Chapter 11 - ghjh

Chapter 341: One Thousand

Standing above Caster's corpse, Sunny tilted his head slightly.

Despite his expectations, there was not a lot of joy in his heart. Instead, defeating the powerful scion of a true Legacy clan left him feeling somber, and a little bitter.

There was, however, a sense of… if not validation, then at least vindication. It was as though some profound need in his soul was finally satisfied, making it more solid.

Steady.

With a pained groan, Sunny took a step back, turned around, and dismissed the Weaver's Mask.

He was in better shape than he had expected to be. Countless cuts on his body were painful, but not dangerous. Blood Weave was diligently doing its job, preventing him from losing too much of the precious red liquid. The cuts were already starting to scab over and close.

The only serious wound was the gash on his side, but it, too, had already stopped bleeding. Very soon, it was going to start healing, too. Until then, it was not going to hinder his movements a lot, as long as Sunny was ready to endure a bit of suffering.

After a year on the Forgotten Shore, dealing with pain was one of his best trained skills.

'...I've been through worse. Much worse. This is nothing.'

Then, another thought entered his mind.

'That shadow fragment… it should have brought me to a thousand, right?'

A moment later, he realized that his whole being was somehow… weird. It felt as though there was intense heat in his chest, slowly growing more and more scalding. This sensation was not exactly physical, but more of a spiritual one. Like the core of his soul was undergoing a violent change.

With a mix of anticipation and dread, Sunny concentrated on this feeling.

'Here we go…'

What was going to happen to him?

Suddenly, he heard the voice of the Spell again. In the eerie expanse of the Crimson Spare, where ancient darkness fused with otherworldly light, it sounded solemn and almost… triumphant?

[Your shadow is overflowing with power.]

Sunny listened tensely, trying to guess what was it going to say next.

[Your shadow is taking shape.]

In the next moment, he staggered and fell to his knees. His eyes widened and lost focus.

The heat that was building up in Sunny's soul had reached a critical point, and then exploded. It felt as though his core was being torn apart, drowning him with intense, indescribable pain. Disoriented and frightened, he tried to scream, but no sound came out of his mouth.

Something was emerging from within his soul, ripping it into shreds. Sunny knew that he couldn't stop that process, and so, all he could do was endure.

As Sunny convulsed on the ground, the Spell whispered:

[...Your shadow is complete.]

And then, something strange happened.

The Spell was about to say something else, but then the entire Crimson Spire suddenly shuddered. This quake was much stronger than all the previous ones, making it feel as though the gargantuan structure was about to topple. Sunny heard the deafening sound of breaking stone.

Almost at the same time, he was suddenly enveloped in absolute darkness, all light disappearing from the echoing interior of the ancient tower.

…And the Spell abruptly fell quiet, its last proclamation left unsaid.

The pain tearing his soul apart was also gone. It didn't feel as though the process was finished, though. It felt as though it was interrupted.

'Wha… what is happening?'

Confused and disoriented, Sunny looked around.

Why was it so dark?

Following a premonition, he then raised his head and glanced up.

'...What?'

The furious light of the Crimson Terror was gone.

As Sunny tried to wrap his head around this fact, two things registered in his mind.

The first one was that he felt very strange. His chest was still full of ethereal heat, but there was also something else. Some kind of… interference? He was having trouble finding words to describe that sensation, but knew that it wasn't harmful. At least not immediately.

The second one was that…

'Crap!'

The second thing he noticed was that, currently, there were giant slabs of stone plunging down on his head.

Picking himself up from the ground, Sunny dashed to the edge of the wide root and jumped off of it. Just a second later, one of the slabs crushed into the coral, turning it into dust. A violent shockwave hit him in the back.

The Prowling Thorn was currently restoring itself in the Soul Sea, its invisible string cut by Caster's enchanted jian, so, for a moment, Sunny found himself in free fall. Then, the transparent blur of the Dark Wing finally weaved itself from sparks of light on his back and allowed him to glide forward, following the momentum of the jump.

As he reached the wall of the Spire, another deafening crash resounded from behind. Looking up and at the descending mass of broken stone, Sunny thrust the Moonlight Shard forward. The tip of the Fallen Memory easily sunk into the ancient granite, giving him purchase.

Hanging on it, he pressed himself against the cold stones and gritted his teeth, waiting for the avalanche of debris to pass and praying that nothing hits him. A few moments later, the Spire shuddered again, and then grew still.

Somewhere down below, destruction was still raining on the interior of the Spire, but this high, it was relatively quiet.

Sunny opened his eyes.

He was still alive.

The dome of the Crimson Spire seemed to be broken, letting in beautiful sunshine. The darkness was not as impenetrable now, suffused with that light. Dust particles floated in the air, sparkling like tiny diamonds.

'Sunlight… sunlight?!'

Panicking, Sunny looked around, searching for shelter… but then noticed that his shadow was utterly calm. Unlike before, when his soul was being destroyed by the artificial sun, it wasn't doing anything.

…It did seem a bit confused, though.

'What the hell is going on?!'

Perplexed, Sunny decided to make absolutely sure that the annihilating power of the Terror was gone from the rays of sunshine and dove into the Soul Sea.

What he saw there shocked him so much that he almost let go of the hilt of the Moonlight Shard and fell down.

The entire landscape of the tranquil sea was changed. If before there was nothing but darkness, now, it was filled with blinding white light. The light flowed through Sunny's soul, making the silent waters ripple and swirl.

Up above, the black sphere of the Shadow Core was burning with furious flames. It trembled and seethed, as though overflowing with power. However, that power was being suppressed by the current of light, which prevented it from spreading outward.

Beneath it, there was a massive whirlpool.

Stunned, Sunny stared at the unrecognizable expanse of his soul and didn't know how to react.

'What the hell is this?!'

Full of unease and dark thoughts, he hesitated for a bit and then summoned the runes.

Everything was the same as the last time he had glanced at them, except for one line:

Shadow Fragments: [1000/1000.]

…Not, not everything.

In the cluster of runes describing his Attributes, a few new ones appeared.

Concentrating on them, Sunny held his breath and read:

Attribute: [Soul Conduit.]

Chapter 342: Crimson Terror

[Soul Conduit].

The Attribute had no description, nor was its acquisition announced by the Spell. Staring at the runes for a few more seconds, Sunny cast one last glance at the white void of his Soul Sea and left it.

He had no answers for this mysterious sequence of events, but his intuition was ringing the alarm bell.

He was almost sure that the strange and painful process that began after he had absorbed the last shadow fragment was somehow interrupted. The white light permeating the Soul Sea felt unnatural and wrong, like something external to it rather than natural. The mysterious new Attribute was most likely connected to this external influence instead of to the saturation of the Shadow Core.

In fact, [Soul Conduit] was most likely the manifestation of the radiant force that was currently suppressing the core. In that sense, this Attribute was more akin to the mind hex of the Soul Devourer than to the Blood Weave. It wasn't something that Sunny had achieved or acquired. It was forced upon him, for reasons yet unknown.

Gritting his teeth, Sunny shifted and changed his grip on the handle of the Moonlight Shard. Then, he summoned the Ordinary Rock and immediately dismissed it. Finally, he ordered the shadow to wrap itself around his body, then shift to the ghostly stiletto and back.

...At least the new Attribute did not seem to be directly harmful. Sunny was still in control of his body and mind, as well as having full access to his Memories and Shadow Control. All it seemed to be affecting was the Shadow Core itself, preventing it from… from achieving whatever it was that had failed to happen.

At least for now. But how long would that safety last?

Raising his head, Sunny stared at the pinnacle of the Crimson Spire. Something unexplainable had transpired there, causing this strange turn of events.

Why was he trying to guess if all the answers were most likely waiting for him up above?

To his side, a massive slab of stone had lodged itself between stumps of broken coral roots. More debris piled on top of it at steep angles, forming a twisting path to the distant sunlight.

Pushing himself off the wall of the tower, Sunny glided forward and landed on the inclined stone surface. Then, he lingered for a few moments and began climbing up.

The higher he ascended, the more sunshine surrounded him. Eventually, the whole tower was filled with nothing but stark beams of light and deep, dark shadows. The world was black and white, as though no other color was allowed into this solemn space.

After a while, Sunny approached the broken dome of the Crimson Spire.

There, a vast hall was hidden in the darkness, both its floor and roof now shattered, letting in the brightness of the sun.

With a deep sigh, Sunny reached with his hands and pulled himself into the hall. He was now at the very pinnacle of the Crimson Spire.

In the lair of the Terror of the Forgotten Shore.

***

At the very tip of the ancient tower, there was once a vast and beautiful chamber. It seemed as though it had a large circular opening in its center, allowing sunlight to easily flow into the gargantuan structure at high noon.

Then, however, that opening had become overgrown by crimson coral. And now it was gone.

Due to something that had happened during Changing Star's battle against the Terror, the floor of the chamber partially collapsed, bringing the coral down with it. The ceiling was damaged too, although to a lesser extent.

Through the chasm in the Spire's roof, Sunny could see the boundless white skies and the burning orb of the artificial sun.

Lingering at it for a moment, he then lowered his gaze and looked at the chamber itself.

The first thing he saw was Nephis, who was sitting on the floor, staring into the distance.

Although her state was not as terrifying as on that terrible night when a dweller of the depths had pulled her beneath the waves of the cursed sea, she did not look too good.

The Starlight Legion Armir was practically destroyed, revealing gruesome burns and cuts on her ivory skin. Just like then, white flames were seeping out of them instead of blood.

These fires seemed strangely weak, though, as though on the verge of being extinguished. They were also failing to mend her mangled flesh. Neph's wounds appeared to be healing, but at a very slow pace — a far cry from the miraculous restoration that Sunny had witnessed so many times in the past.

The furious power that had always burned deep within her soul seemed to be finally exhausted. Almost…

Following her gaze, Sunny shuddered when he saw the Terror.

The creature that had created the Forgotten Shore might have looked as a human once, but now, it was like a feverish nightmare.

For some reason, Sunny had expected to see the familiar shape of the nameless goddess, whose statue was created in the likeness of the girl that had been made into the vessel of the artificial sun.

What met him instead was a giant creature whose body was made out of a perverse fusion of crimson coral and mutilated human flesh. In a sense, it was similar to the crimson golems he had fought at the base of the Spire. It was a twisted approximation of a living being, one that radiated a horrifying sense of madness, wrongness, and loss.

Instead of a human face, the Terror had hundreds of them, all contorted in expressions of blind agony and suffering. Their mouths were open, as though straining to scream. Their eyes were empty wells of pure darkness.

At least now, they were. When the Terror was alive, they must have shone with blinding, annihilating light.

…And it was, unmistakably, dead.

The harrowing creature was sprawled on the floor, its limbs unmoving, its body fractured almost in half. The edges of the terrible wound were burned and melted, leaving no doubt that it was dealt by Changing Star's incandescent silver blade.

'How… how is this possible?'

Stunned, Sunny stared at the vanquished Terror, failing to comprehend what he saw.

How could Neph kill a Fallen Terror? No matter how powerful she was, she was still a Sleeper. Even with the tremendous augmentation of the Dawn Shard, she should not have been capable of slaying something this powerful.

Something was very wrong here.

'This doesn't make sense.'

...But then again, this wouldn't be the first Terror Nephis had slain. Changing Star had killed one in her First Nightmare, too, earning her that name. Still, there was a vast difference between a dormant human killing an Awakened Terror and a Fallen one.

One feat was impossible. The other... the other was simply unthinkable.

Turning to her, Sunny hesitated and then said in disbelief:

"You… you actually killed it."

Neph flinched, as though noticing his presence for the first time. Then, she slowly turned her head and looked at him with empty, lost eyes. Only after a few seconds, a hint of recognition appeared in them.

She remained silent for a while, and then said in a hollow voice:

"...Sunny. You are finally here."

Chapter 343: Soul Conduit

He hesitated for a few moments, not sure how to answer. As seconds passed by, the silence between them grew tense, full of untold meaning.

Finally, Nephis blinked and looked away, staring at the corpse of the Crimson Terror. Her sword hand trembling slightly.

"...Killed it? Yes… I did. Got lucky, I guess…"

After a while, she added in a quiet voice:

"It was just a fake star, in the end."

Sunny smiled slightly, but his eyes remained cold.

"Lucky… I know a thing or two about being lucky, Neph. A creature like this would not have died just because of bad luck."

She remained silent for a bit, then sighed and looked down.

"It was evolving… trying to become a titan. The burden of transformation made it vulnerable. I just happened to attack while the Terror was at its weakest. That's why it died…"

'Evolving… into a titan?'

Noticing a surprised expression on his face, Changing Star grimaced and pointed to the artificial sun.

"Have you not thought about what we have done?"

Sunny looked up, at the radiant sphere of light, and frowned.

In all the chaos, he had indeed forgotten to consider the full scale of what had transpired after the battle, as well as the reasons for and consequences of it.

Come to think of it… why would the light of the artificial sun destroy the souls of every living creature it touched? It had not been like this before the fall of the ancient civilization, for many generations, at least.

But then, the Vessel had become corrupted and turned into a Nightmare Creature. The Terror. And at the same time, the seals imprisoning the curse of the all-consuming darkness had been destroyed, letting it free.

…So, in fact, the corrupted sun had never existed without the dark sea keeping it company.

Until today.

Sunny had always thought that the sun was restraining the dark sea. Could it be… that it had always been restrained by the darkness, as well?

And when he banished the ancient curse and locked it underground… the sun was finally liberated from its shackles. That's why its light suddenly changed, turning into the annihilating white radiance.

It had become free to do whatever it wanted.

But there was something else…

As his eyes widened, Nephis nodded.

"Yes. The artificial sun does not just illuminate the vicinity of the Crimson Spire. It illuminates the whole of the Forgotten Shore. Its light reaches everywhere. So… as we were fighting our way through the tower… most of the living creatures on the Forgotten Shore had been wiped out. All that death, all those countless souls… guided into the Spire by the Labyrinth, like a colossal hecatomb, to fuel the evolution of the Crimson Terror."

And Nephis just happened to attack while the Terror was in the throes of that terrifying transformation. Well… that wasn't a coincidence, most likely. Sunny had not forgotten the thoughtful look on her face as Neph had peered out of the gates of the Spire before giving the Dreamer Army the command to advance.

He shivered, only now realizing that this whole region of the Dream Realm was now almost completely empty of life. Only a few Nightmare Creatures must have survived… those who were lucky enough to hide from the deadly sunlight in time, or were powerful enough to resist it.

Such a boundless influx of souls would indeed be enough to push the Crimson Terror to the next step of its evolution… devolution? Whatever it was that happened to Nightmare Creatures as they grew more powerful. Not that Sunny knew anything about this matters — but if anything could cause something like that, then the evisceration of an entire region of the Dream Realm would certainly do the trick.

Now, however, the Terror was dead, and its corrupting influence was gone, turning the artificial sun back to its normal self.

It couldn't be that easy, though…

As if answering his thoughts, the Spire shuddered again. Another slab of stone broke off from the floor of the chamber and plunged down. Suddenly, the light of the sun grew a little bit dimmer.

Looking up, Sunny noticed that the artificial sun looked not as bright as it had just a few minutes ago. It was as though it was slowly dying.

…Was it dying? There was no vessel to channel soul essence into its furnace anymore, after all.

Interrupting his thoughts, Nephis suddenly spoke, her voice hoarse and tired:

"What happened to the others?"

Sunny shifted and looked down through the chasm in the chamber's floor.

Far below, he could see the vast balcony and the shimmering ring of the Gateway on it. Somehow, its shine seemed… weaker. The balcony, however, was empty. There were no humans there, and even the coral golems lay unmoving, their semblance of life snuffed out when the Terror died.

"Everyone has escaped."

Neph sighed slowly, as if with relief. After a long pause, she moved slightly and asked:

"What about Caster?"

Sunny glanced at her and shrugged. When he spoke, his voice was cold and indifferent:

"...I killed him."

Changing Star remained silent for a long time. Then, she whispered, seemingly addressing no one:

"So that's why…"

Suddenly, a bitter laugh escaped from her lips.

Nephis raised her hands and pressed them against her face, as if overwhelmed by some deep, dark emotion. After a few seconds, her muffled voice reached his ears:

"You shouldn't have killed him, Sunny…"

Sunny snarled.

"Yeah? Why, exactly?"

She remained motionless for a few seconds, and then slowly lowered her hands and put them on her knees. Her face was pale and bleak.

"Have you checked your Attributes?"

He nodded and looked at her with a curious expression.

"I did. There's a new one there. Soul Conduit."

Changing Star stared into the distance and nodded.

"Yeah. Same for me."

Sunny raised his eyebrow and asked, his voice calm and steady:

"Any idea what it means?"

She did not say anything for a while, and then turned her head to look at him.

"Have you not figured it out?"

He shrugged.

"I was a bit preoccupied. Why? What is it?"

Nephis sighed and looked at the walls of the chamber. Finally, she said:

"This whole tower is a giant soul machine. It was created to collect soul essence and funnel it into the artificial sun. However… it can't function without one small, but crucial gear. A human to serve as the fulcrum of all that power, the conduit for all those souls."

And then, in a much quieter voice, she added:

"...The vessel."

Sunny shuddered, then stared at the corpse of the repulsive creature. The previous vessel of the artificial sun.

Nephis had killed it, destroying a crucial part of the Spire's mechanism… and so, the Spire found it a replacement.

The two of them.

The only two humans left on the Forgotten Shore, conveniently hiding from the obliterating sun inside the ancient tower.

One would be tempted to say that it was fate…

"What does it mean for us, exactly? Are we going to turn into something… like that thing?"

Neph slowly shook her head.

"...Not yet. Not for a long time. The Terror had absorbed most of the souls it had reaped after the battle, and there's no one to make sacrifices to the sun now. The Labyrinth, too, is now dead."

Echoing her words, the Spire trembled once again, and somewhere down below, a deafening sound of crushing stone could be heard.

Sunny tilted his head.

"So what's the problem? Can't we just… get the hell out of here and never come back?"

Changing Star looked at him, her eyes full of cold, bitter emotion.

"You don't get it, do you?"

After that, she gritted her teeth and said:

"The Crimson Spire is a machine, and the Gateway is a part of that machine. The Spire can't function without a human serving as the Soul Conduit… and neither can the Gateway. There has to be a Vessel inside the tower for the Gateway to work."

She slowly rose to her feet, swayed slightly, and finally pierced him with a dark gaze.

"Which means that only one of us can escape."

Sunny stared at her for a few seconds, then looked down at the distant ring of the Gateway.

Finally, he turned back to Nephis and said:

"I don't suppose you'll stay behind and let me go?"

Changing Star looked at him, her striking grey eyes full of intensity and nascent white flames:

"...I was about to ask you the same."

Sunny lingered for a moment, then grinned.

"Not a chance."

Chapter 344: sorrow,Pain, and Rage

Slowly walking away from the edge of the chasm, Sunny stopped opposite Nephis and looked at her.

In his dark eyes, there was nothing but coldness.

"Well… it's not like we didn't know for a long time that this would be how things end. Did we?"

She stared at him for a while, then smiled bitterly.

"...We did."

Indeed, they knew.

From that terrible day when Sunny had first understood the meaning behind Cassie's vision, he suspected that one day, in order to survive, he would have to kill Nephis.

This was the truth he had chosen to hide from, even if it meant losing his mind. The final and most unbearable reason for why he had spent months alone in the Dark City, hunting monsters and slowly turning into one of them.

How does one come to terms with the knowledge that, one day, they will have to kill the person they care for the most?

…Knowledge, indeed, was the heaviest thing in the world.

Back at the beginning of it all, far away from the Dark City, before they had even known that the Crimson Spire existed, Cassie had shared with them a terrible vision.

She said:

"At first, I saw a… a boundless darkness locked behind seven seals. Something vast was churning in the darkness. I felt like if I directly saw it, I would lose my mind. As I watched, terrified, the seals broke one after another, until only one remained. And then that seal broke, too."

The first part of her vision described the day when the Vessel of the Artificial Sun had gone mad, and the curse of the all-consuming darkness had escaped the prison created for it by the seven ancient heroes.

"I saw the human castle again. Only this time, it was at night. There was a lonely star burning in the black skies, and under its light, the castle was suddenly consumed by fire, with rivers of blood flowing down its halls. I saw a corpse in a golden armor sitting on a throne; a woman with a bronze spear drowning in a tide of monsters; an archer trying to pierce the falling sky with his arrows."

The lonely star shining in the black skies was Nephis, the herald of ruinous change, who had drowned the halls of the Bright Castle in blood to become its ruler, and then watched as it burned to the ground.

The corpse in the golden armor was Gunlaug, who had died on his white throne, killed by her hand.

The woman with a bronze spear and the desperate archer were Effie and Kai, who had almost perished fighting against the nightmare horde during the siege of the Crimson Spire.

"In the end, I saw a colossal, terrifying crimson spire. At its base, seven severed heads were guarding seven locks. And at the top, a… a dying angel was being consumed by hungry shadows. When I saw the angel bleed, I suddenly felt as though… as though something so precious that it can't be described with words was taken from me."

Seven severed heads guarding seven locks were the heads of the giant statues, who stared at the Star Sigil that Sunny had used to banish the dark sea.

And the last part of the prophecy… it wasn't that hard to understand, too.

Nephis was the dying angel, the precious thing that was going to be taken from Cassie, and Sunny was the hungry shadow that consumed her.

It was their fate.

"Then, I felt so much sorrow, pain and rage that what little remained of my sanity seemed to disappear. That was when I woke up… I think."

This was the last thing Cassie had said.

…Looking at Nephis, Sunny sighed and turned away.

"I warned you, didn't I? I told you that this story won't have a happy ending. That there will be only sorrow, pain, and rage. Do you remember what you answered me?"

These were the words he said on the day Neph had asked him to join her expedition.

Back then, his suspicion that they would inevitably end up as enemies had already grown, becoming almost a certainty.

Almost… that cursed word. This was the word that had given him hope, no matter how small. Hope that he was wrong.

But despite that hope, Sunny had been preparing for this moment for a long, long time.

It was because he had known that he would have to face Nephis in combat that he had decided to incorporate Saint's methodical style into his technique, why he trained without rest, day and night, not sparing himself from the pain and hardship. If his only skill was one that she herself had taught him, what chance did he have of defeating her?

It was for that reason that he had climbed to the highest point of the Hunter's statue and spent a night alone there, steeling himself for the inevitable future. Forcing himself to accept the terrible truth that, soon, he would have to kill Nephis.

It was because of this that he had refused Changing Star's offer to heal him. How could he allow her to endure the terrible pain of the white flames, knowing that she would be suffering for the sake of her future killer?

And it was because of this that he had not tried to learn all of her secret plans, remaining comfortable in his role as a hired mercenary. An outsider. He had known that, no matter what, they would end up here, in this moment, forced to fight each other.

Fate… fate was a terrifying enemy to fight against. He knew it better than most.

Fate always won, in the end.

Defeating it was almost impossible.

…Shifting slightly, Nephis looked at him and answered, her voice strangely wistful:

"...Life is not a story. It only ends when you die."

Sunny smiled.

"So… are you ready to die?"

As white sparks ignited in the depths of Changing Star's eyes, she answered with another question:

"What about you?"

Instead of answering, Sunny summoned the Midnight Shard and raised it, assuming a battle stance.

Opposite of him, Nephis did the same, her silver sword weaving itself from blinding light.

…Of course, neither of them planned to kill the other. They needed the other to remain alive, at least until the victor passed through the Gateway. How long would the loser survive after that, though? Especially if they were beaten terribly enough to lose the ability to resist further.

Staying behind meant death.

…As the ancient, gargantuan tower quaked around them, balancing on the edge of collapse, Lost from Light and Changing Star prepared to cross their blades.

Chapter 345: Shadows and Light

Sunny and Nephis looked at each other, the air practically crackling with tension at the point where their gazes met.

The white flame seeping from Changing Star's wounds suddenly flashed in a furious outburst, closing some of her wounds and making others seem less severe. After that, however, it grew weak and disappeared, retreating back into the furnace of her soul. As a pained grimace contorted the young woman's face, a dim radiance then slowly shined from beneath her ivory skin.

At the same time, the shadow flowed up and wrapped itself around Sunny's body, making it brim with power and vitality. He inhaled deeply and slightly moved, shifting his weight from one leg to another.

'How… how can it end…'

Before the thought could fully form, Sunny ruthlessly destroyed it and banished it from his mind.

This was the last obstacle on his way back to the real world… and the most deadly. Sunny had fought many terrible creatures in the cursed hell of the Forgotten Shore, but none of them were as fearsome and dangerous as Changing Star. This was going to be his hardest battle yet.

To win it, he had to be absolutely clear, absolutely focused. He couldn't allow himself to feel anything, be distracted by anything.

No doubt, no fear. No regret, no compassion.

Only determination. Only resolve.

Only murderous will to prevail.

As dust particles shined in the beams of white light that fell through the broken roof of the ancient chamber… as stark shadows swelled with dark anticipation… Nephis brought the pommel of her sword to her shoulder.

White flames ignited in her eyes.

And then, suddenly, she lunged forward.

'Fast!'

But not fast enough to not give Sunny enough time to react. Raising the Midnight Shard, he dashed forward to block her furious assault… and shuddered, the force of the impact sending a shock through his entire body.

It felt as though his sword had collided with a mountain.

Their blades got entangled for a moment, and then separated. Almost immediately, the silver longsword lashed out again, appearing from an unexpected direction…. and then again, and again, and again.

Sunny feverishly defended, chaining blocks and deflections into one uninterrupted sequence of swift moves. Despite his best efforts, he reeled slightly after each strike. It was as though he was being hit by a hurricane of adamantine sledgehammers, each hit making his bones tremble and groan.

'How… how is she that strong…'

How was Nephis so strong? How was she so fast? How was she so resilient?

It didn't make sense.

By now, Sunny had fully saturated his core, bringing him to the pinnacle of what a human of his Rank could achieve in terms of physical ability. His power was further doubled by the augmentation of the shadow, making him more akin to one of the Awakened than to a mere Sleeper. No dormant human should have been able to match his power in every regard.

And yet, Changing star did. More than that, she was more powerful than him, tremendously so. She was more like a Nightmare Creature than a human; her movements were fast as lightning, her strength was terrifying, and her technique was flawless, leaving him no chance to exploit even the smallest of mistakes.

…No Sleeper should have been that powerful. It was simply impossible.

And yet, somehow, it wasn't.

'Impossible, impossible…'

Deflecting another blow, Sunny gritted his teeth and dashed to the side, hoping to exploit the momentary opening in his enemy's defense. However, he was met by the ruthless flash of the silver blade instead. The opening was just a ruse, one which almost cost him his hand.

'Something is very wrong here…'

Either the augmentation of the white flame was much more powerful than that of his shadow, or something else was at play. However, Sunny didn't think that the radiance emanating from Neph's skin was stronger than his own physical enhancement. From what he had observed during her battle against Gunlaug, it was roughly the same or only slightly more forceful — it shouldn't have given her this big of an advantage, especially in its seemingly exhausted state.

Somehow, Nephis had grown much stronger between then and now.

But how?

…At least the silver sword was not burning with the annihilating, incandescent light. If it was, the Midnight Shard might have already been if not destroyed, then at least severely damaged. In that regard, luck was still on Sunny's side.

They exchanged several more blows and disengaged for a fraction of a second, then closed in again. Changing Star's sword shot forward, missing Sunny's face by a few millimeters… or so he thought before sensing warm drops rolling down his cheek. A thin cut appeared on it, swelling with blood.

Just a little bit to the right, and he would have lost an eye.

Shaken, Sunny deflected the sword away, preventing Nephis from slicing his neck with a reverse cut, and leaned forward in an attempt to ram her with his shoulder.

Changing Star easily sidestepped around Sunny and brought her weapon down, forcing him to block from a disadvantageous position and stagger back.

'Curse it!'

Their violent clash must have looked furious and morbidly beautiful. Both moved with incredible speed and possessed ferocious strength, both were skilled and experienced, forged into formidable killers by hundreds of deadly battles.

One was darkness and shadows, while the other was radiance and light.

But the true combat was happening somewhere else, invisible to the naked eye. This fight was as much about strategy and insight as it was about physical prowess and technique.

After all, to excel as a fighter, one had to master both their body and mind.

Nephis might have been unnaturally fast and strong, but what really made her devastatingly deadly was her own battle genius, her incredible level of understanding of the laws and principles of combat.

Armed with it, she was able to predict what her enemy was going to do even before they themselves knew it. But that was not all. The scariest thing about Nephis was that, through that understanding, she was even able to manipulate and dictate her opponent's actions, turning them into her puppet. She was in absolute control of the flow of combat.

Combat was her domain, just like shadows were his.

But Sunny was not a novice, either. He was a master of manipulation, too.

But more importantly, he had enough insight and knew Nephis well enough to if not deceive her, then at least not allow her to lure him into an inescapable trap.

That was why, for a dozen torturously long seconds, neither of them had been able to seriously wound the other. Even if Sunny was locked into desperate defense and outmatched in every regard, he still managed to hold Changing Star's monstrous onslaught off.

…At least for now.

Finally, the two of them disengaged and stepped back, pausing for a few moments.

Sunny was breathing heavily, his bloodied face turning even more pale than usual. Nephis stared at him with a grim expression, her own breathing laborious and pained.

If this was a cliche drama, at that point, they would have exchanged words, expressing their resolve and determination. Admiring their enemy or humiliating them with disparaging insults, showcasing their fearlessness by making a carefree joke.

…But it was not. Everything that could have been said had been said already. There was no way back.

All that remained was violence.

Looking at Nephis, Sunny suppressed a devious smile.

Something had changed about the proud daughter of the Immortal Flame clan. Something that he had been waiting for from the start of their vicious battle.

The wounds that had been partially closed by the white flame were beginning to seep blood again.

And as they did, the Blood Blossom charm hanging on a thread tied around his neck finally rose from its slumber, filling the Midnight Shard with boundless hunger.

Chapter 346: Promise of Blood

Enhanced by the Blood Blossom, the austere tachi suddenly felt lighter in his hands, full of cold, frightening determination. It was almost as though it had a mind of its own now, a mind focused on one goal: to find the enemy and get a taste of their blood.

'Finally…'

A moment later, Nephis attacked again, her beautiful face cold and indifferent like an alabaster mask. Only the flames in her eyes moved, burning furiously, white as the empty void of the godless heavens above their heads.

Sunny gritted his teeth and moved to meet her. Their blades clashed once again. Just like before, he was shaken by the force of the impact… only now, he had managed to intercept her strike a fraction of a second faster.

It was as though the Midnight Shard was ever so slightly pulling his hand, making it move with a bit more speed, aim a little better, withstand the pressure of the strikes with a subtly less strain.

In the next few seconds, that change had become more apparent.

Before, he had no chance to launch an offense. Changing Star was reveling in her flowing and unpredictable battle style, her every movement oppressive and unpredictable. This unpredictability alone made him wary of committing to an attack.

Of course, Sunny was using the same style. But even though he had mastered it to an admirable degree, his technique was by no means equal to that of Changing Star.

What was worse, she knew it far better than him, so his moves could potentially be predicted with terrifying ease.

The only reason why Sunny was still on his feet was because of the elements of the Saint's grounded style that he had incorporated into his own. Measured and precise, but also capable of explosive counterattacks, it allowed him to both defend against Neph's ruthless assault and restrain her to a certain degree, using the threat of a sudden reversal to keep her from going all out.

More importantly, she was less familiar with that style, which allowed him to diminish the predictability of his movements.

And now, with the help of the Blood Blossom, Sunny was able to resist Nephis more efficiently, even if it was just by a tiny amount.

But the measure of that difference didn't really matter. Because the longer their fight went on and the more she bled, the stronger he would become.

…It wasn't long before he finally managed to land a hit, the tip of his sword scratching against one of her gauntlets.

'This is just a begin…'

However, his thought was instantly interrupted.

'What…'

Nephis suddenly changed her behavior. Perhaps she had sensed the shift in the dynamic between the two of them, or perhaps she was just desperate to end this fight before her powers ran dry and her terrible wounds finally caught up with her.

Or maybe there was some other reason, one that Sunny failed to account for.

But regardless of it, Neph suddenly abandoned her previous calculated attack pattern and instead descended on him in a rain of deadly steel, her defense crumbling and leaving her open to retaliation.

Caught by surprise, Sunny barely had time to shift his stance and block.

The Midnight Shard was thrown down by a violent blow, pressing against his shoulder. The silver longsword slid across its length and scratched against the guard of the tachi, mere centimeters away from Sunny's throat.

For a few heartbeats, the two of them struggled desperately, trying to overpower the enemy. Their bodies were so close that Sunny could feel Neph's breath on his cheek, as well as the heat radiating from her skin.

'Damn it!'

She was just stronger… so much stronger…

Little by little, her sword angled forward, and then bit into his skin, blood flowing on its silver blade. With an angry growl, Sunny let go of the hilt of the Midnight Shard with one hand. His fist shot toward Changing Star's body, the ghostly stiletto appearing in it at the last moment.

But, of course, Nephis had anticipated that. She twisted her torso, allowing the Moonlight Shard to leave a deep but harmless scratch on her breastplate. In doing so, she had to relieve pressure on the tachi, allowing Sunny to push her sword away from his neck.

But before he could jump back, Neph finished her attack by delivering a devastating blow to his head with the pommel of her sword.

Disoriented, Sunny staggered back. He felt blood streaming into his eyes and lost his vision for a moment. Even Shadow Sense was useless, because he simply couldn't differentiate up from down right now.

Suddenly, his heart was full of dread.

'Think, think!'

He had maybe a fraction of a second left before suffering a complete defeat.

'What is she going to do…'

The silver longsword was currently… currently… raised slightly above him after the upward strike. The fastest way to finish the fight would be to bring it down, possibly with its flat on his head, or with its edge on his shoulder, thus severing one of his arms… yes, the second option was the easiest to execute and the most advantageous…

But it was Nephis he was thinking about. What would she do?

Faced with the choice of protecting his head or his shoulder, Sunny instinctively threw the Midnight Shard up to block a vertical blow aimed at his skull. His body moved on its own, following the memory of countless hours of training. Thanks to that, he was able to perform the block even in this stunned state.

His judgment was correct. The tachi collided against Changing Star's sword and was thrown aside. But thanks to that, the strike missed his head completely.

Instead, it fell on his clavicle and bit deep into his flesh, scraping against bone.

Sunny's world exploded with pain.

…But instead of letting it overpower him, he leaned forward and caught Neph's hand in a trap, entangling it with his own.

Then, he drove the Midnight Shard forward and felt it pierce soft flesh.

Nephis shrieked, her voice full of agony and shock. Then, she pushed him away.

Sunny fell to the ground.

'Damn… damn, this hurts…'

Regaining some semblance of control over his mind, he raised a hand and wiped the blood away from his eyes. Then, he rose to his knees and looked in the direction where Nephis had been.

She was standings a few meters away, leaning on her sword for support. There was a deep gash in her abdomen, just below the lower edge of the fractured breastplate of the Starlight Legion Armor, and a grimace of pain on her face.

Blood was flowing from the wound he had caused her like a crimson stream.

Their eyes met for a moment, and then Sunny lowered his gaze, at the austere tachi that lay on the floor between them.

In all the mayhem, he had lost his sword.

Both of them froze for a second.

Then, ignoring the terrible pain pulsating in his wounded shoulder, Sunny lunged forward and grabbed the hilt of the Midnight Shard.

At the same time, Changing Star rushed forward, raising her sword.

…However, neither of them got a chance to deliver a strike.

Because right at that moment, the Crimson Spire shuddered once again, this time much more terribly than before.

And in a deafening thunder of breaking stone, the floor beneath their feet suddenly shattered and collapsed into the darkness, pulling them down with it.

Chapter 347: Free Fall

Sunny fell down in a rain of broken stone, the floor beneath his feet suddenly crumbling like shattered glass.

The Crimson Spire shuddered and moaned, like a giant creature convulsing in the throes of death. The light of the artificial sun grew dim and weak, causing another tremor to run through the ancient tower, wide cracks appearing on its granite walls.

Sunny had banished the darkness that devoured the Forgotten Shore every night, and Nephis had killed the vessel of the sun that rose above it every day. Together, they had brought destruction to this cursed land. Today was the end of days for the Forgotten Shore, one that the two of them had ushered in.

And one of them was going to have to endure the fallout of this cataclysmic change.

Surrounded by a rain of falling shards of stone, Changing Star twisted and somehow managed to aim her sword in Sunny's direction. Even more miraculously, he managed to intercept it with his own. Both were thrown away from each other, the transparent wings weaving themselves behind their backs.

For a couple of second, Sunny felt his body plunging down into the darkness. Then, finally, the Dark Wing fully manifested and turned into a blur, supporting his weight.

Dodging a massive slab of granite that threatened to crush him, Sunny used it as a step and propelled himself through the air. The Midnight Shard flashed, aiming at Changing Star's wings, but was blocked by the blade of the silver longsword.

As the debris fell down, two human figures collided against each other and spun in the air. With nothing to serve as a support, the only chance they had to exert any force was to use the body of the enemy as one. Their bodies entangled, almost as if they were lovers.

But in reality, of course, the purpose of this intimate closeness was not love; it was violence.

Grabbing Nephis with one hand and using his legs to trap hers, Sunny twisted his torso and delivered a devastating blow with his forehead, feeling the brittle bones of her nose shatter under his strike.

…But at the same time, her armored fist crashed into his side, aimed cruelly at the half-closed wound left behind by Caster.

Sunny screamed.

In the next second, her other fist slammed into his face. Augmented by the weight of the silver sword, that blow caused Sunny to lose himself for a short moment.

When he came to his senses, the first thing he saw was a massive slab of granite falling on them from above. Feeling blood stream down his face and from the newly opened wound on his side, Sunny bent his knee, and then used Neph's body to push himself away.

The two of them flew into opposite directions, narrowly avoiding being crushed by the enormous piece of stone.

Gliding with the help of their enchanted cloaks, Sunny and Nephis circled around each other, moving down in a wide spiral. Both were too preoccupied with dodging the falling pieces of stone to launch another attack, even if they wished too.

Around them, the Crimson Spire was quaking and convulsing, more and more cracks appearing on its walls, whole layers of stone separating from them and plunging down. It felt as though the ancient structure would not be able to hold on for much longer.

Above them, the dying sun was growing weaker with each minute.

…And down below, the runes surrounding the perfect circle of the Gateway were shimmering in the darkness, their light slowly becoming unstable.

Concentrating at the distant balcony, Sunny hesitated for a moment, then threw a glance at Nephis.

Then, he dismissed the Dark Wing and plunged down, abandoning the safety of flight.

Instead, he chose to fall.

With air whistling in his ears, Sunny plummeted through the darkness, approaching the vast balcony with terrible speed.

…Deadly speed.

He had to calculate everything perfectly.

When the Gateway was close enough to discern separate runes shining in a circle around it, he summoned the enchanted cloak again.

As the Memory began to weave itself into existence, Sunny continued to fall, the stone balcony growing closer and closer. A second later, it was already close enough to see the shapes of the dead coral golems in the darkness. A second more, and a bestial fear took hold of his heart… he was about to die, to splatter on the ground like a crushed bug!

Almost at the last moment, the Dark Wing finally came into existence. Immediately, Sunny activated the enchantment and tried to turn his vertical fall into a horizontal glide.

As inertia pulled him down with dreadful speed, he cut a smooth arc in the air and hit the stone surface of the balcony, turning the violent impact into a roll. Then, without losing even a moment, he jumped to his feet and ran toward the Gateway.

Consumed by pain, Sunny limped over the shimmering runes and entered the ring. Almost immediately, a strange feeling overtook him.

It was like… like that strange and indescribable feeling you get a few seconds before realizing that the reality surrounding you is just a dream, and that you are about to wake up.

The light of the runes grew stronger. Simultaneously, Sunny's own body began to glow, emanating the same ethereal light.

…Before that glow had a chance to become bright, though, a shadow fell from above in a deadly rustle of sharp steel.

'No!'

Sunny threw his hands up, deflecting the blow of Changing Star's silver sword. Nephis descended upon him like an avenging angel, the fierce white flames burning in her eyes with frightening intensity.

As soon as her feet touched the stone inside the iron ring, the shimmering runes blinked… and disappeared. Both Conduits were cut off from the Crimson Spire, thus breaking the flow of soul energy. Without it, the Gateway could not function.

Only if one of them was thrown outside would the runes ignite once again.

Sunny gritted his teeth and thrust his sword forward, hoping to get Nephis before she had time to regain her balance. But she was too fast, too cunning; before he could even get close to piercing her flesh, Changing Star was already moving, trapping his blade under her own and throwing it aside.

Sunny rammed into her, throwing all of his weight into one devastating blow. At the same time, he felt cold steel brushing against his ribs, causing more blood to stream down.

The two of them collided with frightening force and fell out of the iron ring of the Gateway, rolling down the steps of the dais. As soon as the first of them crossed the circle of runes, they shimmered and shined once again.

Sunny fell on the cold stones and remained lying there, consumed by pain and exhaustion. A low, tortured moan escaped from his lips.

Something was broken inside of him. He felt weak.

And cold.

He didn't want to stand up.

'I'n not done yet… I'm not…'

Chapter 348: Unbroken

Sunny lay on the ground, gulping air like a dying fish. It felt as though he was drowning.

His body was a map of pain. He couldn't even remember how many injuries he had received… there was the gash in his side left by Caster's jian, the gruesome wound that almost severed his clavicle, the long cut across his ribs… and many smaller ones.

But he was still alive.

He was still able to fight.

He was still not willing to give up.

…All around him, the Crimson Spire was trembling and groaning, slowly starting to collapse.

Gritting his teeth, Sunny tiredly pushed himself off the ground. His body protested, but he forced it into silence and slowly rose to his feet. The blade of the Midnight Shard scraped against the stones as he pulled it up.

Nephis was doing the same.

The young woman stood up and staggered, then regained her balance and grew still. Her posture was slumped, with one hand pressed tightly against the deep wound on her abdomen.

Changing Star looked weak and beaten, her fearsome presence diminished. Her face was pale, bloodied, and grim, contorted by a grimace of suffering.

…Only her eyes, which burned with dimming white flames, were still the same — striking, cold, and full of unshakable resolve.

Both of them were washed in the ethereal light of the Gateway.

Looking at Neph through that light, Sunny slowly inhaled and said in a hoarse voice:

"...Let's finish this."

She stared at him for a few moments, then grinned.

Her teeth were painted red by blood.

In the next moment, Nephis raised her sword and dashed forward, sending a cloud of dust into the air with her feet.

They clashed beneath the dais of the Gateway, their swords whistling through the air like hungry fiends. The clangor of steel drowned the sound of breaking stone, resounding in the darkness of the Crimspon Spire once again.

Both Sunny and Nephis were gruesomely wounded, but neither allowed their agony and pain to make them weaker. Instead, they fought with ruthless ferociousness, throwing everything they had left at the enemy, not holding anything back.

Now that Changing Star was bleeding heavily, the Blood Blossom hanging on Sunny's neck entered a state of frenzy. At times, it felt as though his sword moved on its own, helping him strike faster, harder, with deadlier precision.

He had never been as powerful as he was now.

…And yet, it was not enough.

Nephis was still too much for him to handle. She was still too strong, too fast, too overwhelming.

She was more like a monster than a human.

A demon of silver steel wreathed in pale white flames.

Sunny managed to add several deep cuts to her harrowing collection of injuries, but the damage he received in return was twice as terrible. His left arm was slowly growing numb, weakening his grip on the hilt of the Midnight Shard.

His lungs were burning, and it was getting harder and harder to inhale. With each breath, a wet, disturbing sound fell from his lips. His eyes were burning, too, his vision becoming blurry because of all the blood streaming into them. He had to rely on Shadow Sense a lot to make up for this debilitating affliction.

'I can't… I can't go on like this…'

He had to think of something. Something devious and smart, something that would work…

But, for the first time, Sunny's bag of tricks was empty.

No matter how much he thought, he couldn't imagine anything that would defeat Nephis.

She knew him too well. Better than anyone in the entire world.

Two worlds, even…

And yet, Sunny felt that he had no chance of victory if everything continued as it had. He was already just one step away from death.

And so, he did the one thing he could think of.

A desperate gamble with little chance of success.

Summoning all of his remaining strength and resilience, he forced his perception to shift… and started weaving the strange, taxing movements of the incomplete Shadow Dance into his technique.

He allowed his mind to become formless and shapeless, and then aimed it at Changing Star, trying to mimic her incredible battle art to the smallest detail.

And use it as a weapon to destroy her.

After all, if not Neph, then who could he ever imitate?

He was the person who knew her best in the world, too. He was her companion, friend, and pupil.

He was already practically her shadow, her compliant little helper. Caught in the net of her schemes, in her insane, insatiable desire, and incapable of breaking free — not only because there was no other choice, but also because he didn't really… didn't really want to be apart from her.

He knew her flowing, deadly battle style better than anyone except for Nephis herself. After all, he had practiced it as well, spending countless hours to master its foundation and gain insight into its principles. From repeating the same downward slash hundred of thousands of times to this terrible battle, he had never stopped learning from her.

If he had a chance to make that one final step to mastering the first level of Shadow Dance, it was in a fight against her.

And so Sunny fought, summoning the memory of the beautiful slave girl dancing with her seven shadows. He strained his already failing body to its limit, past the limit, trying to force it to perfectly reflect Changing Star's deadly grace and fearsome elegance.

Put under that strain, his body began to collapse.

Sunny felt as though there was something brittle in the center of his chest, a small part of his body that was slowly cracking under the pressure. With each move he made, a new crack appeared on its surface.

He just hoped that he would make the breakthrough before that small part exploded… if he could endure just a little more, do a little more, understand a little more…

But in the end, he didn't.

After another strange and excruciating move, one that somehow felt different from all the rest, the delicate thing in his chest suddenly shuddered, and broke.

For a moment, Sunny felt as a marionette whose strings had been cut. His eyes widened in horror.

And then, the Midnight Shard shivered slightly.

In the next second, the invisible well of power hidden in his souls opened, and a flood of rejuvenating strength carried his exhaustion away.

Chapter 349: Fate

When something in Sunny's chest shattered, the hidden enchantment of the Midnight Shard, [Unbroken], came into effect and opened the floodgates of power to support him in the desperate, defiant last stand.

…Of course, the Blood Weave was enhanced by it, too, boosting its restorative powers. The virtuous cycle was complete, simultaneously making him much stronger and bringing him away from death's doorstep.

Changing Star's sword whistled through the air, aiming to pierce his flesh… and was thrown aside by the forceful push of the austere tachi. For the first time since the beginning of their brutal fight, Sunny didn't reel because of the violent shock reverberating through his bones.

Now, he had reached the absolute pinnacle of his power potential. With his core fully saturated, the shadow wrapped around his body, the Blood Blossom filling his Memories with frenzied might, and the Unbroken enchantment of the stalwart blade doing the same for his body, Sunny was as strong as he would ever be before becoming an Awakened.

Now, he was finally able to match Nephis…

Almost.

Astoundingly, incredibly, irrationally, she was still stronger.

'How?! How, damn it?!'

Sunny moved and fought, blood seeping from his terrible wounds. Although the gap in power between him and Changing Star had diminished significantly, it was still there, making him miss his attacks by a fraction of a second, be too late to block and deflect by a hair's breadth.

He was still losing.

As the two of them clashed furiously, sparks of burning metal flying into the air from the point where their swords met, the light of the artificial sun had grown dim and unstable, and the Crimson Spire continued to break apart.

At some point, an enormous piece of granite crashed into the vast balcony, showering them with a rain of sharp splinters. A net of cracks appeared on the stone surface beneath their feet, slowly widening as more debris fell down.

Both of them were thrown to the ground by the shockwave of the collision, but immediately got up, lunging at each other with dark, murderous determination. Sunny dodged the tip of the silver longsword and thrust his tachi forward, leaving a deep cut on Neph's forearm, slicing her muscles apart. At the same time, she made a step forward and slammed the pommel of her sword into his mauled clavicle, making Sunny's mind explode with pain.

He heard someone scream, their voice hoarse and full of indescribable suffering, then realized a moment later that that bestial voice was his own.

Soon, the scream turned into a growl.

He wasn't done yet. He refused to be defeated, he refused to give up…

He still had a chance to win.

…Because through all of this, Sunny had continued to push himself toward mastering the first step of the Shadow Dance.

Just before something shattered in his chest, thus causing the Midnight Shard to open the well of hidden power, he had sensed an approaching epiphany.

It was already there, at the precipice of his mind. But his body was not strong enough, not malleable enough to manifest it into reality.

Or at least it had not been before receiving the boon of the [Unbroken].

Now, everything changed. Sunny felt that he would be able to make a breakthrough with the help of the powerful enchantment. Every strike, every block, every step brought him closer to finally being able to complete the foundation of his elusive battle art, to bring his vision of it to fruition.

Taking a pained breath, he deflected another vicious attack, hesitated for a split second… and looked away from Nephis.

Instead of watching her body and her movements, he instead gazed at her shadow.

The shadow shifted slightly, facing away from the glowing ring of the Gateway. Its shadow hands moved, raising a shadow sword. The shadow sword fell, aiming to cut the shadow's enemy down.

And suddenly, it felt as though a door opened in his mind.

Everything suddenly fell into place. Everything connected. What was fragmented and obscured before now became clear and whole. It was…

Complete.

Before Neph's sword could reach him, Sunny evaded it with a slight shift and raised the Midnight Shard.

A moment later, he delivered an identical strike, forcing her to retreat.

'...Like that?'

Changing Star was already attacking again, moving with speed and precision that seemed inhuman. Sunny mirrored her movements, and their blades collided in the air, causing a rain of sparks to fly down.

His style changed slightly, growing more graceful. Smooth, flowing. Deadly.

Just like hers.

'No, this is wrong.'

The point of Shadow Dance was not to mirror every movement, to become a literal copy. It was to understand the very essence of the enemy's style and turn it against them.

Sunny scowled and changed his grip on the Midnight Shard slightly, then attacked, manifesting the essence of Changing Star's technique into his own body. Suddenly, he was able to see her intentions with more clarity, understand the pattern of her steps better.

He was able to perform every action she had performed, but also those that she had not used yet. After all, he was not a reflection, but a shadow. He wasn't replicating Changing Star's movements; instead, he was replicating Changing Star herself.

The very heart of her battle technique.

Neph's eyes widened when she felt the sudden change in his style. When they clashed again, Sunny seemed to be able to mirror her every move, throwing the flow of combat into a violent turmoil. His movements were sharper, faster, filled with more meaningful intent.

Her attacks slowed down for a few moments, then grew even more violent and ferocious.

Only now, they seemed to be less measured, less… controlled.

It was as though she had lost her absolute grasp on the cadence of the battle, and was now compensating for it with brute strength.

Sunny suspected that the small advantage he had gained wasn't going to last long. Nephis was too smart and too gifted to allow this lack of understanding to persist. Soon, she was going to see through the guiding principle of his newly established style and adjust to resist it.

Even he couldn't predict what was going to happen then.

That is why, despite his best judgment, Sunny gritted his teeth and escalated his attacks, sacrificing any semblance of defense in the process.

This had to end fast.

...At first, he was able to see Neph's intentions with a considerable measure of clarity, allowing him to react to her attacks slightly before she started to move. When possible, he mirrored her strikes to throw the flow of the battle into chaos. His own came with a tiny delay, lagging behind the enemy by a fraction of a second.

Then, they happened at the same time.

And then, miraculously, his attacks started to come in advance of Changing Star's, even if the difference was barely perceptible.

That was all Sunny needed.

In the terrible crescendo of their merciless duel, blood fell to the cracking stone of the Gateway balcony like crimson rain.

He dashed forward, turning his torso sideways to let the silver longsword miss his chest and rip through his bicep instead. As a blinding wave of pain flooded his mind, Sunny caught Neph's arm with his own.

And then, twisting it, brought his fist on her elbow, shattering it.

As pieces of bloodied bone tore through her skin, Nephis shrieked terribly and made an awkward move, trying to smash him in the head with the flat of her sword. But because it was now only held in one hand, the force and speed of that strike were not as formidable as that of her previous attacks.

Diving under the blade of the silver longsword, Sunny fell to one knee…

And pushed the Midnight Shard forward in a horizontal cut, its blade tearing through Neph's abdomen and exiting in a flood of blood from her back.

Pulled by the inertia of her attack, Nephis made a step forward and came to a sudden stop. As the sword slid from her grip and clattered to the cold stones, she swayed a little.

And then fell heavily to the ground.

The radiance of her skin was slowly fading away.

With his back to her, Sunny stared into the darkness. After a few moments, he closed his eyes and sighed.

'...Over.'

A second or two later, he stood up, turned around, and walked toward the broken figure of the young woman, who was still trying to reach for her sword, blood spilling from her mouth.

As Sunny's shadow fell on Nephis, she gritted her teeth and spat:

"It's… it's not over yet… I still can… I can…"

Ruthlessly throwing the silver longword away with the tip of his boot, Sunny looked at her from above and said in a tired, listless voice:

"You can't. It's over, Neph."

Then, he looked away, at the shining dais of the Gateway. His face was hidden in the shadows.

"You're done."

***

He won.

Looking at the shining Gateway, Sunny tasted that word.

Why was it so bitter? Why was it so painful?

Why wasn't it sweet and joyous?

With a dark grimace, he glanced at Nephis, and then turned away.

What could he say to her that had any meaning? One of them was going to escape this hell, and the other was going to stay. One was victorious, and the other was defeated.

One of them was going to live, and the other was going to die.

Any words he could find would be empty...

But not empty enough to express the hollow sense in his heart.

His feet trembled as he made the first step toward the Gateway.

'...To hell with this!'

Why did his heart have to feel so heavy?! Why wasn't he celebrating?!

He deserved to be saved. He struggled and suffered to get to come this far, enduring countless horrors that would have broken and destroyed anyone else. He bled and fought, clawing his way to this point, never allowing himself to rest or stop growing. He — he! — was the strongest.

He was the last one left standing!

Not the countless Nightmare Creatures of the Forgotten Shore. Not Harus, that damned hunchback. Not Gunlaug, the mighty Bright Lord. Not Caster, the strongest even among other Legacies.

Not even Changing Star, the last daughter of the legendary Immortal Flace clan.

No, it was him. A homeless kid from the outskirt with no place to call his own, someone whom no one had ever expected to survive, let alone thrive in the ruthless embrace of the Nightmare Spell. Whom everyone considered to be below them, an inconsequential nobody with no chance of ever becoming anything else.

Well… he showed them all, had he not?

Gritting his teeth in anger, Sunny made another step.

'To hell with you!'

…Behind him, Nephis had finally abandoned her hopeless attempts to reach her sword. As Sunny walked away, she slowly crawled a few steps, then arduously pushed herself and sat up, leaning on a piece of rubble. The light of the Gateway reflected in her eyes as she watched him go, hunched, seemingly unable to move anymore.

Stepping over a wide crack in the stone that was slowly approaching the shimmering circle of runes, Sunny came to the iron ring.

Now, only one step separated him from freedom.

…But instead of making it, he suddenly froze, looking into the distance with a grim expression on his face.

A second passed by, then another. The Crimson Spire shuddered once again, sending more stone falling down.

As the light of the artificial sun grew so dim that it was almost impossible to see, Sunny swayed a little, then turned around and walked back to Nephis.

Stopping above her, he lingered for a moment, then kneeled, so that their faces were on the same level.

Looking Neph right in the eyes, Sunny raised his hands and clapped several times.

Finally, he said in a terrible, furious voice:

"Congratulations. You almost fooled me…"

Chapter 350: End of the Nightmare

Nephis stared at him tiredly, straining to understand his words.

The radiance was gone from beneath her skin, and instead of it, white flames had once again appeared, licking weakly at her wounds. However, their power was almost gone: instead of healing, all they could do now was stem the bleeding and prevent Changing Star from dying right there and then.

A few seconds later, she opened her mouth, letting blood flow over her lips, and said in a low, barely audible voice:

"What… are you talking about?"

Sunny snarled.

"Drop the act. Your performance was, indeed, masterful. But don't forget who taught you how to lie in the first place. Did you really think that you would be able to deceive me?"

She was silent for a few moments, then whispered:

"I don't… understand."

He looked at her and asked, his voice shaking with anger:

"Why did you do it? Why?"

Nephis blinked and drew in a shaky breath, but didn't say anything, looking at him with pain and confusion.

Realizing that she wasn't going to answer, Sunny spat:

"Why did you throw the fight?!"

She lingered for a moment, then said quietly:

"...I didn't."

A bitter smile appeared on Sunny's lips. Shaking his head, he said:

"You almost made it work, you know. I almost bought it! But after all of it was done and I could think clearly, some things really didn't add up. They didn't make any sense! No matter how I looked at it, something felt wrong."

The Spire swayed, drowning their voices in the sound of breaking stone. Not paying it any attention, Sunny continued:

"First! I know for a fact that you are somehow able to support two augmentations at the same time. You did so while fighting Gunlaug. One to enhance your sword, the other to enhance your body. I rarely forget things, so how could I not remember this? Once you were heavily injured, you summoned back the flames from the sword and were able to simultaneously strengthen yourself and heal those wounds. And yet, you only used one when fighting me. Funny, isn't it?"

Nephis stared at him, not saying anything. Then, she uttered:

"My powers were exhausted…"

Sunny spat.

"I would have believed that, maybe, if not for your other mistakes. Back at the top of the Spire, you had an opportunity to cut off my arm, ending the fight right there and then. That was the best course of action, the swiftest and most effective attack you could have performed. But instead, you chose a less advantageous method and went for my head, striking with the flat of the blade."

A grim expression appeared on his face.

"Someone else might have made that choice, but not you. Not Changing Star, the sword saint. The only reason for you to pass on that golden opportunity is that you never really wanted to win. Didn't you?"

He looked up and grimaced, pain assaulting his mind like a furious sea.

"...And finally, why did you even stay there at the top of the tower, waiting for me to come? If you wanted to escape, you could have gone to the Gateway as soon as you realized what the Soul Conduit was, not even giving me a chance to save myself. But you did not. You just sat there quietly and waited, ignoring your chance to reach the Gateway first. So… why?"

He looked at her and shouted, the pain finally finding its way into his voice:

"Why the hell did you pretend to go all out on me while planning to lose from the start?!"

Nephis stared at him for a while, her face pale and inexorable.

Then, she sighed and looked away.

After a moment, she said quietly:

"Maybe it is because I am far away from home, too."

***

Sunny stared at her for a couple of moments, then snarled.

"What? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Changing Star turned her head and looked at him calmly, then smiled.

"Alright, Sunny. You caught me. Now go. This tower won't last much longer."

As she said that, the white flames flowing from her wounds suddenly flashed, growing stronger and brighter. Her injuries started to heal once again, not as fast as in the past, but still with considerable speed. Her eyes shined with fearsome radiance.

He gritted his teeth.

"Like hell I will! Not before you give me an answer."

Nephis shrugged tiredly, then looked him in the eyes.

"What it is that you want to know?"

Sunny clenched his fists.

"Why even fight me if you wanted to let me win all along?"

She sighed. As he stared at her with burning intensity, Neph said:

"Isn't it obvious? Because if I didn't, you wouldn't go."

Turning away, she lingered for a moment, and then continued:

"People… people are usually either cruel or kind. But not you. You can be both, depending on the situation. Either ruthless or compassionate. Either cruel or kind. So that's what I did. I created a situation that would allow you to be ruthless and cruel. To leave me behind without showing any mercy."

Sunny stared at her, his fists trembling.

"But why? Why would you doom yourself to save me? What happened to your goddamned goal?! Didn't you tell me that you will sacrifice anything, anyone, to achieve it?!"

Nephis looked at him and smiled bitterly.

"Why? Are you the only one who is allowed to grow and change? Can't I change too, Sunny?"

She turned away and said tiredly, her voice full of invisible, but crushing weight:

"...Yes. I did say such a thing. But saying and doing are two different things, Sunny. Once it all started… once all those people were dying because of what I have done… once I suffered defeat after defeat… it was more difficult than I could ever imagine. It was… distasteful."

He shook his head in shock.

"So… that's it? You just gave up? After all that crap, you just decided that it was too much for you?"

Changing Star remained quiet for a bit, then slowly shook her head.

"...You don't really understand me at all, do you, Sunny?"

Facing him, she grinned.

"Give up? No, I didn't give up. I didn't abandon my goal. I just realized that I was not ambitious enough."

As white flames grew brighter in her eyes, Nephis said:

"I am going to destroy the Spell, and all those who stand in my way. I will accomplish everything that I want. But I will also do it in the way that I want. I will do it in a way that suits my desire, without compromising anything. Without sacrificing my sense of right and wrong."

Illuminated by white radiance, her pale, bloodied face seemed like a face of a demon.

"Manipulating all those people, causing their deaths? I would do it again. I would kill more if I needed to. Because it was fair and right. I gave them the chance to save themselves, or die fighting against the Spell. There is no better way."

For a moment, her eyes were aflame with passion. However, then, her expression suddenly changed. Looking down, Nephis added in a quiet voice:

"...But abandoning you here would be vile, and wrong. It would leave a bad taste in my mouth. Just like leaving a helpless blind girl to die alone would. I won't do it. If I do, I would be no better than those who I want to destroy. What's the point of reaching my goal if, in the process, I become the same as those whom I hate?"

She pierced him with a burning gaze and said:

"No, Sunny. My goal hasn't changed. It's just that reaching by using a wrong path is worse than not reaching it at all. But why do you care, anyway? Don't you think that it is insane? Don't you think that I am despicable and vile? So, go! Why are you hesitating?!"

Sunny stared at her, a deep frown appearing on his face. Finally, he asked:

"I'm hesitating because of you, fool. What about you?"

Nephis smiled.

"What about me? Do you think I will die here, in this tower? No. I will… I will be fine. I will escape it and survive, somehow. I'll find another way out. No matter how long it's going to take me, I will. Nothing will stop me. You know it won't…"

He stared at her for a while, then glanced at the shimmering Gateway.

The crack traveling through the stone balcony was already almost upon the circle of runes, threatening to destroy them.

…Salvation was so close.

He could almost taste it.

Turning away from the dais, Sunny shook his head.

"That is a horrible plan. You want to travel around the Dream Realm battling Nightmare Creatures? Fine. Let's do it together. We can try to go through the Hollow Mountains and reach the human Citadels on the other side. And that's just the south. With can also try north, east, and west, searching for an unclaimed Gateway. Two of us will have a better chance to survive. The two of us, together… it's better than being alone. Right?"

She hesitated for a long time, then closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. When she spoke, her voice was wistful and tired:

"...No. I can't. I can't let you stay, Sunny. Go! Go and meet your sister. There's something waiting for you in the real world, at least. All that's waiting for me is emptiness, bloodshed, and graves. If I return, the same thing that happened in the Bright Castle will repeat itself, over and over again, until there's nothing else. So go while you can."

The runes of the Gateway shimmered, as if on the verge of disappearing.

He gritted his teeth.

"...No."

Nephis opened her eyes and looked at him, a sense of sorrow appearing on her face.

"Leave me, Sunny. Please. Go."

He shook his head stubbornly.

"I don't want to."

Changing Star was silent for a moment, looking at him with a pained expression. And then she said, making his world crumble:

"Go… Lost from Light."

His eyes widened.

Deep within his soul, something moved and rose from slumber, triumphant. Unbreakable, eternal, irresistible. Complete, perfect, and sweet.

…Before Sunny knew what he was doing, his hand shot forward, the ghostly blade of the Moonlight Shard appearing in it.

"Stop."

His hand froze, the tip of the stiletto mere centimeters away from Neph's eye.

Trembling, he looked at his arm and willed it to move forward.

But it didn't. It didn't move at all. It was as though that hand did not belong to him anymore.

As deep horror drowned his heart, Sunny moved his gaze and looked at Nephis, his eyes wide with shock.

"H… how…"

A sad smile appeared on her lips.

"How did I know? …Cassie told me."

Neph sighed and looked away.

"She was the first one to understand the meaning of her vision. She knew that the two of us will end up fighting each other, and that I was going to lose. Maybe even die. She just didn't know how, when, and why. So, Cassie told me your secret, in hopes that it will save my life one day. But I… I hoped that I would never have to use it."

Sunny stared at her, too shocked to say anything. She smiled sadly.

"So, then. I guess… I guess this is goodbye. Ta… I hope that you'll take care of yourself, Sunny. Now, go. Escape before it is too late.'

Even though Sunny didn't do anything, his body moved on its own. Standing up, he turned around and walked toward the shining ring of the Gateway.Step, step. Another step.

'Stop. Stop!'

But his body would not listen. It just continued to move forward, indifferent to his commands. A dull ache settled somewhere in the center of his heart.

'Stop!'

There was nothing he could do. He was a miraculous shadow bound to a master; once the master gave a command, he had no choice but to obey.

Sunny slowly walked up the steps of the dais and approached the circle of runes, then crossed the iron ring without slowing down. As soon as he did, the runes shone with intense light.

His body began to glow, too.

'No! I refuse!'

The ethereal radiance grew brighter and brighter, until it became hard to discern the human figure in its middle.

'No!'

…And then, suddenly, it disappeared, leaving only emptiness behind.

Sunny was gone, finally free of this long and arduous nightmare. The journey back to reality that had taken him more than a year was now over.

He made it out alive.

Just a few seconds after he disappeared in a flash of light, the crack in the stone reached the circle of runes and broke it.

The shine of the Gateway grew unstable and swiftly faded away.

At the same time, the artificial sun of the Forgotten Shore ignited one last time with a bright, intense explosion of light, and then extinguished.

...Left alone in the collapsing tower and with no more light to shine upon her, the beaten, broken figure of Changing Star disappeared into the shadows.