Shadow Slave

There was not much time to talk. If the Guardian of a Category Four Gate was really on their trail, then they needed to run.

Even if Nephis was wrong, the creature they had met was immeasurably strong. Considering its power and frightening level of intelligence, it had to be a Great Devil, at least. It was much more likely to be a Tyrant, or something even more terrifying.

Sunny had killed a Great Devil once... but that was not a real kill. The Spawn of the Vile Thieving Bird had been unborn, and weakened by thousands of years of neglect in the branches of the Soul Devouring Tree. More than that, Sunny had only survived that encounter because of his unique soul composition.

Only after meeting an actual Great Nightmare Creature did he realize how harrowing these beings truly were. The thing pretending to be Ascended Xu... was not even the real body of the abomination. Most likely, it was simply one of its manifestations.

But it had already been strong enough to shrug off all their attacks, severely wound Saint, and destroy a Transcendent Echo in mere seconds.

As for whether it was the Gate Guardian... logically speaking, that was impossible. Nightmare Creatures were compelled by the Seeds, unable to refuse their call. All they could do was be drawn by it and invade the waking world.

However, Sunny had already seen that the Great abominations were not as beholden to the rule of the Spell as the lesser creatures. One of them had actually used its power to forcefully widen the Nightmare Gate... if one of the Gate Guardians was capable of that, who was to say that a different one couldn't stay back to slaughter those humans who would flee to the Dream Realm?

'Hurry... we need to hurry...'

Mere minutes after Nephis regained consciousness, the four of them abandoned the ruined stone dome and ventured into the desert. For now, their destination was simple - they were fleeing in the direction opposite of where Master Xu had been seen last, as fast as they could.

As the four exhausted Masters fled across the desert, they learned about what had happened to Neph.

She had left the waking world soon after Sunny, and was drawn into the Nightmare Desert like the rest of them. Nephis fought against several Nightmare Creatures and eventually found another human - one of the Valor Ascended. Together, they sought and found a shelter to survive the approaching night.

There was something strange about that Ascended, though...

When she offered to heal his wounds, the man refused. His excuse was that she should save her essence for when they find more people.

But Nephis felt that he wanted to avoid touching her flames, which put her on guard.

It was only after the dead rose from the sand that the Ascended attacked her.

"The strangest thing was that... I don't think he wanted to kill me."

Sunny, Jet, and Seishan looked at her with confusion.

Nephis frowned.

"It was more like he wanted to... spread. Into me."

Her mouth twitched in revulsion.

"But nothing happened as a result. The creature seemed surprised, and that gave me a chance to unleash all my flames. I guess desperation fueled them with enough strength to burn it... then, I woke up with the three of you around me."

Sunny was suffering from the terrible heat, but at the same time, he felt cold.

'Was it trying to... Corrupt Neph?'

Humans did not know much about the Corruption. They just attributed the vile nature of the Nightmare Creatures to the Spell... but, really, the Corruption had existed long before Weaver created the Spell.

In fact, the ancient people had not used the term Nightmare Creatures - instead, they had simply called those creatures consumed by the vile darkness "the Corrupted".

Gods and daemons had fought against the Unknown in ancient times, and then, Awakened fought against the Corrupted during the Age of Heroes.

Creatures were not the only ones who could be Corrupted, either. Humans could succumb to the Corruption, as well.

'That is... troubling...'

There was something that troubled Sunny much more, though.

Both Master Xu and the Ascended that had attacked Nephis were strangely insistent on one thing - finding more humans.

So... could it be that the four of them had not really escaped the pursuit of the creature?

Could it be that it was letting them live in hopes that they would lead it to more survivors?

Suddenly, Sunny felt a shiver run down his spine.

He looked around, taking in the immaculately white landscape of the desert, almost expecting to see a dark figure to be following them from afar.

But, of course, if the corpse of Master Xu was indeed following them, it would not allow itself to be seen.

...Sunny did see something else, though.

There, in the vast azure sky... why was there a black dot there?

He stopped and looked up, gesturing for the others to prepare. There were still abominations traversing the desert on their way to the Nightmare Seeds, even if there were fewer of them than there had been yesterday. Some of them were of the winged variety, too... however, those creatures flew straight toward the Seeds, not paying attention to anything else.

The black dot, however, was moving in the wrong direction.

It was barreling straight at them.

Sunny, Nephis, Jet, and Seishan raised their weapons, ready to face the worst.

Less than a minute later, the dark figure fell from the sky and landed just a few meters away from them, raising a cloud of sand into the air.

Ivory armor... auburn hair... an infuriatingly handsome face... and magnetic green eyes that were shining with relief and concern.

Sunny blinked a couple of times.

"...Kai?"

His friend let out a long sigh and wiped the sweat off his brow.

Then, he smiled brightly, making Nephis, Seishan, and even Jet blush a little.

"Thank the gods! I've found you..."