Sunny stared at the enormous tree standing before him, seemingly reaching for the heavens. Of course, there was no heaven, there was only hell in the new world - or both worlds - so he stopped being overawed and summoned [Midnight Shard] before attempting to stab into it. As he suspected the tachi bounced off harmlessly off the bark as it failed to leave even a small scratch on the tree. His most powerful memory was the spear, but using it afterward also produced the same result: it did nothing against the Great Beast.
Turning around he saw Nephis just entering the fog - sword burning with white fury in her hand. Bitey was still facing the Corrupted Beast, and although he was a Fallen Demon with no abilities to overcome the rank gap it had his shadow supporting it and doubling its capabilities like its sharpness and incredible speed. Saint herself wasn't falling behind as she fought with supreme elegance around the goblins who fought like... well, goblins?
In all, it was the best matchup he could come up with since the start, and yet realistically they would die if they tried to do more than hold back the horde. Saint was already bleeding ruby dust, and her chest plate was starting to break and shatter - with holes forming from the constant barrage of arrows. He couldn't know Nephis's health, but he could see the hint of white color emitting from the fog which told him all he needed to know. Bitey was also trying its best against the corrupted beast but without having an edge the small gap will lead to his newly formed shadow's demise. So, he had no time to lose as he looked closely at the tree and roots as he tried to sense where the seed was closest to the surface. After finding it on the other side from where Nephis had been trying to burn the tree he summoned Serpent from his arm before morphing it into a shovel and stabbing it into the dirt.
They weren't capable of cutting or even damaging the tree and certainly didn't have the time to try out each available option, so doing the same thing as they did in the Forgotten City, he started digging with past experiences helping him dig more effectively without wasting time. He could hear the battle rage on in the background and although he desperately wanted to check in on what was happening he needed to wrap himself with his shadow to not become exhausted or pass out from the amount of dirt he was digging up so he simply had to trust in his team to be able to hold their own as he dug towards their exit from one hell to another.
After going down five feet, he started to have to dodge the roots from the trees that started appearing and he had to dig around them which took more time than it seemed considering that if he wasn't careful, he could create a cave-in. He slowly felt the pull of the nightmare seed grow stronger and was slowly forcing him into its nightmare, but he had no intention of going in, or at least not yet. Eventually after what felt like hours - but most likely had been only half an hour he had finally reached the Nightmare Seed - which was eerie to say the least.
A dark rift over in the center of a small cave that was directly under the tree, but it felt wrong... the air around the rift felt out of place along with him. Nephis had warned him that this would happen, where the rift would cause anomalies the closer, they got to the rift, but most effects were mental instead of physical anomalies... well usually. He noticed there were runes carved into the roots of the tree but before he could take a closer look at them, he heard a hellish roar that snapped his attention away.
'Damn it Sunny no time to be ogling ancient markings.'
Sunny's breath hitched as he ran towards the tunnel he made, as if he was a mole... or a cockroach, an immortal cockroach that would never die, or at least not stay dead. He quickly made his way up as he looked around at the field that had been lush green now burning down in white flames as he saw chaos emerge all over. Bitey was currently interlocked with the corrupted satyr, but it was now mangled, and its legs were mauled like thousands of glass shards had been sliced into its legs. It was missing an eye now which seemed to be scratched out, and its chest was almost spilling out whatever gross insides it had.
Bitey stood above it as he threw an onslaught of slashes and bites from above, below, and from both sides as it was throwing the satyr around like a rag doll. However, it was heavily wounded with it missing a few fingers, most of its left thigh, and its head was deformed slightly — most likely from the brunt force trauma it received from the battle. Far to the right he saw Saint looking worse for wear before he started digging, with new scratch marks and injuries as she continued to fight against the goblins who now started to attack her with spears and javelins, trying to get her from a range and slowly weaken her until they can kill her almost certainly, perhaps that why she had survived so long despite being in an intense battle with both trivial and mild injuries.
'Cowards.' Sunny thought as he turned his head towards Nephis's direction.
He saw that the fog hadn't moved even an inch from the last time he was around meaning Neph was able to hold it back, but he couldn't see any white glimmer inside the fog. Sighing he brushed dirt off his clothes and dodged a stray arrow from the goblins before rushing towards the fog and feeling the cold dread go through his spine as the fog surrounded him once again. He had to find Nephis before the fog killed her - even though he trusted that she wouldn't die - before dismissing his Shadows as he made his way through the white mist while listening carefully for any sign of distress or clashes.
The fog had the strange ability to disable telepathy or any form of communication so Sunny couldn't contact her with the ring as he heard the distant sounds of steel hitting steel. He quickly made his way over to the sound while summoning and wearing his cloak before having to limbo to dodge a sword that almost decapitated him. Turning to the side he raised Serpent in sword form and blocked another attack before jumping back to dodge a leg swipe.
It was one of the hunters from the castle who had captured and tortured Kai, the loudmouth. Landing gracefully on his feet he dashed to the side as their swords clashed again, steel against what seemed like white mist shaped as a sword. The man had pure white eyes that resembled Nephis's, except they seemed devoid of life like a corpse as he moved forward onto Sunny. They fought as they tried to predict and outmaneuver each other to kill the other as Sunny slashed in a downward arch which was dodged by him moving to the right and slashing towards his waist which he raised his sword perpendicular to block.
Sunny understood his battle style soon enough as he pushed back finally and stopped holding back as he caught the enemy's sword with the cross guard and lifted it into the air. Sunny then acted like he would slash at the head which caused him to lean to dodge but he quickly lowered his sword and instead slashed horizontally through their chest, quickly killing it as he collapsed into the ground with the top and bottom of the body barely connected before turning into white mist.
Before he could move though he was knocked to the ground by a blunt weapon looking up he saw another one of the hunters from the group with a hammer in hand. He rolled to the left barely dodging the falling hammer as he picked himself up and tried to use the moment of vulnerability to try and end the fight quickly, but he was stopped as he was almost speared in the face by another one of the hunters appearing seemingly from nowhere, or perhaps nothing at all.
Looking around he was surrounded from all around as the three hunters moved in, weapons all striking at fatal places. One was holding a spear, another was holding a short sword, and all of them were either striking at his heart or head. Sunny had to swat away the spear while dodging her hammer by side-stepping and he simply attacked back against the short sword user as he used his range to his advantage. He walked back to make space before releasing Serpent from its weapon form, into a blob of shadow, then into a dark figure. That creature was none other than the Forsaken Knight that he and Nephis's cohort had killed in the ruined cathedral.
He hadn't forgotten about Serpent's abilities that it had gained so far due to his advancements in Shadow Dance and cores:
Shadow: Serpent
Rank: Ascended
Class: Devil
Shadow Attribute: [Shadow Guide], [Soul Weapon], [Soul Beast]
Shadow Abilities: [Serpentine Steel], [Soul Reaver], [Grace of Shadows], [Formless]
Having Serpent alone as an ally was invaluable while outnumbered due to being an Ascended Devil, but since obtaining [Formless] Serpent was able to use the abilities of killed nightmare creature shadows he had obtained in his soul sea - with Forsaken Knight being the strongest among the shadows. So, he silently commanded Serpent to take care of the hunters as he ran off once more to reach Nephis as he saw where Serpent had previously been consumed with true darkness.
After running for a bit, he soon reached Nephis who was currently entangled in a deadly fight between two inhabitants of the Dark Castle she must've killed during the power struggle. She was radiating with a white hue as she killed one of the women who was wielding a dagger and turned her attention to the other before seeing them on the ground with a tachi through their head, with Sunny hovering over the body.
"Hello, Sunny, I assume you were successful in destroying the tree?" Nephis asked putting her blade to the side and healing her wounds.
"What! Did you really expect I could kill a Great Beast?" Sunny asked, shocked that she was serious.
"You killed a Great Devil before, so I don't see a problem this time." She said in a rather amused voice.
"Touche, but that was a different instance with unique circumstances, but enough banter we have to go now before we lose our chance at escaping." Sunny urged Nephis as he held her hand as they started running back out of the fog.
"What do you mean before we lose our chance?" Nephis asked, a hint of curiosity in her voice.
"Well considering that the fog has likely been probing us it is most likely now going to try and kill us. To add to the danger, I sensed a horde of nightmare creatures rushing from all sides approaching the tree lines before entering, and estimating the time sense I guess that they'll be here in about five minutes, in which we would then probably die." Sunny said flatly as he wasn't in the mood for jokes.
Nephis stayed silent as they ran, rushing past Serpent who was still morphed as the Forsaken Knight as he turned into a blob of darkness before moving towards his arm and turning into a snake tattoo. Suddenly Nephis saw Sunny slap himself in the face, which alarmed her as to why he would do such a thing. Looking back at her, he said in a slightly embarrassed tone.
"I just realized Effie is going to humiliate us when we get back... and I'm not very enthusiastic about that."
Looking thoughtful for a second, he stopped them both as Serpent slid off his arm once more and turned into a blob of shadow. After a moment a familiar figure to both of them appeared in front of them, the Spire Messenger they had fought long ago in the treacherous lands known as the Hollow Mountains. Sunny spent no time awing at how it looked the same as he jumped and sat on top of the bird before reaching his hand down for Nephis who looked with a twinkle of recognition in her eyes.
"Get on Neph, chop chop," Sunny said snapping her out of the trance as she swiftly accepted his hand and got on behind him, pale white arms wrapped around him tightly.
'It's still funny how you're afraid of heights' Sunny mentally commented as he commanded Serpent to lift off the ground and after a second, they were soon soaring through the fog.
Although it was certainly quicker to fly than running, he was hesitant to fly above ground due to the nightmare creatures that ruled the skies. In reality, the trees were the only reason they hadn't died yet since the weakest of the birds that roamed the skies were Corrupted Demons. They were also dangerous for another reason which was their senses, but mostly their sight, since they were able to see with deadly vision down below and quickly descend on their prey before they would notice. Sunny was always nervous traveling through the treetops for this reason, but since their souls were only dormant, they were somewhat invisible as they weren't sensed with whatever senses they had that detected powerful uncorrupted or corrupted souls alike, so they were never much of a problem and only a deadly deterrent to not go above the trees. That was also the reason he hadn't used Serpent in beast form since its soul was brighter than even most of the other corrupted souls meaning that within seconds, they would've been killed from the onslaught of hunting birds, and why he had used it most as a weapon.
However, he was certain that the fog would be able to cover their senses if they were to fly and he doubted that the fog had many ways to deal with flying creatures, especially with Sunny and Nephis having their bows out. Sunny was also now certain that the fog was able to peer into their memories and use them against them by using the people within them as mist soldiers to kill them- friend or foe it didn't matter to the fog if it was even sentient. Actually, it must've been sentient and have a soul core considering Nephis was able to hold it back without a doubt.
"Hey Neph, how did you keep back the fog anyway?" Sunny asked as he guided Serpent - who was in Spire form - through the fog.
"Well, at first I tried to follow your advice and swung at the fog hoping for a reaction, but nothing came of it," Nephis said with a hint of disappointment in her voice.
"Afterward I was attacked, and after killing a few fog-formed humans the fog seemed to become clearer, subdued. I realized that attacking the husks the fog used and killing them was at least one way to deal with the fog, so I started slaughtering them one by one," she sighed, a small frown appeared on her angelic face before finishing her sentence, "However I'm sure I wouldn't have lasted much longer if you hadn't appeared."
"Does that mean I'm Prince Charming now for saving you?"
"Prince- what?"
"Nothing, nothing at all Neph."
Silence took over among the duo, a comfortable atmosphere dripped over them as they relaxed - if only for a moment - as the wind howled in their ears. The atmosphere shifted into a hostile mood as he felt his hair slowly rise involuntarily as he was on alert, and judging from how Nephis shifted slightly behind him she left the same as they were both anxious. Sunny waited for the fog to do something, anything to kill them after having its fun but instead nothing happened which vexed Sunny as it was much more eerie that nothing was happening instead of nothing happened.
Eventually Sunny started to see the fog dim, so he commanded Serpent to lower them as they landed in a few seconds, and Sunny helped Neph get off. Serpent once again slid onto his arm as they got out of the fog - and after making sure it wasn't an illusion again - they looked around the war-torn battlefield. Bitey was on the ground pinned by the satyr as he tried to pierce through the echo's dark fur with its hooves before Sunny dismissed him leaving the satyr confused as it looked around before spotting them. At the same time Saint was also dismissed as she slid into the shadows like a phantom and he was glad to save her in time considering her armor was all but destroyed with her helmet gone and seemingly on the verge of death.
However, they had no time to stick around as he could hear the hoards loud chasing from the trees and the satyr was dashing at them rather quickly like a horse despite only having half the legs of a normal horse. Sunny cursed as they ran quickly towards the tree hoping to avoid the horror to come if they weren't able to reach the seed, but Nephis grabbed his hand tightly which caused him to fall to the ground.
Before he could question her actions Sunny felt the ground vibrate, as if it was alive, and then he realized that it was alive and the mysterious creature from or is the ground appeared below them which was likely why Neph tried to stop him. The satyr seemed not to sense it or perhaps it was unable to as the ground shook violently below it before the ground turned into quicksand as the satyr screeched in horror.
Using the opening they continued to run as the half-horse half half-humanoid figure struggled to escape the creature and the creature seemed to struggle to consume or absorb the satyr leaving them in a standoff. However, they weren't sticking around to find out as it was now or nothing as to whether they'll make it out now that everything was in place and rolling. It reminded Sunny of the dark mountain when they were attacked by the mountain king, where it seemed like everyone would die there along with him, and be overrun by its spawn. But right now he would definitely say it was worse than anything he experienced so far not including when he was chased by the army in the white castle.
After what seemed like a run-through hell they finally made it to the hole he had dug as he let Nephis go in first while he took a final look around. The ground was overturned and the trees seemed to vibrate due to the chaos that was happening, the goblins were busy with the terrible deadly vultures and birds that started whooping down due to being attracted by all the noise. The fog seemed to pull back as it started fading from where it previously was and retreating into the trees, as if afraid of the birds or perhaps not wanting to risk itself for no reward.
He snapped out of his thoughts as Nephis called for him to come down and he did what he was told and started crawling through. After getting halfway Nephis dragged him out in an undignified manner as he fell to the ground.
"Damn, you could've been a little gentler."
Sunny rasped as he summoned [Endless Spring] and took a big gulp before passing it to Neph.
"I could've," Nephis agreed before taking a sip of water.
He dismissed the bottle before getting up and stretching out his body. Nephis herself was slowing her breathing, which was a small sign she did whenever she tried to calm herself. He didn't blame her, he would be in pain if he said he wasn't nervous - actually nervous wasn't really anything close to describing how he felt. He also felt fatigue being near the seed, but also a magnetic pull that was the insidious call of the nightmare.
This time however, he'll be answering its call.
"Let's try to meet up at a noticeable landmark, if we can't contact each other," Neph said in a lofty voice.
"Agreed, let's hope we're not too far apart, Neph," Sunny said as they made their way towards the seed before they both stood only a few feet away.
"... Are you ready, Neph?"
Sunny looked at her face, which was pale, devoid of any emotions, and yet he could make out a hint of fear before answering.
"As ready as we can be Sunny, what are we waiting for... it's just the Second Nightmare."
Sunny laughed softly.
"Indeed it's just the Second Nightmare no match for the infamous Changing Star and her Shadow."
They both walked together into the dark rift in space as everything slowly faded into darkness.
***
Sunny found himself in darkness and nothingness, and floating in an endless void. It stayed like this until a familiar voice spoke up.
[Dreamer! Prepare for your Second Trail...]
'Ah well, it can't be any worse than my first nightmare.'
The Spell spoke again from seemingly everywhere.
[Two brave ones... welcome to the Nightmare!]
Suddenly, his surroundings started to shift and morph, and color started to appear alongside it as a new scenery formed around him.
***
End of volume three: The Jungle of Mystery
Beginning volume four: Second Nightmare