Three months later, a group of eight battered humans appeared from the sea of crimson coral and approached a magnificent white arch. Moving with the precision of experienced predators, they swiftly slaughtered a few transient creatures that hid in the deep shadow cast by the ancient structure, stripped them down for meat, and swiftly climbed up.
Against all odds, the cohort had survived the journey back to the Dark City.
…If only barely.
We have finally returned.
The past three months had been an endless bloody nightmare, with countless horrors and battles leaving their marks on us. And yet, none of us fell under the weight of it. Instead we had come back even stronger than before.
The members of our cohort had also changed a lot..
Changing Star's white armor was now covered by numerous scratches and tears that even the restorative effect of the Soul Sea couldn't heal. Her silver hair was longer, reaching to the middle of her back. The ivory face of their leader had grown thin, with dark circles visible under her striking, burning grey eyes.
Caster changed even more. The neat and dignified young scion was nowhere to be seen: instead, a man with disheveled hair and a short scruffy beard stood in his place, his face dark and grim. The killing intent I sensed from him against Nephis never waned, it only had grown stronger than before.
Kai was still beautiful and elegant, but most of his charm was hidden under layers and layers of dirt, dust, and dried blood. The stylish armor he had worn was now long gone, destroyed in one of the vicious battles they had fought, and replaced by a rather unflattering garment that seemed to be woven out of bluish seaweed.
The archer also wielded a new bow, this one long a powerful, fashioned out of two curved horns. This Memory was of the fifth tier and truly deadly.
Effie was much the same, except for the fact that she had become even leaner, her robust musculature not covered even by a gram of fat. The huntress wielded two Shard Memories, both responsible for sending dozens upon dozens of Nightmare Creature to their deaths. Her archaic bronze armor was dented all over, but somehow still held together.
Shashi.. her pale skin which looked sickly before, now had a more milky quality to it. Her beautiful red eyes now had an underlying exhaustion to them. The woman had suffered much, maybe even more than us due to her losing her blood constantly. Her leather armor was severely damaged and one of its shoulder pads had come off, it was a miracle the memory still existed. There was a ruby like gem hanging around her neck as a necklace, it was a charm of the fourth tier. The memory provided her some healing when it was charged.
Sunny.. he was perhaps even more beaten and battered than the rest of them, the Puppeteer's Shroud almost coming apart at the seams. His hair was long, messy, and in desperate need of a good wash. Sadly, his skin was still as pale as that of a corpse. Well even if his greasy hair covered most of his face, Sunny's face looked quiet pretty.
Cassie was the youngest of them, so the changes that had happened to her were perhaps the most pronounced. By now, she had lost most of her childish softness and had turned into a beautiful young woman that looked to be on the cusp of adulthood. She had three Echoes tied to her core now, one given to her by Nephis, the other one by Kai.
With the help of her Echoes and the Dark Wing, Cassie was now able to move and participate in battles almost as if she was not blind.
As for myself.. I had decided to tie my hair into a low ponytail. My bangs had gotten quiet long and messy, sometimes it felt rather annoying when they sticked to my face.. Unlike the others I did not look like I was starving due to having an immortal body, however the dark circles around my eyes were prominent than ever. My black robes were now tattered and dirty, so I draped the Colorful Cloak around my shoulders, luckily the cloak was unharmed and clean as always. I wondered if it had an enchantment that kept it always clean and shiny..
Unfortunately I still had not gotten any armor memories. Instead I had gotten some new weapons which had proved to be useful.
But most important of it all..
The runes shimmered in the twilight of the approaching night.
Name: Levi.
True Name: No Return.
Rank: Dreamer.
Class: Demon.
Soul Cores: [3/7].
Soul Fragments: [1980/3000].
I smiled darkly at the runes.
***
In the past three months I had participated in countless battles, after all I was a part of the main strike force. I had approximately slain more than three hundred nightmare creatures.
..Closer to four hundred perhaps.. Among them were beasts, monsters, as well as demons and devils.
My prowess and physique were enhanced too. I had crossed the line between human ability and inhuman ability long ago. I was faster, stronger and more enduring than any mundane human, or sleeper could ever hope to be.
When I activated my augmentation ability, I could confidentially say that I could reach the level of an actual awakened.
Of course, my augmentation ability came with its own downsides. After forming my third core it became much more unbearable to control. I had stopped using it, saving it to only dangerous situations.
I had also tried to use the corrosion ability on terrain instead of a living being. The area of effect depended on how much I wanted, but if I overdid it, the backlash was severe. I had shredded my left arm while trying to decay an area by the size of a house. Every bone in my left arm was left broken and my flesh had been severed in several places. Luckily, Shashi was with me at the time. I had concluded that I could only limit myself to small cottage sized corrosion if I ever wanted to use it on terrain.
I had also increased my prowess when it came to fighting. I had trained with Sunny's echo, Saint. The echo was really good at brawling and gave me real challenge when I sparred with her. I had learned her fighting style and adapted it to my own. Now.. my battle style felt more grounded and precise. Every punch, every movement carried the weight of my killing intent.
I had also decided to learn how to use a sword after getting a new memory.
Memory: [Ashline]
Memory Rank: Awakened
Memory Tier: IV
Memory Type: Weapon
Memory Description: [This blade carries the weight of those who never returned.]
The memory was a longsword. It had a gray blade that did not reflect anything whatsoever, the handle and the guard was dark. Unfortunately this longsword was not suitable to imbue with my arms, I was still using my hammer, bone shed and pale thorn.
***
The others were now setting up the camp. Getting ready to cook some food..
I wasn't sure, but I guessed that Effie and Caster had already fully saturated their Soul Cores— the huntress because of the years she had spent hunting monsters on the streets of the Dark City, and the Legacy because of the soul shards his clan must have provided him before his first journey into the Dream Realm.
Nephis and Shahsi.. I wasn't sure. They were still absorbing soul shards which made me think they were just like me. As for Sunny, I had never seen him absorb any soul shards, but he seemed to always get stronger. Which meant that he had another way of getting stronger.
Kai and Cassie were behind in terms of the amount of accumulated essence, but not by much. Each of them was now a powerhouse, just like the rest of the cohort.
With Nephis, Effie, Caster and me leading the charge, most Nightmare Creatures populating the forest of crimson coral had little chance to survive, not with the Crown of Dawn pouring raw power into the armor and weapons of the cohort, at least. Each of the four of us were a deadly and versatile fighter, with our own unique approach to combat and strengths that complemented each other.
Night himself had turned out to be an astonishingly deadly presence on the battlefield, as well. With the Blood Arrow providing him with a conditionally endless supply of arrows, he could just stay in the air, out of reach of the abominations that had no way to attack at range — which was most of them — and pick them out with well-aimed shots.
With the addition of the formidable horn bow, the distance at which he could hit the target had increased tremendously, allowing him to eliminate some of the enemies long before they had gotten close enough to the cohort for an effective attack. His opening salvo had made a lot of battles much less problematic.
Of course, Kai couldn't fly above the Labyrinth with impunity. The grey sky was full of danger, too, and by separating himself from his companions, he risked being attacked and torn apart by the abominations that populated it. He had to maintain a fragile balance.
But the flying Nightmare Creatures were a threat to the cohort regardless of whether or not the charming archer rose into the air or not. Actually, this was the type of enemy they were equipped to fight the least. That's why Kai's ability to fly had turned out to be priceless.
Sunny, Cassie and Shashi usually protected the rear of the cohort to prevent anything from attacking their companions from the back — which happened more often than one would hope. With the help of the Stone Saint and the Quiet Dancer, and later the other two Echoes belonging to the blind girl, they were able to hold off anything until the main force was done with their share of the opponents and joined the fray.
That was not to say that their role in the cohort was less important.
It was true that, with the help of the Dawn Shard, the cohort was well equipped to handle most monsters of the Labyrinth. What they truly had to fear were the creatures that defied all logic, the perils that the human mind could not even comprehend, and the Labyrinth itself — as well as the dark waters of the cursed sea and the ancient horrors that dwelled beneath them.
That was what the three had to protect the group from.
Shashi had improved her aspect ability greatly. By now she could attack from a distance with blood projectiles by using less blood of her own. Her whip-like blood katana had become much more sharper and deadlier as she moved with grace of a dancer.
Sunny's shadow was a huge help. Scouting for any potential threat and giving them plenty of time to decide if they wanted to fight or change course and avoid the danger entirely.
The value of being able to see and identify their enemies in advance was impossible to overestimate. It was just too valuable. In battle, the tiniest advantage could decide the difference between life and death, and the advantages of knowledge and the first strike were possibly the most important.
However, there were things on the Forgotten Shore that even Sunny could not see, predict, or escape from.
That was where Cassie's affinity to revelations and miraculous intuition came into play. She was responsible for preventing the cohort from stumbling into anything that would destroy their very souls before anyone could even understand what was happening, or something that simply could not be defeated.
But even with all that, every day in the Labyrinth brought them to the very verge of death. No matter how strong, well-rounded, and well-equipped the cohort was, the nightmares of the Forgotten Shore were always more powerful, unpredictable, and bizarre, making any and all preparations useless.
In the end, the only reason that none of them had died from grievous wounds, sickness, or infection was because of Changing Star's healing flames and Shashi's healing blood.
In the three months that they had spent traveling through the Labyrinth, I fully understood why healers were so sought after among the Awakened. I knew it before, in theory, but only after being subjected to the daily terror of their journey had I realized how life-changing — literary — the presence of a healer in the cohort truly was.
And so, just like that, we had done the unthinkable and managed to travel all the way from the edges of the Forgotten Shore back to its center — thanks to our power and resolve, our foresight, our strength, and our ability to rely on and help each other.
And now that we were about to return to the cursed haven of the Dark City, our luck was about to be tested as it had never been tested before.
…But that was for later.
First, the members of the cohort had to fulfill their obligation to Sunny.
He had joined this expedition on a certain condition, after all.