Elizabeth only needed a few hours of rest before she felt refreshed. She woke as the sun was beginning to set. Though her exhaustion had faded, her stomach was still painfully empty, a dull ache gnawing at her. Perhaps she should have spent more time at the Academy training to resist hunger instead of devouring mountains of food whenever she had the chance.
Sunny was still staring at the horizon, barely having moved since she'd fallen asleep. Then again, there was nowhere to go, and she'd only been out for about four hours.
Elizabeth walked over and sat beside him. She had returned to her normal form by now, regaining her original height, and felt an oddly satisfying pleasure in being taller than him again. Childish, maybe, but she'd been a child only a few hours ago.
"Did anything happen while I was out?"
Sunny shrugged.
"Nothing worth noting. I managed to gauge the strength of those Nightmare Creatures from earlier. I'd put them around the level of an Awakened Beast. They're good at hiding in the mud and sand, that's how they hunt. Seems they're cannibalistic too. I watched a couple of them feeding on their fallen comrades. They're also the most common species around here."
Elizabeth let out a breath of relief. The Nightmare Creatures that appeared during the day seemed weaker than the ones that emerged at night. Sunny had spent the whole day watching them, learning what he could. She wasn't sure the pattern would hold, but it was the first piece of good news she'd had since arriving in this cursed place.
A few hours passed, and the sun sank slowly beneath the horizon. Sunny called his shadow back from its scouting run. It slid silently to his side and reattached itself to his feet. Watching him walk around without it had felt strange.
"Your ability reminds me of Peter Pan."
He raised an eyebrow. "Peter Pan? Who's that?"
Elizabeth smiled faintly and shook her head. It was almost disappointing that he didn't understand the reference. Then again, she was constantly reminded of how differently they'd each lived.
"Never mind. Forget I said anything."
He frowned but let it drop.
"Night's here. The dark sea will probably come back."
She nodded. She was already certain it would.
Sure enough, minutes later, as the last sliver of sunlight vanished beneath the horizon, the dark sea surged back into being. There was no telling where it came from; it simply arrived, like a tsunami rolling in from every direction at once. Elizabeth watched with quiet apprehension. Beside her, Sunny shifted uneasily.
The Great Titan had returned.
Once more, the world was swallowed in darkness, and every trace of light was extinguished. Elizabeth blinked several times as her eyes adjusted. Her flaw activated as it always did at nightfall, though she felt no different from before, likely a sign she hadn't aged much past her original age. She turned her gaze toward the dark sea.
The abyss stared back. A shiver crawled down her spine, but she forced herself to ignore it.
Something was different this time. Not different, exactly. More like the sea had settled back into its natural state.
The crushing pressure that had suffocated her before was gone. The sea felt dormant again. She kept watching in silence for several minutes, waiting to be sure the oppressive presence had truly disappeared, that it had truly gone back to sleep.
Only then did she allow herself to relax.
"It's sleeping. Thank the gods," she murmured, retreating to the center of the platform. She had no intention of accidentally touching the water and waking it again.
Sunny let out his own sigh of relief and dropped to the floor beside her. He'd barely rested since this all began, never given the chance, but now that they were as safe as they were likely to get, he finally allowed himself to take it.
A few minutes later, his chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm. He was asleep. That, at least, felt like progress. He trusted her enough not to harm him while he slept, though knowing what she did about him, she suspected that trust came with its own quiet safeguard.
'Probably that shadow of his. Is it independent, or sentient? He really is Peter Pan.'
She sat down and transformed her arm into a blob of water, carefully practicing her control. She had only woken a few hours ago, leaving no chance of falling back asleep. For now, all she could do was train and think. Those were the only ways to pass the time.
The Spell was fair. She still believed that. So how could she kill a Great Titan?
With Rethen, it had been chained and bound by the goddess's sorcery; she could have killed it the moment they met, though its size would have made that difficult, but it had still already been reduced to a dormant being. She'd also had [Last Hope], though she hadn't known then that it was an Ascendant memory.
So she'd had the tools to kill it from the very start. Which meant she might already have the tools to kill this sea too, or could find them. So what did she actually have?
Rethen's finger, for one. She knew it could kill anything it pierced, but could it kill an entire sea if she stabbed it right now? What if the enchantment worked, but the titan had some way to resist it? She'd have wasted her sacred memory for nothing. For now, Rethen's blade remained a last resort, a failsafe for threats beyond her own strength. She would only use it when she was certain it could kill.
The dark sea was likely the most powerful being in this place, and probably the guardian of the gateway as well. It had to have a weakness.
'The sun is one. Whatever the reason, it retreats the moment the sun begins to rise, and only returns once it sets. Is it the light itself it fears? No. A Great Titan wouldn't retreat over mere light. There has to be something about the sun's nature that it can't withstand. But what?'
She couldn't say. Other questions lingered in her mind too. Where did the sea go in the mornings? Did it have some true body waiting beyond the horizon, and was that where the gateway lay? And why were the Nightmare Creatures stronger at night, only to vanish along with the sea come dawn?
She needed answers. Only then could she start forming a real plan to escape this hell.
That was only half of what she could do. The other half was improving her own odds. She carried a divine Aspect and a divine lineage, but what did that actually grant her?
'If my theory about holding multiple soul cores is right, I need to find out exactly how to gain more.'
She suspected it would require saturating herself with fragments of heaven. That meant hunting, and filling her core one kill at a time. And she just happened to be standing in a place overflowing with Nightmare Creatures. She had two thousand fragments to fill for Spell sake. Which meant roughly two thousand kills.
'Killing two thousand Nightmare Creatures...'
But there was a chance it could be simpler. She'd already gained one soul core without absorbing anything at all, only by killing a Sacred being and a Supreme. If kills alone could grant one fragments, that would cut her count in half. A thousand instead of two thousand.
She licked her lips, anticipation prickling under her skin. Forget returning in a week. She might not see the waking world again for months, maybe years. But when she finally did return, having found a way to hold multiple soul cores, she would be the strongest Awakened who ever lived.
'Yes. I will survive.'
The night went on like that, Elizabeth retreating into her own mind, both brains working desperately over everything she'd learned about the place, searching for anything she might have missed. She also tried to recall that night she'd nearly been possessed, hoping to piece together more about the titan.
Late into the night, she saw a light flicker in the distance. She turned her head instantly to look at it. It was small, but it burned so brightly in a place ruled by darkness. She was about to wake Sunny when she saw the boy stir on his own, eyes already fixed on the light.
'He really did have a security system up.'
She focused on the light and narrowed her eyes. It sat a few kilometers away, too far to make out clearly, other than that it was perched on top of one of the hills above the sea. Its reflection rose and fell with the movement of the waves.
"What do you think that is?"
Sunny kept staring, a small frown creasing his face.
"Most likely a trap. Or other Sleepers."
Elizabeth smiled and watched the light in silence. A few minutes later it vanished, and her smile only grew wider.
"I'm about seventy percent sure that light was made by other Sleepers."
Sunny frowned, giving her a puzzled look.
"What makes you think that?"
Elizabeth shrugged and pointed toward where the light had disappeared.
"Well, first, the light was on a surface above the water, just like us. That alone doesn't mean much. But second," she gestured at the patches of seaweed clinging to the stone around them, "I'm sure you've noticed all this seaweed. Once it dries, it's surprisingly flammable. They could have easily gathered enough of it to start a fire."
She paused before continuing.
"Honestly, it was a brave thing to do. If they really did light a fire, it probably means they hadn't encountered any Nightmare Creatures yet. They also likely don't have a scouting ability like yours. This morning, all the creatures in the area were busy feeding on that corpse, so they probably didn't see any nearby and assumed it was safe."
"They don't know the horrors hiding beneath the sea. Sitting in complete darkness, unable to see what's coming, must have seemed worse than the risk of starting a fire. They probably thought some light would give them enough visibility to spot danger before it reached them."
Elizabeth's expression turned grim.
"But there's one problem with that."
She looked out across the endless black sea.
"Light didn't just help them see. It also helped everything else see them. That fire would've been like a beacon in this darkness."
Sunny remained silent, listening.
"As soon as they lit it, every Nightmare Creature nearby would've rushed toward them. And what they didn't realize is that the true horrors lurking beneath the sea are beyond anything they could imagine."
She let out a quiet sigh.
"So either they managed to put the fire out in time..."
Her voice grew quieter.
"...or they're already dead."
Sunny remained quiet, absorbing everything she'd said, before giving a slow nod.
"But why only seventy percent? Your reasoning's pretty solid."
Elizabeth sighed.
"Because there's still another possibility." She glanced toward where the light had disappeared. "It could've been a trap, just like you said. A Nightmare Creature that's intelligent and strong enough might use light to lure in prey. If that's the case, then anything that went to investigate would've walked straight into its jaws. So I'm not ready to dismiss that possibility."
Her smile returned as she looked at Sunny with a half serious expression.
"That's why tomorrow, we're going there."
Sunny's reaction was immediate. The color drained from his face.
"Are you crazy? You just said it could be a trap!"
Elizabeth nodded.
"It could be. But it could also be other Sleepers."
"But you also said they might already be dead! So what's the point of going?"
Elizabeth fell silent for a moment. Sunny wasn't wrong. It was a dangerous gamble.
But they couldn't stay here forever.
"I think we need to move," she said at last. "If we stay here, we might survive a while, but eventually we'll die of hunger or thirst. If we leave at first light, we can hunt for food, search for fresh water, and keep exploring. Even if we don't find the Sleepers, we'll still make progress."
She looked out across the endless black sea.
"Standing still is just another way of waiting to die. And we don't have much of a window before those Nightmare Creatures finish eating that corpse."
Sunny sighed and ruffled his dark hair before sitting down and settling back in to rest.
"I'll come back as a ghost and hunt you if we die."
Elizabeth chuckled.
"We'll both be dead."
After that, they stayed quiet through the rest of the night. Nothing eventful happened. Elizabeth made some progress in her water manipulation, though without a real source of water, she could only draw on her body's own fluids.
"Are you gonna use your pee, sis?"
Her brother's voice sounded in her head, and she sighed heavily. 'You know exactly what I mean.'
"Do I?"
She dismissed him and refocused on her manipulation, and so the night passed.
****
Morning soon came, and the sea receded once more.
Elizabeth found herself in the body of a fourteen year old, not as younger like the day before, which meant they could cover more ground before nightfall. Beside her, Sunny had slept through the entire night, only waking when the colossal stone statue began to tremble beneath them as the sea retreated.
As soon as the monsters returned to the carcass below, a few stragglers trailing behind the rest, Elizabeth and Sunny slipped over the edge of the platform and began climbing down. Elizabeth wasn't exactly an experienced climber, so she descended with careful, deliberate movements, testing every handhold and foothold before trusting her weight to it. One mistake on a climb this high would almost certainly be fatal.
When they reached the ground, she breathed out a sigh of relief and stretched. Sunny sent his shadow ahead to scout a clear, straight path to their destination, and to keep watch for any lone Nightmare Creature they might hunt down for soul shards and food.
They moved as quickly as they could. There was still a long distance to cover, and Elizabeth didn't want to imagine what would happen if the sea returned before they reached their destination, or found somewhere to shelter for the night.
As the hours passed, nothing attacked them. No Nightmare Creatures emerged from the shadows. With every uneventful step, Elizabeth found herself growing more grateful. The silence was unnerving, but she preferred it to the alternative.
Of course, she immediately regretted the thought. The next instant, [Destined Death] sent icy shivers racing down her spine. She froze for the briefest moment before flaring her senses outward to their limit, searching for the source of the danger.
Sunny, walking a few paces ahead of her, was heading straight toward it. The mud in front of him began to shift.
"Sunny! Look out!"
The warning snapped him into motion just as a massive pincer erupted from beneath the ground. It tore through the air with terrifying speed, passing within inches of him as it tried to split his body in half with one crushing strike.
Elizabeth threw herself sideways, putting distance between herself and the pincer. Sunny seemed to have the same instinct, already scrambling clear.
Unable to land its surprise attack, the creature finally revealed itself, hauling its bulk up out of the mud and casting a shadow over both of them. Its tiny eyes burned with rage, hunger, and malice.
"It's one of the Pincer monsters! What's it doing all the way out here?" she shouted.
"It's injured! that's why it's hiding!" Sunny called back. "Half its legs are broken, there are cracks running through its carapace, and it's missing one of its pincer arms!"
Elizabeth nodded and began circling the beast, keeping her stance low. This was a chance to study it, to learn how it moved and struck. An injured one would make that far safer than a healthy one.
But she didn't let her guard down. An injured beast was still a beast, and a cornered one was often the most dangerous kind.
Its attention, which had been fixed on Sunny, suddenly snapped toward her. The moment its black, beady eyes met her green ones. It let out a piercing screech and charged.
'What the hell? Did I just pull its aggro?'
She had no time to think. She threw herself sideways, just clearing the swing of its remaining pincer, and in that same motion spotted a loose joint at its shoulder where the carapace had cracked open. She hurled [Last Hope] at the gap with every ounce of strength she had, guiding its flight with [Float] to keep her aim true. The blade found its mark and sank in deep.
The creature let out a roar of pain, thrashing where it stood.
Sunny had already found a length of bone he could use as a spear and was creeping toward the beast's flank, silent, careful, angling for a sneak attack.
'Good.'
But the creature sensed him coming. One of its remaining scythe like legs whipped around toward him. Sunny threw himself aside just in time to dodge it. Elizabeth called [Last Hope] back to her hand with a thought, the dagger tearing free of the wound and returning to her palm in a blur. The injury had slowed the movement of its pincer, and both of them noticed it in the same instant.
Sunny broke for the side that had no pincer, aiming for its eye. Elizabeth surged forward from the opposite angle, speed born of pure power carrying her straight for its chest.
The creature seemed to sense the incoming attack and reacted instantly. It twisted its massive body, using its own momentum to swing the damaged pincer toward Sunny.
Sunny barely managed to raise the bone spear in time, bracing it like a shield. The impact was devastating. The spear bent under the force, and the sheer power behind the strike sent him flying backward, tumbling through the mud.
At the same moment, the creature's remaining legs shifted toward Elizabeth. The scythe-like limbs shot forward in a blur of jagged motion, cutting through the air as they rushed toward her.
Her reaction speed carried her through the gaps in its strikes, weaving between each lunge until she slipped inside its guard. She drove the dagger straight into its chest. The carapace there gave way instantly, offering no resistance at all.
The creature used whatever control it had left over its pincer to shove her aside. She was thrown into the air, twisting into a controlled roll before landing hard in the mud. The dagger remained lodged in its armor, and with a single mental command, she drove it deeper, further, toward where a heart would sit on a human torso.
The creature screamed, a raw, guttural sound that seemed to shake the mud beneath them.
For a few agonizing seconds, it struggled, its massive body thrashing as the blade continued its path through its flesh. Then, with a final burst of force, the weapon broke through the other side.
The beast suddenly went still.
A weak, almost pitiful whimper escaped from it before its enormous body finally collapsed into the mud.
Elizabeth suddenly heard the spell whisper in her ear.
[You have slain an awakened beast, Carapace Scavenger.]
[You have received a Memory: Azure Blade.]
[...A Sea Creature has been slain. You have acquired a Fragment of Heaven.]