Staying in Nephis house after their initial confrontation had been an impulsive decision. Although he knew quite well that he could have asked Jet for a favour, there was something he wanted to confirm throughout his interactions with Nephis.
Making his way out of the guest room, Sunny yawned and scratched his stomach tiredly as he attempted to blink away the last few traces of sleep. It had been the first time he properly slept in two years and with nightmare guarding his dreams, sleeping had quickly risen to become Sunny's favourite pastime.
The aroma of a heavenly smell collided with his senses as he made his way downstairs. Standing in front of the stove was Nephis, who was highly focused on creating what Sunny thought was heavenly fried rice. Despite that, he silently made his way out of the door, not paying her any attention as he left.
Before he could leave, Nephis had blurred across the room and placed her hand in front of him, barring his exit. "We're eating breakfast" she commented simply, Sunny cocked his head to the side, slight annoyance painting itself across his lips as a crooked smile made its way onto his features once more.
"Is that a command, master?" His tone was calm, however the venom he wielded whenever he reminded Nephis of her authority over him never failed to escape his tone. Nephis shook her head silently without replying, arm still outstretched to bar his exit.
"It's not, but I'd appreciate it if-" before Nephis could finish, Sunny simply ducked low, bending himself below her arm before walking through the door. "Where are the training halls here?" he asked, never turning his back to face Nephis. "I'll show you them, once we're done eating of course."
Her reply only served to enrage Sunny once more, instead of gracing her with any more emotional outbursts. Sunny simply leapt up onto the roof before extending his shadow sense, he needed to see how Rain was doing after all.
Upon sensing her presence, he noticed that she was coming strangely towards his direction. Her steps were steady and fast, almost as though she was in a hurry to get there, and she was wielding a sword in her right hand.
'No, you're lying. I'm dreaming.' Thoughts of denial flashed through his head as he blurred into the house once more. Summoning the midnight shard, he aimed it directly at Nephis throat before letting the cool steel of the stiletto rest on her shoulder.
Nephis appeared unperturbed by the event and continued her cooking uninterrupted, as though he wasn't there in the first place. "Why is my sister coming here, answer quickly before I kill you." His tone was a low growl, bloodlust seeped from every pore of his body as Nephis continued to cook indifferently.
"After the incident at the crimson spire-" Nephis began, but Sunny's voice cut her off. "Not an incident, after you enslaved me and abandoned me leaving me to die. Now go on." Nephis sighed defeatedly, dismissing the fire that burnt under the stove before turning around to face Sunny.
"Yes, after that happened. I decided to teach Rain how to fight, the first nightmare happens around this age anyway. She needs those tools to survive." Sunny dismissed the shard as he noticed Rain get closer to the house, nearing the gate.
"Oh, I get it! Because you abandoned one sibling in a realm of hell, you decided to even the scales by helping the other survive in his stead! Must continue the lineage somehow, right? Wouldn't it be so much better if I taught her myself! Get to make up for the time I've lost."
With a sigh, Sunny turned around, preparing himself to face his sister. "Oh wait, someone took that opportunity from me. Good going master." With that, Sunny paced out the door and went to greet his sister. Nephis sighed sadly to herself before turning around, she needed to finish cooking before Rain got into the home of course.
Rain's pitch-black hair resembled Sunny's so much that upon noticing her his lip trembled with emotion. It was almost like seeing a feminine mirror of yourself. Her smile was bright, and the anticipation laced on her face was too obvious for Sunny to see as he smiled brightly upon their eyes meeting.
"Hi, I'm uh...living with Nephis at the moment. My name is Sunless, but my friends call me Sunny, what about you?" Sunny's awkward greeting only elicited a confused expression from Rain as she raised an eyebrow in reply. "Sunny? Thats funny, my parents call me Rainy too!"
A warm smile arose on Sunny's face, he wanted to pull her into a deep hug every second he looked at her and yet he had to restrain himself with practiced discipline. Stepping aside, Sunny walked with Rain into the building, exchanging pleasantries as they went.
"Sunny, since you're living with Lady Nephis. Are you two involved?" A mischievous grin made its way onto Rains face only eliciting a look of genuine disgust from Sunny. "No, I don't think we ever will be. Calling us friends would be a lie let alone the idea of dating."
From there the mood soured, Rain made her way into the kitchen where Nephis had just recently finished cooking. In there, Nephis stood with an apron wrapped around her waist as she dished out three hot bowls of fried rice prepared for the three to eat.
Sunny's plate was positioned directly next to Nephis' right side while Rain's plate was positioned on the left. The aroma of the meal was quite alluring however that was not what was on Sunny's mind currently. He needed to train and do it quickly, the four cores he had developed from the dream realm were doing him wonders however his essence manipulation without serpent could only be seen as crude and unsightly.
If he wanted to carry out his revenge, strength was paramount.
A puzzled expression sat itself on Sunny's face as he watched Nephis take off the apron and take a seat at the table. She shifted his plate towards him slightly, not taking her eyes off her mood as Sunny continued to stand with his arms folded.
"Who told you I was going to eat?" Sunny questioned; impatience riddled in his tone. Nephis continued to eat slowly as she glanced at Rain who remained silent throughout the whole ordeal. "If you want to train here, you have to eat here." Was all Nephis replied.
Sunny stared at her with an incredulous expression, why would he ever receive such an offering from human scum? Who knew if Nephis had poisoned it to rid herself of a potential liability. Previously he would deem such a thing as beneath Nephis, but his slavery removed all such limitations.
"Is it poisoned?" Sunny asked, he phrased his sentence like a joke to not raise Rain's suspicions. The last thing he wanted to do was stress his sister as soon as he met her, and Nephis played along with the act perfectly. She shook her head and allowed a practiced fake smile to settle itself across her face.
'She's gotten better at faking emotions, seems like I wasn't the only one who was busy.' He mused. Slowly sitting down, Sunny ate his food in silence. He ate hurriedly not even taking a second to appreciate the heavenly taste of his meal as he got up and pushed his chair backwards.
Nephis already knew where he wanted to go, and so she simply made her way out of the house and pressed her hand against the floor. "Rain, once you're done. Meet me in the training room." Without even waiting for a reply, Nephis and Sunny found themselves transported to a large dojo.
Sunny analysed the room with mild surprise, the room was clearly fortified enough to survive impacts from master's, maybe even some Saints. Out of the corner of his eye, the faint flicker of a memory being summoned appeared within the room. Nephis stood across from him with her armour summoned.
She was wielding her favoured longsword as she awaited him to prepare himself for battle. Sunny almost laughed in her face once more as he took a step backwards. "I'm not going to fight you; I might try kill you by accident." His statement came out in a matter-of-fact tone.
Although she didn't show it, Nephis was quite irritated by the fact Sunny thought he could kill her so easily. Instead of rising to the provocation, Nephis simply charged at him. Sunny didn't attempt to summon armour, instead, out of his shadow came a beautiful Onyx sword Saint who batted away her sword with ease.
"I already said I'm not going to fight you, but she can be your opponent." With that, Sunny sat down and tried to mimic serpents flow of essence throughout his body. He felt power flow from his stomach into the tips of his fingers as the clangs of metal rang out in the background.
Nephis and Saint's fight had begun.