After having them summon their weapon memories and studying them for some time, Nephis began explaining the purpose of a sword and the principles behind its use.
Yoru quickly learned these things varied from blade to blade. Nephis, for example, wielded a longsword that was versatile, allowing for both cutting and thrusting in equal measure, whereas Sunny's Azure Blade was more suited towards severing.
However, their principles were essentially the same as they were both leverage-based weapons, much unlike Yoru's own.
The Savage Lie was a short sword, so ideally it was made for close combat, something which directly opposed Yoru's previous background as a spearman. In truth, considering the enemies they were facing, sticking with a spear would have made more sense.
But an Awakened weapon was worth more than any mundane advantage.
So he endeavoured to learn it.
It was fascinating, not only to learn the different approaches to swordsmanship, but even watching Nephis explain these things. For someone so reserved and horrible at social interaction, she thrived and became an entirely new person when she discussed things she had expertise in.
So whilst Nephis made Sunny learn how to effectively swing his blade, allowing for clean and precise cuts, she had instructed Yoru to learn something entirely different.
"A Short sword favours thrusts and rapid slashes over cuts, and since its range is short, the previous principles you learned when welding the spear may interfere..."
She raised her longsword and stepped forward, adopting a stance.
"What you need to learn first is positioning."
As she said this, she raised her blade and held it loosely at an angle, hovering somewhere between Yoru's collar bone and his throat.
"When delivering a thrust, your body as well as your sword, must already be aligned with your target... In this case, you'll be aiming for the Scavengers limbs."
Yoru pursed his lips and nodded.
"The difference between the spear and the short sword is that there is no extension of the arm. Your body will do all the extension for you. That's why when you thrust, you can stay in motion."
Nephis shifted her weight forward just a fraction, letting gravity and structure do the work. The thrust followed the line that already existed, sliding upward as if threading a needle beneath an armoured plate. Her sword stopped, mere inches away from his neck.
"And you let the beast impale itself."
She went on to demonstrate a few more times so Yoru could see exactly how she moved her body, learning what stance was best to take and the proper footwork required. The torso had to remain upright and the elbows needed to remain close to the body, as not to flare out, along with a multitude of other factors.
...It was a lot to absorb.
"…Will I have to do that a thousand times as well?" Yoru asked weakly
Nephis paused, considering.
"No, at least five thousand."
He stared at her.
"You're joking."
She tilted her head slightly with an unreadable expression.
"This is harder than learning how to cut. It requires precision, patience, and consistency."
Was the flamethrower actually being serious?
Who was he kidding, of course she was.
Yoru exhaled and rubbed his face.
"Then why are you making me learn this?"
Nephis answered without hesitation, as though the question itself was strange.
"Because I want you alive."
Silence followed.
...Huh.
That was… a good thing, right?
Yoru couldn't quite tell whether she was beginning to trust him, or if she simply believed that forcing him through something more demanding would either harden him - or kill him faster.
Both sounded equally plausible.
'Wait... when did I get so cynical? Is that bastard infecting me with his terrible personality?'
With a resigned sigh, he raised the Savage Lie and began his practice.
***
Soon enough, the sun had fully risen.
Yoru didn't quite manage to achieve his five thousand thrusts, but he felt his technique was already pretty good.
Even Nephis seemed mildly surprised by his progress - or so he assumed, judging by the fact that she blinked a few times longer than usual.
'Tyranny is a beautiful thing' Yoru idly thought to himself.
Once again the attribute had proved its worth.
Before descending the statue, Nephis spoke again.
"Today will be different from before. There will be much more scavengers roaming in the labyrinth. We might not be able to create an ambush or avoid fighting several of them at once."
She looked at Yoru:
"If anything happens, your job is to bring Cassie away. We can retreat by using passages that are too narrow for the scavengers. If we get separated, proceed to the high point by yourselves. Don't wait for me. Do you understand?"
With a somber expression, Yoru gave her a nod. Nephis returned it.
"Good. Time is of the essence, so let's go."
With that, she began the descent and they soon reached the ground.
Entering the labyrinth, the trio moved forward with haste. The shadow was ahead of them, scouting for monsters and optimal paths.
Despite that, their progress was slow and chaotic. They had to constantly change direction to avoid groups of scavengers, often ending up in dead ends or moving further away from their destination.
Sunny, who played the role of the scout and navigator, felt his brains slowly starting to boil.
At some point, however, they inevitably ended up in a situation where a fight was unavoidable.
There was a large group of scavengers at their heels, and a pair of them blocking the path ahead. Neither of the two groups had noticed the Sleepers yet; however, since there were no other passages to turn into, it was only a matter of time.
Yoru, who had donned the Marauders Love, grit his teeth and said:
"Do we run them through?"
Nephis looked at him with her steely grey eyes.
"We don't have much choice."
Sunny's eyes flashed with uncertainty but he quickly shook his head and summoned the Azure Blade.
After finding a safe hiding spot for Cassie, the three of them stepped forwards and dashed towards three hulking silhouettes that came into view.
Nephis led the charge at unprecedented speeds, far beyond what the peak of humanity could achieve.
By the time the scavengers could make sense of what was happening, she was already upon them.
Their maddened gazes landed on her, and thier mandibles snapped open, strings of viscous saliva flinging outward as they screeched.
It looked as though she would ram into the pack of beasts.
At the last moment, Nephis fell backward, falling on her side. The inertia carried her forward as she slid through the mud, passing between the scavengers. Then, she twisted her body and stopped herself by plunging the sword into the ground.
A bit slower, and she would have been impaled by one of the scavengers' legs.
Her risky manoeuvre had placed her behind the scavengers, catching the attention of one.
Unfortunately, the other two were preoccupied with the boy who charged at them with untempered bloodlust.
'Ah, I'd love to have more to cleave but two on one is seriously not favourable.'
Yoru sharply sidestepped to the left, boots skidding through the mud. Four pincers slammed down where he had been - and in an attempt to get at the tasty human, one of them mistakenly struck its companion, resulting in a deafening crack of chitin.
The scavenger screamed, reeling.
Sunny, who had been cloaked in the shadows, took this moment to strike at the beast who had struck its brethren. He burst upward, leaping onto its carapace and prepared to strike. His sword plunging toward the seam between its armor plates. For a moment, it looked perfect-
But as the creature tore its mighty pincer free from the ground, its body jerked and trembled terribly, causing Sunny's blade to miss and scrape off its tough chitin.
The sight was actually quite hilarious.
For a horrifying second, Sunny was clinging to the monster's back like an oversized tick, arms wrapped around its carapace as it thrashed.
Yoru would have laughed if not for the incoming leg.
Instinctively, he brought his sword up as the leg came flying at him and defected the blow at an angle.The impact rang through his arms like a thunderclap, putting great strain on him despite some of its force being dispersed.
Sparks flew where the leg met the steel of his blade.
He was sure that it was only thanks to the small qualitative boost to his strength - from wishes he had grunted thus far - that he had managed to redirect the creatures leg.
The scavenger's leg slammed into the wall beside his head with a deafening boom, embedding itself deep into crimson coral, spraying the blood red fragments everywhere.
With only a single moment to spare, Yoru could see Sunny getting flung off the back of his own opponent and crashing into wall of coral on the opposite side, collapsing into a heap.
'That probably hurts…'
Yoru tore his gaze away.
In the next moment, he had already raised the Savage Lie, holding it in the same stance Nephis had shown him before.
Emulating what she had shown him, Yoru visualised everything he wanted his body to achieve and imagined a scene before him.
'My blade js naturally aligned, my body becomes the force behind the strike, not the sword.'
He thrusted forwards.
The scavenger shrieked as the blade slid into the joint beneath its armor, azure blood spraying across Yoru's hand.The sensation sent a jolt of euphoria straight through his spine eliciting a cruel smile.
'Is this what sex feels like?'
His moment of pleasure was short-lived however, as his body was jerked sideways, pulling him towards the beast and throwing him on the ground.
Simultaneously, a pincer loomed far above his pathetic fallen form and came down like a hammer from the heavens.
Yoru luckily went with the fall and continued to roll, narrowly avoiding certain death.
Or perhaps he wasn't so lucky, as he now found himself facing another looming threat.
That being the underside of the demented crab.
'Crushed by the stomach of this thing…? Fuck off' Yoru thought in spite, mostly due to the glove.
Death neared as the crabs massive frame began to drop, getting closer and closer. But then, the beast's pierced leg gave out, causing its body to tilt mid-fall and crash down at an angle instead of straight atop him.
Yoru didn't waste the opportunity as he rolled again, feeling the wind of its collapse.
He came up on one knee, dismissing the Savage Lie and re-summoning it.
If he had executed his thrust perfectly earlier, he wouldn't have been put in such a disastrous position as he was just then. Now, he was going to ensure that he performed it effectively so something like that would never happen again.
"You'll be riddled with holes by the time I'm done with you, you poor thing."
***
[You have slain an awakened beast, Carapace Scavenger].
'Hm, no ominous words of a tragedy this time…'
Yoru had a theory as to why this was but he decided not to dwell on it for now. That was something he could focus on later.
The rest of the battle was pretty anticlimactic.
True to his word, Yoru had riddled the scavenger with thrusts, each one cleaner than the last, until one final strike pierced deep and ended it for good. The creature collapsed in a twitching heap, its massive body finally still.
It had ended sooner than he would have liked.
But that was for the best.
His bloodlust seemed to have grown stronger, outclassing the effect Placate had brought him, which led to him dragging out the fight much longer than necessary.
That realisation unsettled him more than the battle itself.
Still, things didn't seem to get too out of hand.
Nephis was Nephis so of course… she had come out of her fight unscathed.
Sunny on the other hand looked much worse.
He limped toward them, one hand pressed firmly against his ribs, the other dragging the Azure Blade through the mud. But seeing the lifeless body of the scavenger behind him, it was clear who had won the battle, despite the injuries.
Yoru tilted his head, studying him.
"You look rough, Sunny. Would you like to be healed?"
Sunny gave him an exasperated glare and spoke through gritted teeth:
"Yes," He snapped, breath hissing through his teeth. "I think I've got a broken rib and- ah! Why am I even telling you this? Just move before I cut you down like I did that crab."
Yoru payed his threat no mind and wore a smile.
"Good question. Why are you telling me this? Go to Nephis already if you want to be healed."
The look on Sunny's astonished face was to die for.
No, actually, it wasn't.
Yoru had faced death multiple times now so he could say that with absolute certainty.
But teasing Sunny was a familiar comfort, a reminder that things were still normal in some small way. After everything he'd faced, everything he'd killed, it was grounding to know that irritating the shortie still brought him joy.
With an indignant scoff, Sunny stalked toward Nephis.
Moments later, a faint white glow bloomed between them. Nephis's jaw tightened as the familiar strain of healing set in, a quiet, pained breath slipping past her lips.
At the same time, Yoru felt the familiar sensation of a a new addition to his soul sea.
His lips curved into a slow, satisfied grin as he checked his runes.
[Wishes Granted: 35/1000]
'Thirteen fragments…'
The wish to be healed had paid generously.
Warmth spread through his body, strength settling deeper into his muscles, his senses sharpening just a fraction more. But even as he basked in the familiar satisfaction, he knew the boost in his physicality wasn't the only boon he had received.
As Sunny and Nephis began to carve into the three dead scavengers, Yoru went to retrieve Cassie. As he did so, he began the process of tethering his newly acquired wish.
"Yoru?"
Cassie's voice reached him before he saw her.
He paused for half a second, then smiled faintly.
'Did she recognise my footsteps?'
"Yeah, it's me. The fights over now, you can come out."
Cassie emerged cautiously, brushing dust and dried mud from her clothes.
Yoru, too eager to wait any longer, took his chance.
"Cass, are you hurt anywhere?"
"Well… I think I scraped my knee earlier, but-"
"Perfect," Yoru said immediately. "Can I heal it?"
Cassie froze.
"…What?"
She flushed, flustered and clearly caught off guard.
"Hold on. Heal? Since when can you-"
"Yes or No, Cassia," Yoru said, his excitement visibly through the roof.
Cassie sighed, aware that he wasn't going to let her get another word in.
"Umm...yes?"
Yoru snapped his fingers.
Cassie blinked.
Soon her expression grew into one of
astonishment.
The scrape on her knee vanished, warmth spreading outward in gentle waves, soothing and encompassing. It was familiar in a way that made her breath catch.
It felt just like Nephis' healing.
Her eyes widened.
"Gods! Yoru, how did you-? Yoru…?"
Sadly, Yoru was unable to respond at that moment.
He had collapsed.
'Did that just… drain all of my essence?'