she thought, and looked back at Sunny's still expression, less hiding the relief of seeing him unharmed.
"That's good, but why did you leave a note?" she asked.
Sunny replied, "It'd be rude for a guest to visit unannounced." He said the other accepted the answer.
For some reason, she wanted to tell Sunny that he wasn't a guest, that he didn't need to announce his visit beforehand like a stranger, but she brushed it off, 'What's happening to me today?' She thought as she looked at Sunny.
"By the way, I have a new friend I invited," Sunny said, and the others quirked an eyebrow.
Sunny turned his head and called, "That's your sign, Kai." He said, and someone entered.
Then, Kai entered, "Hey, everyone." He said with a smile and a wave.
Cassie chuckled, "This is weird, I think I heard Night from Nightingale." She said.
Nephis looked at the two boys with wide eyes, "S-Sunny, w-what's he doing here?" she asked in barely visible shock, confusing Effie and Caster.
Sunny hid an amused smirk, 'Oh, I'm gonna enjoy this.' He thought.
After a few minutes, when everything was explained.
The girls were composed, though this time Sunny noted that Nephis' eyes stayed more on Sunny, like the sudden appearance of the idol wasn't as important as Sunny's safe return. However, Sunny brushed it off for now.
Sunny gave Kai a side glance and held a smile of glee, It was time to short-circuit this guy's fuse.
Caster looked at Sunny, "Why did you bring this guy here if you only met him 2 days ago?" he asked neutrally.
Sunny looked back. that was a good question, This place was not the best for new friends to hang out at. What was Sunny's reason?
Sunny answered, "This guy's flaw, his flaw is that he can detect lies. I figured it would help some of you trust my words." Sunny said.
The others blinked. Caster spoke first, "And you just revealed his flaw like that?" he asked suspiciously.
"This guy practically introduces himself with his flaw; he didn't this time because I introduced him first," Sunny said and looked at Kai.
"That's right, my flaw does let me tell if someone is lying." He said with a smile. Caster was about to say something, but he was cut off.
Nephis looked at Sunny, "Sunny, what makes to think we need a lie detector to trust you?" she asked calmly.
Sunny smiled as he sat down on one of the seven chairs around the table, gesturing for Kai to take a seat next to him.
"Oh, I know you'll trust me, and I know I trust you, but Effie and Caster, they haven't known me for as long as you, so it would make sense for them not to trust me for now. So, I brought Kai along," he said.
Nephis took in the information, took a glance at everyone, and then nodded at Sunny.
Sunny was about to speak, but Caster spoke again, "And how can we trust that this person won't lie for you? he is your friend, and how do we even know you two are not lying about his flaw?" he asked with crossed arms.
Kai looked at him while Sunny smirked confidently as he put his leg over his feet, getting more comfortable in the chair. "Kai met me just 2 days ago, if we count the number of minutes we've spent together, it doesn't even make up to 30 minutes. Neph's goal is to get everyone out of Forgotten Shore, and so is mine. If I were to lie here and say something that jeopardizes the mission, then Kai will speak up, after all, any false information can end up killing all the sleepers, including Kai; he won't stay quiet then." Kai blinked, hearing that everyone looked at him.
"Y-Yeah, that does make sense, I can't just stay quiet if so many people will die, but I don't think Sunny is the kind of person to do that," he said.
Sunny smiled as he leaned back in his chair, "yes, not my style to kill people for no reason," he said. Some blinked, did that mean he would kill humans if there was a reason? Nephis was the only one who was not bothered.
Sunny, however, was hiding some pain; he had to answer the last part of Caster's question. Sunny looked at him, "As for his flaw, I'm not lying about it, but it's up to you to believe us, it's either you take your gamble and trust the information on his flaw or simply believe my word. I don't really care what you think." Sunny said and looked and Nephis.
"Because the one who needs to trust me doesn't need a lie detector to trust me," he said with a smile, causing Nephis to blink in surprise.
Sunny was showing too much trust in her suddenly, and it made her feel what she had as identified as happiness.
Sunny looked at her, "You trust me, right?" he asked, more like stated.
Nephis nodded, "Yes, I trust you, sunny." She said.
Sunny nodded, not even looking at Kai for confirmation.
Kai, however, did bump his elbow into Sunny's side. Sunny looked at him with hidden confusion.
Kai covered his face so only Sunny saw him, and with a teasing smile, he mouthed, "You sure made some fast progress."
Sunny blinked, then his eyes widened a little and suddenly got up from his chair, but did not quite stand up and pulled Kai by his arm and turned them the other way, confusing the other greatly.
'What's happening?' they thought. even Cassie could tell something strange was happening, and Effie also filled her in.
Sunny covered his face and looked at a grinning Kai and said, "Do not bring that up now, I'm not going to repeat myself." Sunny said in a hushed whisper.
Kai suppressed a chuckle, "Okay, okay, sorry." He said, and they turned around to sit in the chairs again properly.
Sunny took a side glance at kai before looking forward, 'weird, that's not how he used to ack before,' he thought for a second, 'maybe it's because I didn't tell him about my feelings, Luster did say his friends teased him a lot after he got together with Kim.' Sunny thought back to the conversation he had with his Antarctica cohort members. he also reminded himself that he won't let his cohort die in Antarctica this time.
Turning his attention back to the current meeting he looked at the group, they were still staring at him for what had happened, seeing this cunny cleared his throat, "don't mind us, let's talk about the important matters." He said, getting a little more serious. "What's your progress?" he asked.
This time, Cassie entered the conversation as everyone turned to him, "We have made some important progress, nearly half of the important work is done, but we will need your help for the other half, that is why we have been waiting for you," she said.
Sunny raised an eyebrow, "Oh, so can't do this without me?" Sunny looked at Nephis and smirked, "Sounds like you need me," he said.
The others' heads snapped towards him with a shocked expression at the implication he made. However, Nephis remained calm and looked at sunny.
She looked at Sunny, "Yes, Sunny, I need you," she said calmly.
Now all heads snapped towards her in shock, Kai, Effie, and even Caster's mouth hung open as Cassie looked on in shock, a slight blush on her face at the mental image of Nephis and Sunny together in–
'Wait no no no!' she calmed herself. She was blind, imagining how they both looked, by their visual description was the one thing she was free enough to do, not having to take any visual information anymore.
The silence was broken by sunny, "Pff–" a laugh escaped sunny as his head flew back, "Oh my– Ha-haha!" he calmed down as everyone watched him, he looked around the room and saw some glasses near the window and on a table, and walked to it and picked up some glasses, 3 in each hand by their handles.
He walked back and placed a glass in front of everyone, summoning the endless spring. he poured some water for everyone and sat back down and looked at Cassie.
"Cas, you need to help this girl understand things," Sunny said, still with an amused smile.
Cassie didn't say anything but nodded quickly, a blush still on her face.
Nephis tilted her head to the side, 'did I say something wrong?' she thought, confused at Sunny's and everyone else's reaction.
Sunny looked at her and decided to stop playing, "Alright, back to business, I'll assume you guys want me to help you all get the shard memories?" he asked with a knowing smirk.
Everyone except Kai widened their eyes.
caster spoke first, "How do you–" Sunny cut him off.
"The secrets of the forgotten shore are lying around in the ruins. I don't need visions to get out of here; all the information I need is right here in my head," he said, pointing at his head with a playful smirk. He had also made sure that Caster didn't finish his question, or Sunny would give more information than intended. well, it's not like anyone would believe that divine creatures sent him back in time. The two things he said were not connected to each other, but both were true; some secrets of the forgotten shore were in the ruins, and he knew what to do to get out of this place from his past experience.
The others looked at each other as Kai blinked in confusion.
Sunny's mood did a 360, he smiled, "Anyway! The point is, I know about the shards, and there is no point in going to collect them." He said.
Now the others' eyes narrowed in confusion and worry, "and why is that?" Nephis asked.
Sunny smirked and raised his hand on the table, light fragments appeared, and 3 memories dropped on the table and spoke, "Because I already got them, presenting to you the 3 shard memories, the ones you wanted from Ashen Barrow, Labyrinth, and the edges of the Hollow mountains." He said.
Effie spoke first, "T-These are the last 3 shards? But how?!" she asked in shock.
'Last 3? So did get the other two in the last 2 months.' He thought and spoke, "How? I went, challenged the guardians, won, and took the memories alongside other things." He said.
Cassie spoke first, now in worry and confusion, "But Sunny, the memory guardians are supposed to be strong creatures." How did you–"
"How did I beat them? Well, the monsters guarding them weren't all that strong compared to me. The Midnight shard was with the Carapace Demon, an awakened demon. The Dusk shard was a memory I got by killing Cursed Herald, a fallen monster. The Dawn shard was near the hollow mountain with the corps of the first lord, I just had to get it, of course, the journey itself to these places was hard, and I did some extra hunting, but they were just a few thousand awakened and dormant abominations, nothing to worry about." He said in his most charming voice.
Everyone started at sunny, then…
"Pff–"
They had to look at Kai, who had spit out the water he was drinking.
Sunny looked at him calmly, but inside.
'HAHAH! So, people can spit out water when they are shocked!' he thought with a suppressed chuckle.
Caster, with an angry look, got up and slammed his hand on the table, "That's not possible! How could someone like you be able to–" he stopped when everyone looked, except Sunny, looked at him with an irritated expression.
"I'll ask you not to base Sunny's abilities on his background; he's far more capable than whatever level you perceive him at," Nephis said harshly, even if there was no expression on her face, her voice gave her anger away.
Sunny smiled at seeing Nephis stand up for him.
Effie picked up a shard memory and looked inspected it, "Still, how did you manage to survive? Even cohorts of sleepers would have died on just one of those places," she said as she looked at the sunny with a drop of sweat on her forehead.
Sunny looked at her, "How did I survive? Simple, I used my skills and killed all the creatures that attacked me," he said, paused, and he shifted in his chair so he could look at everyone, including a mildly shocked Kai.
'This is going to be fun,' he thought in glee.
Sunny shrugged and spoke again, "Besides, I killed an awakened tyrant and an awakened human in my first nightmare; killing some fallen abominations now is nothing for me," he said, and Effie blinked in surprise. Those who doubted him then blinked in shock when they saw and heard Kai spit out some more water to the side in surprise, and caught a little.
Simultaneously, everyone started believing that Kai's flaw could detect lies, because no one could give such genuine reactions to the things Sunny was saying. And if Sunny was telling the truth, then they were looking at one of the most powerful individuals in the Forgotten Shore.
'Let's turn it up a notch,' sunny thought, and looked at Effie and smiled again.
"Besides, what's the big deal in dying?' Sunny asked.
Everyone looked at him. Cassie spoke.
"Umm, sunny, it is a big deal, we don't want you to die." She said in a worried tone. Had Sunny turned suicidal from his isolation?
Sunny noted the slight worry in Nephis' eyes.
He looked at them, "Oh, I didn't mean it like that. What I mean is– what's the big deal in dying? I've died before, quite a few times." He said with a smile, everyone heard Kai's glass drop to the ground as he looked at Sunny. The expression was so genuine that in that moment, everyone believed Sunny and looked on in shock.
Kai finally spoke in a shocked tone, "T-Then h-how?" he couldn't finish the question, but it was so obvious that Sunny answered with a smile and answered
"Dying is too pedestrian, so I walk it off." He said with a calm smile.
Kai's face turned more horrified.
Sunny kept calm, still smiling, "Besides killing me quite hard, there was this one time my head was chopped off, but I still survived. The first time something killed me, it was a fallen titan. Slapped me into a mountain, of course, like I said, I walked it off," he said.
Kai's mouth slowly hung open, the closed then opened, then he fell back in his chair as he watched in shock, 'who the hell did I befriended?' he thought, he wasn't even afraid, just… shocked.
Sunny looked to see that everyone, even the ever-emotionless Nephis, was looking at him with a look of bewilderment and shock.
Sunny smiled, 'Guess that's enough playing for now.' He thought, excited to reveal more in the future, of course, right now they were not completely believing him, except Kai at least, the stories were too ridiculous, at least they would think he was joking. And at this point, if Sunny were in their place, he would think that too.
he gave them time to process the conversation. After a while, Nephis was the one to speak.
"Hmm, your journey aside for now, can you tell us what your plan is next? If you know about shard memories, then you must know we can't take the crimson spire without all the sleepers in the forgotten shore. what is your plan? When will it begin?" she asked.
Sunny looked at her, "My plan? the next part of my plan was in motion since before I left on my little trip" he said, the others blinked.
Cassie spoke, "What is that plan if you don't mind sharing?"
Sunny looked her way, "The hard part is done, earlier Effie had said 'the last 3 shard memories. I'll assume you guys gathered the 4 that were close by in the last 3 months." He said and Nephis nodded.
Sunny continued, "I got the last 3, now all we have to do is gather all the sleepers around and attack the spire and get through back to the waking world." He said.
"That's easier said than done, Duffus," Effie said. She wasn't trying to be malicious with the comment, it's just how she talked to him when they met.
Sunny quirked an eyebrow, 'can't believe I missed that name,' he thought.
Caster budded in, "As long as Gunlaug is around, we can't get the sleeper to our side."
For a moment, everyone stayed quiet, then Sunny spoke with a smirk, getting everyone's attention, "As long as Gunlaug is alive, right?" he said more than asked.
Kai blinked, "Uh? Yeah," he said hesitantly, something about Sunny's smile was scary, and not the 'I'm evil' kind of scary, but the 'you aren't ready for me' kind of scary.
Sunny spoke again, with that scary smile, "As long as Gunlaug is alive, huh? That can be arranged." He said.
Some of them seemed a little put off by his reaction, except Nephis, she was calm, which would make sense, she's not that weak-willed and understands Sunny more than most, he won't kill innocents, but Gunlaug? Not only did he have to die, but he is the kind of man who should die, using women and people because of their weakness to please and pleasure himself.
Nephis spoke, "Sunny, before we take down Gunlaug, we need your help with something."
Sunny raised an eyebrow, "What would that be?" he asked.
"till now we've been preparing for your return to go and take the remaining shard memories but now that you got them we have most of the work done, all we have to do is prepare an attack against Gunlaug," Nephis looked at Effie, "however, two days ago some sleepers died, and now Gunlaug is trying to pin the blame on Effie and make her take the fall as a way to weaken us. Currently, we are not strong enough to defeat him." She was stopped by Sunny.
"And you need my help in dealing with that situation?" he asked.
Nephis nodded, "Yes, if you could hide Effie for a while, I was planning on using the expedition to saturate my soul core, but now that you've taken care of that, I'll have to think of something else." She said.
Sunny nodded, and after a moment he spoke, "I understand your situation," some of them smiled, "However, I'm not going to help you hide her." He said causing others to frown.
"Why?" Effie asked with a disappointed frown, and this was about her safety.
Sunny looked at her, "because I'll be busy till tomorrow, and then after that you won't need to worry Gunlaug."
This caused the others to raise their eyebrows.
"And why is that?" Effie asked.
Sunny smirked, "Because tomorrow I'll kill Gunlaug." He declared.
They widened their eyes.
"But sunny, that's too dangerous!" Kai spoke first.
Cassie followed, "Sunny I know you're strong but Gunlaug is no doubt fully saturated soul core and he had a transcendent echo." She said.
Sunny raised an eyebrow, 'She let the echo part slip?' he thought, but the Kai was too focused on him, and the others most likely knew.
Sunny was about to speak, but Nephis stood up, and everyone looked at her.
'Huh?' Sunny thought.
"Sunny, I know you are strong, very strong, but fighting Gunlaug alone is dangerous, even with a fully saturated soul core, it's going to be very difficult to defeat him. we should wait and all get stronger, to defeat him," she said, calm as always.
No one noticed, not eve Cassie, but sunny did, she was worried… almost scared, for him, for sunny. Did she realize that? most likely not.
Sunny smiled, got up, took the shard memories back, and looked at her with a smile, pleasant one, "Don't worry, neph, nothing will happen. I promise." He said, but she wasn't convinced.
Sunny turned and walked towards the door, causing others to blink.
"Wait, you're leaving already?" Nephis asked.
Sunny held the door handle. "As much as I'd like to spend some time with you, I have to get to the cathedral."
Effie smirked and jokingly asked, "You got a date?"
Everyone blinked. Even if it was a joke, it wasn't practical, a date? While he's working on a plan against Gunlaug, surely not–
"Sure, something like that," he said as he looked over his shoulder. Everyone looked at him with slightly wide eyes.
'…what?'
But before they could ask, Sunny had already left,
"w-wait for me!" Kai called out as he followed him.
A few seconds later.
"A date, huh? Didn't expect that from the Duffus." Effie said as she walked out of the room.
Caster had no thought on the matter as he walked out too.
After they left, Cassie spoke.
"I didn't expect that," Cassie said, and looked towards where she knew Nephis was standing, "you were right, I didn't think he would actually bring the shard memories by himself." She said and continued, "We totally forgot to talk about the rumour of the Heavens' chosen Emperor." She said and waited for an answer. When it didn't, she called again.
"Neph?"
But no answer came.
Cassie's flaw was cruel, but right now, Nephis was glad Cassie couldn't see her face.
Nephis, the Changing Star, stood there with a strange expression on her face, Sunny's words repeating in her head.
'a date?'
'Sure, Something like that.'
Nephis was in a turmoil, 'Sunny's going on a date? With who? Wait, why do I care? And why is my chest hurting? I'm not using my aspect, then why?' she didn't know what was happening but the idea of sunny being close to other girls didn't sit right, didn't feel right.
She looked at Cassie with a determined look, "Cassie." She called.
"Y-Yes?" The sudden call startled her.
"I'm going to the cathedral; I want to see who Sunny's new acquaintance is," she said.
It took a second, then Cassie blinked, "wait, are you jealous? If so, I don't think Sunny is actually going–" she was cut off.
"I'm not jealous," Nephis said.
'I'm not jealous, I just want to make sure Sunny is alright and not being deceived, yes, that is all…' she thought.
Cassie sighed, on the outside, she seemed calm, but on the inside, there was a typhoon–
'What's happening? Did I understand the entire vision wrong? Things aren't going as I saw them to be in the visions.' She did not understand a single thing.
What was happening? She didn't know, but she had somewhere
***
Away from the cohort's headquarters, after parting ways with Kai, Sunny made his way to the cathedral.
'I feel bad for doing this to Neph, but taking extreme measures is one way to make people understand their deepest desires and feelings,' he thought. That's what Cassie had done when they were 26 in the old timeline to make Nephis realize she wanted to be with Sunny when he called himself master sunless.
Sunny used shadow sense when he was halfway there to sense making her way towards him, a smirk came to his face, 'protective are we?' he thought with a smile.
Every single thing was going as he planned, truly [Fate shatterer] is a great attribute to have. However, then some annoyance came to his face. Higher rank in forgotten shore meant the attribute will balance things out with something even more dangerous in the future.
However, nothing will stop this treacherous shadow this time.
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This chapter is twice as long as the others to make up for the delay.
The next two chapters are completely combat