Sunny stood ten meters from Master Roan, his hand raised, ready to summon his weapon. But the suspicious Master Roan spoke.
"What's wrong, Sunless? Is this how you greet me after a whole month of absence?"
Sunny laughed loudly, as if he had heard the funniest thing in existence.
"You're a horrible liar, you abomination. Tell me, why are you hiding behind that shell? That face of yours makes me nauseous."
Master Roan's smile stiffened, and the emptiness in his eyes deepened, turning into a cold killing intent. A black ōdachi as tall as Sunny appeared in his hand, and he looked at the abomination with contempt.
The abomination shifted form, taking Sunny's own Form.
"I knew it was you, Beastie."
The reflection didn't speak but stepped into the shadows in an attempt to appear behind Sunny and surprise him—but Sunny was ready. He struck behind him just as the reflection emerged, breaking its nose. The reflection recovered quickly and stepped back a few paces from Sunny.
"Hurts, doesn't it? Do you think I don't know how to kill myself? I've done it before, and I've no problem doing it again."
Sunny stepped into the shadows, then clashed blades with the reflection. The ground beneath them shattered, and the reflection was forced a step back under the weight of the overwhelming force. That didn't mean Sunny had been unaffected—if not for the Boneweave, his bones might've broken.
Sunny swung his blade swiftly and struck the reflection's weapon with such force that it sent its arms flying back. He then kicked toward the shin—but struck only air. The reflection smirked wickedly, then brought its blade down toward Sunny's foot.
Sunny instantly turned into a shadow, reappearing dozens of meters away, gritting his teeth in frustration. The reflection was nearly his equal, and he was already tired from the long journey and the constant drain on his shadow essence since the Ebony Tower. So he summoned the Saint, the serpent, and the crab.
A black serpent over sixty meters long with a giant mouth wide enough to swallow a vehicle appeared, hissing loudly and unleashing an indescribable pressure of killing intent at the reflection. When two of Sunny's shadows slid toward it, the pressure multiplied. The Saint stood with her back resting against the serpent's hard scales, holding her stone sword touching the ground, staring at the reflection with cold indifference.
The crab clicked its pincers and stomped the ground happily upon seeing the reflection, as if it had found long-awaited revenge. The reflection trembled and stepped into the shadows, attempting to flee the deadly threat—but as its body turned to shadow, another shadow moved swiftly toward it and struck, throwing it out of the darkness.
The reflection was thrown into the grass, panting in pain. It stepped into the shadows again to flee—but the same shadow that attacked before lunged at it, wielding a shadow weapon. It struck the reflection's shadow but was met with a shadow blade in return, stabbing it in the leg.
Sunny rolled across the grass next to the reflection, and the Saint's blade came crashing down upon it—but it barely dodged.
"Ahh, you bastard, that really hurts… but you're going to die."
The crab grabbed the reflection, which struggled to push away the massive shadow claw. Barely escaping with the power of an ascended Devil, the reflection was met with a gaping mouth wide enough to swallow a vehicle. The serpent bit down on its arm and half its side, effortlessly piercing through the surface of its genuine cloak. The reflection let out an inhuman scream of agony and moved into the shadows in one last desperate attempt to escape.
Sunny couldn't stop it—he was close to essence exhaustion and didn't have enough left to attack the reflection inside the shadows.
Then came a bird's scream that swept across the entire Iron Fist Island, sending chills down Sunny's spine and making all his shadows raise their heads toward the sky. Even the reflection emerged dozens of meters away, missing half its side and its left arm.
In the sky, coming from Noctis Sanctuary, a giant phoenix flapped its massive wings toward Sunny and the reflection. When its gaze fell on Sunny, he felt the crushing pressure of its gaze's weight. Then the phoenix shifted its gaze to the reflection—and swooped down.
It was as if the air itself supported the phoenix's assault—its speed surged. In a flash, the phoenix covered the distance, extended its talons, and in an instant crushed the reflection into shards.
The ground shattered, cracks spreading a hundred meters around the impact, and Stones were flung in all directions. Sunny turned into a shadow to avoid the flying debris, then released his shadows.
The phoenix transformed into a woman wearing armor that reflected sunlight, with a blue cape fluttering behind her. Her face bore a cold, silent expression as she looked at Sunny.
"Oh, hello, Saint Tyris. Thank you for helping me kill that monster. He would've escaped without your help."
The cold Saint didn't speak. She continued staring at Sunny, which made him slightly uneasy. When he opened his mouth to speak again, Saint Tyris spoke quietly.
"Follow me to the sanctuary."
After returning to the fortress, Sunny found himself in the inner quarters of the White Feather clan. He was placed in a reception room with a cup of tea while waiting for… something unknown.
"This is a great way to treat a tired man who just returned from a long journey."
Sunny waited in the room for a while, then turned his head toward one of the back doors when he heard footsteps and sensed the shadows of those approaching. Master Roan entered with Saint Tyris, and they sat in the seats opposite him.
Worry showed on Sunny's face when he saw Master Roan's condition—the man looked pale and exhausted, with sweat beading his forehead. Sunny asked with clear concern:
"Master Roan, are you okay?"
Master Roan spoke in a hoarse voice.
"No, not really. You're the one who did this to me, Sunless—or rather, not exactly you, but your lookalike."
"It's the same creature that Saint Tyris killed, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is. Eight Awakened disappeared four weeks after your departure. They vanished near Judgment Island. So I went to investigate. I found their corpses inside the island, and there… I met the strange creature. At first, I saw it as a fast-moving shadow. Then it appeared before me—a replica of you. So I paused to speak."
Master Roan paused, catching his breath, then continued.
"I said to it, 'Are you Sunless?' But it didn't reply. So I asked why it was acting that way—and then it attacked me. I barely reacted in time, but not before I was injured. The wound was nothing… but after two days, a vile influence began to overtake my soul, draining my vitality."
"I'm sorry for that, Master Roan… and you too, Saint Tyria. I found out that this creature lives on Judgment Island, and I meant to kill it after my journey—but I think my actions provoked it, causing it to take my form and attack the Awakened."
The cold Saint replied to his words:
"And what exactly did you do to provoke it?"
"It's related to my journey… and honestly, I don't want to reveal that now. Maybe later. But I swear it doesn't threaten the safety of the chain islands or the White Feather clan."
Saint Tyris nodded, while Master Roan stood up weakly and began walking toward the back door.
"Farewell, Saint Tyris… and you too, Master Roan."
Sunny returned to the waking world. Fortunately, his body had been asleep the whole time, so he wasn't physically tired—but mentally, he was. He rose from the capsule, opened the cellar door, and made his way to the ground floor—and the scene there left him speechless.
Effie was sitting on one of the couches, food bags scattered all across the floor. That wasn't what bothered him. What did, was the hole in the wall separating the rooms. Effie turned her gaze from the reception screen and spoke:
"Dofus! You're back! I missed you, man. You need to bring more food home. The princess went to the Dream Realm last night and hasn't come back yet, so you need to buy food before I starve!"
"You're not serious… are you?"
Effie gave him a weird, skeptical expression and said:
"I am. Why? You don't look tired, so you have no excuse."
"Oh no, not tired at all. Not after falling into nothingness for a month, then bathing in an ocean of Divine flames, landing on a demon-forged island, and swallowing a god's finger. No, not tired at all."
Effie burst out laughing, oblivious to the truth in his words. If Kai had been here, he might've had a heart attack.
"Listen, shorty, you're supposed to help helpless people. Don't you know anything about ethics?"
Sunny surrendered to Effie's questionable logic, then after showering and changing into fresh clothes, he left the house. He moved through the noisy city and looked up at one of the advertisement screens. On it was a picture of Nephis and Sunny. He cursed under his breath at the sight—he never liked being famous.
"Maybe I should just die soon…"
He reached a nearby store close to his neighborhood and walked in. The store was crowded—after all, there were four residential districts nearby, making its location highly desirable.
Everyone's gaze fell on Sunny as he entered. His presence was impossible to miss—his abyssal eyes danced with shadows, and his muscles carved themselves into his shirt. He heard whispers from nearby girls, but he ignored them and began grabbing everything he needed in large quantities.
From ready meals to snacks, alcoholic drinks to energy drinks, and then meat, baked goods, and vegetables.
"I probably look like someone planning to hole up for a year… but Effie will finish all this in two weeks."
Sunny moved through the aisles, filling his third cart, when his eyes fell on a girl with unhealthy, pale skin, raven-black hair, and eyes like his. With her was a woman with brown-haired and pale skin. And her shadow was acting weird.