Aelon was acting weird.
Nephis was shocked to find him before her, appearing out of nowhere.
It seemed like he grew a little, but still was shorter than Cassie by a tad. His jet-black hair grew even longer, now dropping past his shoulders.
The black haired boy's clothes were... tight. But Nephis was happy that he at least found an armor type memory.
She was not happy about him being here.
If Aelon got summoned to any other region of the dream realm, he definitely would have better chances of surviving. The Nightmare Creatures they faced here... were extraordinarily powerful.
Slightly stepping out of her shock, Nephis looked at Aelon's eyes. They were hazy, and unfocused, as if he were drugged.
'What happened to him?'
"Aelon?!"
Nephis' hands were trembling.
That's when he attacked. Aelon attacked her with full intent to kill. In the exact moment he leapt, she also felt that her Aspect was... weaker. Her flame was dampened.
In retort, reflexes honed by years of training and survival against the rampant Nightmare Creatures of the past few weeks, Nephis summoned her blade.
"Aelon why are you-?!" was all she managed to get out before moving backwards in an attempt to dodge his attack.
To her suprise... Aelon's blade simply passed through her own. In a blur, it connected with her head.
'Why...?'
But then... it passed through her head too, as if nothing had happened at all.
Nephis saw the boy cry. Tears were flowing down his cheeks, as if he had thought that he killed her.
'So he actually wanted to kill me? Why?'
"N-Nephis..?"
The haziness in his eyes grew dim for a moment, recognition flaring through his irises.
The recognition disappeared as soon as it appeared though. Not after long, his gaze was unfocused again.
When he saw her standing there, surprise ran through his features, face honest as ever.
'He did want to kill me.'
Nephis stomach churned. She felt dizzy.
She had to trap him in some way. Explanations were for later.
It was truly harder to capture an opponent than to actually kill them. If she wanted she could end this battle quickly, if she just used her flames.
But he was her brother.
An idea flashed through her mind, it was perfect.
"Sunny come here! I found Aelon, but there is something wrong with him! We need to incapacitate him!" Nephis shouted, her head turning towards Sunny, who only now noticed what was happening.
'He will attack now.'
Raising her sword in a quick maneuver, Nephis prepared against the incoming attack.
'I should be fine with blocking his blow. He only got us three to augment him.'
Then their blades actually crossed.
Clang!
A sharp pain tore through Nephis wrists, as she felt the might of his strike. It was strong. Way too strong.
Subconsciously Nephis gritted her teeth, suppressing the urge to let out a cry of pain.
She couldn't let it come to a blade lock, if he put even a little pressure on her, she was sure she'd loose. This strength was simply too powerful for a sleeper, being able to contend with any Awakened.
Mind racing, the tall girl dashed backwards, stopping the blades from kissing any further.
"How the heck are you so strong?! You only have us three as augmentations!", she exclaimed. It simply didn't make sense.
Either he got many Soul Shards, or something else that strengthened his Aspect. But Soul Shards would never make it this powerful.
There was something fishy going on.
To her luck, Sunny arrived next to her, but she couldn't allow herself to look at him. She needed to be focused on Aelon.
...
Sunny tried augmenting himself with his shadow, but when he did... the difference wasn't twice his original strength. No. It was barely more than his base strength.
'Why the heck isn't my shadow working?'
He felt it wrap around his body. He felt it in his arms, legs and core. Yet Sunny barely apprehended a difference in strength.
This was a problem.
Sunny at first was surprised to see Aelon, but he very clearly was hostile towards them for gods know what reason. Nephis, and him were both exhausted from their battle against the Carapace Demon.
'Well it seems like I have to test out Midnight Shard right now then.'
To Sunny's dismay the Azure Blade broke in the fight against the Carapace Demon. But when they slayed it, it gave him a memory.
The Midnight Shard.
Not wasting any time, Sunny summoned the Midnight Shard. Immediately, an elegant sword appeared in his hand.
The sword looked a bit like the Azure Blade, but only in the sense that it was single-edged and had a long hilt suitable for two hands. However, this was where the similarities ended. For starters, its blade was much longer, somewhere between seventy and eighty centimeters, and slightly curved. It was forged out of the same bright, lustrous metal as the Carapace Demon's armor.
It was incredibly sharp.
The hilt was made out of polished black wood, quite similar in appearance to the onyx branches of the great tree. The crossguard was round in shape and more pronounced than that of the Azure Blade, offering better support and protection to the wielder's hand.
The sword had no decorations, no ornaments, no embellishments. It was simple and austere, like a true weapon designed for battle and battle alone. It seemed to radiate a cold, fearsome aura.
As soon as his hand touched the Midnight Shard, Sunny felt that this sword possessed an unbreakable will. Its blade was strong enough to withstand devastating blows without suffering any damage. With this sword in his hand, nothing would be able to leave Sunny unarmed again.
More than that, there was a strange new sensation somewhere deep in his heart. When Sunny held the Midnight Shard, he could feel a subtle presence, as though there was a deep well of power hiding inside of him, just beyond reach. He couldn't quite understand how to access that power yet, but it was certainly real.
'I guess I'll have to win its "favor" first. But how do I do it? Hmm. I'll have to experiment later.'
There were more important matters at hand. The most important one at the moment was getting this brat under control.