Chapter 33

A ridiculous smile settled itself upon Nephis features as she glanced down at Sunny, who was currently sitting shirtless across the mattress staring blankly at the wall with his hands buried in his hands. Nephis was far too tired to move, so instead, she simply rolled over to him before clumsily colliding with his back causing Sunny to break from his state of stupor.

Sunny turned around slowly, his face blood red as a stupid grin battled with Sunny's hands, attempting to fight its way onto his features. "G—good morning, Neph." Sunny stammered out; awkwardness riddled across his face as Nephis merely gave him a hum in response.

Reaching up, Nephis arms gently wrapped around Sunny's neck before pulling his head to the mattress, merely inches away from her own as she planted a kiss across his forehead. "We need to get up." Nephis mumbled, Sunny nodded before slowly raising himself to his feet, hurriedly scanning around the room and finding a dry shirt which he had packed in preparation for their descent.

Sunny continued to face the wall, shifting awkwardly from one foot to another as he tentatively called to Nephis. "Are you... dressed yet?" Nephis laughed in reply before making her way up to Sunny, grabbing him by the shoulder and gently turning him around.

She was wearing a typical white shirt and grew joggers which allowed for her to move freely, yet her figure still managed to fight its way through her baggy clothing as Sunny averted his eyes to maintain his gentlemanly nature. "What, I'm sure that wasn't your first time seeing a woman like that."

Sunny nodded slightly before coughing awkwardly. "Nobody... was as beautiful as you." Nephis smiled gently before kissing Sunny briefly on the lips. Taking him by the arm, she pushed away the wall of pillows that barred her exit before walking in on Revel, who had idly been preparing herself something to eat.

Revel's head slowly turned in Nephis and Sunny's figures before a small smile arrived on her face, slowly growing larger as she noticed the inexplicable glow the two held across their bodies, matched with the dishevelled nature of Nephis hair. Sunny's, somehow, supernaturally remained like it always had, which Nephis found quite peculiar yet refused to note.

Blitzing toward the two in a single motion, Revel beamed a smile at the two before grasping Sunny's hand in hers gently, almost jumping slightly at the prospect. "Sunny, you're already giving me grandkids!? No wonder you always kept your room soundproofed; you knew a day like this would come!"

Sunny moved to retort however his lips froze, instead Nephis smiled happily before replying on his behalf. "Don't worry, Sunny won't be giving you any grandkids any time soon." Turning her head towards Sunny, who was currently extremely red, she squeezed his palm slightly before whispering. "Unless he wants to."

A shiver shot its way through Sunny's spine as he shook his head to compose himself. He needed to find a way to shift the topic, and quickly before he found himself crippled by embarrassment at the combined force of the two women.

"So, Mom when are you training Neph?" Sunny's voice came out quietly, still crippled by embarrassment as Revel spun on her heel and waved her hand in the air dismissively. "We'll start today, you know where to go right? But what will you be doing in the meantime."

Sunny sighed tiredly before looking up at Nephis with a tired gaze. "I'm going to bring Valor to their knees. Slowly." Nephis shook her head scoldingly. "If you're going to go and fight people, and maybe kill them, then why shouldn't I come too? Also, shouldn't you be training too?"

Shaking his head, Sunny sighed before slipping out of Nephis grip, stretching his body as his muscles relaxed. "Fighting always works more than training for people like me, but you're different. You need training so you can take down people harmlessly when I can't. So you can... complete me." Nephis blushed as Revel raised an amused eyebrow.

"When did I teach my son to become such a flatterer? Ah, my parental prowess precedes me, is this the price I must pay for being the greatest at everything!?" Sunny didn't offer a reply, walking into the shadows before disappearing out the tent without a sound, leaving the two alone in the room.

Revel span in her chair with a worried expression across her face, looking for something. "Ah, he dropped his mask here, didn't he?" Nephis nodded her head before pulling Sunny's mask from a nearby table and allowing Revel to hold it.

"Sunny said his mom gave it to him, was he talking about you?" Revel shook her head solemnly as a small smile arrived on her face. "No, his actual mother gave it to him. He told me a little bit after he tried to kill me! What a way to make an entrance into somebody's life."

Nephis eyes widened as she sat down next to Revel. "He tried to kill you, why? He always looks at you with adoration in his eyes!" Revel smiled pleasantly before staring at the mask with a pleasant smile across her face. "Sunny was ordered to assassinate me, yet he didn't even bother fighting me stealthily. He had blood pouring across his body and he was wearing this exact mask as he stalked towards me."

Staring at Revel with wide eyes, Nephis beckoned her to continue her story with a worried expression painted across her face. "But he was crying, I told him I wouldn't fight him until he stopped crying. He fought me half-heartedly, lost, and I got him to explain what had happened. Then, he pulled off his mask and I saw he was a fourteen-year-old! Ah, good times."

As she finished her short and extremely vague story, a pale hand with a snake tattoo coiling around it reached out from the darkness and grasped the mask firmly, pulling it from Revel's grasp before disappearing into the darkness once more. Nephis eyes shot toward the darkness before shining the dim lantern at it, banishing the shadows from view.

Yet there was nobody there. "Don't forget it next time or I won't hand it over so nicely!" Revel called out, allowing a small smile to settle across her face before turning to Nephis. "Stop trying to question how he does it, I almost destroyed my house trying to find him the first time. He's probably gone by now."

Grumbling with an annoyed expression, Nephis sighed loudly, her expression remaining indifferent yet tinged with faint annoyance. "I'm getting him to teach me how to do that soon." Glancing back at Revel, she noticed that her breakfast had entirely disappeared as Revel sighed with satisfaction.

"So, I guess it's time to make you a monster."

After an hour of walking to an area which Nephis didn't quite recognise, she found herself in a vast expanse that looked like a mixture between a forest and a desert, filled with gigantic pieces of stone that dwarfed the sizes of some houses as her eyes widened.

There was a gigantic waterfall which took her breathe away too as she squinted her eyes into the distance to study it. Water tumbled from a towering cliff, its silver stream splitting into countless ribbons as it plunged toward the rocks below. Mist rose where the water met the pool, shrouding parts of the forest in a glimmering gaze.

"This place is...beautiful. How did you find it?" Nephis whispered, Revel shook her head slightly before smiling. "I didn't find it, Sunny did. There're one-way windows through the ceiling that let light come in and you can even see people walking above this place. It's beautiful."

Before Nephis could respond, Revel blurred downward, leaping into the dense foliage while letting out an excited cry. Determined not to lose out to Sunny's mother, Nephis leapt after her, landing gracefully on the branch of a tree as she continued to struggle with keeping up with Revel.

After twenty minutes of a one-sided game of tag, Revel quickly slowed to a stop as the tree line ended, revealing the glimmering mist of the waterfall as a startled shout tore Nephis from her admiration. "What the fuck are you doing here so soon!"

It wasn't a stranger's voice, it was Sunny's.

Blood cascaded from his body as he ran his hands through his hair, cleaning them of the grime and stench of violence as he submerged his body deeper into the water to hide his nakedness. "I should ask you the same thing! Why are you here so early?"

Sunny submerged himself further before sighing. "I finished what I had to do earlier than I needed to, so I came here to clear my head. Also, if you're here, then where is Nep—" Sunny's voice died in his throat as Nephis silver hair came into view, blood flushed to her face as she spun on her heel and averted her gaze.

"Sunny! Why are you here!? Why are you naked!?" Nephis screamed, Revel fell to the floor in laughter at the engagement before sighing quietly. "I should have come with some popcorn." She mumbled under her breathe as she continued to watch the scene unfold.

'I want to turn around, but I need to stay modest! Why are his abs so toned though, they didn't look that way when I ro—' Her thoughts were cut off by Sunny disappearing under the water, bubbles escaped the surface indicating he was answering her questions as he silently broke the surface.

Shaking his head slightly, Sunny threw on his shorts before disappearing up a tree. "You're a pervert!" He shouted teasingly at Nephis, who only offered him a sly smile and an affirmative nod in response. Suddenly, Revel clapped her hands slightly, a mischievous smile settling itself on her face as she turned to Nephis.

"To start your training, you're going to rip a tree from its roots with your bare hands."