A slow, deliberate sigh escaped Sunny's lips, his brow furrowed in a way that had nothing to do with anger or sadness. His face, an open book just moments before, now showed only a single, monolithic emotion—a profound and unyielding confusion that left him speechless.
It all felt so strange, not only was Sunny mundane again, but he was also stripped of any and all powers he possessed. Again. No memories, shadows, shades, incarnations and the rest.
The strange thing is that Cassie had somehow regained her vision. Her flaw was simply erased. That was true for Effie and Jet too. Kai is still able to know when others lie, while Sunny himself can't lie. And they don't have enough information to tell the situation for Nephis.
He was back where he started, granted, his body was still like that of a sovereign. At least in terms of looks, as far as strength went, it was at the level of an awakened. Regardless, he could still pack a punch, even if he was nowhere close to his true strength. But that wasn't the point now, in fact, the point of the trial was the opposite of fighting. It was rest.
"Let me get this straight. The trial that is the key to killing the forgotten god, the last trial, is about resting in a cat café — whatever that is."
His friends nodded, all sharing the same confusion as him, some hiding it better than others. They were all standing in front of a regular cat café, apparently it was a popular attraction in the dark times, before the nightmare spell took over.
Sunny wasn't sure what a cat was, but from what he heard, it was a four-legged creature covered in fur, and it was an apex predator. The creature's movements were a masterclass in controlled violence. Though it appeared to be nothing more than a house cat, its body was a masterpiece of biomechanical engineering—a perfect weapon of a design, with a spine so flexible it could turn on itself with terrifying speed. Hiding just beneath its padded paws were retractable, razor-sharp blades, not for scratching, but for grappling and incapacitating.
It could leap six times its own length in a single, explosive motion, turning a peaceful corner into an ambush site without a sound. And then there was the stare. The animal would fix its gaze on him, its pupils narrow slits of indifference, and he knew it was performing a form of advanced behavioral analysis. It wasn't judging him; it was building a psychological profile, cataloging his habits, his movements, and his every weakness. The low, guttural purr that vibrated through its tiny frame was not a sound of contentment, but an unnerving, low-frequency hum—a sonic weapon designed to subtly disorient, to lull its target into a false sense of security before the hunt began.
And after Jet said that, she had the gall to say it was harmless and only hunted birds and rats. At first, Sunny was offended, as a proud outskirts rat, he was quite mad about the creatures known as a cat to be hunting rats. However, after he heard about them also hunting birds — which he hated, he decided to give them a chance to prove themselves.
Sunny was still uneasy, being stripped of all of his powers, even as a divine titan, that should have been hard even for Weaver. Not to mention that Nephis was the same, as well as Jet, Kai, Effie and Cassie being divine humans.
Sunny had long ago learned that he shouldn't underestimate Weaver, especially not after he had witnessed them kill the gods and making the nightmare spell. He had trapped the forgotten god in countless dreams, and now, they were in the final nightmare, the seventh nightmare.
As much as Sunny wanted to avoid fighting the forgotten god, knowing that even with all the powers they possessed and skills they honed over the years would barely be enough. After taking all that into account, and looking at the current situation, Sunny would much rather fight.
Because, if it really is true that the key to finishing the seventh nightmare is relaxing at a cat café. Then, what was the point of all of that fighting and suffering they all experienced. If that is true, then that gives Sunny another reason to hate Weaver. The list was already big enough, but it looks like another reason was added today.
'That bastard! I'm so glad Slayer killed him.'
Though that may have been true, Sunny would have been honored to be the one who pierced Weavers' heart — killing them. Sadly, the circumstances didn't allow for that.
"So, what are we waiting for then? Can't we just go inside and start relaxing so we can finally kill the Forgotten God."
Sunny's voice changed, this time it was rather calm, despite the angry undertone. It wasn't long before Jet responded with her usual tired tone.
"Because we can't enter unless all of us go in at once. We were waiting for you and Nephis to meet us here."
Almost right after, Effie's voice echoed in his ears. It wasn't particularly loud, it was the fact that she was less than a meter away from him, making her voice louder than Sunny wanted.
"Because we were waiting for you and Nephis to finish your business!"
Because of her statement, Sunny felt heat rushing to his face. While a grin spread across Jet's face, Kai on the other hand was clearly uncomfortable by the statement. Nephis, however, was confused, mostly because she still wasn't entirely sure what Effie was talking about.
Sunny almost wanted to kiss her and hold her in his arms, but he sadly couldn't. Not only did he not want to give Effie any ideas, but also because he feared Nephis wouldn't like that.
'Gods, how can she be so cute when she's clueless!'
He ignored the words coming out of Effie's mouth and headed inside while grabbing Neph's hand to come with him. The others followed suit behind them.
As they walked through the door, a melodious ring resounded from the bell positioned above the door. Sunny didn't even bother to look at it, knowing it was in all ways inferior to the silver bell he possessed.
They were greeted by a rather tall man with brown hair and brown eyes. At least he was taller than Sunny, only by a few centimeters, but just enough for him to grit his teeth in annoyance. From where his pants ended, Sunny could see several small scars on the man's legs.
He welcomed them inside, while he was a tad bit louder than one would be while speaking to customers, Sunny thought it was because their group was a bit large. At least compared to a normal group of people of 2 or 3, which frequented the café. At least to their knowledge from Jet, who researched this place a lot lately.
"Welcome, dear customers. My name is Reborn. How may I help you today."
Jet is the one who responded from the back. She said it a bit louder, realizing that the man was partially deaf from her numerous missions.
"Can we sit at a booth near the windows!?"
"Certainly. Let me walk you there."
The server said in a rather happy tone and gestured for them to follow. They sat at the booth which resembled the letter U. Effie sat down closest to the window, with Nephis and Sunny to her left, while Cassie, Jet and Kai sat to her right.
They ordered some regular drinks, coffee, lattes and even tea. Soon after they sat down, the first cat finally came to them. It was a gently looking cat with mostly orange fur with some white spots.
It jumped on the table easily, almost startling Sunny. It calmly walked over to Kai, with measured steps, eventually getting into his lap as it started to purr. Kai was rather surprised; he could hardly believe these creatures were in any way dangerous. He eventually started petting it as it went through several poses and finally settled down.
By the time their drinks came, two more cats were near Kai, expecting him to pet them. And pet them he did. There was a gentle smile on his face, indicating he was enjoying the time with them.
'Even cats are attracted to his beauty. This is so unfair!'
The reason Sunny wanted to try petting the cats, despite the alarming information he received. He wanted to really evaluate how good of a weapon that purr could be on someone, how disoriented would he be, would it even work on him? Would he be able to make that into a weapon?
The fifth cat that decided to join the cohort went to someone other than Kai, surprisingly enough. It went to Sunny himself, the cat was long, with fur as black as the shadows populating Sunny's soul. It walked over to him slowly and got into his lap with slow and deliberate steps.
He started petting it slowly, with a careful look inside his eyes, even now he was still wary of the creature called a cat. The cat started to purr, and almost immediately Sunny felt his body relaxing without his permission. As a mere mundane, he had much less control of his body than he would like, meaning he couldn't stop himself from giving in to relaxation.
'Damn it, why is this so effective!'
Instead of the idea of stopping petting the cat, he instead pet it even more. Hoping that would tire it out before he gave in to the exhaustion that he carried ever since a few days ago.
Unnoticed by Sunny, Nephis slowly got closer to him. Even putting her shoulder next to his. There was a strange look in her eyes, one the cohort rarely saw. Her face remained the same as ever, not betraying her emotions. She slowly lowered her head on top of Sunny's own.
Without saying anything, Sunny stopped focusing on the cat and took one of Neph's hands, interlocking their fingers. Realizing that it would not be getting any more petting from Sunny, the cat moved away from him, slowly heading toward Jet.
Surprising as it was, Jet took the cat into her lap herself and started petting it. After about a minute, her face relaxed, and she slumped in her seat, the cat didn't seem to mind. One of the cats that was in Kai's lap finally decided to leave in search of a more comfortable place, and it did seem to find it in Cassie's lap.
Cassie seemed happy when the cat came to her, there was a sparkle in her eyes when it came over to her. She immediately started petting it, and out of all the cats that came to the cohort's table this one purrs the loudest.
As time passed the cats came and went, slept in their laps, climbed on their shoulders and so on. The only person that has not held a cat in their lap for more than 5 seconds was Effie.
Possibly due to her build, her sheer size or a very positive and loud behavior, she had not been approached by many cats. She tried taking a few from Kai, but they just escaped and went back to Kai. They even hissed at her and tried to scratch her, which made Sunny on edge. Their claws were unreasonably sharp for such small creatures, and when they learned about that, the others were more careful with the cats.
By now, almost all the cats in the café were at their table, most of the cat's visited kai, some stayed there the whole time, while others went from lap to lap. Only two cats avoided kai, one was the black cat that first visited Sunny. The other one was a white cat that was unreasonably tall, it usually stuck close to the black cat, meaning they stayed together while seemingly avoiding Kai.
Right now, Sunny had mostly relaxed, it was his turn to be leaning against Nephis. For him, that was comfortable enough, and he let the fatigue take him over slowly. Nephis herself wore a slight smile on her face, happy that Sunny's attention was on her, instead of the cats.
It would be embarrassing to admit she was jealous of a mere cat, but she didn't care. After several minutes of thinking about how to get even more of Sunny's attention, she finally acted on her desire.
She pushed him away, then grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into a kiss. Their friends all had different expressions, Kai looked embarrassed, a deep shade of red permeating his face. Effie had a mischievous grin on her face, ready to make fun of the two of them.
Cassie, on the other hand, just smiled, happy to finally see Nephis so happy. Jet — who was barely awake at this point — just smiled slightly, seeing a fellow outskirts rat succeed in life like this.
Kai finally said something after a few minutes, the nervousness even more apparent in his voice than he would like.
"Uhm, do they usually kiss for that long?"
"I think so." Cassie replied, feeling a little nervous.
Jet did not say anything, but she did look at Cassie. Kai and Effie looked at her too, making her feel uneasy. She finally broke the awkward silence with a slightly panicked voice.
"I-it's not what you think, I don't watch them do things like that. I-it's too embarrassing."
Kai nodded in confirmation of the information, then both Effie and Jet sighed out of relief.
Then, they finally stopped the kiss, breathing heavily, acting like nothing happened. Sunny took the cup and drank the rest of his coffee. He breathed a mental sigh.
'That… was a good kiss.'
He finally allowed himself to relax.
That's when he heard the familiar sound in his head. And just as he heard it, the entire world became dark.
[Your nightmare is over]