Silence filled the room.
Gunlaug was shocked. The figure in front of him was not swayed in the slightest way by the effect of his Echo.
"You... how are you still alive?! It's been 10 years since you disappeared!''
Lysander said in a cold voice.
''Instead of inquiring about my well-being, you should focus on your fight, traitor.''
The Bright Lord, facing his predecessor, regained a little of his composure.
"Even with your Memory, I don't believe that I will lose against her. Will you fight with her against me? I fear that it is not possible, First Lord.''
The young man shook his head, slowly approaching the generals.
''I will not, for it is her challenge and her choice to face you alone.''
While saying that, Lysander looked toward Tessai, Gemma, Harus, and the rest of the generals. He continued, his killing intent spreading into the hall and rivaling the Echo of Gunlaug.
''But I will kill whoever dares interrupt this duel.''
Sunny saw that they shuddered, even Harus a little.
Gunlaug laughed.
''When I am finished with her, it will be your turn.''
And he lunged toward Nephis, starting the duel.
-------
Finally, Gunlaug reached the dais and fell on his throne, looking down on the great hall of the ancient castle with a strange, wistful expression. Then, he strained to say something but became twisted in a violent coughing fit instead.
In the end, he just whispered a few almost inaudible words and leaned on the back of the throne, his body relaxing. Sunny was perhaps the only one with Lysander who had heard him, due to the fact that his shadow was hiding in the darkness of the alcove all along.
"I... tried. In the beginning… I really did. …"
This was what Gunlaug had whispered.
And then, he grew still.
The Bright Lord of the Dark City was dead.
Sunny knew it instantly because of the fact that the terrible psychic aura pressing him to the ground suddenly disappeared, letting all the people around him move and breathe free.
Knowing what was about to come, he glanced at the far end of the great hall one last time.
A corpse in golden armor was sitting on the throne, a beautiful red blossom appearing from the crack in his polished mask.
A few moments later, the armor suddenly shone with white light and then disintegrated into countless sparks, revealing the man who had ruled this cursed place for many years with an iron fist.
Gunlaug was surprisingly handsome. Even though his face was covered in blood, it was easy to tell. He had a short beard and long blond hair. One of his eyes was gone, eaten through by the Blood Flower, and the other was quickly turning glassy.
What surprised Sunny the most, though, was how young he looked. It was hard to imagine the Bright Lord as anything but powerful and ageless, but in fact, he was no older than twenty-seven. Somehow, Sunny had forgotten that fact.
'...Kids. All of us here are just lost kids.'
He didn't waste too much time thinking about that, though.
Because in the next few moments, Tessai, who had been staring at his dead lord with his usual morose expression, turned around and looked at the crowd of slum dwellers, then at the members of the Host.
The giant lingered for a second and then said, his deep, dark voice reverberating through the ancient hall:
"What are you waiting for? Kill—''
Swoosh—
A dark greatsword made of bone severed his head from his body. Tessai didn't even have time to react to the movement that he was seeing things upside down, as his head was rolling down the stairs.
''Did you forget what I said earlier?''
Lysander was on top of the body of Tessai, his voice stopping the agitation of the crowd.
"Changing Star wants to leave the Forgotten Shore. Maybe you didn't realize it yet, but my goal is the same. So, I will protect her from whoever dares to interrupt her mission.''
-------
A week passed since the fight for the title of Bright Lord.
The Bright Castle was calm, surprisingly.
Nephis had woken up during this week and had started to take charge of the humans of the Dark City.
Sunny, Lysander, and the rest protected her during her sleep.
Sunny feared that Harus would try something, but it seemed that the death of Gunlaug and the strength of Lysander prevented the fury of the executioner.
Speaking of the First Bright Lord, when Nephis awakened, he took something from his Soul Sea.
A chest.
Inside are multiple Memories, ranging from the Dormant rank to Ascended.
He had explained that he founded it when he conquered the Bright Castle. It could store a Memory outside a Soul Sea.
Slowly, the thousand humans of the Dark City became equipped. A few fights erupted due to the past between each group, but they stopped when Lysander killed the perpetrators.
-------
Nephis and the cohort fought the Lord of the Dead, a Fallen Tyrant weakened by the bone-eating vine. The last blow was dealt by Lysander, granting him the Starlight Shard.
-------
Humanity marched in the Crimson Labyrinth, slowly reaching the Gateway.
The following fight was bloodshed.
Lysander, Effie, and Gemma were leading the front frontline.
The First Bright Lord, so close to the artificial sun and empowered by it, was something that Sunny would have never thought possible from a Sleeper. He alone holds an entire section of the battlefield, his figure draped in bright light.
The fight ended when Sunny put the final key and sealed the dark sea.
The survivors, around eight hundred Sleepers, rushed toward the Crimson Spire, away from the devouring light of the artificial sun.
-------
Nephis turned toward them.
''We will ascend the Spire and reach the Gateway.''
They screamed of hope, of joy, and of desperation.
Finally, they would leave this cursed place.
Just before Nephis led the group up, Cassie approached her with a dark look and whispered in her ear.
''Beware of the Lost.''
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Really bad chapter I think, but i wanted to skip the unecessary things.