Sunny currently was distracting the Carapace Demon for the Changing Star to ambush and kill it in a single combat. Every single second was important for Sunny, however that didn't seem for his trusty sword.
[Your Memory has been...]
He didn't get to hear the rest of the sentence, because, in the next moment, his body collided with the ground. Sunny bounced a couple of times, feeling flashes of pain radiating through his bones, rolled, and finally came to a stop.
He was comparatively fine.
Standing up, Sunny stumbled and barely managed to remain on his feet. He glanced around and noticed that the trunk of the great tree was not that far away.
Two dozen meters away, the Carapace Demon was slowly turning his head, planning to concentrate his murderous rage on Nephis. This was the exact opposite of what Sunny had to achieve.
He had to attract the monster's attention somehow. But what could he do? As the remains of the Azure Blade began to shine with soft light in his hand, ready to disintegrate into a rain of sparks,
Sunny raised his hand and threw the broken sword with as much force as he could gather.
However, he didn't throw it at the demon.
Instead, he threw it at the miraculous tree, as though trying to harm it.
Not far away, the demon suddenly froze, even if only for a second. His scarlet eye followed the shining Memory as it flew through the air, approaching the trunk of the great tree.
Then the broken sword fell apart, turning into a shower of white sparks, which then disappeared without a trace. None of them even touched the obsidian bark.
However, the Azure Blade had already fulfilled its purpose.
It distracted the giant for a few precious moments.
For Changing Star, that was more than enough.
As soon as the Carapace Demon froze, distracted by the feigned threat to the great tree, Nephis lunged forward. There was no hesitation, no doubt, not even the slightest pause between the moment her enemy had lowered his defenses and her reckless attack.
Just like Sunny had been utterly focused on observing the monster's movements before, she had been watching and waiting for this exact moment since the beginning of the battle. Changing Star knew that, when the opportunity presents itself, it will only last for a second.
Even that single second almost cost Sunny his life. Nephis wasn't going to waste it.
Her graceful figure flew through the air like an arrow released from a powerful bow, almost leaving afterimages behind. The silver blade of her longsword glimmered, reflecting the light of dawn. The black and white armor seemed to turn into a blur.
She was going all in, rushing at the enemy without leaving herself even the slightest chance to retreat.
'Wh...'
Things were happening too fast for Sunny to form a coherent thought. He could only watch, time slowing down to a crawl, a storm of emotions raging in his mind.
The demon reacted almost immediately, recognizing the threat. But "almost" didn't count on a battlefield. A moment of distraction was all it took to lose everything. That one mistake, no matter how small, had been enough to seal his fate.
....If Nephis was really capable of breaking through the creature's indestructible carapace, that is. Otherwise, it was all for nothing, and they would be the ones dying, instead.
The fearsome giant moved his scythe, trying to slice her apart. The pincer flashed from the other side, threatening to crush her body into pulp.
Changing Star was just a tiny bit faster.
As she ran, something changed about the cadence of her steps. Sunny couldn't see her face behind the visor of her helmet, but if he could, he would see a grimace of agony contorting Neph's pale face.
In the next moment, a soft white radiance ignited beneath the skin of her hands. However, this time, it didn't stay there. Instead, the white flame flowed outward, into the hilt of the silver sword, and then into its blade.
The sword suddenly turned into a sharp radiant edge, burning with incandescent white light. It shined so brightly that Sunny felt the desire to close his eyes.
However, the radiance wasn't soft and warm anymore. Instead, it seemed to be capable of reducing anything it touched to ash and sharp enough to cut the fabric of the world itself.
Perhaps, it was even sharp enough to cut the strings of fate.
Sunny remembered how Nephis had described her Aspect Ability... "it can be used for healing". Back then, he had suspected that this phrase of hers implied that there was more to it. He even marveled at how precious and rare such an Ability would be.
It seemed as though he was right. Changing Star's miraculous flame was capable of both healing and destroying. It possessed an enhancing effect similar to his own Shadow Control, at least when applied to weapons. Who knew what else it could do?
An incredible Ability indeed.
Looking back, he understood that Nephis had not tortured herself in vain. All the times she pretended to meditate while enduring the excruciating agony of her Flaw in secret were meant to make this moment possible. To give her enough fortitude to use this Ability in battle without passing out from the pain.
She succeeded. The question was... would that be enough?
Was her sword strong enough to break the mighty carapace of the Awakened demon? After all, no matter how incredible the Ability, it was still powered by a weak Dormant soul core of a lowly Sleeper.
...They were about to find out.
A few steps away from the Carapace Demon's towering torso, Nephis bent her legs and jumped, soaring high into the air. Her sword flashed forward in a vicious thrust, so fast that, for a moment, it looked like a beam of pure white sunlight.
Then, it collided with the strange alloy of the giant's lustrous armor... right at the spot where his heart was supposed to be.
'Of course!'
Back when they were hiding in the dead leviathan's empty spine, Cassie had told them about her vision. In that vision, she saw the Carapace Demon being attacked by a terrible creature of the deep dark sea. In the aftermath of the battle, the demon was severely wounded and on the verge of dying.
The most horrible wound was on his chest, where the armor was torn apart and shattered, revealing the monster's beating heart. With time, all his injuries had healed.
Except for this one. While the carapace of the demon seemed to have recovered, in truth, it was never fully restored. In this one spot, the armor was secretly weakened. And it was exactly to that spot that Nephis had delivered her blow.
It didn't matter whether her radiant sword was really capable of breaking through the impregnable armor of the Awakened creature, because she attacked the only weak spot on his body, the place where his armor had already been broken.
...With a flash of white light, the incandescent sword pierced through the metal of the demon's carapace and plunged into his body, unleashing a fury of fire inside the adamantine shell. It seemed as though the giant was suddenly illuminated from within, with beams of light shining through the cracks in his armor. For a moment, the surreal sight was burned into Sunny's mind.
Then, Changing Star's sword had reached the Carapace Demon's heart and sliced it apart, incinerating everything around it and making the azure blood of the fearsome creature boil and evaporate.
Sunny's legs buckled, and he gracelessly fell on his ass.
'Wh-wha... We did it?'
The demon staggered. His arms slowly rose, as though trying to pull Nephis into a final embrace. But then, as his body twitched, they fell to the ground.
Neph landed in the sand and jumped back, ready to defend herself.
But there was no need.
The proud guardian of the Ashen Barrow was dying. The scarlet light in his one remaining eye was dimming, any semblance of intelligence quickly disappearing from his gaze.
The demon heavily slumped, all remnants of strength abandoning his mighty body. Turning his head with incredible effort, he cast one last look on the great tree.
Then, his gaze stopped on Sunny.
There was no fury or madness in that gaze anymore. Only some strange, calm, inexplicable emotion. It almost felt like... relief.
Before Sunny could discern the meaning of that emotion, the last glimmer of light was gone from the eye of the Carapace Demon. His head rolled back and fell.
They won.
In front of the giant body, Nephis had dismissed her helmet. Behind it, her face was pale and tired, her hair sticking to it in a sweaty mess. The afterglow of the white radiance was already extinguished, leaving her eyes grey once again.
Changing Star kneeled, then lay down on her back, too exhausted to move. The whole fight lasted less than a minute, but it took everything out of both of them.
Sunny followed Neph's example and lay on the ground, trying to catch his breath. They actually won. He couldn't quite believe it.
'I want to sleep for a week.'
Remembering that Cassie was still waiting in the branches of the great tree, not knowing who lived and who died, Sunny sighed. A few moments later, he deeply inhaled.
Then, straining his vocal cords, he screamed at the top of his lungs.
In the silence of the morning, in the center of the tall hill covered with ashen sand, under the branches of a beautiful, giant tree, a strange shout could be heard:
"One demon steak, coming right up!"
As Sunny finished, a new sound emerged from one of the branches of the giant tree, it was the sound of clapping, but then a familiar voice could be heard, something Sunny, Nephis and Cassie knew very well.
"Please one medium-well demon steak for me too."
***
"Uh, Why are you staring at me like that?"
Wren who had jumped down from the branch stared at Nephis and Sunny, while they were staring at him dumbfounded. Sunny had an idea about Wren being alive while Nephis didn't shared the same thought. For her, Wren was turning more and more mysterious though, that is same for everyone in the group.
'Wren? Has he returned?'
Cassie who was hiding on one of the branches heard the familiar voice of Wren. Wren was something she feared more than Nightmare Creatures, and after his sudden reappearance the fear that was clutching her heart had tightened it's grip again.
Nephis didn't had any thoughts, however she was now more wary of Wren because of his appearance. His white hair were mess, dark circles around his grey eyes and his presence has changed too much. Like he was fighting against uncountable amounts of Nightmare Creatures.
Sunny had a delightful expression on his face despite his tired body. Although he didn't trust Wren, he was still a bit happy that his first comrade in this Forgotten Shore had survived. But there were something else on his mind too, something he wanted to ask Wren about.
'This new attribute of mine, and the description. I have to ask him.'
Wren was staring them, but changed his direction of vision as he heard sound of steps coming from one of the branches. He was about to summon his weapon but stopped when he heard Sunny shout while lying on the ground.
"We're here."
***
A few minutes earlier, Sunny heard a noise coming from somewhere above. Looking in that direction, he noticed that Cassie was standing at the edge of the wide branch, gripping the golden rope in her hands.
Before he could react, the blind girl was already climbing down. She was very cautious, but also quite nimble for someone without sight.
He blinked.
'Is she crazy? That's dangerous!'
But he was worried for nothing.
Cassie quickly reached the ground and let go of the rope, safe and sound. She then summoned her staff and took a hesitant step, trying to remember where his shout had come from.
Sunny made their presence known and guided her by saying:
"We're here."
The blind girl turned her head in his direction and walked forward, carefully feeling the ground in front of her with the staff. Because of how uneven the surface of the island had become, it took her longer than usual to reach him.
Just as she was about to walk past, Sunny spoke again:
"Hey, Cas."
Cassie stopped and lowered her head with a surprised expression. Then, she asked:
"Why are you lying on the ground? And did Wren returned?"
Seeing this as an opportunity, Wren sneak quietly behind Cassie. While Cassie was staring at Sunny was staring behind her shoulder with a smirk of approval. Wren grinned.
"Boooo~~. Argh!!, Cassie what the hell?"
Although Wren plan had worked, the result was a bit different. Wren was currently standing few steps way from Cassie who was holding tightly on the wooden staff with which she had hit on Wren's face.
Startled by Wren's remark, Cassie realized her mistake and quickly apologized to him. Wren who was caressing his bruised left cheek just gave her smile, although she can't see it.
"It's okay. It was my fault besides. Anyway we should pick up that idiotic girl."
Wren pointed to Nephis direction, both Sunny and Cassie frowned a bit. They have become close after spending so much time together in hardships, though Sunny is still wary of Nephis and Cassie, he wasn't sure about Wren's intentions that much too.
They started to move towards Nephis, Sunny was ahead while Cassie was following him, her hand on his shoulder, at last Wren was following them while checking his runes:
Name: Wren.
True Name: Heir of Abyss.
Rank: Dreamer.
Void Heart: Dormant.
Void Fragments: [473/1000].
'Looks like, my Void Fragments increased a lot by killing those strange creatures of Void.'
Wren then noticed something new in his runes, there were two new attributes present. Surprised Wren decided to check their description.
Attributes: [Blessing Of Void], [Wanderer's Eye], [Curse to Divinity], [Prince of Darkness], [Bounded], [Dark Lord Astaroth].
[Bounded] Attribute Description: "You are bounded to your benefactor through the strings made from the power of Void. Through these strings, you can share your abilities with each other as well as your life essence."
[Dark Lord Astaroth] Attribute Description: "One of the ancient Divine Darkness the Dark Lord Astaroth has given you his essence in the form of an Armor that is bounded to your soul."
'Interestingly, defeating Astaroth has given me something valuable apart from my Aspect Legacy.'
Wren was patient enough to try his new attributes later, but currently his focus was on the string displaying:
Benefactor: L.s..f..m.L.g...
'Huh? What is this? Is this Sunny's True Name? Maybe it is then why does he hide it?'
Confused Wren decided to approach Sunny but they had already reached to the place Nephis was lying. Deciding to ask this later, Wren sighed.
'This girl is a headache.'
Meanwhile Nephis greeted them with a tired glance.
"Good morning."
Out of habit, Changing Star tried to force a polite smile. However, today it did not look very convincing.
'She is creepy.'
'Huh, I give it 3.6 out of ten. Not great, not terrible.
Both Sunny and Wren had their own thoughts, though they didn't said it loud.
Soon, the four of them were sitting in a circle, passing around the glass bottle full of cold, refreshing water. Sunny was in the middle of describing their fight with the Carapace Demon:
"... so he got distracted for a few moments. That's when Neph attacked. She used her Aspect Ability to ignite her sword and struck at the weakened patch of armor on the demon's chest, the one you told us about. It really was not as strong as the rest of his carapace, so the sword went through and pierced the bastard's heart."
Sunny noted that Cassie did not seem surprised at the mention of Changing Star's new trick. Either she knew all along because Nephis had told her, or she saw something in one of her visions. Regardless, he decided not to press the topic.
"The demon was already severely wounded from his fight with the... the thing from the sea, so it was enough to finish him off. A few seconds later, he was dead."
Cassie shook her head in astonishment.
"That is... incredible. Two Sleepers killing an awakened demon! I thought that stuff like that only happens in webtoons."
Nephis corrected her:
"Three Sleepers. Without your vision and advice, we wouldn't have been able to do anything."
The blind girl lowered her face, a little embarrassed.
"Still. Two or three, it doesn't really change a lot, does it?"
Sunny looked from one girl to another, then finally turned to Cassie.
"You're right, it's not something one would expect to happen. But, anyway... I promised to cook demon meat for you after this is over, didn't I? Are you ready to witness my incredible culinary talent?"
"Well, please make it quickly. I haven't eaten or slept all these days I was away from you guys."
But then Cassie suddenly frowned, a hesitant expression appearing on her face.
"I... I think we shouldn't eat the demon meat."
Sunny raised his eyebrows.
"What? Why?"
She lingered before answering.
"Well, it just seems weird to eat the meat of an intelligent creature. Even if it was evil. I didn't think about it before, but now... uh. It just doesn't seem right, I guess."
Sunny blinked. Actually, he did not think about it either. In retrospect, the idea of making steaks out of a creature whose intelligence was comparable to theirs did seem a little wrong. Even if that creature was a bloodthirsty demon who would have swallowed them whole without a second thought.
It was just how things worked in the Dream Realm. Monsters devoured humans, and humans devoured monsters. It was the circle of life... death? The circle of death.
But the Carapace Demon was not only smart. He had his own thoughts and personality. Even though Nightmare Creatures were universally insane and obsessed with murder and destruction, just like he was, there were also other qualities to the ironclad giant.
He was proud and fearless, even valiant. When fighting against the terrifying monsters of the dark sea, he did not hesitate to stand his ground, refusing to surrender. Cooking the meat of someone like that could indeed be considered... strange.
'How come Teacher Julius did not educate me on the ethics of eating your enemies? What an oversight!'
Misunderstanding Sunny's silence, Cassie blushed and said:
"Sorry. I know it seems ridiculous, but that's just how I feel. You and Neph don't have to do the same."
Sunny shook his head.
"No, you might be right. I understand... sort of. It's just that we didn't bring any supplies with us, so we won't be able to eat anything unless we go hunting."
Agreeing with Sunny, Wren gave his own opinion:
"You are right, Cassie. I think we should refrain from eating an intelligent being."
The blind girl sighed. Then, her face brightened and she said:
"What about the great tree's fruits? I bet they're delicious!"
Sunny looked at her in amazement.
"Are you serious?"
Cassie was visibly confused by his question.
"Uh... yes? Why?"
He blinked a couple of times before answering.
"That tree is magnificent and pretty, but it's also very strange and suspicious. Why is it able to grow here when nothing else can? I'm pretty sure that it's the reason why all the coral around the Ashen Barrow is dead. Have you seen anything else capable of damaging the labyrinth itself?"
Sunny looked at Cassie, then at Nephis, trying to show how serious he was about this.
"In any case, it's too creepy. I don't think that we should eat these fruits. Who knows what they'll do to us?" The blind girl smiled.
"You're being a little paranoid, don't you think? A tree is a tree. Actually, I think it's a wonderful example of how life can prevail against all odds, even in this terrible place. I'm willing to bet that its fruits are perfectly fine."
He stared at her, not knowing what to say. How could Cassie be so dismissive of his completely valid concern? That wasn't like her at all.
Unpleasantly surprised, Sunny turned to Neph and Wren, hoping that they would support him.
Changing Star thought things through before speaking. Then, she said in a measured voice:
"Sunny is right. There are too many strange things about that tree. Eating its fruits would be too risky."
All three of them were staring at Wren, waiting for his answer. Wren however was staring at the tree, then dark grin appeared on his face, one of his eyes were completely black. But the grin then suddenly disappeared, he turned his head towards them and said:
"I will not say much but take it as an advice from my personal experience during the time I had disappeared, Do not let appearance, cloud your rationality and judgement. That's all I could tell you, anyway Sunny I have some few things to discuss with you and you definitely know what I mean."
His words stuck at Sunny's mind, he understood what Wren mean and gave him a nod .Nephis on the other hand was suspicious of Wren like always. Of course, why wouldn't she Wren was a formidable opponent, given enough time he could become a threat for anyone.
"Why don't you share the reason about your disappearance?"
Staring at Nephis, Wren sighed and said:
"Are we your slave or something? No right!? If you want to know it so much, then just ask The Spell."
Wren voice was harsh but what he had said was the truth, not able to give him any proper reply Nephis stood there silent. Wren started to move gesturing Sunny to follow, he also noticed a subtle change in Sunny's face when he used "slave" word in front of him, his mind was now filled with multiple thoughts.
'Was he a slave of someone in outskirts, if not then why does it bothers him this much? Wait was he... a slave in his First Nightmare!?'
As Wren finished organizing, the voice of The Spell echoed in his mind:
[You have fully understood Dreamer Sunless characteristics, the use of Wanderer's Eye is now available.]