Chapter 13: How Titans Die
Sitting around a temporary shelter, Jet couldn't help but shake her head, tossing more synthetic firewood into the campfire that was at the center of their shelter...
'This isn't so bad... if only I could be on vacation more often.'
As she was fantasizing about fair working conditions, she suddenly heard the fierce growling of a nightmare creature approaching the camp...
Jet instinctively jumped to her feet and summoned her trusty war glaive as she scanned her surroundings with a tense expression.
The growling and screeches grew closer and closer before coming around the corner of the mountain pass they used to get up here...
"What the..."
Jet immediately furrowed her eyebrows at the sight of the feral nightmare creature... only it was being held up by the fur of its neck like a rebellious puppy!
Whatever a puppy was...
Holding it up was none other than Sunny's stone girlfriend, which gave the Awakened monster a disdainful look through its glowing red eyes.
The Awakened monster, meanwhile, was completely feral, thrashing around violently, hopelessly trying to turn its head around and bite the stone saint. All the while, it was snarling and shrieking so loudly that it hurt the ears a bit...
Jet watched as Sunny suddenly stepped through the shadows beside the stone echo with an annoyed look as he grasped his spear tightly. His loose, dark hair was a little ruffled.
He wore his usual dark tunic that was embroidered with intricate patterns and silver strings holding it together. On his head rested the dark Crown that had symbols of a serpent engraved into it, the design simple, yet radiating prowess...
"Huff... shut your fucking mouth already, you stupid beast!"
Sunny yelled at the feral monster with an annoyed look, but this only angered the beast even further...
Jet meanwhile looked at Sunny with a dumbfounded look, wondering what that idiot was up to now. She quickly found her composure again and yelled to him, due to the loud screeching...
"Sunny, what the spell are you doing!? Are you trying to domesticate a damn nightmare creature, you fool!?"
Sunny furrowed his eyebrows and then cupped his ear in her direction, trying to hear Jet's shouts before he realized that he could just use their mental link... 'Stupid...'
<"What are you waiting for, Jet? Kill this stupid thing already and get the damn essence!">
Jet furrowed her eyebrows, looking between him and the thrashing beast for a moment before gripping her glaive tightly and walking over with steady steps...
<"How'd you even know I need essence...? Well, whatever... this thing is starting to get on my nerves.">
Soon, the sounds died down with a clean strike at the Awakened monster's soul...
Jet unsummoned her glaive when the voice of the spell whispered in her ears. She let out a sigh as a sudden rush of energy filled her...
"Yep... I really needed that."
She stretched lazily before casting a glance at Sunny, who was now starting to skin the creature by the campfire. The stone echo meanwhile had sunk into his shadow... he looked over at her for a moment.
"I knew because your soul core is a complete mess... it's leaking." He gave an apologetic smile. "Also, sorry for prying..."
Jet chuckled helplessly when Sunny revealed his findings... "So you've found out already..." Shaking her head, she looked at the burning campfire with a self-deprecating smile.
"Well, it's not like my flaw is a big secret or anything. As you've noticed, my soul core is shattered and always leaking essence..."
Of course, Sunny knew already. It was – after all – Jet herself that had told him about her flaw and its consequences in his previous run. Suddenly feeling a bit melancholic, Sunny lowered his head as he kept butchering the nightmare creature...
Noticing his silence, Jet continued... "In other words, I'm already dead, and the only thing keeping me alive is that I can refill my broken core with the stolen essence of my kills..."
"What do you mean you're dead...?"
Sunny feigned surprise, prompting her to continue...
Jet sighed a bit, shrugging her shoulders.
"Hmm... I did not survive the First Nightmare because I was young, weak, and frightened. And so… I died."
Soul Reaper turned her head and looked at him across the fire.
"But I didn't remain completely dead. I crawled out of the grave, somehow, and finished the trial. I guess the role I played in the Nightmare, or maybe my innate Attribute, created the possibility of something like that happening… it had to be an infinitely small possibility, though, because the Spell seemed rather impressed with the result. Otherwise, it wouldn't have given me a Supreme Aspect."
Sunny did not answer at first, considering what he heard. It made sense… he had also made something nearly impossible happen during the First Nightmare. If he had not been sent into the body of a temple slave, Shadow God would not have responded to his unintentional call. And if he did not have the [Fated] Attribute, he would have never unwittingly climbed on that altar, most likely...
Sunny looked at Jet silently, thinking about their previous interactions before he was "coincidentally" brought back to this time – and even further back before he had been lost from his Fate...
They had already been trustworthy friends with each other back then. In fact, Jet was the first person to actually help him out after his first nightmare. As he finished reminiscing, Sunny silently came to a conclusion...
'I... should really be more open with Jet this time... No, not just Jet... but all my friends.'
Jet sighed, breaking the silence.
"Actually, learning my flaw was not the hardest part. The hardest part was surviving the time between the Nightmare and the solstice. As you can imagine, it's not easy for a Sleeper to find things to kill before entering the Dream Realm. I ended up having to ask for help… and asking for help ended up costing me a lot."
Sunny solemnly nodded. "So the government seized the chance to take advantage of you when the opportunity showed itself."
It still enraged him to think about this happening to her... there was nobody who cared more about their freedom than Sunny... and seeing Jet's freedom being snatched from her so mercilessly by that damned, opportunistic government pissed him off.
Jet watched his barely concealed anger and smiled faintly.
"Calm down, Sunny. Despite how much I complained that they've overworked and exploited me... I'm still grateful that things turned out as they did."
Sunny returned his attention to Jet with an expression of disbelief across his pale face... "What..?"
Jet laughed a bit at his sudden disbelief and continued...
"No, I'm serious... I wouldn't have gotten to where I am today if it weren't for the government providing me all these opportunities and harsh lessons, Sunny.
"Sure, I'd love to have more favorable working conditions and ideally some more autonomy, but... without these harsh trials of life forging me into this tempered blade, would I ever have become The Soul Reaper that goes around battling Titans with her crazy friend?"
Watching the glowing embers of the fire, Sunny furrowed his eyebrows in contemplation.
The question wasn't directed at Sunny, yet after a while, he answered anyway...
"I don't know... Fate's a strange thing."
Jet curiously raised an eyebrow at his answer and then chuckled a little.
"I didn't take you for a fatalist, dongsaeng!"
'The hell?' Sunny gave her an offended look, suppressing the urge to... pout?
"Don't call me those things! And I'm telling you, Fate's totally real, I've seen it myself!"
"Uh huh..."
Eye twitching, Sunny finally turned away with a huff... "You're such a fool, noona... how the spell did we even reach the topics of fate and all that nonsense..."
Sunny looked down at the skinned nightmare creature and decided to make himself busy by preparing the meat for their feast...
Soon, a comfortable silence settled between them as the fire crackled quietly and illuminated their cozy camp. Despite his grumpy behavior earlier, Sunny smiled faintly... he hadn't rebuilt his relationship with Jet entirely to their previous level, but he felt like he was making great progress!
Perhaps even greater than last time... him having assumed command of the central Antarctican army group and leading them to an impossible victory against the Winter Beast must've earned him a lot of respect and trust from Jet and the others.
'Well, that's great! Makes it way simpler for me...'
To be truthful... Sunny was never the most social guy, but that didn't mean that he disliked having trusted companions. Jet was one of the people he had missed the most after having been forgotten by the world. She was trustworthy, reliable, and laid-back, not to forget that they both had aspects related to death and shared origins from the outskirts, giving him a warm sense of kinship to Jet.
Soon, the meat was cooked on the fire, and they shared a warm meal with some Earl Grey tea Sunny had left over...
And when they had their fill and lazily laid around the fire after long, comfortable conversations, Sunny suddenly sighed and decided to drop a bombshell, knowing that this revelation would cement their trust once and for all...
"You know Jet... I don't think it's fair that I know your flaw, but you don't know mine..."
Jet – who had been lazily resting with a blissful expression – suddenly tensed up, her eyebrows shot up as she looked over at Sunny, who was now grinning a little.
"Huh?? Y-you dont have t-"
"... My flaw is that I can't lie."
*
Standing in front of the crumbled walls that had once towered at over 70 meters, Sunny let out a sigh.
"It's empty... looks like everyone made it."
Of course, he was talking about the abandoned siege capital of Falcon Scott. They had already been away for a few days, clearing out a large amount of the remaining nightmare creatures in the mountains and plains surrounding Falcon Scott.
Sadly, they couldn't close the countless gates that had been in the surroundings, so the place would probably again be filled with abominations once they left anyway.
Sunny had also hoped that their long absence would allow their inevitable fame to calm down a bit, but... he knew that that was just wishful thinking...
"Sah-nee! Emp-ty!"
Sunny looked at the strange crow that was seated on his shoulder and sighed.
"Yes, it's empty, I just said that, you stupid parrot."
Having previously scanned the entire area with his shadow sense, Sunny had come to the realization that the evacuation had concluded a short while ago.
Feeling something approaching him from the shadows, Sunny focused his shadow sense and saw Jet riding on Nightmare towards his direction, although she didn't look at all enthusiastic about having to ride his tenebrous steed.
But then Crow Crow suddenly cawed at his ear... "Stu-pid! Stu-pid!"
'Gah!'
Grimacing, Sunny swatted it off his shoulders, watching as it now hovered near him.
"Shut it, Crow Crow! Jet's almost here!"
As if offended, the bird flapped its wings and retorted with another loud caw...
"Stu-pid!! Jet!!"
'Oh crap...'
The steps of Nightmare's hooves slowly came to a halt nearby, as Jet hastily dismounted. Her face paler than usual...
If Jet were to hear him teaching her Echo these things... he'd be in big trouble.
Sunny acted quickly, his hand shooting forward and snatching the pesky Crow by its beak, holding it tightly shut.
Crow Crow immediately struggled to free itself, trying to Caw but unable to...
Then, the shadows darkened, and Sunny's voice dropped to a threatening, icy tone.
"Keep your beak clean, or else... Bird. Soup."
When Sunny let it go again, it immediately created distance between them for safety, its voice a bit subdued now. If one looked closely, they would think the echo was... shivering a little?
"caw, caw..."
'Did I overdo it? I'm not that scary, am I...?'
Turning around, he put on a small smile and greeted his approaching colleague.
"Hey Jet, let's check it out. You got everything?"
Soul Reaper watched as Crow Crow hurriedly landed on her shoulder, casting nervous glances at Sunless's direction.
"Yeah, got everything. Let's take a look, shall we?"
"Look! Look!"
...
Walking through the abandoned city felt strange...
Just a few days ago, these high-rise buildings and temporary shelters housed millions of people, protecting them from the Titan's blizzard and other threats.
Now they were abandoned and empty, the lack of maintenance causing many electronics to fail and the snow to pile up everywhere...
The lack of human life gave this whole place a wistful yet intriguing vibe that filled his explorer heart. It felt like he had found one of those "lost places" that he had heard about on the Network as a young kid...
Observing everything through the shadows made him see all the details he needed. The many bonfires that had previously been ignited everywhere were now nothing more than smoking piles of char.
Due to the urgency of the evacuation, many things just couldn't have been brought back. The ships had only so much capacity that was already needed for the countless refugees and supplies for said people.
Thus, as a result, countless personal belongings and government properties were still lying around in perfect condition yet discarded.
Sunny felt a devilish feeling of avarice ignite at the sight of all this expensive, useful government equipment and loot!
'My my... all this free stuff is just waiting to be claimed!'
Walking beside him, Jet noticed all the technologies and equipment as well. She sighed...
"I think we need to bring back some of this stuff. The government doesn't have infinite resources, as you know."
Sunny sighed inwardly, a strained smile on his lips.
"Yes, yes. We should." '...but not everything!'
After filling up their spatial memories with valuable equipment, they continued walking, finally reaching the fortified harbor of the Siege Capital. They both stood on the towering, abandoned walls, watching the waves crash endlessly against the shore while the noise of the cold Antarctic winds howled in their silence.
They both silently stared at the distant horizon, where the Sun barely hung at the edge of the sky, painting the world in a myriad of colors...
This sight almost felt surreal, considering that they... well, mostly Jet had spent months here, covered in an endless night... and now they were the only people left in all of Central Antarctica as well, which only added to this surreal vibe.
After a while, Sunny let out a small sigh... people must've been absolutely worried for the both of them. After all, nobody knew if they were still alive, and it had already been a few days without news.
Honestly... Sunny couldn't care less for all these people who didn't know him at all, but...
'Rain and the others must've been worrying as well...'
Now feeling a bit guilty about leaving them in the shadows, Sunny sighed and ran a hand through his loose hair...
'When did it get so long again? How strange...'
"Hey, Jet. Don't you think the world deserves to know what happened to their saviors?"
Jet didn't yet look away from the colorful horizon and answered him calmly...
"Sure, Sunny. Wanna do it right here then?"
'What? so soon?' Sunny looked at her, puzzled how she would communicate to the outside world.
"Uhh... Sure? But how?"
Jet finally turned away from the horizon. Instead, now looking past him at the distant power grid.
"Look. Either they had no time, or they didn't bother to take the power grid and cables with them."
Following her gaze, Sunny suddenly felt enlightened as he made the connection. "Oh, I see... so if we turn on the spelltech generators, the network around here should still be working for a while as well."
Jet nodded with a carefree smile, taking out her communicator. "Correct."
'Huh... that simplified things a bit.'
Sunny took out his communicator as well, watching it come to life. The network symbol showed an X, symbolizing a lack of connection to the network.
They had quickly found the spelltech generator. Sadly, Sunny couldn't use it since he had shadow essence instead of regular essence. He didn't want Jet to be weakened by spending her essence either, as they still had quite a journey towards Eastern Antarctica planned.
Thankfully, one could just use soul shards as a substitute fuel to power these machines, and after their extensive cleanup, they had an abundance of those.
The generator slowly came back to life with a mechanical hum. There was a bit of struggle at first due to the terrible conditions and lack of maintenance, but once it ran, it quickly worked its magic...or rather... technology.
It was as though an invisible wave of life spread through the abandoned siege capital. The street lights turned on, bringing illumination to all the shadows of Falcon Scott.
And it didn't take long before Sunny heard his communicator beep a signal. Their connection to the outside world had been restored.
'Home sweet home, huh?'
He smiled faintly, watching the notifications pop in one after another... although one particular person's messages came flooding in. There were so many messages that it only read...
"99+ from the Brat... Gods, does she have nothing better to do..?" Sunny let out an incredulous laugh, but despite his words, a strange warmth was blooming in his chest when he read the countless messages she had written...
'She must've been worried these past days... I'll make it up for her, somehow.'
"Alright, let's bring the news, Sunny. Do you have anything in mind?" After typing away and sending something, Jet put away her communicator and looked at him. She almost seemed a bit excited to reveal herself to the world.
Sunny looked up at her for a moment and then back at his communicator. He pondered for a while before an excited smile spread across his face.
"Let's see... what about a broadcast? Short and Simple. And gets the point across."
...
It was not short and simple.
Sunny and Jet had never done a broadcast on the network before...
"What even is this!? Why make it so complicated!? Can't I just press a button and start!?"
Saint looked over his shoulder, a small hint of confusion behind her crimson eyes as she analyzed the strange screen.
"Calm down, I thought you young ones know all about this stuff..."
Jet sighed and snatched the communicator from his hands, giving it a close inspection...
"It says you have to create an account in order to start a broadcast. For that, you have to use your ID and create a password."
Sunny looked at her with a serious expression.
"Can't I be anonymous?"
"No, you can't." The answer came quickly.
"Then I won't do it."
Jet looked at him with a deadpan expression. Sighing, she handed him his communicator back. "Paranoid much? Well, whatever, let's just use mine then."
"A little bit. And... thanks."
...
They got to work, setting up her communicator.
Standing together were Sunless, Jet, and Saint(who was thought to be Mongrel).
Now that the weather wasn't being influenced by a corrupted Titan, he had long taken off his additional clothing, leaving his pale self only in his trusty dark Tunic [Shroud of Graceless Dusk]
On his head lay [Crowned by Death]. The crown had a simple yet intriguing design and was made out of a fine dark metal. There was a Soul Serpent engraved on it, symbolizing its connection to Shadow God.
To his left, Saint stood tall, covered in her usual onyx plate armor. Her head was covered by a helmet, her eyes burning in crimson through the narrow slit of her visor.
Jet looked back at him with a grin, pressing the button on the screen and slowly backing up from the communicator to stand by his right.
"It's starting! You better get ready!"
Sunny quickly cleared his throat and straightened up, lifting his chin a little. For all he knew, Rain was likely gonna see this.. so he had to look cool!
Standing with crossed arms, Sunny looked at the camera. 'Should i be serious or more lighthearted? Damnation... It's too late for that now.'
A small red light lit up on the communicator, indicating that it had started.
Giving Jet a sidelong glance, Sunny sighed inwardly...
<"Hey, why don't you do the Honorifics?">
<"Fine by me.">
Jet was a better talker than Sunny anyway. He didn't even know all the army ranks in order... how was he supposed to address the military?
Nodding, Jet silently agreed, her posture subtly changing as she addressed the people...
"Greetings to all recipients of this message.
I am Soul Reaper, and these are my colleagues; General Sunless and Mongrel." She gestured to them, prompting Sunny to wave his hand a little.
"To the courageous people and soldiers of Central Antarctica... We hope that all of you made it to Eastern Antarctica safely in our absence."
Sunny smiled faintly at the communicator, taking a small breath before continuing their statement...
"Indeed. I guess the evacuation of Falcon Scott has worked out well since this place is looking pretty empty..."
He looked around the empty streets of Falcon Scott for a moment, nodding in gratitude.
"Well done, everyone. From the soldiers to the people, this couldn't have been possible without everyone's cooperation."
Now, he left a small pause to let his words sink in before the fun part began. Slowly, a dark grin spread across his pale face. "Ahh... but you all must've wondered what happened to the little Titan back there, right?"
The [Covetous Coffer] manifested itself in his palm, and he reached into it, taking out a small bag...
"This is what remains of it." He shook the bag a little, and the sounds of crystalline clinking could clearly be heard.
The implications were clear. Then, the Devil of Antarctica opened the bag and let its contents fall down to the snow-covered asphalt...
7 stunningly beautiful soul shards fell down with melodious clinking. They were clearly of transcendent level. The transcendent power practically oozing out of them.
Sunny knew that he had to forge a new image that the world would perceive him as. Now that he is certain that his increasing popularity couldn't be changed, Sunny had to create a fitting image that the Devil of Antarctica would present to the world and the Great Clans.
"My expectations were... greatly exaggerated." He sighed as if disappointed by the fight. Then he reached into the [Covetous Coffer] again, pulling out an ice shard that had a strange composition of liquid ice and was shrouded in a cold mist. "Sure, it was kinda hard getting to the source, but once I got there, most I had to do was shatter some ice crystal."
Of course, this was a clear oversimplification of how things happened. But It would benefit him to make it seem like this particular Titan was all talk and no problem once you made it to its heart.
"I did take a big bite of it once, but in the end, it just shattered in my mouth..." Sunny looked at the remnant ice shard in his hand and grinned shamelessly.
"I must admit, the taste of a Titan is not so bad..."
Jet gave him an amused sidelong glance, snickering a little. <"Because it's just water, Sunny">
<"Shut up">
Jet cleared her throat.
"Right. After a hard fought battle, the Winter Beast was eventually defeated by a combined effort of our cohort. As for our current situation... it is mostly stable, and a rescue is not of necessity.
"We will make our way towards Eastern Antarctica as planned. Our estimated time of arrival should be..."
Jet thought for a moment and then gave him a nudge.
Scratching his chin, Sunny gave his estimate.
"Hmm... should be about a day or two? If everything goes well, that is."
He already had an idea how to quickly cross the treacherous waters with Jet using Serpent.
He would have loved to use the Rhino's amphibious drive just for the fun of it, but he had already given the memory of it to Samara, entrusting that they would use it as a means of escape should everything go south.
'Thankfully, nothing has gone wrong... yet.'
Saint gave him a sideways glance, shaking her head a little...
Unaware of that, Sunny sighed inwardly... What should he say now? A Motivational speech? Tips and tricks? He groaned inwardly.
'No... Gods no, I don't want to look like some stuck-up hero giving a speech...'
Eventually, he just spoke what came to mind...
"As some of you know, Jet and I are both from the outskirts. I had never expected to become such a big shot back then..." He sighed, looking down at the glimmering soul shards that lay in the snow.
"What I meant to say is... Don't let this hell – which calls itself the world – keep you down. No matter where you are and who you are... keep fighting." Sunny furrowed his eyebrows, a feeling of resolve filling him...
"And if spite is all you have left... then do it out of spite."
They were silent for a while, the Antarctic winds howling in the background as snowflakes peppered the world.
'What the hell am I spouting... nobody's gonna listen to that anyway...'
Eventually, Sunny huffed, feeling a bit awkward. He walked towards the communicator, taking it and holding it close to his face...
'Let's see... how do I turn this thing off...'
Looking at the screen, he noticed a flood of messages in a box labeled "Broadcast Chat." One after another, countless people either spoke in fan-like support and reverence or spouted complete vile nonsense that would make even the primordial void shiver.
"DevilFanatic420: OMG THE DEVIL IS ALIVE!! And he ate the Titan??? That's so tuff!"
"DevilsTrueSon: Dad, if you're reading this, adopt me! I'll fight Titans too!"
"ConspiracyNut67: This is all fake! Government propaganda! The "Titan" is just a weather machine, and this guy is just a clone made by the clans to control us! Wake up, sheeple!"
"Overth1nk/Hesitate/Fold-immediately: Wow, that's so deep. Now kiss already!"
"MongrelDisciple: HERESY! Mongrel's right there, you blind? Changing Star, who? FIGHT ME IRL HERES MY ADDRESS: 18°18′0″ N 64°49′30″ W"
"Daoist13: Yeah... keep looking at the cam, I'm almost done."
'W-what the fuck...' His expression fell a little as he looked up at the corner of the screen... it read 54.439 viewers.
'H-HOLY SHIT, WHAT?? DON'T THEY ALL HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO!?'
He looked over at Jet, his expression concealing a look of horror.
Jet only raised an eyebrow, smiling lazily. When she saw the viewer count, she just waved her hand at the camera again...
'Did she know this would happen??'
He pointed the camera away at the distant colorful horizon while grimacing. 'I take it back. All of you... Die!'
Sunny eventually calmed himself down again. He had been through so much worse, what's a few thousand eyes staring at him? And he was pretty sure that Rain would see this whole thing as well, so he had to look cool for his little sis!
He sighed and put on a prideful grin, turning the camera to himself and the others like a selfie now... "Anyways... if you're seeing this, my brat of a student... I'll read all your messages and write back to you soon.
Oh, and teacher is gonna bring you some nice souvenirs, so don't even dare to slack off while I'm out!"
Feeling like he covered everything, Sunny tossed the communicator towards Jet and mumbled under his breath. 'Finally...'
Jet easily caught it, giving the camera one last lazy smile.
"Devil's cohort, out."