The entirety of the cohort, with the exception of Ray, who was still fighting off the black feathery wings, continued discussing this next step.
That step would also be one of the last ones, before they would finally confront the third bright lord, Gunlaug.
Only a few days separated them from the fateful confrontation.
For now, though, they would still need to fight a fallen devil, because one of them had a personal grudge with it.
Sunny then began to highlight any information, he had been able to gather, in the months of living close to it. When everything was said, they began discussing their strategy.
By this point, Ray had finally subdued the feathery appendages, and also listened in on the discussion. Hearing the information provided, he also had his own thoughts about what one might can do against it, before a thought appeared in his mind.
Since he was already in a somewhat irritated mood, he simply voiced it, without filter, "Say, are all hands needed for this? Or, can I take care of something else?"
The discussion stopped nearly instantly, and everyone turned their gazes towards him. Some more judgmental or disappointed, than others.
"And what would that 'something else' be?" Nephis asked, somewhere between indifferent and accusatory.
He just shrugged, "I don't know, yet. But, there is surely something i'd rather do, than get myself, or someone else here gutted alive. I mean, someone here already made that experience. Didn't you, Sunny."
From one moment to the other, the accusatory looks quickly changed to shocked looks, which turned into the direction of Sunny, who in turn glared at him with a cold look in his eyes.
"As a matter of fact, yes, I have. How about it, don't you want to feel it too, or are you, in fact, too scared to even stand before that bastard?" a few seconds, after Ray had just made his challenge, Sunny already retorted in a similar manner.
'Keep it in... just a bit longer...'
"Whatever, if someone like you survived an encounter with that thing, then it can't be too strong, can it? So, for the record, i'm in." Ray shrugged, before averting his attention again.
Nephis threw a look at each of them, before simply continuing, with what they had been discussing about, before it escalated, all of a sudden. Though, not before giving Sunny another long look.
---
Ray's mood had been down, ever since what happened a week ago.
Their journey back had taken them nearly three months, the first two of which he had been amassing fragments with unmatched efficiency.
As for the third month, there, Ray had begun to be more careful with killing Nightmare creatures, since he was already very close to the mark, but did not want to fill it up, just yet.
In his mind, the perfect moment for it, would've been when they were finally back in the dark city, or at the very least, when they were in relative safety, with him preferably being as far away from Sunny, and Caster as possible.
Unfortunately, they had encountered a sudden nest of nightmare creatures, and while Ray was still careful with his kills, and instead opted for a more support-oriented style, for the moment, his Puppet, seemingly had other plans for him, not that it had any own sentience.
Due to a single order, which he hadn't completely thought through, was the counter filled, and he underwent another transformation, right there. In the middle of the fight.
Of course, as soon as it started, he gave the Puppet another quick order, which was to protect him, under any circumstances, but immediately after that, extreme pain, once again, filled the entirety of his body.
This time, he barely kept his screams muffled, as he tried concentrating on whatever would take his mind off the pain.
An interesting thing, about this time's transformation, was that it wasn't the same pain, he had felt the last time.
If the first time had been akin to being skinned alive, before having another layer put on top of the revealed flesh, then this one, was as if every damn bone in his body was crushed to pieces, only to get put together moments later, slightly different.
This process of destruction, and regeneration had taken the remained of the fight, and even a bit, beyond that. And the worst of it, he had received two very sassy, and annoying black wings for it.
Something he never wanted to even dream about having. Due to this, his mood had taken a nose-dive, and he began picking fights whenever he felt like it.
Of course, only with Sunny and Caster.
After that transformation, his runes had also changed again, before something else occurred, which literally denied him access to them, once more.
Therefore, the only thing Ray could do; was wait, until whatever happened this time, was over, and his runes would be accessible again.
---
Early the next morning, just after the dark sea had finally receded into whatever hell hole it had come from, the cohort moved out.
The last time, they needed to take an enormous detour, through the crater, due to escaping through the catacombs.
This time, they could simply walk directly towards the walls. It would be close to a miracle, if there was anyone from the host in these part, the day they would return.
Nevertheless, they all remained cautious. Even if there was no sudden ambush waiting for them, they would still enter a place full of nightmare creatures of the fallen rank, and navigate through it to get to one of the most deadly ones of them.
Regardless, the way back into the city was quiet, and mostly uneventful, though, with their current formation, they could basically notice any disturbance, and get around it, if they wanted to.
After all, with two people scouting from the air, while one scouted on the ground, with another one being one of the most, if not the most experienced huntress of the dark city. One should also not forget their blind seer, who could warn them, of anything unorthodox.
Therefore, it was nearly a given that their way in, and the navigation through the winding streets went relatively smoothly, and they reached the cathedral, only a few hours later.
---
Right now, all seven of them, along with their three echoes, were standing just outside of the darkness, which permeated through the entirety of the first floor of the cathedral.
"Remember; we need to keep it away from the darkness, and aim for the bastard's sword." Sunny gave a last reminder, before walking towards the darkness, closely followed by his shadow saint, and Nephis, on each side of him.
Both of them would play vital roles in this battle, and the young man had basically declared that he was the only one allowed to kill the nightmare creature. When he said that, he especially gave Ray a look.
Being one of the last people to move, Ray sighed, and threw one look towards his halberd, which had been with him, the entirety of the last week, before looking over to his echo.
It was somewhat infuriating, the red-haired young man seemed to have gained a similar attribute to Kai, which allowed both of them to always look striking. Even the memories in his hands had an extra shine to them.
All that, while his Halberd was already growing chipped, and his armor battered, since they had been unable to rest in the healing space of his soul sea for the past few days.
'Whatever, he will get hit, not me...'
Finishing his last thoughts, Ray also finally entered the hall of darkness, which moments later was a hall of brightness, after Nephis had activated her ability; igniting her sword, and turning it into a incandescent white.
The second, the light permeated every corner of the hall, something appeared, their target for today's hunt; the knight.
Nearly the same instant, the knight appeared, their vanguard jumped into action. Sunny, the Saint, Nephis were closing in, while Effie got closer from another side, her spear and shield at the ready.
'Get me an opening...'
Leaving the order, Ray erased his presence with his dormant ability, and left it to the Puppet to act, which it did, merely a few steps behind the others. These few steps made a difference, though, as the knight wouldn't let itself get cornered, as easily as they had hoped.
The instant they closed in on him, he retaliated, choosing the lone target; Effie.
Moments later, their tall huntress was nearly catapulted outside of the cathedral, through the giant hole in the wall, only coming to a stop a few meter from where Cassie and Kai were.
The charming archer let loose an arrow, hitting the slit in the visor, mostly by pure luck, just to make sure, of the non-weakness.
It became relatively apparent that this was not a weakness, when the knight simply turned to the other Vanguards again, acknowledging the arrow only with the action, of snapping it in two.
As Sunny, Saint and Nephis reached him, the knight seemed to remain still for a second, before eventually moving again, this time directly towards Neph.
"It can't get into the darkness! Keep the light up, and remain close, then we will be able to cause actual damage to it!" Sunny shouted, as Saint positioned herself in front of their 'Lightbearer', taking the first blow for her, before she was sent skidding over the floor.
Even as Sunny, and Caster reached the knight, nearly at the same time, its focus seemed to not waver too much, and after a swing at both of them, it lunged forward towards Nephis again.
This time, there was also another light source, coming from an incoming red-haired young man. It wasn't nearly as bright, but still seemed to irritate the fallen creature, apparent through the shift in its attention, for just a moment.
Then, too fast to even react to it, it swung its sword towards the approaching young man, cutting open the stomach of it, with brutal efficiency.
All of the others winced, when they saw the ease the sword required to get through the echo's armor, and cut him open.
The echo itself, though, did not stop moving, and instead seemed to radiate steam from the wound on his abdomen, as it closed in even more, getting right into the personal space of the knight, who let go of his two-handed sword, with his left hand, and swung at the persistent echo, hitting it squarely in the face, and sending it flying.
'Perfect.'
The moment the motion began slowing down, Ray appeared behind the creature, while already swinging his halberd. This time, though, not with the axe-side, but instead the blunt side.
Even, as the knight began moving again, trying to get away from the surprise attack, it was too late. The next moment, it was already pushed to the middle of the hall, due to the strength of a demon, with which Ray had swung his weapon.
'Guess the transformation had its pros...' he thought, as he immediately run after it.
Their plan seemed rather simple; keep the light going, and stop him from entering any corner, before starting an assault from all directions.
The first step had been initiated, the moment the fight started, and the second also finally worked.
Once in the middle of the hall, the fallen knight was already forced to engage with Saint and Nephis, who both kept the pressure up. From time to time, though, it seemed as if Nephis needed to step back, while Saint simply fought on, displaying a level of weapon mastery, no one of them had achieved yet.
It got to the point that the fight between the two equally taciturn creatures got so heated that no member of the cohort could get close, without risking to get gutted, or straight up cut in two.
Ray also only then noticed that Sunny had disappeared after his first attack...
Moments later, he found out why, as a huge mass of old, and broken stone was falling in his direction...