'Shit… shit!'
On the back of Shrike, Sunny turned his head. Behind him, a torrent of sparks rocketed through the air, furiously pursuing him. Its speed was… dishearteningly fast. It wasn't gaining on him, but in a place like the Chained Isles where it was mostly open air, it would be difficult to shake it from his trail.
'What to do… what to do…'
Sunny wasn't exactly in top form, he had been using Shadow Step a lot recently, and his essence wasn't quite topped up. His injuries hadn't fully healed either. If it were just Noctis, Sunny was sure he'd be able to fight him, but… he had definitely heard the beating of wings from the shadow he had left with Solvane earlier. Sevras was coming for him as well, having been notified of his location by Noctis.
It was five against one. Even with a Supreme Devil and Transcendent Titan by his side, Sunny wasn't going to take any chances.
There was the option of fleeing to a random corner of the Chain Isles, but Sunny wouldn't do that. Noctis seemed to have a method of tracking him despite Weaver's Mask, and if he didn't manage to gain anything here, the Chain Lords could simply barricade themselves in the city or hunt him together.
'...'
Sunny looked in the direction of the Ivory City.
'Yeah…'
It was certainly a desperate gamble, but he had to try.
Shrike was currently flying further and further down into the sky below, and with Sunny's command, it shifted slightly, straightening its flight and changing its direction.
"Shadow..!"
A booming roar shook the world around him, and Sunny saw a mighty dragon covered in ivory scales flying towards him.
'Gods…'
Neither of the two divine lineage holders were catching up to him, but the sight of them chasing him did not bring him any joy. He spotted two more figures flying right behind Sevras, but he did not feel the naughty shadow nearby. Solvane had not joined the chase.
They had been flying in the darkness for several minutes, and Sunny could feel himself nearing the Ivory City.
'Come on…'
The torrent of light was still pursuing him, and the dragon wasn't far behind.
But just then…
'Damn it!!'
The dragon flapped its wings and changed its course.
It was flying up, towards the city. Either Sevras had given up on chasing him, or one of them had realised his aim was actually the Ivory City.
'Oh you old bastards… just leave me alone!'
Sunny's plan had gone awry, and he needed to act fast.
'...'
With a pained expression, Sunny sank into the shadows.
"Urgh…"
Sunny stumbled out of the shadows as nearly all of his essence was drained in an instant. He had crossed several kilometers with his Shadow Step, appearing on the Ivory Tower.
Far below, Shrike flapped its wings and began to fly up, crackling with lightning.
'Give it your all…'
Hurriedly reaching into his pockets, Sunny grabbed the small apparatus he had stolen from Sevras, running towards the arch.
Below, Sevras had turned his head, seeing the fast approaching Shrike. Three other Chain Lords were flying to intercept it. Ethereal blue lightning shrouded Shrike, remnants of the lightning it had absorbed fighting Aranea. With a roar, Sevras unleashed a wave of flames towards it, only for the fire to uselessly wash over the lightning.
On the Ivory Island, Sunny had placed the apparatus into a small gap on the top of the arch, fitting it in perfectly. The gate to the Ebony Tower slowly hummed to life, and Sunny could already see the darkness on the other side begin to show itself.
'Hurry up…'
Sunny was getting more and more worried by the second.
Above him… the sun was rising. Someone like Noctis could severely damage Shrike, but someone like Sevras… someone like Sevras could kill him.
'Come on! Could you be any damn slower?!'
The gate was opening agonizingly slow, and he wanted to pull his hair out from the wait.
In the sky below, Shrike's electrified wing slammed into the chest of the dragon, causing it to howl in pain. One of the flying figures yelled something in distress, and the other one turned their head.
The torrent of light that had relentlessly pursued Shrike earlier had stilled. It had begun to change shape, the sparks of light aligning themselves into what appeared to be a giant hand. Instead of attacking Shrike, the hand clenched itself into a fist.
"Urk-!"
Sunny collapsed to the ground, clutching his neck.
"Ahhhhh!"
The faded red handprint on his neck had suddenly ignited in ethereal flames, burning his neck and throat. The damage continued even further inside, igniting his soul as well.
The gate before him had fully formed now, but Sunny was too busy writhing on the ground in pain as he clutched his neck.
'What… what is this?!'
Something had always felt suspicious about that hand print, but for it to be something like this!
Sunny could hear the sound of cracking, as well as the thundering of his heartbeat in his own ears. His soul threatened to collapse, and Sunny quickly moved his shadows off of his body to prevent even more damage from being done to them.
'Calm… calm down…'
The pain was… intense. But it wouldn't kill him. Not with Soul Weave.
As Sunny tried his best to stand up, the fight below raged on. The sun had begun rising, and Sevras' power began to skyrocket. Shrike was immediately put on the defensive, and needed to slow down the use of its lightning so as to not burn itself out too quickly. Despite the fact it was a Supreme Devil, it was still facing four Transcendent Beasts, and perhaps the most lethal possible kind at that. The fact that they were all immortal didn't help either. If not for that fact, its first attack would have already mortally wounded Sevras.
After some long minutes, Sunny had finally managed to stand up, his neck and throat were horribly burned, and every breath produced terrible gurgling noises.
'Shrike… do it!'
Below, the hand forged of moonlight summoned a massive sickle, slashing at the raven. Strangely, the strike missed entirely, uselessly passing over Shrike's head. It had not even attempted to dodge the poorly aimed attack, instead focusing on charging a massive attack as Sunny had ordered.
Sunny needed time. He needed Shrike to stall as much as possible.
With a screech, a colossal wave of electricity erupted from its body, engulfing all of the Chain Lords in an instant. The hand forged from moonlight immediately condensed back into human form, one of the figures flying near Sevras encased themselves in wood, while the other encased themselves in light. Sevras himself ignored the lightning entirely, stubbornly rushing Shrike.
The lightning struck true.
The sphere of wood and the sphere of light were obliterated, the human was charred beyond recognition, and the dragon was falling, having frozen mid-flight.
Shrike screeched proudly, floating in place as it spread its wings outwards. All of the lightning it had accumulated had been spent, and it would need some time to recharge, but it could still fight.
Yet all around it… the Saints were once more getting ready to fight.
Sevras was still flying towards it, albeit far slower, the human that was encased in wood seemed to be shedding off a layer of skin, healing some of the damage done just now. The human that had been encased in light was missing much of its body, and was weakly floating towards the human that had been encased in wood, while the final human was falling uselessly into the void, completely scorched.
The attack had only managed to mortally wound two of them. The dragon had been resistant to lightning, while the one in wood seemed to be able to heal themselves.
Its attack had not been concentrated enough, and had only managed to slow them down.
Which was perfect.
That was all Sunny needed. Now, he could simply dismiss Shrike and complete the ritual before getting the hell out of there.
'Well done, now come ba-'
Sunny froze for a moment, falling to one knee as he misstepped.
Below, Shrike was still floating in place, taunting Sevras. It was waiting for Sunny to dismiss it.
But the dismissal never came.
'What is happening?!'
Sunny couldn't feel the connection between himself and his Shadow. He couldn't dismiss it, nor could he send it any orders.
He had not even left any shadows with Shrike, so he had no idea what was going on. Dismissing it had always been the plan.
Sevras' claws closed around Shrike's wings, roaring in fury as raging flames ignited in the back of his throat. A second later, the flames washed over the raven, causing it to screech in disbelief.
With its pride and its trust in its master, Shrike had used the fact it was going to be dismissed in a second to taunt the dragon, only for that to backfire immediately.
'No no no no no…'
Sunny clutched his head in frustration and confusion.
'No!'
Glancing at the gate and at the sky below, Sunny yelled in frustration before walking through the arch, taking slow, labored steps.
'Shrike… if you can hear me, get the hell out of there!'
But it could not hear him. Below, Shrike had already taken major damage, and began engaging in a furious brawl with Sevras, still stubbornly waiting for its master's dismissal. One of the figures had already finished healing themselves, and instead of healing the half destroyed figure next to them, they shot downwards into the darkness towards the charred figure that had fallen earlier.
Sunny limped through the arch, entering the darkness.
Immediately, he could feel it. A subtle sense of primal terror clawed at the back of his mind as he felt something shift below him. The harrowing rot left in the tower had felt his presence immediately, and had begun arduously moving towards him. With the gate between the islands open, the seal was temporarily disabled, allowing both Sunny and it to move.
He began summoning several memories, the light of them temporarily brightening the hall. In one hand, a miniature star crafted from stone appeared, and in the other, a small gem with four burning embers contained within. Beside him, the Covetous Coffer had already appeared and had opened its maw. Placing the gem into his mouth to free up his hand, Sunny reached into the coffer and pulled out a lightning bolt forged from stone.
Coughing up some blood, Sunny continued inside the tower, making his way down to the fifth level.
'This place… this place is too damn big…'
Taking long, ragged breaths, Sunny tried his best to ignore the terrible pain coursing through his mind and soul. After several minutes, he had made it through the fifth level, and had entered the fourth level.
Below… Shrike was losing. With Sevras engaging it, the other three had time to recuperate, and now that they had been healed by Aidre, they had also begun to attack Shrike. Having stupidly taken a powerful attack at point blank range earlier, Shrike was at a big disadvantage. Sevras was resistant to lighting, and his scales, while not as powerful as the steel encasing Shrike's body, were still very strong. With four immortal Transcendents working together, it was quickly being suppressed.
It could've fled, but it didn't. Its pride wouldn't allow it. It… it would rather die.
Even so, it trusted its master, and still waited for its dismissal.
Even as one of its wings began melting, it still trusted in its master.
Even as one of its talons was wrenched off, it still trusted in its master.
Even as massive stalks of wood wrapped around it and sharp blades pierced its eyes… it still trusted its master.
It had trusted Sunny right until the very end.
[...Your Shadow has been destroyed.]
"No! Shrike!"
Sunny immediately fell into a coughing fit, his sudden outburst having aggravated the wounds inside his throat.
'No… no… how did this happen?!'
A Supreme Devil! One of the most powerful Shadows he had ever commanded! It had died, just like that?!
Sunny couldn't believe it, nor could he accept it.
'Fuck!!'
Despite their rough first meeting, Shrike had been a joy to have as a Shadow. It was the first one he had created in this time, and had served him incredibly well over the past year.
And now, it was gone. Forever.
Sunny was aggrieved.
'What even happened?! Why couldn't I… why…'
Clutching his head, he pushed those thoughts out of his mind.
He had reached the fourth level of the tower, and was quickly making his way towards the shrine of Storm God.
Shrike's death would not be for nothing. He had needed it to stall for time, and it had done that. Now it was time to prove it had been worth it.
Terror still gnawed at him as he felt the rot move closer towards him. Thankfully, it was slow, and wouldn't reach him before he left.
Swallowing nervously, Sunny placed the stone objects on the altar before him. The effect was immediate, and he felt the divinity within the two stir slightly.
'Now… the ritual.'
Staring at the statue of a veiled woman before him, Sunny grit his teeth and dismissed Weaver's Mask. He slowly raised a hand towards his face, holding a thin clamp with a sharp edge that he manifested.
His hand stopped right before his face, shaking in fear.
'I…'
Sunny was no stranger to pain, but cutting out his own eyes was a different type of horror altogether.
His breathing quickened, and his heart pounded.
"Urgh!"
With a sharp breath, Sunny slowly pushed the clamp through his eye socket, avoiding the eyeball itself, aiming for the optic nerve instead.
And with a click, the clamp severed it.
A muffled scream echoed throughout the hall.
Sunny removed the eye, taking several uneven breaths.
'Come on… Come on!'
Staring at the eyeball in his own palm, Sunny felt the resolve in his heart sharpen. The wound buzzed with tortuous pain, and blood leaked from the empty socket.
He had suffered worse pain before, but this… the pain being self-inflicted felt completely different. Blood dripped to the ground as he stared at his hand, shuddering. He had prepared painkillers for this, but had no time to administer them.
Still, he was no stranger to pain.
'This… is nothing.'
Shrike had died for him to get here, he couldn't waste the opportunity just because he was afraid of a little pain, even if that pain wasn't so little.
Dropping the eye on the altar, Sunny raised the clamp to his remaining eye.
In the corners of the hall, dark mist began creeping in, unnoticed by Sunny.
His hand now shaking slightly, he inserted the clamp into his other eye. The shadow he had left with Solvane had felt the presence of four Transcendents nearing, so Sunny pushed any lingering fear he felt out of his mind. He didn't have much time left.
'They… must've thought I was going for Solvane.'
Using his thoughts as a temporary distraction, Sunny clenched his hand.
"Urkkk-!"
With a horrific squelch, the remaining half of Sunny's vision vanished. Strangely, the sight his shadows used also faded, leaving him completely blind aside from his shadow sense. Taking in several gasping breaths, Sunny fell to his knees before the altar.
'Can't… stop now.'
Here… he'd need a bit of help.
"Ser… pent…"
Beside him, the shadows coalesced into a mighty serpent, before immediately shifting into a short woman with extremely long hair. Sunny did not have enough power to break through his own sternum and remove his heart, so he'd need his Shadow to do it for him. He wasn't sure if it would mess with the ritual or not, but at this point he couldn't care less.
Because now, the naughty shadow had begun moving towards him.
With the combined wits of Noctis and Sevras no doubt, the Chain Lords had figured out his goal, and were now coming for him. He would be lucky if he even had a single minute to escape.
A cold hand was placed on his shoulder, and Sunny jolted at the touch. Serpent was… showing concern for him, surprisingly.
"Just… just hurry u-"
Before Sunny could finish speaking, there was a hand his chest, his flesh and bones parting before five razor sharp fingernails
'It'll be over in a moment…'
He coughed, blood spurting from his mouth and nose.
'Not the first time… I've had my… heart ripped out.'
Through the shadows, he felt his heart be yanked out. The injury was so severe all he could feel was a terrifying numbness, a far cry from the terrible ache he could still feel in his eyes. The heart in Serpent's hand was beating wildly with adrenaline and blood was gushing from the gaping hole in his chest.
With a nod from its master, Serpent severed the still connected arteries from the heart before placing it on the altar.
'Please… just work.'
He was having the worst day right now, and he really needed this to work.
And thankfully, it did.
[You have offered yourself as a sacrifice to the Storm God.]
[The gods are dead, and cannot hear you!]
[You possess a Celestial Fragment.]
[You possess a Celestial Fragment.]
[The remnant divinity within stirs!]
[—, Receive your blessing!]
The mist he had not noticed before surged toward him like a tide, pouring into his body through the three open wounds, entering his soul.
Sunny barely even felt it, he only felt an icy chill throughout his entire body. He was quickly losing warmth and going into shock. He wouldn't bleed out thanks to [Blood Weave] — at least not yet anyways — but the wound disrupted all of his bodily systems. His human body simply couldn't survive long without a heart, even with the mystical blood of a daemon.
…And at the gate connecting the Ivory and Ebony Tower, five people stood.
At the front of the group of Saints, Sevras was barely restraining himself, bloodlust and immense anger emanating from him.
"Semos, Noctis. With me."
Semos nodded, and Noctis, now wearing a set of emerald green robes, looked to the side with an annoyed grunt.
"I'm telling you this is a trap. You know what's in there, right?"
"Shut. Up."
Sevras did not even turn around to speak to Noctis, and the air around him was bending and warping, the sheer heat of his body creating a mirage.
Noctis no longer protested, following him in.
Solvane and Aidre stayed behind on the island. Unnoticed by the group, there was a terribly wicked grin on Solvane's face.
At the shrine, the mist was still surging forward, entering Sunny's body and causing him to shiver from the cold.
'I can't… I can't hold on.'
The ritual wasn't completed, but Sunny could feel himself fading. He wasn't dying, but he was about to pass out, and once he did, his chance at living would have ended.
Gritting his teeth, Sunny thought to himself:
'Screw this.'
Sunny felt something cold shift slightly underneath his tongue.
He had activated the [Restoring Darkness] enchantment of the [Dark Soul].
Even if this caused the ritual to fail, he no longer cared. Completing this ritual wasn't more important than his life.
The effect was immediate, and Sunny could already feel the energy leaving the small gem. He gritted his teeth, trying his best not to scream as he felt his heart begin to reform inside his chest. All around him, the mist suddenly began surging even harder, and some of it split off from its three previous tendrils, moving towards Sunny's mouth.
The shadows at his feet were all jumping around in terror, watching their master risk his life and limb.
Something was wrong. The mist was reacting strangely to the [Restoring Darkness] enchantment.
Sunny paid it no mind, not even realising what was happening.
His heart finished reforming, and he could feel it beating once more.
'Now… the neck.'
The memory still had plenty of power to spare, and had begun healing his burned neck and throat. The mist billowed, a subtle rumbling coming from it.
After several torturous seconds, his neck was healed.
'And… and the eyes.'
But just then, the mist abruptly disappeared, having finished entering Sunny's body.
And when it did…
[Your Memory has been destroyed.]
'Wha-'
True darkness exploded from Sunny's body, bathing the shrine in eerie darkness for a moment. If Sunny's eyes were intact, he might've noticed the veil shrouding the face of Storm God shimmering for just a moment.
A second later, the darkness faded.
Sunny blacked out.
***
A slap across the face woke him up.
Sunny groggily opened his eyes for a moment, only to see nothing.
'Right, my eyes…'
Sunny froze.
'My eyes?!'
He shot up, spreading his shadow sense outwards. He was still in front of Storm God's statue, and he could feel three immortals on the level just above him.
'I… I passed out?'
Feeling his now healed chest and neck, Sunny thought to himself:
'What just happened?!'
The [Dark Soul] had been destroyed?!
'That… that shouldn't have happened! That wasn't a one-time use memory!'
He had studied the weave of it, and all that should have happened was that the darkness powering the memory's healing should have been spent, and he'd have to recollect it. It was very similar to the [Dying Wish] memory he once owned.
Despite the strangeness of it all, that no longer mattered currently.
The Chain Lords and harrowing rot were almost here, and he needed to get the hell out.
***
"Semos."
The three Chain Lords that had entered the Ebony Tower had felt the perception of something wash over them just now. Aside from the harrowing rot located on the second level, there could only be one other being here.
Shadow. Or at least the thing inhabiting his body.
The Sun Prince nodded at his brother's word, and vanished. In his place, only light remained, washing over the silent darkness of the Ebony Tower. The light seemed to reveal all that was hidden, and not a single shadow survived in the wake of its radiance.
The three began rushing forward, abandoning caution.
Arriving at the fourth level, they found… nothing.
Nobody was there.
There was only a pool of blood before an altar, and on that altar…
Noctis laughed slightly at the sight.
"Whew… not a bad sacrifice."
…there were a pair of eyes, a still weakly squirming heart, and a pile of broken stone.
Semos grimaced slightly at the sight, and Sevras did not react at all.
"He must still be here. We're going deeper."
Noctis shot an annoyed glance at Sevras.
"And if he's not? If this was an elaborate trick to trap us all in here, stuck with that thing?"
"He. Will. Be. Here."
Noctis scoffed slightly, and Semos gave him a pitiful look.
"How do you know he hasn't already left? Passing right by us? We already know he's capable of crossing vast distances in a second."
Sevras grunted, walking towards the stairs to the third level.
"Aidre and Solvane would notice. His soul must be in tatters right now. He won't get far, even with that ability."
"And if that ritual he JUST performed was actually a method of healing his soul? Then what?"
Sevras no longer responded. Still, Noctis followed him down into the third level, where Nether had once attempted to create a living being.
Noctis had not even mentioned his method of tracking the treacherous shadow, as that only worked at night.
And unfortunately for them, they found nothing.
Only after they gave up on searching and began ascending back the upper floors did something happen.
"Wha-"
"No…"
Something changed.
A rarely seen worried look was on Noctis' face, Semos lowered his head silently, and Sevras opened his mouth to yell in frustration.
…Another Chain Lord had died.