302 Status Quo

In the next couple of weeks, the Bright Castle had become a strange place.

Inside its magnificent halls, barricades were built and three makeshift fortresses appeared, each faction holding a specific territory. Beyond these protected areas, there was no man's land. Going outside of a faction's stronghold was often tantamount to death.

No one knew what they would encounter there. Corpses littered the floor, with an occasional marauder hiding in the darkness. With no more law, tyrannical as it had been, many people gave in to their darkest impulses. But these wretches were the least of the dangers that now populated the Castle.

A much worse fate was to stumble onto a patrol or a war party of another faction. The Guards especially were quick to slaughter anyone they met, sometimes in gruesome and inventive ways. The Hunters and the followers of Changing Star were equally as ruthless, but at least not without reason or provocation.

But the most terrifying change was that now, humans weren't the only ones populating the ancient citadel anymore.

After Gunlaug's death, too many people were killed, and the rest were too busy with their little war to keep defending the Castle. And just like that, after so many years, the Nightmare Creatures had returned under its roof.

Some were killed by the representatives of the factions, but some managed to hide themselves and create nests somewhere in the depths of the stronghold. No one knew how many there were, but the terror kept people awake at night.

There were also a lot of rumors going around, one more frightening than the other. The most persistent of them told of a horrible creature called Blood Lord, which apparently stalked the corridors of the Bright Castle and killed humans, tearing their throats open with sharp fangs and consuming all of their blood. Some even thought that it was Gunalug himself, who returned from the grave to bring vengeance to his killers.

Sunny was doubtful of these rumors up until the moment when he had found a bloodless corpse of a young Guard on one of his patrols. For a moment, he felt fear creep into his heart. He knew what the Blood Flowers were, after all. But then he calmed himself down, remembering that the Bright Lord's body had been destroyed during the massacre that followed his death.

If the corpse of Gunlaug wasn't walking around drinking people's blood, though… then what was?

There were a lot of disturbing things happening in the Castle these days.

Apart from the frequent but minor skirmishes between the factions, people kept dying in all manner of morbid ways. He didn't even want to think about it. There was no safe place anywhere now, except for maybe the three strongholds.

The outer settlement had been completely abandoned. At first, Nephis had tried to create a safe haven there for those who did not wish to participate in the war, but she was quickly taught a bloody lesson by her enemies — spreading her forces too thin was simply an invitation for an attack. After that, all of her followers, willing or unwilling, had relocated to the southern part of the Castle and joined the ranks of her fighting force.

And yet, even two weeks later, nothing had changed. The three factions continued their bloody struggle, unable to break the status quo.

Soon, something had to change.

***

One evening, Sunny was sitting on a crate in one of the halls of Changing Star's stronghold. In his hand was a bowl with a measly ration, which he nevertheless was eating with a lot of enthusiasm.

A few meters away from him, a couple of Neph's followers were doing the same while having a conversation. Out of boredom, he listened to their voices as he ate.

"Have you heard? They found another dead Guard near the throne room. The Blood Lord got him."

"Good riddance. That thing really creeps me out, though."

"Yeah. Scary. But… do you know what I'm really afraid of?"

The slum dweller looked at his partner, who had been paying a tribute to live in the castle just a few weeks ago, and raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Harus. That creepy bastard. Where is he now? Damn, if I were able to dream, I sure I would be having nightmares about that butcher every night."

"...Wait. You didn't hear?"

"What?"

"He's dead."

The tributary opened his eyes wide, while Sunny turned away and tried to suppress a smile.

"No way!"

"Yeah. They found his body after the big battle in a hidden passage behind the throne. Someone had… had beaten him to death. With bare fists. That's what I heard."

For a few seconds, there was silence. Then, one of them said:

"What kind of human could kill that monster? With bare hands?"

The slum dweller shivered.

"That's the thing. No one knows. All of the powerhouses were accounted for. You saw it yourself, they were all fighting in the throne room."

"...Crap. Now I am even more scared. Harus was dreadful enough, but to think that there's a person in this Castle who is powerful enough to kill him so easily… while remaining completely unnoticed and unknown, for all this time… damn, that's terrifying."

The slum dweller gave him a nod and turned to Sunny:

"Hey… Sunny, right? You're Lady Nephis's scout? Who do you think could kill Harus?"

Sunny thought for a moment and then said honestly:

"Well… apart from yours truly, who is a true terror on the battlefield and possibly one of the deadliest Sleepers to ever exist in the world… uh… I think Cassie could."

The young man stared at him with disapproval and then shook his head.

"Not cool, man. Boasting is fine, I guess, but mocking Lady Cassia was really low of you."

Sunny blinked. When did he mock Cassie? Considering the Aspect Ability that Harus had possessed, she was really the next best person to fight the hunchback after Sunny himself. She was already blind and adapted to fighting in that state as best as she could. With the help of her Echoes, Cassie stood a good chance of surviving that battle.

With an apologetic smile, he shrugged and said:

"Sorry, I just chose my words badly. In any case, I'm off."

With that, he jumped off the crate and headed toward the barricade that served as the border of the faction's stronghold.

The slum dweller raised his eyebrows.

"Where are you going? The night is approaching!"

Sunny grinned.

"Hunting for a big one. Ah, don't worry. I lived in the Dark City for three months, remember? Nothing is going to happen to me today…"