The huntress looked at the grandiose cathedral with doubt.
"Here? You live here?"
Sunny shrugged and slowly started to walk again.
"What can I say? I have a weak spot for ancient temples…"
...
Sunny told her about the Black Knight who guarded the cathedral.
The unruly huntress scratched the back of her head.
"So… there's a Fallen Devil inside? He's the roommate you were talking about?"
Sunny gave her a nod.
"The bastard endlessly patrols the ground floor and kills anything that comes through the doors. However, if we enter through the roof and stay hidden, we can reach my living quarters without any problem. More than that, nothing will bother us once we're there, because the bastard never comes that way and obliterates anything that tries."
Effie was silent for a while, then grinned.
"So, you basically have a devil for a butler. Pretty smart…"
Here it comes…
"…for a doofus like you."
'Doofus, huh? It's been quite a long time since I heard that...'
...
One week later.
Nephis and her companions appeared from the ruins, Cassie sitting on the carapace scavenger echo that Sunny had given her before.
Then everything went the same as last time. They talked about killing the Fallen Devil of the cathedral, he gave souls shards to them and all.
Their new journey began… except it was not new.
...
It was hard for Nephis and Sunny. Not hard because it was difficult, but hard… because it was too easy.
Both had to be careful not to handle everything by themselves. If they did, it would halt the cohort's strength and experience.
Anyway, it was not new for them to control their strength. If they didn't know how to control it, then… fifty percent of the strongest Saints would have been dead in the original timeline.
They were currently on a high cliff above the labyrinth.
It was slowly getting dark, so they were resting after a full day of traveling and now cooking some meat.
Sunny sat against a hard stone as he took in the labyrinth's eerie yet breathtaking view.
A smile blossomed on his face.
'This is going to be all mine again~'
Caster, on the other side of the cliff, was training. Effie and Nephis were cooking. Cassie… just sat in the middle of the cliff, deep in thought. And Kai… approached Sunny.
He sat down next to him and tilted his head.
"What are you smiling about?"
The treacherous shadow lingered for a moment before smiling again. "Ohh, nothing. Just thinking about how I will rule this land like I used to rule it with my soldiers!"
Kai simply...nodded and looked away while murmuring something like, "Psychologist… I need to take him to one… if we." Some shit like that.
Sunny chuckled and looked away, his gaze drifting toward the cooking spot.
Effie caught his gaze and winked.
Though of course it had no effect on the small femboy, he already used to it.
But suddenly his eyes widened.
'Wait.'
Slowly, a realization dawned on him.
'If Neph and I change the timeline when in future saving Antarctica, then… what would happen to Ling Ling?!'
If both of them messed with the Antarctica events, then it was highly likely that it could affect how Effie and Ling's dad encountered each other and everything else.
Of course, it was not a big thing to stop two people from meeting for the sake of saving millions of people, but…
Sunny sighed.
'Anyway, we'll probably tell them everything about our last life before Antarctica breaks out. Before that, we might reveal everything, including telling Effie about her actual destined future… then she will decide what to do with that information.'
...
The cohort finally reached the edges of Hollow Mountain. They explored and found a giant skeleton. They approached it and saw… a grave under if .
Cut into the stone by unknown means, a single sentence was left behind on the unmarked grave.
"Her nightmare is over."
Sunny sighed.
This was one of the first Lord Cohort members who had tragically perished here, along with others.
Last time, he didn't know the names of his and his cohort members.
This was the name of the person whose grave this was. This time, Nephis had asked people who had been on the Forgotten Shore since the beginning, as well as those who had heard the names from previous people.
So, this time, he knew.
'...Leley, Karl, Lufia, Herald, and Sora.'
All the first Lord Cohort members, and Sora, the First Lord himself. It was a real tragedy that all of them had died. They could have become incredibly strong Awakened, maybe on the same level as the Fire Keepers' champions, if not more—especially Sora himself.
They didn't have much time to stay there. The fog started to roll in, so with heavy hearts they tried to find the way forward.
...
The running water was black as ink, but not in the same way the waves of the cursed sea had been. There was no smell of salt in the air. Wisps of mist rose above the surface of the subterranean river, swirling in the silent darkness.
It looked like a boundary of the Underworld.
There was a stone pillar built on the shore, and tied to it, a beautiful boat made of pale wood swayed gently on the cold black surface of the dark river.
Their boat slowly sailed through the blank ink. Some time passed, and the boat finally scraped against stone. Another boat was parked there. Sunny jumped onto the pier and tied the rope around the stone pillar. Then he helped the others disembark.
Everyone's eyes were tightly shut under their blindfolds as they slowly followed Sunny inside the harrowing tunnel.
Soon, the tunnel turned into a maze of wide passages, all filled with nothing but mist and silence.
Then, as Sunny expected… a presence. Right in front of them, he felt the presence of a shadow that was different from all the others.
A human shadow.
...
He had already accepted and taken the four lonely, lost shadows into the embrace of shadows.
Soon, the sound of rushing water reached his ears. Some time later, they came to the shore of another subterranean river.
They had reached the second boundary.
Sunny already knew it was safe, but he took measurements from Cassie again to make sure.
After Cassie confirmed it was safe, they finally crossed the bridge. With another positive signal from her, the cohort finally untied their blindfolds, their bodies relaxing a bit.
They were standing on a stone shore inside a vast cave through which the underground river flowed unobstructed.
Everyone's attention quickly shifted to the same point.
Just a few meters away from them, on the shore of the dark river, a human skeleton. It was sitting on the cold stones, its back straight, facing the water.
On its skull rested a thin strip of light metal like a humble crown.
The First Lord, Sora, as everyone knew. He was the reason the people on the Forgotten Shore were safe and alive.
A deep sigh escaped from Nephis.
Again, it was a real shame that he had died here, alongside his friends. He could have been a great help to humanity.
Sora, judging by his achievements, had the potential to become a Saint—not an ordinary one, but a high-tier Saint. On the same level as some of the Song Sisters, if not more.
He could have been one of the pillars of humanity.