After returning to their camp inside the leviathan spine, the group discussed their next steps and how they would handle the Demon.
Changing Star, unsurprisingly, was all for killing the monstrosity and Sunny promptly questioned this notion with: "Are you crazy?"
This time around, Yoru actually agreed.
Although they were all exceptional Sleepers performing feats far beyond their capabilities, defeating the Carapace Demon was an inconceivable prospect.
None of their weapons could reach the towering thing, let alone harm it. Its towering frame and metallic hide rendered most of their weapons meaningless. And unlike the mindless creatures they had been fighting so far, this one was a demon and therefore possessed a degree of intelligence, making it all the more ruthless and formidable.
Killing it in any trivial manner was out of the question.
Still... Sunny had an idea.
If the demon was smart, then it could be deceived.
Unfortunately, Yoru couldn't remember how the trio actually managed to best this beast in the past, so he struggled to think of how to actually utilise such a weakness.
He sighed and thought, 'I should grant a wish for impeccable memory in the future.'
Anyways, an outright confrontation would definitely result in their deaths, so they needed to manufacture a situation where the creature was inadvertently slain.
But figuring out how to kill an awakened demon wasn't an easy task in the slightest, so they mulled over ideas until they slept.
However, later that same night Cassie got another vision.
In her vision she saw a ruinous storm rampage across the region and with it came lightning. A bolt of heaven's wrath came down and set a single leaf ablaze, this small flame grew until eventually, half of the island was consumed by bright flames. On the other side of the island stood the Demon, who was similarly struck by arcs of lightning but seemingly paid it no mind.
Attracted by the fire rose an abomination from the depths of the dark sea. The demon faced whatever came from the sea and in the morning, it crawled to the shade of the tree - barely alive.
An unknown amount of time had passed, but when Cassie looked upon the demon again, it had been healed and restored. However, its chest, where it was damaged the most and held the most grievous wound, seemed to have not healed properly.
This was the demon's Achilles Heel.
The vision had even inspired Sunny and by morning, he had an outrageous yet cunning plan. It involved something he liked to call a:
"Trojan ass."
…That wasn't quite the exact term Sunny was looking for, so Nephis corrected him and Yoru made dutifully sure to tease him on the subject.
They spent another uneventful night inside the dead leviathan's spine, which was one of their more comfortable abodes as opposed to cold hard stone and open air.
Sunny brought up the idea of staying there for a while and growing their strength in preparation for the demon, but this idea was quickly shut down for two reasons.
First, the shores were unpredictable. Anything could happen in the short time they spent in this awful place so it wasn't guaranteed they'd be safe using the spine as a long-term camp.
Second, Yoru wasn't comfortable spending more time than necessary when he had to prepare to avert future crisis. After almost dying time and time again in just the very first steps towards his goal, he wasn't willing to slow down for anything.
Returning to the waking world as soon as possible was top priority.
Later that day, they returned to the place of the battle between the carapace legion and the centipede monsters. A few days earlier, they had lured a carapace centurion here to ambush it, but ended up causing a massive confrontation between the two tribes of Nightmare Creatures.
The carcasses of some of the monsters were still there, buried slightly in the mud.
Of course, there was no meat left on their skeletons. The inhabitants of the labyrinth were for the most part carrion eaters, after all.
However, the four Sleepers were not interested in meat. They came for something else.
Stopping in front of the centurion's empty shell, cleaned of any flesh by some unknown beasts, Sunny looked at the black and crimson carapace in satisfaction.
Nephis walked over and stood by his side, an unreadable expression on her face.
"Is this what you wanted?"
Sunny smiled.
"Yeah, exactly. I knew that nothing would be insane enough to chew on the chitin, but… in this place, you never know. I wasn't sure about its condition."
But the condition was good.
In fact, it was perfect.
***
Close to the evening, with the sun tiredly descending toward the horizon, a strange creature walked out of the colourless remains of the labyrinth. If "walking" was even the right word.
Dragging its legs in the sand, the creature somehow floated forward without moving them. It looked like a carapace centurion, or at least a close approximation of one.
All the necessary parts were in place. The creature had a black carapace with a menacing crimson pattern on it, a humanoid torso, eight segmented legs and two arms ending with formidable bone scythes. However, all these parts looked mismatched and strange, as though put together by some clumsy sculptor.
Additionally, the centurion moved as if it was seriously drunk.
The carapace was careening to one side, sometimes scraping against the sand. The torso was swinging back and forth for no apparent reason. The scythes were awkwardly lodged behind the creature's back, crossed against each other at a strange angle.
At some point, one of them simply dropped to the ground. The centurion stopped and hesitated for a few seconds, as though unsure what to do. Then it left its scythe arm behind and continued on its way as if nothing had happened.
A perceptive observer would have noticed that the creature seemed to possess two shadows. The first shadow was as one would expect, its shape identical to the creature itself. The second one resembled a human. It briefly showed itself from beneath the larger shadow when the centurion abandoned the runaway limb.
The human shadow then proceeded to facepalm and shake its head in utter contempt.
The whole situation was nothing short of being completely bizarre. But, for better or worse, there was nobody around to notice the weird creature.
Unobstructed, it traversed the wasteland, moving in the direction of the Ashen Barrow. Soon, it was almost at the footstep of the tall hill.
The sunset was approaching.
***
The strange centurion plopped on the ground at the base of the Ashen Barrow and stopped moving completely. Awkward and lopsided, it looked like a parody of the other monster of its kind who had kneeled gracefully at the same spot a few days prior.
Additionally, it arrived without a tribute. There was no transcendent soul shard in sight. Added to the disrespectful pose, this transgression was more than enough to get the centurion killed.
On top of the barrow, the Carapace Demon moved and rose from the ashen sand. His shining armour glistened, reflecting the light of the setting sun. Encased in bright metal, with a crown of horns adorning his head, the demon looked fearsome and sinister. Gazing down, he lingered for a few moments.
Two dark scarlet embers ignited in the depths of the demon's eyes. Shifting his terrifying scythes, the giant monster walked forward, slowly descending from the hill to face the strange visitor.
The ground shook as he approached. However, the bizarre centurion did not even flinch. In fact, it remained completely motionless.
The Carapace Demon stopped some distance away from the suspicious creature. He observed it, clearly understanding that its pathetic appearance might be a trap. The labyrinth was full of unimaginable dangers. Rashly approaching an unknown foe was not something an awakened demon, who possessed his own form of intelligence, would do.
At least that was what the four Sleepers had assumed.
However, they were wrong.
Just a second later, the Carapace Demon lunged forward. Its scythe flashed through the air, severing the centurion's torso in half. The adamantine chitin was cut apart as though it was made of butter. The upper half of the monster's torso flew off, revealing… only emptiness inside.
But none of this actually mattered. The decoy had performed its task perfectly.
…On the other side of the Ashen Barrow, Sunny, who was flying up the hill and had already reached it's crest, wore a hesitant grin.
Had his plan actually worked?
The first part of Sunny's plan was rather simple. They were going to use the remains of a dead carapace centurion to disguise the Echo, which was much smaller in comparison, as one of the officers of the carapace legion.
Then, they would send it to the base of the Ashen Barrow to lure the demon away. The three of them were going to circle the hill and hide themselves under the grey sand in advance, then with the ability to fly, they would travel up the slope and to the center of the island as soon as the demon had left.
The Echo would buy them enough time to climb the great tree and conceal themselves in its branches. Then, Sunny would dismiss the Echo, thus finishing the first stage of the plan.
It was a very risky gamble. One that in all honesty, he didn't expect to work so efficiently.
It was rare that things ever went this smoothly.
But although it seemed like the demon was oblivious to their presence, they weren't in the clear just yet.
Sunny wouldn't celebrate until they were safe and he was confident the demon was none the wiser.
Soaring through the air, he held Cassie in a princess carry and grit his teeth, demanding whatever supernatural forces that allowed him to fly to go faster.
Just ahead of him was Yoru and Nephis, the latter had already stepped foot onto one of the gigantic tree's lower branches.
Down by the base of the hill, the echo began to shine with soft light and dissolved into a river of tiny sparks.
However, the Carapace Demon was not looking at the unexpected light show. Instead, he was staring at one particular spot on the ground.
There, a lonely human shadow was frozen in confusion, uncertain what to do. With the body of the Echo - and consequently, its spacious shadow - gone, it was instantly revealed and had nowhere else to hide.
'Crap!'
The demon tilted his head, then moved with the speed of lightning and pierced the shadow with a scythe.
Sunny flinched, ready to experience blinding pain…
But nothing happened. The shadow, which had raised its hands in fright, looked down at the massive blade protruding from its chest and scratched its head.
It was completely fine.
'Right. What else did I think would happen?'
Down below, the Carapace Demon retrieved his scythe. However, instead of attacking the human shadow again, it suddenly turned around and cast a dark look at the top of the Ashen Barrow, where the giant tree stood in all its magnificent beauty.
The bastard was smart after all.
Forgetting about the shadow, the behemoth lunged forward, rushing back up the tall hill's slope. It moved with frightening speed, covering a dozen meters with each second.
And despite the massive creature having taken off before, moving with the speed of a rushing train, The nimble shadow was even faster. It had already overtaken the behemoth and was now flying forward, hurrying to return to its master.
'Curse it all!'
…Is what Sunny would have said, if not for the fact that he had already achieved his goal.
Crouched atop the wide branches of the tree were four ragged sleepers who all hid from sight with bated breath.
… A moment later, the furious mass of spikes and polished metal appeared beneath them. The Carapace Demon abruptly stopped, gazing around with his burning scarlet eyes. His pincers clicked, as if thirsty to tear flesh apart. The terrifying scythes were raised into the air, ready to slash and sever.
But there was nothing to kill underneath the great tree.
The demon lingered, looking right and left. Then he raised his head and looked up.
Thankfully, the branch the four Sleepers were hiding on was very wide, more than enough to hide them from his sight. They remained motionless and silent, afraid to produce even the smallest of sounds.
After a while, the behemoth finally lowered his gaze and carefully observed the ground, looking for the traces of possible intruders.
However, the ground was clean and bare.
After all, what could've been found if the intruders never stepped foot on the earth?
Not finding anything, the Carapace Demon had no choice but to walk away, moving on to explore other parts of the island.
Sunny was finally able to exhale.
A long while of torturous silence passed by until eventually, the ground shook slightly and a thunderous rumble resounded throughout the labyrinth, bringing with it chilling wind and the smell of salt.
The dark sea was returning.
Throwing one last hateful gaze toward the wasteland, the Carapace Demon turned around a slowly headed back to the top of his barrow.
***
As the hours passed by, the metal behemoth walked beneath them, sending literal quakes through the ground with each tremendous step.
Despite this, if anyone were to see Yoru's face, they'd see him wearing an unusual expression of composed calm.
This was because he internalised the Placate wish and so his terror was nothing more than a quite hum near the back of his mind.
And yet, this didn't make the situation any less virulent than it was. In fact, without the fear clouding his mind, the clarity he felt made the lethalness of it all the more severe.
The reality of it was stark.
A creature capable of killing him in the blink of an eye roamed a few meters below, and another creature capable of seizing his mind without him even realising currently had him cradled in its branches.
…This was all to say Yoru still felt terrorised despite being calm.
He sat back to back with Nephis, Sunny and Cassie, the four of them arranged in a tight circle.
He found comfort in his allies in these strange dark moments.
Having them in close contact reassured him that he wasn't alone and for that he was truly grateful.
He would have granted their wishes to be calm as well, if not for the fact that speaking right now would surely result in their deaths.
Still, he was thankful for their company and he hoped they felt the same way.
With darkness already underway, Yoru felt Neph's position shift and understood it was time to enact the next step of the plan.
After a minute of tethering a new wish to his soul core, a jar began to materialise and form on the palm of Yoru's hand.
He summoned another and gently placed both jars on the ground.
The jars were made of clay and created by Sunny himself, and as such, weren't particularly sturdy.
Although Yoru had the ability to infinitely produce the jars, Sunny had made sure to keep two stored in his seaweed rucksack, in case there were ever a situation where Yoru wasn't present or couldn't use his aspect.
Inside the jars, all the oil they had gathered from the centipede monsters splashed around. A centipede monster had two sacks in its body, each containing a different oily substance. When mixed, these substances produced an incredibly corrosive, deadly oil that could eat through a scavenger's carapace in seconds.
It was also highly flammable.
The jars contained the two components of the centipede oil. If they were to break during their run to the great tree, allowing the components to mix… well, there was a reason why the rucksack was entrusted to Nephis while Sunny carried Cassie despite his inferior physical endurance.
Sunny placed his rucksack on the ground and pulled out a makeshift torch made out of bone and… yeah, more seaweed.
He handed the torch off to Nephis and wore a solemn look.
Sunny deeply inhaled.
"I'm ready."
Nephis nodded and then rose to her feet. Standing tall, she grasped the torch and closed her eyes, as though praying. Clad in white armour, with her silver hair dancing in the wind, she looked like a beautiful, solemn angel.
Then, white radiance ignited beneath her eyelids. In the next moment, bright fire burst from beneath her hands, igniting the top of the torch. Changing Star opened her eyes, extinguishing the light shining in them, and raised the torch high above her head.
In the lightless world, this single small flame looked like a lonely star drowning in the sea of darkness.
Simultaneously, Sunny stepped to the edge of the branch, inhaled deeply… and screamed at the top of his lungs.
"HEY, ASSHOLE! COME GET ME IF YOU DARE!"
A/N: Sorry if this chapter feels a little fast. There wasn't much I wanted to change and It was pretty boring to write as well but I'm very excited for the upcoming chapters.