On the last day they would spend in the Dark City, Nephis led a small group of her most powerful warriors on one last hunt.
The members of her cohort were all following behind her. Sunny, who stubbornly refused to accept his status as one of them, walked apart from the group, idly looking around and observing the ruins.
Gemma and Seishan were also with them, as well as ten or so of the most experienced hunters — some of them formerly from the Host, some formerly from the outer settlement. There was no difference between the two anymore.
All of them were simply Changing Star's people now.
As they were walking, Gemma approached Sunny and glanced at him with curiosity.
After Tessai had fallen to Neph's blade, the tall man seemed to have found some measure of peace. Somewhere deep in his eyes, however, there always was a hint of sorrow.
Sunny stared at him and raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
The hunter smiled slightly and asked in a friendly tone:
"You're Sunless, right?"
Sunny shrugged.
"Yeah, that's me."
Gemma silently measured him and then asked with interest:
"I've heard that you lived for months alone in the city. Is that true?"
'Ah, makes sense.'
The tall man was perhaps the most experienced hunter on the Forgotten Shore. He had survived countless battles on the streets of the cursed city. It was natural for him to be curious about this matter…
Sunny gave him a nod.
"Sure. A little over three months, I guess."
Gemma rubbed his chin, then asked bluntly:
"How did you survive?"
Sunny grinned.
How had he managed that, indeed?
modicum of madness, and
stared at him for a bit, then
about right,
forward at Changing Star and asked in
we are going
looked at
"She didn't tell you?"
hesitated, then shook his
just not sure that I
smiled and looked
that she had lost her mind.
moments of
how can we kill
'Poor guy…'
for
my guess is correct, you know more about it
just like that,
imposing monolith of the great wall. Standing on top of it, they saw the colossal crater and the headless statue that stood not too far
prey was hiding in a vast underground chamber
they were going to hunt
***
mud. Thousands of years ago, it had broken off and fell, crashing through the dome of
used that breach to escape from the catacombs. Now, they were going to use it to descend
below. Sunny wasn't really surprised that Nephis had chosen to return
was really curious about how exactly she was planning to
around the hole in the mud, Changing Star glanced at him and
shadow take a look at the burial
shadow into the breach. It slid on the mud and entered the dark hole, then hid in the
was still there, in the middle of the vast
it looked very different from
thin, others as thick as a human body. They weren't growing just between the ancient remains: the vines were
though it was sick, sapped of
finally noticed the thing that
the floor of the underground chamber, open and empty. The exact same box Nephis had mysteriously entrusted to Caster
had appeared on his pillow with a small note. That note had been written by Changing Star's spy — Seishan. And the contents of the
been the leader of the Artisans. Her Aspect
turned out, was her last creation and
to Nephis, Sunny hesitated for a moment and then spoke,
is heavily infected by Kido's
for a few
we enter the chamber, the Lord of the Dead will attack us. Now that its power is reduced, and with the help of the Dawn Shard, we should be able to survive the onslaught. We should also be able
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