My Wish, My Nightmare

[You have slain an Awakened Beast.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

The labyrinth wasn't home only to the Carapace Legion. It teemed with all manner of lurking monstrosities, skulking in the shadows, waiting for careless Sleepers to stray too far from safety.

But the predators had become prey.

Thanks to the Centurion Echo's uncanny instincts and intelligence, it could sense the presence of Nightmare Creatures long before they struck. And when it did... they rarely lived long enough to regret it.

"Damn these nasty critters!"

Sunny cursed as corrosive ichor splashed across his armor, sizzling faintly on the Shroud's surface. The thing had almost blemished his precious shroud—unforgivable. He watched, satisfied, as the three-meter-long centipede was diced into ribbons by the Echo's scythes.

It was a fitting punishment.

"How many does that make?"

Cassie's voice came from behind, light and cheerful.

Sunny let out a small sigh. The hunt was almost too easy now.

"Thirty-seven."

And it hadn't even been a full half-day since they'd left their last vantage point.

Cassie clapped. "That's our highest yet!"

Their progress had become explosive. The rate at which they were gathering soul fragments surpassed anything Sunny had achieved in his past life. They were like walking calamities in the harrowing maze of coral and ruin.

Nothing here could stop them. Nothing even came close.

But Cassie's bright and innocent smile struck something in Sunny's chest. He looked away.

'Should I start giving her fragments?'

His core was already more than halfway full. With a bit more effort, he might reach his second core before they faced the Demon of the Ashen Barrow. And with the Centurion Echo at his side, that battle didn't seem quite so suicidal anymore.

But still...

'Too many unknowns. Too many risks.'

He wanted Nephis to complete her core too before the confrontation. If they could both enter the fight as Monsters...

He exhaled.

"Cassie, I—"

"It's fine," she cut him off gently. "You don't need to explain." She turned her head toward the distance, her blind gaze empty yet unshaken. "We can't afford to waste fragments on someone as useless as me."

Sunny bit his lip.

"You're not—"

Before he could finish, the world froze.

The Echo stopped mid-step, shuddering to a halt. Sunny immediately reached for Cassie, steadying her before she could fall.

He and Nephis leapt off its back in unison. All around them, red coral jutted from the ground like brittle bones. Silent rocks sat scattered around. Nothing moved.

Sunny glanced at the Echo.

"What is it?"

The Echo didn't speak—of course it didn't—but it gestured toward its head, mimicking the act of listening.

He looked at Nephis. She gave a small nod.

The wind rustled. Coral creaked. And then... light, careful footsteps echoed in the distance.

Sunny's brow furrowed. He summoned his swords, both blades glinting with restrained anticipation, and angled them toward the source of the sound.

Whatever it was, it had put the Echo on edge. That wasn't a good sign.

'It has to be at least a Monster. Maybe even a Demon...'

Step. Step. Step.

The coral shifted. From behind a jagged outcrop, an orange glint caught the light. An elongated pincer emerged, followed by a familiar silhouette. A scavenger.

It shrieked and charged in a frenzy, only to be cleaved into four clean pieces before it even reached them.

Sunny frowned.

That was it?

He turned back to the Echo—but it hadn't relaxed. If anything, it had grown more tense. Its scythes were raised. Its stance sharpened, ready to strike.

Like it was still observing something. Something invisible.

Had it lost its mind? Or... was there something they couldn't see?

That would be a problem.

"There!" Cassie suddenly shouted from behind the Echo, pointing toward an innocuous patch of coral.

Sunny and Nephis turned. 

Nothing. Just a shallow clearing.

"I hear something... something strange coming from that spot."

Of course. Her hearing was keener than either of theirs. She always noticed things they couldn't.

Sunny nodded.

"Alright. I'll send my shadow."

The shadow slithered down the Echo and crawled silently toward the opening.

The range of Sunny's shadow control had expanded with each fragment he consumed.If this were the past, Gloomy never would've made it far enough to see what it was seeing now.

A cave.

'Since when did caves exist in this accursed labyrinth?'

He urged the shadow forward. 

Darkness closed in. But that was no hindrance to Sunny. In shadows, he was the strongest. The same could not be said for the abomination inside.

The walls were jagged. The floor uneven. And in the center of the cave... something moved.

A massive scythe came crashing down in a rhythmic, almost methodical pattern, striking against stone again and again.

The creature was large. Its bloated frame hunched so close to the cave's ceiling that its back scraped against it. Segmented legs sprawled limply beneath it, like it had collapsed from exhaustion.

Its face remained hidden in the gloom.

But its limbs... its scythes... were still moving. Still digging. Drilling into something in the ground.

'What the hell is that thing?'

Gloomy slithered forward. Closer... and closer... and closer still.

Until two crimson eyes snapped open.

The shadow froze.

Twin orbs burned in the darkness—red, unblinking, and filled with an eerie madness. But it wasn't the mindless frenzy of a feral beast. No... this madness was colder. Calculated. Familiar, yet still utterly alien.

And beside those eyes, glowing faintly, a shifting symbol pulsed—a complex pattern of interwoven circles and squares.

Just like the one on Sunny's Echo.

Another one?

The realization struck hard. The strange mark on his Echo had always seemed like an incomplete fragment—as though it had been torn from a whole. Was this creature... the other half? The only other that carried the symbol?

If so, that was a relief. The last thing he wanted was to find a whole army of these things.

But a troubling thought clawed at his mind. 

Could the Centurion see his shadow?

The Symbol—it had granted his Echo heightened strength and intelligence. But perhaps that wasn't all. Was it possible the mark provided other enhancements? Like... vision that could detect shadows?

The Centurion's scythe came crashing down again, striking a slab of rock just beside Gloomy. Sparks scattered. Dust billowed.

Sunny held his breath. 

But the creature didn't react.

A soft sigh of relief escaped him.

It couldn't see Gloomy. Not in this dark cave. 

But still...

Something was off.

Its strikes were methodical, deliberate. Every strike had a purpose, contributing something to a goal. 

Gloomy crept closer.

The Centurion paused, shifted to another rock, and began again. Its limbs moved in a strangely rhythmic pattern—striking, scratching, carving.

When it moved on, it left behind something odd.

Scribbles.

Not random claw marks or scratches, but carefully etched lines. The Scribbles were structured. Intentional. Not mindless scratching, but a language.

'It's writing something.'

Sunny's eyes widened.

The script... it was familiar. The same language he had seen in the ruined library of the dark city. He couldn't read it, but it was no coincidence.

A deep frown formed on his face. If only he could have deciphered that language in his previous life...

Damnation.

A hand gently touched his shoulder. Sunny turned. Nephis was watching him, her pale eyes full of concern.

"What did you see?"

"...Another Centurion," he said quietly, pointing toward the Echo. "One with the same Symbol." He hesitated, then added, "It's engraving something on stone. Words. It might... we might be able to communicate with it."

Nephis blinked.

A Nightmare Creature that could communicate? That was unheard of. But if it were possible...

"It could change everything."

Sunny nodded grimly. "Only if it's willing to talk." 

But of course, there was a bigger problem.

"And we don't even know its language."

Silence settled between them like a heavy fog. Was it worth the risk? To approach it? Engage it?

He looked at Nephis, then turned to Cassie.

"What do you think?"

Cassie was quiet for a long moment. Then, in a soft voice:

"...Can you draw what it's writing?"

Sunny started to shake his head.

"I could, but we don't have a way to—"

He froze mid-sentence. His gaze fell on the Echo, realization sparking like flint to tinder.

Of course.

Without another word, he drew Azure Blade and drove it into the ground. With quick, precise movements, he began carving the same strange symbols into the coral-covered floor.

Within moments, a replica of the Centurion's inscription appeared before the Echo.

He stood back, eyes gleaming with hope.

"Do you know what this means?"

The Echo stared silently.

Then, it tilted its head... and moved.

It pointed at the first row of symbols—what looked like an alphabet—and placed its scythe gently beneath it. It brought the scythe to its chest and held it there, then performed a series of slow, deliberate gestures: swaying its weapon in arcs, tapping the ground, stepping forward, curling its limbs.

Finally, it dropped down, sprawled flat on the ground—limbs splayed exactly like the Centurion within the cave.

Sunny stared.

"...I didn't understand a thing."

He turned to Nephis.

She blinked slowly, then shook her head in defeat. It wasn't going to be that easy.

The three of them took turns trying to decipher what the Echo had attempted to convey.

"...A dance?"

The Echo tilted its head, then slowly shook it.

"Sleepwalking?"

Again, a gentle shake in refusal.

"Looking for food?"

The Echo shrugged, then crossed its scythes into an 'X' and held the pose for a moment. The gesture felt almost... apologetic.

Even after a dozen wild guesses, there was no sign of affirmation.

A long silence followed.

"Damn it. Why do I have to waste time trying to understand that dumb creature?" Sunny muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

The Echo paused—then nodded, solemnly. It pointed to its own head, then waved its scythes in a half-circle, almost like it was saying:

Yeah. I get it.

Sunny stared at it, eyebrows twitching.

The Echo already knew what that thing was carving into the stone. It was of the same kind, after all. So, which dumb creature was it referring to exactly?

He narrowed his eyes.

'You've been spending way too much time around that smug bastard... haven't you?'

"Sunny." Cassie's voice pulled him from his thoughts. "Can your Echo write in human language?"

She sounded genuinely hopeful.

Sunny hesitated. Echoes could follow commands from their masters—everyone knew that. But was it because they understood the language, or was it some kind of soul-bound instinct?

Still... he had spoken to one Echo that definitely understood him.

Jet's Echo—Crow Crow. 

And the Centurion Echo? It was different. Its intelligence was beyond anything he'd seen in a typical Nightmare. Even now, it was clearly understanding everything the three of them said. The only question was if it could write.

"...I think it's worth a try."

Cassie smiled.

Sunny's eyes lit up.

He spun toward the Echo. "Can you translate those scribbles into English?"

The Echo nodded without hesitation. Then knelt by the markings and began to carefully scratch letters into the floor.

M - Y...

It paused.

W - I - S - H

'My wish.'

The Echo fell still. That was all Sunny had managed to glimpse from that one single rock.

Sunny glanced at Nephis, then back to the stone. His heart was pounding. They were close—so close to something precious. Maybe a lead. Maybe the lead... the hint they needed to save Cassie from the Seed's corruption.

Gloomy crept forward, eyes locked on the next stone the Centurion was carving.

Sunny immediately replicated the markings onto the floor, and the Echo got to work.

M - Y - N - I - G - H - T - M - A - R - E

'My wish. My nightmare.'

A chill ran down Sunny's spine.

What... did that mean?

It wasn't enough. They needed more. More. There had to be more out there—more words, more clues, more answers.

Gloomy prowled deeper, searching for the next inscription. But before it could glimpse another, the earth trembled beneath its feet.

A guttural shriek tore through the cavern.

Stone rained down. Coral shattered. The Centurion exploded through a nearby wall, roaring with deranged fury. The ceiling caved in behind it, burying the corridor in rubble. 

Sunny cursed under his breath.

The creature was charging—straight at them, eyes wild and blazing.

"It's coming!"

They had a choice.

Fight... or flee.

This might be their only chance. The last link to ancient knowledge. The last clue that could save Cassie.

Nephis didn't hesitate.

"We will fight," she said firmly, echoing Sunny's thoughts. "Whatever it takes... we'll make it talk."

Sunny smiled. 

Of course. She understood his thoughts.

"We'll win," he said quietly, then turned to the Echo. "Hide Cassie behind the coral."

The Echo obeyed immediately, guiding Cassie to safety. The rumble grew louder. The Centurion was almost upon them.

Sunny chuckled to himself, drawing both blades and dropping into a stance.

Morgan's stance.

The last piece. The final technique. Once he mastered this, he'd unlock the second stage of Shadow Dance.

To his right, the Echo mirrored him, adopting the same stance with unnatural grace. Its movements were sharper now, more refined. Sunny could tell it had improved. Its ability to absorb combat styles was already exceptional. Now, with the Symbol enhancing it...

Now was the time to see how far it had come.

To his left, Nephis stood with sword in hand, calm and focused. Her technique had sharpened. He'd taught her everything he could... but there was one thing she lacked.

Experience.

Not since the cliff, not since their desperate battle against seven Centurions, had they been pushed to the edge. And that was the final crucible. The pressure that forged true mastery.

This fight... this might be their final trial before facing the Demon. It was a chance for all three of them to achieve a breakthrough in their techniques.

And on top of that, their cores weren't too far away from saturation. Once that happened, Sunny wouldn't just gain a new shadow—he'd be able to elevate his already terrifying Echo into a Shadow.

That could tip the scales. Maybe even the odds enough for them to win.

He grinned wide.

Finally.

Finally, they wouldn't have to fight from the brink anymore. They wouldn't have to survive on the brink of death. They could fight on equal grounds.

And if things went well...

Maybe they could even do something about that accursed tree. Watching it burn had been Sunny's dream for a very, very long time.

And now... Now, there was a real chance.

If fate didn't interfere.

THUD.

The Centurion landed before them, its expression twisted in a maddened frenzy.

The trio surged forward, weapons drawn. But before they could strike...

The Centurion raised its scythe high above its head—

—and brought it down in a single, devastating motion.

Its head rolled from its shoulders, severed clean.

Sunny paused. 

"...what the fu-"

AN: Do share your thoughts in the comments. I am setting a quota for an extra chapter - 85 total black hearts on this fic's thread in the shadow slave official discord (currently 76) before the next chapter is released. The next chapter will be released in 2 days as per schedule :)