Sunny was staring at the runes, inspecting the new [Mark Of Abyss] attribute of his, which he didn't know how he gained it.
[Mark Of Abyss] Attribute Description: "You are marked by the Heir of Abyss as their benefactor. Therefore, you are blessed by one of the -unknown-. Additionally, The darkness will be at your disposal."
'Wren? I was marked by him as his benefactor? And who is this -unknown-? I am blessed by them? The darkness is at my disposal?'
Sunny's mind was filled questions, but he had few ideas erupting in his mind about the blessing and darkness, to confirm his thoughts he run a simple test.
He tried to expand his senses through the darkness in the Dark Sea, surprisingly his assumption was correct. He can use the similar ability like Wren to sense through the darkness. But he still don't have any idea what part the blessing played.
'Does this also mean, I can use it to augment myself like Wren?'
Sunny tried to execute his next idea, and succeeded in it. But after few minutes, his head was paining, he heard whispers in a language that he couldn't decipher. All he understand that, these voices were filled with anger and disagreement.
'Looks like they don't like me.'
Sunny sighed, stopped with his experiments and started to prepare a plan to kill the Carapace Demon. Nephis looked at him strangely but dismissed her thoughts and focused on cooking the meat.
***
'Damn it, why the hell is he so strong?'
Wren who was now, currently training with Astaroth or rather trying to survive against him. He realized it now, the place he was thrown to, was due to his Aspect Legacy. To get his first relic, he has to kill or defeat the leader, Astaroth.
'This is my fifty eighth try to kill him.'
Wren had died fifty eighth time to kill Astaroth, The Abyss Palace what Astaroth call this place. Wren realized that he can't die here, and developed a new fear of death. He didn't like the idea of this type of immortality but it was better than fighting his battle maniac best friend in Valor.
"You should not fear death, Young Prince."
The whip sword came from an unknown direction than it's predicted trajectory, making it hard for Wren to dodge. Deflecting the blow, caused his hand go numb even after augmenting himself. He lost his balance, the sword however didn't stop.
'I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die. Oh! I am dead.'
***
Currently Sunny and his group were tricking the Carapace Demon to take a shelter on the tree and proceed with the next part of his clan. His echo however was on risk of getting destroyed. The [Fated] played it's part and Sunny's echo got destroyed. The familiar voice resounded like a tolling bell in his ears.
[Your Echo has been destroyed...]
Sunny stumbled and almost fell. Cassie gripped his shoulders tightly and leaned back a little, trying to help him keep balance. With fallen leaves flying from under his feet, Sunny somehow managed to catch himself in time.
'No!'
Anger and regret clouded his mind, but it was too late to do anything. His trusty scavenger was dead, sliced and torn apart by the giant creature. The ease and brutality with which the Carapace Demon had decimated the poor, brave beast would have been insulting... if it wasn't so terrifying.
"Don't let emotions cloud your judgement."
Wren's words struck him like lightning, it only took him a split second to regain his senses.
The Echo was gone. Not only had Sunny seen its tragic end through the eyes of his shadow, he also felt the subtle connection between them disappear. In his Soul Sea, one of the spheres of light shimmered and vanished, leaving the silent surface of the water a little bit darker. He had lost his most valuable possession.
But the bitterness Sunny felt was not only because of how useful the Echo had been, or how much money it could have brought him in the real world. He had actually grown to like the mindless scavenger quite a bit. It was big, loyal and reliable.
It even seemed to possess a strange sort of stubborn, offputting personality.
And now it was dead.
Gritting his teeth, Sunny ran like a madman. There would be time to mourn the loss of the loyal Echo later.
Right now, they had bigger problems.
"Sunny? What happened?"
Cassie's whisper sounded worried and tense. She must have felt the change in his mood through his posture and body Language.
To be completely honest, Sunny was in no shape to talk. Running up the hill at top speed, with the blind girl on his back no matter how delicate and light she was had been a tall task for him without the support of the shadow. He was struggling to breathe, and there was still a considerable distance to the great tree. However, Sunny had to answer, his voice hoarse and rugged:
"He killed the Echo."
Then, there was no time for words anymore.
Because things were turning from bad to worse.
Down at the bottom of the hill, the Carapace Demon was standing above the mutilated remains of the scavenger, looking at them with contempt. Heavy drops of azure blood were falling from each of his four upper limbs.
Suddenly, the corpse of the Echo began to shine with soft light. Then, it shimmered and dissolved into a river of tiny sparks, which then fell to the ground and disappeared, leaving no trace of the hulking scavenger behind.
Even its blood on the demon's scythes and pincers was gone.
After all, the Echo was just a manifestation of a slain Nightmare Creature and not the real thing. It came from nothing and was now returned to the state of nothingness.
However, the Carapace Demon was not looking at the unexpected light show. Instead, he was staring at one particular spot on the ground.
There, a lonely human shadow was frozen in confusion, uncertain what to do. With the body of the Echo and consequently, its spacious shadow gone, it was instantly revealed and had nowhere else to hide.
'Crap!'
The demon tilted his head, then moved with the speed of lightning and pierced the shadow with a scythe.
Sunny flinched, ready to experience blinding pain... But nothing happened.
The shadow, which had raised its hands in fright, looked down at the massive blade protruding from its chest and scratched its head.
It was completely fine. Well, of course... it was just a shadow, after all.
One had to have a body to be susceptible to such attacks.
'Right. What else did I think would happen?'
Meanwhile, the demon was staring at the nonchalant shadow. The menacing scarlet light in his eyes blazed brighter.
Sunny was getting closer to the trunk of the tree, temporarily fueled by adrenalin. Otherwise, he might have fainted from the strain already.
'Just... a little... more!'
They had every chance of making it. The shadow just had to distract the giant monster for a bit...
But it seemed as though luck was not on his side today. Down below, the Carapace Demon retrieved his scythe. However, instead of attacking the human shadow again, it suddenly turned around and cast a dark look at the top of the Ashen Barrow, where the giant tree stood in all its magnificent beauty.
The bastard was smart after all.
'Curse it all!'
Forgetting about the shadow, the behemoth lunged forward, rushing back up the tall hill's slope. It moved with frightening speed, covering a dozen meters with each second.
'Get back here!'
Sunny screamed to his shadow as he approached the trunk of the tree.
Helping Cassie climb down from his back, Sunny picked up the rucksack that Nephis had left behind and handed it to the blind girl.
"Be gentle with that."
Cassie nodded, well aware of the contents of the rucksack, and carefully hung it on her shoulder.
At that time, Changing Star had already reached the lowest branches of the great tree. Not wasting any time, she moved to a spot above her companions, summoned the golden rope and threw one of its ends down.
Catching the rope, Sunny quickly tied a loop and handed it to Cassie.
"You go up first."
The blind girl hesitated for a moment, then accepted it. Just as she was about to put her foot inside the loop, Sunny suddenly stopped her.
"Wait! Summon your staff."
The wooden staff that Cassie used to walk was actually a magical item capable of summoning strong winds. In their travels, they rarely had a cause to use it. But now it could come in handy.
Surprised and unsure of the reason, she nevertheless did as he had asked, summoning the Memory from her Sea of Soul. The wooden staff appeared in her hand.
Sunny lightly hugged the blind girl from behind and turned her body, guiding the hand holding the staff in the necessary direction. Then, he said:
"Now summon the wind."
In the next moment, a strong gale rose around them, blasting fallen leaves and ashen sand into the air. Instantly, a large portion of the island's surface was stripped bare.
More sand was revealed beneath.
Meanwhile, the shadow was racing against the Carapace Demon. The massive creature was already halfway up the hill, moving with the speed of a rushing train. The nimble shadow, however, was even faster. It had already overtaken the behemoth and was now flying forward, hurrying to return to its master.
"Good, now go!"
Sunny helped Cassie put her foot into the loop and stepped back, watching as Nephis pulled the rope up. She was going as fast as she could which was really fast by human standards.
But was it fast enough?
Sweating, he counted seconds and waited. His life now depended on whether or not the rope would return before the demon arrives.
Every moment felt like an eternity.
He could already hear the distant, but quickly approaching sound of the Carapace Demon's eight towering legs stomping furiously through the sand.
Finally, Cassie was at the level of the giant tree's lower branches. Nephis helped her step out of the loop and settle on the wide surface of the branch, then threw the rope down again.
The demon was approaching the tree, still hidden from sight by its massive trunk.
The shadow slipped beneath Sunny's feet and wrapped itself around his body.
Catching the rope, Sunny practically flew up, climbing with incredible, adrenaline-fuelled speed. Landing on the branch beside the girls, he quickly turned around and tried to pull the rope up. The monster could not notice the golden shine of it... otherwise, it all would have been for nothing.
But there was less than a second left...
'Oh no!' Sunny thought, his heart skipping a beat.
But then Nephis simply dismissed the Memory, making the golden rope disappear into thin air.
The three of them crouched, hiding from sight, and held their breaths.
...A moment later, the furious mass of spikes and polished metal appeared beneath them. The Carapace Demon abruptly stopped, gazing around with his burning scarlet eyes. His pincers clicked, as if thirsty to tear flesh apart. The terrifying scythes were raised into the air, ready to slash and sever.
But there was nothing to kill underneath the great tree.
***
Wren was dodging the attacks from all directions, during their first clash Wren had lost immediately but this time it was different after dying for two hundred times, Wren had understood the weakness of the sword. It wasn't related to it's unpredictable movement but it's ability to adapt, it's versatility.
The sword was designed to help it's user to adapt and fight in any situation. But what would happen if the sword which is versatile and moves in unimaginable speed is rendered immobile. To confirm his thoughts, Wren augmented himself, this time using his Aspect. His left eye was completely black, Wren had learned to use his Aspect while controlling his Flaw. In this half state, Wren is strong enough to kill a Fallen Demon himself.
"Your plan might work, but if doesn't let me take over and kill this guy."
"We will see."
Countering the attacks, Wren used all his strength and stabbed the sword to ground with Slayer of Shadows. It was going to be immobile for few seconds but that is all Wren(Ark) needed. Astaroth was visibly shocked, before he could pull his sword from the ground, he was hit by a punch in his hand which was holding the sword, though his grip didn't weaken by much the next attack completely destroyed it.
Astaroth didn't understood what happened, because his hand was cut and he didn't knew what was used to cut it. His hand couldn't regenerate as it was stopped by the darkness covering the stump. He was pushed by Wren's shoulder, when he looked at Wren's eyes he realized something was different about him, he felt... dangerous.
Wren dashed at the somewhat weaken Astaroth, he jumped and gave a elbow blow straight to his face which was blocked by his other hand. But Wren spinned his body and hit his knee on the temple. Astaroth however didn't wavered, he then grabbed Wren by his leg and swing him like a ragdoll.
Even after being at disadvantage, Astaroth showed why he is superior in combat. They exchanged blows after blows, their speed was astonishing but soon Astaroth started to losing. Even if you have thousands of years experience in hand-to-hand combat anyone will face disadvantage if they lost their hand.
At start, Astaroth wasn't losing and giving Wren a perfect fight but soon his body started to receive damage, as his hand wasn't able to counter all the incoming attacks. He dodged, and attacked with a punch straight to Wren's throat, but before Astaroth blow could hit Wren, his balance was already disrupted by Wren's sweep kick.
As Astaroth whole body lost it's balance, Wren used it as an opportunity and back kicked him on his chest. The blow was powerful enough to crack the black armor on Astaroth body, sending him metres away from Wren.
Now, Wren was looking down on Astaroth who was heavily damaged from their fight. Looking straight into Wren's heterochromia eyes, Astaroth smirked.
"I have lost, Young prince."
Listening his rustic voice, Wren sighed and smiled, he laughed as he fall to the ground. He looked at Astaroth and gave him the brightest smile he could muster, and then he said:
"Next time, use all of your power. Don't hold back."
Astaroth gave him a nod, before his body started to disappear in spark of light. Wren knew that their time has come to an end. Astaroth stood up and came face to face with Wren, he whispered something in Wren's ear. Wren's eyes widened when he heard the whisper.
"I understand. We will meet again someday my friend."
[You have received an Aspect Legacy, Key of Abyss.]
[Your are being sent back to the Dream Realm.]
Wren heard the melodic sound of The Spell, as he was blinded by light after Astaroth disappeared in the sparks of light.
'I want some sleep, dammit.'