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Chapter 13: Mid-Silence Bridge POV: Sunny / Rias Gremory (third-person limited)
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The bridge narrowed near the end.
Not dangerously so — just enough to press them into single file. Sunny walked ahead, shadows curling around his boots in quiet discomfort. The spire loomed in the distance, not towering but sinking, its tip embedded deep in the heart of the world like a fang puncturing flesh.
Behind him, Rias moved with the grace of someone who could kill and command in the same breath. She said nothing. Neither did he.
But he could feel her attention.
Not suspicion.
Not fear.
Just a quiet, burning awareness.
He didn't stop walking.
"I lied," Sunny said, voice barely audible in the void.
Rias didn't stumble.
"I know."
A few more steps passed in silence. The bridges groaned—not from weight, but from memory. Even stone seemed to remember things in this place.
Sunny's eyes stayed forward. "You're not going to ask why?"
She was just behind him now. Closer than breath.
"No."
The word hung in the air like a seal.
Another pause. Long. Not empty.
"I'll ask when it matters," she added.
Sunny blinked.
It wasn't the words. It was the calm in her voice.
Measured.
Not distant.
Just exact.
She had ruled once. He could tell. Not from pride, but from the way she didn't flinch when the truth bent around her. She didn't chase answers unless they would change what came next.
He glanced over his shoulder.
Rias Gremory didn't look angry.
She looked like someone preparing.
That unsettled him more than suspicion ever could.
He turned back.
"…If I stop walking," he said quietly, "don't wait."
He didn't say it for drama. He said it because something in the spire was beginning to focus. Not watching — not quite.
Choosing.
Rias didn't reply right away.
Then, with the softest breath:
"Then don't stop."
Behind them, Akeno's footsteps slowed — either by instinct or design.
And ahead… the spire waited.
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It wasn't until a few steps later that Sunny noticed something else.
Their clothes.
They'd been shredded, singed, torn half to ruin during the fight with Vorak. He hadn't remarked on it at the time — too focused on surviving.
But now, in the flicker of his peripheral vision, the thin black sleeves of Rias's outfit looked… pristine. Not repaired with thread. Regenerated.
He blinked. Slowed slightly.
"That wasn't like that an hour ago."
"What?" Rias asked.
"Your dress," Sunny said. "It was destroyed."
Rias smiled faintly. "Devil magic," she said, almost as if amused. "Takes time, and power, but… we can restore clothing the way we restore bodies. Especially if it's tied to aura."
Akeno added lightly behind them, "Technically, it's not fabric. It's conjured expression. Like an extension of ourselves."
Sunny frowned. "So you're saying you can just… will it back?"
Rias gave him a sideways glance. "Watch."
Without breaking stride, she moved one hand casually through the air. Her torn sleeve shimmered — and the material shifted.
Not re-sewn. Re-shaped.
In the space of a breath, her entire outfit changed — from high-collared combat form to a sleeveless, regal black-and-crimson piece laced with silver runes.
It looked like it belonged to a queen of old.
It didn't make a sound.
It just… happened.
Sunny said nothing for a beat.
Then: "You do realize how weird that is, right?"
Rias grinned.
"Coming from a walking shadow, that's rich."
He rolled his eyes and walked faster.
Behind them, Akeno laughed once — and for the first time in hours, it sounded like herself again.
Then the laughter faded.
And only the sound of footsteps remained, carrying them toward the mouth of the inverted spire.