Chapter 35: Wraiths Wielding Steel

Finally, the storm descended upon the Dark Sea.

Cade sat hunched in the center of the stone platform. His body was tense as the storm raged around him. The wind howled like a wounded beast, tearing at him with merciless force, while the rain lashed against his face like shards of glass.

Each drop bit into his skin. The rain was cold enough to make his muscles ache. It seeped through every exposed crevice between the armor's plates and pooled inside.

Lightning tore across the sky in blinding, jagged arcs. It illuminated the storm for fleeting moments. Each flash lit the churning Sea of darkness around Cade, casting his shadow across the slick platform before plunging him back into the starless void.

The thunder that followed cracked like the heavens themselves were splitting apart. It reverberated in Cade's chest and rattled his very bones.

And yet… something felt different.

Cade had weathered a storm before in the Crimson Labyrinth, albeit not one as intense as this. Still, he had spent multiple nights surrounded by the Dark Sea. He knew that its vastness stretched beyond mortal comprehension. The Dark Sea had always been an unfathomable entity. It was a chasm of living, breathing darkness.

It was an ocean of corrupted abyss, and even though he was supposedly a fragment of the abyss itself, the black ocean of darkness had never felt like something he could claim as his own. It had always been alien.

But now…

Now, it wasn't.

Something had... shifted. There was a connection, tenuous yet undeniable. Cade could feel it. It thrummed beneath his skin, threaded through his veins like ink seeping into water. It wasn't as innate as his bond with the black fog he breathed out, neither was it as absolute, but it was certainly there.

He guessed that it was because of the [Stygian] Attribute which apparently made him 'one' with the Darkness. The darkness of the Dark Sea called to him; it whispered to him. He felt like if he reached out— if he let his senses flow outward like he did when surrounded by his own Darkness— he could read it. He could understand it. Maybe he could even use it.

But should he risk that?

The Dark Sea was a realm of horrors— Corrupted, perhaps even Great Nightmare Creatures beyond reckoning, dwelled in the depths. To gaze into that void, to truly see or sense it, was to invite madness. To stretch his awareness too far was to risk something staring back.

He clenched his jaw. He wasn't ready for that. No, not yet.

Still, a deep discomfort settled within him. Once, he had been beneath the Dark Sea's notice— too insignificant for it to care. But now… now, it seemed like it knew he was there. And it did not seem pleased.

His gauntleted fingers dug into the slick stone, as he anchored himself against the storm's relentless fury. Whatever, he thought, gritting his teeth. This ocean can go fuck itself. See if I care!

The deafening roar of the Dark Sea around him drowned out even his own heartbeat. His gauntleted fingers dug into the stone. The sheer strength behind them cracked its surface but he fought to stay grounded.

Rain poured down in torrents. It mingled with the salt spray from the crashing waves, and chilled Cade to the bone. His breath came in sharp, uneven bursts. It fogged briefly in the cold before being swept away by the howling winds. The storm pressed against him. It tried to drive him back, to push him off the edge into the chaos beyond— but Cade did not yield.

Every surge of wind, every freezing drop of rain, was a test of his endurance. Each lightning strike seemed like the storm's fury personified. It was like a force trying to shatter his resolve. But Arcadius braved it all. His body trembled with effort, but his resolve remained unbroken. The storm and the Sea demanded his surrender, but his silence and defiance were answer enough.

***

Eventually, the storm subsided. Its fury faded without warning. The rain softened into a drizzle, the winds died to murmurs, and the Sea's rage fell quiet, as though the world had taken a long, shuddering breath.

Cade remained anchored on the stone platform. His soaked body trembled with exhaustion. He didn't even notice when his eyelids began to grow heavy, or when the storm's roar melted into a distant hum. The cold, relentless pull of sleep overtook him, and he slipped into unconsciousness.

When he woke, warmth brushed against his face. Cade squinted. His eyes adjusted to the golden light of the artificial sun now hanging high in the clear sky. He blinked and straightened. The Dark Sea had vanished... obviously.

He rose to his feet, and gazed at the familiar corals of the Crimson Labyrinth stretching into the horizon, their blood-red hues glowing faintly in the sunlight. The air felt still now. It was heavy with an eerie calm, but it was a calm that Cade recognized. He let out a quiet breath. His muscles relaxed as his surroundings settled into focus.

Alright, then, Cade thought. Time to get to work.

He had no meat to prepare himself a breakfast today. He had planned on harvesting some meat from the Scavengers he killed yesterday, but after what had happened, he hadn't exactly been worried about food.

Today, he had a couple of things to do. He had to find out if his powers had undergone any significant changes and whether his Flaw really excluded Nightmare Creatures as recipients of his rage or not.

More than that, today was the day that his guide to the events that were going to unfold here in the Dream Realm would run out.

He remembered that Nephis and Sunny had killed the Carapace Centurion last night and received the Starlight Legion Armor. After that, they had stayed at the Flat Hill for two more days and then continued on their journey west. This was the point where the novel had seen a short time skip.

Cade hoped that the events would still remain the same, but if they didn't... well, there wasn't much he could do about that. He wouldn't be interfering with the trio anymore. His last experience of trying to do that was traumatic enough to keep him at bay.

Starting from today, the Dream Realm would become as unpredictable to him as it would be to any other normal Sleeper. Sure, he knew a few extra things but still... the advantage he'd had for the first week was mostly gone.

No use crying about it, I guess, he thought, preparing to descend into the labyrinth.

Moving through the labyrinth with the Crimson Guide clutched in his left hand and the Voidfang in his right, Cade tried to find a large horde of Scavengers, so that he could test out his Aspect Ability. He had a feeling that the [Stygian] Attribute somehow changed the nature of his Ability. But he was not completely sure.

That Attribute definitely increased my affinity towards Darkness, he thought, but I have no idea as to what that entails with respect to my Ability. Apart from that, I seem to be able to sense the darkness of the Dark Sea. But I'm not really sure if that's a good thing or not.

He remembered that truly powerful, and harrowing Nightmare Creatures could tell if they were being watched. That's why he was a little skeptical about his new ability to spread his senses through the black waters of the Dark Sea. He wasn't the least bit eager to find out what kinds of horrors dwelled beneath those waves of darkness. And hopefully, he'd never have to.

Finally, the Crimson Guide started humming a little louder. It couldn't exactly be called 'crimson' anymore, considering that it was entirely black and dark. But the Spell hadn't chosen to change its name, so, Cade decided that he would also keep calling it that.

He started towards the direction in which the dark shard had pointed him. Soon, he rounded a corner and found about twenty Scavengers huddled there. Their pincers were twitching and clacking loudly.

He hesitated at the edge of the clearing, but then, steeled himself and walked into their midst. He wasn't wearing the Coral Relic right now. He wanted to test something different.

He remembered the strange behavior that the Scavengers had shown yesterday, just after his transformation. He wanted to confirm whether it had been because they had witnessed his transformation first hand, or because some inherent change had taken place inside of him. He reckoned that it was most probably the latter, but still, there was no harm in being sure.

Walking among the twenty or so Awakened Beasts, he finally confirmed his suspicion. It seemed that the Scavengers didn't consider him an enemy. They simply ignored him.

I guess that's to be expected. I am soulless, after all, Cade thought, slightly bitter. I can't believe I'm actually annoyed that these bastards are not attacking me. Ah, who cares, anyway? Just makes it easier for me to kill them...

He took a deep breath and reached inwards for the Darkness within him.

The clearing fell into blackness as Cade exhaled the dark mist. His body became shrouded in its thick, suffocating embrace. The oppressive fog spread outward, and swallowed every blade of coral and surrounded the twenty Scavengers like a living entity, blinding and disorienting them.

Cade stood in the center, calm but not unaffected. The rage inside him shimmered. It gnawed at his control like a relentless beast. Its presence was sharper now than ever before. But beneath that suffocating fury, Cade felt a tinge of relief.

The rage had come and it seemed to be directed towards the Scavengers, which meant that he was not a Nightmare Creature, because his Flaw did not direct his rage towards beings such as himself. That was a welcome thought.

Even though Cade didn't know what exactly the Spell meant by 'kindred echoes', he was relieved to find that it did not refer to Nightmare Creatures.

Apart from the rage, there was something else, something other. Something felt... different. The Darkness. It no longer seemed like an extension of his power. No. It felt like... it was a part of him.

He took another deep breath, and instead of directing the Darkness outward as he had done multiple times before, he followed an instinct that he didn't fully understand. Cade focused inward. And suddenly, the sensation hit him like a surge of icy water.

His body began to fade. The edges of his armor blurred into the Darkness itself. He looked down and watched in astonishment as his hands, along with the Voidfang, dissolved into swirling tendrils of black. His legs, his torso— every part of him dissolved until he no longer felt solid. He wasn't sure if he even had a body anymore.

He... was the Darkness.

His senses expanded wildly, like the fog had eyes of its own. He could feel the presence of every Scavenger stumbling through the Darkness. Their movements were sluggish and panicked.

He was everywhere at once. His awareness stretched across the entire clearing. The sensation was exhilarating and terrifying. It was like stepping into the unknown with no idea of how far the ground was below him.

Suddenly, beneath all his Flawed rage and fury, a fleeting thought struck him: If I am the Darkness... can I take shape wherever it is?

Cade focused on one of the Scavengers, his bloodlust seething under his... skin? But he didn't have skin anymore. In any case, the fury clawed at the edges of his now spread-out consciousness. A hulking, grotesque beast flailed blindly in the gloom. Without fully knowing how, he willed himself to materialize, and in an instant he was there.

His body surged back into existence like water condensing from steam, solid and tangible. The Voidfang was already poised in his hand. The Scavenger barely had time to react as his sword drove through its chest, piercing with effortless precision.

The Nightmare Spell spoke, its voice the same as it had been yesterday— boiling with hatred:

[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Carapace Scavenger...] 

[... The Darkness within you takes root.] 

[The abyss within you deepens.] 

These last words were new, but Cade had neither the time nor the sanity to worry about that.

He didn't wait to watch the Scavenger's corpse fall. Cade let himself dissolve again. His form vanished into the Darkness in the blink of an eye. The momentary weightlessness of being nothing but air was as liberating as it was disorienting.

He materialized again, this time beside another Scavenger. His blade swept through its throat before the creature could even sense him.

The Nightmare Spell spoke again, as if being forced to do so at a knife's edge:

[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Carapace Scavenger.] 

[... The Darkness within you takes root.] 

[The abyss within you deepens.] 

The process repeated— dissolving, moving, materializing, striking— again and again. But each time he reformed, it took a little more out of him. His breaths grew heavier, his muscles ached despite him barely using them, and the ever present, furious, and insatiable rage burned hotter with every kill.

For a moment, Cade experimented further, testing the limits of his newfound power. He dissolved, but instead of reforming fully, he focused on materializing just his sword hand. It appeared out of the Darkness like a ghostly specter. It delivered a precise strike before vanishing into the mist again.

The Scavenger recoiled, confused and wounded, but it didn't see anything. It couldn't see anything. Cade gritted his teeth, the rage bubbling just beneath the surface. He repeated his maneuver. His disembodied strikes cut through flesh and bone like wraiths wielding steel.

But with every breath, every moment spent as the Darkness, his energy drained faster than he had anticipated. His limbs— when they existed— felt heavy. His mind wavered between clarity and the consuming storm of fury and rage.

After dispatching about seven Scavengers using his newfound prowess, he could feel the toll it was taking. The Darkness itself felt like a living thing feeding off his vitality, demanding more of him with every use.

He growled under his breath and abandoned the Darkness-form. Letting it consume him further wasn't worth the risk. Instead, he reverted back to his usual tactics, calling on the Darkness to blind and confuse the remaining Scavengers while using his blade and heightened awareness to dispatch them one by one.

The fight was brutal but efficient. His movements were sharp and deliberate. The Darkness swirled around him like a predator's snare.

Finally, when the last Scavenger fell, Cade took a deep breath, and commanded the Darkness to retreat. It returned like a receding tide, pulling itself back into his body and leaving the clearing eerily still.

Cade stood there for a moment before dropping to his knees, and then on all fours. He was drenched in sweat and gasping for air. The Voidfang was laced with the azure blood of his foes. His rage still shimmered beneath the surface. Its effect lessened and exhaustion took its place and it weighed much heavier.

Cade glanced at his gauntleted hands, which were trembling slightly, and he tightened them into fists. He hadn't received any Memories or Echoes during the fight. But that was alright. The evolution of his power was undeniable, but its cost was also steep. The Darkness was more than just a tool now— it was a part of him and it demanded everything.