Corpses. Corpses everywhere. Some dead. Some soon to be.
Shadows swirled. They stretched, they writhed. They spiralled around the devil, shrouding him in a lightless mantle never to be touched. And what happened when someone tried?
They collapsed. Limp. Listless. Lifeless.
The sound of heavy, dull fleshing hitting the snow blended melodically with the violin music, accentuating the devil's laughter, echoing like the crisp sound of crackling ice.
Sunny grinned, taking a step forward. Towards the blind oracle, who took a sharp breath as she stumbled backward.
The shadow approached, like a devil coming to reap what she owed.
Because the truth was... she knew Rain would die. And yet, she kept the knowledge to herself.
And yet... and yet...
She ground her teeth. 'It's not my fault.'
What good did it do last time? What good would it do now?
What good would it do if Neph died if she helped? What good would it do Sunny to be used and tossed aside?
Again?
What good would—
Swish.
A tangible, spiked blade of shadows lashed at her, barely grazing her cheek despite her future sight.
Cassie took a deep breath.
There was no time to regret.
She had to do this, even if it meant death.
She was afraid of what could happen if she told anyone... Forgotten Shore left her shaken.
Afraid.
What if Neph died if she helped her? Sunny was just sacrificed, tossed aside after being used, by her.
What right did she have?
Cassie's finger twitched, she had to do this, even if it meant death.
'Sunny...' she thought, finally looking at him, 'Why did it have to be like this?'
"Hey Sunny."
Suddenly she realised something... A detail she ignored.
She couldn't see what he saw.
Weaver's Mask blocked her.
'He is connected to Fate so deeply...'
Suddenly he laughed, and doing that inside Weaver's Mask only made it more terrifying.
Suddenly she felt pain. Her vision showed her, her death.
Cassie jumped up, barely avoiding an injury.
Another spike followed, and then another from the left facing the sky at a sharp angle, causing her to dodge right.
Sunny held a frown on his face, well it was behind the mask but she could tell. She knew him. The giveaway was that more chains erupted from the ground.
*Chains.*
What they were both binded with.
She dodged with another jump...
and then, suddenly she felt herself die.
Just as before, spikes emerged. But this time? From everywhere.
She had to escape to Dream Realm...
And that was exactly what she did.
She escaped and breathed a sigh of relief. She couldn't see herself die in the foreseeable seconds... Just about the time she could look ahead in.
Only that she died. She was killed by a tactirium stone knight...
'Saint.'
And that there was no way out... She was truly and utterly trapped.
Sunny paused as soon as Cassie left... She sealed her Fate when she decided to face him.
Next target was Nephis, he looked around curiously, keeping a hand above his eyes for more "playfulness".
'There she is.'
She was heading to the place where Dire Fang and Saint Tyris were fighting, and it seemed like Sky Tide was losing.
'Morons... Do they not realise if Winter Beast runs rampage, somehow escaping the area, they were dead?'
Maybe he did, infact, simply irrationally care since it couldn't escape.
It was most likely because he spent more time with Saint Tyris.
Well... That was war. Compromises.
Compromises which he refused to take.
Atleast killing Dire Fang would give him an Echo... He didn't know exact why he knew it but he could feel it.
Was it because of how much his weaving grew? He wasn't sure.
'Ah it's about to be Twilight soon.' He summoned the [Ring of Twilight] and wore it... It was still one
of the most complex weave he had seen, and couldn't learn.
Sunny [Shadow Stepped] right besides Fang, and using a shadow, pierced his neck with a spike.
[You have killed a Transcendent Beast.]
[You have recieved an echo.]
"Changing Star. Saint Sky Tide."
He nodded towards Sky Tide, the movement barely noticable.
Seeing his bloodshot eyes trained on Changing Star, she swiftly got the message.
This was between them. She wasn't part of this.
In other words...
'I need to leave.'
She had to survive for she was a Saint—a valuable asset for humanity, and she knew it. And yet, she also knew that he didn't care, seeing him slaughter Dire Fang before her eye.
"Trying to kill the girl you love, are you?" Sunny heard Sun of Solace speak, with a mocking grin, "Ah, young love, you just can't seem to move on."
"I mean really, you are more to blame than her, and you know it." It continued.
He had to think of him as it now.
'Shut up.'
"You truly are pathetic."
Shut up!
Shut up!
"I mean really, are you going to kill the last person you care about right now?"
"Shut the fuck up." Sunny roared, causing Neph to flinch.
He couldn't let Sin of Solace get in his way. No. Not today. He couldn't let it get to his head... They had to both go back in time. He needed to be close to her.
For that, she had to know how it felt to die. She needed to know what it felt like to lose someone she loved.
She needed to watch Cassie die.
She needed to suffer. To hurt. She needed to scream. To bleed. To cry.
To suffer.
Today would be the day the world lost Song of The Fallen. Today would be the world lost Changing Star. And today would be... today would be...
'Oh, fuck this.' He grinded his teeth, before forcing a smile.
The wind howled. All around her a voice whispered:
"Hello, Master."
All of those voices were Sunny's. The words were like venom, slow and burning as they seeped through her skin. The slave collar Sunny wore just amplified the pain, the ache, the... She didn't know but it hurt. Her heart ached.
shadows around him rose, and gave him the Shadow Spawn Shell, while Neph summoned a Memory to manipulate her body weight and speed.
It was visible in the weave.
Sunny sighed, he had to do it.
He needed to mask himself well enough for her to—hopefully—give up the fight.
'I hope I succeed...'
No. He would succeed.
Neph looked at him, seeing his Shadow Shell form around him, causing her to summon a Memory which helped her to decrease her weight.
Or rather... It let her control it.
It was similar to his [Mantle of Underworld]—or rather—his now attribute.
Mantle Shell.
It was one of the only few Memories which was similar to each other's. Her and Sunny.
"Do we... Do we really have to?" A shaky whisper escaped Nephis's lips, voice crackling like a fire fading into ash.
Sunny remained silent for a short moment, his eyes never leaving hers, before his lips parted:
"Yes." Another beat passed. "Rain died."
That was all he said before retreating to the suffocating silence.
'Does he really blame me for this?' she looked down towards her palms, and then clenched her fist.
She had to focus.
She had to live.
And she had to make sure Sunny survived.
She looked at Sunny's shadows and saw seven. He was a Titan.
'Did he become a Titan today?'
He had to.
THUNK. THUMP.
Suddenly a head appeared in the periphery of her vision... It was head with familiar features. It was Cassie's.
"Neph. Help me" Her voice sounded.
Neph allowed her mind to go blank, processing what she saw. Her eyes widened, a gasp escaping her lips, While Sunny simply stared at her, before raising his hands. Just as he did that—a shadow rose from behind her, and struck her legs.
Pain flared into her legs, snapping her out to reality.
She had to...
'No... He probably has a Memory that allowed him to do that... She couldn't be dead.'
She healed herself swiftly.
Nephis dashed towards him, her speed was faster than every Master... That is, excluding Sunny.
She felt rage.
Despair.
She failed to protect her friend.
'No, she is too smart to die.'
He was as quick as her.
Just as swift.
Sunny [Shadow Stepped] behind her, Neph turned around—predicting it—and blocked the slash on her now left.
CLANG! CLANG!
Then they exchanged a couple more blows, Neph being on defensive, often parrying his attacks.
Sunny—once again—used [Shadow Step] and appeared to her right.
The blow connected.
It healed.
Sunny laughed like a devil the whole time.
They, once again, exchanged a few blows. This time quicker.
More accurate.
More precise.
Their movement? More efficient.
They used just the right amount of force for everything.
Their slashes, from an outside perspective, would look like afterimages.
Light and Shadows danced.
Nephis desperately blocked, trying not to harm him.
Once again, a shadow roses from behind her, and grabbed her knees.
Sunny took advantage of the moment, and struck her shoulders... Only for it to connect to her sword instead.
She used another enchantment on her armor Memory and broke the shadow arm.
TSHWII
Tore it to shreds.
'No... Why's he doing this?'
Sunny was still laughing.
Now Sunny sacrificed his own arm, except that she didn't take it. Seemingly expecting that, the strike hit just below her shoulders.
Close, yet too far from her neck.
'What happened to him?'
Did she cause this?
She was hit once again, on her elbow this time.
Sunny effortlessly danced around the battlefield.
She had a disadvantage on the ground right now.
There was a drawback though: she didn't know how to fight in the air. She was yet to practice aerial combat, something she planned on doing.
'I'll have to adapt...'
"Is there no other way?" Neph asked, while secretly summoning a Memory.
Sunny grinned, "And what if there is? The only other way has the least probable outcome for success..." He struck her knee with a shadow.
Neph, now having summoned the Memory, flew up.
The Memory summoned allowed her to either fly or to glide. She couldn't control her direction if she flew.
Sunny was out of essence, when he suddenly heard a loud commanding voice.
"STOP."
It—it was hard to resist.
'Kai...'
What did he want?
Did Effie not pass his warning?
"Sunny... Stop." Effie pleaded, her voice sounding as if... As if it were Sunny who was killing her. She was asking this for Neph who he was fighting.
Why?
'Why'd they have to appear now?'
When he was so close... Finally about to accomplish what he set out to. He thought he was rid of all the distractions, so why now?
Why couldn't they have been there back on Forgotten Shore... Back in the spire, instead?
They had to have came here when they saw the Star and Shadow fight.
"Effie..." Sunny grinned, a maniacal and twisted grin. He took a step towards her, readying his sword.
"Don't you have a child?" The voice sounded as if a cold icicle pierced her skin.
Effie froze.
Trembled where she stood, a droplet of sweat appearing on her forehead.
Sunny, ofcourse, couldn't bring himself to hurt a child. Let alone, an unborn one.
Even if he wished to never be born, it was a cruel fate for people with hope. People like him... People like him were better off with that fate compared to people like her child.
Sunny looked up at the sky and realised:
'It is Twilight now.'
"Kai... Shouldn't you help Effie recover?"
Kai too, felt his fist clenched.
'What happened to him? Since when did he threaten people like that?' Kai thought with a shiver. It felt... It felt as if a ship he was on was starting to sink. Because of him.
Sunny felt his essence recover.
Effie, once again, trembled.
Sunny's voice was laced with venom.
"Effie... Calm down. We both know he won't hurt you." Kai looked at Sunny now. For confirmation. For hope.
"I certainly hope not." Sunny looked at him back, with a twisted grin, taking another step towards her.
It was a grin which came naturally... Only that it wasn't.
Sunny couldn't bring himself to threaten anyone like that.
They both, still, stood there.
Why?
Why did they stay?
He threatened Effie's child.
It made no sense.
Not to him. Not to someone like him... No one ever stod by his side. Stayed with him.
Aside from Master Jet, no one stood with him.
"Leave." Nephis commanded, looking down towards Kai, with a nod.
"Help the others to survive... I'll fight him. He will survive. With me."
They did as she told, but not without hesitation... Not without constantly looking back.
Sunny's essence almost regenerated.
He grinned, again a twisted one. Psychopathic.
"Thanks to them, my essence regenerated."
Shadow spikes formed around him, and suddenly they were all propelled towards Neph.
Nephis looked at the spikes. She had to run.
She quickly glided downwards, barely doging the spikes, except two of them. One struck her right arm, and the other? Her left leg.
She stumbled, almost falling down.
Suddenly, she saw Sunny, right below her.
He was climbing atop pillars of shadows.
And right now, he was stranded on air. A state which combat masters avoided, knowing a blow couldn't be dodged from there.
She had to kick him down... Had to do anything she could...
Anything to make the fight stop...
Anything to not hurt him, all the while not using [Shadow Bond].
She was too slow.
He dodged her kick by shadow stepping from a manifested shadow, and punched her.
She was lucky.
Lucky that there was no space for the sword.
The single thing she had to survive was the fall and making sure Sunny couldn't kill her...
She had to find Cassie.
"Cassie..." She spoke suddenly, still falling.
Still stalling for time.
Time to escape.
"Is she alive?"
Sunny's flaw would compel him to answer:
"No. She's dead." He replied nonchalantly.
That was her chance, she glided away, barely dodging an arrow which Sunny now used.
'How did he do that? Was it a Memory that could change weapons?'
Suddenly she remembered Serpent.
It was then she realised.
He was unarmed at the moment.
She moved towards him again, barely managing to propel herself in air, and struck his face.
'Ouch.'
Sunny, somehow unaffected by her augmented punch, grinned and held the tool she used to fly.
[Your Memory has been destroyed.]
She fell... And against all odds, lived.
She barely summoned the [Undying Chain].
She quickly healed herself, and changed the Memory again.
Something was off about Sunny's face though... Was he... relived?
No. She was imagining it, but still... Still she felt herself asking it anyways.
"Do you not want to kill me?"
"I want to kill you." Sunny replied, as he landed on the ground besides her. He descended like an angel of death, holding a sword just like those few webtoons she'd read.
She sighed... Should she give up?
Let him have his revenge?
Maybe... Maybe she deserved it.
'No. I'm Changing Star. I can't die. I have to kill those three ghouls.'
But... Wasn't Sunny too far gone?
Didn't the world need one hero? She didn't, exactly, care about that... But being one would mean her revenge would be over.
Who better to carry that out than her crush?
Her first comrade?
'No... I can't.' She struggled to stand up once again. She had to live.
Sunny, walked towards her, and she felt as if she was in presence of a reaper. She felt a chill running down her spine.
She continued struggling to stand up, finally finding her body healed.
She could still fight... Just not like before. She was low on essence.
"Let's test our skills now. Just skills. No tricks. Just our dormant abilities."
Neph raised her sword, making sure determination was still present on her face.
Even if—even if she was tired.
Tired of everything. She tightened the grip around her blade, holding it firmly.
They, once again, started fighting.
Their swords still curved with precisions.
Their strikes? They were still with minimal effort and maximum result.
Their movements were graceful, and looked like a beautiful and deadly dance.
A Dance of Light and Shadows.
All around them, people stopped fighting.
They looked at the two fight.
They watched. Watched in silence.
CLANG! CLANG!
Their swords clashed, the voices echoed everywhere.
They were swift.
And finally, when everyone thought no one would win...
Sunny's blow connected.
Nephis stared at her... She could heal herself but did she want to?
The twisted smile on Sunny's face hurt.
Hurt her.
But if she had to die... What would happen to Sunny next?
She knew she needed him to live.
She knew she couldn't hurt him... Even if he rejected her.
Without thinking, her sword connected to Sunny's shoulders making him bleed...
He probably had a Memory to survive but before she could think about...
There was a sudden shift in the world... Three Category Four gates opened, but for the two of them?
Sunny and Nephis.
"This time... this time save Rain"
Those were the last words she heard before the world turned white.
Sunny activated his Memory, [Re Route] just on time.
He masked himself well enough.
Across the battlefield, Kai held Effie, comforting her when the gate opened.
Somewhere else, Mordret looked down at Morgan, ready to kill her, when the world suddenly trembled.
Mordret grinned.
Elsewhere, Steve looked towards where Sunny and Nephis were fighting.
'So... This is the world they left behind huh?'
For him... He knew everything. Even his Memory.
[Re Route].
[End of Volume One: Always Hated Goodbyes]
Author's Note: So, the volume finally ended... Anyways I might do a version where this world is continued, and sunphis fail their regression, thus the other characters try to survive nm dessert and stuff... Maybe**
**Only thing: the vol 1 would be same and I would be re writing the first few chapters (oc takes the mc role)**
**Also, for a few chapters pretend the following lines existed, it will be there after the re write (or something along those lines anyways):
DURING FALCON SCOTT CHAPTER (around the end):
Sunny remembered thinking—thinking it was easy to say goodbye.
Thinking he could happily say goodbye to people
"Is this karma? If so then it's a bitch" Sunny looked up...
SOMEWHERE IN CHAPTER ONE:
People said that saying goodbye is the hardest thing... That it hurts.
Sunny looked down, staring at his hands:
'I want nothing more than to say goodbye to her...'
As for why the chapter took long? Stuff happened irl, which I would rather not mention here (and my pr having college)
As for chapter goals? Can we get more Webnovel reviews? 20 votes on Wattpad (oh try reaching 15 votes on the previous chapters too) and 115 kudos on AO3 along ith 95 hearts on discord thread