A lonely Shadow

Hours had passed since Sunny and Nephis had finally spoken. Raising a hand to his lips, Sunny traced his hands on them absentmindedly before shaking his head to focus his mind. His panic attack had bought him enough time for a few more hours of rest before he had to face clan Valor alongside Nephis.

Although technically he had won the bet, he still wasn't going to back out of an easy opportunity to gain information on Valor. Of course, he first had things to do and not a lot of time to do them. He had managed to secure himself a second nightmare seed through negotiations with government officials, as well as a body for Mordret to reside in, till he completed it, all that was left was to contact him.

Thankfully, there had been an anchor in the ivory tower that allowed Sunny to make his way back there without having to fall downwards for weeks just to speak to Mordret. Taking a moment to analyse his runes, Sunny noticed something odd with the Onyx Mantle.

Upon being fixed, it offered him the option to bind it to his soul. Sunny hadn't had much information on what soul bound memories were, but he wasn't about to give up an opportunity for a boon to his armour out of baseless scepticism alone. Upon announcing his agreement, a flash of light enveloped his body, and in a moment, his armour had been announced to have been destroyed.

A look of utter horror painted itself across Sunny's features as he took a second to analyse himself, hoping some physical changes would arise. Surprisingly, they had. Sunny's skin had now become much smoother and tougher to the touch, it was almost akin to it's own form of armour which he passively wore on his body, not requiring essence.

Upon focusing, Sunny quickly grasped that the Onyx Mantle would only appear if he channelled a suitable amount of essence onto his own body, appearing over it like a second layer of skin which had defence that only served to be bolstered by [Bone Weave]

Looking around him, Sunny searched for someone he could report his amazing discovery but was only greeted by the empty air. His loneliness was something he shoved to the back of his mind on many occasions, and not something he noticed unless it was forced into his mind. And this was one of those moments.

Shaking his head once more to avoid his mind drifting, Sunny summoned Saint to keep him company. Her armour still had slight cracks in it from her escapades with Nightmare where she went on miniature crusades killing every nightmare creature in sight.

Smiling fondly, Sunny extended a hand to Saint, he wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do, pat her on the head? But Saint wasn't a mere pet. His hand stalled in the air as Saint turned her head to the side, curiously analysing his newly polished skin. In a moment, she grabbed his hand and pulled him into a hug.

Sunny's eyes widened; he had never seen Saint show anything close to this level of affection as a broad smile appeared on his face. Despite the height difference, Sunny returned the hug as they remained in each others' arms for a few moments. Truly, they had been through the worst of Sunny's life together.

Saint looked at Sunny with what felt like motherly affection, before ruffling his hair like a child and returning to her impassive expression, however, Sunny could still see the tinge of joy that blazed in her eyes each time she glanced back to look at him. 'I guess getting stone skin made Saint happy' Sunny thought to himself, as he hummed lowly before making his way back to where he left Mordret.

Digging up the mirror shard containing Mordret he had buried in the ground took a matter of moments as he dragged it out from the floor with a grunt of effort. Mordret's voice was tinged with annoyance as Sunny felt his glare burn into him even despite not being able to see his eyes.

"I understand the need to hide me but why bury me in the dirt with worms!? I almost made tried making one of them my host until I realised, they didn't have eyes" Mordret's grumbles fell on deaf ears as Sunny aimed the mirror at the unconscious body of an awakened.

It had only taken a bit of 'negotiation' with the awakened to get them to come here, since they hadn't previously followed Sunny during the initial journey, Sunny had to spend exorbitant amounts of soul shards finding a memory that could seal living beings in it and even then, it was only one.

Soon enough, the awakened's eyes opened. Mordret had now possessed their body as he looked at his hands with a smile, upon staring at Sunny, he was positively surprised that the man who had decided to collaborate with him was younger than him. However, he wasn't one to discriminate.

Throwing him a map, with the rough coordinates of a nightmare seed circled within it, Sunny turned around before commenting. "Oh, and to give you more incentive to trust me, I might have traumatised your sister when we fought. She was strong though."

A sickening grin appeared on Mordret's face as images of Morgans suffering body flashed into his mind, although he would have liked to be the culprit much more than what he currently had, he wasn't extremely greedy. Simply nodding, Mordret watched as Sunny disappeared from the dream realm in a flash of sparks.

Without Sunny's undeniable authority pressing over the mirror beast, Mordret was able to summon it into his soul sea, before summoning it into the real world once more. An uncharacteristic warm smile graced his stolen features, as he gazed upon the beast that had kept him from falling into loneliness once more.

"Beastie...I really missed you."

The hours until Sunny and Nephis fateful inauguration into clan Valor flew by without restraint, and soon enough, Sunny found himself wearing his faithful military bodysuit with a tattered hood hanging over his head standing next to Nephis, who remained clad in the starlight legion armour and exuding light wherever she went.

Their presences clashed against each other, Sunny made the world around him dimmer, as the shadows darkened and twisted under his influence, and Nephis was like a light who shined upon the world. Two contrasting presences only served to amplify each other further as they made their way in front of the soldiers of clan Valor.

From Saint to sleeper, each member of Valor appeared like a honed blade, as though the clan was preparing for war at every moment. And at the pinnacle, stood the king of swords himself. The man's presence pressed Sunny's shoulders down with incomprehensible force as he found himself struggling slightly to meet the mans eyes.

He had never seen anything like it, his presence bent and twisted the world around him to a much greater extent than any Saint could even dream of. The man was relaxed, his posture indicating that he would not be the one to introduce the two new recruits, instead such a role would fall down to his daughter.

Upon noticing Sunny's appearance, Morgan's expression, which was already downtrodden from her recent lost, turned terrified. Her lip quivered slightly as she made her way towards Sunny, trying to force a smile onto her face and extend a hand to shake his.

But how could she shake the hand of such a man? No, more than a man. He was something far simpler, yet far more dangerous.

Death. That's the only word that could describe the monster before her. Wherever he went, fear followed, crushing all hope. He didn't just end fights, he ended everything. Morgan knew, better than anyone that to face Sunny in combat was like facing death, impossible.

It wasn't a matter of strength. Sunny was called the manslayer for an extremely specific reason. Sunny was fast, but that wasn't the reason. Sunny was strong, but that wasn't the reason either. Just from analysing his presence, Morgan could tell that making an enemy of Sunny only guaranteed her demise. And even the demise of the clan.

"Morgan, I just wanted to say...I hope there aren't any hard feelings from our fight! I hope we end up being excellent allies and maybe spar again in the future!" Sunny's voice was light yet awkward, the memories of joyfully ripping pieces out of Morgan were fond, yet he was quite sure Morgan wouldn't want anything to do with him afterward.

Despite the intense healing Nephis and Valor had provided her, Morgan's eye was still slightly swollen and clouded, her soul was dimmer than it had been in their initial confrontation too. Sunny knew it was temporary though.

Straining a smile on her lips, Morgan nodded before replying. "There are no hard feelings, it was only battle. I hope our relationship develops more than just allies too!" Sunny nodded in response, however Nephis eyes sharpened as she bore holes into Morgan which went entirely unnoticed by either of them.

She was going to keep an eye on Morgan.