Chapter Nine: Beginning

Third POV:

Just like that, a whole week has passed. And somehow Effie Survived

..Currently, Sunny and Effie were sitting on the support beam of the main hall of the cathedral, looking down from the head-spinning height. Far below and away from them, the Black Knight walked through the patches of light and darkness, continuing his neverending patrol.

Effie scowled, then whispered:

"So this is the bastard?"

Sunny gave her a nod.

"Yeah. In the flesh... or whatever he has instead of it."

The unruly huntress gave him a long look.

"How the hell did you manage to live through a fight with that fiend?"

He grimaced.

"Barely. Also, calling it a fight is giving me too much credit. I just got myself gutted and crawled outside. He never leaves the cathedral, so I got away."

She shivered.

"Are you sure that he won't hear us?"

Sunny pointed down.

"As long as he doesn't walk past that column, and as long as we're not too loud and keep our voice down, we're safe. Trust me. I've been studying that bastard for two whole months."

Effie suddenly grinned.

"So... how loud are we talking about? Because I can promise to..."

Sunny rolled his eyes. He didn't need to hear the end of the phrase to know that it was going to be highly suggestive and very inappropriate.

"I'm pretty sure that thing can make you scream even louder than what you intended to. So Can you stop? We're in a temple, for God's sake."

She quietly giggled.

"Fine, fine."

After a couple of minutes passed in silence, Sunny looked down and saw that the pale light of dawn was slowly turning brighter. It was almost time for the two of them to leave the cathedral.

****

Soon, they were standing in front of the cathedral. The morning sun was slowly crawling through the sky, washing the ancient city in its pale light. Sunny and Effie did not have to wait long before Nephis and her companions appeared from the ruins.

Sunny smiled.

There was Changing Star herself, Caster, Cassie. and Kai.

'Really?'

Once the four Sleepers approached and greeted them, Sunny immediately stared at the beautiful young man.

"Night... uh... why are you here, buddy?"

The archer smiled.

"Ah! I'm very happy to see you too, Sunny, my friend. Lady Nephis has asked me to join her on this expedition, and after careful consideration, I have decided to agree."

Sunny blinked a couple of times.

"Alright, I know that I'm crazy, but when did you lose your mind too?"

Kai looked at him with a strange expression.

"Wait.. crazy? What do you mean, you're crazy?"

Sunny sighed.

"Nevermind."

Sunny shook his head. Kai was just too good of a person to even refuse Neph's request.

Then, he turned to her.

"About your request. I'm ready to join the expedition but on two conditions."

Nephis looked at him for a while, an inexorable expression on her face. Then, she said in an even tone:

"Do you have something in mind?"

Sunny grinned.

"As a matter of fact, I do. Behind us, you can see a magnificent ancient cathedral. Inside that cathedral lives a creature which is called the Black Knight. He's a Fallen Devil. In return for my help during the expedition, I want your help after it is concluded. Once we return..."

He paused for a moment, and then added:

"...I want you to help me kill it."

Sunny didn't need their help to actually kill it, although it will be a bit difficult due to the Black Knight's ability to manipulate darkness, he should still be able to pull it off.  He just did it to make the give-and-take sides of their deal even.

"And The second one is?"

Nephis asked.

Sunny lingered for a moment then said, a smile on his face.

"I will ask you for a favor later."

Nephis and Sunny stared at each other for a while, soon Nephis Broke the silence first.

".....deal."

A dead silence fell on the small square. After a while, Caster finally spoke, an expression of subtle shock on his face:

"Sunny... did you perhaps misspoke? We are only Sleepers, after all. How are we supposed to kill that Black Knight of yours? A Nightmare Creature of his rank and class..."

Sunny's grin widened. Then, with an immense feeling of vindication, he looked at Caster and said:

"What? Have you never Wrestled a Great beast before? Come on..."

Sunny added cheerfully:

"...It's just a fallen devil."

*********

The expressions on the faces of Caster, Effie, and Kai were simply priceless. Sunny had to stop himself from laughing out loud.

...His shadows, however, did not. Luckily, they had no vocal cords, so all they could do was hold their stomach and shudder silently.

'Hey, guys! Behave yourselves!'

Meanwhile, Nephis just looked at him. The corner of her mouth slightly curled upward despite her obvious confusion. After a while, Caster was finally able to answer:

"Just a fallen devil? Did you just say Gr..."

However, Changing Star interrupted him. Glancing at the cathedral, she simply shrugged and said:

"This is acceptable."

Everyone became silent. They simply stared at Neph with bewildered expressions. With some satisfaction, Sunny nodded and said:

"Don't be so quick to judge. We won't be going into that battle unprepared. I spent months studying the bastard. I know his every ability, every trick, and every weakness. More than that... if you can't even handle someone like him, how are you going to challenge Gunalug? Isn't that what this expedition is all about?"

Nephis nodded.

"Sunny is right. It's not like it's impossible to kill a Fallen creature. In fact, both Gemma and Tessai had done so in the past, not to mention Gunlaug himself. It just takes a lot of preparation and a little bit of luck. By the end of this, we should be able to take on a single devil and win, provided that we learn its secrets in advance."

Effie added.

"Don't forget to add this little monster of yours to that list, Dofus has killed a couple of fallen creatures by himself during my stay at the cathedral. Not to mention that I couldn't even beat him in our little wrestling matches."

Nephis's eyebrows twitched at Effie's choice of words, apparently getting the wrong idea but decided not to say anything.

Sunny smiled.

"Exactly! Oh, right. And Speaking of preparations..."

While everyone was looking at him with confusion... well, except Cassie, of course... he took the rucksacks off his shoulders and placed them on the ground. Then, he opened it, revealing the soft shine of numerous soul shards.

"Welcome to Sunny's Brilliant Emporium! This here is around Two hundred soul shards, variates from Awakened rank all the way to the Supreme rank. Since we will be venturing into the Labyrinth, I've decided to give you guys an opportunity to empower yourself a bit before facing the terrible dangers of that ghastly place. Of course, I'll give you a family discount..."

He had taken a handful of shards from his treasure coffer before leaving the hidden chamber. Currently, all of the shards were inside several rucksacks while the Supreme ones were still inside his coffer.

"The rules of the emporium are rather simple. You give me Memories, the more useful the Memories are the better! You can keep any useless junk you have in your Soul Sea since it will only get you an awakened soul shard at best. If you don't have any useful stuff — no problem. You can just promise to give me a Memory in the future, once you receive one in the Labyrinth."

He smiled at the members of Neph's cohort.

"Not bad, right? No need to thank me, really..."

Caster stared at the shards with greed in his eyes, then he raised his eyes and looked at Sunny:

"Sunny... Please Correct me if I heard wrong. Did you just say that you have Supreme Soul Shards??"

Sunny looked at him with a funny expression.

"What? You didn't believe me when I said that I wrestled a Great beast? Tsk Tsk No Shards for you."

The other members of the cohort were equally surprised but didn't say a thing. The moment Sunny looked away from him Caster's Face flushed red with anger as he shouted:

"Prove it! There's no way a Mongrel Like you can get even an Ascended Soul Shard let alone a Supreme one!"

Caster received a glare from Nephis But the Scion Handsome Man was too shocked to give it a damn.

Soon Nephis also Turned to Sunny, a questioning look on her face.

Sunny grinned.

"Uh, you see... how should I put this? Let's just say that there was a Great Beast in the Waters and I was studying him for over a Month, Eventually, I got an opportunity to wrestle the thing, and I won obviously. And retrieved the Soul Shards from the waters."

Sunny didn't say a single lie but also didn't tell the full truth. His eyes darkened at Caster, a spike of his killing intent leaking.

"And Kai over there can detect lies, so how about you ask him if I'm lying instead of glaring at me as if I stole your candy."

The rest of the Cohort didn't say a thing perhaps sensing his killing intent or maybe they were too shocked to say anything.

However, after this performance, no one else asked any questions. In the end, Sunny was only able to exchange a hundred of his shards for Memories. Nephis asked for the Supreme soul shard for obvious reasons and Sunny agreed without a second thought. But since she didn't have a storage memory she asked him to keep it for later. Nephis Gave the Covetous Coffer a weird look but didn't say anything. Soon Nephis Proceeded with the cohort and distributed the shards between the five members, with each of them getting twenty. This was a boon equal to slaying twenty awakened beasts. After absorbing the shards, all five of them were going to receive a significant boost to their power.

As far as deadly expeditions went, this was the best start possible.

Without wasting any time, Cassie, Effie, Kai, and Caster absorbed the soul essence from the shards.

Only Nephis didn't absorb the soul shards immediately.

Sunny assumed that She was close to gaining her Second Core and so didn't want to do it in front of everyone else.

When the cohort was done absorbing their shards and getting accustomed to the changes caused by the sudden influx of soul essence, the cohort was ready to move out. The six of them headed south, cautiously traversing the cursed city. A young man with porcelain skin and striking black eyes walked in the front, with a simple tunic of fine, soft silk the color of rich and beautiful black, with intricate patterns embroidered using silver thread along the collar, hem, and sleeve edges. The hem reached just below his knees, while the sleeves ended at his elbows.

Nephis was walking beside him in the front of the party, her stark black and white plate armor contrasted sharply against the grey stones of the ancient ruins. A step behind her and to the right was Caster, clad in a polished scale mail that glistened in the morning light like the skin of a silver dragon. To Sunny's left was tall and powerful Effie, clad in the archaic bronze armor with a white chiton beneath. She unintentionally made Sunny appear even smaller than usual,  just standing by his side.

A few steps away, wearing his elegant lamellar armor made out of burnished brown leather, walked Kai. On his back, there was a quiver full of heavy arrows. Cassie was walking beside him, her light tunic and bright cloak just the same as before. However, now there was a sheath with a graceful rapier attached to her belt. Their journey to the edges of the Forgotten Shore had begun.

*****

Deep into the ruins Sunny glanced at Nephis and Sent a mental message through the enchantment of his tunic [Blessing of the Dusk]:

[When are you going to absorb the shard?]

Nephis seemed startled at first her face was a grimace, as her hand reached to the hilt of her sword. Soon she noticed Sunny's glance and relaxed.

[it's the enchantment of my armor type Tunic. I can share with you my voice and thoughts, and you can do the same if you think about it.]

It took Nephis a few moments trying to get the hang of it. But soon gave up when Sunny didn't seem to catch her message.

Only then did Sunny facepalmed himself.

'Of course, it requires a bit of essence from her to send back her thoughts.'

She quietly answered his question.

"When it's safer to do so."

Her voice was low, firm, and clear. Sunny nodded as he deactivated the enchantment. Turning to the back of the Cohort Sunny glanced at Cassie.

Cassie suddenly turned her head in his direction. Sensing his gaze.

Sunny already knew what she was about to say so he asked.

"Are We being followed?"'

The blind girl hesitated for a moment and said, her face grim.

"Yes...Something is following us."

At the edges of Sunny's Shadow Senses, Someone was slowly walking in the middle of the street, not even trying to hide their presence. One of his Shadows spotted The figure, while human in appearance, was strangely crooked, with a dark unadorned cloak hiding its limbs and features.

It was none other than, The Bright Lord's executioner.

...Harus. It was Harus. The murderous butcher who had torn Jubei apart with his bare hands, Gunalug's cruel executioner and hidden blade.

Walking through the cursed ruins with the same bored expression that he had in the grand hall of the Bright Castle on the day of Jubei's execution, Harus was following in their footsteps. Gunlaug did not send dozens of Hunters to ambush Changing Star. Instead, he sent just one man.

Sunny's mind was already thinking of ways to deal with Harus, he could have easily dealt with the madman on the spot but Sunny had a better idea to make use of him.

Not wasting any time, he faced Nephis, Caster, and Effie. The huntress glanced at him and slightly tensed.

"Did your shadow notice an enemy?"

One of his shadows was currently a few hundred meters ahead of the cohort, scouting for any signs of danger. While another was watching Harus. He nodded.

"We are being followed."

At that, the faces of the cohort stiffened.

"...by Harus."

The second these words came out of his mouth, their faces paled. A sudden tension permeated the air. Without having to look, Sunny knew that everyone's faces grew dark.

"Stay vigilant."

Effie gave them a grim look. Of course, as the pathfinder of the party, she was always vigilant. They were already accustomed to each other, so Sunny just gave her a knowing look.

For the cohort, Harus was a mystery. No one knew what his Aspect Ability was, let alone his Flaw. All that was known about this terrifying man was that he was very powerful and that not a single victim of his had survived.

Neph frowned.

"Is he alone?"

Sunny nodded.

"Yeah."

To his right, Caster quietly scoffed.

"What is Gunlaug thinking, sending one man against us six?"

However, Neph did not share his disdain. Turning to her left, she glanced at Effie. There was a grim expression on her face.

"What do you think?"

The huntress hesitated for a few moments. Then, looking down from her considerable height, she simply said:

"I think we need to run."

Caster scowled.

"Run? Why? Surely, no matter how strong Harus is, we can take him down. None of us are weak, either. Even if we can't defeat him one on one..."

Effie shook her head.

"You don't get it, do you? We can't fight Harus. No one can. Many people have tried, and they're all dead now."

She gritted her teeth.

"He is a monster in human flesh, Caster. He is insanely powerful. But that's not even the problem. The problem is that no one knows his Aspect. All we know is that once Harus comes for you, you die."

She sighed.

"I've seen many people try to resist once they caught wind that Gunlaug is going to send Harus to get rid of them. Strong people, weak people. Some tried to fight him alone, others recruited fearsome allies. Come the next morning, all of them were dead. No matter how powerful they were or how many of them gathered to give him a fight, no one ever survived. All that was left was blood and corpses..."

"And Here's where you're wrong Effie."

Sunny interrupted. Walking to Kai, he silently asked for the Archer's bow and took an Arrow from Kai's quiver.

Calmly walking, Sunny Positioned himself at the rear of the cohort and faced the ruins where he sensed Harus. Going down on one Knee, Sunny raised his bow and loaded it with an arrow.

"As long as you can fight that Guy blindfolded, you can win."

Sunny said as he pulled the String:

"What makes him a fearsome force is that His aspect allows him to take the ability to see from his enemies. Aligned with his superhuman strength, he becomes unbeatable if you come into his range."

Effie looked at him her face grim.

"How do you know that?"

"How you ask.... I Fought him and survived of course."

A sonic boom thundered in the air as Sunny launched The arrow. Dust and debris rose from the ground obscuring their field of vision and surroundings.

"That guy might not be my type, but I'm definitely his perfect match."

Sunny's voice rang in their ears.

Soon his Figure emerged from the cloud of dust.

"What are you Gawking at?! Let's Run!"

Soon the cohort were once again moving toward their destination, each wearing an expression of shock, disbelief, and confusion.