Sunny had never fought in his shadow form, and really, he didn't even know how. All he had were his instincts, but that wasn't enough. In fact, trusting your instincts too much was a sure way to get yourself killed.
Intelligence was the most dangerous weapon in the arsenal of a human, and it was Sunny's mind that ended up saving his life.
He had realized that his enemy was not invisible, but a shadow just like him only a moment before the creature was upon him. In that split second, Sunny managed to come up with the only way to escape death.
As sharp pain pierced his entire being, he lunged forward… and escaped the shadows, rolling away on the grass. Jumping to his feet, Sunny staggered and clutched at his side, blood flowing between his fingers.
"Argh…"
The shadow of the unknown abomination lunged in pursuit… and swiped uselessly across his body, not causing him any harm.
It was just a shadow, after all.
Throwing a glance at the thin tear in the Puppeteer's Shroud and a deep wound beneath it, Sunny took a step back. Simultaneously, he gave his shadows a command to hide themselves under his armor and augment his body.
Physical attacks couldn't harm shadows… but shadows also had no way to harm living beings. That was the thought that had saved him. If he had failed to assume the shape of a human in time, he would have been dead by now… most likely.
Because he had not, however, he and the shadow creature were now at a standstill.
The master of the Reckoning Island tried to attack him several more times, each strike ending up as fruitless as the previous ones. Then, it froze, as if slightly confused by the situation.
Sunny finally had a chance to take a good look at the hostile shadow.
It looked just like a shadow would — like a dark, ethereal silhouette of a person painted on the grass in black. The creature seemed to have two legs, two hands, and one head. If Sunny didn't know what it really was, he would have assumed that the shadow was cast by an ordinary person.
There was no one else in sight, though.
Backing away and grimacing because of the pain radiating from the deep wound in his side, Sunny stared at the enemy and thought feverishly:
'No, this is wrong…'
A shadow creature was, indeed, deadly for someone like him.
But to every other human on the Chained Isles, it was completely harmless.
How was it, then, that so many people had been killed by it? And what about the Nightmare Creatures? How had this shadow slaughtered so many living beings?
His eyes widened slightly.
Sunny threw his hand to the side to summon the Midnight Shard… and just in time.
What happened next caused him to shudder.
The creature moved once again, and then, two dark flames appeared in its darkness. A moment later, a human figure stepped out of the shadow. It was a young man with pale skin and cold, cruel eyes of an experienced killer. A spark of madness burned in their depths.
The stranger had black hair and was wearing a light armor made out of soft silk and black, lustreless leather. In his hands, the apparition was holding a long, slightly curved blade of an austere tachi.
Sunny felt fear grip his heart as he recognized the face in front of him.
Of course, he did. It was his own face, after all.
Looking at the devil of Reckoning was like looking into a mirror.
'That's, uh… since when was I so scary?!'
Sunny recoiled in shock.
"What the hell are you?"
The apparition mimicked his expression, then opened its mouth. Its lips moved, however, there was sound, as if the abomination was mute.
Sunny had no problem reading its lips, though.
"...What the hell are you?"
'What is going on...'
Before he could finish that thought, though, he had to defend himself against a lightning-fast strike of the enemy's sword.
Sunny deflected the fearsome attack and staggered back, his hands trembling from the force of the impact.
'Curses…'
The bastard might have looked like Sunny, but it was much, much stronger. About as strong as a Fallen Devil would probably be…
Sunny had no time to recover before his evil twin was upon him once again, attacking with the painfully familiar grace of his own battle style. This time, the tip of the tachi missed Sunny's eyes only by a few centimeters.
A vicious smile appeared on the apparition's face.
Sunny grunted.
As the abomination launched a flurry of lethal attacks his way, each swift and vicious, he struggled to defend himself and fought through the pain. He was barely holding on… for now, at least. Because of how strong and fast the creature was, Sunny had no doubt that he'll be killed eventually.
How could he fight against someone who knew all his tricks, but was also much more powerful? Even the Shadow Dance was useless... what was the point in trying to mirror the style of an opponent who had stolen his technique from Sunny himself?!
The situation did not look good, at all. Especially because blood was still streaming down Sunny's torso.
Between two strikes, he dashed back and pierced the apparition with a furious gaze.
"You... poor bastard... of all the faces out there, you just had to choose mine? Fool, couldn't you have chosen someone, I don't know… taller?!"
Internally, though, he couldn't help but think:
'Not gonna lie, the evil version of me looks sort of… awesome. Am I really this dashing in real life?'
Sunny didn't really know how to feel about this.
...He wasn't, of course, trying to speak to the creature because he wanted to chat.
He was just trying to distract it while Saint was drawing her bow.
A moment later, a black arrow whistled in the air, aimed at the devil's heart.
…However, the young man with cruel dark eyes simply stepped to the side and swiped the arrow away with his sword.
Sunny cursed.
…He became really despondent, though, only a moment later, when a sudden ripple spread through the bizarre creature's body.
In a blink of an eye, the apparition changed. Its face suddenly became white as alabaster and inhumanly beautiful, with ruby eyes, high cheekbones, and full lips. The soft fabric of its armor turned black as onyx and hard as stone. The shape and height of its body changed, too.
Before Sunny could even react, he wasn't facing his own reflection anymore.
Instead, he was facing Saint's.
'Crap…'
As the sickening feeling of his soul slowly falling apart permeated Sunny's entire being, the perfect copy of the taciturn demon raised its bow and sent an arrow flying straight at his heart.
Chapter 412: Perfect Adversary
'Well… one mystery is solved, at least.'
Sunny became painfully aware of how the devil of the Reckoning was able to slaughter so many Awakened, and why no Nightmare Creature could survive on its island.
If the bastard was able to turn into a copy of any enemy while remaining as powerful as a Fallen Devil, then very few things could ever hope to escape from it alive.
And those Awakened who had escaped despite everything mistakenly believed that their companions fell to a creature that could mess with people's sight… what else would they think after watching a human being killed by what looked like their exact copy?
Well… why had no one thought that it was an actual copy and not a trick on the eye, damn it?!
If there was one thing that landed Sunny in this dire situation, it was that people in the Sanctuary severely lacked imagination!
…All these thoughts flashed through his mind as he used Shadow Step to disappear and fall awkwardly to the ground a dozen meters behind the devil, completely out of the way of the flying arrow.
'Great… but now what?'
Just a few moments before, Sunny had been contemplating abandoning the fight and simply running away. Unlike some humans he had met in the past, he wasn't burdened by useless things like pride or vanity. If the situation called for a cowardly escape, he was ready and willing to do just that.
But now that the bastard had turned into Saint and was holding a bow, the idea of trying to run was not very enticing. The last thing he wanted was to be hit in the back of his head by an arrow.
'Think, think…'
There was no time to think, though.
The reflection of Saint swiftly spun and lunged toward him. As Sunny teleported further away, the creature suddenly pivoted and crashed into the trunk of a tall, ancient tree.
A moment later, Sunny emerged from the shadows and saw, with horror, a giant mass of heavy wood plummeting on him from above.
Desperately burning through his essence, he filled his body with as much strength as possible and raised his hands, trying to catch the falling tree. As a groan escaped from his mouth, Sunny's feet dug into the soft soil of the Reckoning Island. Somehow, he managed to stop the tree without being crushed by it.
It was at this moment that a second arrow flashed toward his heart…
Only to collide with another one in the air and fly aside.
Some distance away, the real Saint dismissed the bow, raised her sword, and dashed toward the impostor.
'Eat that, bastard!'
Sunny gritted his teeth, strained his already overtaxed muscles, and threw the massive tree at the abomination with a tremendously powerful push. When he used his essence and augmented his body with both shadows, Sunny was able to achieve bursts of truly inhuman strength.
How was the bastard going to escape this?
The creature indifferently lowered its shoulder, then simply disappeared into the shadows and appeared on the other side of the flying trunk. Then, it met attacking Saint with a devastating shoulder bash.
The onyx armor of the taciturn demon cracked, and she was thrown back, causing another tree to explode into a cloud of splinters.
Sunny paled.
'S—shadow Step. Not good…'
The apparition turned to him and mockingly tilted its head.
Something… something was very wrong with that thing. It seemed maleficent and utterly mad, but at the same time… incomplete, somehow. Behind the evil will and terrifying killing intent that dwelled in its ruby eyes, there was a hint of some other, boundless emotion.
Sunny faintly recognized the feeling of it, since he had felt the same deep and indescribable emotion one time before.
Far below the Hollow Mountains, in the darkness of the misty stone labyrinth between to otherworldly rivers, he had sensed the same feeling of loss, anguish, and confusion in the shadows left behind the by companions of the First Lord of the Bright Castle.
'...What even is that thing?'
He had no time to ponder about its nature, though, because the creature had once again turned into a pale young man with dark eyes and was lunging at him, a vicious smile frozen on its lips.
Feeling a cold shiver running down his spine, Sunny realized that he would not win this fight. Nor was he capable of escaping from the Reckoning alive.
This time, he was truly in danger.
He was really going to die on this beautiful, peaceful island… and the last thing he was going to see before falling into the embrace of death would be his own reflection staring back at him through the eyes of his killer.
Unless…
Sunny sent Saint back into the Soul Sea and met the apparition's attack with a block, feeling his body shudder from the force of the blow.
He had assumed that the Devil of Reckoning was a shadow, and it was indeed similar to one… but, really, it was not. It only appeared as a shadow because Sunny himself had been in the form of a shadow when they first clashed. And once he had turned into a human, the devil, too, became a human.
The young man with the cold eyes of a killer took a small step and made a high thrust with the tachi. Sunny, however, knew his one fighting style too well to be caught by that trap. Knowing that the thrust was just a feint, he threw his own blade downward, and just barely managed to deflect a vicious slash that followed. He was late by a fraction of a second, though… another tear appeared in the fabric of the Puppeteer's Shroud, and a shallow wound on his thigh began sipping with blood.
The creature was more of a reflection than a shadow. It mirrored everything about its enemy. Their appearance, their weapons, their battle technique. Even their powers… otherwise, how would it be ble to use Shadow Step? In a sense, it was a perfect adversary. But that wasn't all…
Sunny grimaced as the apparition threw his sword away and delivered a powerful kick that almost turned all of his ribs into bone dust. If not for the burst of essence he had sent to his legs, Sunny would have never managed to dodge that devastating blow. But his essence was already running dry, and his enemy seemed to be even stronger now… as if the more Sunny bled, the more powerful the pale young man became.
The devil was even able to mirror the Memories its enemy wielded. Before, Sunny had experienced the soul attack of the copy of the Broken Oath. And now, the creature was obviously being fed raw power by the Blood Blossom…
He attacked with the Midnight Shard to by himself a couple of moments to think…
The apparition had not seemed to be affected by the Broken Oath, though. Was that because it had assumed the form of Saint, who was immune to soul attacks? Did this mean that the devil was able to copy not only powers and Memories, but Attributes, too?
The creature easily deflected Sunny's attack and leaned forward to deliver the final blow. Sunny's only hope to escape it was to jump back…
But what else did the creature copy? Was it really a perfect reflection?
There was only one way to find out.
Instead of jumping back, Sunny stepped forward and collided against the apparition, completely open, unable to escape being struck down by the enemy's blade.
Before the deadly strike came, however, he leaned close to the devil's ear and whispered, so softly that no one except for the two of the would ever be able to hear what he had said:
"Stop, Lost from Light."
And then, the devil froze, as if suddenly turned to stone.
Sunny smiled.
…It was a perfect reflection, indeed.
Chapter 413: Mirror Beast
The apparition stood motionlessly, frozen in place by Sunny's quiet command. He could see his face reflecting in its dark eyes, even paler than usual, beads of sweat glistening in the sun. The creature was completely still, all its terrifying strength shackled by the four simple words Sunny had whispered to it.
It was... enslaved. No matter how powerful the strange abomination was, no amount of power could ever allow it to disobey the command of its new master.
...Sunny.
By stealing his face and his powers, the creature had also inherited his Innate Ability, Shadow Bond. Sunny had made use of that bond to subjugate the devil, and now, it was at his mercy.
For now, at least.
With a pained grimace, Sunny fell to the ground and drew in a hoarse breath.
'That… that was close.'
The wound on his thigh was not too serious, but the cut he had received as a shadow was long and deep. Blood Weave had prevented him from losing too much blood and was going to ensure a fast recovery, but it had its limits. The wounds needed to be tended to… however, they could wait.
Right now, Sunny had to decide what to do with the former ruler Reckoning... the dreadful creature that had slain plenty of humans, and only gods knew how many Nightmare Creatures, which was now under his full control.
Such a powerful abomination… it would surely be very helpful to have something that fearsome serving him, unable to disobey any command.
He glanced at the frozen creature and shivered.
Looking at it was still like looking in a mirror, after all. Despite knowing that the thing in front of him was a Nightmare Creature, he couldn't help but see a slight young man with pale skin and dark eyes… couldn't help but see himself.
Yes, having a Fallen Devil do his bidding would be extremely beneficial, especially because the apparition looked exactly like him. With a bit of cunning and preparation, Sunny would be able to seemingly appear in two places at the same time. If he ever needed to prove that he wasn't Mongrel or accomplish something shady without drawing any suspicion, that would be a perfect way to do so… there were countless scenarios where such an ability would be incredibly useful.
But there lay the problem.
The creature was only enslaved because it had assumed his form. Since the creature could take any shape, it was going to stop possessing his Aspect Abilities — including Shadow Bond — as soon as it turned into something else. Then, it would be free of its shackles and able to do whatever it wanted, including unleashing its wrath on Sunny.
That was why he had dismissed Saint before attempting to subjugate the apparition. He needed it to remain as his own reflection, and no one else's.
Yes, he could circumvent the possibility of losing control over the terrifying creature with a long series of complex orders that would limit when and how it could use its shapeshifting. But coming up with a foolproof net of prohibitions was a herculean task… Sunny wasn't even sure that it was possible.
He had spent a long time thinking of ways to escape this exact fate, so he knew better than most — better than anyone, perhaps — how hard it was to keep an unwilling slave under control. Especially if the enslaved being was more powerful than its master.
There would always be a way to twist words, find a loophole, and turn the orders given by the master against themselves. Sunny was sure of it.
He had to be.
So... what was he supposed to do with the frozen abomination?
Standing up with a grimace, Sunny faced his perfect copy and looked at it with regret.
The main reason for what he was about to do, nevertheless, was way less complicated. He simply didn't want to be a slaver. He didn't want to own any living thing.
Sunny lingered for a while, and then said:
"Don't be scared. I won't make you a slave. That would be too cruel of a fate, don't you think? Even… even for a Nightmare Creature like you… "
With that, he raised his hand, as if to caress the cheek of the pale young man, and then swiped it swiftly across his neck.
Almost invisible in the bright light, the ghostly blade of the Moonlight Shard trembled as drops of crimson blood fell from it into the vibrant grass.
The young man didn't move, but his pupils widened. A few moments later, blood flowed from between his lips, painting his pale skin red.
Sunny looked at the dying apparition, deeply disturbed by the visage in front of him.
…It was not every day that one got to see himself die.
'That's... that is...'
He paled slightly, but did not look away.
In front of him, a person who looked exactly like himself was slowly drowning in blood, a crimson torrent flowing from his cut throat.
A few moments later, when the creature was on the death's doorstep, its body suddenly trembled, and then shifted slightly. A tortured smile appeared on its face.
The apparition's lips moved, but just as before, no sound escape from them. However, Sunny thought that he had managed to read a few words:
"…we… never… searching."
That was what the apparition had tried to say.
Then, the light in its eyes extinguished. A strange ripple spread over the young man's body, and a moment later, thin cracks appeared on his skin.
After a second or two, the creature shattered into a rain of silver glass, which then turned into a stream of light and disappeared.
Only one jagged mirror shard remained laying in the grass, reflecting nothing but cold darkness.
As Sunny stared at all this in bewilderment, the Spell whispered:
[You have slain an Ascended Reflection, Mirror Beast.]
Sunny blinked.
'Wait… what did it just say?'
The Spell, however, wasn't done speaking.
[...You have received a Memory.]
Chapter 414: Mystery of the Dark Mirror
Sunny stared at the ground, confused.
'What just happened?'
Why did the Spell call that thing and Ascended Reflection? What was a Reflection? And why was it Ascended instead of Fallen?
How could a Nightmare Creature be Ascended?
He frowned.
'...Was it not a Nightmare Creature? How is that possible?'
The apparition was definitely not a human, so what else could it be if not one of the Dream Realm's abominations?
And one more thing…
The Spell did not say that his shadow had grown stronger, did it?
To make sure, Sunny checked the number of his shadow fragments. Just as he had suspected, it didn't change. He even dove into the Soul Sea, and saw that there was no new shadow among the rows of the creatures he had slain.
'This is very, very strange.'
What the hell had he just killed?
With a deep frown on his face, Sunny bent down and cautiously picked up the jagged mirror shard that the apparition had left behind. No matter how he looked at it, the shard resembled a perfectly mundane piece of glass, with a thin layer of silver painted over its reverse side. The only strange thing about it was that no matter how Sunny turned the shard, it refused to reflect anything except for an impenetrable veil of darkness.
There was also an inscription on its reverse.
Sunny's frown deepened when he realized that the inscription was not made with runes… instead, what he saw were the familiar letters of the human alphabet. They were clumsy and awkward, as if written by a child's hand.
There was only one word written on the mirror shard:
"Beastie"
'...What the hell is that supposed to mean?'
The mystery of the Mirror Beast was so strange that for a time, Sunny even forgot about the burning pain in his side.
Eventually, he whispered:
"...An Echo?"
Echoes did not possess souls, so he expected that slaying one would not reward him with any shadow fragments, just like what had happened after Mirror Beast's death.
The apparition, however, was obviously not an Echo. It was too independent, sentient, and had too much... individuality to be a simple copy of a dead Nightmare Creature. Not to mention that it had been ruling the Reckoning for the past few years, with no human master in sight.
There was, however, a type of being that it resembled.
Sunny threw a dark look at the remains of a tree that had been shattered by Saint's body.
…In many ways, the strange Reflection resembled a Shadow.
Was the Mirror Beast a type of Echo created by someone's Aspect? Its creator must have been incredibly powerful, then. If so, where were they? What had happened to them, and why was their Reflection wandering the Chained Isles in a feral state?
There were no answers.
It was just a theory, anyway. Sunny had no proof whatsoever to substantiate it.
Maybe his new Memory would give him some answers…
He was about to summon the runes, but a sudden pulse of pain reminded him that he was, in fact, still wounded. With a hiss, Sunny clutched at his side and looked around, searching for shelter.
He was going to have to tend to his wounds... and rest after the fight with Mirror Beast. The Memory could wait until after he wasn't bleeding so much…
Wrapping the strange mirror shard in a piece of fabric and placing it into his pack, Sunny used some of his last remaining reserve of shadow essence to step through the shadows and appear near the rocky hill in the center of the island. His shadow had noticed a shallow cave there, which was situated — obviously — behind the foaming wall of the picturesque waterfall.
Walking on a narrow stone ledge that led behind the waterfall, Sunny checked that the cave was empty, and then entered its cool shade.
***
The cave wasn't very big, but due to its location and hidden nature, there was no better shelter on the entire island. Rather happy with this discovery, Sunny groaned and lowered himself to the ground.
Sending Saint to keep watch outside, he dismissed the Puppeteer's Shroud, then opened his pack and took out a small box containing several thin needles and a span of silk thread.
Staring at the needles with a deadpan expression, Sunny sighed.
'I hate this part.'
Due to his Awakened body and the nature of Blood Weave, Sunny could recover from most injuries much faster than any mundane human, or even one of his peers, would be able to. However, if he wanted to be able to travel again by tomorrow, he still had to take measures.
With another sigh, the threaded one of the needles, gritted his teeth, and began suturing the edges of the long cut on his side together. The process was not very pleasant, to say the least, so the cave was full of the sounds of heavy breathing and suppressed curses for a while.
Finally, Sunny was done. Washing the dried blood off his body with the help of the Endless Spring, he grimaced and looked around.
Now that he had time to take a better look at the cave, he noticed that it had, apparently, been used as shelter by another human at some point in the past. There was a circle of stones built to contain a fire, with a bunch of firewood arranged neatly by its side. By now, the wood had long rotten, letting Sunny know that the cave remained empty for many years.
There was a pack much like his own laying on the cold stones near the firepit. He limped toward it and took a look inside.
There was nothing of particular interest there — just the usual supplies a traveling Awakened would take with them on a long expedition, most of them ruined by the humidity inside the cave and the passage of time. He did, however, retrieved a rolled-up map and studied it for some time.
The map had been drawn on a piece of monster hide, so the humid air did it no favors. Most of it was unreadable, with only a few small pieces remaining intact. Sunny judged that the person who had left it behind was much more knowledgeable about the Chained Isles than he was… sadly, none of that knowledge had been preserved.
The only legible word he could easily read was written near the edge of the Tear. It read:
"...Hope?"
Sunny sighed.
The stranger whose map he was studying had most likely been killed by the Mirror Beast. For a moment, he entertained the idea that the map had actually been left behind by the creator of the strange Reflection, but that theory made little sense. Why would such a powerful person leave not only his things, but also his creation behind?
Putting the map back into the rotted pack, Sunny glanced at the firepit and said after a long pause:
"I'm sorry that your hopes had been for naught… whoever you were. Now, your nightmare is over."
With that, he hesitated for a few moments, and then finally summoned the runes.
It was time to take a look at the Memory he had received for slaying the terrifying creature that the Spell had called the Mirror Beast.
A few seconds later, Sunny's eyes widened.
'Weapon! It is a weapon…'
Chapter 415: Cruel Sight
Sunny stared at the shimmering runes, excitement rising in his heart.
This was what he had been waiting for…
Memory: [Cruel Sight].
Memory Rank: Ascended.
Memory Tier: IV.
Memory Type: Weapon.
'A weapon…'
Sunny had been searching for a new weapon for a long time. He was very fond of the Midnight Shard, since that was the sword he had carried through the darkest time of his life, and which which he had fought his way out of the hell of the Forgotten Shore. It was a very powerful Memory, too, one whose enchantment had saved his life on several occasions.
However, Sunny felt that he had outgrown the austere tachi. Or rather, the obstacles he was facing these days had.
Many of the Nightmare Creatures on the Chaines Isles were of the Fallen rank, and their tough hides presented a lot of resistance to the sharp blade of the Awakened sword. Not to mention those Corrupted horrors that Sunny avoided to the best of his ability, for now, but was inevitably bound to encounter one day.
The other reason he wanted to procure a new weapon was the fact that the [Unbroken] enchantment, while extremely potent and useful, could only be accessed in very rare circumstances… namely, when Sunny was nearing death. This meant that the most powerful trait of the Midnight Shard could only help Sunny if he made a terrible mistake.
If Sunny fought with skill and foresight, however — thus keeping himself from being mortally wounded — the powerful enchantment remained inactive, as it had for the past months. Paradoxically, the better Sunny performed, the less useful the Midnight Shard was to him.
It was nice to have a last resort, but Sunny did not like the idea of relying on a tool that could only be effective if he failed. He wanted to possess a weapon whose enchantments were reliant on his success, and as such, both strengthened him and rewarded him for doing well.
Hopefully, this was one such weapon. It was an Ascended Memory of the fourth tier — equivalent to a Memory he would have received from a Fallen Devil. That was already a tremendous start…
His most powerful weapon right now, the Moonlight Shard, had come from a mere Fallen Beast.
Trying to control his expectations, Sunny trembled in anticipation and read further:
Memory Description: [...Full of pride, the noble knight made a deal with the Dreamspawn. Years later, the knight had defeated all his enemies and became a mighty king. On the day that his son uttered the first word, the Dreamspawn came to the king and demanded his pay. He left the kingdom with the child and disappeared, never to be seen again. Much later, the young prince returned and stood beneath his father's throne. He expected to be met with joy and warmth, but was met with fear and suspicion instead.]
Sunny frowned.
'Huh… what the hell does that mean?'
The description mentioned a Dreamspawn… or rather, the Dreamspawn. That was the name of an Attribute Nephis had, which she possessed because of being born from a Hollow mother. Were there other people with the same Attribute among the human race? There had to be… and, judging by this strange tale, they had been feared even here, in the Dream Realm?
No, that didn't make any sense. Nephis was described as being born of two worlds, so how could a native of the Dream Realm possess the same Attribute?
'Very strange… many the name is just a conscience…'
Sunny shrugged, then concentrated on the runes.
'Tell me what you can do…'
Memory Enchantments: [Shapeshifter], [Light Eater], [Ghost Blade], [Dark Mirror].
'Four of them!'
His eyes gleamed.
[Shapeshifter] Enchantment Description: "This weapon can shift form between a sword and a spear."
Sunny hesitated for a moment, then turned away from the runes and summoned the Cruel Sight. He just had to see this…
A tenebrous mist shrouded his hand, and then, an elegant sword appeared in it. It was much shorter than the Midnight Shard, with a leaf-shaped blade that was about as long as the distance between Sunny's elbow and the tip of his middle finger. The blade seemed to be forged out of polished silver, and served as a perfectly clear mirror. Looking into it, Sunny could see the reflection of his pale face and the wall of the cave behind him.
The hilt of the short sword was made out of polished black wood, which was encased in intricately engraved silver near the guard and at the pommel.
The Cruel Sight was light and swift. Sunny slashed the air several times and smiled. It was going to take some time to get used to using a single-handed sword, but he liked it. It already felt like an extension of his hand. It was much more suited for stealth attacks, too.
The sword was also double-edged, which gave him more freedom in how to use it.
But that wasn't all…
Following a mental command, the hilt of the sword suddenly began to extend. A second later, Sunny was holding a long, graceful spear. The black shaft contrasted against the silver blade, creating a beautiful and somber image. The blade itself kept its length, so Sunny could perform not only thrusting attacks, but also cuts and slashes.
He stared at the somber, elegant spear for a bit, then commanded it to turn back into the sword.
This was going to be a challenge. Sunny wasn't really proficient with polearms, but he had seen how versatile, unpredictable, and deadly they could be in the hands of a master. Not to mention that he had wished to have more distance between himself and the Nightmare Creatures he fought on numerous occasions… this weapon was a perfect combination of mobility and reach, allowing him to effortlessly switch between a nimble shortsword and a devastating long spear.
It gave him access to the best of both worlds.
His smile widened.
"Perfect… this is perfect!"
What else could it do?
There were three Enchantments left:
[Light Eater] Enchantment Description: "The blade of this weapon can reflect, absorb, and expel light."
That would be useful to control shadows, as well as potentially blinding the opponents...
[Ghost Blade] Enchantment Description: "This weapon can strike at incorporeal targets."
An incredible ability that would give Sunny the ability to fight against some of the most dangerous creatures in the Dream Realm, those wraiths that were immune to physical damage.
[Dark Mirror] Enchantment Description: "Each attack of this weapon can be augmented with elemental damage. It can be charged with any element the wielder has been damaged by."
"Current Charge: None."
Sunny gasped.
'A permanent elemental augmentation. This… is… incredible!'
Chapter 416: Hanged Man
Sunny stared at the emptiness for some time, thinking.
His new weapon was an Ascended one of the fourth rank, which already made it much more formidable than anything else in his arsenal. It was adamantine and sharp as a razor, which would allow him to cut through Fallen creatures as if they were made of butter… well, not exactly, but rather close. Added to that were the considerable reach of its spear form and the incredible swiftness of its sword form.
But there was more.
The Cruel Sight was capable of augmenting its attacks with elemental damage. That meant that each wound Sunny would deliver to his enemies would be more dire… not only that, but the nature of the augmentation could be changed, which meant that if given enough time to prepare, he would be able to exploit the weaknesses of his opponents with the element they were most vulnerable to.
He just had to get himself wounded by that same element.
'Ouch...'
Everything that was worth it had to hurt a little. Sunny had learned it many years ago.
Speaking of which.
He sighed, then summoned the Cruel Sight and held it in his hands for a bit. Then, he stood up and walked toward the exit from the cave.
As the sound of the waterfall grew louder and louder, he prepared himself.
…A second later, Sunny entered the field of soul erosion emanated from Saint's armor. Instantly, he felt weak and in pain, as though the very essence of his self was being dissolved by a terrible force.
'Argh… curses!'
No matter how many times he was subjected to the effect of the Broken Oath, it was a vile feeling every time. The only good thing about it was that souls, just like bodies, could heal with time. And as long as he did not spend too much time being damaged by the evil Memory, he would be able to recover in a day or two.
Gritting his teeth, Sunny summoned the runes describing the Cruel Sight and simultaneously send essence into its silver blade, activating the [Dark Mirror] enchantment.
As his contorted face reflected in the polished silver of the elegant sword, nothing about it changed. However, the Cruel Sight suddenly seemed… different. As if an invisible, cold, and sharp aura surrounded its edges.
Sunny looked at the description of the [Dark Mirror]:
"Current Charge: Soul."
With a relieved sigh, he took a few steps back and escaped the radius of the Broken Oath. The sensation of his soul being slowly destroyed swiftly disappeared.
The runes, however, did not change.
Sunny had to feed the Memory with a small amount of shadow essence to activate the augmenting enchantment, but its blade would remain entwined with the element of his choice until he charged it with another.
A cruel smile appeared on his lips.
…Just like that, Sunny now possessed a weapon capable of dealing soul damage — the rarest and most insidious type of damage he knew of, one that very few beings out there had any resistance to.
In a span of one day, his lethality had grown manyfold.
Dismissing the somber sword, Sunny turned around and walked back into the cave.
"I guess I am the true harbinger of reckoning now…"
His gloomy shadow lingered for a bit, then scratched the back of its head.
For once, it had nothing to add.
***
Two days later, Sunny was finally approaching Shipwreck Island. Currently, he was on the neighboring one, hiding in the shadow of a collapsed stone tower that had long ago become overgrown with moss. Somewhere behind him, the body of a giant worm-like creature lay on the ground, its body sipping with foul black blood.
Sunny had spent a lot of essence jumping through shadows to avoid being devoured by that thing. No matter how many times he had pierced its flesh with his spear, the worm seemed to possess an almost endless amount of vitality. The fact that Sunny had no idea where any of the abomination's vital organs were only made the situation worse.
In the end, however, the Nightmare Creature had succumbed to the damage being continuously dealt to its soul. And now, it was dead.
…Swarms of smaller, but no less repulsive worms were already emerging from the ground to feast on its flesh. Sunny did not care — he had already retrieved the soul shard from the creature's body, and he surely had no plans of using the worm's meat as food.
And regardless, his attention was currently concentrated elsewhere.
'What… the hell…'
The Shipwreck Island was currently at the height of its ascent phase, and loomed high above in the sky. As the result, Sunny was able to see its underbelly, far away in the distance.
The downside of the island was shrouded in eternal shadow, and something vast and terrifying was moving in it. The inhabitants of the Dark Side were all powerful and unsightly, but the thing nesting under that one, in particular, was especially harrowing. Perhaps all islands this close to the Tear sheltered such horrors…
But even that was not the thing Sunny was looking it.
'I guess… I have my answer…'
A long time ago, one of the chains connected to Shipwreck Island had broken, and now hung down. Entangled in it, a giant iron corpse swayed slowly in the wind.
The creature resembled a man made entirely out of metal. The heavenly chain had coiled around one of his legs, so the giant hung with his head down, his face rusted and severely damaged. His powerful chest was caved in and shattered by some titanic blow, and one of his arms was torn away at the shoulder.
This was, without a doubt, the creature whose lost limb gave the name to the Iron Hand Island.
The dead giant swayed despondently in the wind, producing sounds of rusty metal scraping against the iron of the heavenly chain. Those sounds were loud enough to reach across the gap between two islands and be heard by Sunny in his hiding place.
Looking at that humbling sight, Sunny shivered.
'Who could have killed such a thing?'
Of course, there was no way to know. Just like always, finding one answer had immediately presented Sunny with a dozen new questions.
Nervously shifting his gaze between the hanged giant and the swarm of worms ravenously devouring their elder, Sunny remained hidden in the shadows and waited.
Soon, the rattling of chains announced that the Shipwreck Island was starting to descend.
Sunny tensed.
'It's time...'
Chapter 417: Shipwreck
The chain leading to the Shipwreck Island was about four kilometers long, which was on the shorter side by the Chained Isles standards. As a swift shadow, Sunny would have been able to ride it all the way to his destination in just a few minutes. Sadly, the heavenly chain was currently drawn taut and nowhere near the Sky Below, which meant that its links weren't covered by a thick layer of shadows.
He was going to have to cross it on foot.
As the ground behind him started to move, announcing the approach of something far more hungry and terrifying than the swarm of gluttonous maggots, Sunny slid out of his hiding spot, dashed toward the edge of the island, and jumped down.
Falling through the vast expanse of the blue sky, he landed on the iron surface of the heavenly chain, rolled down a few meters, and then finally caught his balance.
The chain stretched far into the distance, rising higher and higher until it connected with the slowly descending Shipwreck Island. Unlike how it was with the other pieces of land Sunny had seen in this strange region of the Dream Realm, the chain didn't simply disappear into the soil, but instead led to a tall stone structure that resembled a castle gate. Two massive pillars rose high into the sky, overgrown by vines and moss.
The gate itself had been broken a long time ago, and now, the space between the pillars was empty, the wind passing freely through its vast opening.
...Further away, the corpse of the iron giant continued to sway in the air, his one remaining hand pointed at the Sky Below.
Summoning the Cruel Sight, Sunny turned it into the spear and cautiously moved forward.
The further he walked, the lower the Shipwreck Island descended, until finally the heavenly chain became almost horizontal. In about an hour, Sunny crossed the abyss separating two isles and approached the stone structure he had noticed from afar.
Up close, it was even more monumental. He found out that he had been wrong, though: the pillars did not seem like they had ever served to house a massive gate. Instead, they just reached for the sky, built for some unknown purpose. There were weathered steps cut into each of the pillars, leading all the way to the top.
Sunny frowned.
'Who would be crazy enough to climb that high?'
Even now that the island had descended, up there on top of the monumental pillars the Crushing must have been suffocating. With a shrug, he used the Dark Wing to glide upward and climbed onto a wide stone platform between the pillars.
From here, the remains of an ancient road led further into the island. Following it to reach the top of a low hill, Sunny stopped and looked down, at the sight of the peculiar landmark that gave this place its name.
At the very heart of the desolate island, a large wooden ship lay broken on the ground. It must have been beautiful and magnificent once, but now, all that remained of its former glory were the fluid lines of the graceful and narrow hull. The ancient wood somehow remained untouched by the passage of time, but the bow of the ship was completely shattered. There were also large breaches here and there along the length of the wreck, and green vines covering large sections of it.
What was a ship doing at the heart of a land that had no rivers and no seas remained a mystery, but Sunny became hypnotized by the sight of a crushed vessel for a completely different reason.
A triumphant spark appeared in his eyes.
'I guess I am in luck today!'
With a dark smile, he shifted his gaze and looked at the tall mast of the ship.
A dead, withered tree coiled around it, its naked branches stretching into the sky like bones. Sunny recognized that tree, even if it looked very different from how it was depicted on the reverse side of the mysterious coins, full of life and in bloom.
This was the same ship he had seen before.
…Which meant that the coin might have come from inside the wreck, or at least was connected to it somehow.
Initially, Sunny had only planned to scout the vicinity of the island and search for the traces left by the dead Chain Worm. But now, he felt as if this scouting expedition could actually lead him directly to the treasure he so desperately wanted to find. What were the chances that the coins depicting the strange ship came from somewhere else?
Close to zero, most likely.
Now, he only had to sneak into the wreck, explore it, and return in one piece.
…Which was not an easy task, considering how close to the Tear the island was. Sunny could not see any Nightmare Creatures moving across its surface, but he knew that there had to be some, and that they were going to be of the truly dreadful kind.
Still, he wasn't going to turn back now.
'It's worth it…'
***
Sunny spent some time observing the island. No matter how hard he looked and how much his shadows roamed around, he couldn't see any abominations anywhere near the ancient ship.
…That didn't mean there were none, though. It just meant that they were better at hiding than he was at looking.
After a while, Sunny frowned and summoned Saint. The taciturn demon stepped out of his shadow a few hundred meters down the slope of the hill and indifferently looked around. Then, she dismissed her bow, and instead summoned a melee weapon.
The Midnight Shard appeared in her hands, its austere blade reflecting the black onyx of the Shadow's armor.
…The two suited each other very well.
Saint turned her back to Sunny, raised the long tachi, and calmly headed toward the distant wreck. After thirty seconds or so, he left his shelter and followed, keeping to the shadows.
Minute after minute passed in tense silence. Despite his expectations, they didn't meet any powerful abominations. The island was quiet and deserted, covered only by overgrown ruins, vines, and piles of broken wood.
When they were halfway to the ship, however, something finally changed.
As Saint approached one of the piles of debris, it suddenly moved.
…And then assembled itself into the shape of a tall, menacing humanoid creature, its hands ending in long jagged blades.
As countless similar piles of splintered wood began to move all around them, Sunny breathed out a curse.
It had started so well!
Chapter 418: Remnant Crew
'Damnation!'
Before the first wood wraith could even fully form, Saint was already upon it. The blade of the Midnight Shard flashed through the air… and bit into the body of the creature with the dull sound of an axe striking the bark of a tree.
The effect was somewhat the same: although she managed to do some damage, the wraith simply ignored the shallow cut and lurched forward, towering above the graceful stone knight with destructive menace. Its hands fell down with crushing force, the wooden blades aimed at Saint's helmet.
…Wood couldn't cut stone. Right?
The Shadow seemed reluctant to check. She easily sidestepped the creature's attack and thrust upward, driving the tip of the Midnight Shard into the enemy's neck. Augmented by one of Sunny's shadows, the sword went deep into the adamantine wood.
A moment later, the second shadow wrapped itself around the body of the taciturn demon, causing her skin to shine with dark radiance. The coral gem of the Broken Oath glowed brightly on her black breastplate.
Saint twisted her blade and pushed it sideways, causing half of the wood wraith's neck to explode into a rain of splinters. The creature staggered and lashed out with another strike, but it was too late — the Shadow calmly shifted her weight from one leg to another and delivered a devastating slash, beheading her enemy.
As the wraith fell apart and turned back into a pile of debris, she looked at it indifferently, and then hit the dull side of the Midnight Shard's blade against her shoulder twice.
The voice of the Spell whispered:
[You have slain a Fallen Beast, Sailor Doll.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
Sunny gritted his teeth.
'Crap!'
Augmented by two shadows, Saint had defeated one of these Dolls without too much problem.
…However, there were countless more rising from the ground. Sunny counted at least several dozen before losing count.
'What should I do?'
Fighting the horde of Fallen Beasts was clearly suicide. He could either retreat, or order Saint to draw their attention away and sneak onto the ship.
He could also recall one of the shadows, send it ahead, and then use Shadow Step to travel instantly between his current position and the wreck. But that meant leaving Saint weaker.
Decisions, decisions…
'She should be fine for a few minutes, right?'
Throwing a glance at the taciturn demon, Sunny sighed and dashed toward the ship.
"Have fun, you three!"
Saint looked at him, then silently turned away and raised the Midnight Shard.
As Sunny jumped from shadow to shadow, something crashed thunderously behind him.
[You have slain a Fallen Beast…]
'But not too much fun…'
No matter how formidable his demon was when augmented by the shadow and wielding a powerful Memory, she was still just an Awakened. He had to be swift…
As Sunny appeared from a shadow, something massive suddenly lunged at him. Without slowing down, he dove under the blade of another wood wraith, then lashed out with the Cruel Sight. The silver blade of the sword cut through the body of the abomination, leaving a deep gash on its side.
Sunny slid on the moss, escaping from the attack reach of the massive creature. Twisting around, he thrust his sword into empty air. A split second later, however, the hilt of the somber weapon extended, turning it into a long spear. The silver blade pierced the chest of the wood wraith with surprising ease.
The Sailor Doll was still alive, but its soul was damaged. It staggered and took a step forward, driving the spear deeper into its flesh. Sunny tilted his head, then dissolved into shadows and appeared behind the creature. A moment later, the Moonlight Shard pierced its head.
[You have slain a Fallen Beast, Sailor Doll.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
Sunny retrieved his weapons.
[You have slain…]
Saint was busy, too.
Glancing back, he saw that she was close to being surrounded by a mass of menacing wooden creatures.
'Not good…'
Not wasting any more time, Sunny turned away and continued moving toward the wreck.
***
A few minutes later, Sunny reached the broken ship, dove into one of the breaches in its hull, and hid in the shadows. Then, he immediately dismissed Saint.
Making sure that nothing pose an immediate threat to him, he then quickly checked on the taciturn demon in the Soul Sea. The Shadow had received several wounds in the fight against the swarm of wraiths, but none of them was too serious. She was going to have to spend some time restoring herself in the nurturing black flames of the Shadow Core, still.
'Rest well, Saint. You deserve it…'
Sunny hesitated for a few moments, then retrieved the Memories he had entrusted to her. Who knew what he was going to encounter inside the ancient ship… it was better to be safe than sorry.
Looking around, he studied the interior of a small room he had found himself in.
Sunny had no knowledge whatsoever of what the insides of a ship were supposed to look like, let alone of an archaic wooden vessel like this one. That was why he couldn't even guess what purpose this cabin had been intended for. All he saw were piles of debris… absolutely mundane, for a change… and thick brown vines covering the walls.
The air was stale and murky. It smelled a little sweet…
'Oh, crap. Here we go again.'
With a subtle shudder, Sunny stared at the strange reddish-brown vines.
Those things, without a doubt, were alive.
…They were also the source of the sweet smell permeating the air that Sunny was currently breathing.
What was even worse, they were obviously just a small part of some much, much larger organism.
As a strange feeling appeared in his lungs, Sunny sighed, took a piece of cloth from his pack, and wrapped it tightly around the lower part of his face.
'Blood Weave to the rescue. Let's see what's inside…'
He only took a few steps when something gleamed on the floor in front of him.
Bending down, Sunny picked up the small object and stared at it with a complicated expression.
A heavy golden coin rested in his palm.
Chapter 419: Eureka
Grasping the coin in his fist, Sunny took a step forward, then cautiously walked around a thick vine sprawled across the floor of the small cabin.
Or was it a wall?
Since the ancient ship was laying on its side and at an angle, it was hard to differentiate the floor from the ceiling. The surface beneath Sunny's feet was skewed, forcing him to bend to be able to keep balance. The piles of debris and the vines weren't making things any easier for him.
By now, Sunny was almost sure that the vines were a part of a larger creature. His suspicion only grew when he climbed through the narrow doorway and left the cabin. Finding himself in a wide corridor, Sunny felt that the sweet smell permeating the murky air became much stronger.
Here, everything was covered by a thick layer of reddish moss, with twisted vines growing through it as they stretched in every direction. Sunny could help but feel as though he was now inside some giant being, with the wooden carcass of the ancient ship serving as its bones, the moss representing its flesh, and the vines being its veins.
The warm breeze that blew through the wreck at rhythmic intervals reminded him of slow breathing of a slumbering giant. It came from somewhere deeper in the ship, bringing with it the sickeningly sweet smell, and then disappeared for a dozen seconds, only to appear again.
'Let's, uh… not do anything to awaken that thing, then.'
Sunny thought for a few moments, and then decided to keep both shadows wrapped around his body instead of sending them to explore the ship. In situations where a confrontation with an unknown enemy could happen at any moment, having them close by was of paramount importance... at least that approach had saved his life many times in the past.
Taking a step forward, he felt the moss spring under his foot, and then swayed. His vision blurred slightly…
'Argh…'
His worse expectations did not come true. Unlike the Blood Blossom, the tiny grains of pollen — or spores, or whatever it was that he had breathed in — had not tried to take root in his lungs and grow through his flesh. Instead, they simply poisoned him.
The posing had entered his lungs, then traveled to his bloodstream, and was now spreading through his body. Sunny could easily see himself losing consciousness and falling to the ground, his body then becoming overgrown by the reddish moss, slowly digested by it, turned into nourishment for the creature that had usurped the wreck of the ancient ship…
But he wasn't going to.
As soon as the poison entered his bloodstream, Blood Weave went into a frenzy. It seemed to really dislike anything alien invading its territory. Slowly but surely, it went about destroying the toxin.
Sunny just had to endure the pain.
Summoning the Cruel Sight, he used the shaft of the spear to help himself keep balance and waited for his vision to become clear again. After a minute or two, Sunny slowly exhaled and continued on his way.
A few minutes later, still suffering from pain and weakness, he picked up a second coin from the moss and stared at it for a second.
The beautiful person with a crescent moon drawn on their forehead smiled at him with a carefree expression. Sunny frowned in response.
'What are you so happy about, fool?'
Turning away, he noticed another coin gleaming in the moss a couple of meters further down the corridor.
…It was almost as if someone left these coins here like breadcrumbs to lead an unsuspecting treasure hunter to their prize.
'...Very convenient.'
Full of unease, Sunny walked other to the third coin, picked it up, hid it in his pack, and then cautiously moved deeper into the wreck.
Soon, he approched a wall with a massive gate barring it. The wooden surface of the wall had cracked and was bent outward, as if something was pressing heavily on it from the other side. The vines out here were especially thick and vernicose, shining in the beams of sunlight that fell through a wide hole in the hull of the ship right above. The sweet smell in the air was almost overwhelming.
Sunny stared at the warped wall, a grim expression on his face. Although he could not see through it, he could feel the shapes of shadows on the other side.
Hidden from him by the thick bulkhead was a much larger, vast and open space. He judged it to be the main cargo hold of the ancient ship. And in it, something massive was moving, slowly expanding and contracting. Brown vines that had devoured the wreck all originated from that place.
The sickening breeze that blew through the ancient ship from time to time came simultaneously with the contracting of the massive shadow.
Sunny lingered for a while, then decided that he had no desire to disturb the slumber of that being. Instead of trying to open the door, he jumped up, grabbed the edges of the hole above him, and climbed onto the exterior of the ship's hull.
He was reasonably sure that a treasure such as miraculous coins would not have been stored in the main hold with the rest of the mundane cargo, anyway. Unless he was absolutely certain that he had no other choice, he was not going to enter it.
Sunny was of a rather high opinion about his abilities, but not so high as to forget all fear. That thing inside was not for him to fight, at least not yet. How was he supposed to kill a giant mass of vines and moss, anyway?
Instead of trying, he walked on the sloping hull of the ancient ship, carefully avoiding breaches through which thick brown vines were crawling outside, and soon passed the area of the main cargo hold.
Now, he was approaching the shattered bow of the ship. Out here, the hull was heavily damaged, with most of it being riddled with wide cracks, jagged holes, and splintered boards.
The sight of it made Sunny wonder about what had happened to the graceful ship he had seen on the miraculous coins. The vessel was obviously not an ordinary one... why had it crashed here, on that remote island? Why was its bow in such a devastated condition? What had the ship sailed on, to begin with? Had it just flown through the skies?
If so, maybe the Crushing had gotten to it.
Feeling that he wouldn't be able to remain hidden in the shadows on this treacherous surface, Sunny crawled back inside and landed softly on the carpet of moss.
…Just a few steps from where he found himself, several golden coins were gleaming on the ground, with one more laying further down the dark corridor.
Sunny cautiously gathered them, then moved deeper into the wreck.
It wasn't long before he found the compartment that must have served as the ship's treasury.
He knew that there was something special about it instantly… simply for the fact that the floorboards around the heavy door were the only place on the entire ancient ship that was completely free of the reddish moss, the vernicose vines, and the air near it was void of the sickeningly sweet smell of the poisonous spores.
Standing in from of the door, Sunny smiled.
'...Eureka!'
Chapter 420: Amazing Chest Ahead
Sunny approached the heavily reinforced door and tried to sense if something was moving on the other side of it.
There was nothing.
It didn't feel as though something dangerous waited for him inside the treasury. On the contrary, with how fresh the air was and how clean the floorboards were, the treasury looked almost… inviting.
He wasn't entirely convinced, though.
Sunny lingered for a bit, then commanded one of his shadows to separate itself from his body and slide under the door. It was going to remain very close, so he was willing to risk weakening himself for a bit.
'How do I even open this thing?'
A moment later, Sunny grimaced and covered his face with a palm.
'...When did I become this stupid?'
Looking through the eyes of the happy shadow, he saw the armored compartment in its entirety.
It was a large room, with a high ceiling and three heavy chests standing in its center.
The entire back wall of the treasury, though, was missing, letting in a flood of sunlight through the jagged edges of a massive breach.
'Of course it's missing!'
The Chain Worm had to have gotten inside somehow, after all. Sunny doubted that the demon could have fit through the door of the treasury, let alone politely lock it behind itself after leaving.
He sighed, then shook his head and decided to attribute this momentary lapse of judgment to the taxing nature of having to endure the pain of being poisoned.
No one was there to witness him making a fool out of himself, anyway!
Regardless, there was no terrifying Nightmare Creature laying in wait on the other side of the reinforced door. Nothing was going to attack him if he entered.
Sunny considered climbing back on top of the hull of the ship and finding a way to enter through the breach in the back wall of the treasury, then simply stepped through the shadows and appeared inside. He was too excited and impatient to waste any more time... not to mention that the more times he spent here, the more chances there were of something going terribly wrong.
If there were really hundreds of coins in one of those chests, though… that would be a trophy to put all other trophies to shame. A find of a lifetime.
Sunny waited for a couple of seconds, letting his eyes adapt to the bright light of the sun, and then studied the three chests standing in the middle of the armored compartment.
All three were open. Two stood empty, but the third…
His eyes widened in shock.
The third chest was long and adamantine, its dark wood reinforced by strips of dull metal. It was large enough to fit an adult man…
And filled to the brim with heavy gold coins. Some spilled out of it and were laying on the floor in a tantalizing pile, showing either the beautiful face of the mysterious charmer or the reverse depicting the ancient ship.
'Thousands… there are thousands of them!'
Sunny felt his heart skip a bit and swayed slightly.
In front of him was a treasure that would take him all the way to forming a third core, and then some. With this many miraculous coins, Sunny would be able to annihilate the gap between himself and Nephis… maybe even overtake her.
'This… this can't be true…'
He instinctively wanted to think that it had been far too easy… but it wasn't, really. He had almost died while fighting the Mirror Beast, allowed Saint to be injured in a fight against Sailor Dolls, walked through the poisonous darkness of the ancient wreck… if it wasn't for the Blood Weave, he would have been already dead.
How many people out there could boast about carrying the legacy of a daemon in their veins? For almost anyone else, this trip would have been fatal. Not to mention that very few could have made the series of discoveries and logical conclusions that would lead them here.
So no, it wasn't too easy to get to where he was currently standing. It wasn't easy at all. And anyway, Sunny was due for a bit of good luck. Recently, nothing had really gone his way… take this whole Mongrel fiasco, for example. Or everything that had happened in the Crimson Spire.
…The heavy chest stood silently, surrounded by sunlight. The golden coins shined in the bright radiance, inviting him to come and take them.
Sunny gulped. This sight was so beautiful. His eyes gleamed with avarice.
'Don't mind if I do…'
Taking several steps forward, he approached the chest.
'Gold is heavy. How am I going to carry all of this back to the Sanctuary? Damnation! I won't be able to enter the shadows with all that burden, too. That is a problem.'
He reached for the coins… but then stopped suddenly. His hand hovered just outside the invitingly opened chest.
Something… wasn't quite right.
Sunny frowned.
'What is it… huh, maybe a can bury the chest and make several trips… wait, no, what's wrong here?'
His frown deepened.
There was no danger inside the treasury. Nor was there anything moving outside of it. The terrifying creature that had been slumbering in the cargo hold of the ancient ship was still asleep. There were no Sailor Dolls wandering nearby, too. So what was disturbing him?
'The… the Chain Worm…'
The Chain Worm had swallowed several coins. He also had a piece of the chest in its stomach, the wood splintered, the strips of metal torn…
Sunny had even thought how lucky he was that the demon decided to feast on the metal reinforcing the chest and bit a chunk out of it, swallowing the coins in the process.
So, if he had torn a piece from the chest… why wasn't the chest missing a piece?
And what had mortally wounded the Chain Worm, anyway?
Confused, Sunny glanced at the two empty chests. They were perfectly whole, with no parts missing. Then, he looked back at the large, heavy chest in front of him, his hand still hovering a few centimeters away from the pile of gold inside.
The chest had all its corners, too.
…One of them, though, was of a slightly different color. Like a patch of new skin that had grown over a wound, and didn't quite match all the rest.
Since when were chests capable of healing?
'What the h...'
Before Sunny could finish the thought, though, the chest seemed to have sensed his hesitation. It suddenly lurched forward, and as massive jagged teeth suddenly appeared from beneath the gold, its heavy lid closed on Sunny's hand with a sickening sound of breaking bones...