Chapter summary: Sunny wants a divorce and is also asking for alimony.
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[Wake up, Mordret! Your Nightmare is over!]
The Spirit of Nothing awoke in a snow-covered wasteland. All around him, there was only the pristine white of the snow and a thick mist, woven from the very element he commanded.
Then, a handsome young man stepped forward through the fog. He had lustrous black hair and two eyes that reflected the world like mesmerizing mirrors.
"Welcome back, brother. I must say, you look well. Though... I admit I would have vastly preferred the opposite," Mordret said, addressing the other Mordret—his "good" brother.
"Hello to you too, brother," the Spirit replied with a faint sigh. The time had come for him to keep his word, however reluctantly.
The King of Nothing stepped closer. He took his brother's hand and pressed an old, jagged shard of glass into his palm.
"It is time," he said, staring directly into his eyes—two mirrors endlessly reflecting one another.
"Yeah. It's time," the Spirit replied softly.
A long, heavy silence followed. The two fragments of the same being continued to stare at one another, their gazes locked. Mordret still held his brother's hand—the one clutching the glass shard—and slowly pulled it toward his own chest.
After a moment's hesitation, the Spirit of Nothing plunged the reflective blade into his brother's heart. It pierced flesh and bone, spilling his blood onto the snow. A blossoming crimson stain painted the immaculate, pristine white mantle.
Then, the Spell whispered:
[You have slain a Supreme Titan: Mordret of Nowhere.]
[You have unlocked your Aspect Legacy.]
But it was not finished.
[Your Aspect Legacy mastery level has increased.]
[You have received the right to claim a Legacy Relic.]
[Your Aspect Legacy mastery level has increased.]
[You have received the right to claim a Legacy Relic.]
[Your Aspect Legacy mastery level has increased.]
...
The Nightmare Spell kept repeating the same two sentences until the seventh time.
Mordret's Aspect Legacy, [Empiricism of Reflection], functioned as the exact inverse of his Flaw. Every time he killed and reassimilated a different fragment of himself, his mastery over it deepened.
And now, he was complete.
"It seems Cassia was right," said the voice of a newly forged Mordret—whole, and finally Sacred.
He looked down at his runes, scrolling to the strings of text waiting at the bottom, and simply added:
"Claim."
***
Nephis landed on the soil of Bastion, unfurling her radiant white wings. The ground beneath her feet seemed almost unworthy to touch her divine beauty. Shadowing her from behind, Sunny followed, concealed within the vast darkness beneath her soles like a faithful shadow.
The Spirits of Humanity and Death had finally returned home.
Ten years had passed since the three of them had set out to challenge the Fifth Nightmare alongside Mordret. Cassie, it seemed, had perished during the trial—or at least, that was what Nephis had initially been led to believe.
Back when she was mourning her death, the King of Nothing had revealed that the Lady Cassia who had accompanied them was merely a reflection of his own creation. The real one had remained behind to face Asterion. That revelation brought Nephis a measure of relief, though it also filled her with deep anxiety for her best friend's safety.
Finally, Lost from Light and Changing Star entered the citadel, only to find it utterly deserted.
Fearing the worst, the two broke into a run, searching for any sign of survivors. When they finally came to a halt, they found a young woman with hair bright as spun gold and a pristine, sea-blue blindfold covering her face. She possessed a delicate beauty that radiated a sublime, otherworldly purity.
She was a Supreme—Cassie, the Sovereign of Knowledge.
"Cassie," Nephis breathed, her eyes lighting up with hope.
At the sound of her voice, the blind seer turned toward her. Judging by her impassive expression, she seemed to have been waiting for them all along.
Changing Star walked slowly toward her, her mind racing with concern over the state of the world.
"What happened? You're a Sovereign... did you challenge the Fourth Nightmare? Where is Asterion? Where is everyone?"
She bombarded her with a flurry of questions, stepping forward in her eagerness for answers.
Halfway between them, just before Nephis could reach her, Cassie raised a single hand, sternly signaling the Spirit of Humanity to stop.
"What?" Nephis asked, visibly bewildered by her cold detachment.
The sound of her footsteps died away as she froze in place.
Lowering her hand, Serenade of Doom finally spoke. "To answer your questions, Neph... first of all, Asterion has been defeated."
"What?" Changing Star stood speechless, caught completely off guard.
How was that possible? Had her friend really grown so powerful in her absence that she killed the old ghoul completely on her own?
As if sensing her internal turmoil, Cassie shook her head slightly. "No, I didn't kill him alone, Neph. Others helped me; I didn't face the Fourth Nightmare by myself. As for why Bastion is deserted... it's because we had to evacuate."
Her voice remained calm and even as she explained. Nephis listened in tense silence.
"The Waking World has been completely devoured by the Dream Realm. Without the laws of the Domain of War to suppress them, Cursed and Unholy abominations have fully awakened and begun to ravage everything in their path. We acted in advance and abandoned the city before they could arrive."
She paused for a brief moment before offering a gentle smile. "Everyone is safe, Neph. You don't need to worry."
"I see," the Spirit of Humanity murmured, finally lowering her gaze.
Guilt gnawed at her insides for having abandoned everyone to challenge the Fifth Nightmare, leaving Cassie alone to deal with the Dreamspawn. Yet, almost immediately, a second thought surfaced in her mind, bringing a smile back to her face.
'At least Sunny is still here with me. My beloved shadow.'
Her heart fluttered with joy—a distorted, obsessive joy.
Lifting her head once more, Changing Star nodded. "Alright. If that's everything, then now we need to—"
She made to take a step forward, but Cassie halted her once again, raising her hand a second time.
"I am sorry, Nephis," Cassie said softly, shaking her head. "But you aren't going anywhere."
"What?"
Before Nephis could utter another word, she felt two familiar arms wrap around her from behind.
Turning her head, she saw Sunny pulling her into his warm embrace. A sudden blush rushed to Changing Star's cheeks as she flushed with embarrassment.
"S—Sunny, not here! At least wait until we get home," she whispered, somehow finding Cassie's unseeing presence oddly thrilling.
Too bad the blind seer couldn't actually see them.
Then, locking his dark eyes onto hers with a cold, merciless stare, Sunny spoke in a raw, icy voice:
"Fuck you."
Squelch.
Nephis gasped, spitting out a mouthful of crimson blood. A blade as black as night, saturated with the pure, terrifying will of death, pierced her chest from behind.
"Ah..."
Releasing him from the embrace, Changing Star collapsed forward, falling to her side as paralyzing pain gripped her. Her white flames instantly flared to life, desperately trying to mend the wound, but they failed.
A wound like this would never kill a Sacred being of her caliber, but it was enough to temporarily incapacitate her. Looking up, Nephis finally noticed the glowing runic circle surrounding her on the ground—most likely the cause of her suddenly weakened flames, combined with the dagger piercing her chest from behind.
"That is a little gift from the Shadow God. I ran into him during the trial," Sunny said, standing over her. "'He' asked me to pass along his thanks for helping him win his bet."
He offered no further explanation.
There was profound regret in his eyes. So much of it. But above all, there was the grim satisfaction of inflicting upon her at least a fraction of the agony she had made him endure throughout his years of captivity.
"Why... why?" Nephis rasped, struggling to look up at him, her mind completely incapable of processing the betrayal.
"Why, Neph?" His face twisted into a mask of pure, unadulterated anguish. "Because you used me, that's why! You used the Bond against me after promising you never would. You turned me into a slave! You robbed me of my freedom and my dreams, you kept me from the people I loved—my sister Rain, Seishan, Jet... you even made me kill Saint, you miserable wretch!!!"
His knuckles turned stark white as he clenched his fists. The surrounding shadows awakened, growing deeper and darker than ever before, creeping forward to devour the light itself.
"And that is exactly why I can never forgive you, Nephis."
His words hit their mark, wounding her exactly as Sunny intended.
"B-but... I did it for us, Sunny," Nephis pleaded from the ground, hot tears beginning to stream down her face. "So we could be together. I love you."
Her skin glowed as her flames persisted in their vain attempt to heal her.
Lost from Light looked at her. He truly looked at her, in a way he hadn't done in years. His eyes were wide with regret, the blood boiling in his veins from the sheer rage, his fingers still locked in tight fists.
"Don't you get it? That is exactly the problem, Neph. You love me, yes, but your love is twisted and obsessive. You did nothing but use me as an emotional crutch to give meaning to your selfish revenge, while everyone who stood by me suffered for your godforsaken stubbornness! And what's worse..."
His voice suddenly grew quiet, cracking as tears threatened to fall. His hands finally uncurled, revealing deep red crescents gouged into his palms by his own nails. Sunny let his shoulders slump and released a heavy, exhausted sigh.
"I love you too."
The truth echoed in both of their hearts.
Nephis's face lit up for a fleeting moment, clinging to the hope of forgiveness.
But as always, hope was a poison.
"And that is exactly why it's time to end this."
Changing Star's faint smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
"I want to say that I hate you so much I could kill you, Neph. I want to see you suffer. But the harsh truth is... I can't. I can't bear to wish you harm, yet I can't bear to love you either. Not because I forgive you—I will never forgive you after everything—but because I am so utterly exhausted of being your shadow. Just another slave."
Back in the fortress of Ariel, the Demon of Dread, while trapped inside the Game of Death alongside Kai, Sunny had witnessed several alternate timelines. Each of them showed him a different path his life could have taken.
In one of them, Nephis commanded him to leave her behind on the Forgotten Shore and return to the Waking World using his True Name. In another, Sunny never turned back to stop Caster, leaving her to face her executioner alone while he went home. In yet another, he managed to avoid killing the Legacy, and he and Nephis stepped through the gateway back home hand in hand. And so on.
There were many other possible variants Sunny could have listed one by one, though they weren't exhaustive. Without realizing it—being far from an expert on the subject—Lost from Light had only asked the altar for timelines involving him and Nephis.
Curiously, every single one of those visions abruptly ended the exact moment they set foot in the Fifth Nightmare. It refused to show anything beyond it.
It was as if this event was a fixed, absolute point in time—a nexus where all possibilities converged.
And at the end of every version he witnessed, Sunny always ended up with Nephis.
It was truly fitting. She was the light, and he was the shadow it cast. They lost each other, found each other, lost each other again, only to inevitably reunite in a repetitive, unbroken cycle that always culminated in the realization of their love. Neither could truly exist without the other; they completed one another like two halves of a whole.
Beautiful, yes. But at what cost?
Just to receive that scrap of warmth he had spent his life desperately seeking, Sunny always ended up becoming the one thing he had always despised the most.
A slave.
The worst part was that, in the end, he was the one who yearned for those chains.
It infuriated him.
It wasn't fair.
It was a brutal slap in the face to everything he had ever fought for.
His spite.
His freedom.
His dreams.
The truth, unfortunately, was absolute: Sunny had always been a truly treacherous being, but the most treacherous act he had ever committed... was against himself.
...
He and Nephis were still staring at each other, the heavy silence left in the wake of his words flickering between their gazes.
"Goodbye, Nephis. I truly did love you... but I am done. I'm just done."
When you truly love someone, you have to know when to let them go.
With that, Sunny knelt and gripped the hilt of the black blade protruding from her chest—the gift from the Shadow God. With a swift, resolute yank, he pulled the dagger of death free from her glowing flesh.
At that exact moment, an invisible thread connecting their souls was severed forever, snapping like an over-tensioned nerve.
The [Shadow Bond] was broken.
"AAAH!"
The pain felt almost physical to Changing Star, wounding her far deeper than the stab itself, more excruciating than her own Flaw had ever been—even though, physically, neither of them felt a thing. She writhed on the ground, dropping to all fours on the cold earth, clutching her stomach in agony.
Nephis felt so incredibly alone.
Turning to look at Cassie, who had remained perfectly silent as a mere observer until now, Sunny asked:
"What now?"
What was the next step in her plan? Or, more accurately... in Weaver's plan?
Cassie met his gaze, deeply regretting every single choice that had brought them to this point.
The guilt burned like an ember in her chest, though she knew all too well that it was far too late for remorse.
Finally, she whispered to him: "Now run."
Sunny blinked. "What?"
"Run, Lost from Light!"
In the very next instant... KABOOM!
A deafening explosion of blinding silver flames consumed the area, incinerating the deserted citadel of Bastion and scorching the surrounding realm for miles around.
From that dazzling sea of white fire emerged a creature woven purely of incandescent flames and divine light. Nephis searched frantically for Sunny, but he was already far, far away.
***
Far away...
"What the hell, Cassie?! Do I need to stab you too?!"
Sunny yelled as he stepped out from a shadow inside the Nameless Temple—his citadel near the Hollow Mountains—carrying Cassie bridal-style in his arms.
Even from this immense distance, the blinding white fire could be seen razing the sky across the Dream Realm, devouring everything in its path.
"I know!" she replied, hastily scrambling down from his arms. "I understand, but we don't have time, Sunny! Once Nephis recovers, she will try to re-establish control over you by calling your True Name! This is the only way left, believe me!"
He opened his mouth to snap back, but in that very instant, his senses screamed in alarm.
Nephis was already here.
"SUNNY!"
Her cold, terrifying voice resounded into the deepest recesses of their souls. Channeling her boundless will as a Sacred, Changing Star had completely folded space to arrive instantly before them.
Such was the power of a Spirit.
Cassie reacted first. "Sunny, quick! Use your citadel to teleport us to the Hollow Mountains!"
And so he did. In the blink of an eye, before Changing Star could reach them, the ancient temple vanished from her sight.
The Spirit of Humanity grit her teeth in pure fury. "You belong to me, Sunny! To me, and no one else!"
***
High up in the Hollow Mountains, at the exact threshold where the death zone bled into the entrance of the Underworld—where Nothingness and True Darkness collided in an eternal, locked stalemate...
"Cassie, if you actually have a plan, you better hurry the hell up! We can't keep teleporting across the Realms forever!" Sunny urged the blind seer, praying for her to get on with it.
Shadows and light had never been on particularly good terms. Though one gave definition to the other, shadows remained inherently vulnerable to overwhelming light. The swirling mist of Nothingness and the suffocating True Darkness surrounding them were natural enemies to both light and shadows alike. However, as a Sacred Titan, Changing Star possessed enough power to burn even those primordial forces away.
Thus, if it came to a direct confrontation, the Spirit of Death wasn't certain he could win. Not because he was weaker than Nephis, but because her sheer destructive power and virtually unlimited regeneration had always been a nightmare to deal with. It was the true reason why neither Sunny nor anyone else had ever managed to defeat her in a direct duel... or at least, in a blade-to-blade contest.
"I know! I know!" Cassie replied, pacing back and forth frantically, lost in thought. "I'm waiting for someone. He said he'd be here any second after finishing the task I gave him!"
"Waiting for WHO?!" Lost from Light demanded in exasperation, clutching his hair in frustration.
He could already sense Nephis closing in on them.
"Oh, my! Sunless, my dear friend, why so agitated?"
Sunny whipped around toward the sound of the new voice.
"Mordret?"
His eyes widened as he stared at the young man with lustrous black hair and mesmerizing, mirror-like eyes.
Meeting his gaze, the Spirit of Nothing flashed a radiant, playful smile. "The one and only! Though I must say, my dear Sunless... considering how intensely you and Changing Star went at it all these years, I am genuinely surprised you haven't gone blind yet!"
At that exact moment, simultaneously with him, other figures materialized in the hall.
"Hi, Sunny," Kai said affectionately, greeting his long-lost friend.
"Hey there, doofus! Still trapped under the princess's skirt?!" Effie chimed in with a boisterous laugh.
"Hello, devil," Jet said, looking at him with warm affection.
"Sunny."
"Brother."
"My knight."
Seishan, Rain, and Morgan spoke in rapid succession.
Then, they all rushed forward, wrapping him in a deeply affectionate, nostalgic group embrace. Well... all of them except for the Princess of War, who had to awkwardly wait her turn because of her Flaw.
Tears welled in Sunny's eyes. He had missed them just as much as they had missed him.
"Why are you all here?" Lost from Light asked, looking at them one by one. A myriad of other questions flashed in his dark eyes, but they were entirely out of time.
"To help you, of course, Sacred Sunless."
Yet another new voice joined the fray, answering on behalf of everyone.
The Spirit of Death turned around, finding, to his immense shock, Supreme Ki Song standing there. The Queen of Worms offered a respectful bow of her head.
Speechless, Sunny whipped his head toward Cassie. Serenade of Doom was smiling broadly, thoroughly enjoying his bewilderment.
'Of course! Who else would have orchestrated her death?' he thought, rolling his eyes in utter exasperation.
Now, gathered within the Nameless Temple, were a total of eight Sovereigns and two Sacred Titans. It was a combat unit of unprecedented, unfathomable ferocity, all assembled to stop a single person.
Changing Star.
"Right, then..." the blind seer spoke up, drawing everyone's attention back to the dire reality of their situation. "Now that we are all gathered here, we must act immediately. Nephis will arrive any second, so I will be brief and concise."
The slight, involuntary pause she took left everyone holding their breath. The chilling silence made the blood freeze in their veins.
"Even if we manage to defeat Nephis, we are still doomed."
"Ah, lovely," Effie interrupted bluntly. "And here I was expecting a happily ever after."
Ignoring her usual lack of tact, Cassie pushed forward with her explanation. "The time we had has unfortunately run out. The Dream Realm has finished completely devouring Earth; the barriers between all existing Realms have fallen, and Cursed and Unholy abominations are roaming the lands, unstoppable. Even though humanity now boasts three Sacreds, it won't be enough to save us. And even if we were to challenge the Sixth Nightmare, it would only accelerate the catastrophe, as humanity would lose the protection of its greatest champions."
"So... it really is over," Sunny concluded, feeling his hard-won determination crumble.
The atmosphere in the main hall of the citadel grew heavier than ever—until Cassie added, with a deeply treacherous smile:
"In the future? Yes, unfortunately. But in the past? There is still, not just a hope, but a genuine possibility to turn everything around."
This statement lifted the gloom slightly. However, a few of those present remained thoroughly perplexed by her claim.
Specifically, Effie.
"Uhm... come again?" Raised by Wolves looked left and right, hoping she wasn't the only one in the room who completely missed the point.
Fortunately for her, Seishan, Morgan, and Rain nodded in unison, just as clueless as she was.
Cassie didn't offer a verbal answer immediately. Instead, she simply reached out her hand and summoned a Memory. In a shower of brilliant white sparks, an old-fashioned golden pocket watch materialized in her palm. The hands seemed to be spun from pure copper, and the Roman numerals marking the hours and minutes were engraved with flawless aesthetic precision.
"During our Fourth Nightmare, which once again took place in the Tomb of Ariel, I encountered the Daemon of Dread. He told me to give this to you, Sunless," she said, passing the Memory to him.
"To me?" Sunny asked doubtfully, pointing a finger at his own chest.
Serenade of Doom nodded firmly. "Yes, for you. He wants you to use it to go back in time, Sunny."
"Wait a minute. Why Sunny out of everyone?" Kai interrupted from behind, raising an extremely valid point. The archer still didn't entirely trust her.
"Yeah, exactly," Effie agreed, backing him up. "I mean, not that anyone here would be against it, but why Doofus and not you, dolly? You've spent so much time regretting your choices, and now that you finally have the chance to fix things, you just want to give it away like that?"
The question hung heavy in the air. Everyone stared at Cassie, waiting for her fateful answer.
Finally, the blind seer lowered her head and admitted softly, "Because I am not qualified."
This answer clearly didn't satisfy the audience, but no one pressed her, allowing her the space to elaborate.
"First of all, to use this Memory, the wielder must possess a sufficiently high affinity with Divinity—at least a [Flame of Divinity], which I do not have. Second, the sheer amount of essence required to activate it demands that the user be at least a class Titan of high rank. Finally, depending on the volume of essence channeled into it, the Memory will send you back to a precise, corresponding moment in time."
The information resonated logically with everyone present. If anyone there had enough experience to wield a power as profound as time travel wisely, it was Sunless and Mordret, both of whom had spent thousands of years in the time dilation of the Fifth Nightmare. And since the latter would end up either trapped in the Night Temple without a body or scattered as a fragmented person, the choice was rather obvious.
However, as Serenade of Doom quickly pointed out:
"Furthermore... it is because Sunny is the key, and the absolute epicenter, of changing events."
"Huh?" The various Supremes blinked in unison.
Mordret and Sunny, however, did not. They already knew exactly where she was going with this.
"Sunny is [Fated]. This means that, above all others, he is the only one who genuinely has a chance to change things. Originally, we were supposed to have far more time before the Dream Realm completely devoured the Waking World. If the process has been accelerated, it is entirely due to his connection to the Forgotten God and the lineage of Weaver that runs through his very being."
"Weaver's lineage?" The Queen of Worms widened her eyes and clenched her fists, finally recognizing a threat she sadly could no longer eradicate. The true root of how all of this began.
Cassie picked up the thread. "Exactly. As some of you already know, the Daemons were the children of the Forgotten God—the Dream God. Sunny, being his grandson, practically speaking, inadvertently triggered the awakening process of the being that Weaver's Spell was keeping dormant as he grew in renown."
"Then why hasn't this corrupted God fully awakened yet?" Rain asked, hugging her shoulders, chilling at the thought of such a terrifying entity rising.
The blind seer turned toward her. "Because, despite everything, the Nightmare Spell is still holding on. Primarily because Sunny hasn't shown his face much in the light of day over the last several years—largely thanks to the captivity Nephis forced upon him. That saved us from immediate doom, but it still resulted in accelerating the assimilation of our world. Which is why the apocalypse is now more imminent than ever, and why, if we truly want to change things, we must send Sunny back to the past."
A heavy silence fell, giving everyone time to process the sheer weight of the information.
Sunny stared at the gleaming pocket watch in his hand. Despite not knowing all the intricate specifications, he took a deep, steadying breath and said, "Alright, let's d—"
BOOM.
A violent earthquake rocked the ground beneath their feet, cutting him off abruptly.
Changing Star had finally arrived.
"Uh-oh. Looks like the crazy princess is finally here," Effie said with a nervous, strained smile.
"Right. I'll go face her," Morgan declared, her blade already materializing in her hand.
"No, you can't. It's too dangerous for you out there," Mordret said, grabbing her shoulder to stop her. He had thoughtfully materialized a gauntlet woven of Nothingness to avoid triggering her Flaw—a rare gesture of care that left the Princess of War briefly stunned. "I will go! Among everyone here, I am the only one who can actually keep Changing Star and her flames at bay. And besides..."
A wicked, bewitching smile spread across his face—a dark cynicism that vaguely recalled the old Mordret.
"I have an old score to settle with the Spirit of Humanity, ever since that time she tried to kill me back in our Second Nightmare."
Perhaps he had spent a little too much time with Sunless, but even the Spirit of Nothing felt a bit spiteful from time to time.
"I just need someone to distract her for a moment so I can drag her into my mirror world before she causes too much destruction," Mordret added, looking at the assembled Supremes.
The group exchanged glances, waiting for someone to come up with an idea.
Then, at that exact moment, Ki Song smiled broadly. The Queen of Worms raised a hand and announced:
"I happen to have an idea."
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