2 weeks since the split.
Life hasn't been sweet recently.
Actually, when has it ever been sweet?
That's a philosophical question for another day.
Flying low over the desolate ruins of the Dark City, Juno still marveled at the vastness of it. Even in modern day, such intricate architecture of the houses, the beauty of the distant castle, or the height of the walls was hard to achieve. Maybe this was all done by someone's Aspect since all the buildings had a similar pattern.
If that was true, Juno would have been even more amazed.
Keeping Dusky low over the rooftop height, he had to admit it: sacrificing a month of hunting and Effie‑style training had hurt. Every day he hadn't spent sharpening his instincts with a mad huntress was a day he'd fallen behind Sunny and the others. Juno had underestimated the deadliness of this place, and such arrogance had cost him more than a total of multiple days of hunting.
'Next time, I should ask a couple more questions, I dare say.'
Luckily, though, Gunlaug didn't know where Juno was. Better yet, he didn't even know Juno existed as a person. As far as the city was concerned, Sun Chaser did not exist.
That freedom came with a cost.
For the last two weeks, he had barely slept. He cat‑napped in holes and on broken roofs, always half‑listening for footsteps, always one bad decision away from another fight. The Dark City did not forgive distraction; more than once, he had woken to the sound of something hungry scraping along the wall below him.
Worse yet, meditation has done absolutely nothing. He had begun trying to feel his essence much more intimately during his stay at the Soul Devourer Tree, and had succeeded. Probably due to the constant Soul Battle, and the intimate feeling of his soul being touched had made him more aware than usual of the essence inside him, but it was gone. All gone!
It was like trying to feel the water in mud. Sure, it was everywhere, but how could one discern it? The moment he began to sense it, the feeling would leave and leave him with only a wisp where a stream should have been
It was as if he were chasing the sun itself.
To actually catch it, though, he needed Soul Shards. A shit ton of them.
If he could get his hands on thirty or so and break them in one sitting, he'd feel the surge as his core swallowed all that Soul Essence at once. He'd be able to trace the way it flowed, to finally get a firm grip on his own path instead of fumbling around with how it should feel.
First, though, he needed somewhere to sit without being eaten.
A real base. Hidden. Hard to reach. A nice and quaint little place in downtown the city. Nothing too serious or expensive.
Trying to find such a place was surprisingly difficult. It was as if Juno were in California.
'Ugh, I would rather be here than there. At least I keep all the Memories I get…'
The first place had been an old storefront with a partially intact roof and only one entrance. From the outside, it had looked perfect. Inside, the floor was soft with dust and old ash. Sadly, his Echo had shown him three different sets of claw marks along the walls. Something big had been squeezing through the broken windows at night, looking for scraps. He had watched it come back at dusk: a hunched, bone‑armored thing that moved on too many limbs. He left without introducing himself.
The next hideout candidate had been a sunken basement full of stagnant water and drowned furniture. It had reeked of mold and rot, but it had a ceiling, four walls, and a single stairway up. Juno had been almost ready to claim it… until Piercing Mind brushed against the quiet, patient hunger coiled beneath the waterline. He never saw the creature; he only saw the ripple as it moved. That was enough.
By the third failure, he was grinding his teeth whenever he thought about the comfortable stone rooms under the Bright Castle he'd willingly walked away from.
Some days, it felt like a brilliant plan. Other days, it felt like the stupidest thing he had ever done.
He tightened his grip on Dusky's neck.
'What doesn't kill me makes me stronger, I guess. Hey, if it does kill me, maybe I can will myself to come back and become a Sovereign! Oh, a dream…'
As Dusky flew around, Juno meticulously inspected everything he saw. This was a time the Split Mind technique came in so incredibly handy. One mind would be looking through one eye, and the other mind through the other. Then, they would be processing all the things they saw before sending them over to the third one. Finally, the third mind would make the finishing touches before deciding if the place was good. Most of them weren't, but with three brains working at the same time, Juno didn't have to fly around different areas for long.
Finally, near the eastern wall, he found something promising.
A heap of collapsed stone blocks lay like a broken tooth at the base of the wall, heavy enough that even larger creatures would think twice about shifting them. The fall had created a haphazard pile that jutted out from the black stone of the wall like the bones of some dead colossus. To anyone else, it was just rubble.
But when Juno passed close and focused, Piercing Mind brushed against a lot.
The faint scuttle of many tiny legs. The faint brush of air through the hole. A scent of blood and gore flows through and all around. This was a lair of many small Nightmare Creatures.
'Hehehe, jackpot.'
He circled once to make sure no one was watching, then guided Dusky all the way down the fifteen or so feet into the shelter of a neighboring ruin. Once Juno was sure he wouldn't be caught lacking while going to the hole, he dismissed Dusky and dropped onto the broken ground.
Up close, he found a narrow gap between two massive stones: barely wide enough for him to squeeze through sideways. No chance of sending Dusky in first. No room to scout properly with anything except his own eyes and Piercing Mind.
Perfectly inconspicuous. Perfectly inconvenient.
Focusing, he slid inside.
The world narrowed to rough stone against his shoulders and the scrape of fabric. Dust and blood tickled his nose. The air grew cooler almost immediately, stale and heavy, tainted with the faint tang of old flesh and metal. For several body‑lengths, he could only shuffle sideways, dragging himself forward with his fingertips and pushing with his heels.
After a couple more scoots, the passage widened, turned to the left, and dropped off into a chamber.
Looking down, Juno saw his adversaries: spiders.
Dozens of red, glistening spiders.
For any other Sleeper, or even Awakened, this would have been a nightmare. Trying to fight dozens of Awakened Beasts, and even a couple Monsters, was suicide. They would get overwhelmed immediately and die soon after. Only those with ranged Aspects or area attacks would survive.
Luckily, Juno had the perfect Memory.
He hadn't been wearing the Snake's Mask when he came in, but he quickly summoned it and put it on. The thing had gotten damaged in the last fight against a really quick insect-looking abomination, but now it was good to go.
Thinking about it, the Mask wasn't an ordinary Memory. Instead of masking presence in relation to Soul Essence, it instead matches it to the surrounding enemies. If there is only one opponent, it is more like a Dormant Memory, but when there are dozens of other people around Juno, it becomes closer to an ascended-level memory.
Quickly, Juno dropped down into the cave and braced himself. He didn't expect any attacks, but still.
Luckily, nothing came at him.
Juno stayed where he was, calming his racing heart forcefully. Even if he logically knew this would all work, the emotional aspect was still scary. The spiders, though, continued to do what they were doing, as if he didn't exist at all. They twitched and shifted, the soft staccato of countless legs tapping on stone filling the chamber, but none of them turned in his direction. They flowed around him in slow, glistening waves, climbing over each other, slipping across web‑slick walls and ceiling. The Snake's Mask lay cool and solid on his face, muting his presence.
As long as the swarm was concerned, Juno didn't exist.
Taking a little bit of time, Juno began to count all the spiders. He knew, by vibration alone, that there were at least two dozen, but he wanted a clearer number. Within half a minute, he had his statistics.
Twenty-eight Awakened Beasts. Four Awakened Monsters.
Juno allowed himself a quiet breath, shoulders loosening just a little.
Taking a step forward, Juno came to be right between two innocent little spiders. "Little" was relative; up close, each was about as big as a large dog, their round bodies almost reaching his hip. The one on his left shifted, abdomen brushing his leg. Its carapace was slick and faintly warm, plates flexing over the pulsing meat beneath. The one on his right clung to the wall, clustered eyes almost level with his own, mandibles working on something pale and fibrous.
Neither reacted.
Having never unsummoned it, Juno pulled Execution from his belt and looked closely at the chitin covering the spiders. It seemed pretty strong, except for the lack of armor on the back of their neck. Just like all insects, really.
The flash of his blade was clean. Within a moment, the spider on his left was dead.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Red Liner Spawn]
[Your desire sharpens.]
'Wow… that was easy.'
In hindsight, that part was obvious.
Looking curiously at the other spider, Juno thought about what it would do. The meat it was eating seemed to be running out, and the creature was not intelligent at all. It stood to reason that the spider would move on to eating its comrade.
Juno was partially correct.
Instead of actually eating it, the Red Liner stuck its pincers into the dead body of the dead spider and began to suck. It was like watching a slower and weaker version of Execution. It was boring.
Juno didn't even try.
[You have slain…]
Two Awakened Beasts in two strikes. Quite a good ratio, if Juno dared say.
Looking around, Juno began to walk.
He began to kill.
He moved into the nest in a steady, purposeful stride, executing a quick, efficient flash in his hand. There was no need for showy swings; every motion was compact and to the point. A spider on the floor in front of him reared a little, mandibles flexing at something only it could see. Juno stepped close and drove the blade straight down through the neck.
When he yanked Execution free, a string of pink‑grey pulp came with it, clinging to the metal before snapping and falling onto the floor with a soft plop. The spider's body collapsed in on itself, legs curling tight, its considerable weight settling with a meaty thump that sent a tiny wave of gore radiating out from under it.
He moved past it and into the next one. Just like the one before, it died easily. After doing this a couple more times, Juno was already close to the Monsters.
Growing bored, Juno switched things up. He should practice a little at least. Execution punched sideways into a skull this time, entering through the cluster of glossy eyes. The orbs burst around the blade, spraying translucent jelly and black fluid across his hand. The steel chewed into the softer mass behind, and when he twisted, the entire front of the face tore open. The spider dropped as if someone had cut its strings, spraying more of its insides across the already filthy stone.
They were big enough that each corpse mattered.
Every kill added another dog‑sized pile of chitin and meat to the floor, and the floor was starting to disappear. His boots slid over a layer of fluids and crushed bodies that rapidly turned the stone into a treacherous, uneven mess. He stepped on a swollen abdomen and felt it give under his weight, the contained pressure inside forcing its way out through weak points with ugly pops. Hot, half‑liquid innards squirted out in a wet fan around his foot, slapping against his shin and the side of another spider as it crawled past.
He arrived at the first Monster almost without trying.
It was hunched low on the wall, half‑submerged in the flow of its lesser kin. Up close, it was just a scaled‑up Red Liner—more plates, thicker armor, uglier mandibles—but the same gap at the back of the neck. Juno stepped in, boots squelching through guts, and drove Execution into that gap with both hands.
The shell resisted for a heartbeat.
Then the Ascended edge bit, split, and slid in. The blade pushed deep into the hot mass beneath, meeting something dense inside the head and tearing through it. Thick, dark ichor erupted around the wound, pouring down the Monster's front in a heavy sheet, soaking the spiders below in their own queen's blood.
The huge body convulsed. Dog‑sized Beasts bounced off its legs and carapace as it thrashed once, twice, and then slid down the wall like a sack of ruptured meat.
[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Red Wall Spawn]
[Your desire sharpens]
Monsters were supposed to be smarter than Beasts, and that was obvious a moment later. The other Red Liner Wall near the first seemed to whip around in search of an enemy, but when it saw nothing, it opened its maw and screamed.
Instantly, all the spiders switched from being docile to being on guard. They were all now scurrying around, trying to find the threat. Obviously, they couldn't, but it was peculiar to see the workings of a tribe of Nightmare Creatures.
Shrugging, Juno moved on to the Monster that raised the alarm. Since his mask was of a lower tier than the Monster's, it managed to sense something around it, but it was too late. The sword drove through the underside of the abomination's head and into its brain.
[You have…]
Walking over to the third Wall, Juno thought of something. These spiders were way weaker than the Scavenger legion, or even the spiders in the Crimson Labyrinth. Well, it made sense that chitin was weaker than iron chitin, but why would they be weaker than the Scavengers?
'...Weird.'
Did it matter, though? Not really. Juno should have just been grateful for how weak these Awakened Monsters are.
Making quick work of the last two panicking Monsters, Juno began to finish up. He had about twenty-two abominations left, a Tyrant, and possibly a strong champion. From the moment he had killed the first spider, he knew there would be a bigger boss to fight, and Juno was itching for it. An Awakened Tyrant had a high possibility of dropping a Memory after all.
After about ten minutes of killing, Juno had completely finished up. He was uninjured, energized, and ready. Execution mirrored Juno, drinking up the rest of the blood on itself and returning to its usual pristine condition. If anything, it was glistening with a deeper black than normal.
He picked his way through the slick mess toward the back, boots squelching in places where the stone had vanished under crushed chitin and guts. Behind a bulwark of fused corpses and hardened silk, a narrow passage waited, half‑hidden by drooping strands.
Juno sent his senses out in front of him.
There wasn't anything there except empty passageways and cocoons. That was pretty bad since his presence would be easy to notice that way, but oh well. Walking through it was actually a pleasant experience, since his nose wasn't being assaulted anymore.
Soon enough, the passageway bent sharply, and Juno felt the open air. He was coming up to the second room.
He slipped around the last turn and stepped out into a broad chamber.
It was like a throne room.
The ceiling vaulted high, swallowed by shadow and web. Thick cables of red‑veined silk crisscrossed the space, some humming faintly with what seemed like essence. The floor had been sculpted by habit and weight into shallow tiers that ringed a central hollow.
In that hollow stood a structure made of bodies and hardened web—a mound, a pedestal, a nest.
The Tyrant sat there.
Instantly, Juno decided this was a dude. Something about the stance, maybe. The way he sprawled over his mound of web‑cemented corpses like a drunk king on a bad throne, legs planted wide, hooks buried deep in stone as if daring the world to try and move him. Or maybe it was just that Juno didn't want to call his soon-to-be adversary by its true sex.
Below, between the tiers and the nest, a Demon prowled.
It was a fun time. Long limbs let it flow from floor to wall to ceiling, sliding through hanging silk with obscene ease. Where the Tyrant radiated weight, this one was knife‑edge.
'What video game has a boss and a miniboss at the same time? Ugh…'
Sighing, he summoned Dusky. As the sparks coalesced into the Awakened Devil, the inhabitants of the room turned to him. Both seemed to have barely missed his existence until the sudden light gave it off. It was like the neat hierarchy of the nest suddenly forced to make room for a stranger.
Before the Tyrant did anything, the Demon made a low chirping noise, moving its mandibles in a threatening way. It slowly tore itself away from the web as it approached Juno.
Grinning, he just turned to Dusky.
"Go say hello to your playmate!"
The murderous crow didn't have to be told twice. Dusky's eyes flared in acknowledgment. In the next breath, it launched, a streak of black cutting across the vault. Shadow fog boiled out from its mouth , swallowing a lattice of silk and the Demon's route in roiling darkness.
Below, the Tyrant began to rise.
Hooks tore new grooves in stone as it uncoiled from its nest, legs unfolding one by one, each thicker than Juno's torso. Glowing veins along its underside brightened from smolder to furnace.
Juno stepped off the lip of the entrance and onto the first tier.
His boots clicked softly on stone, then slid a little where old blood had eaten shallow hollows into the tiers. The air ahead was thick with heat and poison, humming with the Tyrant's pulse and Dusky's interference. Every instinct he had told him this was stupid.
Juno bared his teeth behind the Mask anyway.
There was power here, and a lair no one sane would ever come looking in. All he had to do was take it.
He took another step down toward the hollow, toward the waiting Tyrant and the shadows where the Demon was being hunted.
Grinning widely at his now standing adversary, Juno couldn't help but laugh.
Looking at the laughing human, the Tyrant seemed to make its own laughing noise as it began to lumber at the uncorrupted.
~~~~~~~~~
Comment if yall want the fight or not, because it seems to me a little bit redundant since it is quite similar to everything else, but if like six people say they want it imma write it :)