Ад

Before the wrathful specter had time to appear, Sunny attacked first.

Stepping through the shadows, he passed through the stone wall in front of him and entered a vast ruined hall. It was illuminated by the pale rays of moonlight that fell through the broken roof, but also full of deep darkness.

That darkness was cut by the bright radiance emanated by the incandescent blade of the Cruel Sight.

Jumping over a pile of rubble, Sunny brought his spear down on the howling wraith and then spun, sending an unexpected thrust in the direction where any enemy would have retreated.

Sadly, the apparition was suddenly somewhere else.

'Curses!'

The wraiths moved through space as if they were suspended between two worlds, as well as between the ground and the night sky. Their feet, if they had any, never touched the stone floor, and as such, Sunny couldn't observe their footwork to judge their next move.

What's worse, sometimes they simply disappeared and then appeared some distance away, as if phasing between different states of existence.

…It was a bit like fighting Sunny himself, when he used Shadow Step to zip around the battlefield.

'So annoying…'

Dashing forward, he barely avoided the ghostly claws and rolled over his shoulder on the floor. The steel of the Undying Chain scraped against the shattered stones, producing a dull sound.

Considering how narrow the slits of the featureless mask that served as the visor of his helmet were, Sunny had a surprisingly wide and unobstructed field of view, almost as if he wasn't wearing any at all. Jumping back to his feet, he was finally able to take a good look at the hall he had entered.

'Ah, so that's where she was coming from.'

It was the central chamber of the ruin, where, as he suspected, a fierce confrontation had taken place in the ancient past. The stone slabs of the floor were cracked and misshapen, the pattern of destruction suggesting that something had detonated with tremendous force in the center of the hall once.

The pillars supporting the roof were long toppled, and the walls themselves had mostly collapsed. In the center of the room lay the remains of something resembling a massive stone chalice, now broken and almost unrecognizable.

…And there were human bones littering the floor.

Some skeletons were scattered entirely, and some were still whole. A few even wore the rotten remains of red silken garments that strongly resembled those of the deadly specters. Sunny had no doubt that these were the remains of people from whose souls the ghastly wraiths had been born.

He had no idea how they had died, why their souls had turned into vengeful specters instead of dissipating into the void, and what drove them to madly attack anyone who approached the ruins… all he knew was that the wraiths were very hard to destroy and full of seething hatred toward the living.

…Or maybe they just really hated him in particular, for whatever reason.

He grinned, and then brought his armored boot on one of the skulls, crushing it into dust. That caused the damnable specter to let out another chilling shriek and lunge at him with murderous fury, as if she had lost all reason… if the creature had any reason, that is, to begin with.

Which was precisely what Sunny was hoping for.

His body, conditioned by the endless hours of practice with Effie and Saint, reacted almost on its own. Shifting his weight to his right foot, Sunny burst with motion and threw his hand up. The polished shaft of the Cruel Sight slid between his fingers, suddenly extending forward to its full length. He only caught it near the very end.

The reach of this strike was truly incredible, compared to how far a tachi like the Midnight Shard could effectively cut. The incandescent blade caught the wraith in the chest, sending tongues of white flame dancing on her spectral figure.

Divine flames could burn even souls, after all.

However, even engulfed in flames, the creature continued its attack. Since it was impossible to recover from performing such a strike quickly, Sunny would have been in trouble… luckily, the Cruel Sight was a very special weapon. Its shaft started shortening at the same speed as the wraith was advancing, continuing to burn it without a pause.

In the end, Sunny found himself face to face with the hateful apparition, gripping the hilt of a short sword. Without wasting any time, he pulled it upward, slicing through the incorporeal body of the enemy and reaching her neck.

White flames suddenly tore through the darkness of the creature's eyes, and before her ghostly claw could reach his flesh…

Just like that, the wraith was destroyed.

As her figure shimmered and started to disappear, Sunny let out a shaky breath, then summoned Saint from the shadows and threw the Cruel Sight to her.

"Guard me."

[You have slain a Fallen Demon, Chalice Maiden.]

The taciturn demon calmly caught the sword, weighted it in her hand, and then assumed her usual indifferent pose.

[Your shadow grows stronger...]

Sunny gritted his teeth.

'Ah, this is going to suck.'

The voice of the Spell resounded once more, echoing in the darkness of the ruined hall:

[Your shadow is overflowing with power.]

He screamed and fell to his knees, feeling as though his very soul was on fire, as though something was rising from its dark depths, ripping it apart.

[Your shadow is taking shape.]

'D, da… damn it all! Why does it have to hurt so much?!

Sunny groaned and clawed at the floor, tears streaming from his eyes. The fingers of his armored gauntlet left deep grooves in the stone. The pain he was experiencing was not the worst he had ever felt, but really up there.

"Argh!"

He slammed his fist down, sending cracks through the slab of ancient stone, then did it again and again, pulverizing it into tiny shards.

Eventually, those shards turned into dust, and only then did his agony finally begin receding.

The Spell whispered into his ear:

[Your shadow is complete!]

Released from the paralyzing pain, Sunny fell down and sprawled on the floor. Breathing raggedly, he remained motionless for a few minutes, and then summoned the runes.

Familiar symbols shimmered in the air:

Name: Sunless.

True Name: Lost from Light.

Rank: Awakened.

Class: Demon.

Shadow Cores: [3/7].

Shadow Fragments: [0/3000].

Sunny smiled weakly.

After a while, he said:

"Back to zero, I guess..."