Shadow Slave

The Underworld was not a place that Supremes could tread lightly. This realm of eternal darkness had been the last stronghold of the Demon Legion and the staging ground of the last battle of the Doom War — somewhere out there, the corrupted remnants of the Divine Host were hidden in the darkness, and the fallen warriors of the six rebellious daemons guarded their ruined fortresses.

There were beings of true darkness ruling the vast desolation of the subterranean world, as well.

There were ancient Nightmare Creatures of immense power and dark deities of the Dream Realm populating this land.

Sunny and Nephis had expected their expedition to be a perilous one, but they had underestimated just how terrifying and deadly the darkness of the Underworld would be. Even Sunny, who had only brought two of his seven incarnations here, was not safe — because there were plenty of enemies here who directly assaulted his soul, spirit, and mind.

At this point, they could still choose to turn back.

However, neither Sunny nor Nephis were inclined to give up.

The Underworld was deadly, yes, perhaps even more than they could handle. But then again, so was every other dire threat they would have to face soon. Giving up in the face of danger was a path that would inevitably lead them to a dead end, and if they failed to achieve their goals now — before facing the ultimate horrors of the Dream Realm — they would have no hope in the future.

That said, they didn’t have to stubbornly continue forward with the same plan. Now that their initial expectations had been proven to be wrong, they had to adapt. Sunny and Nephis had planned to slowly explore the Underworld, casting a wide net to find traces of Broken Sword. The Underworld was impossibly vast, and searching for the final resting place of a single man seemed like searching for a needle in a haystack. However, there were ways to narrow down the areas they had to scour.

What Sunny and Nephis truly aimed for was finding the place where the Sovereigns had betrayed Broken Sword. After all, finding one man in the endless darkness was all but impossible — but finding a battlefield where four Supremes had fought was not too difficult. Such a fierce battle had to have left many traces, perhaps even reshaping the very landscape around it.

Mordret and the Dreamspawn had managed to forever change the face of the Dream Realm while battling each other. So Sunny and Nephis reasonably presumed that a battle between Broken Sword, Anvil, Ki Song, and the Dreamspawn would have left ascar on the Underworld, as well.

And yet...

In only the second week of their journey through the Underworld, they realized that their previous plans had been too optimistic. Exploring slowly and casting a wide net was not something they could reliably survive with their current strength — they had managed to stay alive so far, but assuming that their luck would hold was an arrogant notion.

It was easy to become arrogant after surviving everything they had survived. More than that, arrogance was in the very nature of being Supreme. But Sunny was not so detached from reality as to believe that he was immortal, and that there was no being out there that could still squish him like a bug.

Luckily, they had not come to the Underworld unprepared. They had a backup plan, as well — even if it posed its own risks. When Sunny suggested exploring a different approach, Nephis remained silent for a short while, then looked around.

The ruins surrounding them did not offer much protection, but it was better than nothing. The dark figures of the Tainted Saints could be seen among the rubble, facing the impenetrable darkness beyond — they were dutifully guarding Sunny and Nephis, ready to defend them with their lives.

Saint had left the circle of light emanating from the blade of the Blessing. Her powers grew more potent when she was surrounded by darkness — and especially true darkness — so she chose to stay away, for now, so that her body and armor could mend themselves faster.

There was a faint frown on Neph’s face.

”Do you feel it?”

Sunny hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

He knew what she was talking about.

The Dark Drifter had been destroyed, and the horrid dweller of the depths had been slain. There were no enemies around them anymore, and yet...

Sunny could still feel someone’s subtle attention being directed at them. Something was observing them from the darkness, almost imperceptible, but refused to show up.

That feeling had pursued them ever since the first day in the Underworld. The first enemy they had fought here, the mysterious Creature of Darkness who had used the corpses of slain Stone Saints to attack them, was yet to reveal itself again.

But Sunny felt that, somehow, it was still watching them.

Waiting...

For what, he did not know. But the patience of the unknown being unnerved him quite a bit.

Sunny shrugged.

“I do. And since there’s nothing we can do about it... let’s just proceed.”

They had attempted to confront the eerie gaze on many occasions, searching for its source or even trying to provoke it into attacking by feigning weakness and inattention. But the unknown creature remained hidden in the darkness, never revealing itself.

It was as if darkness itself was watching them.

Suppressing a shiver, Sunny took a deep breath and summoned one of the two Divine Memories he possessed.

Moments later, Weaver’s Mask obscured his face, the cool surface of its polished wood soothing him and hiding his features.

In truth, Sunny could locate the last fragment of Weaver’s Lineage quite easily. All he had to do was activate the [Where is my eye?] enchantment of Weaver’s Mask and gaze upon the harrowing infinity of fate.

His fate was connected to Weaver, and therefore, there had to be a String of Fate connecting him to Shadow Weave.

Sunny could find that string and follow it to the source — that way, he would know the direction they had to follow, at least. However, while that method was simple... it was not at all safe.

In fact, it could very well prove more dangerous than blindly searching the dark expanse of the Underworld.