Sunny ran toward the edge of the cliff, the last two Centurions chasing him with maddened hunger. They had already taken care of five out of the seven abominations. All that remained was to circle the island, regroup with Nephis, and—
A shadow loomed over him.
A monstrous presence surged out of the ocean, its grotesque maw gaping open as torrents of water cascaded down its hideous form.
The abomination's writhing tentacles slithered over the cliffside, jagged fangs gleaming with hunger.
The Centurions faltered.
Their instincts wavered—torn between their relentless pursuit and the unspeakable terror that had just emerged from the abyss.
Sunny's breath hitched.
''W-why is this thing here—'
Before he could finish his thought, the giant tentacle whipped downward.
BOOM.
The impact was violent. The sheer force of it shattered the ground beneath his feet, sending debris flying in every direction.
Sunny reacted on instinct.
Directing what little essence he could control with Serpent's help into his legs, he leaped away just in time. His body twisted midair, and he landed on a rough patch of stones just outside the tentacle's crushing range.
The Centurions screeched. For the first time, their hunger was overpowered by raw, primal fear. With shrill cries, they turned—sprinting for their lives.
One darted left, disappearing toward the opposite side of the island. The other...
Was running straight toward Cassie.
Sunny's stomach clenched.
Right beside him, the abomination from the ocean heaved its grotesque form higher onto the cliff.
If it succeeded, it would be over. There was no way they could fight something like this on land. Not a Fallen. Maybe even a Corrupted.
Their only real weapon against such creatures—Abyssfang—was useless outside of water.
This was bad. Very bad.
Sunny's mind raced. He had to choose.
Save Cassie. Or stop the abomination from climbing any further. There was no time to hesitate. Luckily, he didn't have to.
A flash of white entered his vision. A familiar figure rushed toward him with blazing speed.
Nephis.
Their eyes met for the briefest moment. A silent understanding passed between them.
Then, without hesitation, they ran past each other.
Their roles were set. She would stop the tentacled abomination. He would save Cassie.
Sunny gritted his teeth and surged forward, essence flooding into his legs. Nephis dashed toward the monstrous creature crawling onto the cliff.
The Centurion was already several meters ahead of him, smashing through stone and tearing through obstacles like brittle twigs. Its entire body radiated maddened frenzy, the primal terror driving it to move even faster.
No matter how hard he pushed himself, he wasn't closing the distance.
A sharp pang stabbed his chest.
At this rate, Cassie would—
'No.'
Failure was not an option.
His dream of living a peaceful life with his friends... It won't be over like this. He hadn't come this far, he hadn't suffered this much, just to watch it all fall apart.
Anything that stood in his way, would not live to see the end of the day.
His breath steadied. His mind cleared.
He summoned a Memory.
In an instant, the Azure Blade materialized in his grip, its brilliant blue steel gleaming under the stormy sky.
Sunny ran harder, his momentum surging like a crashing wave. He raised the blade. Shifting his grip, he held it like a javelin.
The Centurion's armored form blurred before him.
He focused. One tiny gap. A narrow opening in the shoulder joint. That was his target.
Sunny exhaled.
He poured every ounce of essence into his throw. The power flowed from his wrist—down to his fingers—into his very fingertips—
With a final, precise breath—
He let it fly.
The Azure Blade sliced through the storm, its gleaming edge cutting through the raindrops like paper beneath the thundering sky.
It was a perfect shot.
Not that Sunny was surprised. His arsenal of skills wasn't limited to just swords—he had trained himself to wield all types of weapons with a decent level of mastery.
And yet—
The Centurion didn't slow down. On the contrary, it ran even faster.
Sunny gritted his teeth.
He pushed himself harder. Faster. Faster. But no matter how much he strained his muscles, no matter how much essence he forced into his legs—
The Centurion was faster.
And it had already reached the rock behind which Cassie was hidden. The sound of its stampeding limbs cut through the roaring storm like a war drum.
The blind girl stirred—turning her head slightly as if sensing the shifting air around her. She reacted a fraction of a second before disaster struck.
With a sharp intake of breath, she jumped to the side.
CRASH!
The rock exploded into jagged fragments as the Centurion burst through it, shattering stone like brittle glass.
"W-what—?!"
Cassie barely had time to react. Before she could fully process what had happened— A scythe was already swinging toward her throat.
There was nothing between her and certain death. The last thing she would hear would be the whisper of a scythe cutting through air.
At least, that's what should have happened, if death itself hadn't intervened.
A gleaming blade streaked through the storm. The Centurion's scythe shuddered—its attack suddenly intercepted.
The monster twisted its grotesque head, searching for the interference, and saw the same human it had been chasing before.
Except now, that human was the one chasing it with pure, unhinged madness in his eyes.
Sunny had thrown another weapon. A new Memory. Mandiblade.
Unlike the Azure Blade, this one hadn't been aimed at its torso.
The curved blade had embedded itself into the weak joint of the creature's scythe-like appendage, sinking in like a thorn of agony. The Centurion recoiled, flailing its injured limb in a frenzied attempt to dislodge the weapon.
It had stopped for only a moment. But that was all the time Sunny needed.
He was already there. With the raw momentum of his sprint, he jumped right onto the blade embedded in its limb.
His full weight dragged the weapon downward, forcing it deeper, until—
CRACK!
The Mandiblade sliced through the joint, shearing the grotesque limb from its owner.
A piercing shriek tore through the storm as the Centurion stumbled back, a torrent of dark liquid gushing from its wound.
Sunny landed on the ground, his feet skidding against the wet stone.
He turned sharply toward Cassie.
"RUN!"
The blind girl flinched, her face frozen in terror. But Sunny's voice broke through the paralysis.
Cassie staggered to her feet and bolted. She ran blindly through the storm, her breaths ragged—tripping, falling, scrambling forward.
Each stumble sent her crashing against the ground, her skin scraping against stone and dirt. Her cheeks bled. Her lips bled. Her chin was bruised, her wrists and ankles hurt. Every part of her that wasn't protected by her armor was cut and red.
By the end—she could barely stand. She had to crawl to escape.
Sunny clenched his fists. He couldn't help her. The abomination before him was already charging.
His eyes darkened. His expression twisted into something cold.
'Bastard.' Sunny's grip tightened on his weapon. 'I'll make you pay for every single wound Cassie suffered.'
He bent low, deflecting the incoming strike with his sword.
The Azure Blade was still lodged deep in the Centurion's shoulder joint, out of his reach.
The Abyssfang was in Nephis's hands.
And so—Sunny had to face the abomination with his weakest blade.
Mandiblade.
Right now—that was all he needed.
The Centurion lunged.
Sunny twisted his body, slipping past the attack with fluid grace.
His blade lashed out in a precise arc, slashing across one of the creature's many jagged limbs.
The limb didn't sever immediately. The Centurions were stronger than the Scavengers, their grotesque bodies thick with unnatural endurance.
But the wound made it stagger. That was enough.
Slash. Slash. Slash.
Sunny ruthlessly tore into the half-severed limb. His blade bit deeper and deeper, until with a final strike, the limb gave way.
A wet, grotesque snap echoed in the storm. The Centurion shrieked as dark ichor sprayed across the wet ground.
But losing a limb barely weakened it. It had more than enough limbs to spare.
Not that Sunny cared. Sunny wasn't trying to cripple it. He just wanted it to suffer.
Because when that moment came— Its misery would be over in an instant.
The battle raged on.
The Centurion lashed out with a frenzy of limbs—its remaining scythe glinting with murderous intent. It hadn't lost any of its speed, despite the wounds it had suffered.
It was faster than him. By all means—Sunny should have been dead already. Sliced to ribbons. Crushed to bits.
But not a single one of the monster's strikes landed.
Sunny knew this accursed monster well. He had almost died by its hands. The memory of that harrowing experience was seared into his soul.
And now, that same imprint, that same trauma, was what allowed him to face it.
Every moment of pain. Every second of suffering. It was a lesson. He had studied the Centurion. Analyzed its patterns. Its movements weren't complicated—it was just another mad, ravenous beast.
A maddened beast thrashing for its prey.
And Sunny knew this madness. He had spent endless hours mimicking Nightmare Creatures more terrifying than this while mastering the Third Step of Shadow Dance.
He was nowhere close to that level in his current life. But even the First Step was enough.
He had enough clarity, enough vision, enough precision to see the Centurion's every move before it made them.
'A slash at my arm next.'
He moved his arm out of the way.
'Now a swipe at my head.'
He tilted his head, retaliating with a flurry of precise strikes to another one of its limbs.
'Suffer more, bastard.'
Another limb fell.
The Centurion shrieked. Sunny smiled. Each agonized scream of the creature was a soothing melody to his ears.
More. He cut again. The monster screamed. More. His grin widened.
Sunny fought with everything he had, pushing his body to its absolute limits. He went toe-to-toe with the abomination, matching it strike for strike.
But it wasn't enough. Not yet. There was a limit to how long he could keep this pace. And that limit was about to run out.
'My essence is running out.'
The Soul Serpent allowed him to manipulate essence—something only Awakened should be able to do. But the amount it granted was minuscule at best. Sunny couldn't rely on it for long fights.
He grimaced as the last trickle of essence drained away, helping him evade another lethal strike.
From now on, his disadvantage in speed would start gnawing at him. He couldn't dodge every strike anymore. Even if he could predict the Centurion's movements, his body wouldn't be able to keep up.
And then—it happened.
Pain.
For the first time, a deadly, blinding pain pierced his left arm. The jagged scythe tore through flesh, leaving a gushing wound.
Blood spilled onto the wet ground, but Sunny didn't scream.
This pain? It was nothing. He had suffered worse. But the loss of blood would hurt him in the long run.
'Tch. I miss Blood Weave at times like these.'
The fight continued. The wounds multiplied.
A gash on his leg. A deep cut on his side. A tear across his shoulder. But so had the Centurion suffered. It had lost half its legs. Its armor was cracked and broken.
Yet...
Sunny was the one running out of time. As it turned out, a mere First-Tier Awakened blade wasn't enough to face an Awakened Monster alone. Perhaps, with a better weapon, things would have been different.
He barely avoided losing his right arm to a sweeping strike and cursed under his breath. His eyes flicked up toward the sky.
'How long is it going to take?'
There was a reason he had aimed the Azure Blade at the Centurion's shoulder joint. To recreate the moment that had saved them last time.
It should have happened by now. But of course, his terrible luck had other plans.
The Centurion lunged again. Aimed for his heart.
Sunny twisted his body at the last moment, deflecting the blow just enough. The jagged tip tore through his ribs instead of piercing his chest.
He had deflected it, barely, getting away with a shallow wound.
But this was another second lost. He was running out of time.
If it didn't happen within the next half a minute, then—
Thunder roared. A deafening explosion tore through the night.
Sunny's vision reeled. The world flashed white. For an instant, night turned to day.
And then, Heaven's wrath came crashing down. A bolt of lightning struck the Centurion.
The Azure Blade's hilt acted as an invitation, calling the furious lightning to thunder down.
Sunny watched as the Centurion jolted, staggered, and flailed—its grotesque form writhing as the lightning's fury devoured it.
Unlike last time, Sunny had wounded the beast thoroughly before the bolt struck. Its cracked carapace couldn't stop the devastation inside.
The lightning burrowed into its broken shell, devastating its body from the inside out. A symphony of destruction played in the howling storm.
Chitin cracked. Bones shattered. Blood boiled. The Centurion writhed. Then, it fell.
A voice, cold and familiar, whispered into his ears.
[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Carapace Centurion.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
[You have received an Echo.]
Sunny smiled wider than he expected.
AN: Yall wrote really nice comments on the last chapter, especially on ao3. Thx a lot :)
I won't be adding a quota for a couple chapters but do continue commenting and sharing your thoughts. You'll get faster updates the more motivated I am to write :)