A Sunless Dream

After three hours of socialising as well as Sunny enjoying the company of Nephis, they decided to make their way back to the emporium to enjoy a nice period of sleep which would mark a fitting end to their date.

Upon reaching the Cafe, Sunny and Nephis were shocked to find an entire squadron of Valor soldiers who were all masters as well as Morgan standing in front of the cafe. "It moved, I swear to the Gods it moved" one of them shouted as their attempts to enter the marvellous mimic had failed. Consistently being repelled by his living home.

Sunny allowed a look of anger to take over his face, 'These bastards know how to ruin a good thing' he thought to himself as he dismissed Nightmare, quickly grabbing Nephis by the waist and shadow stepping right in front of Morgan. Morgan looked at the pair of them with barely disguised amusement as she glanced downwards towards Sunny's arm which was wrapped around her waist.

"I see" she commented, her statement caused both Sunny and Nephis to separate from each other slightly with barely hidden embarrassment before Morgan continued "Nephis, Anv-" she coughed, catching herself from referring to the man in an improper fashion "My father, requests your presence. A certain man who looks just like your little boyfriend here just arrived in the castle and threatened the kingdom."

Both Sunny and Nephis felt something in their stomach drop at the mention of a man who looked just like Sunny. Looking away Sunny muttered under his breathe "That bastard" before grabbing both Nephis and Morgan and transporting them to the castle, leaving thirty confused soldiers to their own devices.

A split second after, they arrived in front of the castle. Morgan led the way towards the throne room as Anvil's barely concealed anger became increasingly apparent the closer Nephis and Sunny got. Finally, upon reaching the throne room Sunny witnessed Anvil sitting upon his throne, gazing upon the two of them impassively.

However, on instinct, Sunny ducked down as Anvil appeared beside him sending out a punch to his head. The attack soared over his head with the force causing heavy winds to move across the room as Sunny instinctively summoned a shadow blade and thrust it upwards only stopping an inch away from Anvil's neck.

"You're too slow, you couldn't be him" Anvil said aloud before walking away from Sunny and Nephis. Nephis remained wide eyed at the entire exchange and feel relieved that it stopped there letting out a sigh to display her emotions. Any further, and the two of them might have killed each other.

Upon returning to his throne, Anvil focused his attention on Nephis and allowed his impassive voice to rip through the atmosphere "Changing Star, I ordered you to either make an ally of the lord of shadows or eliminate him. Could you explain why he has now arrived at my doorstep and then threatened my way of life with a cursed titan?"

Although his tone appeared nonchalant, it was quite clear that the entire situation was quite irritating to him hence his outburst at Sunny. "He was too strong my lord. However, I believe that I alongside my Cohort would be able to defeat him if given time to prepare."

Anvil's gaze became less sharp as he seemed to be mentally considering Nephis proposal. After a while, he nodded his head and said "I'll give you a month, by then you should be prepared enough to execute the fiend. Morgan" he turned his head towards his daughter "You are to accompany them and aid in his execution. If that is all, you may leave."

Nephis prepared to leave however Sunny raised his hand indicating he was going to speak. The mood in the room instantly shifted as tensions rose, who was this stranger to speak to King Anvil? "You can't kill him" was all Sunny said, locking eyes with Anvil not allowing his gaze to waver even in the sight of a sovereign.

After all, he was planning to kill the man one day.

"Why so?" was the reply he received as he continued his explanation "The cursed titan which is currently sleeping below all of us is kept asleep constantly by one of his echo's. Should he die, the cursed titan would soon awaken. If you did plan to kill him, all I'd ask is if you are capable of killing the titan before it fully awakens" with a shrug of his shoulders Sunny added "And from what I just saw, I doubt you can."

Anvil as well as all the fellow Valor soldiers present narrowed their eyes at the final remark. Although he was not wrong, being reminded of his weakness was not something that sat well with Anvil however he was beyond rising to such pitiful challenges.

"You are to restrain him then; we will find a way to stop him from fighting however still have enough essence to continue using his aspect. I assume there are no further disagreements?" He was met with silence, indicating that his statement was true and with a slight motion of his hand indicating they should exit.

Upon leaving the building, Morgan shot Sunny a look of anger before questioning "What were you thinking making fun of my father like that! Moreover, how in the world did you dodge that?" Sunny looked at her with an amused expression "What can I say, I'm fast you know."

The smug smile was slowly wiped off his face as a more serious expression settled upon his features "Neph, could you please gather the cohort. We'll need everyone to beat that bastard." Nephis nodded with an amused smile noticing the look in Sunny's eyes. Although he appeared slightly worried, she could tell he was also excited to reunite with the rest of the cohort who had long forgotten him.

After about two hours, Sunny was greeted by a knock on his door. Slowly opening his eyes and rousing himself from his slumber, he opened the door only to see Kai, Effie, Jet, and the rest of the cohort as well as Morgan standing before him with their armour worn ready for battle.

Wiping his eyes once more to make sure he wasn't dreaming he stammered out "Why the fuck are you-" he paused for a second reminding himself of what he asked Nephis to do "Oh, I remember. Give me two seconds."

He shut the door causing Effie to burst out in laughter "What the hell could that guy have been dreaming of to make him look so ready to go back to bed already" she said between wheezes, Jet and Kai cracked a smile at Effie's humour as they also began to have their own guesses as to what the reason behind his dishevelled appearance.

Suddenly, the door opened again, and Sunny donned his pitch-black Onyx armour and to the surprise of everyone there barring Casie, Nephis was standing next to him donning her starlight legion armour almost radiating light throughout Sunny's home.

"Did you two fu-" A hand shot up slamming itself on Effie's mouth causing her to forcefully stop the sentence. The hand belonged to Kai as his face was slightly red, it seemed he too had the same explanation for Sunny's appearance.

Nephis and Sunny didn't meet his eyes as they both muttered their own responses to the question under their breath. After a few minutes of continued teasing from Effie, Sunny put a stop to it by dragging them into his shadow appearing in a wide field.

"I suppose I'll explain to you who you're fighting" Sunny said. Thinking of the man made Sunny fill to the brim with irritation however he knew there was nothing he could do about it. The lord of shadows was far stronger than he was.

"This is my transformation ability" he said as a clone of himself emerged from his shadows "I can imbue them with certain personality traits that I don't want my main body to have, or I can leave them as they are. Just think of them as clones of me who on a base level are identical in strength."

He paused allowing all of them to digest what he had just said. Although allowing Morgan to have information on his transformation technique could prove dangerous, fighting her already allowed Sunny to have all the information on her he needed. She wasn't a threat.

"The lord of shadows is a clone of myself who has been imbued with all my rage, anger, and every single personality attribute I have. Due to this, he decided that it would be a great idea to delve into the depths of my Aspect Legacy causing him to lose himself in them. Currently, the only thing he can identify with crystal clear accuracy is how to kill people in the most efficient and gruesome manner possible" Sunny saw Nephis wince slightly at his statement, getting her face sliced open by the man had not done her any wonders and he knew it.

"Some of you may be thinking 'Why don't you just dismiss him since he's your aspect ability' well, the issue is. If we were to merge into one being once more, I would inherit his strength as well as turn into a different type of being. I don't want that" and with that he concluded his speech.

Before any of them could ask questions, Sunny pointed at Jet and began stretching once more. Morgan recognised what he was doing and grinned in anticipation of the upcoming battle "If we want to stand any chance, we need to get stronger. So, what better way to figure out each others' weaknesses by fighting. I'll start with you, Soul Reaper."

Sunny summoned a blade of shadows and held it in both hands as the rest of the cohort jumped sideways to give Jet space for the spar. Although she hadn't verbally agreed the look on her face displayed her honest desire to fight him more than any words could. Sunny took a glance to his side and noticed Morgan positioning herself oddly close to Kai with a light blush gracing her features.

He would have to tease her about that later.

Focusing once more, he allowed a small smile to grace his features. "Let's dance, Soul Reaper."