Chapter 6 - Nephilim, Crab, Worm and Crow

Sunny was an interesting person...Over time, her opinion of him changed countless times. The more time Nephis spent with him, the more she discovered what kind of person he was. When the thought that she had finally reached a logical conclusion appeared in her mind, Nephis immediately noticed something else contradicting the picture of Sunny she made in her head.If somebody asked her to describe him, the first thing appearing on her mind would be that Sunny's very contradicting. It seemed as if right in front of her eyes, he constantly changed never staying the same.Her first opinion was mostly based on the rumors in academia, and although she was not very interested in them, she couldn't help but overhear some details. Sunny was often described as a narcissistic fool who constantly bragged by telling outrageous lies.In addition to this, he was infamous for his foul character and pervertness displayed towards some of the female students. Nobody wanted to talk with such a rude and ill-mannered person making him an outcast.Nephis barely, if ever, noticed his presence in academia. The only time she gave him some of her attention was when everybody's chances of survival were revealed. That time, she noticed that a lot about him just sounded way too unnatural.'It seemed as if the public opinion around him was fabricated.'Although she had not bothered to think about him that much previously, Nephis cared to remember her suspicions for the future. Soon enough they were proven to be correct when all of them met in the dream realm.When she saw two dreamers other than her in this labyrinth, Nephis immediately became suspicious. Acting carefully, she unnoticeably observed them the whole time, meeting the two people both of which had the lowest chances of survival rang all alarms.It seemed orchestrated as if those two were sent to assassinate her by sovereigns. Yet what were the chances that the both of them would be together and in addition so lucky to meet her in the first few days of their nightmare?Very soon part of her suspicions disappeared, there was no way that Cassie could be an assassin, blind, and with such a horrendous flaw, using her would bring absolutely no results. Domains would've probably gotten rid of her instead of keeping a useless pawn.With her rich experience of assassination attempts, malevolent intentions directed at her were at least one thing Nephis was sure of, she was capable of noticing. Cassie... she was naive, perhaps even more than most of the other dreamers.The situation with Sunny was the complete opposite, if previously she only had some suspicions, now all of them practically solidified making her believe he was at least one of the assassins.Despite being at the end of the list, the abilities and skills he showed by killing one of the awakened beasts were more than enough to let him be close to the top. The only odd detail was, that Sunny was accompanied by a blind girl. Bothered by this detail, Nephis for some time let herself lessen her suspicions that he might be sent to kill her.'Hiding his true strength didn't necessarily mean, that Sunny was in one of the domains.'Still careful not to be backstabbed, Nephis managed to acquire a shallow resemblance of trust seeing that Sunny cared enough about his life and escaping this place. A turning point was when during their first night, he initiated a conversation to discuss their aspects.That's when her suspicions flared up again, a lot of things stood in their places making some details much clearer in her mind. Despite lacking suitable weapon memory, he seemed like a perfect assassin, both his and Cassie's abilities complimented the duo making it dangerous.Prior knowledge of attributes of your enemies and the ability to observe your enemies from afar while staying hidden. That night, she decided to ask questions and make sure whether her suspicions were correct.But the results of their conversation left her equally concerned and surprised. Part of it was because he seemed to have great interest in what happened to her clan. Nephis was warned, yet she found out that Sunny simply lacked knowledge.Pursuing to discover more, Nephis decided to tell a legend of Prometheus, she was interested to hear his answers, even if he wasn't an assassin from one of the clans, it would allow her to know him better. What she heard was a cynical and egoistical yet so human-like answer.'Even if he was in one of the domains, Sunny's loyalty was mediocre at best.'Following days Nephis was sure that just like Cassie, Sunny was unrelated to great clans. As suspicious as all of those coincidences were, they just remained no more than mere coincidences. Knowing this, during their relatively peaceful days, she managed to build a resemblance of bond between all of them.Casually speaking from time to time, sharing the food, and discussing plans together, Nephis managed to know each of them better. That's when Nephis found out about Sunny's strange behavior, perhaps it started happening before, but only now she could notice those moments.Sunny valued Cassie, they usually spent the most time together and he cared about her safety. He didn't seem to be a bad person and never had she even noticed that he lied. But remembering what he said that night helped Nephis to see something.From time to time, when Sunny was speaking with Cassie or all of them discussed something, she could notice the look in his eyes sharpening, observing all of them with cold indifference and a dangerous glimpse in his eyes thinking deeply about something.It usually happened for a few seconds and was quickly followed by a complicated expression on his face. With time passing and Nephis getting to know him better, it made understanding Sunny even more difficult. With this, her worry about him being an assassin turned into something vastly different.The more she believed in him, the less Nephis could trust Sunny creating a complicated paradox. For a great part, it was fueled by the time they spent while advancing through the labyrinth.He lacked combat experience in the traditional meaning, yet he was cunning and merciless in the execution of what was needed when the price was his life. Coming up with various solutions, he tried everything to come out alive.That what's started worrying her when Sunny declined to take soul cores. Seeing a person like him, who valued his life like nobody else, risking it by declining the opportunity to gain more strength made her suspicious.Instead, Sunny asked Nephis to teach him combat. She had no hesitation in strengthening them, yet she was still careful. While teaching, Nephis avoided showing her style way too much. She made sure that Sunny grasped all knowledge while doing it in his way.Usually using such an approach would have slowed down the rate of growth tremendously, but Sunny grasped all knowledge with astonishing speed. In the next fight, Nephis already managed to see him making progress, attacks became more precise and deadly.Their coordination became better too, Sunny was also much more attentive towards what was happening during the battle. However, it was also strikingly visible that he had yet to grasp mastery over his mind.While being able to use efficiently all advantages provided by surroundings, Sunny lacked both control over the fight itself and the ability to see it as a whole. Too focused on some details, he remained ignorant of other ones.On their way through the labyrinth to the next destination, Nephis concluded that Sunny was both her greatest ally and at the same time the person she could trust the least. She didn't have to worry that she could be killed while she slept.Yet she did not doubt that if there was a moment she would expect betrayal from her companions, Sunny was the one she should be cautious around. At least that's what she wanted to think...Her opinion didn't stand a single chance to form completely before the unexpected happened. The main reason for her doubts was how much Sunny cared about his own life and the selfishness he showed during their conversation.All of this completely crumbled the moment they tried to escape the storm. Letting Cassie go first was a logical thing, if it was as usual, she wouldn't even think about it longer than required. But at that moment their lives depended on it.No matter how much you try to hide your true nature, it's always will be revealed in grave danger where your life depends on it. No need to keep the act, when you won't be alive to continue it.Exactly in such situations, Nephis expected Sunny to reveal his true intentions. But that had not happened...Right now standing behind rocks, Nephis was looking at the raging sea where a few seconds ago Sunny disappeared under the water. Still staring at the same place unmoving Nephis gathered her thoughts.A deep frown appeared on her face, while Nephis was both confused and in disbelief. What happened left a deep mark on her mind, everything she believed in previously was completely shattered. Nephis looked at Cassie and decided to focus on how they were going to survive right now.Not so long ago, a giant bird arrived and attacked the cliff making a huge chunk of it disappear together with a damaged rope. She wasn't sure yet whether it was fully destroyed or severely injured forcing it to enter soul sea.'It's way too different than what Cassie described in vision.'All of them were supposed to be hiding while two nightmare creatures solved their conflict in the sky. If the future was changed, would they encounter another bird that was previously expected to appear?'No, it's pointless to think about it right now. Where is the recent attacker?'Carefully inspecting the surroundings Nephis watched for a large silhouette. Unfortunately, she hadn't noticed the bird's figure nor she had received the strange feeling Sunny told them about."Nephis... Where is Sunny? ...He's here...right?"Her thoughts were interrupted by Cassie, with a deadly pale face, drenched in water by storm, and without her armor, the blind girl was sitting near the stone while covering herself with whatever she had."My memory returned to the soul sea, did he make it in time? ...Sunny, are you here?"Looking at her remaining companion, Nephis carefully thought about what should she say before talking with Cassie. How is she supposed to tell her what happened? While speaking to a blind girl Sunny used a less direct approach, should she do the same?'Should I try reassuring her?'But then she would probably be lying, Sunny said that he encountered a corrupted monster and more terrifying nightmare creatures in the sea. What are the odds that he will survive once again, this time he could not be close to another high place."Nephis! What happened to Sunny, where's he?! Is he injured?! I heard a loud crash, what happened?!""Cassie, he fell in the sea.""What..? What do you mean...""Cliff was attacked by a flying nightmare creature and Sunny fell in the sea.""That can't be...That's simply impossible! How could I see him in the vision then?!"She raised quite an interesting point, why the future they encountered was different from the one Cassie witnessed previously? Did they make wrong assumptions while discussing the vision, how reliable are they?'It can also be further future that she saw, that would mean that Sunny could survive.'Nevertheless, she was still hesitant, everything aligned far too well with what her companion had described earlier. Two choices appeared in front of Nephis, she could give possibly false faith that Sunny survived and calm down Cassie.In such a way, they would be able to continue the journey without complications because of Cassie's emotional state. Nephis could also possibly gather more information by asking another girl to tell her about all previous visions.Nephis could also be brutally honest with Cassie as well and tell her that Sunny was most probably dead. Although not as beneficial in the short term, it would prevent from grueling realisation of Sunny's death later.Thinking for some time and contemplating her choices Nephis understood that there was no need to go to extremes. While Sunny spoke he was always honest, sometimes it sounded harsh, yet he always managed to turn all those words into a bitter-sweet mix.As much as the truth hurt, he never failed to plant the seeds of hope while speaking. That was the best she could do right now, Cassie should know that things didn't go as they expected, both of them needed to know why, but it didn't mean that she had to lose hope completely.'Then we'll be starting with a bitter first.'"Cassie, everything including the description of one of the nightmare creatures aligns with the vision you told. Are you sure that you saw Sunny that time?"With a disheveled appearance, Cassie barely held herself, occasional sobs escaped her mouth revealing under this storm that she was crying. Nephis approached Cassie and sat near her holding an arm.'I remember Sunny did this to reassure her.'"I don't know anymore... I thought that I had seen him back then, but right now I can't remember. Why does this matter anymore? Sunny... he is simply..."Unable to utter another word Cassie sobbed again letting out a loud cry. Her whole body trembled from the cold and strong gusts of wind. Periodical lightnings tore apart the sky letting Nephis see her companion.While holding a hand, Nephis used this opportunity to transfer her memory to Cassie. Her companion hasn't reacted much besides looking back at her for a moment."I don't think that Sunny would've simply given up so easily. Did he say anything to you before you parted away?""Sunny... he asked for my armor. I gave it back to him.""Can you recall anything about your memory?"Thinking for some time Cassie seemed to remember something, looking at Nephis with disbelief and glimpses of hope in her dull eyes, she hurried to reply. Unable to believe in her own words she spoke."Description of memory told that breathing of privilege of alive... Do you think that...""I don't know, but Sunny might have suspected the same."But immediately hope threatened to vanish from Cassie's eyes again when she remembered the dangers that were in the ocean. With the last vision still fresh in her mind Cassie shivered from fear."Even if Sunny could breathe in the water, countless creatures are swimming in it...""Sunny isn't completely powerless either. His aspect allows him to see in darkness and be unnoticed in shadows. If there is somebody who could stay hidden from nightmare creatures at night, then it is surely him.""Yes... I'm sorry... There's no way he would die... We'll probably meet him later, I've seen us entering the castle after all... "Nephis nodded, more than several minutes passed since both Bird and Sunny disappeared. Another nightmare creature had not appeared leaving Nephis extremely cautious. She turned back to Cassie who had yet to wear a new memory.'Hopefully one of the next nightmare creatures will give me one.'"You should wear the armor.""I can't Nephis, it's yours. You should take it back.""Without Sunny in our group, staying hidden is the main priority. As the only scout in the cohort, I prefer you to stay safe and be ready to tell the approaching danger."Hesitantly she nodded admitting the logic in what Nephis said and soon memory already materialised on her body leaving only her companion without any armor. With one problem less both remaining members of the cohort hid behind huge rocks.Taking a short break, both of them regrouped, with all memories equipped and makeshift clothes barely covering her body, Nephis decided to scout the territory as much as she could. So far as she could see, the sky was clear of any dangers."Cassie, wait here. I'll check the surroundings.""...Stay safe Nephis."Walking away Nephis carefully tried to find anything suspicious, it was already night, and with severely limited vision, she could only see the outlines of objects. Nevertheless, she didn't dare to summon her fire afraid to attract attention from creatures in the water.Walking further and further, she noticed familiar shapes in the darkness, those were Carapace Scavengers. Carefully observing the unmoving silhouettes not so far away, she decided to approach them closer, when Nephis suddenly noticed that those were corpses.'If they are dead, their killer must be somewhere near.'Was that a bird nightmare creature? Nephis didn't know, she thought they would be able to hear when it would be approaching, but the was a possibility of it being here long before they arrived. Looking closely around her, Nephis slowly retreated to where Cassie was hiding.'She could receive another vision... but how reliable they are?'It didn't matter, even a small amount of information would be better than nothing. The only reason for what happened previously was because they relaxed way too much believing that they were safe.Taking another step Nephis noticed a silhouette of something rapidly approaching her head, before she even realized what this object was, Nephis already bent down barely dodging the attack that cut several strands of her silver hair.She was forced to dash to the right trying her best to avoid the second attack from the darkness that would have mercilessly taken her life. Despite all efforts, her arm was caught in the fire resulting in a deep cut that almost completely severed her left arm from the shoulder.Shook by the pain, Nephis managed to regain control just before the scythe pierced her heart, shattering the rock behind her. Still hissing from pain, Nephis observed the situation, surrounded by corpses of scavengers, she stood face to face with the big monster she saw a few days ago.'If I use aspect to heal injury, the pain will immobilize me for some time, I should gain the distance.'Fighting with one hand would limit her way too much, yet despite the power of her aspect Nephis couldn't use it carelessly. It was not because of how consuming it was, but due to the flaw that could create a distraction that would lead to her death.Not letting her catch a breath, a second scythe flew in her direction trying to slash her torso and cut her into two pieces. Rolling on the ground Nephis didn't waste any time approaching the creature closer where its upper limbs couldn't reach.Standing close to its side, Nephis was already avoiding the deadly legs of the creature trying not to get pierced. Before it fully turned to face her, she dashed to make some distance again, but this time another attack already approached Nephis forcing her to step aside in a desperate attempt to save her life."argh...!"Too slow, Nephis fell to the ground forced to make another roll. Barely suppressing the scream she looked at her leg, at least where it was supposed to be. A little bit lower than the knee, it was completely cut off.Her bones were shattered and the flesh was mercilessly torn making the blood rapidly leave her body. Barely avoiding another attack on the ground, Nephis saw a nightmare creature coming closer.Among the darkness only two red eyes burning with hatred were visible. The towering figure was looking down at her preparing to graze her life with one swift motion of scythe. Gritting her teeth Nephis summoned the flames forcing her wounds to heal.Despite her flesh patching itself and limb regrowing with rapid speed, she felt agony as if her whole body, soul, and mind were burning alive. Unbearable heat engulfed her, it seemed to be melting her skin, the flesh was slowly churned and fell off revealing her bones, and nerves were fried continuously, yet no matter how much they suffered, the pain never decreased.The fire seemed to burn her soul itself, lit up like fuel, it became a campfire that never faded out. Together with it, her whole humanity seemed to burn as well, leaving Nephis empty without any trace of what made her who she was. Only pain and emptiness consuming her whole essence remained.Nephis' mind slowly crumbled destroying all her thoughts besides the realization of the torture she experienced. Barely able to recall the situation she was in, Nephis desperately tried to regain her clarity and ignore the pain. It was easier said than done with the feeling of a molten rod inserted in her brain.Ordering her body to move, Nephis again barely escaped her death. Trying to use this opportunity Nephis quickly grabbed her sword slashing it in the limb that hit the ground beneath her.Having a second or less before the next attack prepared to end her life, Nephis managed to land a small hit making a shallow cut on the joint. Seeing that it was pointless, the monster tried to crush her with its body.With no time, Nephis tried to pass running between its legs, noticing this gigantic crab moved one of its limbs trying to stab her. Using her sword she barely managed to redirect the attack making it pierce her side instead of going straight through the stomach."Ngh...!"'Armor would certainly be appreciated right now.'She had felt one of her internal organs being pierced, and unable to heal, she summoned flames again to augment the sword. She had no time trying to cut off this limb with her mastery only, gripping the sword harder, Nephis prevented tears from slipping from her eyes when pain blinded her again.With some difficulty, she succeeded in escaping from another attack. With the sharp object still penetrating her side, Nephis with one forceful move, freed herself from the unwanted object leaving an open gap in her body.Immediately Nephis used shifted flames to heal her wound, large amounts of blood leaving her body together with pain from her flaw made Nephis feel extreme dizziness that severely dulled her reaction speed.Barely able to stand straight, Nephis tried to clear her vision and focus on the enemy, who was ready to ram her, effectively turning her body into bloodpaste. Ignoring the pain, Nephis strengthened her whole body with fire, barely able to breathe and feeling that her lungs were ready to turn into ash, Nephis managed a second before crashing jump to the side.Carried by inertia, the monster hit the rocks destroying them, which successfully made it slow down for a few seconds. Using the opportunity Nephis slashed another leg right to the already missing one.Without two of its legs distributing the weight evenly, the nightmare creature lost its balance falling to the ground. Trying to stand up, it was forced to use one of its scythes to support its huge body.With its mobility and range of attack severely limited, Nephis hoped to catch a breath, but this opportunity was taken away by another merciless assault. Dodging the single limb flying in her direction yet again, this time after avoiding it, arrived her turn to attack.With the last ounces of strength remaining in her exhausted body, no longer sustaining the augmentation, she climbed on the shell of a nightmare creature intending to strike its weak spot. Gathering her flames on the sword, the small island was completely engulfed by silver light shining hundreds of meters dissipating the darkness of the sea.Akin to a beacon in this sea of darkness, light hasn't remained unnoticed. Long ago attracted by its warmth and beauty, the creature hidden in the depths viewed this as a signal to start acting. An elongated, snake-like head with a single eye in the center rose from the water, its grey slithery body reminding of a worm followed the head until the creature successfully climbed the platform.Its single eye reflected the bright light, and seemingly mesmerized by its source, the worm-like nightmare creature strived to devour it. Wiggling its body on the rocks, it completely ignored the presence of another monster.Only a few seconds passed since Nephis summoned these flames, and her anguish almost completely consumed the remaining sanity. Only when she was about to fall from the carapace, did Nephis manage to regain clarity and pierce the place that was supposed to be a weak spot.Meeting some resistance she succeeded by thrusting her sword deep inside where its brain was supposed to be. Instead of an announcement from the spell, however, she was met with total silence.Nephis was thrown off the nightmare creature fell on the rocks, hitting her head she felt a loud ringing in her ears, everything became blurry and she felt a dull pain in the back of her head. Unable to focus she was lying on the ground trying to stand up.Previously attracted by a bright light worm, seemed from displeasure to shift its attention to the large monster who tried to slice it in half with its scythes. Unable to pierce its skin, all of them just bounced harmlessly leaving deep cuts on the ground.Rather annoyed than threatened, the nightmare creature from the sea ignored merciless assault and slowly entangled its victim. Struggling to break free, crab continued trying to damage the enemy with its claws.Ignoring desperate resistance, the worm simply increased the power of its grip causing cracks to appear on the shell. The majority of its legs were either crushed or severely damaged, its limbs could no longer move while being held by the worm's body.The worm opened its maw with numerous sharp teeth, its whole mouth stretched ready to bite off half of the nightmare creature's body, when suddenly a white figure plunged from the sky, with a pale body and black feathers, a creature resembling a griffon with numerous limbs grabbed the worm lifting it in the air.Changing its target, the worm let the crab go making it fall on the ground from the height, instead slithery bastard tried to entangle the flying monster, but its limbs held it firmly. Attacking with its beak and tearing the flesh with its limbs, the strange bird managed to tear it apart.Holding two pieces in its limbs, strange green liquid gushed from the wounds causing the whole place underneath to be washed by bloody rain. Two parts of the worm started to move independently of each other, finally grasping the limb, one part started climbing higher smearing its blood on the pale arms of the bird.Loud screeching pierced the sky, the bird tried to throw off the parasite that stuck to its limb, while another part of the worm opened its maw again and bit into the pale body. With its screams becoming louder and flight becoming more and more chaotic, the nightmare creature plummed directly to the ground causing a shockwave that almost threw off Nephis and crab off the safe island.Once again bird disappeared into the sky, while the worm after struggling on the rocks escaped back into the sea. Only two remained just like previously. While unable to stand up, Nephis was long ago awakened by liquid falling from the sky.Upon getting on her skin, it caused immense pain, and with rapid speed, areas covered in it started to get corroded by acid, this time instead of pain conjured by her flaw, Nephis experienced the real one, her mind was quickly cleared when she felt her skin melt revealing the bones.The damage hadn't reached her muscles yet, so while groaning and wheezing from pain, no longer suppressing the expression of anguish and tears flowing from her eyes, Nephis stood up. With her sword still stuck in the crab, she was forced to retrieve the memory into the soul sea and summon it again.It took some time, but luckily her opponent seemed to be faring much worse, unable to move and covered by grueling injuries with one of its upper limbs being completely broken, despite all pain Nephis was in a more advantageous position.Standing in front of her enemy face-to-face, barely resembling a human Nephis was littered with countless injuries, her face devoid of any emotion only with resolve shining in her eyes akin to bright silver stars.In a final clash, Nephis ran around the enemy from the side with a missing limb, almost falling on the ground with her face, she crouched to avoid being hit by a scythe. Understanding that it wouldn't be in time to deliver another slash with its upper limb, the nightmare creature tried to stand up, but its legs were unable to hold her weight.Falling on the ground with a loud thud again, it threw Nephis off balance forcing her to slow down before she inevitably took the creature's life. Regaining balance she plunged her sword deep into the crack forcing even more blood to come out of the damaged shell.Holding it as leverage, she managed to climb again, mercilessly Nephis again and again stabbed her sword into deep cracks forcing the enemy to try to shake her off its back. Holding the handle of the sword like her life depended on it, Nephis refused to give up.Again and again, she plunged her sword deep into the wounds until she heard a message from the spell. Her previously silver hair was covered both by her own and her enemy's blood dying into dirty purple.Covered from toe to toe in liquid of the same color, with skin slowly coming off revealing her bones and muscles underneath she resembled an unholy nightmare creature with silver eyes that held inside the fire threatening to burst out and scorch the world."Huff... huff... gasp..."[You have slain an awakened monster, Carapace Centurion.][You have received a Memory: Starlight Legion Armor.][Your soul shines brighter.]Unable to hold her sword anymore Nephis just fell to the ground. With a quiet thud, she took some time to open her eyes again. Unable to focus on anything, her mental fatigue finally caught up, with loud ringing in her ears she couldn't hear what the system said, but one was obvious, she was the one that killed...********Coughing frantically on the ground, Sunny gasped for the air, water left his lungs letting him not suffocate. Laying motionlessly, Sunny felt a huge shadow approaching him, the headache returned yet again forcing him to groan from displeasure. Opening his eyes, at first he saw somewhere in a far a gigantic structure resembling a skull. The second thing he noticed was a black figure rapidly descending from the sky, flying right in his direction."Damnation...!"