Sunny stared in horror at the serpentine atrocity in the sky.
'That-! That thing is at least a Fallen...'
He wasn't entirely certain but seeing as how the slayer grew wary at its presence, it was very likely.
That alone said everything Sunny needed to know.
Even from afar, the beast was far more imposing than the Awakened monster they were already risking their lives against.
A Nightmare Creature of the Fallen rank was one league above an Awakened creature. It would take an entire cohort of Ascended Masters to beat just one of those disasters.
How could two sleepers ever hope to defeat such a thing?
They were already plagued with one unbeatable adversary but now another had joined the mix.
Sunny felt a cold, familiar despair settle heavily onto his shoulders.
'This is really where I'll die...'
In some random unexplored death zone in the dream realm...
Why had he been dealt such a miserable hand?
Life had never been kind to him. Even before the Spell had infected him, existence in the outskirts had been little more than a slow, grinding struggle to stay alive.
That was the fate of rats like him.
But he had hoped - just maybe - that after awakening, things would be different. He would find his sister, drink coffee whenever he pleased, get filthy rich and perhaps even meet a beautiful woman.
He had hoped he'd be able to live rather than just survive...
But he was denied even that.
The moment he set foot in that sleeping pod his fate had been decided - no, since he had been infected by the Spell, fate had done nothing but torment and curse him every step of the way.
So was this it?
Was he supposed to just accept it?
Keel over like a miserable wretch and die beneath a beasts shadow?
No, of course not.
The outskirts had given him many things, most of them cruel and unwanted. But there was one gift it had given him that Sunny treasured more than anything else.
Spite.
After all, his spite had killed Auro of the nine.
His spite had conquered an impossible nightmare.
And if fate expected him to roll over and die now…
Then he would live in spite of it.
'To hell with fate!'
He shook off his creeping dread and immediately broke into a sprint toward Nephis and the struggling slayer below.
As he ran, Sunny began thinking which of their opponents to target first.
But then another thought crossed his mind.
'Why go for one, when I can target both?'
The serpent was undoubtedly the strongest being there and commanded the most fear, but to face a Fallen creature demanded strength far beyond what a sleeper was capable of. So if they wanted any chance to win, Sunny would have to pit the serpent against their greatest chance...
The slayer.
Nephis, who had also been stunned by the sudden appearance of the creature, recovered far quicker than the monster did.
While the slayer's attention flickered upwards toward the screaming serpent, she moved.
She ripped her blade free from the creature's body with a spray of dark blood. In the same motion, she pivoted and slashed at its leg.
Unfortunately, its chitin was much tougher compared to its scavenger cousins, so her blade failed to sever the limb.
Its massive body twisted violently as pain finally registered. One of its tyrannical scythe limbs rose high above her, the curved blade gleaming wetly in the lightning.
But as the strike came down-
A massive shape slammed into the slayer from the side.
The crablike Echo crashed into the monster with a heavy, chitinous thud, exactly as Sunny had commanded. The impact wasn't enough to topple the awakened creature, but it was just enough to ruin its balance.
The scythe - which was already in motion - veered off course, narrowly missing her body but instead searing Nephis' arm off.
The slayer screeched and swatted her away with one of its legs. Nephis was thrown back and rolled on the rocks, losing her grip on the sword. Her eyes momentarily lost focus.
Sunny's eyes widened and he felt pained at the sight but he knew she'd be ok if she used her healing flames.
However, within that same moment, another wail tore through the sky.
The serpent had aimed its gaze below, staring down at the insignificant creatures beneath it. It folded its black wings and dove downwards like a spear thrown from the heavens.
Sunny's stomach dropped when he realised something.
Its trajectory wasn't aimed at the slayer or even Nephis.
It was aimed for him.
'Curses...'
Sunny didn't slow down.
He began to run faster, bolting straight towards the slayer.
Wind screamed past his ears as the monstrous shadow above grew larger with terrifying speed. The pressure alone felt suffocating, like the sky itself was collapsing.
His mind raced.
'Good. Exactly what I wanted. Come after me you bastard!'
Sunny changed direction, diving at the last possible moment and behind him, the air exploded.
The serpent crashed into the battlefield like a falling star, colliding with the slayer at tremendous speed and resulting in a violent tangle of flesh and jagged limbs.
However, the serpent was just too large for Sunny to escape the violent impact entirely. He didn't know what had hit him, perhaps some debris or a part of the serpent's monstrous body, but he had been sent flying like a rag doll.
… Somehow, Sunny found himself lying on the ground. His body felt weird, and he couldn't breathe. Something bitter was flowing from his mouth, making him choke.
It was blood. He was drowning in his own blood.
Weakly, Sunny tried to move, but his limbs wouldn't listen to him. Only the shadow listened, enveloping his body and delaying the inevitable a little.
In fact, he suspected that was the only reason he was still alive. The augmentation from his shadow had provided just a bit more defence.
'I'm hurt...'
With his thoughts moving slower and slower, as though submerged in dense fog, he looked up, hoping to see the stars.
Instead, he saw a calamitous duel.
The slayer and the serpent ensued in chaotic and relentless battle, one in which the serpent was winning. The slayer had received the full brunt force of that terrible impact and now looked a sorry state. One scythe was gone, and a section of its carapace had been cracked open, leaking fountains of azure blood, yet it still persisted, stabbing at the scales of the serpent but its remaining scythe bouncing off harmlessly.
The serpents massive body had wrapped around the awakened monster in a violent tangle of coils and thrashing wings. The fallen was slowly constricting the slayer, squeezing it to death.
Due to the spikes of the slayer, this meant that the serpent was also impaling itself as it did so. But the spikes seemed to do little damage to the great beast, paying no mind to them.
Sunny couldn't allow things to end like this.
At this rate, If the Slayer couldn't kill the beast let alone inflict damage, then him, Nephis, and the others were just as good as dead.
In that moment, hovering on the edge of nothingness, Sunny realized that he was about to die.
He had to struggle against the fog that permeated his mind, slowing down his thoughts and dampening all emotions.
All except for fear.
Despite the fact that his body was broken and his mind was paralyzed, some stubborn part of Sunny was still refusing to give up. He wasn't ready to die. At least not without giving his all to survive.
He was revolted at the thought of giving the world the satisfaction of the win.
That would be so infuriating. Hadn't he told Hero that he was going to survive no matter what, to spite them all?
That's right. He might be a shameless liar, but a promise was still a promise.
But… how was he even supposed to survive?
No matter how he looked at it, the situation seemed to be hopeless.
Sunny tried to pierce through the fog that enveloped his mind. However, his attempts were aimless and weak. It was hard to find purchase in the fog.
He needed an anchor.
Suddenly, a simple thought caught his attention. It was something that he had repeated a thousand times, burning it into his mind.
'Repetition, experience, clarity.'
Clarity…
He remembered what Nephis had taught him. The essence of combat was murder. Any action performed during a battle served only one of two purposes: it was either to kill your enemy or prevent the enemy from killing you. If he could learn that, he would have enough clarity to master the mind.
Back then, he didn't really understand the profound meaning behind the simple word "clarity" that Nephis had used. But now, with his mind in shambles, he was finally able to grasp it.
The two truths behind the essence and purpose of combat were simple and solid, almost tangible. Even in his half-conscious state, he was able to use them as a stable foundation in the fog. Then, he reformed his mind around this foundation, building it along the stark lines of that truth.
Suddenly, he was able to think again.
What's more, his thoughts were clear and incredibly fast, free of all unnecessary distractions.
This was clarity.
With the world now shown in a new light, He began calmly weighing his options.
His body was pretty much useless. He couldn't move his limbs at all. The shadow still followed his commands, but it was busy doing an important job - keeping him from dying immediately.
Even with its help, he wouldn't be able to last long.
But this was a useless thought. He couldn't do anything about it, so there was no sense in wasting time considering it further.
With his body immobilized, Memories couldn't be used.
That left only Scavy, who wasn't too far from the chaos.
The shockwave had thrown the Echo across the rocks like a discarded shell. When Sunny's eyes found it again, the creature was half-buried in mud and shattered stone. One of its massive pincer arms hung uselessly from its socket, the joint mangled and split open where the impact had torn through its chitin. Most of the limb was simply… gone.
But the echo seemingly refused to die, just like its monster cousin who was being strangled by a fallen creature.
'This species really doesn't know when to die,' Sunny thought with a grim sort of admiration.
He planned to make good use of that.
While the two massive monsters tore into each other, Scavy began dragging itself forward. Each step was slow and uneven, its injured body scraping along the ground, but the Echo continued relentlessly toward the fight.
Neither the serpent nor the slayer paid it any attention.
The serpent's pale coils tightened around the awakened monster's armoured torso, constricting it with crushing force. Its wings battered the ground in violent bursts, sending gusts of wind and sheets of rain spiralling outward.
The slayer answered with a raw brutality of its own.
Its scythe limb hacked wildly at the serpent's body, but from its position, it couldn't generate enough force to pierce the body of a beast a whole rank above it. The serpent showed little sign of weakening.
By the time Scavy finally reached them, the battlefield looked like the aftermath of a natural disaster.
The Echo climbed over the ruined ground and latched onto the serpent's wing.
Its remaining pincer clamped down on the joint where the massive limb met the creature's body and the crushing force of its grip was immense.
The serpent reeled and Its massive body twisted violently as pain rippled through it. The creature lashed out instantly, its long tail whipping through the air like a living battering ram.
The Echo was hurled away from the serpent, tumbling across the rocks before crashing heavily into the ground once more. But the interruption had done its job.
For a brief moment, the serpent's coils loosened.
With a furious screech, the awakened monster wrenched its scythe limbs free and swung with all its monstrous strength. The curved blade plunged deep into the serpent's body, this time finding a vulnerable gap between the creature's slick ridges of bone and muscle.
Instead of pulling the blade free, the monster forced it deeper and began to drag the weapon through the creature's body. The razor-sharp edge carved a long, tearing wound along the serpent's side as the slayer forced the scythe forward like a butcher splitting open prey.
Blood poured out in a torrent.
The serpent writhed violently, its coils tightening again in blind agony as the two monsters continued ripping each other apart. But the serpent was at least a rank above after all, and after a few more moments of carnage, It had subdued the crab once again.
This time, it did not merely strangle the monster. It began to beat its wings faster than before, carrying much more force. Each powerful stroke of the massive black feathers sent violent gusts spiralling across the battlefield, flattening mud and scattering broken stone. The serpent's long body flexed with titanic strength as it forced both itself and its struggling prey upward.
Sunny stared as the impossible happened.
The serpent was lifting the slayer.
Soon enough, the two were nearly a hundred feet in the air.
And then... the serpent dropped it.
The slayer fell to the ground with shocking speed, plummeting to its imminent death.
That was it... with the slayer gone, Sunny would have to rely on his half-dead echo to defeat the serpent.
But as the body of the centurion neared the ground, something shot out towards it, a small object, tiny compared to the monstrous body of the crab.
The object struck the wounded portion of the slayer's carapace - the very place where its armour had been cracked open during the battle.
What happened next felt almost unreal.
At the exact moment the object pierced the creature's body, lightning tore through the sky.
The bolt struck the weapon as though the object itself had called it down from the storm. Blinding white light engulfed the falling monster.
Thunder rumbled across the sky as the lightning tore through the metal medium and surged straight into the centurion's body. The electricity burst outward from the wound, ripping through its chitin and boiling the flesh beneath.
The falling monster convulsed violently. Then its enormous body slammed into the ground with a deafening crash.
Sunny tried to turn his head toward the direction the object had come from, but his body refused to obey him.
Still… he already knew who had thrown it.
***
Nephis had told Yoru to stay behind with Cassie.
He was fatigued due to essence exhaustion and their deadly escape from the dark sea so it was for a good reason.
Sending him into another battle would have been reckless.
By nature, Yoru was by no means a selfless person and yet... standing back while Sunny and Nephis fought had left a bitter taste in his mouth.
He wasn't eager to test himself against the centurion, but abandoning the fight entirely felt worse.
So when he heard a dreadful wail echo through the storm, Yoru couldn't ignore it.
He climbed the ridge and looked over.
A flash of lightning split the sky and for a brief moment, the creature responsible for the sound was revealed.
Its vast head was covered with dozens of pale, bulbous eyes that gleamed like wet pearls in the lightning. Its long serpentine body twisted through the air with eerie grace, while two immense feathered wings spread from its midsection, their dark plumes beating against the storm.
It looked like some impossible fusion between a manta ray and a serpent.
Something both alien and strangely beautiful.
At first, Yoru was horrified beyond belief. He wanted to fall to his knees, curl on the floor, cry and beg the dead gods for forgiveness. But he did none of those things, instead...
He smiled.
There was nothing pleasant about the situation. His allies were out there risking their lives against the most dangerous creature they had faced, and another one even worse than that had appeared.
So why was he smiling?
It was because of two reasons, really.
The first was because of a sun-bleached glove wrapped around his arm, filling him with something insatiable and hungry.
The second was caused by his lack of essence.
He had been too weak to internalise Placate so there was nothing to reign in the bloodlust induced by the glove - which had already been strengthening more and more these past couple days.
Now, with his body and mind stretched to their limits, nothing held it back.
Instead of fear, he felt exhilaration.
These factors resulted in a boost in confidence. Yoru couldn't help but think this was what enlightenment felt like.
It was marvellous.
So he did not believe for a second that they would lose.
Their victory was assured so why wouldn't he smile?
Yoru had a plan to defeat both of their enemies.
Well, he wasn't in any state to form a coherent plan so it would be more accurate to call it an execution method.
But it was one that could only be conceived when he discarded fear, and focused on inflicting as much pain as possible.
Though, It did take a while since he was completely drained in all sense of the word.
***
Now, Yoru stood a few paces behind Sunny's rigid body, with a rucksack full of spears at his feet which he had painstakingly dragged all the way here.
He took one spear, and lifted it above his shoulder.
'That inferior beast cant die a death beside my own hand.'
Yoru stretched his sore muscles as he leaned back and aimed the spear.
A maddened glint lit in one of the stars in his eyes, and he smiled.
"Go ahead and perish."
The spear was launched and met the scavengers plummeting body, entering the exposed section of its carapace.
Simultaneously, lightning arced towards the spear at the moment of impact.
It tore through the Centurions body wreaking havoc on its innards and causing it to twitch as it flew through the air.
But before its charred corpse had hit the ground, the Spell already announced its death:
[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Carapace Centurion.]
[You have received a Memory, Bloody Requiem.]
Yoru had unleashed divine punishment upon the centurion ending its life with a bolt of lighting.
His grin widened.
"Very fitting, for a divine being like myself."