Shadow Slave: The Prince of Death

The next day, as soon as the dark sea surged, two sleepers could be seen travelling towards the direction from where the light had come.

They were riding two carapace creatures. A centurion and a scavenger.

Interestingly, Sunny's shadows weren't blackened after becoming a shadow. This was evident from saint's ascended form— which had white skin beneath her armour.

Coincidentally however, all of his shadows had been naturally dark too, so it wasn't very obvious that they weren't changed in color after turning into his soldiers.

Saint for example had onyx shell, serpent and feind had been shadow creatures already.

And even the scavengers had dark carapace, so the centurion seemed like a steed made out of darkness itself.

The crimson scales here and there only increased the menacing figure of the centurion too.

As the two crab like creatures galloped, sunny noticed a group of scavengers far away from them.

They were eyeing the two sleepers, but weren't attacking.

'Scouts? Is that even a thing for these critters? I shouldn't rule that out, anything is possible in this forgotten shore.'

There were only 4 scavengers there, so sunny sent a shadow towards them to summon serpent there and turned his attention back to the pathway.

The path was twisted and turned at random intervals, the crimson forest was disorienting even now after having gone through here before.

Only this time sunny could traverse this within a fraction of what he took before.

As the sound of four kills resounded in his mind, Sunny and Liam crossed the place where Sunny had first met Nephis and Cassie.

They weren't here today however, because sunny had been much faster in arriving here.

A few minutes later, they were at the gigantic coral where nephis and cassie had originally been hiding.

Right beneath the coral, two humanoid figures could be seen descending it.

They were Nephis...

...and Caster.

'What the hell is that fool doing here? He was supposed to be at the city!'

Sunny frowned inwards but he didn't let it show. He had an idea of why caster could have been sent here.

'Its because for the past several years, all the extra sleepers and other creatures have changed the future little by little.

Now the spell has deemed it better for caster to spawn right here instead of closer to the city.'

In any case, his journey to the city was going to be way more annoying now.

With a sigh, sunny got off scavvy and walked over to them. Caster had already climbed down and was watching around for any possible threats, nephis was on her way down.

As Sunny approached them, Caster looked at him with surprise and opened his mouth to say something—

But sunny made a shush sign with his finger before he could, silencing him.

Nephis had just climbed down to the lowest level of the coral outgrowth and was turning around to jump and land on the ground when a hand suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Need help, princess?" A young man with jet black hair and a mischievous grin asked her.

Usually she would have swatted it away in annoyance, but after the terrible fight last night and the sudden appearance sunny had made,

She jumped down right infront of him and grabbed his shoulders...out of pure surprise.

"Sunny! You are here too." Ofcourse she hadn't taken his hand, it would only inconvenience her, so it wouldn't make sense to take it.

But it almost annoyed sunny.

"Yes, seems like it, we saw your flames last night, so we came here." Sunny smiled at her.

Realising that she had been holding his shoulders, she suddenly removed her hands and then awkwardly looked past him to see his companion.

"Oh, is there a group of you close by too?"

"Not quite, it's just the two of us."

Caster, noticing the steeds sunny and his friend had arrived on, interrupted the two.

"Are those echoes? You must be very lucky to get them this quickly." He tried to sound calm and mature, but the surprise in his voice was deadly apparent to everyone there.

As Sunny was about to make a snarky remark, Liam stepped down from the scavenger echo and replied instead.

"Well yeah, after this guy went and slaughtered an entire horde of those creatures, there was bound to be an echo."

Liam's statement wasn't really correct at all, someone could kill thousands of nightmare creatures before they got an echo. But the news of Sunny's machinations did surprise the people listening.

It was unheard of a mere sleeper killing an entire horde of Awakened creatures.

Nephis felt surprised, fascinated and even proud at that line, but for caster it was a totally different feeling.

'He killed an entire horde by himself!? What kind of insane-'

Unknowingly interrupting him, Sunny asked Nephis. "So did you guys encounter any threats around, and you mentioned others nephis? You've got company?"

Sunny already knew what had transpired with nephis last night, and he knew at least one person who was with her, but he needed to confirm it for himself.

Nephis thought for a moment and then answered. "Yes, we encountered a scavenger yesterday... though the real problem began at night.

When I used my flames to cook the scavenger's meat, it attracted some creatures from the dark sea, we had to fight off a particular creature's tentacles for hours.

Oh, and yes, we do have company. Cassie is with us, and three other girls were also summoned here."

Nephis and Caster led Sunny and Liam to the coral outgrowth's canopy, the small island was quite spacious, so they had to walk a bit to the place where Cassie and the rest were hiding.

Caster and Nephis had gone down to scout the area around, but with Sunny here they could simply leave that to his shadows.

Caster went ahead to call the girls to gather up while Nephis was standing ahead of Sunny and Liam.

As Cassie and some other girls gathered around, it appeared as if Sunny and Liam were standing on one side and Caster, Nephis, Cassie, June and two other girls were standing on the other side.

Noticing the peculiar detail, Liam turned to Sunny and spoke in his ear.

"You know what I'm thinking right now?"

"Party night with the girls and our gay friend ryan?"

Liam's eyes widened. "You know that show?"

Sunny nodded curtly. "I'm aware yes, it was a classic before the dark ages, one of the few to survive the advent of the spell."

Liam Chuckled. "Well I guess it's now Caster instead of Ryan."

"What are you two talking about?" A sharp voice questioned before Sunny could laugh too.

It was Cassie.

Knowing that she had heard them, sunny scrambled to change the subject.

"Nothing! Nothing at all, anyways it's good to see you safe cas." He looked around at everyone and then spoke again. "How about we sit together and discuss our future plan, we have to get out of this place afterall. Going together will be the best choice."

Since Cassie had asked in general and not him directly, his flaw wasn't flaring up.

As he spoke, his mind finally realised something deeply important after an immense period of time.

Cassie did not have an armour to wear, Nephis would have given her her's originally but she had probably refused it this time after recieving enough gifts already.

He had to get her some clothes now. The seaweed makeshift clothing was not acceptable. Besides if she had accepted Nephis's offer, neph herself would be left without armour.

He had to change that.

"It's nice to see you here Sunny." Cassie blurted out.

Surprised by the sudden words, Sunny replied hastily. "It's nice to see you too, Cassie." By the time he finished his sentence, it felt warm saying that.

Sunny smiled slightly. Though they were surrounded by a bunch of other people,

The original trio was back together.

***

The girls were huddled around a small fire started by Nephis, it was day time so the fire wasn't going to be an issue for now.

They were using the fire to cook some of the meat Sunny and Liam had brought.

Caster was standing close by, talking to Liam, he was inquiring about his journey up until now, deep down he wanted to pry out any information about Sunny's devastating murder spree, but Liam had caught on and was avoiding his questions— both simply out of habit and because he felt that there was something suspicious about Caster's behaviour.

Sunny and Nephis meanwhile, were at the edge of the island, away from the group. They were discussing between themselves everything they had learnt of the place beforehand.

Sunny gained some vital information by doing this.

Cassie had not received any new visions for instance, and Nephis had met everyone on the crimson coral outgrowth itself.

Nephis informed him of many other things too.

"Aside from me and Caster, there's not really a proper warrior amongst us, Cassie is well, as you know— capable of moving around but she can't really fight.

She probably could if this forsaken place had dormant creatures but, we aren't that lucky.

The black haired girl, June— you have probably seen her before in the academy. She is an average fighter all things considered, but not really capable of dealing with awakened level threats.

She was in our batch of the academy so, I can vouch for her— she wouldn't hold us back in anything other than fighting.

But the other two girls..."

Nephis grew silent for a moment, Sunny instead completed her sentence.

"The twins are a liability, aren't they?"

Nephis sighed. "Yes, they are from Antarctica's academy. Their names are mai and yui— and their aspects are also like twins.

Mai manipulates flames and yui manipulates lightning. They are rather weak though, both in raw power and skill."

Nodding slightly, Sunny started talking. "Hmm, Liam is pretty skilled as far as I know, after me, you and Caster, he'll be the only other person who can fight here.

Though whether he can survive awakened creatures or not isn't something I'm sure of for now, but he did adapt to the scene of them pretty fast."

Nephis nodded, then, noticing her cloak sunny spoke.

"That cloak of yours, how strong is it?"

"It's an Awakened memory of the 6th tier as you already know, it's a garment so it's not very good at defence but it does make me harder to detect." Nephis answered, slightly confused.

"Hmm, for someone like you that isn't the best armour, don't you think?"

Nephis raised an eyebrow. "Then what type of armour would be better?"

Sunny grinned. "Well, I have an Awakened memory of the 6th tier aswell. And it's pristine white colour scheme would match you perfectly, and Cassie does need an armour doesn't she?"

Nephis nodded solemnly. "That she does, she even refused my armour when I tried lending it to her because she thought it was too much."

Sunny tilted his head slightly. "Well aren't you a saint. Sacrificing yourself for your beloved friend."

"I just feel bad seeing her like that. Besides, I wouldn't be myself if I didn't help her."

After a while, the two of them made their way back to everyone.

Noticing them, Caster and Liam gathered around the girls too.

Cassie was sitting on the ground itself, on her right was June and on her left were the twins.

Standing close by now were Caster and Liam.

Opposite of Cassie was a small cliff like protrusion, on it's wall, Nephis was leaning and Sunny was sitting on top of it, on her left.

The tense silence was broken by Sunny.

"So, the eight of us are stranded on an apparently never seen before part of the dream realm. Before we decide which way to go, let us first discuss our powers.

To make sure there is no one who feels overwhelmed, you are allowed to hide anything you want, we won't force you to speak.

But mention your aspect powers, and your attributes if they are relevant, also mention how well equipped you are with your memories. Is that clear?"

Everyone other than Nephis gave him a subtle nod, the girls had apprehension on their faces, while Caster and Liam were calm...calmer, at least.

Nephis on the other hand simply closed her eyes. She didn't need to answer him afterall, everybody had already seen her powers.

Now that she wasn't hindered in using her aspect by her flaw, she didn't need to really hide it from everyone. She wasn't vulnerable anymore, and even then, she had not revealed the healing side of her aspect yet.

Confirming everyone's approval, Sunny began first.

"My aspect allows me to use my shadows as helpful scouts, I can also augment myself to be stronger.

I'm also fated to encounter unlikely situations.

I am also well equipped with memories such that I have armour, weapons and tools."

Noticing that sunny was done speaking, Nephis started her turn.

"My aspect produces flames as you have already seen, my attributes aren't worth mentioning and

finally, I have a weapon and an armour memory that I use."

After her, Caster spoke about his superspeed and mentioned having a few memories but didn't specify them.

Then finally, it was Liam's turn.

"My aspect isn't anything amazing, I have an Awakened level aspect that lets me camouflage with the surroundings and increases my stealth.

Though complete camouflage is exhausting.

It's my attributes that really shine though, I have two of them. [Primal Sense] allows my senses to be much much more sharper and even my intuition to be better while [Hawk eye] allows me to see much farther and increases my accuracy by leaps and bounds.

Since my two attributes are similar too, their affects stack together to produce a bigger result.

Also I have three memories, a sword, a bow and an armour, and technically while it doesn't count, I'm using makeshift arrows from the scavengers' legs."

Then, Cassie spoke up, talking about her powers to see visions and about her memories.

She didn't mention that she could see other people's attributes though, or Guardian's Creed.

Sunny and Nephis already knew, and for now that was enough.

Then, it was June's turn.

"Uhm, I also have an Awakened aspect, it grants me the power to teleport some distance away.

It is very exhausting however, and I can't teleport twice in a short interval. In fact I need atleast 12 minutes to charge up a teleport. Oh, and my maximum distance if about 10 meters too.

Uh, I... would rather not talk about my attribute.

Also, I do have a dormant armour memory, it's a beautiful robe I got in my first Nightmare. But I don't have a weapon memory, I'm also using a makeshift weapon like Liam— mine is a sharp bone of the scavenger Nephis killed."

Afterwards, it was mai and yui's turn. Their aspects allowed them to manipulate fire and lightning respectively.

They both had an attribute called [Infallible Twins] which increased their powers if they were close to each other.

Unfortunately, their aspects were of the dormant rank, and as such they weren't really capable of fighting, this fact was even more enhanced by the fact that the twins had been infected a week prior to the winter solstice.

They each had a single memory, a dagger and an armour.

Understanding that their situation was dire, Sunny devised a basic plan.

"Alright we are short on time, so let's move to the place where I and Liam came from. My two echoes can help carry some of you too."

Caster suddenly looked at his way. "Wait, shouldn't lady nephis be leading us?"

Nephis finally opened her eyes slowly and looked up in his direction. "It's fine, Sunny has the most knowledge of the area, he had the echoes and is overall the best of us. He should lead."

With that, she turned back to her original position, indicating that the decision was final.

Sunny however, had a few things to say. "I'm not leading us Caster, I'm just providing a plan for now. We can decide who gets to lead us later."

With that, everyone got to work. They had to get the cooked meat stored away and leave quickly before the night came. Nephis took Cassie to a side alone in the meantime.

"What is it neph?" Cassie was surprised by this sudden action. Nephis simply replied by holding her hand and saying.

"Take this." Cassie felt a rush of electricity in her.

[You have recieved a memory.]

Perplexed, Cassie opened the runes of the memory.

Memory: [Tideborne Veil].

Memory Rank: Awakened.

Memory Type: Armor.

Memory Description: [As the stormy seas surged, harrowing creatures lurked beneath their surface. A lone, unassuming boat challenged the mighty waters, skillfully evading every danger on its journey.

However, once the lighthouse—the guiding light that served all seafarers—was extinguished, the boat lost its way. Stranded in the vast, unforgiving ocean, it vanished without a trace, never to be seen again.]

Cassie's hands trembled. "Ne...nephis! This is!"

At the same time, white sparks flew around nephis and a padding of fine silk suit encompassed her, followed by a pristine white armour seemingly made out of alabaster ivory. It was [pale lily].

"This is for you Cassie, I have another armour now as you can see, so it's not a problem."

"But nephis...I can not see, that's kind of my whole problem right now."

For a moment, there was absolute silence— then there was the scene of a flustered nephilim scrambling to come up with an apology for her friend. And that friend laughing in response.

Anyhow, Cassie was convinced after some time— reluctantly.

Soon, the cohort of eight people left the coral canopy.

Leading it were Sunless and Nephis straight up, with Caster and Liam acting as flanks. June was in the middle of the four of them— holding a new makeshift weapon made with s bone fragment of the corrupted devil shark, Sunny had spent some minutes sharpening it with defiance, She was right infront of Cassie who was riding the scavenger echo and the twins who were on scavvy.

They were taking a single path directly towards the statue of the knight. Sunny's shadows were scouting around the area in advance.

And—

At the end of each shadow's vision...

...were small groups of scavenger scouts.

Sunny didn't have the luxury to send serpent for each of them, so he simply kept moving.

Out there in the crimson spire, a menace existence was watching from its several eyes.

One of it's eyes was reflecting the sight of hundreds of fallen scavengers.

Another three were showing a group of eight sleepers moving at rapid speed.

Strange guttural sounds were coming out of it. If a human could understand them, they would hear—

"A new threat has come to my home. Must eradicate. Send the nearest Commander."