"Arthur, can I ask for your help to kill a Fallen Devil?"
'A Fallen Devil? The strongest creatures I've killed were Fallen Beasts… but that was when I was alone…'
Before answering, he analyzed the expressions of the other five. Kai and Effie didn't seem to like the idea, while Cassie trembled slightly when Sunny mentioned a Fallen Devil. Sunny and Nephis didn't change their expressions.
"What information do you have about the creature?"
Before Sunny could respond, Cassie spoke.
"Art, don't tell me you're seriously considering it?"
"Well, obviously my participation will depend on several things," he replied.
Sunny was the one who spoke next.
"What do you want in return?"
"First tell me everything you know. What abilities it has, where it is, and if you know its weaknesses, even better," Arthur said.
Sunny raised his gaze as if organizing his thoughts, and when he lowered it, his eyes were different. They were filled with hatred.
He took a deep breath before speaking.
"The Black Knight is truly a living nightmare. He's as strong, fast, and indestructible as you'd imagine a Fallen Devil to be. But what really makes him complicated isn't his absurd strength, it's the darkness that dwells in the grand hall of the cathedral he inhabits… and that darkness seems to obey him."
His voice was steady, controlled.
"When he's wrapped in that darkness, he can move quickly, unseen, without making the slightest sound. I'm not sure if your senses would be able to detect him, Arthur. His physical abilities are massively enhanced, turning him into an unstoppable killing machine. And there's more… any damage he takes regenerates instantly as long as he's surrounded by that darkness. Inside it… he's basically immortal."
Then he pointed at Nephis.
"And that's where Neph comes in. With her radiant light, that darkness will disappear. Her flames can strip that bastard of his greatest weapon. Without his dark power, the Black Knight is just a powerful abomination. Only slightly more dangerous than a demon of the same rank."
Nephis nodded, and Sunny paused before continuing.
"The truth is, our weapons won't be able to injure him. Not because his flesh is too resilient… but because he's covered in heavy armor from head to toe. I'm not even sure there's flesh underneath, to be honest. There's only one apparent weak point in his armor, the visor of his helmet."
Arthur interrupted calmly.
"Will that thing's armor be tougher than Gunlaug's?"
Sunny held his gaze.
"I don't know. It's a lower rank… but probably yes."
The silence grew heavier.
"The visor is a trap," Sunny continued. "It looks like a weak point, but it isn't. The Black Knight's true weakness isn't even protected by the armor."
His expression darkened further.
"It's his sword."
He let the words settle.
"If we want to kill the Black Knight, we'll have to destroy his sword. It's the only way."
Then he looked at Nephis and then at Arthur.
"Your task would be to keep that monstrosity busy. Stop him. Survive. Leave the sword to me."
Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"And how exactly do you plan to break the weapon of a Fallen Devil?"
Sunny answered without hesitation.
"I have something similar to an Echo. Not exactly one… but close enough. And I'm sure it can break it."
Arthur brought a hand to his chin and thought for a while.
'I've never faced a creature of True Darkness. Will I be able to sense it if it's in its element? My instincts say yes.'
'A Fallen Devil against three Sleepers and an Echo… would it really be possible? Though honestly, none of the three of us are simple Sleepers. We all have True Names.'
Focusing on Sunny, who was waiting for an answer, he said,
"Alright, I accept. But with three conditions." He raised three fingers.
Sunny blinked.
"Which ones?"
Arthur let out a breath. "First, you'll have to answer four questions of mine. Second, after that, we'll have a sparring match between us. And lastly, Sylvie joins our group."
Sunny frowned.
"The second I can understand, and the third I suppose as well. But the first? Why four questions?"
Arthur shrugged.
"I'm risking my life trying to kill a creature that brings me no benefit at all. Do you think what I asked is too much?"
"No. But what four questions could possibly be valuable enough for you to risk your life for them?" Sunny replied.
Arthur shrugged again. "I guess you'll have to accept the offer to find out."
Seconds passed in silence while Sunny thought about what to do.
On one hand, the offer wasn't bad. He would help if Sunny answered four questions and had a simple sparring match. Sylvie joining wasn't even a real condition. But what unsettled him the most was the four questions. If Arthur asked the right ones, he would be in serious trouble.
What if he asked whether he had a True Name? Sunny didn't like the idea of repeating what happened with Harper, mainly because he couldn't. He wasn't an idiot. He knew that against Arthur, he had no chance.
How is he so strong? Does he also have a Divine Aspect? At this point Sunny suspected Nephis had one too and she had a True Name. How strange would it be if Arthur also had a Divine Aspect? He didn't know if there was a connection between Divine Aspects and True Names, but in this room there could very well be three.
Sunny really didn't want to accept the four questions, but he also didn't want to waste the opportunity of having Arthur help them kill the Black Knight. Would the six of them be able to kill him without his help? Maybe. But it would be foolish not to increase their chances if Arthur and Sylvie joined.
There was only one option left, try to lower the price.
He looked at him again and said, "Two questions, and I accept."
Arthur studied him carefully and replied,
"Three. Final offer."
'Well, at least it's one less question.'
Sunny stood up from where he was sitting and extended his hand toward Arthur. Arthur looked at it for a second, stood up from the bed, and took it.
"Deal," they both said at the same time.
Leaning back against the wall, Sunny asked,
"What did you want to ask?"
Arthur made a dismissive gesture. "I'll ask tomorrow. For now, it's pretty late. Why don't you go to your rooms?"
That question snapped the others out of their daze, they were still seriously doubting whether killing a Fallen Devil was even possible. Slowly, Effie, Kai, Cassie, and Sunny went to their rooms. As Nephis was about to leave, Arthur called out to her.
"Where do you think you're going, Nephis?"
She turned around and raised an eyebrow. "To my room?"
Arthur shook his head and pointed at the chair again. "No, no. Now it's my turn to have an honest conversation with you. Don't you think that's fair?"
She simply nodded and sat back down.
"What did you want to talk about?"
"Well, this isn't a question. Just a warning," he continued. "Even though I don't mind answering your questions because I have no intention of antagonizing you, I didn't like the method you used at all and I won't allow you to do it again. Did you really think that was better than simply coming to ask me directly?"
Her expression didn't change when she replied, "It's not that I thought it was better. It's that people lie, deceive, or let others draw conclusions with incomplete information. And I didn't know what kind of person you are."
"You say people lie and deceive… but isn't that exactly what you tried to do to me?" he asked.
She shrugged slightly. "What can I say? Humans are contradictory by nature."
With a faint smile, Arthur replied, "Humans? Shouldn't you say Dreamspawn?"
Her eyes widened slightly before returning to normal. "How did you know?"
"It doesn't matter who told me. I knew even before I entered the throne room on the first day."
"I see… and what did you hope to gain by telling me that you knew?" she asked.
Arthur's smile didn't fade, but his expression grew more serious.
"Gain? Absolutely nothing. I just found it strange that you didn't want to admit it in front of the others." He continued, "Or should I say in front of Seishan and Caster?"
Nephis' expression cracked slightly, her brows lowering. "Explain," she demanded.
"And what if I don't want to?" he replied. But before she could answer, he continued, "Since I'm generous, I'll explain my reasoning."
He took a few seconds before going on.
"Since the Academy, I felt something was strange between you and Caster. He always showed up wherever you were sparring even when it was inconvenient for him. Then the way he spoke and demanded respect in your name, especially for your clan. Later, when I learned everything that happened while I wasn't in the Dark City, how he tried to join your cohort despite having offers from Gunlaug himself and Tessai."
At that point, Nephis raised her hand.
"Wait. Summon a Memory to cancel the noise before you continue."
Arthur immediately understood why and summoned [Silent Whisper], a Memory he had obtained from Stev, the owner of the castle's memory market.
Then he took a controlled breath and continued.
"Later, when I ran into him in the castle, I noticed something strange again. The way he looked at me, always from the corner of his eye, thinking I wouldn't notice. But of course I did. The way he interacts with me, trying to extract information about you. It's all very strange. And not to mention how he looks at me like he's analyzing a potential threat. The poor guy thinks he hides it well, but he doesn't."
Adjusting slightly on the bed, he added,
"He acts like a man on a mission. And I suspect that mission is you… or maybe even me." He looked at her directly. "Am I wrong?"
Nephis blinked and let out a small sigh.
"No, you're not wrong. And yes… the mission is me."
Arthur said, "Explain."
She raised her gaze slightly to gather her thoughts, and when she lowered it, her eyes were filled with determination.
"That's exactly it. Caster's mission is to ensure I don't return to the Waking World, by killing me."
Arthur blinked.
Even though he had calculated that as a possibility, hearing her say it so openly made it far more serious than a mere hypothesis.
"Why would Caster have a mission to kill you?"
Before she could answer, Arthur remembered something he had never fully understood.
"Wait. Before you answer, is this related to the fall of your clan?"
Nephis nodded.
"Yes. My clan was once the most powerful of all. And with power come enemies. When my father died, the clan died with him but our enemies remained."
Arthur frowned, staring at an empty spot for a moment before saying, "Your enemies? If your father died more than a decade ago… what enemies could a four-year-old girl possibly have?"
"Correct. As a child that age, I wasn't a threat. But my potential was," she replied.
At the word potential, Arthur understood everything. His eyes widened slightly.
"So I was right… you have the lineage of the Sun God. That's why they were afraid of what you might become…"
Now it was Nephis' turn to look surprised.
"How do you know about lineages?" she asked, her tone colder.
Arthur brushed off the question and answered automatically.
"How else? Because I have one too."
"Which one?" she asked quickly.
"War God."
Nephis stood up abruptly, as if about to summon a Memory. Arthur saw it and immediately activated Static Void.
In an instant, she froze. Clear panic appeared on her face.
"Relax. I have nothing to do with Valor," Arthur said, deactivating the attribute. That little stunt had cost him nearly forty fragments. Her will was incredibly strong to demand that many fragments in just two miserable seconds.
Changing Star could move again, but she didn't sit down.
"Prove it."
He simply said, "No. The fact that you're still breathing is more than enough proof that I have no intention of harming you. Now sit down."
Several seconds of silence passed before she eventually sat.
"What a powerful Aspect. What rank is it?" she asked.
He looked at her for a few seconds. "Why would I tell you?"
Nephis met his gaze with determination.
"Because maybe it's the same as mine."
He thought about it. What were the chances she also had a Divine Aspect? Well… thinking about it more carefully, it made sense. Both had a god lineage. Both had gained True Names in their First Nightmares. Both were highly talented in combat.
Arthur's brows furrowed as the implication sank in.
"Wait. What's yours?" he asked.
With a faint smile, she replied, "And why would I tell you?"
Arthur played along, amused. "Because maybe it's the same as mine."
Nephis hadn't expected him to answer that way. It seemed they had reached the same conclusion, both had Divine Aspects.
"So you also have a Divine Aspect," Nephis said.
Arthur swallowed. "Yes."
Several seconds passed in silence before she spoke again.
"How many cores do you have now?"
Arthur opened his runes:
Class: Devil.
Aether Core: [4/7]
Aether Fragments: [226/4000]
"I'm a Devil. I have four cores," he replied. Then he added, "You?"
"I have two cores. I'm a Monster."
At that moment, an idea occurred to Arthur. He was still far from forming his fifth core and hadn't even bothered calculating how long it would take. But maybe Nephis was close…
With a smile, he asked, "How far are you from completing your Monster Core?"
Nephis raised an eyebrow. "I'm missing around two hundred fragments."
"Then we'll have to go hunting before the Siege of the Crimson Spire so you can complete it," he said cheerfully.
"That was my plan," she replied. Then added, "By the way, do you think there are more people with Divine Aspects? Or will it just be the two of us?"
Arthur thought for a moment before answering.
"I don't think we're the only ones. If we consider that the Spell loves the number seven, it would make sense that there might be seven people with Divine Aspects."
"You're right," she replied simply. Then added, "It's quite late. If there's nothing else you want to talk about, I'll leave."
Arthur watched her stand.
"Yes, actually there are two more things."
She stopped and looked at him with her usual calm expression.
"The first is, if you know Caster is here to kill you, why is he still alive?"
Nephis shrugged. "Because he's useful."
"I see. And the second is…" With a mischievous smile, he added, "Do you like Sunny?"
She froze completely. Her gray eyes widened slowly, and her cheeks gradually turned pink. Instead of answering, she turned sharply and left the room.
Arthur chuckled softly, then sighed and let himself fall onto the bed.
Staring at the ceiling, he thought:
'It's obvious Nephis feels something for Sunny… and that makes everything more complicated.'
'Why did they end up fighting at the top of the Crimson Spire?'
'Every day that moment gets closer… and I don't know how to prevent it.'
With that thought, Arthur dismissed [Silent Whisper] and closed his eyes, intending to sleep for the first time in five days.
***
Daylight was already coming through the window when Arthur finally woke up. In recent days, he hadn't been able to sleep much, between being needed more and more to face higher-ranked creatures, the arrival of the others, and the pressure of carrying an entire castle of seven hundred people on his back.
Honestly, he no longer wanted to keep being the King of the castle. Of course, he had help from Sylvie, Seishan, and even Kido and Gemma. But in the end, the responsibility always fell on his shoulders. Now, with the cohort's arrival, he would have a few more hands to help but it definitely wasn't an experience he wanted to repeat.
Not because he didn't want to protect them. It was the opposite. Wanting to protect each and every one of them had led him into this situation. When he walked around and crossed paths with people, he couldn't help but notice how differently they looked at him. They didn't look at him as a person they looked at him as a title. A concept.
Their eyes were filled with admiration and hope to such an extent that it made him uncomfortable. He didn't want to be revered. He didn't want to be a concept to them. He just wanted to be Arthur.
But Arthur wasn't what was needed right now.
In the end, he had become the very Hero's choice he had hated so much in the Relictombs.
He couldn't fail. He couldn't slip. He had to be perfect. He had to be someone to look up to.
And sadly… he had to be a Paragon of Purity.
He was already starting to regret obtaining that True Name.
Another thing to blame on Gray, even if it didn't make sense.
A knock on the door pulled him from his thoughts.
He got up and opened it. A handmaiden greeted him.
"Lord Arthur, Lady Seishan and the others have been waiting for you in the throne room for ten minutes."
His voice still slightly dry, he replied, "Alright. I'll be there shortly."
The handmaiden bowed lightly and left.
Arthur sighed and went to the bathroom to prepare for the long day ahead.
***
The meeting was long, about four hours of discussions on how to maintain the current system, what changes could be implemented in the future to avoid losing so many Sleepers during hunts, and most importantly, the plan regarding the Crimson Spire.
Everyone was present: Sylvie, Seishan, Kido, Gemma, Nephis, Sunny, Effie, Kai, Caster, Cassie and finally Arthur.
A lot was discussed, and reaching agreements wasn't easy, but eventually a consensus was achieved.
The Siege of the Crimson Spire would begin in a week. During that time, the remaining Sleepers would have to prepare even more, obtain whatever Memories they were lacking and train until their bodies could no longer endure it. Meanwhile, the cohort, along with Sylvie and Arthur, would take care of obtaining the last remaining Shard by killing the Lord of the Dead and strengthening themselves further.
Everyone already had their cores saturated. Nephis was close to obtaining her third, while Arthur wouldn't manage to reach his fifth by then. He considered suggesting they wait longer, but the hunters' situation would only worsen with each passing day.
Another matter he was uncertain about was Sunny. Arthur was fairly sure he also had a Divine Aspect, but when he offered him Shards to form a new core, Sunny had refused. That made him think maybe Sunny was far from forming one… or maybe he was wrong, and Sunny didn't have a Divine Aspect after all.
But all that was in the past, and there was no point thinking about it now.
Because in a matter of miserable moments, they were about to face a Fallen Devil.