Stale wind skimmed the torn rooftop of the Dark City's cathedral, carrying a languid scent of ancient stone. Below, the building sprawled across a desolate plaza—silent and untouched. This was the territory of the Forsaken Knight; no other Nightmare Creatures dared to approach.
Sunny crouched at the rooftop's edge, fingers splayed against sun-warmed stone. His eyes were unfocused, gaze aimed somewhere far below—but seeing through something else entirely.
The others waited behind him, spread out in a loose half-circle. No one spoke. They didn't know why he'd brought them here, but by now, they didn't need to. He had earned their trust—even if he still kept a few secrets close.
After a few quiet minutes, Sunny stirred and stood to face the cohort.
"There's a treasure inside this building that's important to me," Sunny said. "But it's guarded by a Fallen Devil—the Forsaken Knight. It wields True Darkness and is highly territorial. We need to kill it before moving forward."
He exhaled slowly, raising two fingers.
"Two things make this fight problematic," he continued. "Shadows are born from the absence of light. They're light's companion, not its enemy. The brighter the light, the darker the shadow. In their duality, they depend on each other."
He paused, then added, more sharply:
"But True Darkness opposes light and fights it actively. A conflict with the absence of its enemy is no conflict at all—it simply erases shadows."
He dropped the first finger.
"Which is why I asked for your help."
He turned away as the second finger dropped.
"My second problem... is that I want to do it alone."
The cohort remained silent, but Sunny could feel eyes on his back.
"I know that sounds contradictory," he said, voice dry. "It is. But something's changed. There's something I need to try."
***
A few minutes earlier, a shadow peeled away from Sunny and slipped over the cathedral's edge. It drifted down the side of the cathedral, gliding through narrow cracks and into the dark.
He guided them on instinct, tracing the path he already knew.
The upper floors were as he remembered—layers of dust, decrepit furnishings, and soft drafts whispering through broken windows. His shadow slipped down a corridor and passed through a familiar door. Inside was a small chamber: a bed, a wardrobe, scattered relics of his first life.
Nothing had changed. Except, of course, for the lack of writing scratched on the stone walls.
Sunny stayed quiet.
One of the shadows moved on, curling down the stairwell and toward the main hall.
The air grew heavier, and the light from the world outside crumbled into nothingness.
A figure stood in the center of the darkness. A crude imitation of Nether's Stone Saints.
Sunny saw it clearly.
Then froze.
Because he shouldn't have been able to see at all.
His perception should have ended the moment his shadow entered the True Darkness suffusing the hall. He remembered what that felt like—how his vision collapsed, and his senses ceased.
This time, he barely noticed the transition.
The ambient shadows were gone, yes—but his vision didn't falter. His senses stayed intact.
He remained.
'Why?'
He didn't find the answer right away.
Instead, he sat with the question. He'd learned to seek insight patiently.
He scanned his runes, and found his attention drawn to a particular set.
Innate Ability: [Totality.]
Ability Description: [A star is not eclipsed just by the moon, but also by the vast emptiness of space itself. In rejecting being cast by light, you also embody the eclipse that does not pass — a darkness without origin, requiring no cause, and answering to none.]
He read it again.
Slowly.
True Darkness erased shadows by attacking the rules they needed to exist.
But with this innate ability, he didn't follow those rules.
He didn't need light to cast him.
He cast himself.
He stayed still for a moment longer, watching the Forsaken Knight through the eyes of his shadow. It hadn't moved. Hadn't sensed him.
He could win this fight easily.
But that wasn't what he wanted.
A quiet certainty settled in his chest. It wasn't strategy. It didn't come from caution or calculation.
It was desire.
Sunny pulled the shadows back and stood, brushing stone dust from his palm.
The others were waiting.
***
Sunny returned to the group with his usual expression. Flat, unreadable—maybe even slightly bored.
Except it wasn't unreadable.
The sighted members of the cohort stiffened—not because of anything he said or did, but because they could see it.
A pressure hung in the air around him.
Excitement.
Anticipation.
Eagerness.
Caster squinted. Effie raised an eyebrow.
Cassie, despite lacking sight, was the first to speak.
"Sunny... would you mind explaining why your shadows seem to be, um... bickering?"
At his feet, Gloomy and Happy gesticulated wildly at each other. They were having a very heated argument. One looked as if they were scolding the other, with the other's protests falling upon deaf ears.
Aiko and Kai exchanged a baffled glance, then turned to watch—both quickly absorbed in the unfolding shadow drama.
Sunny didn't answer right away.
He glanced down at the shadows—still going at it—and sighed, long and tired.
"I'd guess," he said slowly, "the one who stayed with me is scolding the other... for showing me something I shouldn't have seen."
He didn't say it with certainty—but the weight behind the words said he believed it.
He ran a hand through his hair, exhaled, then added:
"I have history with the creature inside."
A pause. He looked down at his torso.
"In my first life, I didn't know what True Darkness was. I walked in without caution, and it got the jump on me."
He grimaced.
"It gutted me, and left me in that ditch over there, holding my own organs. "
A beat.
"I stayed conscious the whole time."
Caster blinked. "Wait. You survived that? How?"
Sunny shrugged.
"I decided not to bleed."
There was a beat of silence.
Kai squinted at him. "No. Nope. We aren't doing this again."
"Yeah," Aiko cut in, eyes narrowing. "God forbid your body reacts like a human one for once, it would be catastrophic."
Sunny looked between them, mildly affronted.
"I'm just saying. With enough willpower—"
Kai raised a hand. "Shut up."
Aiko joined him. "Shut up."
Effie grinned. "He's gonna say it anyway."
Sunny sighed, overly dramatic. "Fine, fine. I didn't only survive by deciding not to bleed. I also lost a bit of my sanity while my intestines tried to reassemble themselves—then signed a roommate contract to squat here for a few months while I healed."
Aiko rubbed her temple. Kai just shook his head.
They shared a long, pained glance.
Caster cleared his throat and pointed towards the entrance to the cathedral. "Anyway. Strategy."
He hesitated for a beat, then looked at Sunny.
"You just told us that thing almost killed you," he said, voice even. "And now you want to fight it alone. Why?"
Sunny didn't answer immediately.
His expression didn't change, but the energy around him shifted. The buzz of anticipation faded, and coiled back into a quiet resentment.
"I owe it," he said at last.
He paused. His voice wasn't cold, exactly. Just calm. Settled.
"This one's mine."
There was a pause. A quiet one.
Then Caster crossed his arms. "You sure that's not a terrible idea?" he asked flatly. "Because it sounds like a terrible idea. We'd be risking the whole operation on your personal vendetta."
Cassie tilted her head. "This isn't about tactics," she said, voice cool. "Must you be so... petty?"
Sunny met her gaze without blinking. "Spite is my most powerful motivator Cassie. I thought you would have realized this by now."
Cassie sighed. "Oh, I have. I just thought you'd be better than this."
Sunny responded quickly, without hesitation. "Think of this like self-care. You know bottling up emotions is unhealthy, right?"
She exhaled softly through her nose. "I do," she said.
Her tone stayed level, but she didn't meet his eyes.
Effie leaned on her spear and shrugged. "He's not wrong. Might as well let him get it out of his system."
Aiko tilted her head, studying Sunny. "He already made up his mind, might as well let him have this one."
After allowing the others speak first, Kai stepped forward.
He didn't look irritated, or amused, or resigned.
"Will you be safe?" he said, voice steady.
Sunny turned to him. His expression didn't change.
"Yes," he said simply. "I can keep myself alive long enough for you all to step in if it goes wrong."
Kai studied him a moment longer, then gave a small nod. "Then I trust you."
Cassie hesitated—but eventually sighed, shoulders softening.
"You get one chance," she said.
Caster gave a quiet grunt of reluctant agreement. "Fine."
Sunny clapped his hands with a beat of excitement. "Wonderful!"
He began to quickly descend the side of the cathedral, towards the entrance below.
The cohort didn't follow him immediately.
They remained on the rooftop for a moment longer—then began moving slowly, with deliberate caution, toward a broken window near the cathedral's upper galleries.
***
The chosen overlook offered a clear view of the main hall below—at least, in theory.
In practice, they saw nothing. The cathedral's interior was swallowed by True Darkness. A flat, depthless void stretched out beneath them.
Effie stared into it, chewing the end of a jerky strip. "Okay, but hear me out—we might've picked a really bad spot to watch from."
Kai huffed. "Great tactical minds at work."
"I mean," Aiko added, gesturing vaguely at the void, "we could've at least chosen the side with ominous sound effects."
Cassie sat cross-legged on the floor, one hand resting on the hilt of the Quiet Dancer. Aiko had lent it to her to help navigate the ruins.
Her head tilted slightly, as if listening to something distant.
"He just stepped inside" she said quietly.
Effie turned to look at her. "Wait. You can see?"
Cassie turned her head toward her. Despite the blindfold, the expression was unmistakable.
Disappointment.
She responded regardless. "Only Sunny."
"How?" Effie asked.
Cassie shrugged, adjusting her grip on the Quiet Dancer. "Who knows."
She didn't offer more, and no one pressed.
"Alright, so," Aiko said, already rummaging through a pouch, "I'm opening bets. Victor, total time, wounds accrued. Who's in?"
Kai nudged her with her elbow. "Too basic, give us more unique bets."
Aiko thought for a moment, then began speaking.
"Two to one he opens with a smug one-liner," Aiko replied, pulling out a scrap of parchment and a stub of charcoal. "Two to one he takes a hit just to be dramatic. Ten to one he comes out shirtless somehow."
Effie raised her jerky strip. "I'm in. All of them. Especially the shirtless one."
Kai made a face. "Why would that even happen?"
Aiko didn't look up. "I don't know, but somehow, it would feel intentional."
Caster, sitting on a broken pew with his arms crossed, muttered, "Doesn't matter what odds you set. He'll find the most chaotic option just to spite your math."
Cassie tilted her head slightly again. "He just waved."
There was a pause.
"At the Knight?" Effie asked.
"No. The altar."
Kai pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yup. Intentional."
Effie flopped onto her back with a groan. "I can't believe I'm missing this—I hate that I'm missing this!"
Cassie, sitting serenely in the center of the group, murmured: "They've engaged."
Aiko leaned forward eagerly. "Alright, Cass. Give us the play-by-play."
Cassie hesitated just a beat. Then, in a calm voice almost too dignified for the task, said:
"Sunny has sidestepped the first strike. It was wide. He's taunting the Knight now."
She paused.
"...He's using interpretive dance."
Effie sat up fast. "What."
Cassie nodded once. "I think it's supposed to be evasive footwork, but it's very... rhythmic."
Aiko was already scribbling notes furiously. "Okay. Ten to one he's doing this to annoy it."
"No one's taking that bet," Kai muttered. "That's a guarantee."
Caster rubbed his face. "I can't believe I followed that man for months in the labyrinth."
Cassie cleared her throat. "Oh. He just kicked it in the knee."
Aiko grinned. "See? Classic."
"Now he's laughing."
Effie sighed, dreamy. "He's really in his element down there, huh?"
Cassie smiled faintly. "Terrifyingly so."
***
Sunny was not in his element.
At least, not at first.
True Darkness swallowed the world around him.
The Forsaken Knight stood in the center of the cathedral, tall and armored in ruin. Its blade was longer than Sunny was tall, resting against one pauldron. He could see it clearly through one of his shadows, drifting behind him and drinking in the void. His other shadow was curled tight around Serpent, lending it an invisible edge.
He should've been afraid.
Instead, he smiled.
One hand lifted in a lazy wave, aimed not at the massive creature lurking in the shadows—but at the statue of the nameless girl behind it. The gesture was casual, flippant. Deliberately rude.
A long pause followed.
Then something shifted in the dark. The Forsaken Knight turned around, dragging its massive sword behind it with one hand. Its body was cut from the same bleak substance as darkness itself, shaped into brutal lines and towering mass.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the Knight took a single step, appearing behind Sunny in a physics defying motion.
The creature's movement in the True Darkness pooled in the hall was unobstructed. It did not step through space, but rather the seams between in.
Sunny of course, already knew this would be coming.
Its massive sword swept down like a guillotine.
Sunny shifted his weight, angled his shoulder, and let the blow miss by millimeters. His foot slid along the stone in a smooth arc.
The second attack mirrored the first—but faster. A flicker on the left became a blur behind him, then Knight reappeared to his fight, blade screaming in a brutal thrust.
Sunny moved through it like water, parrying beneath the strike with a dancer's control.
He retaliated with a simple lateral swing, but his blade found empty air, his foe having retreated back.
Their exchanges continued in this fashion for some time, with Sunny growing more confident with each clash of blades.
Each of the Forsaken Knight's dashes, every strike, followed a whisper of movement—shifting shoulder, a redistribution of balance in the hips, a faint swell of essence that preceded the motion. Sunny was an expert at reading these sorts of body language, having used Shadow Step in a similar fashion once before.
He didn't need to outpace the Knight. He couldn't anyways—not in speed or strength. What he could do, was read it like a book.
A lunge came wide, and Sunny punished it by ducking under while drawing a shallow line across the Knight's side.
Another attack blurred into view—he pivoted away from it and drove his elbow into the monster's abdomen, shoving it back with a grunt of effort.
Sunny's swordsmanship far outpaced what any Sleeper should have been capable of, so it was no surprise he was able to keep up with the beast.
Saint and Nephis had given it a hard time in his original life, and he had far surpassed those versions of them in martial might.
Shadow Dance worked silently, echoing the tempo of the Knight's movements, mapping the logic of its style to counterattacks. With every clash, Sunny grew bolder. He began to answer one strike with two, then three. He didn't just evade anymore—he pressed forward.
He grinned.
Learning to live with his new Flaw had been difficult in ways he hadn't expected. It wasn't about social awkwardness. It was internal.
He couldn't hide what he felt. Not guilt. Not fear. Not despair. He couldn't lie about his feelings, even to himself.
The weight of it built over time, layer by layer, until it choked him. Until even simply existing felt suffocating, let alone fighting.
But in the Hollow Mountains, when he faced the creature of mist, something had changed. He had truly confronted his fears, instead of merely stewing in them. That unbearable weight had lifted.
Now, here, in this moment, he felt sharp. Unburdened. Clean.
He hadn't realized the magnitude of the weight he carried into battles. Not until testing himself today.
The Knight stepped again—appearing above and behind him in mid-swing, blade arcing down.
But Sunny was already moving.
He didn't meet the blow. He met the hilt.
His blade snapped up and crashed into the side of the Knight's greatsword with perfect timing, twisting just enough to jar the angle. The impact sent the blade careening into the floor, cracking the stone beneath.
Sunny twisted again, shadow wrapping around his body, lifting his foot quickly and bringing it down.
Not at the Knight.
At its weapon.
He pinned the greatsword beneath his heel, and with a gleam in his eye, brought Serpent down in a savage arc. The blade's edge howled as it carved clean through the exposed flat.
Sunny smiled madly.
Cassie, above, frowned in confusion.
"Oh. He just kicked it in the knee." she said, deadpan.
Below, Sunny surged forward.
The Knight raised its hand, but it was too late. Serpent crashed into its joints, again and again, each strike forcing it lower. One final sweep took its legs out from beneath it.
The Fallen Devil collapsed with a thunderous crash.
A tall figure rose from the shadow behind Sunny—armor of stone, eyes burning ruby. Saint stepped out like royalty entering court, radiating an aura of disdain for the lowly creature below.
She glanced at Sunny.
He nodded once.
She plunged her hand into the creature's chest.
From its core, she drew out an orb of pure black—four red nodes pulsing weakly at its center.
She crushed it in her palm.
Above, Cassie murmured, "...He's done."
***
Footsteps echoed through the nave as the cohort descended from the overlook. Each held a luminous Memory in hand—weapons shining in the gloom. Their expressions were wary, prepared for anything.
They found Sunny in the center of the ruined hall.
The Forsaken Knight's corpse lay sprawled before him, armor cracked and smoldering, massive sword cleaved in half nearby. Sunny knelt beside it, repeatedly stabbing Serpent down in overhand slams into its gut.
He wasn't even looking anymore. His grin was wide, utterly unrepentant.
Caster stopped in his tracks. "Is that strictly necessary?"
Sunny glanced up. "It makes me feel better."
After a brief pause, he retracted his blade.
Cassie tilted her head slightly. "Are you done?"
He considered that.
Then stabbed it one last time, with theatrical flourish.
"Now I am."
Aiko leaned around Kai's shoulder to get a better look. Her eyes lit up.
"Hey—his shirt's still on!"
Sunny blinked, then looked down at himself. Disheveled... but yes. Shirt intact.
He smiled, pulled Serpent free one last time, and stood to meet them.
Cassie looked mildly unimpressed, with just a touch of relief. Caster gave him one of those expressionless-but-irritated stares.
Just a sprinkle of judgment for making his friends worry—barely enough to sting.
He knew what they were thinking. That his indulgence was childish.
But his Flaw didn't let him pretend.
And the truth was, he felt great.
He smirked.
Let them judge. He'd do it again.