Sunny had returned to his room after the sparring match; he returned after grabbing a bunch of food beforehand.
He ignored all the people who were trying to talk to him and rushed away.
'I told the bastard to use my normal name and gave him a hand to test out my healing capabilities, so where did these idiots get the idea that I'm just a humble, caring guy?!'
He grumbled in his room as he lay on the bed. Gloomy shared the feeling too; the shadow was lying on the bed too, and his hands were over his face—that's what it looked like, at least.
Sunny stayed in the room and started to work out; his body was amazingly strong, and he had the ability, time, and resources to make it stronger.
Once he was done, Sunny went into the shower and cleaned himself up.
When he was done, he walked out into the hall after making sure that everyone was asleep or at least there was no one in the halls or in the training room.
Sunny walked into the room and took in the setting, much better this time since there were no people in the room.
Against the wall there were a few weapons placed up on the wall: swords, spears, and a bow and arrow. All the weapons are crafted from wood.
Sunny walked over to one of them and took a sword; he slashed at the air.
'When will we use these in sparring?'
Sunny started to swing the sword around in a dance, the shadow dance.
It was such an odd thing; his memories had never showed him doing this for fun, only when something needed to be killed.
The shadow dance really was something that was very easy to lose oneself in, because neither Sunny nor Gloomy, wrapped around him, noticed when Nephis had entered and started watching him.
She watched him move, this boy who was apparently from the outskirts, this boy who had managed to catch her off guard and even significantly injure her.
There were so many things that pointed at him being an assassin, and simultaneously there were so many that pointed to him not being one. Her instincts told her not to be around him, just as they told her not to be around anyone.
But then why was she drawn to him?
Was it the strange, enchanting dance—was it that idiotic saying that opposites attract and she was darkness and he was light—or was it simply because she too was attracted to him as other girls were? Well, honestly, it probably was not the last one, but she stood there, enthralled, and by the time he was done, it was already too late.
Sunny let out a satisfactory sigh, a smile playing on his face.
Now that he was not entranced in the dance, he noticed her standing there.
"Ah, hello, Changing Star," he said with a complicated smile.
"Hello Lost from Light," she spoke, her face still steely.
Nephis walked over and took one of the wooden swords.
Sunny raised his sword—"My friends call me Sunny."
She did not respond; she simply raised her sword too.
The first move was a blur of silver. Nephis's tall figure lunged, her blade whistling a low, aggressive note.
Sunny didn't dodge; he stepped into the arc, catching the blow on the forte of their blade with a jarring crack.
The wood swords clashed against each other and creaked wood against wood—a harsh. They locked eyes over the cross guards, breaths hitching in perfect synchronization.
With a collective grunt, they broke the bind. Nephis unleashed a flurry of strikes—high, low, a deceptive feint to the left, and a brutal overhead cleave.
Sunny moved like water; he parried a vertical strike with a flick of the wrist and spun away from a lateral cut, the edge of the opponent's blade whispering past their ribs, inches from striking. It wasn't just a fight; it was a conversation in a language only the two of them spoke.
And now that conversation was going to get more personal.
There was an unspoken and tacit understanding between both of them; in a silent agreement, both Sunny and Nephis threw the wooden swords to the ground.
At Nephis end there was a flurry of sparks around her arm that coalesced into a blade, its edge was sharp and it glinted in the light of the room, that glint made brighter and shown in her eyes as her flames augmented her body
Sunny's transformation on the other hand looked much more sinister, the tattoo on his body shifted and glided over his arm and formed a odachi that rested in his hand, Gloomy too had wrapped himself around Sunny and it reflected in his eyes as the light within them seemed to be swallowed
There was a silence that lasted a few seconds, and then there was the clashing of steel.
Their blades clashed multiple times; each attack met with another and met with the next.
She caught him with a backhand blow—not with the steel, but with the heavy cross guard of her hilt. It clipped his temple, sending a spray of crimson into the air. He stumbled, his fluid rhythm breaking for the first time.
Sensing the kill, she surged forward. She didn't swing; she drove her shoulder into his chest with the force of a battering ram, slamming him into the smooth floor.
But as she raised her sword for the final plunge, he didn't scramble away. He lunged inward.
Using his lower center of gravity, he hooked his leg behind her calf and twisted his entire body. The sudden, fluid shift in momentum tripped her tall frame.
She crashed down; her back and head hit the floor, and it made a loud THUMP sound followed by the clank of steel as the dream blade slipped from her grasp momentarily, but it had already been dismissed as she waited for the timer to move faster so she could re-summon it.
The dream blade had already begun to be re-summoned, the sparks moving on her hand again, but Sunny had already moved.
He was on her before the blade was brought up.
Sunny pinned her down, his knees pushing her forearms back to the ground, pushing her sword back to the ground. Sunny watched as Nephis was clearly looking for a solution to her predicament. She tried to move her hands, but his knees had her locked.
She tried to wake up, but his body had kept her stuck down.
She tried to use her flames, which were shifting from her, to try and burn Sunny, but when Gloomy wrapped around him, Nephis's flames were being suppressed.
Sunny ignored the attempts; with a cold, unfeeling gaze, he reversed the grip on Serpent and brought the blade down.
Nephis didn't close her eyes; she didn't look away, but her eyes blazed, and she prepared herself for death.
It was impressive that the assassins the great clans sent were this skillful.
Just then, as she blinked, she saw the sword hover a mere inch away from her eye.
"God, that was an amazing spar, huh?"
Sunny said as he stood up from her and fell back on his own back.
'What...'
Nephis lay there on the ground, her eyes locked onto the roof, and opposite her, Sunny lay doing the same thing.
"Did you think I was the assassin?" - He asked her.
"You know about the assassin, but you speak as if it's not you?"
"Well yeah, I mean if I were, I could have just killed you."
There was another silence.
"Then how do you know?"
"I am a seer of sorts."
She gave a brilliant response—"I see."
Sunny groaned and got up from the floor and looked down at Nephis. She had a dazed look on her face.
'This is likely the first time her death was completely at another's mercy.'
Sunny could have just killed her; he had no reason to keep her alive other than worrying about the way it would affect the future. Naturally, he had not wanted to do that, but he was making use of what he knew.
Nephis had become a lot more cunning and insidious because of two things. One was himself—she learned how to lie from him and learned to suppress her ambitions in her second nightmare when her life was entirely at the mercy of whatever being was in there taking her companions around her.
Now he had taken care of the second part, and now her learning the first was a matter of time.
Sunny gave out his hand.
"Can we talk for a bit?" - He gave a strained smile.
"Sure..."
They both moved over to the cafeteria that was completely empty at this time of night. She watched curiously as Sunny stacked a plate full of food and brought it back.
"You want any?"
She reached out her arm and took a box out of the 4 he brought over.
"What did you want to talk about?"
"Well first, I said that I'm a seer of sorts, so I know a bit about the future, and we are going to be interacting a lot from now on."
She tilted her head as she sipped on the box.
'This feeling is still weird to me...'
"We will be in the dream realm together."
"Is that why you let me live?"
"No, it's because I get nothing out of killing you."
"Do you know who the assassin is?"
"Hmm, I do, but I'm not telling you... for now at least."
"Will you tell me when we return?"
"Ah, you're misunderstanding, Nephis; I'm not trying to bargain here."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Seeing the future where you become friends with the last daughter of the immortal flame, travel through a dead zone, and kill hordes of nightmare creatures makes it difficult to interact with that princess before it actually happens makes it hard to talk normally."
"...What?"
"You aren't that good at communicating, huh?"
She scowled—"What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said, myself, you, and Cassia are going to be sent to a dead zone, and we will be there for a while. I am trying to build a relationship with you two beforehand."
"That's reasonable..."
"It's odd for me to talk because if I do tell you things, it could be risky, as you might cause something worse to happen, but I want you to know that I'm not against you and, for quite literally all of your goals, I share them too."
He did now after his memories.
"All?"
Her eyes glimmered.
"You may not believe this lady Nephis but you and i are fated to be close, literally"
He paused and looked out the window.
"It's late, and we both have classes tomorrow; we can talk after classes."
"... We will spar again tomorrow?"
He smiled—"If you want to."
Nephis stood from the seat and started to walk away.
"Good night, Lost from Light."
"Hey, I said my friends call me Sunny."
She stopped, and an almost imperceptible smile appeared on her face.
"Good night, Sunny."
"Good night, Neph."