A Sunless Dream

The battlefield shimmered with the chaos of shadow and movement; a swirling whirlwind of shadows surrounded the area as Sunny stared down Orion with reinvigorated resolve. He knew what he was, he knew what he wanted.

To be free.

"I'm Sunny, brother of Rain, the devil of Antarctica, I want to be free." Sunny mumbled to himself, his voice was steady and unwavering as his eyes focused in preparation for the battle. Orion's expression didn't falter, though a flicker of excitement passed through his eyes.

"Freedom? How many have you robbed of their ability to choose with those murderous hands of yours? Your freedom is mixed in with hypocrisy" Orion sneered, his eyes glimmering with annoyance as well as a suppressed curiosity at how Sunny would reply.

"That hypocrisy, those emotions that cause me to seek the death of my enemies yet run from the death of my allies. That's what makes me human." Sunny gripped his chest, feeling his heart racing as he continued "Without that, I'd merely be a mindless, soulless husk with no goals."

"Everyone should seek freedom, even at the expense of others. And now, I'll find my own freedom through strength." Sunny's reply awakened something within Orion as his eyes glinted, a hearty laugh escaped from his lips as he stared down Sunny "So this is what it is, Revel. Is this humanity?"

With a smirk, Orion appeared before Sunny and struck first. His scythe slicing through the air in a deadly arc. Sunny dodged with fluid motion, his own weapon remaining in the form of twin blades as he blocked Orion's follow-up strike and countered with a spinning kick.

The attack grazed Orion's shoulder as he rushed in for another clash. As they clashed, the ground beneath them shook as the floating continent they were on began to collapse under the force of their blows. Shadows burst from behind them, fuelling their master's to end their bout.

Orion pressed forward, his movements precise and relentless. He mixed in hand-to-hand strikes, his punches and kicks flowing seamlessly with the deadly swings of his scythe that always appeared from a blind spot. Sunny mirrored him, their movements so perfectly matched it was as if Orion was fighting himself.

But something was different. Sunny wasn't just mimicking anymore, rather he combined the countless techniques Orion had displayed to him and made them his own. Each strike unleashed an amalgamation of techniques which flowed from each other, making every strike unpredictable and nearly impossible to defend.

Orion grinned to himself, Sunny's strikes finally carried the weight and purpose that were needed to defeat him. All that was left were the results. The battle raged on, their blades continuing to clash in an endless flurry of motion, Sunny's voice broke through the chaos and song of swords.

"I almost forgot who I was fighting you, giving up myself to the chains of fate and the endless depths of shadow dance." Ducking under a slash from Orion he continued "Now I see it, there's nothing restraining me anymore. This fight, this battle, this clash of ideals..."

Orion nodded in agreement as they spoke at the same time "It's beautiful." Sunny surged forward, pushing Orion back with a flurry of precise strikes. Orion blocked, but his defence was tested as Sunny's attacks became faster and more creative. New battle arts were being created from mere imagination as Sunny continued to overwhelm Orion.

'He's realised it, the limits of copy' Orion mused to himself as he continued to defend Sunny's blows. Usually, the sheer gap in their physical abilities would cause the fight to be over in minutes whenever Orion chose to go all out, however the stress from keeping the cursed terror asleep as well as the constant fatigue of fighting multiple high-level saints...

Was finally adding up.

Sunny leapt into the air, his scythe splitting into twin whips of shadow. He lashed them out, causing Orion to evade. When Sunny landed, he seamlessly transitioned into a barrage of punches, each one enhanced with nearly visible essence as he continued to push forward.

Orion found himself stumbling once more, his scythe dissolved as he reverted to hand-to-hand combat. The two clashed in a blur of fists, kicks and holds. Their movements were identical however extremely distinct. Orion's strikes carried raw power, discipline and experience, while Sunny's were fluid, unpredictable, and filled with purpose and rage.

"You're strong, the strongest I've ever fought. At this rate I wouldn't doubt you could kill Anvil" crashing into the side of Sunny's head, was a roundhouse kick from Orion as he continued "But that doesn't matter, I'm stronger than him anyway."

Orion caught one of Sunny's punches and countered with an essence infused elbow strike to Sunny's chest. Sunny staggered but recovered instantly, spinning into a sweeping kick that forced Orion to backpedal. "I don't want to be strong; I need to be!" with a kick to Orion's stomach, Sunny roared out once more "What's the point of having ideals when it's just words, without strength all your beliefs are noise."

Shadows erupted from Sunny's body, forming a massive scythe that cracked with so much essence he struggled to keep it stable. Swinging it in a wide arc, he forced Orion to jump to the side as he cleaved the continent in half, causing one of it's already crumbling halves to fall into the sky below.

In a moment, Sunny's scythe splintered mid swing as they formed into millions of shadow tendrils that rushed out preparing to grab hold of Orion. However, the tendrils attempted to turn against him before dissolving "I'm the lord of shadows, you can't kill me with my own blade!" he mocked.

Sunny appeared next to him, a slash colliding with his shoulder, leaving a deep gash. Orion shrugged off the pain indifferently, his shadow blade reforming into a jagged longsword. The battlefield grew unstable as the fight reached it's peak. The air vibrated and began to surround Sunny and Orion as they steadily increased in speed.

Soon, a gigantic tornado enveloping most of the continent surrounded the two. The remaining members of the cohort dug their limbs into the ground in an attempt to remain grounded as they gritted their teeth waiting for the wind to pass.

Sunny pressed his advantage, his movements faster, his attacks sharper. He began to control the battlefield itself, even the wind became his ally as each of his attacks were boosted by the heavy currents. Orion found himself on the defensive, his strikes unable to match Sunny's growing momentum.

Orion roared in frustration, summoning every ounce of his rapidly dwindling strength in one final devastating attack. His shadow blade grew into a colossal scythe, it's amount of essence dwarfed what Sunny had used prior as he swing it downwards, intending to end the fight in one blow.

Dodging the attack by a hair, Sunny watched as the vacuum of air created by the attack cut through the tornado causing it to still and continuing to move forward till it vaporised a neighbouring continent in a matter of seconds. Surging forward, Sunny knew that the attack he had just done took a massive piece out of his remaining essence.

Appearing before Orion, Sunny swung his sword upwards leaving a deep gash in Orion's chest. Then, he stepped on Orion's foot and punched him in the face sending him barrelling into the ground. Orion's lungs burned as he stared at the sky with an indifferent expression on his face.

Suddenly, a laugh escaped his lips as his eyes sparkled in joy "We should do that again if you keep me alive, next time we fight it's one on one the entire time! That was amazing Sunless!" he praised, Sunny stood over him indifferently gathering his thoughts.

However, before he could come to a decision what to do with Orion. His clone spoke first "Well, I was too focused on our fight that I forgot Changing Star lost our bet!" in a blur, Nephis alabaster figure appeared above him, thrusting her sword at Orion's neck.

Orion didn't move to block as Sunny did it for him, parrying Nephis blow and sending her skidding backwards. Sunny summoned Saint to guard Orion as he turned back to him "Speak, what did she do. Let me know."

Nephis eyes bubbled with rage as she screamed at Sunny "Don't listen to him, the pathetic infidel is trying to draw a wedge through the cohort more than he already has!" Sunny stared at her, almost contemplating her words before turning back to Orion "I don't lie, I never lie, and neither does he. Last time you kept secrets from me I became a slave and it's not happening again!"

His tone was soft as he sat down with his legs crossed facing Orion, he was sure Nephis couldn't defeat Saint in her weakened state and so there wasn't much he had to worry about. With a laugh, Orion struggled to his feet and sat up facing Sunny once more.

"I suppose I'll tell you what she did at your house..."