In the streets of the Dark City, one of the few Fallen creatures that had lived through the sun's wrath was hunting for prey.
It was an amalgamation of bones and rotting corpses; it looked like a walking cemetery.
As it lowered its head to the ground, sniffing for any traces of prey it suddenly felt two light taps on its large back.
Whatever it was had made no noise and felt almost weightless. The creature did not even get time to shake itself off before a black blade simply passed through its neck, separating its head from the rest of its body.
As its head bounced off the ground, the mass of its body fell into a heap.
[You have slain a Fallen Monster, Crypt Walker]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
Of course, the one to kill it was Sunny.
"Look at me go."
He was currently hunting the last of the beasts in the city while preparing to leave the city.
It had been roughly seven months since the day he pushed Nephis through the gateway.
Sunny had a hard time during the first few days, mainly because he had nothing to eat, but after he made it back to the Dark City, he had begun to hunt like there was no tomorrow.
After that he had been living safe and sound, well safe at least.
Looking down at his shadows, he asked.
"What do you think?"
They all gave him a different reaction.
One shrugged, one flipped him off, another just looked at him creepily, while one gave him an energetic thumbs up.
"Exactly, you should all take a page out of Happy's book!"
Over the last month Sunny's mental state had taken a nosedive.
It was honestly incredibly impressive that he had lasted more than five months before his mind even showed a single sign of madness.
That was probably because of one of his Attributes and the memories of the future.
Currently, Sunny was getting ready to leave the dark city and travel East. This was the last creature on his list, there was no other Fallen in the entirety of the city due to his efforts.
He remembered that Nephis had met Eurys in the nightmare desert, back when he was nailed to a tree.
And if anyone could lead Sunny out of this hell, it was Eurys. He had already done it once before after all, and Sunny was sure he would accept, especially if he learned that Sunny was very possibly able to kill him.
The meat of this particular abomination was not useful, but its soul shards were perfect for what he needed.
As Sunny hopped down from the creatures back, the sword in his hands shifted into a small dagger.
Most would think that something so small and delicate could not even hope to pierce the flesh of such a creature, but they would be wrong.
As sunny ran the blade across the chest of the creature, it parted like a hot knife through butter. There was not even the slightest resistance.
This knife was Soul Serpent, which was a Transcendent Titan, not only was it of an incredibly high rank and class but one of its abilities had changed from what he remembered.
Instead of [Slaying Blade], Soul Serpent had a gained a new ability, most likely related to Sunny's new Aspect.
[Death Blade] Ability Description: [When in its [Soul Weapon] form Soul Serpent can kill almost anything tangible or intangible it does not matter. It ignores the will of higher beings.]
Every time Sunny read about his trusty sword's ability, a grin across his face.
"Have I ever told you how much I love you?"
He had indeed told him this before, in fact he had done so over a thousand times.
As Sunny found the glimmering shards, he quickly removed them and summoned a memory.
In the beginning Sunny had been sad that he did not have the Marvelous Mimic, so he had made a spatial Memory to replace it.
Though nothing could ever replace his trusty Coffer.
As the [Storage Bag] appeared in his hand, Sunny just stuffed the shards in and dismissed it.
Sunny had been weaving a lot in his free time, making all his memories into the same versions they had been after the Tomb of Arial.
The best example would be the endless spring, he had added the [Blessing of Flesh] from the Shroud of Graceless Dusk.
He had also made some adjustments to his other memories, but there was one thing he sorely regretted.
A while back, he had tried to transplant all five anchors of the Puppeteer's Shroud with Fallen Shards.
He had succeeded, but the thing he had failed to account for was that the fabric of the Shroud could not bare the weight of the shards.
So, he had lost the Puppeteers Shroud.
Now he was wearing the Mantle of the Underworld and was working on its counter.
It currently read.
Vanquished Foes: [1708/6000].
He was closing in on 500 kills, and thinking about progress.
Sunny summoned his runes.
Name: Sunless.
True Name: Lost from Light, Prince of Death.
Rank: Dormant
Class: Titan
Shadow Cores [7/7]
Shadow Fragments: 2188
Memories: [Silver Bell], [Puppeteer's Shroud], [Midnight Shard], [Extraordinary Rock], [Endless Spring], [Prowling Thorn], [Mantle of the Underworld], [Weaver's Mask], [Broken Oath], [Shadow Lantern], [Storage Bag].
Echoes: -
Shadows: [Marble Saint], [Soul Serpent]
Attributes: [Fate Breaker], [Divine Grace], [Shadow Spawned], [Unchained], [Forbidden Holder], [The Weave].
Aspect: Shadow Prince.
Aspect Rank: Unknown
Innate Abilities: [Shadow Bond].
Aspect Ability: [Shadow Control].
Aspect Legacy: [Shadow Dance]
Flaw: [Clear Conscience]
Flaw Description: [You cannot lie.]
Looking over his runes, Sunny felt very satisfied.
He had only killed a little less than 500 creatures since his return to the Dark City, and that was mostly due to the lack of creatures, yet he had collected over 2000 fragments.
He had gotten plenty of memories too, but they had all been fed to Saint. Even the random awakened ones that barely gave her any progress.
The only new memory he had was the bag he had made.
That was simply because he did not need anything.
His sword—Soul Serpent— was good enough to kill Corrupted nightmare creatures on its own, but combined with its newest Ability, it was a truly deadly weapon.
His armor was not the best, it cost essence every second he wore it, but it would eventually pay off in spades. And whatever his armor did not block his flesh usually had no problem taking the blow.
Not only did he have [Flesh], but his will was tightly wrapped around his body like an armor. With [Spirit] and his knowledge of the future, he was capable of utilizing his will, even if it was a severely weakened version.
It made it increadibly difficult for Awakened creatures to even pierce his skin, let alone deal him a mortal wound.
While Sunny was looking at his Runes he decided to look at Nephis's progress.
Name: Nephis
True Name: Changing Star
Rank: Awakened
Class: Devil
Cores: [4/7]
Soul Fragments: [237/4000]
Aspect: [Light Bringer]
Sunny filtered out the rest, he just wanted to see how many soul fragments she had.
Sunny had long realized just how strong he was.
With his newfound power—both his 6 new shadows and the abilities from his new Attributes, added to his will— he was much stronger than any sleeper had the right to be.
Currently, he was capable of defeating even the strongest Fallen beasts in a head to head fight.
While Sunny was absorbed in his thoughts, he had already made his way back to the cathedral.
As he walked inside, he saw Saint Standing in the center of the hall, waiting for anything to intrude her master's resting place.
Sunny waved at her.
"How was it tonight?"
He had no idea if it was night or day, but that did not matter here.
She just tilted her head and tapped her hand on her chest plate twice.
"Good. Good, I'm glad to hear it."
With that, he stepped through the shadows and landed in his bed.
Tomorrow, he would begin his long journey to the East.
'Oh, how much I wish I had Nightmare right now.'
Then he slipped into sleep.
~~~
A month later, Sunny was just monotonously walking forward.
Running would have made it faster. Using the new version of shadow step even faster, but after more than two weeks of nothing but running, shadow stepping, and sleeping. He decided to just walk the last bit.
Recently, he was seeing less and less dead coral and gray dust, and more and more golden bits of sand here and there.
And as of yesterday, the dust around him no longer looked grey, it was a prefect mix of golden sand and muted dust.
And at some point, he noticed that the never ending shadows were starting to get brighter and brighter.
Sometimes it would get dark again signaling that it was night in the desert, but Sunny had woken up early today to make sure he had as much time as possible during the day.
Because even with his will, and deadly sword, just one of the harrowing skeletons would obliterate him.
Today he would fully enter the nightmare desert.
And soon enough, the shadows finally gave way to a blinding radiance and scorching heat.
Well, scorching for some people. Sunny felt fine due to the mantle's enchantments.
The moment the sun landed on him, the feeling of [Champion] faded, the excessive power receding.
With a sigh, Sunny got to work.
Six of his shadows flared out in a wide semi-circle, while he spread his shadow sense as far as he could.
Sunny was a Titan, so his range was farther than 20 kilometers but in a massive desert, it would not be as reliable as he would like.
Now all he could do was hope that his shadows, or shadow sense found the tree before the night came, and he was forced to retreat.
Now that he was pressed for time, Sunny bent his legs and exploded forward in a sprint.
The speed he could run at was similar to how fast he was as an awakened, but currently he was a little faster.
Honestly Sunny was not expecting to find the tree on the first day. But to his surprise, within the first hour Happy saw a familiar tree he had seen once in Neph's dreams.
Without waiting for even a second, he called for his other shadows and used the entirely broken version of shadow step to carry him there.
And just like that, he was suddenly standing on a mound of sand in the shade of a large tree.
On the tree, two weathered skeletons were cruelly nailed to its white bark. Both stared at him with empty eyes, their teeth bared in eternal grins.
As Sunny just looked the skeletons over, the one on the left spoke.
"My, oh my. Am I that pleasant to look at?"
Sunny rolled his eyes, and replied.
"Not really, your complete skeleton makes me remember you broken into pieces back in the shadow realm."
Eurys just kept looking at him, then in a voice much more serious than he had ever shown, he asked.
"What do you mean?"
Sunny just smiled.
"Well, the future of course, all though you will have to help me if you ever wish to see that place."
When he said this, the second skeleton spoke up.
"I shall help you Child of Shadow, remove me from this tree and I shall help you. In return, you must send me to the Realm of Shadows."
Sunny glanced at the Skeleton he knew as Azarax, and sighed.
"I don't need your help Mr. King of Kings, I need Eurys. You are but a Supreme, Eurys is at least a Sacred, plus I kind of own him a favor for helping me understand how Supremacy works."
Sunny gave him a look then just strolled over.
As he raised his hand a simple dagger was formed as Serpent slid from his body.
Without any fanfare, he slid the dagger into the sternum of Azarax. The blade was met with no resistance, and as soon as the blade was fully imbedded in his bone, the skeleton shook.
Instantly he began to crumble, turning to white dust.
The spell did not speak, nor did he earn any fragments.
Eurys watched as this happened and in an almost sad voice he spoke.
"Well now that we are alone, would you like to tell me what you have been talking about, and how you know who we are?"
Sunny just reached up and started to pry the nails out of the tree.
"Well, a few months ago. I was in a fight and suddenly, my life flashed before my eyes. Not the kind of 'I'm about to die' kind of thing, but the literally my life flashed before my eyes."
As the first nail came free, he continued.
"I saw my life in reverse all the way to the moment of the present. It only went about a decade into the future, but I learned many curious things and even got an attribute to prove that I carry knowledge not meant to be known."
The second nail was gone, and Sunny kept going.
"In the latter half of that decade I had a very hard time becoming a Supreme the normal way, but that is when I met you in the shadow realm. You had made your way there after my friend, a Nephilim let you off the tree."
Eurys laughed at his words.
"You are friends with such an abomination?"
Sunny stopped removing nails.
"I'll tell you this once, just as I did in the future. Don't call her that, if you do, I will not kill you."
Eurys immediately stopped laughing, taking it as a sign to continue he resumed talking and removing nails.
"You told me all I needed to become a Supreme and I did end up becoming one. But after I reached Supremacy, you told me I had no chance of ever attaining the level of Spirit, simply because I lacked time."
Eurys did not answer but the tension in his bones disappeared.
"So, you really do know forbidden knowledge."
Sunny nodded.
"How strong is your resistance to corruption?"
Eurys just laughed.
"Anything that could corrupt me would have turned you into a mindless monster!"
Sunny looked at him again and spoke.
"I'm immune to corruption, and I'm not a monster. I am a Titan."
Eurys somehow coughed.
"What do you mean?"
Sunny just laughed.
"I mean exactly what I said, I am immune to corruption and am a Titan. What is there to not understand?"
Eurys just clicked his jaw in what felt like annoyance.
"But anyways, just so you know I am not lying, I know about the Forgotten God or the Dream God. I also know a little bit about the void. I have even been into that pyramid before."
As he said this, he pointed at the distant mirage.
Now Eurys was really listening.
As Sunny finished removing the last nail in Eurys's arm, he suddenly wanted to ask about a certain bird.
"Do you know anything about the Vile Thieving Bird?"
Eurys seemed to shudder as his bones rattled.
"You have met that abominable creature?"
Sunny tilted his head.
"Not me, but in the memories I have. While I was in the tomb it stole my fate. The vile thing erased me from existence and made everyone forget I existed."
Eurys's skull moved to look at him, before speaking.
"That might just be the only Fate worse than my own."
Sunny nodded.
"Yea it was pretty rough, anyways. I need to catch you up on a little bit of information. I have been entirely alone for months, and I am in dire need of some company, but for our talks to not be one sided you need to know the base amount. And yes, I know that you have been stuck here for Spell knows how long, but I am not a Sacred who has gone through apotheosis. So cut me some slack, I am still dormant."
As he said this, Eurys let out an awkward chuckle.
"You have slain Azarax the mighty, the plague of steel, the conquerer of a hundred thrones, and as you have eloquently put it, Mr. King of Kings. As a dormant?"
Sunny laughed.
"I have killed a spawn of that Vile Bird as a dormant, it was a Great Devil. Although it was trapped in an egg probably just as old as you."
Eurys let out a laugh.
"You better be glad I am not a woman, or I would have hit you just now."
Sunny just chuckled as he finished removing the nails on his other arm.
"So, to start I am from War Gods realm. But I am not a follower of War just to be clear. If anything, I am a follower of Shadow, or Weaver. I am the heir to both, so I don't even count as a child of war."
Eurys flinched as Sunny mentioned being the heir of both Weaver and Shadow.
"You are truly a one of a kind existence."
Sunny smiled, then he raised his head as if realizing something.
"Meet my friends, you have already met happy."
He gestured at the floor, his shadow waved and gave a thumbs up. Almost at the same time six other shadow flew to his feet. It now looked like the sun was landing on him from seven different directions.
All at the same time they waved, except gloomy who flipped him off.
Sunny just stomped on him and smiled at Eurys.
"Maybe you were right about needing company, he does not seem very friendly."
Sunny laughed.
"He is not, I always get treated like that it is truly tragic."
~*~
As I redo these chaps, I realize I didn't explain the way his new shadow sense and shadow step works. Basically, Shadow Step is just free now. While shadow sense works through every shadow instead of just his, allowing him to visually see and hear through every shadow in his range.
Combined, he is able to see, hear, and move to any shadow within his range. Making his scouting and movement abilities increased manyfold.