A single boat traveled through the waves. On it were three humans.
Sunny sighed.
"It's finally the time?"
Suddenly, a tentacle came from below the dark sea and tilted the boat upside down.
Cold water embraced them. Without wasting any time, Sunny swam toward Cassie. She was being dragged into the abyss by a tentacle. He summoned Serpent in weapon form.
Nephis also teleported to him at that moment. He cut the tentacle in one swing, grabbed Cassie, and swam toward the statue.
He left Serpent in its beast form with Nephis; they communicated by telepathy.
Sunny finally surfaced and began moving toward the statue.
Suddenly, beneath the water, a white radiance covered the dark sea.
<....Of course. It's much easier than last time.>
<...Glad to hear. Though, teleport to me when I reach the palm.>
The radiant white light finally vanished. The light of dawn slowly broke from the horizon.
He finally reached the palm of the statue with Cassie, who was unconscious. In that moment, Nephis also teleported to them. He looked at her—she was completely fine, armor fully intact without a scratch.
Sunny took a sigh of relief, then summoned Serpent back. Dawn fully broke through the clouds, and the dark sea rapidly retreated underground.
Sunny and Nephis looked behind.
A dark expanse of land was rising above the slope of the colossal crater.
And on it, a tall city wall built of grey polished stone towered over the giant chasm of the abyss. It looked ancient but still impenetrable, able to withstand the crushing pressure of the dark sea for a thousand more years.
They had made it... again.
They had found the Bright Castle.
......
The trio moved through the slope toward the castle, where other humans—and more trouble—waited for them.
Though Sunny was thinking of something else entirely.
'Where is it, where is... '
He felt something appear in his shadow senses.
'Here it is!'
Before a stone could move, it was pierced by [Midnight Sword] and fell to the ground before it could bite into his leg again.
After arriving at the shore, Nephis and Sunny began using their normal weapons again instead of [Blessing], so that no one would know about it yet.
[You have slain an awakened monster, Rolling Stone.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
[You have received a Memory: Ordinary Rock.]
He chuckled.
'Who would've thought that this memory would be one of the most useful ones I'd ever have?'
Nephis looked toward him with an indifferent expression.
She stared at him... kept staring... then said:
Now it was his turn to stare at her.
After staring he said.
Then they continued moving through the wilderness without exchanging any more words.
Though Nephis...
'Why did I say that!? He didn't understand why I asked him for it, right?... right?' She looked at him from the corner of her eyes.
He was looking at her with a...knowing grin.
Her expression cracked a little.
'He definitely knows! Wait... how is he so sure?... Did he do the same thing back then?'
......
They came across the dark city walls and climbed them, entering the dark city. They moved carefully because there were fallen creatures around, and their armor or bodies weren't durable enough to tank their attack yet.
They stopped in front of a broken tower. From it came the sound of something eating.
Sunny and Nephis exchanged glances and decided to go inside while telling Cassie that he already knew what was inside by using his shadow. When she asked what was in there, he said...
"Inside there is a very gluttonous giant without any manners."
With that, they slowly made their way inside. Sunny was at the front, slowly approaching through the shadows. He sent Gloomy to Effie first, so she wouldn't think they were enemies.
Effie was sitting on the ground, a campfire in front of her with meat cooking over it.
Suddenly, she saw a shadow appear in front of her. She quickly stood up and took a defensive stance while summoning her weapon.
The shadow stretched its arm up and... waved at her.
Effie blinked a few times before also waving back.
"Ahh... hello?"
Then Gloomy pointed toward a corner. She looked that way, and from there Sunny emerged.
(I'll skip their conversation since they mostly repeated the same things.)
......
The next morning, they left for the castle. Effie gave them instructions about what not to do—which they didn't really need.
They finally started moving forward, Effie in front guiding them.
Sunny, in the back, stared at her with a grim expression—remembering how she died, same as Nephis.
Nephis didn't react.
He sighed.
They had already made a plan for what to do after reaching the castle—and who to kill, or not.
First was Gunlaug. He was going to die.
It was too risky to make him an ally. If he decided to betray them, it would be a problem because of his transcendent echo.
Plus, there was no way Gunlaug would give full control to Nephis. He would want a half-and-half command. That would destroy the legend of Nephis freeing people from the cruel tyrant.
And Sunny assassinating Gunlaug wouldn't work either—Nephis needed to build her image after killing him. But there was one possibility that might let Gunlaug live.
Instead of killing him, Nephis could beat the hell out of him. Break his legs and arms, torture him until he gave away his echo, and finally make him join Nephis's army of sleepers. That way, her reputation as a savior would remain intact, and Gunlaug would still be useful.
Even though Nephis and Sunny were trying to save the world, they weren't heroes—or even good people—so it wasn't a problem for them to do something like that.
Of course, they'd first try talking. If he agreed, great. If not... that was on him.
Same for Harus. He was Gunlaug's loyal dog. If Gunlaug joined, he'd be spared. If not... again, on him.
Then there was Caster. His fate would depend on his choice. Would he carry out his orders and kill her, or realize how impossibly strong she'd become and abandon his mission? It all depended on him.
And in last, the rest of sleepers. They don't have any plans to again let so many people die in the bright castle civil war. So both of them had made a rough plan to stop it and increase the army more.
Sunny, who was talking to Nephis and rethinking their plan, didn't notice that he was staring at Effie's back.
She noticed his stare and grinned.
"Like what you see?"
Sunny, still lost in thought, answered automatically, calm and composed:
"No."
Her grin cracked a little. Then she smiled again, trying to tease him.
"Ahh... trying to act tough, huh? Or....maybe you already have eyes for someone who's present right now?"