(About the chapter name ifykyk XD )
'You mother fucker I'm going to kill your entire bloodline you piece of shit.'
This was the only thought in Sunny's head as he lunged forward towards the crab or whatever the fuck it's called all sunny wants to do now is to kill the bitch and it's entire family to eat.
Landing ontop of the creatures spiky back which was more uncomfortable than it is hurtful.
Grabbing on one of it spikes sunny started ripping them out which made the bitch slam sunny into the coral wall getting sunny off it's back.
Using its large and sharp pinchers sunny got his stomach almost sliced open thankfully it didn't but sunnys guts are a run away from spilling out of his body thankfully [The Shadow] started healing his body and to sunnys surprise shadows started coming over to sunny to heal his injuries.
'Ahh, right the shadows recognize me as one of their own now dope.'
Sunny continue dodging away from the crab fuckers attacks.
After a good five seconds he was fully healed and sunny was kinda mad he got his stomach almost sliced open so he decided to just use his main aspect for a while.
Commanding his shadow to augment sunny he immediately tried out [Fear Madness] giving the crab the [Mark Of Madness] was basically a death sentence so the bitch turned even more bitchy and screeched which was heard from probably everywhere.
Soon enough thirteen more crab fuckers came along now sunny didn't have any problems using his essence but when he barely had any essence to spare basically he was fucked.
So he immediately de — activated [Fear Madness] which he wasn't even able to fully use he wasn't even able to kill the crab fucker that had no bitches, no life, no family and nobody to love them. Wait hold on whay was i talking about that it's not even close to whatever hell i was talking about earlier.
Right kill every single one of these crabs fucks and cook them for breakfast. I heard they tasted exquisite.
Sunny didn't exactly have a proper weapon so sunny was completely weaponless and only had hands and [Undying Madness] to his name... Just great what a wonderful moment to have to fight fourteen from what i presume awakened beasts.
They started circling sunny making sure he had no escape which he wasn't exactly going to do.
Suddenly one of them lunged at sunny which made all of them do the same lunging at sunny did their pincers threatening to end sunnys life.
But sunny finally remembered something.
He was technically immortal and that he has survived having every organ of his body being destroyed and that was in his first nightmare sunny knew he could kill all of them but what exactly stopped it?
Rain, she's the reason on why sunnys been holding back all his madness that he hasn't released since the first nightmare because of his flaw... What if she's already DEAD what was the point of it all?
Nothing, everything he did meant nothing to someone who was dead why should he keep his humanity and sanity for someone who doesn't even remember him.
'Im right why should i hold back... Im strong enough to kill them all... Why does someone who's probably dead and doesn't remember me get to dictate what I do... Im better than whatever hell this is.'
Marking all fourteen of the crabs sunny unleashed all his pent up rage.
He knows once his essence is completely depleted his soul is going to be the one to pay the price but WHO cares, that's right nobody cares.
Soon all fourteen of the crabs started backing away but sunny wasn't he needed to win why should he be the one to lose that's just not fair at all.
Moving so fast the crabs couldn't even react sunny ripped it apart piece by piece blood, organs, flesh, bones and what is left of the crabs carapace was gone it was like it fought against a shredded and it obviously lost.
Soon the spells familiar voice resounded within sunnys head once again.
[You have slain an awakened beast, Carapace Scavenger.]
[You have received a Memory: Azure Blade.]
[... Your shadow grows stronger.]
Sunny didn't pay attention to any of it at all and continued rampaging he didn't even realize the amount of crabs heading to join in on the fight but when sunny marked them they started running away quickly but sunny was way to fast killing them very quickly.
His essence was already fully depleted which it started eating sunnys soul which he didn't pay any attention to even though it hurt, it hurt alot but it was only pain it's not like sunny could die.
If you were to put any sleeper in sunnys current position they would have already died quite quickly.
Sunny was also getting attacked from the crabs who were brave enough to fight but they only quickened their inevitable death sunny was also laughing like a maniac, tears were also pouring down his face.
His bones were all getting destroyed and healed, his muscles and flesh were being torn apart each second and then healed he was usually always losing atleast one limb either his arms or legs but sunny didn't give up killing them all that was the only thing in his mind.
Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill
It didn't stop his and the crabs blood were everywhere guts, bones, flesh and anything and everything was scattered everywhere.
In the end sunny won with the only injuries being his soul was extremely damaged and his mind was in a worse state than anything before it was basically only repeating one word after one word.
KILL.
He was now crying like full on crying like a toddler that just got scolded by their mothers he was also repeating one word now again.
SORRY.
Why was he exactly apologizing well he was apologizing to rain for saying she was dead and that he didn't mean anything he said and that he loved her very much and would never say that ever to her ever again.
After cleaning himself sunny regained his composure and remembered he gained a new weapon.
Summoning his runes he saw something that immediately made him happy.
***
Name: Sunless.
True name: Mad Prince.
Rank: Dreamer.
Shadow core: Dormant.
Shadow fragments: [350/1000].
Memories: [Whistle of death], [Puppeteer's Shroud], [Azure blade].
Echoes: —
'Woahh wait hold on 350!?'
Sunny started counting in his head calculating how many cra- nevermind they were called carapace scavengers so sunny killed around one hundred and twenty of those crab fucks and he even gained a sword!
And apparently sunny finally understood how to get the mysterious shadow fragments and apparently all sunny had to do was just kill and it was automatically absorbing them sick!
'no rest for the wicked i guess...'
Additionally, there was the matter of the Shadow Core…
Since both Sunny and his shadow were tied to it, strengthening the core would not only increase Sunny's power, but also enhance the shadow. So, if he were to use it to further empower himself, the actual effect would be stacked, producing a twofold enhancement. So, for each shadow fragment he collected, Sunny would actually be able to rip twice as much benefit as an Awakened would from a soul shard.
'Not bad. Not bad at all!'
Ah, the future was bright. Provided he survives and gets the opportunity to even have a future, of course.
Sitting up, Sunny moved his eyes and found the cluster of runes describing his Memories. Azure Blade… had he finally gotten a weapon?
Memory: [Azure Blade].
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Type: Weapon.
Memory Tier: I
Memory Description: [On this forgotten shore, only steel remembers.]
"Oh sick i guess this place is called the forgotten shores huh... That sounded cringe not gonna lie."
Not very informative, but interesting.
Sunny summoned his new weapon, and a sharp, light sword immediately appeared in his hand. It was about a meter long, including the handle. The blade was straight and single-edged, ending in an angular tip. It was forged out of azure steel, with a beautiful layered pattern. Deep inside the steel, white sparks could be seen. The crossguard was minimalistic and simple, offering almost no protection to the wielder's hands.
If Sunny knew his way around cold weapons, he would have called it a tang dao. However, he had no idea about such things: all he could gather was that the blade was single-edged, which meant that it was probably meant for slashing and cutting as opposed to piercing, and that the handle was long enough to accommodate two hands.
Also, the sword was pretty.
He summoned the shadow and made it wrap itself around the Azure Blade. Immediately, the steel became bluish-black, with a scattering of white sparks. It looked like a starlit night sky.
Sunny stood up and waved the sword a couple of times, getting accustomed to its weight. The sharp edge whistled as it cut the air.
'Well, now I finally look like a real Awakened.'
Sunny looked at the piles upon piles of the carapace scavengers, this part was going to be even worse.
After some time sunny made two semi — functional make — shift bags made out of the black sea weed were he stored all the soul shards and meat which were heavy but with sunnys current strength was no problem at all.
Without much hope, he tried to absorb the shard, remembering how it was supposed to be done — just as he expected, nothing happened.
'They're really of no direct use to me.'
The day was still young. He still had a good chance of making it to the distant hill before the sea came back.
Hours passed. Due to his bruised soul and increased vigilance, Sunny's progress slowed down considerably. He was sweating and grinding his teeth, feeling pain with each step. What's worse, the further he reached into the labyrinth, the more confusing and entangled the paths became. Even with the shadow's help, he constantly had to backtrack and struggled to move in the right direction.
"Fuck me sideways."
If nothing changed, Sunny would not reach his goal. Which meant that he'll be crushed to death by the returning sea.
Not allowing himself to think about dying, Sunny tried to walk faster. However, he couldn't be too hasty: making a wrong turn would have taken precious minutes away from him, so he had to choose the way carefully. Additionally, missing to notice another ambush could end his life directly.
'Curses!'
Just when he was beginning to feel desperate, his shadow suddenly saw something that momentarily sent Sunny into a stupor.
Some distance further down the path, beyond a few turns, the corals widened, creating a small clearing. And in the middle of that clearing, someone was walking across the mud.
'they are women, wow I've never been this happy meeting with girls... That doesn't sound right at all.'
The first thing Sunny saw was fair skin… a lot of skin. The tall, lithe girl was only dressed in a makeshift skirt and a crude brassiere, both made out of seaweed. However, it didn't seem to bother her. With a calm expression, she stopped and looked back. The wind was playing with her short silver hair.
It was Nephis, the Changing Star.
In one hand, she was holding the end of a strange golden rope.
And on the other end of the rope, Cassia, the blind girl, was carefully following behind.
It looked quite hilarious because it looked like a slave and the slaver... That also didn't sound right.
Grey sky above, black mud below, an endless sea of crimson in between. On this dreamlike backdrop, two beautiful girls were walking across the labyrinth.
One was delicate and fragile, with blond hair and cerulean, aimless eyes. She was dressed in a simple tunic, with leather sandals on her feet and a cloak the color of sea waves draped around her shoulders.
The other was tall and lithe. She had silky silver hair and clear, grey eyes. Her revealing clothes were crudely made out of black seaweed, leaving her fair skin and athletic build exposed. She was poised, alert, and barefoot.
A golden rope connected two girls together.
'Wow. What a sight…' Sunny thought.
He suddenly regretted that he was not an artist. The picture just begged to be made into a painting.
'Wait… why am I thinking about that? People! I found people!'
His heart skipped a bit. If Nephis and Cassia were here, then the orange light from before, most likely, had something to do with them. Which meant that they knew how to get to the tall hill.
And plus cassie knows sunny very well so she might say he can come along in which sunny will forever be in debt to her.
Which meant that Sunny didn't have to be crushed to death by the high tide!
'Uh… so what do I do now?'
He wasn't the best at ingratiating himself to other people. In fact, he was so bad at talking to people he usually makes up random reasons like "ran out of social battery" and that type of shit sunny and because everyone in the school liked him he was obviously always using excesus after excesus. And because he barely talked it meant that he didn't know how to have a proper conversation.
'Good job, Sunny! You should have just talked to people.'
With a heavy sigh, Sunny stepped into shadows and hurried to the clearing. He reached it in a minute or so, hiding and observing the two girls before making a final decision.
Helping herself with the wooden staff, blind Cassia slowly approached the middle of the clearing and extended her hand, finding Nephis and touching her on the shoulder.
"Why did you stop?"
Nephis supported the blind girl and glanced at the sky.
"It's getting late."
An awkward pause hung between two girls. After some time, Cassia asked:
"So you think we should turn back?"
Nephis blinked and cleared her throat.
"Yes."
Sunny was a bit amused by their exchange.
'What is she, a strong silent type?'
Then he returned to his dilemma and grimaced.
'How do I approach them? Damn, why is this so hard! It's not like I'm trying to ask them out on a date. I mean, one of them… both of them? What am I thinking about?! Just go and say hi!'
But then, if he suddenly appeared out of the shadows… not at all like a creep… how high was the probability of them getting spooked and attacking him before noticing that he was not a monster?
Wait, why would they… argh, to hell with this!
Deciding on the safest approach, Sunny commanded his shadow to abandon its hiding place and move to a spot where Nephis could clearly see it. He could clearly sense the shadow rolling its eyes as it obeyed the order.
As soon as the shadow started to move, Nephis suddenly snapped her hand sideways. Immediately, a long sword appeared in it, cutting the air as it assumed a defensive position. Before the shadow could even take two steps out of its hiding spot, it was already pierced by Changing Star's grey eyes.
The shadow froze. It seemed a bit startled.
Cassia took a step back.
"Neph? What is it?"
Nephis didn't answer immediately, carefully observing the shadow. Then she simply said:
"There's a shadow."
Cassia's doll-like face paled.
"A shadow? Scavengers?"
The tall girl tilted her head a little.
"No. It's a human shadow."
This was clearly not what Cassia expected to hear. With an expression of surprise, she asked:
"A human shadow? What… what is it doing?"
Nephis hesitated. After a while, she answered in a flat tone:
"...It's waving at us."
***
After a whole minute of silence, Cassia finally found the words to react.
"What?"
"I said: it's waving…"
"Yes, I know! I mean… why is it doing that?"
Nephis opened her mouth, then closed it again.
"I don't know. Maybe it's a distraction to lure us into a trap."
At this point, Sunny decided that it was time to talk. He inhaled deeply, then said in a friendly tone:
"Actually, I just sent it ahead to make sure that you don't stab me with that sword before realizing that I'm human."
Immediately, Nephis turned her head, pinpointing the exact location where Sunny was hiding in a blotch of shadows. Her sword slightly shifted, aiming at the new threat.
"If you're human, why are hiding in the shadows like a creep?"
'Goddamit! Im not a creep... Actually i maybe am nevermind.'
"Because you might stab me."
Nephis immediately responded:
"Aren't you supposed to be immortal? Mad Prince Sunless."
"Maybe i don't like getting stabbed. Changing Star Nephis."
Nephis did not answer. Because of her hard-to-read face, it was almost impossible to determine whether she believed him or not. However, he included her True Name in his answer for a reason: if he was some monster pretending to be human, he wouldn't have known it.
Luckily, Cassia was more expressive.
"Sunny! Your alive wow... I would have thought you died."
'even though im ranked number one she still thinks i would die... Actually she probably never saw the rankings.'
"How rude. Like a little death is enough for someone as magnificent as me. I totally deserve something more noble? No. Royal that i need something fit for royalty."
Nephis spoke quietly but accidentally loud enough for them to hear.
"What a pompous man."
Sunnys eyes and smile twitched just slightly.
'Rude.'
Nephis was silent for a few seconds, and then, finally, dismissed her sword.
"Okay. You can come out."
Sunny limped out of the shadows, summoning his own back. It flowed to his feet and reattached itself, visibly shaking. The bastard was laughing at him...
Stopping a few meters away from Nephis, he raised his hands, showing that he didn't mean the girls any harm. Changing Star gave him an inquisitive look.
"What happened to you?"
"Complete essence exhaustion and also my soul is damaged to the extreme but luckily it's already healing."
She just nodded and asked:
"What did you fight?"
"One hundred and twenty carapace scavengers i kinda used my innate abit too long and it exhausted all my essence and started eating my soul as payment."
She finally noticed the make — shift bags which were probably full of soul shards and most likely food which she didn't question but apparently Cassie had different ideas and ran to sunny which she did without tripping almost because she tripped and got caught by sunny he was hugging her tightly fearing she might fall.
But she immediately backed away.
"You smell like blood."
"No shit Sherlock."
Sunny cleared his throat.
"Before stumbling on the Scavengers, I was heading for the tall hill with the massive coral pillar on top. But after the fight, my speed decreased. Now I'm worried about not making it in time. Do you perhaps know the way?"
Cassia smiled even brightly.
"Actually, we spend the last days on that hill. We were just about to go back."
Nephis didn't say anything, looking at the sky.
Sunny licked his lips.
"Well… can I come with you?"
'They're not going to say "no"… right?'
The blind girl turned her head to her companion, a clear question written on her face.
"Neph?"
Nephis lowered her eyes, staring at Sunny. After a while, she said:
"No…"
'What?!'
"...problem."
No problem.
"What's wrong with you, princess?! Can't you speak faster?!"
Feeling his heart beating wildly in his chest, Sunny smiled.
"Well. Alright… Ahem let's go."
The rest of the way to the tall hill did not take a lot of time. With Nephis leading the way, taking all the right turns at all the right places, there was no need to explore the labyrinth and backtrack after encountering a dead end. Additionally, there were no scavengers around.
"Why aren't there any scavengers here?"
"We don't know."
Cassie responded she was getting led by sunny now instead of nephis.
'huh, interesting.'
The sunset was not far off when they reached the hill. After climbing it and approaching the massive growth of coral, Nephis took the rope back and dismissed the golden rope and immediately summoned it again. This way, it was untied and appeared in her hands in a neat bundle.
"Ah. So it's a Memory."
Sunny wondered what qualities the magical rope had. Soon, his curiosity was satisfied: right in front of his surprised eyes, the length of the rope suddenly began to increase. Soon, it was thrice as long as it was before.
Nephis calmly tied both ends of the rope into loops and then threw one of them into the air, accurately coiling it around a prominent protrusion near the top of the coral pillar. Then, she tested if the rope would hold, swiftly climbed up and waved from above, giving Sunny the signal to follow.
After hesitating for a second, Sunny approached the rope and grabbed it.
He couldn't help thinking that this would be the perfect opportunity to cut his head off. With him helpless while climbing and Nephis standing on the top of the pillar… yeah. The vivid picture appeared in his mind.
'Stop being paranoid!' Sunny thought, trying to calm himself down.
Sunny literally forgot that he is stronger than them both combined so it was probably them scared except for Cassie she looks like she doesn't care that much about Sunny being able to kill her anytime.
Reassured by this thought, Sunny nimbly climbed up and joined Nephis at the top of the coral mound. He then turned around and watched curiously, wondering how Cassia was going to get to them.
The blind girl dismissed the wooden staff and approached the rope. Then she caught it in a hand, traced it down to the loop at the end, and placed her foot inside. As soon as she was done, Nephis grabbed the rope and started pulling, lifting Cassia little by little until she had reached the top. She only had to grab Nephis's hand and make a step to join them.
"Huh. Efficient."
The coral mound was much larger than the circular stone platform of the giant knight's neck. In fact, it was almost like a small island. At the highest point of the island, hidden behind some coral blades, the girls had made a little camp. There were piles of seaweed to sleep on, strips of scavenger meat drying under the sun, and a firepit.
Sunny pointed to the makeshift firepit.
"Was it you two nights ago? I've seen an orange light in the distance."
Cassia's face darkened.
"Yes, this was the first time we made a fire. But it turned out to be a really bad mistake."
Nephis sighed
And sunny spoke.
"You guys got attacked didn't you?"
Cassie look at sunny and asked.
"How'd you know?"
"Simple really, it's only natural the nightmare creatures go to sources of light inside a place full of darkness if you guys paid attention attention to professor julius classes which I'm pretty damn sure one of you were there unless you didn't pay any attention and focused on me?"
Nephis tried her best to laugh awkwardly which sounded like a summoning ritual to call the spawn of the devil.
Nephis looked at the sky and cleared her throat.
"It should be fine now. We still have time before the sun sets."
After that, she got busy making the fire. Cassie simply sat on a pile of seaweed and waited. Not knowing what to do, Sunny lowered himself to the ground and let his tired, bruised body rest.
After a while, he said:
"I have fresh meat in my rucksack. Do you have water?"
Cassie smiled.
"Yes!"
After that, she extended an arm to him. A second later, a beautiful bottle made of patterned blue glass appeared in her hand.
"That's a Memory I have. It's always full."
Sunny took the glass bottle and looked at it with envy.
'An endless supply of water, huh? Sure beats my super loud whistle... I actually haven't tested it out yet.'
"Thank you."
He brought the bottle to his lips and greedily drank the cool, delicious water. Indeed, no matter how much he drank, the amount of water inside did not seem to decrease.
"Is it really endless?"
Cassie touched her hair again.
"Uh… not really. If you turn it upside down and let the water flow, it will stop in half an hour or so. But then it will be full again pretty soon."
At that time, Nephis was already done making the fire. Without looking up, she took Sunny's rucksack and opened it. Immediately, the hundred plus soul shards rolled out. The tall girl looked at it, then at Sunny. Then she put the shard back in and pulled out the meat.
Sunny became tense, preparing a misleading answer. But Nephis did not ask. So, he pretended like nothing had happened and continued his conversation with Cassie.
"It's still a great Memory. Getting drinkable water is not an easy task!"
Cassie nodded and smiled, pleased by his words.
Cassia nodded and smiled, pleased by his words.
Soon, the rich smell of roasting meat permeated the air. At the same time, the sun was beginning to approach the horizon; a loud rumble came from somewhere beneath, and first traces of the black water began to appear between crimson walls of the labyrinth.
Sunny looked east, where the skies were already growing dark. Then he uncomfortably shifted.
"Do scavengers come all the way up here?"
Nephis turned the meat and nodded.
"Yes. But… only at night. In the day, most of them seem to disappear."
Sunny grinned, having an idea of why there weren't a lot of monsters in the labyrinth in the day.
"That's because they all gather near the place I had been spending my time recently. You should have seen it — the tall cliff to the west of here. Well, it's actually a statue."
Cassia opened her eyes wide.
"A… a statue? But for you to survive, it should be…"
"Yes, it's a giant statue of a knight, at least two hundred meters tall. He is missing his head, so I hid on top of the neck. Anyway… the day we were sent here, two sea creatures fought each other near that statue. When the water receded, I saw an enormous carcass lying there, with hundreds of scavengers slowly tearing it apart. And then we have the couple hundred scavengers i killed which means more of them coming to eat."
Nephis nodded.
"That would explain the lack of Nightmare Creature in the day. How long?"
Sunny blinked.
"Ten d- Ten or twelve"
Everyone looked at sunny including his own shadow it was laughing while the girls were slightly uncomfortable.
"Why didn't you finish the other twenty five percent."
Nephis asked.
Sunny responded.
"It was too long."
The girls choked on air they haven't inhaled yet.
"What do you mean too long?!"
Cassie asked.
"I meant the wording was way too long. What did you think i was about to say?"
The girls just looked away while sunny was completely obviously to what he just said. Nephis turned away, took the meat away from the fire, and then quickly extinguished it. While cassie was just sipping water. The two had one thing similar their faces were burning red.
'There's definitely something wrong with these girls!'
The three of them ate in the dimming light of the twilight. The meat was juicy, tender and indescribably delicious. It was better than anything Sunny had ever tasted, even back in the Academy's cafeteria. Of course, his excruciating hunger played a part in that.
From time to time, they would pass the glass bottle to each other.
When they were finished with their meal, the dark sea was back, and the night was upon them. Everything was consumed by absolute darkness.
Of course, Sunny could easily see both Nephis and Cassie. Under the cover of the night, Changing Star remained pretty much the same. The blind girl, however, allowed her true emotions to show, thinking that no one would see. She seemed much more lost, lonely and frightened than she did in the day.
As if trying to resist these feelings, Cassia said in a bright voice:
"How about we formally introduce ourselves? I'm Cassie."
Nephis glanced in her direction and shrugged.
"Neph."
Next, it was Sunny's turn. He exhaled, happy things were finally moving on a good pace.
Relieved, he smiled and answered:
"I'm Sunless. But you can call me Sunny."
(Im writing another chapter pookies.)