'This…'
Sunny suddenly felt a chill creep through his being.
The images were quite foreboding. Normally such a thing might not be a cause for concern, but… the image just kept showing up, as if it were a bygone conclusion.
'I… should I just run? Is this even worth it anymore?'
Serpent shifted once more, now in the form of the Great Spirit Gatherer.
Twisting its head, Serpent gazed at the barrier surrounding the city.
'Not happening.'
With the senses of the soul consuming vulture, Sunny could at least somewhat glean the purpose of the barrier.
'It prevents souls from leaving.'
If he had left a shadow outside the city, he likely could've left, but… he didn't. All of his shadows had been gathered for the final battle. If he tried to leave now, his body could likely pass through it, but his soul would be left behind, effectively killing him.
'...Guess it's another battle to the death.'
Just then, Sunny felt something land on his back, or rather, Serpent's back.
Immediately, Serpent changed forms once more, the lumbering vulture vanishing. In its place, Solvane fell through the sky.
Manifesting himself as wings, Sunny flapped and turned Serpent around to get a look at their attacker.
'There you are…'
Noctis was falling through the air above him, arms at his side. Now though, something seemed to be on his back.
'What the…'
A strange spider-like creature was on his back, its purpose unknown. All Sunny could tell was that it seemed to be another one of Noctis' creations, except this one only had four Transcendent cores rather than seven.
Sunny felt Serpent's alien mind churn, and through their connection he could feel what it wanted. With a flap of its wings, Serpent flew straight towards Noctis.
Noctis awkwardly attempted to dodge, but Serpent's fist landed square in the center of his chest. Just before Serpent could land another blow, Noctis' form exploded into countless white sparks, the spider on his back transforming as well.
Sunny grinned as he felt Serpent transform as well. As it was mostly using human forms, Sunny did not feel a strain on his mind just yet.
An obsidian dragon appeared in the sky, streams of black flames erupting immediately at the white sparks. Scores of them evaporated immediately as they attempted to flee. Just then however, two shadows shot towards them from below, causing Serpent to turn its breath away from Noctis to incinerate the two Sailor Dolls below instead. The wooden wings that sprouted from their backs cracked and broke apart as they fell back to the city below.
Seeing that the two Sailor Dolls were effectively crippled for now, Serpent turned back towards Noctis, who was weakly coalescing back into his human form.
But before it could do anything, an arrow covered in flame cracked against its obsidian scales.
'Who-?'
"Lord Noctis, I am here to help!"
If Sunny had a mouth, he would've groaned in annoyance.
A man flew towards them, flames erupting from his heels propelling him into the sky.
'You're joking.'
Sunny had never seen him, but he recognized his shadow. It was one of Sevras' goons, Knight Cirn.
With a flick of its tail, Serpent sent a harsh gale towards him, knocking him out of the sky.
'They must've discovered Sevras and Semos' bodies by now.'
Sunny sighed.
He completely understood where they were coming from, but… they were in his way. If the man got close, he'd kill him without a second thought.
Noctis seemed to realise it too as he finally coalesced into his human form, his voice booming across the sky.
"Stay out of the way. You'll only be a burden."
Flapping its wings, Serpent shot towards Noctis once more, flames erupting from its maw. Sunny prepared the obsidian knife from within the shadows.
Noctis was cornered. In his human form, Solvane would take care of him, and in his transformed state Sevras would destroy him. He couldn't even reach the ground safely anymore.
The sorcerer was a cunning and dangerous beast, but Sunny was just as cunning and just as dangerous. But he was no fool either, if it hadn't been daytime, he wouldn't have even tried to fight him. Perhaps Noctis knew that too.
Just before the flames engulfed him, Noctis threw one of his sickles forward.
'Dodge!'
Immediately, Serpent shifted into Aranea to minimize its surface area.
A second later, the sickle exploded.
Sunny felt the shockwave wash over them, agitating his soul and causing his essence to move strangely.
'Wha…'
Before Serpent could shift its form again, the other sickle came flying towards them, embedding itself into its forearm.
BOOM!
The sickle exploded at point blank range.
Had Sunny been in his human form, he could've simply Shadow Stepped out of the way, but unfortunately, he wasn't. Serpent was far too heavy for him to even try.
The explosion struck both of them.
'A-Aghh!'
Sunny was immediately thrown out of the shadows, and Serpent's Formless ability was neutralized. Both of them were thrown out of the sky in their true bodies, falling to the city below.
***
Noctis grinned.
'Got him.'
Taking a deep breath to soothe his tattered soul, he let himself fall to the ground below. Watching closely, he saw the colossal serpent crash into the city below, destroying an entire square with its immense mass.
'I'll get that one later… the bastard will be first.'
Feeling for his Sailor Dolls, he sent them a message telepathically.
'He's landed at that tree, seize him.'
Just as he was about to slam into the ground, Noctis transformed into a sea of white sparks, breaking his fall.
"Goodness, using this transformation so many times… I'm nearly out of essence!"
That pretender had given him quite the run for his money, but unfortunately for him, he knew how to deal with people who fought unfairly. Sacrificing the sickles his grandmother had gifted him made him a little sad, but it was fine, perhaps he'd fashion a new pair from the bones of Sevras.
'A weapon containing The Fire… wouldn't that be amazing?'
He laughed madly to himself as he casually walked through the streets. His Sailor Dolls had already confirmed they caught Shadow, so he was in no rush.
The Soul Serpent lay still in the distance.
Glancing at the wooden spider on his shoulder, he pointed to it with his thumb.
"What are you doing? Go get it!"
The spider jumped in fright before scurrying away.
Humming a merry tune to himself, Noctis finally arrived at the small park where Aidre had been buried.
'Perhaps I'll see you soon my friend.'
Hope was probably about to free herself anyways, and he doubted she'd spare him.
'At least I got my revenge. Good enough for me!'
Arriving before the beautiful tree, Noctis could not help but grin to himself.
"Well well well, you don't look so good, little mouse."
His Sailor Dolls stood behind him, locking his arms in place with iron grips as they forced the man on his knees. Shadow remained unresponsive, his head lowered in defeat. Even the shadow at his feet was sprawled out weakly, laying completely still.
"Do you have anything to say?"
The man's head moved slightly.
"No."
Noctis leaned back, laughing.
"Where's the obsidian knife?"
Shadow gritted his teeth.
"With your stupid doll."
One of his Sailor Dolls lifted its arm, showing off the obsidian knife.
'Huh.'
He had somewhat expected Shadow to lay a trap like he had with Aranea, but it seemed like he was truly done for.
'Well, I'll remain careful until he's dead.'
Taking a step forward, Noctis pulled his arm back and activated his Awakened ability before thrusting his arm forward.
His arm shot straight through Shadow's chest, emerging out of his back. Clutched in his palm was a sphere of darkness, Shadow's soul.
Pulling his arm back, Noctis watched closely as Shadow slumped over, dead. The Sailor Dolls unceremoniously released him, dropping him to the ground.
'Huh.'
He'd really died, just like that?
"How disappointing."
Staring at the man's prone body, he felt the soul core squirm slightly in his palm, resisting its fate.
"I hope you'll enjoy an eternity of being a mop."
He paused for a moment, sweeping back his hair as he glanced at Aidre's grave.
"No! Perhaps I'll use you to clean my toi-"
Noctis took a step back, feeling a sudden burning sensation in his throat.
"Wh-"
Before him was Shadow. And stabbed straight through his throat was the obsidian knife.
'How?'
Behind the man, even his Sailor Dolls stood in shock, the one who was holding the obsidian knife stared at its arm in confusion as a stiletto was lodged into the joint that allowed its hand to grip.
'No…'
Blood filled his throat.
How could this be?!
'No!'
He was not going to die alone!
Noctis thrust his hand forward, and his Sailor Dolls lunged at him at the same time.
Shadow, instead of disappearing into the shadows like he usually did, twisted his body in such a way that all three of their attacks missed, instead slamming into each other.
'Ah-...'
Noctis felt the fist of one of his own creations crash against his shoulder, knocking him over.
As a Transcendent, it would still take him a while to bleed out from a stab to the throat. Even if his fate was already sealed, he would not allow himself to die alone!
Before he could reach out for another attack, the flower at the head of Aidre's grave surged to life, wrapping itself around his ankle.
Noctis couldn't even manage another step before it dragged him to the ground.
The tree not too far away surged to life as well, binding his Sailor Dolls before they could move to support him.
'This is… Aidre!'
Not too far away, the shadow of Aidre stood, its knees wobbling and arms held out in front.
'The Serpent has already recovered?!'
How… just how?!
How had they defended against that attack to this extent? He'd had them!
Shadow weakly took a step towards him, his fearsome black armour glinting in the sunlight.
Tree roots emerged from the ground all around him, binding Noctis' limbs tightly.
As Shadow dismissed his helmet, Noctis finally got a good look at his face.
He was… he was…
Noctis wanted to laugh. He wanted to utter a stream of curses. Sadly, blood had already filled his throat.
'Why the hell are you looking at me like that?!'
A forlorn expression was pasted on Shadow's face as he slowly raised a glass saber over Noctis' heart.
He struggled with all his might, but his internal injuries were severe, he couldn't muster enough strength.
"Farewell, old friend."
'Friend? Friend?! Who the hell are you calling friend?!'
The saber stabbed through his heart a moment later. Light caught within the blade exploded within his body, incinerating everything.
Noctis felt his rage fade. Weakly turning his head, he took one last look at Aidre's grave.
Centuries of memories flooded his mind. Aranea, Aidre… the other bastards… his parents… his siblings… his home.
'Oh gods… you have forsaken us.'
Then, the final shackle was broken.
***
[You have slain a Transcendent Human, Noctis.]
'...'
Sunny sighed deeply as he bent down, picking up his Shadow Core that had rolled not too far away.
[You have received a Memory.]
Wiping the sweat off his face, Sunny turned to Serpent.
"Pretty… Pretty close, huh?"
Serpent nodded before taking measured steps over to him, its form unstable.
"Come on, last kill of the day buddy."
Serpent collapsed to the ground, its form changing into that of a long odachi instead.
Roots and grass tore as the Sailor Dolls managed to free themselves from the bindings, but it no longer mattered.
Sunny was already gone.
With all seven chains broken, the crushing would soon descend anyways, Sunny saw no reason to stick around.
Appearing on the Ivory Tower, he collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.
His soul was extremely fractured currently, as one of his shadow cores had just been abruptly torn out.
'How do I even put this back in?'
Looking at the black sphere in his hand, Sunny had a couple guesses.
'Do I eat it?'
The Spell had not even announced his core as being destroyed, so he was certain it was still recoverable.
'Wait, I got it.'
Was there not a daemon who would be willing to help him in the building right in front of him? He could just ask Hope! His first thought had been to have Serpent transform into Noctis and put the core back in, but Serpent didn't exactly seem to be in the state to do that right now.
Feeling a wave of nausea wash over him, Sunny took slow and measured steps forward. The Nightmare wasn't ending yet, so he felt no need to rush.
Hope was waiting for him.
He sighed, thinking of what he would have to do.
'Ah…'
Just now in his fight with Noctis, just before the diamond sickle could explode, Sunny had actually summoned the Mantle at the last moment. Then, he augmented it with six of his shadows while he himself hid beneath its plates, allowing the armour to take most of the blow. Both him and Serpent had only taken catastrophic damage rather than fatal damage as a result, yet Serpent seemed to have done something to protect him at the last moment, so it had received most of the damage while Sunny had only received major soul damage.
'What did it even do? Was that [Soul Companion]? Or the Will?'
He'd have to find out later.
As he was falling to the ground though, Sunny had realised he was falling towards Aidre's grave, right where Serpent had told him to go. His mind had whirred with countless possibilities of what to do before he came to a realisation.
In the vision where Noctis had his fist punched straight through Sunny's chest, there was a small peculiarity.
There was no blood on Noctis' hand.
So either he had figured out how to turn his body partially into a shadow at the last moment, or it was something else.
Considering the fact that his essence was currently running wild, Sunny had completely given up on using the trick with Shadow Step.
So, he'd come to another conclusion.
Knowing Noctis, that bastard definitely wouldn't let him off easily, he'd most likely rip out his soul and turn him into a kitchen appliance. So Sunny was going to let him.
Noctis' Aspect allowed him to manipulate souls, as in to rip out and transplant soul cores. Sunny was betting on the fact that the sorcerer didn't actually know he had seven soul cores, and luckily, his bet paid off. All throughout the Nightmare, he had only ever let the Chain Lords see him with one shadow, so at some point Noctis had subconsciously assumed he'd only have one core, or at least he assumed so anyways. He'd even lifted the veil on the core in the center of his chest, leaving it purely as bait. Using that, Sunny attacked the moment Noctis had let his guard down, having even discarded the obsidian knife temporarily to make sure the sorcerer would think he won.
'Looks like I was the more treacherous one in the end. Sorry, old friend.'
Sunny wiped the sweat off his face again.
"Goodness, why am I sweating so much?"
The breeze was quite nice, and he hadn't even exerted himself physically…
Sunny shook his head.
'Must be from the soul damage…'
Turning his head, he took one last look at the city below.
The crushing had not descended.
'...What?'
Why hadn't it started? Had Hope been the one to initiate the crushing the last time he was here?
Sunny shook his head.
'Doesn't matter.'
He'd spent enough time here. It was time to leave.
The gates of the Ivory Tower swung open as he approached it, the darkness of the hall seemingly inviting him in.
Sunny sped up slightly, a hint of excitement trickling into his soul.
As he entered the tower, he felt it.
The presence of divinity.
"You have done it, youngest."
Sunny smiled.
"I have."
All around him, lanterns ignited, flooding the hall with light.
In the center of it, Hope was still kneeling, waiting for him.
Sunny stepped into the shadows, appearing before her. Hope looked at him, her expression blank.
He offered her a hand, and she took it. Sunny was nearly pulled to the ground as Hope lifted herself up.
The burns covering her entire body were already healing, and her wings spread out in their entirety.
Sunny stared in awe.
"So this is what you look like."
Hope nodded.
"It is."
Sunny grinned sheepishly.
"Uh… do you mind helping me with this?"
He showed her his Shadow Core. She only needed a single glance to realise what he needed.
Taking the core, she gripped it for a moment, staring at it intently.
"Turn around."
Sunny turned around, and he felt a palm placed on his back. He felt a strange coldness shift through his mind and soul for a moment, then, he was whole again.
He shuddered as the strange weakness he felt finally vanished.
Turning back around, Sunny offered Hope a hand.
"Shall we?"
Hope tilted her head slightly and took it.
Sunny slowly led her up to the floor above, their steps slow and measured.
Memories flooded his mind. The awkward first day they had spent together. The wondrous stories she had told him. The meals they had shared. The dreams they had exchanged. The long days of her teaching him.
Even if they had only known each other for a month in the real world, Sunny felt a strong kinship with her. And with how Hope addressed him, it was possible she felt the same way.
The soft clink of his boots echoed across the halls as they ascended the staircase to the highest floor. Hope's chambers.
Sunny pointed towards the balcony and smiled at her.
"I thought you'd want to see the sun one last time."
Hope said nothing, letting go of his hand and walking towards the balcony. She was silent for a while, clutching the railing and silently staring at the sun.
Sunny stood beside her, silent as well. Hope had shown him not too long ago how she used to stare at the world outside for days at a time.
They stood for a while, staring at the horizon. Noctis and Sunny's fight hadn't lasted long, only about ten minutes having passed.
Eventually, Sunny noticed Hope's grip on the railing tighten.
Turning to her, he asked:
"Are you afraid, Lady Hope?"
Hope's expression did not change.
"I do not know…"
…
Her words hurt a lot more than Sunny expected.
Hope didn't seem to care, as she continued staring at the world. She spoke once more, her voice as harmonious as ever.
"When I first saw you, I thought you were him."
Sunny stared at her questioningly.
"Who?"
"Shadow. My shackle."
He nodded.
"I can see why."
"When you showed me your world, I thought it was a trick. A fabrication of Weaver."
Sunny's eyes widened.
"You did?"
Hope nodded.
"It did not seem possible at first. A person sent thousands upon thousands of years into the past… it was improbable. But the more of you I saw, the more I realised how genuine you were."
Sunny tilted his head slightly.
"I thank you, for the gifts you have brought me, Sunless. Perhaps I am grateful, but I do not know."
Sunny smiled weakly.
"What gifts? All I bring is death."
Hope shook her head.
"You have brought me more than you will ever know. Never stop being kind, Sunless. The more you lie to yourself, the harder it will become to recognize what you are."
Sunny's eyes widened.
"Me? Kind?"
He had just killed someone who had once been his friend. But Hope was calling him kind?
Hope finally turned to him. Her expression even now was unchanged.
"You are kinder than you know."
Then, her wings rustled.
"I am ready now."
Her hands dropped to her side and her wings drooped to the ground.
Sunny's expression faltered.
"Are you sure?"
Hope shook her head.
"Who knows? All I know is that this is what I desire. Do you wish to take that away from me, Sunless?"
Sunny heaved a long sigh and wrapped all six of his shadows around Serpent.
"No."
Hope nodded.
"Then you know what you must do. Do not worry, youngest. Consider this a mercy for someone like me."
Hope's head lowered.
"I am doomed to disappear anyways. I may as well leave a part of myself with you."
Sunny nodded weakly.
"Then..."
"Farewell, Sunless."
Shivering slightly, he slowly raised the blade above his head.