A Sunless Dream

Nephis had lived her life being a paragon of fearlessness and integrity. Despite her fear which she didn't allow others to see, she charged straight ahead despite it and conquered all enemies who stood before her. However, at the sight of this man, this thing standing before her she did something she would have never thought she would have.

She hesitated.

The pain of her flaw surprisingly was the only thing that gave her solace as it danced across her face healing it at rapid speeds, however she could only watch as the lord of shadows chewed upon her discarded piece of flesh. 'Is he even human' was the thought that resounded through the minds of everyone present.

Although fire keepers in the corners of the room shook with rage for a split second, however the hopelessness of the situation quickly snuffed out their righteous fury and replaced it with a carnal fear that made them want to flee the situation immediately. After the lord of shadows was done with his 'meal' he turned towards Nephis, his gaze looked upon her like a predator slowly walking down wounded prey.

Suddenly, cruelly, and unexpectedly the lord of shadows burst out into another fit of laughter. He stomped on the floor and slapped himself as though there was genuine amusement that could be found from causing immense pain onto his foe. And then, he stopped. His posture became stiff as a board as he sheathed his sword slithered it's way back up his arm once more.

"Tell me changing star, we've never met before, right? Why do I smell myself on you" Nephis refused to reply, he had sensed Sunny on her throughout their engagements and if something didn't change quickly there would be dire consequences. Although Nephis was in the business of putting her life at risk for others, at the face of this man she would much rather kill all her allies herself rather than allow them to be subjected to the torture she knew he promised.

'He is strong, too strong. Every move he makes is either used to maximise harm and pain to me, or to kill me. He's using my healing against me and bleeding me out like a predator' Nephis was currently calculating the odds of her escaping with her allies if she were to make an attempt to flee. However, though she didn't doubt that she, Sunny and Cassie could be able to escape the same could not be said for her fire keepers.

She was torn out of her thoughts as she instinctively dodged a large projectile flying at her. It hit the ground with a sickening thud and after taking a quick glance at it she struggled to maintain her indifferent expression. There a few feet behind her, was the head of one of her fire keepers. She quickly glanced to where the fire keepers were located only to see a headless body standing upright as though it had never been cut in the first place.

"If you ignore me again, I will kill everyone in this room and make you watch" the voice of the lord of shadows tore through the room and Nephis knew he wasn't lying. She no longer had a choice. If it were just herself, she would have gladly fought to the end however the involvement of the fire keepers changed things, she noticed the lord of shadows finger twitch as he prepared to bisect another fire keeper however, she acted first.

"Kneel" was all she said, she had fully expected him to fall to his knees and obey the commands given to her however something entirely unusual happened. He started walking at her, he had dismissed his weapons and even his armour and he stood only a few feet away from her crouching down to reach her level and looking her dead in the eye.

She stared into those abominable pools of darkness that were situated where his eyes should have been. Nephis couldn't allow her gaze to waver as he locked eyes with him without saying a single word, every muscle in her body was tensed and ready to act in a split second should he attack her further and her mind was rushing through all the options explaining how he was unable to resist the shadow bond.

"Changing star my dear" although his words were respectful, the sarcasm and venom in his tone portrayed an entirely different message and she knew his intentions were far from pure "You do realise, that I'm on the cusp of divinity, right? I can feel it, I'm just missing that one little piece of the puzzle that I can't quite find yet. I don't know who I am. I don't know what I am. And you expect me to recognise someone as pathetic as you as my master, when I can't even recognise myself in the mirror?"

He shook his head, if she didn't know any better, she would have thought he was genuinely disappointed in her. Before he could continue any of his mad ramblings Nephis swung at him with her sword at top speed, she had used the opportunity of his speech to dismiss and resummon her sword for the perfect opportunity for a surprise attack and his lack of armour only served as a further boon.

Her sword was inches away from his shoulder, however the lord of shadows acted faster and grabbed the blade snapping it in two. The spell sang into her ear at the destruction of her memory and Nephis remained wide eyed for a split second. That was a transcendent sword he had just shattered like it was nothing. How was one supposed to defeat such a being?

Relaxing her muscles to mitigate the damage the oncoming force of the counter attack the lord of shadows prepared promised for her she closed her eyes in anticipation. However, the attack never came. She heard the man hiss as she opened her eyes only to find another black odachi protruding from the back of the lord of shadows.

"I passed through the gaps of your bones because I knew I couldn't cut them" the lord of shadows then assailant then twisted his sword "I'm sure I hit something vital now." The unknown assailant then jumped back revealing himself as Sunny. Nephis did not expect him to come out so soon however his presence was undoubtedly her biggest advantage at the moment.

Going in for another attack, Sunny rushed at the lord of shadows before sending a diagonal slash at his chest. Although injured, the lord of shadows was not a being who could be killed so simply as he met the force of the blow and quickly began to overpower Sunny in their clash. The force he was exerting upon Sunny's bones threatened to make them crack even regardless of bone weave and forced him into the floor.

Before he could completely win the clash Sunny shouted at Nephis "Take the fire keepers and fucking run! I'll be right behind you just get out of here as fast as possible!" Nephis didn't want to leave him. She didn't move and prepared herself to engage him in combat unarmed however the lord of shadows used Sunny's momentary distraction to kick him into her.

Sunny knew he couldn't fight him while catering to Nephis injured form. And quite frankly he wasn't even sure if both of them at full power would be able to beat him, however that was if he was healthy. Regardless he had no doubts that the lord of shadows was stronger than him at the moment.

But that would only matter if he was trying to win.

Gathering himself midair before he could slam into Nephis, he mouthed something to her before rushing back into the fray of combat. He held his odachi in one hand and swung at the lord of shadows who jumped over the blow, Sunny reached out his hand and grabbed the lord of shadows midair before attempting to slam him into the ground however his arm was quickly put in a leglock by the lord of shadows who grabbed his arm between both feet and swung his body to throw him.

'How the fuck is that even possible' was the thought that ran through Sunny's head as he re engaged with the lord of shadows. By now, Nephis had already gathered the fire keepers and began making mad dash towards the only entrance and exist towards the citadel. She had expected the stone saint to move to attack her however she remained stagnant simply watching them pass with an indifferent expression.

Upon making her way onto the chain breaker, she was met by a scream from Cassie who rushed to her side "Are you ok?" was the only comment she could get out before the silent environment of God grave was pierced by a scream. This time, it was from Sunny. "You have to get him out of there Nephis, at this rate he'll die fighting that thing" Cassie stated hurriedly, although she was quite sure that they would be able to escape the look in Nephis eyes told her that they would not be leaving this place until Sunny was with them.

Nephis turned her head back to the nameless temple, hearing the sounds of clashing swords sing through the silent air as she sighed sadly "He said give me five minutes, if he wasn't here by then he gave me permission to order him to return" although the idea was disgusting and sickened her to the core she had no other choice. It was either she leaves now and saves the lives of all the fire keepers as well as Cassie, or she waits for Sunny.

And she damn well wasn't leaving Sunny to suffer again.

Sitting in the chain breaker with breaths they didn't know they were holding. Everyone aboard sat and hoped for Sunny's safe return.

Back in the nameless temple Sunny quite frankly was getting brutalised. 'What's that now, the 60th battle style he's used in a row?' he thought to himself unamused as he rushed at the lord of shadows. Before he could cover the gap the lord of shadows appeared before him and attempted to slash at his chest, he was using Nephis flowing fighting style which he was so familiar with.

After all, that had been the first technique had ever learnt.

Dodging his onslaught of attacks Sunny replicated the style and slashed at the Lord of Shadows stomach, causing him to jump backwards however the engagement wasn't done there. Throwing the sword at him, he watched the lord of shadows quickly deflect it however that was all the opportunity he needed to send a punch which forced the lord of shadows into a wall.

"If you're going to use changing star's battle style," he said before resummoning his sword, "I believe it's done like this" as those words left his mouth Sunny rushed at him and sent a slash downwards at the lord of shadows arm, he moved to parry however Sunny bent his arm and used it like a whip before slashing upwards at the lord of shadows.

The attack sent winds flying by the man's onyx mask as he bent his back to dodge the blow, Sunny jumped upwards to pummel him into the ground taking advantage of his unfavourable position however he was met by a straight kick which sent him flying into the ceiling. "Pathetic, half baked, weak" the words left the mouth of the lord of shadows as he saw his opponent fall from the ceiling back into his range.

He jumped upwards to meet him however Sunny quickly manipulated the shadows to offer himself some footing allowing him to effectively push himself off the air. 'Two seconds till my timer runs out' Sunny thought to himself. The lord of shadows expected a blow only for Sunny to hit the ground and immediately dash out of the door.

Although he intended to follow, the wound on his chest required healing and fast. And so, he let his prey escape for now. Turning around he sighed to himself like a child who had been robbed of his favourite toy "Boooring and I was just about to get serious" he whined to nobody in particular before disappearing into the shadows.

Sunny was tired, hurt, and he wanted to go home. The trance like state of battle clarity had allowed him to get rid of the mental fog he had restraining his full power however he still could barely even compete with his clone "Just how deep into shadow dance is he" he thought to himself, running took too much effort and so he turned into a shadow and quickly made his way onto the chain breaker.

Materialising himself, Sunny looked at Nephis with a smile and a resounding sigh of relief was released before Sunny raised a hand to stop their celebrations. Immediately, they began turning around the chain breaker preparing to leave the darkened environment as fast as possible. The regular heat that abused the bodies of those who entered God grave had long been forgotten quickly being replaced by the chilling presence of the lord of Shadows, however it had been quick to return as they increased distance themselves and the lord of shadows.

Nephis looked back at the citadel, she was afraid of that thing which resided in the citadel, and she knew it. Despite that, the man had to be dealt with. She came at him with everything, at one point she was considering detonating one of her cores to end his life however quickly thought against it. How could one defeat an entity of that strength without killing them?

Abandoning all unnecessary thoughts, she returned from the top deck and made her way back to her room before falling on her bed with a sigh. She really needed to rest.