Sunny sighed.
He was inside the giant spine.
Nephis was currently in his embrace. And... in front of them was Cassie, sleeping... as usual.
Though... for a different reason she was asleep this time.
He opened his runes and went to Nephis's runes to check something, and his suspicions came true.
....[Last Soul]
He focused on it.
Name: Last Soul.
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Tier: VI.
Memory Type: Charm.
'A Tier 6 Charm... holy shit... first check the Memory Enchantments before celebrating.'
Memory Description: [A sacred tree was once touched by vile corruption. For it to save, a daemon appeared., it helped it, and after repeating the circles of life over and over again, it finally got free from corruption, returning back to all its glory. Yet... it was never the same as before.]
'Well... that was ominous... as usual. Though, is that sacred tree the World Tree which is in the Heart Domain? And the daemon? Which one was it?'
Sunny put that to the back of his mind for now, thinking there was no use in pondering without any clues yet.
Memory Enchantments: [Leaf of Spirit], [Vile Execution], [Undeceiving Mind].
[Leaf of Spirit] Enchantment Description: [Some people's spirits are strong, some are weak. While using this, you can slowly control the target's spirit, making their movements slower, thoughts foggy, and in the end, you can make them your puppet. It depends on their spirit—how long it will take to make them your puppet.]
'....That...overpowered!..as expected of tier 6 awakened charm!...though we have to check how effective it it.'
He summoned it.
A scarlet pendant appeared under his armor.
"Not bad."
...
Nephis slowly came to consciousness, though her eyes were closed. She knew that it was currently night because, when she opened her eyes for a second after waking up, she quickly closed them again.
Why did she close her eyes again?
Because she felt his touch. She felt his body's warmth. She felt her lover.
She was feeling too comfortable in his warmth to open her eyes and move.
According to her position and where his touch was, she deduced that her head was resting on his collarbone, her forehead pressed against his upper jaw and lower cheek, her face softly touching his neck, and her body was between his legs, feeling his breathing in and out.
His hands embraced her gently, pressing her body against his, his lips resting on her hair.
Their hearts beat in sync.
All in all... they were in an intimate position—comfortable and close. Though, you know... some people will never have this, just saying.
Anyway, to inform him that she was awake, she lifted her hands from her lap and wrapped them around his neck—one from behind and one from the front.
"Oh, you're finally awake?"
In response, she gave a low nod, not wanting to move her face or head away from him for a second.
His arms around her tightened a little.
"Good. Now I'm gonna tell you what happened after you passed out. First of all, I took out the soul shards from it and went to Cassie while carrying you. She, who is... again sleeping in front of us, asked how you passed out, worriedly. I tried to give a misdirect or vague answer, but she kept asking questions, and in the end, I said that you killed the terror. And after telling her that..."
Nephis had a bad feeling about it.
"I tried to explain instantly that it couldn't move, but... before I could say anything, she passed out too. And now... she's sleeping, while Serpent's wrapped around her."
Nephis sighed.
"I can't imagine how... she didn't even crash out yet."
"Oh, you know the meaning of 'crash out,' huh?" he said with a smirk.
She chuckled.
"...Hahhhh, how could I not know the meaning of crash out? When my boyfriend always does that when things get messy?"
Hearing her call him her boyfriend, he tightened the hug more. She didn't resist and shifted a little, getting comfortable again in his arms.
"Hmmm... do you not like it when your boyfriend crashes out, girlfriend?"
She leaned closer after hearing that, her face fully in his neck. A suppressed voice came from there.
"...I... just... don't want him to get hurt... and even if he gets hurt... I want him to stop being an idiot and come to... me... knowing very well I can... free him from his pain in seconds."
Sunny, who was sitting, kissed her hair.
"Well... maybe the price is too heavy for him to get free from pain? Maybe... he also doesn't want you to feel pain?"
She felt his lips on her hair, kissing her. She felt it through her hair—it was heavenly.
She suppressed the urge to tell him to kiss her more.
"Well... the price isn't that heavy for me, as long as... he's not in pain."
"Well... maybe he thinks the price is that heavy... and doesn't want you to feel pain either?"
They went on like this for a couple more minutes before stopping.
They settled into comfortable silence again.
But her face was still pressed against his neck. Instinctively, she brushed her soft lips on his skin before kissing it tenderly.
He let out a low moan in pleasure.
"Ahh... hey! Not now! First, we reach the Bright Castle, then... we can do anything," he said, trying to suppress his own desire.
She didn't hear anything after the moan. She wanted to hear it again... but louder.
Without thinking, she opened her mouth—
And instead of a kiss... she bit his neck.
His breath hitched, his hands gripped her body, and more importantly... he moaned loudly.
She finally pulled her teeth away from his neck, closing her mouth—but not before giving the area one lick and a soft kiss.
She moved her head back just to see her work. That area now had a red mark—deep teeth traces and flushed skin.
She nodded in satisfaction, suppressing the urge to do it again just to hear him moan once more.
"You know how possessive you are, right?"
He said with a sigh.
"Oh really? So why isn't it healing by [Blood Weave] already? You think I didn't notice that you removed all [Blood Weave] from this area using Shadow Blood after I bite you? You sure you didn't want this too?"
He smirked.
"I never said I didn't want this. I just said, 'You know how possessive you are.' I never said anything else."
"Okay, I know how possessive I am~... though, did you like my possessiveness?"
Nephis turned her head up and looked into his eyes. He opened his mouth and answered instantly.
"Yes! As a matter of fact, I'd like it even more if you did these kinds of things more often! And were even more possessive!"
That made her let out a soft laugh.
"Hehe... okay, I'll be more after we leave the Forgotten Shore—because this is literally a death zone... plus, people are in it." Her implication was clear.
He suddenly lifted her lower body a little, bringing her face to his.
She didn't resist—why would she?
He crossed his legs under her, then let her sit again—but this time, on his lap.
Ninety-five percent of her body was now on him, except below her knees. Her lower legs still rested on the ground, side by side.
His hands wrapped around her again. Her face now higher than his, she sat on his lap.
Nephis shifted a little before getting comfortable again. She leaned forward and rested against him once more.
He press his head in her neck curve, melting in to it. Her one hand wrapped around his neck, another on back of his head, pressing his face softly into her neck.
After a few moments of silence, he spoke again.
"Hey... you want to bite me again?"
"Well... yeah, but tomorrow's the last day. We have to rest well if we want everything to go perfectly."
Then she suddenly remembered something.
"I received a Memory after killing the tree!"
"Yeah, I checked that."
After explaining the enchantments to her, they went to slumber while holding hands, fingers intertwined.
And to their side, two shadows were doing something.
Gloomy gestured toward them, then to his own head with exaggerated movements, as if saying:
"You seeing this shit!? Imagine if they acted like this in their past life—just imagine! Things would have been a hundred times easier!"
Happy shrugged, as if saying:
"Well... better late than never. Plus, their relationship was complicated back in the days."
"So what!? They just had to come face to face and talk! Instead of acting like everything was fine and they didn't care!"
Happy looked disbelieving.
"Instead of acting like they didn't... care? You're saying this?"
The two went on like this the entire night.
...
The next day, nothing special happened.
First, they explained to Cassie how Nephis defeated the Awakened Terror. Cassie was still surprised, because in the end, it was still an Awakened Terror—even if it couldn't move.
They didn't eat the tree's fruits, even after it died, because the fruits still came from the Soul Tree—they didn't want to risk anything.
Nephis absorbed the tree's ascended soul shards.
Finally, the last day of light faded away, and the Dark Sea surged over. They pushed the boat from shore, and using Cassie's staff, they went toward the castle... again.
...
Across the vast sea, a boat traveled in silence—only the sound of waves remained. There were three people on it.
Cassie was sleeping, her head leaned against Serpent. Serpent was wrapped around her, its head resting on her shoulder.
Cassie was slowly getting comfortable with Serpent, and for some reason... she called it "Snaky." Like what?
Anyway, it was a good thing she couldn't see creature runes yet, because if she could, poor girl would have died of a heart attack after knowing Serpent was an Ascended monster.
In front of her were Nephis and Sunny.
Their backs leaned on the boat, and Sunny's head rested on Nephis's shoulder.
The attack from the creature from the depths would come in a few hours, but for some reason... they both had a small smile on their faces.
Well, it was because... Cassie didn't say sorry.
Cassie didn't say sorry to Sunny like last time. So, it had two possibilities:
First, she didn't even regret betraying Sunny this time.
Or...
She wasn't going to betray him this time.
And it seemed pretty clear which possibility was true.