Arthur was ready.
Sunny slowly raised his bow and fixed his gaze on the Tyrant. Beside him, Saint did the same, and Serpent also drew the bowstring taut.
The three arrows were prepared. Then Sunny sent a mental signal, and the strings were released at the same time.
Three arrows pierced the air with perfect trajectories, covering the distance between the building and the plaza in a matter of seconds. The Tempest Shaft accelerated as it flew, accumulating force with every meter traveled.
The target wasn't the Tyrant's body. They had chosen the only point they believed vulnerable.
Its eyes.
The arrows struck almost simultaneously, and all three embedded themselves deep into the monster's left eye.
The Fallen Tyrant convulsed violently as a monstrous scream tore from its throat. The sound was so loud it seemed to vibrate off the walls of nearby buildings, spreading throughout the entire city.
The monster thrashed as dark blood began to flow around the arrows lodged in its destroyed eye, but more importantly, there was the reaction of the swarm. The lesser serpents began moving immediately. Dozens of long, scaly bodies emerged from among the nearby ruins, responding to their leader's pain and fury.
The fight had begun.
Saint wasted no time.
The stone figure leaped from the building and ran directly toward Arthur's position, following the plan exactly as they had agreed. Her task was simple: join him and draw the attention of as many minions as possible.
Sunny, on the other hand, moved in the opposite direction. His target was the Tyrant. Meanwhile, Serpent remained on the building but began shifting slightly toward the Tyrant.
Drowned Oath's enchantment had already started accumulating.
The shadow drew the bowstring again and loosed another arrow, then another, and another. Each shot was fast and precise, the Tempest Shafts descending upon the lesser serpents that were beginning to move through the plaza.
The arrows pierced through heads with increasing ease. Each death increased the power of the next shot.
Its goal wasn't just to reduce the number of minions. Serpent was building up strength.
If the bow's enchantment continued to grow enough, there was a possibility that eventually one of those arrows would have the necessary power to pierce even the thick hide of the Fallen Tyrant.
Meanwhile, down below, the real battle was about to begin.
Not even a few seconds after sending the signal, Arthur heard the Tyrant's scream.
The sound was so deep and violent it seemed to shake the very air. He didn't need to see to know the attack had hit. At the same time, his Aether sense expanded toward the direction of the minions.
Then he felt it. Dozens of presences began moving among the ruins, rapidly approaching his position. The creatures reacted to their leader's pain with speed.
Arthur adjusted his stance and brought Dawn's Ballad in front of his body, but before the first minions reached his position, another presence arrived.
Saint's figure appeared beside him with surprising speed, moving across the ground with firm, silent steps. The stone warrior positioned herself to his left without hesitation, her sword already ready for combat.
Between the two of them, he was sure they could handle the minions. Saint was an Ascended Demon, after all, a creature whose strength far surpassed most of the enemies they had faced in the Dark City.
The first minion arrived seconds later.
Through his Aether sense, Arthur perceived its form before hearing the sound of its body slithering. When it finally entered his immediate range, the silhouette matched perfectly the description Sunny had given him.
A large serpent, with thick scales and an open jaw. From its size, it was clearly an Awakened Beast.
The creature lunged forward in a direct charge.
Arthur pivoted to the side, letting the attack pass where his body had been an instant before. In that same movement, he briefly activated Static Void, and Dawn's Ballad descended.
The sword cleanly cut through the creature's body, splitting it into two halves that fell to the ground. But something was wrong. Arthur understood immediately. He hadn't received the spell notification. That could only mean one thing.
The creature wasn't dead.
'What'
The realization barely had time to settle before the next presence arrived, then another, and another.
The serpents began emerging from all directions, from holes in the walls, gaps in the ground. Their bodies slithered through the ruins with surprising speed, quickly surrounding him as their jaws opened and closed in anticipation.
Arthur reacted as he had hundreds of times before. Dawn's Ballad traced a wide arc, cutting another creature in two when it tried to attack from the flank. He turned immediately after, deflecting another serpent that lunged at his leg.
But the problem became very clear, very fast.
The creatures weren't dying. Even after being cut in half, their bodies kept moving. Jaws continued opening and closing while the separated parts tried to drag themselves across the ground. It was like fighting something that didn't recognize normal damage.
Arthur clenched his teeth.
Then he understood the solution. If the body wasn't enough... the head would be.
When the next serpent attacked, Arthur dodged its charge and brought Dawn's Ballad down in a precise cut aimed directly at the creature's skull. The blade pierced through the center of the head, splitting bone and brain into two clean halves.
This time, yes.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast: Broodspawn]
[Your aether grows stronger]
The creature stopped moving.
Arthur barely had time to confirm his hypothesis before the fight intensified.
Remembering the strategy he had used during the Siege, he began applying the same principle. He activated Static Void constantly in brief intervals, combining it with his Aether sense to perceive every movement around him.
Any creature crossing that invisible line would be intercepted before it could reach him. His movements became faster and more precise as Dawn's Ballad described constant cuts around his body.
For a few moments, the strategy seemed to work. But then the real problem became evident.
There were too many, and it was different from the Siege because the creatures didn't wait their turn. They simply threw themselves at him with their bodies and their intent. Moreover, their smaller size meant they could pile on top of each other without their movement being affected.
The serpents kept coming without stopping. Even when Arthur cut off one head, two other creatures immediately appeared to take its place.
The pressure increased rapidly, and although his technique was efficient, the constant flow of enemies began to break the balance of his defense. Fortunately, Saint wasn't having the same problem.
The stone warrior advanced among the serpents with silent brutality. Her sword descended again and again with heavy blows that crushed heads and split bodies with terrifying ease.
Creatures fell one after another before her.
Unlike Arthur, Saint didn't seem to need to analyze the exact mechanics of her enemies. She simply destroyed every serpent that approached, her physical strength being more than enough to turn each blow into an instant execution.
Arthur moved toward her, aligning his movements with the shadow's.
A serpent lunged at him from the side.
Dawn's Ballad descended.
The creature's head split in two.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast: Broodspawn]
[Your aether grows stronger]
Arthur turned immediately after, and another creature lunged at him from the ground. The sword came down again.
[You have slain a Dormant Beast: Broodspawn]
[Your aether grows stronger]
But he didn't have time to pay much attention to the messages. The flow of enemies didn't stop.
The serpents began completely surrounding them, their bodies piling on top of each other as they advanced in increasingly dense waves. What had started as individual attacks quickly transformed into a tide of scales and jaws.
Arthur cut off another head, then another, but every space he managed to clear was immediately filled with new creatures.
Within seconds, he and Saint were completely surrounded.
The ground around them began to be covered with severed bodies, but even that didn't seem to reduce the pressure. The serpents kept coming from everywhere, crawling over the corpses of those already dead.
Arthur tightened his grip on Dawn's Ballad.
Until that moment, he had been sure they could handle the minions. Now he wasn't so convinced anymore.
The tide of creatures surrounding them kept growing, and since the battle had begun, the idea that maybe they couldn't kill them all started taking shape in his mind.
***
Sunny moved the instant he released the arrow.
While the projectile was still traveling toward its target, his body was already descending from the building, falling among the ruins with a controlled motion that ended in a rapid sprint toward the plaza. He wasted no time looking at the result of the first attack. He knew the arrows had hit. The Tyrant's scream a few seconds later was confirmation enough.
Serpent stayed behind.
From the top of the building, the shadow kept drawing the bow again and again, releasing arrows with mechanical precision at any minion moving within its range. Drowned Oath's enchantment continued accumulating with each shot, and the Tempest Shafts rained down from above like deadly precipitation.
The lesser serpents moved in all directions, some slithering toward Arthur and Saint's position, others reacting to their leader's pain. The Fallen Tyrant thrashed violently in the center of the plaza, its enormous body slamming against the stones as it tried to orient itself without its sight.
The first eye had been destroyed, but the creature was still extremely dangerous.
Sunny kept advancing through the ruins, using his speed to avoid direct contact with the minions still near the Tyrant. His goal wasn't to fight them. That part of the plan belonged to Arthur and Saint.
Then another arrow pierced the air. Serpent had fired again. The arrow descended from above with accumulated force and embedded itself directly into the Tyrant's second eye.
The scream it released was even more savage than the first, a mix of fury and pain that echoed across the entire plaza. Its enormous body began thrashing violently, its head swinging from side to side as blood flowed from both eyes.
The remaining minions responded to that pain. The serpents still near the Tyrant changed direction almost simultaneously, moving toward the building where Serpent continued firing.
The shadow didn't stop. Another arrow, then another.
Each shot tore through the air with more force than the last, claiming the lives of several serpents as they descended toward the plaza. But the number of enemies was still considerable.
Finally, the minions began getting too close, and Serpent loosed one last arrow toward the Tyrant.
The creature reacted differently. The monster emitted a deep, strange sound, a kind of profound vibration that traveled through its body. In response, several serpents abruptly changed their trajectory and launched themselves toward the arrow in mid-flight, intending to intercept it.
The Tyrant was ordering its minions to sacrifice themselves to protect it, but it was too late.
The arrow passed through the space between them and embedded itself again in the Tyrant's head, deepening the damage to its destroyed eye even further. The impact was much stronger than the previous ones thanks to the bow's accumulated enchantment.
Still... it wasn't enough to kill it.
Sunny observed the scene for a fraction of a second, then made a decision and dismissed Serpent.
The shadow disappeared from the top of the building the instant the minions were about to reach it. A second later, it manifested again next to Sunny in the plaza.
The decision proved perfect. If he had waited a little longer, Serpent would have been surrounded.
Now, instead, most of the minions were far away, drawn toward Arthur and Saint or scattered throughout the city. The plaza around the Tyrant was relatively clear.
It was time.
Serpent changed form, its silhouette shifting until it became a dark tachi that appeared in Sunny's hand. At the same time, three shadows attached themselves to his body.
The Tyrant was completely blind now, but that didn't make it helpless.
When Sunny entered the plaza, the creature's enormous body immediately moved in his direction. The gigantic head turned violently as its black tongue slid through the air, detecting vibrations and changes in the environment.
The serpent reacted. Its twenty-meter body launched forward with brutal speed, its jaw opening wide enough to swallow Sunny whole.
Sunny moved at the last instant.
His body slid to the side as the Tyrant's massive head struck the ground where he had been a second before.
Sunny responded by bringing his tachi down in a quick cut against the monster's side.
The scales stopped the blow. The sword barely managed to leave a mark before being deflected by the creature's hide.
He pulled back immediately.
The Tyrant's body thrashed violently, its enormous tail sweeping the ground with enough force to turn it to dust.
Sunny jumped back just in time.
The fight continued like this for several minutes.
Sunny attacked constantly, moving around the serpent's gigantic body while searching for an opening. Every time he tried to get too close, the creature responded with brutal lunges or tail sweeps.
Although blind, the Tyrant still reacted with unsettling precision. It could sense him. Its attacks were wild, but not completely erratic.
Sunny managed to open several superficial wounds on its body, but none deep enough to cause real damage.
The Tyrant's hide was too resistant.
Then Sunny understood he wasn't going to kill it from the outside. He needed another approach.
He kept moving around the monster, provoking it with quick attacks that barely managed to penetrate its scales. Eventually, the Tyrant reacted with a desperate attack.
The gigantic head descended toward Sunny with its mouth wide open.
That was exactly what he was waiting for.
Sunny summoned Prowling Thorn. The small kunai spun in his hand as the invisible thread connected to his ring extended.
When the Tyrant's mouth descended, Sunny threw the weapon directly into its throat, and the kunai embedded itself deep into the internal tissue. Sunny pulled the thread.
His body was dragged toward the Tyrant's jaw, which snapped shut just as Sunny disappeared inside its mouth.
Serpent took weapon form again in his hand as he advanced through the creature's throat, cutting flesh and soft tissue with every movement. The monster's internal walls contracted violently, trying to expel or crush him.
At that moment, he summoned Weaver's Mask, and it turned out to be a great decision, as the Tyrant began releasing toxic vapors and the smell of poison threatened to fill the air.
Sunny frowned.
The Tyrant was clearly trying to digest what it had swallowed.
The throat walls began contracting violently, attempting to crush him or push him toward the stomach. Sunny jumped to the side just as a muscle spasm closed the passage behind him.
Then he made another decision. Serpent abandoned its sword form. The shadow grew rapidly, expanding until it regained its natural form.
Sunny chuckled.
'Funny. A serpent inside another serpent.'
Serpent attacked immediately.
Its fangs sank into the Tyrant's internal flesh as it began tearing tissue with ferocity. Each bite opened new wounds inside the monster's body.
The Tyrant reacted violently.
Its entire body began to thrash.
'Oh shit.'
Sunny was thrown against one of the internal walls as the muscle contractions intensified. For a moment, he felt the monster trying to regurgitate him, attempting to expel him.
But Sunny had already made his decision. He wasn't going out the way he came in.
Midnight Shard appeared in his hand as he advanced alongside Serpent through the monster's internal passages. Each step was a struggle against the pressure of the living body trying to crush him.
The shadow forced its way through, biting and tearing flesh, creating an improvised path toward the upper part of the Tyrant's body.
Sunny kept advancing behind it.
At some point during the fight, a wound on his arm reopened. Sunny looked at it for an instant.
Then he had an idea.
'Let's see if you can handle the blood of Weaver.'
He stabbed Midnight Shard into one of the monster's internal walls, opening a deep wound that immediately began to bleed. Then he let a drop of his own blood fall into the wound.
The muscle contractions became even more violent.
Sunny had to cling to his sword embedded in the flesh as Serpent forced its way upward with a series of brutal bites.
The creature tried several times to crush them. Other times, it tried to expel them toward the stomach, but Serpent kept advancing, instinctively guiding itself toward the upper part of the body. Finally, they arrived.
The space before them opened into a larger cavity, protected by thick layers of nervous tissue.
The brain.
The Tyrant tried to close the passage at the last moment, contracting the muscles around the cavity, but Serpent was faster.
The shadow lunged forward, sinking its fangs and tearing through the protective tissue with a series of savage attacks. That created an opening, and Sunny didn't hesitate.
He leaped forward and, with all his strength, plunged Midnight Shard deep into the Tyrant's brain.
The reaction was immediate.
The monster's entire body convulsed with unimaginable violence.
For several seconds, the whole world seemed to shudder around Sunny as the Tyrant desperately tried to keep living.
Then... silence.
A familiar voice resonated within his mind.
[You have slain a Fallen Tyrant: Broodmother Serpent]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
Sunny exhaled slowly, but his movement didn't stop. Without wasting time, he activated the signal through the Memory. Three pulses traveled through the object, sending the agreed-upon signal. Arthur would know what it meant.
Sunny took almost a minute to find a way out. The Tyrant's corpse still suffered occasional spasms as he and Serpent made their way through the dead tissue. Finally, he emerged through one of the monster's enormous wounds.
Then he dismissed Weaver's Mask, and the plaza air hit his face.
Sunny took a deep breath before looking into the distance.
Arthur and Saint were still fighting, but there weren't many serpents left. Without wasting time, Serpent returned to its sword form as he ran toward the battle.
When he arrived, they had already killed several more creatures, but a few were still holding on. Still, without the Tyrant's influence, they were now nothing more than a simple nuisance.
Sunny's arrival changed the balance immediately.
Between the three of them, they finished the job quickly. One after another, the last serpents fell, and finally... the plaza fell silent. No... the correct thing to say would be...
The Dark City fell silent.
Both moved away from the corpses and let themselves drop to the ground, breathing heavily.
Sunny's armor was completely worn down by the Tyrant's venom. He dismissed it and summoned another they had obtained some time ago. Anyway, he had no serious injuries. His part, curiously —and to his own suspicion— had gone perfectly.
Arthur, on his side, had armor with bite marks in several places and bloodstains all over his body. His wounds had already healed, though he hadn't received many, thanks to Saint. She had tanked the most enemies.
Sunny summoned the Endless Spring and drank greedily. Then he passed it to Arthur, but he didn't even move to take it. Sunny raised an eyebrow and was about to ask him what was wrong.
Before he could, Arthur summoned the Hidden Spring and started drinking greedily.
At that moment, Sunny remembered that Arthur couldn't see him, and hiding the embarrassment the situation caused him, he started checking if he had received an interesting Memory. He had gotten so used to Arthur acting as if he weren't completely blind that he had forgotten the fact.
Arthur, completely unaware of what Sunny had done, let out a sigh and began to stand up. Then he asked,
"How did it go?"
Sunny let out a sigh since he hadn't received any good Memories, so all of them would go to feed Saint.
"Good." Then he added, "I just had to let it swallow me and then kill it from the inside. An everyday thing."
Arthur blinked and shook his head in clear disappointment.
"Did you also break the eggs?"
"No? What eggs?" Sunny asked.
Arthur let out a breath and deigned to educate his companion. "Snakes lay eggs, Sunny. Where do you think all those minions came from?"
"No idea. Do you think the Tyrant had hidden eggs?"
He simply replied,
"Probably. We rest and then go check."
After that, they rested for a few minutes and went to look for eggs. Minutes later, they found them hidden in a nearby building, and Sunny took care of killing them all. Then they started recovering the Shards with the help of Saint and Serpent and began their journey back to the Castle once finished.
Hours later, they arrived, and Arthur started consuming all the Shards while Sunny took a shower. Once he finished, Sunny started cooking, while it was Arthur's turn to bathe.
After everything was done, both went to their rooms and closed their eyes with the intention of resting, because in two days they would enter the Relictombs.