Marching

The Crimson Spire stood tall and lofty, and around it flew the Spire Messengers. Inside the tower itself sat a mass of flesh — this mass was the vessel of the artificial sun that shone over the Forgotten Shore. The mass quivered and moved, throwing one of the seven heads far away, shuddering from something distant. This happened because of someone who was staring from afar at the Crimson Spire.

On a distant hill, Sunny stood, gazing at the Crimson Spire from which crimson coral flowed like blood. Around the island on which the tower stood, dark waters surrounded it on every side. Above the waters rose crimson bridges connecting the island in front of Sunny to the Crimson Spire.

Sunny had preceded the army of Sleepers to the Crimson Spire, leaving them in the Dark City under Nephis's command. This was a month after Gunlaug's fall. Before his departure, he had given instructions to Cassie, Kai, and the former lieutenants. Nephis wasn't comfortable with the idea that he would go to the Crimson Spire alone, nor was she comfortable with his actions. He seemed as though he was trying to protect them and didn't want to lose any Sleeper in the battle at the Crimson Spire.

And so Sunny left them, for the reason he was here was simple: he wanted to reduce the number of Nightmare Creatures guarding the Crimson Spire. There were likely more than a thousand Awakened creatures there — a very large number. And this number was only theoretical.

Also, he could see several shapes moving above and around the crimson coral, and their numbers were indeed enormous. But now he was facing a somewhat difficult problem: if he started killing Nightmare Creatures, he might provoke the Crimson Terror and cause it to use the artificial sun to kill everyone on the Forgotten Shore and begin its evolution.

"This is a bit annoying… but it's not like I don't have a solution for this… What do you say about this, First Lord? Your goal of returning the people of the Forgotten Shore to the waking world is within reach."

The remains of the First Lord rested on a rock beside Sunny, facing the Crimson Tower. Sunny wanted to bury the First Lord on the island ahead, so that he could at least witness his goal being achieved, even if he was dead.

After the sun rose and the dark sea receded toward the Crimson Spire, Sunny moved toward the island in front of him, which was connected to the Crimson Tower. He summoned the Mantle of the Underworld and had the serpent generate Shadow Essence to make its weight light on him. He held a black odachi nearly as long as himself, gazing at the nearby island.

Five shadows coiled around him, and he felt power pulsing through his muscles. A fierce smile formed on his face as he grabbed a rock on the slope and launched himself upward.

Sunny landed on the island and summoned the Saint and Crab, then gestured to the crimson bridges.

"Kill any bastard who approaches the bridge."

The Saint nodded and gripped her sword, while Crab clicked his pincers and made a strange sound. Sunny put his hand to his head upon seeing this silly scene. The Saint moved first, followed by Crab toward the crimson bridge, where they stood guard.

Countless shapes emerged from the crimson coral on the edges and from the side opposite them. Upon seeing the numbers, Sunny sent three shadows to Crab and two shadows to the Saint. Meanwhile, he summoned a large bag and pulled out a human skeleton, then began digging into the stone ground with a massive black hammer.

[You have slain an Awakened Monster: Blood Flower.]

[Your Shadow grows stronger.]

[You have slain…]

Stones flew under the force of the strikes, and a pit two meters deep began to form. After the pit was shaped, Sunny took the remains of the First Lord and placed them inside, covering them with stones. He took a white sword that he had crafted specifically for him and planted it over the grave.

Then he turned to see the massacre unfolding on the coral bridge. Crab grabbed one of the creatures with his pincers and crushed it, turning it into bloody pulp, then swung his scythes, slicing several strange creatures at once. There were all the creatures Sunny knew from the Crimson Labyrinth — scavengers, Blood Flower monkeys, centipedes. Likewise, some creatures sprouted vines from all over their bodies and stretched out. And all kinds of bizarre horrors — but they were no match for the Saint or for Crab alone. But the problem was that they weren't alone.

"Ah… looks like I was wrong. There aren't a thousand or two thousand Nightmare Creatures, but more than that — maybe four thousand?"

Only hundreds of monsters advanced to face the two intruders, but behind them stood several figures watching the slaughter, and other figures advanced to replace those who fell. The Saint had killed dozens or perhaps a hundred creatures so far, and Crab was not lagging behind her. But for every twenty creatures they killed, they sustained a wound or a scratch, and twice that number replaced those who had fallen.

Sunny descended onto the crimson bridge, and a shadow slipped from the Saint and one from Crab toward him. Sunny ran toward a Blood Flower monkey and sliced it in half like paper, then turned toward a creature sprouting vines from its face that grabbed Sunny's arm and exerted crushing force on it.

Sunny groaned under the weight of the pressure, then swiftly slid his blade along the vines and severed them. He moved toward the hunchbacked creature and separated its head from its torso.

[You have slain an Awakened Devil: Twisted Vine.]

[Your Shadow grows stronger.]

[You have received…]

Sunny continued moving between the gaps formed between Crab and the Saint, killing every creature that tried to attack them from behind. The pressure on them was overwhelming — they were three against hundreds of Nightmare Creatures. And Sunny could not summon the serpent, for if he did, the Crimson Terror might consider it a threat to its territory and use the artificial sun against him.

Crab and the Saint were demons. And Sunny was a Sleeper. True, they were a threat, but they didn't compare to the threat of the tyrant. And so, they barely managed to withstand the horde of creatures.

[Promise of Solace] was a deadly weapon — anything it touched died, and no creature could withstand Sunny's transcendent weapon. He cut every monster that dared approach him like paper, and it died. As for the Saint, her armor became dented, and ruby dust leaked from it in fine lines, but for every piece of dust that fell, a creature fell in return. As for Crab, despite one of his pincers hanging limply, he didn't want to disgrace himself before his master. He kept striking with his scythes, cutting monsters and sending fragments flying.

The Saint continued slicing through creatures with terrifying speed and precision. But what was even more terrifying was the power she exerted. One of the Spire Messengers descended upon the Saint, who was surrounded by a horde of Nightmare Creatures, and struck her with its wing. The Saint endured the monster's blow and retaliated twice as hard, inflicting a long, deep gash on the wing of the Tower's Messenger, sending it staggering backward.

The body of the Spire Messenger crashed into Crab's massive body, which enraged the Ascended demon. Crab brought down one of his scythes and severed the head of the Spire Messenger from its body, sending it crashing down onto dozens of smaller creatures. Sunny slipped toward the massive corpse and began using it as a shield against the monsters, closing in on a Shell Centaur brandishing massive scythes threateningly. Sunny leapt from his position as the scythes fell, severing the centaur's limbs from its body.

The creature let out a desperate moan, but soon a spear shot out from the back of its head, sending its shadow into Sunny's dark Soul Sea. A giant spider tried to strike Sunny with its multiple limbs. Sunny barely dodged the attacks while busy with the killing, and when he turned his head, he saw a massive gray spider covered in steel plates. Sunny smirked wickedly and attacked one of the giant spider's limbs, striking it with his odachi with all his might.

The spider collapsed from losing its balance and fell to the ground. Sensing the threat, it released a clear liquid that fell onto Sunny's armor. The liquid evaporated on the armor without causing any damage. Like a Soul Reaper, Sunny leapt onto the spider and plunged a long spear into its brain.

[You have slain an Awakened Tyrant: Mother of Calamity.]

[Your Shadow grows stronger.]

After hours, hundreds of corpses lay scattered, dyeing the crimson coral a deep dark red — and other colors as well.

Sunny retreated in exhaustion after feeling the Tyrant Core saturate, and moved back to the island behind them, sending all his shadows to the Saint. The Spell whispered in his ear:

[You have slain an Awakened Monster: Carpace Scavenger.]

[Your Shadow grows stronger.]

[Your Shadow overflows with power.]

[Your Shadow takes form.]

Sunny barely held onto consciousness under the pain of forming the Terror Core — each Core that formed brought more pain than the one before. Sunny let out a scream of agony while the Spell kept whispering the names of each creature that died. After several minutes, Sunny, exhausted, lifted himself and looked at the Saint, who was still fighting, and Crab, who had lost one of his pincers.

Sunny banished Crab into his Soul Sea, while two shadows slid from Crab's place to the Saint, and one mischievous shadow from Sunny moved to her as well. Suddenly, the Saint became more lively and powerful; each strike from her sent dozens of monsters flying. She became like a harbinger of catastrophe. Sunny didn't pay attention to the terrifying sounds behind him and moved toward his previous island before the sun set. The Spell kept whispering to him with each kill, and he felt shadow fragments flowing into him in abundance.

As he distanced himself from the battle's noise behind him, he banished the Saint into his Soul Sea so she could heal her injuries and waited for his six shadows to return to him. After some time, six shadows clung to his feet. They were as follows:

Gloomy. Happy. Lazy. Crazy. Arrogant. And the Pervert.

His five shadows stared at their new sibling with obvious disdain, as the timing of his birth had been extremely unfortunate. Sunny panted and spoke:

"Calm down, you idiots. His timing was good. Look at what the Saint did to those bastards over there. But there's another problem… We'll have to wait two days for her and Crab to fully recover."

Sunny scratched his head as he headed to his island. After climbing the island, he took out one of his storage Memories. From it, he pulled the Priestess's bed and lay down on it. He was utterly exhausted from the battle. The massive serpent appeared beside him and slipped into the shadows to guard him while he slept.

_____________________

Two days after the battle that took place at the Crimson Spire, Sunny was looking at a column of more than a thousand Sleepers moving toward the island he was on. They looked pitifully exhausted, but there was an unmistakable determination burning in their eyes. And this made Sunny even more determined that not a single one of them should die.

The army drew closer and closer, carrying with them carts pulled by various Echoes. These carts carried nets and equipment that Sunny had ordered to be produced in large quantities. Only the elite of the Sleepers would fight on the front lines, while the weaker ones would stay in the back to operate launchers and giant arrows to support the front line.

The Sleepers passed Sunny and began marching toward the Crimson Spire. Sunny was surprised by this — they were tired, but they preferred to keep moving toward the Crimson Spire.

"Are they fools, eager for death, or do they simply want to return to their families?"

Sunny packed his belongings and equipment and moved to the end of the Sleeper army, where Nephis was standing, guarding the rear. Upon seeing him, Nephis smiled widely but frowned at the sight of his appearance.

"Sunny, you are okay! But your appearance is dirty"

"Yes, why wouldn't I be? As for my appearance… Ah, how should I say it… I bathed in blood and the limbs of abominations at the Crimson Spire and haven't gotten a chance to wash up yet. But their blood is so sticky and clingy!"

"Oh… alright… so do you want to ask anything?"

"Actually, yes. Why aren't they resting?"

Nephis sighed, looking as though she was at a loss on this point.

"I told them to rest, but they told me they couldn't just wait and watch their way out of this hell right in front of them without moving toward it."

"kids of these days, tsk tsk… When I was their age—"

Nephis cut him off:

"But you're younger than all of them except Cassie."

"Ah… right."

Sunny awkwardly moved away from Nephis and began looking at the advancing line and the Sleepers burning with determination. The Sleepers smiled upon seeing Sunny there like a beacon of hope. Sunny genuinely wanted to scold those bastards and make them hate him, but he couldn't.

And ahead stood the Crimson Tower, challenging the Sleepers who intended to bring it down.