Third POV:
'How should I approach this?'
Behind him at a relatively safe distance, a skeletal hunched figure was slowly walking along the narrow street of the cursed city. The creature had long arms that ended with vicious claws and a deformed head with a wide mouth full of razor-sharp fangs.
Even with its back bent, the monster was at least two meters tall. It was dressed in a torn shroud that was once white but had long ago turned brown from the dried blood.
That was supposed to be Sunny prey for the night.
The creature, which was called a Blood Fiend, was among the weakest dwellers of the cursed city. It was merely an awakened monster, barely intelligent and comparatively easy to kill.
Even though they shared the same rank and class, Blood Fiends were less formidable than Carapace Centurions in terms of strength and speed. However, that was only until they smelled blood, which sent them into a murderous frenzy. In that state, these fiends were a true menace.
And now that Sunny had the Covetous Coffer he didn't need to haunt the creature at all, for at least a couple of months. His Coffer was already a huge grocery center by now.
Using his Shadow senses Sunny was able to confirm that the road itself would be safe for at least an hour. He could still feel a couple of Nightmare Creatures one to two blocks down the road but their route didn't involve going through this path. Although He can still feel the shadow of another blood fiend not too far off.
His worries lay elsewhere.
The humans that were approaching his current location were getting closer and closer.
Sunny contemplated if he should kill them or not.
Sunny was no judge. Just because they died in the first round doesn't justify killing them again. Even back then, He of course didn't kill all of them with his own hands but He sure did lead them to their own demise. And that doesn't mean he should do it again. Humans were greedy by nature, sinners or not they were doing their best to live and satisfy their desires, he was in no place to judge them.
Although Sunny wanted them dead, killing them just because it benefited him was far from Sunny's nature.
Gunlaug would use their death as a trump card in an attempt to suppress Changing Stat's authority in the Slums, by Framing their death to Effie. which will eventually lead to them Clashing Swords, Their death was a critical step in that process. A heavy sigh escaped Sunny's Lips. As much as Sunny wanted to escape the Forgotten Shore with as much as possible, These people weren't his responsibility, unlike in Antarctica Sunny wasn't obliged to save people who didn't want to be saved.
'Gunlaug was Trapped in this Hell hole for eight years he had already settled down for this king-like life, even though he knew it was merely a sand castle. he has done many despicable things. But who am I to judge him for those? Who knows if any of us would have done any better? Keeping a thousand hopeless people alive in this hell is the kind of task that can turn a saint into a demon after all.'
Sunny thought that Gunlaug was indeed a mad genius.
summoning the Midnight Shard Sunny did the thing he was best at.
Sunny used Shadow Step and emerged from the Shadows right Behind the Blood Fiend. Something whistled in the air, and the upper part of the Blood Fiend's body separated from the lower. Startled and shocked The Fiend reached out with its long arms toward whatever was what attacked him from behind.
Sunny slashed with the Midnight Shard again, severing one of the arms at the elbow. Continuing in the same motion without breaking a sweat, he took a quick step forward with the same strike, this time piercing the creature's skull The tip of the tachi entered through one of its eyes and exited through the back of the head.
The Spell announced the kill as The body of the Blood Fiend lay lifelessly on the ground. Sunny looked grimly at the corpse of the Blood Fiend, then in the direction of the approaching footsteps.
Sunny contemplated if he should confront them or leave but he soon settled for the latter. Snatching the two soul shards Sunny quickly disappeared from the scene as he dove into the Shadows.
Not too far away, Six humans were cautiously walking along the narrow path in the stone ruins, lighting their way with a ghostly blue lantern.
They were all rugged men, wearing mismatched suits of armor and armed to the teeth. Their eyes were cold and hard.
Soon enough they noticed the Corpse
"Halt!"
Several weapons were aimed in the direction of the corpse. The six Sleepers were surprised to see a corpse with human traces on it this far away from the walls of the castle, and judging by the still warm blood and the still beating tissues of the corpse they concluded that it was killed minutes ago at most. To their knowledge, there were no haunting parties that were dispatched this late in the night, and what surprised them the most was the fact that it seemed to be the doings of a single human.
No human should be able to traverse the dark city in the Night, Let alone haunt. That was a given to them, For the past couple of years. And those who dared never returned alive.
Finally able to comprehend the situation, one of the castle inhabitants asked in a hushed tone.
"Do you think the rumors of a Mad Boy living in the City away from the Castle walls are true?"
Sunny felt a slight tinge of embarrassment about his ruined reputation but paid it no attention nevertheless.
One of them was taller and better equipped than the rest. with a menacing gaze, he proceeded to come closer, glancing at the corpse of the Blood Fiend.
The man was older than Sunny by a few years, approximately the same age as Sunny was before his regression or slightly older. He was tall and muscular, with a patchy beard covering the lower part of his face and a mean look in his watery blue eyes. From his demeanor and Memories, it was easy to tell that the leader of the group had spent no less than three years on the Forgotten Shore. He had experience and time to grow stronger than most Sleepers here.
He was about to say something before one of the Sleepers started talking.
"Wait, chief. I heard that there's a crazy kid who lives in the ruins alone."
The taller man scowled.
"How is that possible?"
His subordinate shrugged."From what I heard, his Aspect allows the boy to hide in the shadows really well. I guess he crawls around like a rat and picks up the leftovers after the monsters are done eating. I don't really know, but someone was talking about him back in the castle. I thought they were just telling tales."
Sunny frowned. Crazy, boy, rat... why did everyone feel compelled to call him names?
Meanwhile, the helpful Sleeper thought for a bit and added:
"I think he came into town with that bitch, Changing Star."
At that, a visible vein stuck out in Sunny's Shadowy temple.
'Maybe they were better off dead'
"Stay Vigilant"
The one that appeared to be the leader said with a frown examining the holes on the monster's corpse where the Soul Shards were meant to be.
"Take everything you can take and let's head back"
He said grumbling a curse under his breath. The castle inhabitants quickly got to work as the leader started circling the corpse looking for anything that might come in handy, something that might help him get a better idea of who was the mysterious human that lived in the heart of the dark city.
Unbeknown to them there was a frenzied blood-thirsty Fiend running toward their location at full speed. attracted by the smell of blood.
Soon enough the creature was almost upon them. Sensing the danger, the leader was the first one to react and got into a hasty battle stance but the Creature was a bit faster as his huge mouth had already closed on his shoulder nailing him to the ground as its claws dug into his chest and abdomen. Just like that, the leader of the group was dead before he could even make a sound.
The rest of the group who were engrossed in separating the valuable parts of the dead body only noticed when their leader had died. It didn't take the awakened monster a lot to deal with a couple of startled dormant humans.
Sunny soon emerged from the shadows and finished off the Awakened monster.
'Fate is a terrifying thing for sure.....'
Sunny involuntarily shivered at the thought. With or without his intervention these men were meant to die here tonight, if Sunny hadn't appeared in front of them in the previous round they would've been killed by this abomination, but Since they followed Sunny in the previous round they ended up dying on the hands of the fallen devil from the cathedral.
Looking at the scene, butchered corpses decorated the area like some sort of art made by a murderous mad artist.
Taking the piece of fabric that had been secretively tucked away into the tall guy's shirt. Sunny revealed its content.
Looking at the fabric, he noticed the familiar crude shapes that were drawn on it with ink. These shapes were familiar to him.
Rolling it back and Tugging the map in his pocket Sunny jumped to the rooftop of one of the nearby buildings. Just a moment later few nightmare creatures appeared in the vicinity, attracted by the smell of the fresh blood.
Soon after a thunderous crash reverberated over the area.
One of the buildings not far from where he was standing suddenly collapsed, filling the street with a cloud of dust and flying debris. A massive shape flew through the air and heavily crashed against another wall, causing an avalanche of stones to fall down.
The creature tried to stand up, but then twitched and grew still, spilling rivers of fetid blood all over the pavement. It was unmistakably dead.
Somewhere near, furious roars and the sound of steel clashing against steel could be heard, growing closer with each second.
Hidden in the shadows, he climbed up the tall wall of an ancient building and soon arrived on its roof. Watching his footing, Sunny walked forward until he reached the opposite edge of the building.
From there, he could see the wide square in all its dark glory.
In the middle of the square, a moving statue was fighting against several hulking monsters.
On a dark square surrounded by ruins of once-magnificent buildings, a vicious battle was coming to an end. The remains of its solemn protectors were lying on the cold cobblestones, ruthlessly shattered into pieces.
Sunny knew those stone statues.
the stalwart stone warriors were disciplined, and proficient in the use of weapons and utterly deadly. They were able to perfectly coordinate their movements, using strategy and tactics to silently overwhelm opponents whose power far surpassed their own. Countless monsters fell to their blades.
Of course Sunny knew what they are.
They were some of Neither's Failed subjects. And it was where Saint once fought before being killed by Sunny.
The bodies of the previous masters lay shattered to pieces. In death, they looked just like broken statues. Even their metal armor and weapons had turned to stone after the wielders were destroyed.
There were five or six of these stone piles scattered around the square, while the attackers seemed to have lost only three of their numbers — including the massive monster that had been sent crashing through a building earlier. Each body towered above the dark cobblestones like a small hill.
The invaders were a type of Nightmare Creature that Sunny had never seen before in any place across the dream realm, he only saw them here. These menacing monsters looked like giant spiders with bodies covered in thick plates of wrought iron. They moved with terrifying speed and force, sending cracks running through the cobblestones with each step. There were currently two of them left on the square, circling around the lone surviving stone warrior.
'Saint...'
she was almost comically small in stature, standing no taller than Sunny himself. Sunny knew she would grow taller as she evolved into her Onyx form. The graceful stone Saint was armed with a sword and a round shield, wearing a plate armor that covered most of her body, leaving only her eyes exposed. Or, rather, two rubies burning with crimson flames that all her kind seemed to have instead of eyes.
Currently, she was standing there with her shield raised, the blade of the sword resting on its rim. Her head was lowered, ruby eyes silently following the movements of the two spider monsters.
the Stone Saint lunged at the spiders first. Calmly striking her sword against the rim of the shield twice, she dashed forward with grim determination.
The spider she was aiming at was a second too late to react. However, due to its superior physical form, it was still able to meet the sudden onslaught with a vicious strike of its own. One of its legs shot forward, threatening to shatter the stone body of the attacking living statue into tiny pieces.
The smaller creature deflected the blow with her sword and bashed the spider with the round shield, putting all of her weight and inhuman strength into the strike.
She had switched to her Ultar-offensive style
The black sword immediately lashed out, sending a shockwave through the spider's guts. A rain of strikes fell on the iron surface of the monster's abdomen, filling the square with the clangor of metal. The stone warrior attacked with savage ferocity, using both the sword and the shield to inflict as much damage as possible in a short amount of time.
Just as the iron plate protecting the soft innards of the monster cracked, the second beast joined the fray. The following bloodbath was nothing short of horrifying.
Even though the spiders were much faster and stronger, the steadfast Stone Saint kept up with them for a while. Her indomitable will and ruthless resolve were enough to give the fearsome creatures pause. Moving with the deadly precision of a bloodthirsty killing machine, the living statue completely disregarded self-preservation in favor of making her enemies suffer.
Soon, the terrible wounds on her body accumulated, making the stone creature look like a vandalized piece of macabre art. However, the spiders were no better: their fetid blood was spilling everywhere, painting the whole square red. Severed limbs and shards of cracked iron littered the ground, mixing with the shattered remains of the fallen stone warriors.
Finally, one of the spiders fell heavily to the ground and twitched, drawing its last breath. The remaining beast lunged at the staggered stone monster, its countless eyes burning with fury.
Sunny already knew the outcome of this battle thus he waited. Soon after, the Stone Saint killed the other nightmare creature but staggered and fell to the ground. Her wounds were too fatal to even stand.
It was merely a matter of time before she would die but Sunny didn't wait and quickly Shadow Stepped to her side and stabbed her right in her heart killing her instantly.
Sunny wasn't expecting to receive any kind of memory or another Saint-like echo from killing her again. He just wanted to make her death swift.
And as expected the spell calmly announced the kill and simply fell silent.
Sighing Sunny soon dissolved into the shadows and headed toward the dark well where his Dear Friend Kai was waiting to be rescued.
Approaching a large building that had been magnificent once, Sunny climbed over the collapsed wall and found himself in a dark and secluded courtyard.
The familiar scene played itself. In the center of the courtyard, there was a well. Its round mouth loomed like an open wound in the stone, filled with nothing but empty blackness. The well was covered with a strange, ornate iron grate. It must have weighed several tonnes at least, as though someone desperately wanted to prevent anything from ever lifting it from its place and leaving the well open.
Sillily, Sunny Grinned before approaching and looking through the grill of the grate. The silent well was so deep that he couldn't see its bottom. But he knew that at the bottom of the well, was where his friend was imprisoned.
Picking up a handful of relatively small and light pebbles, Sunny dropped them down one by one. The black mouth of the well swallowed the pebbles, making it disappear.
Many seconds passed, but there was no sound of the rock hitting anything.
A familiar melodic, and enchanting voice resounded from its dark depths, filling Sunny's ears with sweetness.
"Ah, Oh, Ay, Agh!"
The pained voice of his Friend resounded from the depth of the well. Sunny was thrilled to hear it again. His grin widened. Forcing himself not to laugh Sunny asked in a low voice as if confused.
"Is there someone in there?"
A moment later, the well whispered:
"How wonderful. I haven't been fed in a long time..."