552 September

…The autumn was in full swing. Out in the waking world, the skies were grey and the winds were turning cold. The trees were showering the wet ground with a fragrant carpet of dead leaves.

But under the boundless, lethal expanse of the Sky Above, the world was still warm and bright. On an especially large island, one covered with emerald grass and moss-covered ruins, a frightening Nightmare Creature was stalking its prey.

It had four mighty paws, a lean body covered in black fur, and a wide maw full of sharp fangs. Above it, two furious red eyes burned with hatred and madness.

The abomination noiselessly moved through the tall grass, approaching the source of loud noise. A human's voice was screaming, full of indignation:

"I'm right here! Come and get me, damned bastards! Curse you all!"

The creature snarled and prepared to jump.

…Before it could, however, a slender arrow fell from the sky and hit the abomination right in the eye, instantly killing it.

[You have slain a Fallen Beast, Black Ravager.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

Several hundred meters away, safely hidden in the shadows cast by a fragment of an ancient wall, Sunny lowered his bow and frowned.

The happy shadow jumped up and down several times, then turned to him and applauded.

Sunny looked at it, his frown turning into a scowl.

"What do you mean, great shot? I was aiming for its leg, you idiot!"

Dejectedly shaking his head, he threw the bow on the ground and growled.

…It had been almost two months since the day he had gained — and promptly lost — the lineage of Shadow God, but Sunny's mood was still in shambles.

He had spent most of this time training Rain and learning how to use a bow. By now, his aim wasn't terrible, but it was also not nearly as impressive as what he had seen Kai do. The fact that his archery was improving so slowly only added to Sunny's frustration.

He wasn't using Morgan's Warbow, of course, reluctant to be seen with a Memory awarded to Mongrel — even if no one except for the terrifying Master knew what exactly that Memory was, people could recognize the brand of clan Valor on its surface, which would lead to a lot of question.

Instead, Sunny was training with the Blackhorn Bow, which Saint had used to wield back when he had been too weak to handle Nightmare Creatures populating the Chained Isles without her support.

Sunny stared at the bow in question and suppressed the desire to give it a good kick. Dismissing it with a sigh, he retrieved the Cruel Sight from where it had been thrust into the ground and headed in the direction of the slain abomination.

Compared to when he had just arrived on the Chained Isles, Sunny was much stronger now. He had a vastly better arsenal of Memories at his disposal, an additional Shadow Core and a third shadow, and his combat mastery was polished by hundreds upon hundreds of bloody battles.

Additionally, after the damned and forbidden — rightfully so! — lineage of Weaver had swallowed the drop of Shadow God's blood, three of his Attributes evolved. The [Ember of Divinity] was now [Flame of Divinity], rising his divine affinity even more, which also increased the durability of the Undying Chain.

Blood Weave and Bone Weave had not changed in name, but became much more potent. Sunny was now much harder to break and kill. He probably couldn't bleed to death even if he wanted to, and it would take a Saint… or someone like Master Morgan… to shatter his bones again.

That was something, at least…

Commanding the Ordinary Rock to shut up, he picked it up from the ground, hid it on his belt, and walked over to the carcass of the Black Ravager.

The creepy shadow slowly turned its head and stared at the carcass with disturbing fascination.

'This guy…'

Sunny rolled his eyes.

"Don't just stand there, pervert, come here and help."

The shadow eagerly wrapped itself around the blade of the Prowling Thorn, which was then used to cut the tough hide of the dead Nightmare Creature.

Sunny swiftly fished out the soul shard and threw it to the Covetous Coffer, which hopped into the air and swallowed it with a metallic click. Usually, that would be it, but today Sunny needed to retrieve something else as well. Grimacing from time to time, he cut several large slabs of meat off the carcass, wrapped them, and threw the bundle over his shoulder.

"Should be enough… right?"

Finally done with the gruesome task, he stood up, picked up the Cruel Sight, and headed toward the southern edge of the large island.

This island was a bit special, and for a good reason.

Once Sunny reached its end, he saw a breathtaking sight.

Far away and below him, the scattering of floating isles was no more. Instead, solid ground stretched as far as the eye could see, covered by a patchwork of forests, meadows, marshes, rolling hills, and glistening ribbons of rushing rivers.

A dark, bottomless abyss stretched between the edge of the island and the rest of the Dream Realm, and those rivers fell into it, creating grandiose waterfalls.

Near to where he stood, a ruined fortress rose from the ground, and from its gates, a colossal iron chain — many times thicker than the giant chains connecting the isles together — extended into the abyss, connecting to the soil on the other side of the dark chasm.

This was one of the anchors of the Chained Isles, and the road by which Awakened traveled here from the lands to the south, which belonged to the Great Clan Valor… as much as anything could belong to humans in this realm of nightmares.

Sunny glanced at the sun, then got busy making a fire.

By the time strips of meat were roasting over the coals, two figures finally appeared on the colossal chain.

A small smile appeared on Sunny's first — one of the few sincere ones he had shown in the past two months.

…Effie and Kai had finally reached the Chained Isles.

Now, all of them were here.