A dark raven crossed through the skies of the Chained Isles avoiding all interaction with any creature or Awakened, utilizing the shadows to hide itself while traversing.
On the creature's back, a figure laid in a black uniform while his form constantly changed in an attempt to control his otherwise unnatural body.
Sunny was currently trying to change the shape of his head and arm in an attempt to use his body in more effective ways. Like making his arms into a blade or his head into another arm to surprise his enemies.
The process was much easier to control his body than before, the main thing that stopped him from effectively getting used to his body sooner was the whiplash from his normal body, where he breathed, smelled, and talked. To his new body, completely alien to what he was before.
As for the pain, it only really came once he scattered too much of one part of him from his overall body, other than that, it was fine.
He manipulated his head, imagining himself growing a horn. Slowly, he manipulated the shadows of his body and his skin rippled. A hardened part growed and went forward, protruding out of the side of his head, a lightning-shaped onyx horn appeared.
'Cool.'
He dismissed the horn and turned his body, raising himself using his reformed arms and standing up.
He was getting closer to the 'Fortress of Steel', the past iteration of the 'Box' in the Dream Realm, he would only scout the place to find the Glass knife, he had no intention to linger, it was a place to torture Shadowspawns after all, so the last thing he wanted was to stay there. He also felt a certain pain in his chest that grew as he got closer, so part of him wished the blade wasn't there.
But considering Kai was still being healed, and Seishan wasn't exactly made for stealth, he was the best choice.
Moreover, he already knew how the Fortress of Steel was, different from the Temple of the Chalice, which was mostly unknown to him.
'As mother said: better the devil you know than the one you don't…'
Sunny nodded.
'It makes sense, I would rather fight a Fallen Devil that I know the in and out of his abilities than an Awakened Devil that I have no idea what it will do.'
Either way, he was close.
As he was about to gain sight of the prison in the distance, a voice made him stop and pause.
A voice of the Spell.
[Your Shadow has evolved.]
Sunny perked up and immediately ordered Dreadwing to land in a close chain that was clear of any chain worms.
Landing gracefully on the great chain that wobbled slightly, he gave a mental command for his Shadow to keep watch, he was really close to the Fortress, and according to Noctis, the guards seldom made some patrols along the neighboring islands to make sure they were clear.
He then delved into his soul sea to witness his Shadow that had evolved, already knowing who it was.
The calm, dark waters of his soul remained the same as always, with even more shades on the horizon, his Shadows also resided there.
The Soul-Devouring Tree wasn't present as he had summoned it somewhere else, it was serving a specific task only it could do.
The others meanwhile, were looking at their new companion that had just finished his evolution after weeks of being still.
Remnant had Awakened.
He was no longer the little Shadow that Sunny had found. Absorbing the Echo of Shadow Blade Kurt made a lot for him.
Now he was a little shorter than Sunny himself, having a body of shadows that reminded of Kurt's body, but that constantly rippled and changed, with no discernible feature, much like Sunny's current body… And he was naked.
Despite having no… Private parts, Sunny couldn't help but advert his eyes, immediately summoning the [Puppeteer's Shroud] onto his new Shadow.
White sparks suddenly appeared onto Remnant and the Shadow almost jumped in surprise, and kept looking at the new clothing he had.
Looking up once again, Sunny could see Remnant in all of his glory.
He was a living figure of shadows, wrapped in black robes of the [Puppeteer'sShroud] that seemed to dissolve into the shadows around him. Beneath the hood lay no face, only an abyss of impenetrable blackness. He seemed to have emerged from the darkness itself, a nameless specter carrying the weight of something ancient and merciless.
A Remnant of Shadows…
Yet his mannerisms showed anything but.
The Shadow kept looking at his new robe and body non-stop, as if excited for the new form.
In fact, he couldn't stop, after he finished analyzing himself, he went to Sunny, almost teleporting to in front of him, who took a step back in surprise.
'Okay!'
He put one hand up, sending a mental command to calm down and stop.
Remnant seemed to understand as he immediately stopped and composed himself, standing motionless.
'Alright, you seem excited, don't really blame you but…'
Sunny's thoughts stopped as he felt a presence behind him, a dark, tenebrous presence.
'Right, I almost forgot about you.'
Turning, a black steed stood, having a black mist surrounding it, with two horns on his head.
Nightmare.
Sunny reached his hand and touched on the steed's head, caressing the bridge of it.
Nightmare didn't change the demeanor, but he seemed to like it, especially when Sunny began caressing his strong neck.
'I'm glad you are better.'
The fearsome horse let out a snort, as if agreeing with his new master.
Turning around once more, he was surprised to see Remnant… Crouched, caressing Wraith, the wolf seemed to like it a lot.
Sunny pretended to sigh.
'I got a troublemaker? Really?'
He rolled his eyes and decided to ignore it for now, opening his runes, he looked at Remnant.
Shadow: [Remnant of Shadow.]
Shadow Rank: Awakened.
Shadow Class: Beast.
He raised in rank, acquiring the same one that Kurt had.
'Maybe that is why he doesn't have a counter, he needs other Echoes to evolve, is that why he took longer than Saint and Igris? Ascending a Rank is harder than raising the Class after all.'
He turned to the Attributes.
Shadow Attributes: [Shattered], [Shadow Sworn], [Mark of Death].
[Shattered Shadow]
Attribute Description: "This Shadow was able to rebuild itself, but it is a long way from being whole."
[Shadow Sworn]
Attribute Description: "You are known to shadows."
[Mark of Death]
Attribute Description: "You bear a mark of Death, as just like Death, you were created to be a weapon."
'These Attributes… Apart from the first one, all of them were from Kurt. But he didn't inherit all, I'm pretty sure there was one more he didn't get.'
Shadow abilities: [Formless Being], [Inherit], [Shadow Manipulation], [Shadow Strike].
[Shadow Manipulation]
Ability Description: "You can affect the movement of shadows and walk through them unseen."
[Shadow Strike]
Ability Description: "You can strike at the shadows, and your shadow can strike at the living things."
Sunny raised his hand to his chin, beginning to think.
If we would speak on power alone, Kurt had the potential to be one of his most effective Shadows if he turned into one.
His high affinity to shadows and skill alone would make him extremely valuable to Sunny. The problem was the mental state of Kurt himself and the moral conundrum of turning a human into his servant.
But now that Remnant was here, there was no problem, from the looks of it, his mental state was getting better, and he was obedient.
'Alright, regardless of the Rank, this will work.'
Sunny nodded to himself, none the wiser that the two taciturn knights were staring at him with a certain level of indifference that would make you wonder if they were indifferent at all.
Igris turned to look at Remnant, who was still caressing Wraith, and then turned to Saint, as if waiting for her prompt.
Saint simply nodded, she took steps forward until she loomed over Remnant. He slowly turned to the taciturn knight and twitched his head to the side, confused.
Then, Saint simply squinted her eyes indifferently.
It was enough to scare both Remnant and Wraith into position.
Sunny stared at the scene, if he had any eyes, he would be blinking them intensely.
'I… Guess that works.'
He turned around, leaving his Shadows alone and looked up, summoning a Memory he had yet to see.
[Shadow' Curse]. The Memory he received after killing the Shadowspawn.
He expected to see a collar, or a ring, anything, really, but what appeared on his hand… Was a piece of bark half the size of his hand.
It was dark, elusive, some parts showed a little of ice forming on the edges, mundane.
The only seemingly important thing was symbols embedded on the center of the bark that looked to be made by a bad knife.
Three deep lines.
'What does this mean…?'
Sunny had no idea, and he had no idea why he wanted to cry as soon as he saw this piece of bark tree.
He clutched where his heart was supposed to be and steeled himself, couldn't deal with this now.
'I won't even use it, I have no idea what the enchantments are and I already have an Ascended charm, why did I summon this?!'
He had no idea, he simply dismissed the Memory, trying to think of something else.
Little did he notice that his Shadows had turned to him, something akin to worry on their demeanors.
Saint approached and raised her hand, as if she tried to reach him, but he didn't notice. Soon, he left his soul sea without his Shadow being able to comfort him, returning to reality.
He raised himself from Dreadwing's back and turned to where the Fortress of Steel would be, he then landed on the gigantic chain.
Planning to continue on foot, he dismissed his Shadow, who looked reluctant to return to the tranquil waters of the soul sea.
Sunny walked quickly, not caring for his form that was constantly rippling due to his shifting emotions and loss of concentration.
'Why, why, why?! Why do I care so much?! Why can I only think of my birth mother and father?!'
He suddenly fell down on one knee.
Putting his hand in front to stop himself from falling face first, he felt much of his body being inconsistent.
His form twisted and changed, his leg returned into mist and his arm was close to vanishing.
'Damnation! Calm down!'
Sunny gripped the ground and started thinking of something else, anything else. His sisters, his teachers, his mother…
But he could only think of his birth parents, the father he could not even remember the face of, and the mother that held him warmly…
His shadow form started to dissolve, the body turning into a liquid that made a puddle beneath him.
As if he was crying.
'Why…? Why now…?'
He completely fell, losing his human form completely and turning into a puddle.
For minutes, he stood there, the puddle didn't move. But it did think.
He had been avoiding the topic for so long…
'... I can't just forget…'
He slowly formed himself back.
The moment of stillness gave him a kind of peace, it let him think a little more, and calm down.
Getting back up in his remade human form, Sunny rested on a nearby tree and sat, resting his arms on his knees.
'It hurts… No matter how much time passes…'
But he needed to move on, he was still in a Nightmare, he couldn't let his guard down.
With his mind a little more at ease, Sunny raised himself and continued to the Fortress of Steel, this time, he delved into the shadows and rapidly approached the Fortress…
'Come to think of it, I never really asked mother how my birth parents were… How did she meet them? She only said that they weren't too close, that they met soon after he was born but…'
Sunny shook his non-existent head and focused on his objective.
'Not now, I have arrived.'
The Fortress of Steel…
—
He got out of the shadows and looked towards the facility that looked like a dark cube with ancient engravings of warriors fighting a dark mist.
But this time, it had people in it.
The various small islands with black towers had sentinels, guards with bow and arrows, lances and probably powerful ranged Aspects.
The vast stone bridge was in a much better condition, now with multiple armored guards patrolling with swords and shields. With two golems at the gates, looking like guardians that protected a grand vault, they seemed like the golems of the Fallen Terror that was the Box in the Dream Realm, only they were coloured in a gray-like steel.
But most importantly, Sunny felt the shadows all throughout the area, it was intensive.
He couldn't feel all the Fortress, even when concentrating on it, from the distance he was in, he could only feel half of the prison, but he already could feel a lot.
There were six watchtowers, each with three Awakened sentinels. The towers were like a block of rectangular concrete with about twenty meters in height, the top guarding the sentinels and a hut-like ceiling made of steel.
The patrolling bridge had twelve Awakened, with one Ascended on the entrance together with the two golems. Sunny couldn't sense their Rank, they weren't exactly Echoes since Echoes didn't exist in this age, it was probably a creation of sorcery.
All the guards had state-of-the-art equipment for the time, if Sunny could put into words, all of the Awakened held Ascended armor and weapons, seeming like uniforms as all them had the exact same. Even the archers had the same armor as the patrolling guards on the bridge: a complete steel armor, covering all of their skin, only leaving enough to permit movement, with a mere slit on the eyeline to serve as a visor. They were bulky, but that didn't seem to impede their agility. Their weapons were apparently made of the same material as the armor, steel gray-like.
Even the Ascended was extremely similar, the only difference was that his armor was of a darker shade of gray and had a gray cloth on his neck to serve as a kind of cape.
And more importantly, they all seemed extremely robotic. Still, emotionless, with no personality.
'Hm… that's weird… For the followers of life, they seem rather dead.'
As for the inside of the Box, it was quite crowded.
Many more guards, together with new shadows, pained and weak ones, or rather in a weakened state. The prisoners.
Trying to ignore their pain, he focused on the number of people in the Fortress. There were about seventy guards, with most of them being Awakened, and quite a handful of Ascendants, with forty prisoners, their Ranks consisting of mostly weakened Awakened and some Ascended. Only some having a higher Class.
Normally in a prison, the number of prisoners dwarfs the number of guards, granted, he was only feeling half of the place, but the mere fact there seemed to be more guards implied how much power the prisoners held… Once held. Either that, or just how much the followers of War hated the Shadowspawns.
On the topic, there didn't seem to be that many Shadowspawns, the shadows on the prison didn't have the same connection to shadows as they should have, only a slight mark of the Shadow God.
One of the sentinels of the tower looked at the tree Sunny was hiding in, he stared deep at him…
And looked the other way. Seemingly not noticing anything.
And of course the sentinel didn't, Sunny was completely hidden in shadows.
It was almost baffling just how much he could hide. Not only did he have [Heir of Shadows], that was able to make the shadows conceal him to the point he was almost one with them, he also was wearing the [Mantle of Shadows], that had the enchantment [Mysterious Shadow] making him almost disappear as long as he was in shadows, he could also delve into shadows if he wished… Not to mention that would all be multiplied if it was night, [Remembrance of the Moon], the charm Moonveil gave to him and that was currently equipped in the [Stone Shell], that hid him even more if it was on the night.
All of that and he wasn't even considering [The Shadow]. One of its effects was that it protected his presence.
The only way for him to be noticed was if he was wide in the open or if he wasn't actually trying to be found…
Or if his mother wanted to see him.
Sunny chuckled internally, looking at the trees beside him making the shadows, he had an idea to scout more of the Fortress.
Feeling a little arrogant, Sunny decided to abuse his powerful abilities.
Ordering the shadows to extend and make more shade, the darkness started to expand, creeping more to the edge of the island just enough to not seem unnatural.
Now with the shadows extended, he took a few steps forward. With this, he slowly began to feel more and more of the Fortress.
'Let's see what…'
Sunny stopped, he froze.
Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced his chest, no, his soul.
He finally knew why he was always feeling pain when he thought of Nephis.
His Connection with her was alarming, he was feeling an intense pain… Because she was suffering.
Not physical pain, but emotional, mental. Like a monster was tearing her mind apart…
He looked up, and immediately found her through Shadow Sense.
She was deep in the prison, in the same place he had found Remnant. She was the only prisoner in the maximum security section, the only one that was suffering, the mist and the past version of Remnant nowhere to be found.
If he had any lungs, Sunny would be breathing intensely in short, shallow breaths.
And the culprit for her suffering? It was obvious actually.
The only other presence close to her, that wasn't in a cell.
A Ascendant.
Sunny's form rippled once again, turning into a haze for a moment before reforming. Then becoming haze again, then reforming, beginning a cycle of a violent Terror trying to maintain his human form.
The shadows around him grew deeper, too deep, reacting to the anger of their future God.
Shapes began appearing in the shadows, raising themselves to meet their master, all ready to slaughter the phantom of the Fortress of Steel…
Two taciturn knights stood beside the Hollow Death, a combination of indifference and rage pouring through their armors as they got in position, brandishing their swords.
The Shadow Wraith lowered their posture in an offensive position, deep hatred in their red eyes, sharpening their fangs. The dark mist that made their being intensifying as the wolf felt one of the most important people to their master suffer.
A terrifying Serpent appeared behind the Hollow Death, slithering upwards, slowly changing and modifying their body, becoming something else. It grew one more head, then another one grew, one more appeared, and then two more. Its serpentine body changed as four reptilian limbs appeared on their sides, crashing into the ground and raising upwards, with a tail on the back. The Soul Serpent became an enormous black hydra with six dragon-like heads, incorporating one of the Fallen Terrors Ravensong captured for her son to kill.
A giant raven detached itself from the shadows, their lightning scarred body covered by the onyx armor and silently glaring at the compound.
A tenebrous steed bearing a terrifying mantle of nightmares and a fearsome red gaze stood beside the Hollow Death, having suddenly appeared in reality like an illusion, opening his mouth in a snarl, showcasing his wolf-like fangs.
Finally, a shadow figure jumped into the ground, raising his head and manipulating the shadows around him just like the one that took care of him. Anxious to save the Changing Star…
Hollow Death kept staring at the Fortress of Steel, trying to find a way to eliminate all efficiently and logically… But his thoughts just ended up going to Nephis as pain surged inside him.
'Is this what you suffered for two months Neph…? No, it must be even worse right?'
Sunny unconsciously felt his hand grasping a Memory, only it wasn't a weapon, or a lantern…
It was a mask.
He got surprised, and looked down on the thing that got summoned…
A mask of black lacquered wood carved to resemble the face of a ferocious demon. Its teeth bared with four fangs protruding from its mouth. There were three twisted horns rising from it like a crown. Inside the black chasm of its eyes was nothing but pure darkness.
[Weaver's Mask].
'Why did I summon you…?'
Sunny shook his head, Cassie said that it didn't have any detrimental enchantment, but warned to not use it, only when it felt right…
'... Screw it…'
He didn't like it… But for some reason, it felt right.
He raised the mask and put it on his face, expecting for something to happen…
To his surprise, it didn't, even if it was a Divine Memory, there was seemingly nothing to be gained from using it, not that he noticed at least…
But it didn't matter, right now, he needed to do something else.
He looked up, all his attempts to come up with a complex strategy were futile, he just wanted to burst the place wide open and kill every one. They were mere phantoms after all, they wouldn't matter.
… Or would they?
'No… I can't have moral conundrums right now…'
He only needed Nephis.