"Who are you?"
It was a simple question, but it was one that had many answers.
Sunny had many names. Mostly forgotten in strings of fate, forever to be unknown.
"My name is Sunless, you may call me Sunny". Sunny replied.
It was a normal answer. Sunny decided not to play any tricks on the human lie detector.
"Where are we? What do you want? Why can't I summon anything?"
In a few seconds, Sunny was asked three questions. His flaw forced him to answer.
"We are in a miniature realm called the Death Game. What do I want? I only ask you to assist me, and the reason why you can't summon anything is that in this realm, you can't access your current soul sea. Only things that are put in your soul sea now will be usable."
He answered truthfully as his flaw dictated, and he gave a short concise.
"I'm sorry for not asking for permission, Kai, but it is really important that I get what I came for," Sunny said.
Kai took in all the answers.
"Death Game? What is that exactly? Why can't I talk to Cassie? Even when I'm in the Waking World, I can hear her voice while she's in the Dream Realm." Kai replied.
"The Death Game was created by the Deamon of Dread Ariel. I don't know exactly how he did it, but we are separated from the outside completely. Calling this place a realm isn't exactly the correct term, but it's the closest word I can think of to describe this place."
Now that Sunny thought about this place, it shared a few similarities with Nightmare Trials. One was that you can't contact anyone outside of it but anything you created or recieved was yours. Although that's probably where the similarities ended.
"Why would you need my help, sir? I'm sorry to say, but -" Kai stopped himself. It seemed like he could tell.
"Yes, I am a Supreme. But you see, it's not like I can do everything."
The news left Nightingale bewildered. A new Supreme. A normal person would understand that this piece of information could change the world. For a moment, Kai had a terrible thought.
"You're not going to kill me, are you? After I've helped you?" Kai said.
"No, why would I kill you? We're friends. Best friends even." Sunny replied with a warm smile.
Kai's face looked like he had eaten something bad. Seeing Kai going through the motions was always hilarious.
"Look, Kai, I'm trying my best not to-, I'm trying decently hard not to overwhelm you right now, but it's imperative we defeat every creature here."
"Why?"
Sunny had thought about whether or not to tell his friend the truth. In the end, he decided to tell him the truth because he didn't really want Kai to join the government this time around. One of the reasons was that Sunny could use all the help he could get, but there were only so many people that he could ask.
Nephis needed time, a lot of time, to master her transcendent art and then form a Will. It wouldn't be easy to finish your transcendent art either. He and Nephis had Divine Aspects, and as such, they needed more time than anyone else.
Cassie was in a similar spot. From what he had heard from her in the future, it wasn't easy to place Changing Star as a benevolent person throughout the world. As seen with how easily they destroyed any mention of Asterion, the soveriengs were amazing at controlling information and media.
Cassie was the reason why Nephis's domain could flourish and grow so quickly. She was essential in sowing seeds of doubt in anyone who believed in the current sovereigns. Their distrust of the sovereigns didn't start during the war, but way before that.
Effie just had a child, and she was going to get married soon as well. So that was definitely a no.
Jet was one of the government Saints like Effie. Sunny couldn't afford to cripple them by taking their most lethal Saint. In all of humanity, Jet actually held the number one spot for most gates subdued. A feat that no one would come close to. It made sense with the nature of her flaw.
Sunny also had a plan this time around. It would take a long time to see the fruits of his labour, but Sunny planned on helping Kai achieve Supermacy.
Sunny's flaw urged him to answer.
"I'm trying to stop a calamity from destroying the Dream Realm. To do it, I need to gather an unfathomable amount of strength. Not only for my sake but for everyone as well."
It was true. While these newcomers didn't exactly kill everyone, they killed everyone in power. If you were in charge of a citadel, if they suspected you of disrupting their rule, they would kill you, they barred travel to the waking world, and finally, they didn't care for the fate of the waking world. They denied mundane humans from entering the Dream Realm.
In the future, they had caught everyone unaware. The most dangerous enemies were often the ones that you were unaware of. Nine new supremes, three of them had Divine Aspects. They also had a ruler who was Sacred.
His name was Lero. His sinister aspect gave him near divine powers. A battle with him wouldn't just be one-sided. It meant annihilation. Sunny believed that if he, Nephis, and Mordret fought him with everything they had, they would lose.
It was a testament to his power, but also the gap between Supreme and Sacred. Sunny had suspected his aspect was ranked Sacred. It was combat-oriented and utility-based as well.
The fact that he could unite his realm with so many terrifying forces meant he was inevitable and nearly undefeatable.
Thinking about the other Divine Aspect holders, Sunny had to admit they were impressive as well, but if he had to bet on who would win a fight between them and the Divine aspect wielders of the war realm, he would bet his realm.
It was a simple reason. Sunny, Nephis, and Mordret achieved natural supremacy while they completed a fourth nightmare to achieve supremacy. Sunny realized later on that they most likely achieved Supremacy right before their Realm was consumed as well.
Sunny was convinced of this because they needed the support of other Supremes while they fought in the Future and even then....
Sunny had remembered the sight of when Nephis had died. It was a fiery destruction. He remembered how she killed three Supremes, and one of them was a Divine Aspect user.
In that moment, Sunny had thought that just for a moment she had become akin to a concept. The destruction was surreal. The ground had trembled throughout the entire Dream Realm.
A void also appeared where Nephis had perished, only the Sacred Being was able to repair it as well.
Sunny knew his own power wouldn't be enough, and so he would require help.
"It's extremely important that this remains hidden for multiple reasons. I'll tell you more if you promise not to tell another living being."
Sunny didn't know the conditions under which they appeared at that specific time, but he did know one thing. They appeared when he and Nephis had left to fight the deathless. It could have been a coincidence, but Sunny didn't believe it was.
That meant only one thing. They were here before. Just thinking about that brought chills. How long? Were they watching, looking for vulnerabilities? Did they wait for Sunny and Nephis to leave?
The other reason was simple. It was because of Asterion. Sunny didn't want to trigger an early arrival. That man spoke with eerie accuracy of the events that transpired while he was in space. So it was quite obvious he had a few thralls around.
Kai remained silent. Thinking about his choice. Unlike most, Kai had an unending sense of duty. Never again would he be that helpless person in the Forgotten Shore waiting for rescue. Seeing injustices happening daily, only to do nothing.
That was when an arrow landed between them.
Kai was startled, and it broke his concentration.
"It seems like Slayer is letting herself be known huh." Sunny said.
Continuing, Sunny said.
"Think about it wisely, Kai, you know better than anyone, some truths are better off not told."