A wasteland.
An endless sea of gray devoid of life.
During the journey to the west, Sunny had wondered if all there was to this hellhole was just crimson coral.
Well, it wasn't.
And he wasn't so sure it was a good thing.
The crimson labyrinth pulsated with motion. Bestial roars echoed through the halls every hour of the day, and bits of flesh littered the muddy ground.
If all those horrors in the labyrinth avoided this place, why the hell were they heading headfirst into it?
Sweat covered Sunny's skin and, unable to bring himself to calm down, he cleared his throat and turned to Nephis.
"Maybe we should head back to the bone ridge to reconsider this, I'm not sure this place is as… calm as it seems," he suggested, his voice wavering.
She didn't even look back,
"No. We can't go around nor is there another path through, we continue forward."
Sunny couldn't help but notice the slight uneasiness in her voice.
Still, she was right. This was the only path to the west.
Riding Sunny's echoes, they avoided small pits and maneuvered around the grey knolls of the grey wasteland.
Every once in a while they would pause and make sure there was nothing following them or to inspect the surroundings.
But the results all came up the same, no sound, no movement and no life.
Up until a hulking figure appeared from the Labyrinth which they came from.
"Hide!" Sunny hissed.
Without missing a beat, he dismissed both echoes, caught Cassie as she was falling and hid into the nearest hole he could find.
Understanding, Nephis jumped into the hole with them.
Eight legs, two terrifying bone scythes, black and crimson carapace that looked like ancient armor that had been splattered with blood… another centurion.
Sunny took a deep breath.
A hard fight, but possible.
"A centurion has appeared from the labyrinth." He whispered.
Nephis clenched her jaw, Cassie went still.
"Where is it headed?" Cassie asked.
Sunny closed his eyes and focused on his shadow.
"It seems to be moving towards the Ashen Barrow," He exhaled. "It seems it hasn't noticed us."
Focusing back onto the approaching figure, his eyes widened.
Within its bone scythes lay a beautiful crystal — gleaming with hypnotic inner light. It was bright and alluring.
A transcendent soul shard.
'...This seems familiar… when..?'
Then it hit him, this was the same scene that had played out when he first arrived, the centurions holding the shards then leaving.
'So this was their destination…that tree-'
He snapped out of his thoughts as:
ThudThudThudThud
The trio held their breath as the creature passed them, the earth shaking beneath its steps.
The centurion was about to walk past their hiding spot. Despite the fact that there was some distance between its path and the hole, Sunny's heart was still beating wildly. The Monster approached the hole… and walked past it.
He loosened up.
Nephis however, remained tense.
"Send your shadow after it."
Nodding, Sunny sent Gloomy, who was hiding behind a nearby knoll, to trail behind the monster while keeping in mind to not leave it out in the open.
The centurion traversed the barren expanse, gripping the transcended shard within its scythes. The way it carried itself… was reverent, as if approaching something holy.
Its pace slowed as it approached the Ashen Barrow, then as if reaching the boundary, it placed the soul shard on the ground, retreated a couple steps…
And knelt.
Sunny blinked hard, not believing what he was witnessing.
'Am I hallucinating?'
He wasn't.
The carapace centurion folded all eight of its legs and sank to the ground, spreading out its scythes on the ground, trembling.
Catching sight of Sunny's reaction, Nephis's brow furrowed.
"What's wrong?"
He paused.
"Hold on."
His shadow, a safe distance away from the submitting creature, detected a shift across the surface of the Burrow.
A shiver ran down his spine.
The radiance they'd glimpsed from atop the leviathan's ridge returned.
It shone brighter than before, and it continued to shine brighter still as it rose into the air, shaking the very ground. Sunny paled.
Moving through the ashen sand and fallen leaves, a colossal monster descended the hill.
Bigger than a house, with eight segmented legs akin to pillars. It held a vague resemblance to the scavengers and centurions, namely the carapace and human-like torso, but that's where the similarities ended.
Lustrous metal covered the behemoth, polished and leaving no opening.
Sunlight reflected off its body, creating that familiar shine Sunny knew. Its polished armor bristled with jagged spikes. Four mighty arms extended from its humanoid torso—two ending in powerful pincers, two in razor-sharp scythes.
The demon's head was more pronounced than a scavenger's, crowned with tall, sharp horns. Its metal face was almost human, yet repulsively monstrous.
Just looking at it made his skin crawl.
'That…thing is scary'
Holding his breath, Sunny watched the Carapace Demon descend from the Ashen Barrow. It paused before the transcendent soul shard, glancing at the kneeling centurion.
The centurion shrank under its gaze, terrified.
Ignoring the centurion, the Carapace Demon collected the gleaming crystal and turned back, returning to the shade of the giant tree at an unhurried pace.
Sunny exhaled.
"Sunny? What is happening?"
He glanced at Cassie's worried face and hesitated.
"There's a new threat. Stay quiet a bit longer, I'll explain later."
At the hill's base, the centurion began to move.
Sunny needed to trail behind it to make sure that it didn't stumble across them but at the same time he wanted to spy on the metal beast.
'One look, just one look.'
***
"-And that damn bastard was eating a fruit!" he cursed, "A being as large as him being a vegetarian? Can you imagine?"
Neph nodded, processing the information.
Cassie was silent.
"Since we can't go through that wasteland I think we should head around it or just find another way," Sunny voiced his opinion, "We could never beat that metal behemoth in a fight, it's probably a demon or devil… not to mention that tree gives me the creeps."
Nephis stared at him blankly.
Sunny gritted his teeth, sighed, blinked a few times. Then, he gave her a crooked smile —doom written across his features.
"You crazy woman… you want to kill it…"