Nine months had passed.
Nine harrowing months since his departure from the Forgotten Shore.
And in that time, death had come for them more times than Sunny could count. It had come in the form of towering abominations that blotted out the sun, in the silent, suffocating heat of the dunes, and in the sheer, soul-crushing exhaustion of a journey that never seemed to end.
At times he felt this land was unmerciful — a purgatory designed to erode — to strip away strength, will, and sanity piece by piece until nothing remained but a hollow shell waiting to collapse.
There had been a time when Sunny believed survival was about cunning, about making the right choices and avoiding fatal mistakes. The desert had proven otherwise. Here, survival was endurance — a brutal, unrelenting test of how much suffering one could withstand before finally breaking.
Many a times they came across indomitable beings — creatures that could not be defeated by strength, not by skill, not even by sheer desperation. They had simply endured, inching away like insects escaping the notice of a predator.
There was no shame in it. Not here.
Sunny didn't know where Mahoraga was leading them. The man was maddeningly tight-lipped about it, offering nothing beyond vague assurances. He had pressed him about it but he would either deflect, ignore the question entirely, or give an answer so deliberately incomplete that it might as well have been silence.
Eventually, Sunny had stopped asking.
Not because his curiosity had been satisfied — far from it — but because it had become clear that no answer would be given. Pressing further was pointless, and wasting energy on pointless things was a luxury he couldn't afford.
Still… that did not mean he was blind.
Mahoraga was looking for something.
They weren't wandering aimlessly — no — they were searching.
For what, Sunny had no idea. But whatever it was, it mattered enough for Mahoraga to remain within a Death Zone most Saints would abandon at the first opportunity.
Mahoraga clearly knew his way around the desert. They still faced powerful enemies, but nothing overwhelmingly beyond them. The path he chose skirted the most lethal threats while deliberately steering them into battles that matched their level — dangerous, but survivable.
If he had to guess, Mahoraga could have led him back to the Waking World within a few months of their meeting — yet he hadn't, choosing instead to press deeper into the desert for reasons he refused to share.
Sunny's eyes narrowed faintly, his mind was sharp despite his exhaustion. If Mahoraga was willing to go this far for what he was searching for… then whatever awaited them at the end of this path was not going to be something simple.
He wasn't sure whether that thought frightened him or not.
It probably should have.
The desert wind dragged across the dunes in long, low ribbons, carrying with it the particular silence that preceded nothing good.
"What's on your mind, Sunny?" Mahoraga's voice drifted back, devoid of its usual calmness.
Sunny didn't bother to hide the scowl that tugged at his cracked lips. "What's on my mind?" he echoed dryly, "Plenty. For starters… why haven't we come across a single citadel?"
He slowed slightly, gaze sharpening. "Or better yet — why aren't you even trying to find one?"
Mahoraga's steps gradually came to a stop. For a moment, he remained facing forward, silent, as if considering whether the question even deserved an answer.
"Do you truly believe there's a citadel in this place?"
Sunny frowned, but before he could respond, Mahoraga's gaze sharpened just slightly. "And even if there was…" he continued, "do you really want to remain a mere Awakened?"
Sunny's expression darkened slightly, but he didn't interrupt.
"While you're wandering here, barely surviving… Nephis is moving forward. She's not the kind to stand still, Sunny. Not after everything you told me and what I know of her."
The words landed like a blow.
Mahoraga took a step closer, his presence suddenly far more imposing than before. "So tell me, when that happens how exactly do you plan to stand against her?"
His eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
"As an Awakened?"
Sunny let out a slow breath, then looked at him again, his expression steady. "You think I don't see it?" he asked, "She was ahead of me from the start. That hasn't changed. But that's not what this is about."
"You're avoiding citadels on purpose," he said flatly. "You've been doing it this whole time. Don't pretend otherwise… which means you don't want me to remain an Awakened either."
Sunny froze as the realization struck him
And just like that, the shape of it became clear.
"You crazy bastard… you're planning on throwing us into the Second Nightmare!"
Mahoraga intended to escape — of course he did. But escape wasn't the goal. It was simply the last step of something considerably more ambitious, and considerably more troubling, that Sunny had been unknowingly participating in this entire time.
He wasn't intent on finding a citadel, he was intent on finding a Seed of Nightmare. He wasn't going to conquer a citadel, he was going to conquer the Second Nightmare.
Mahoraga did not deny it, "You're right."
The admission came easily, without hesitation, without even a hint of concern. If anything, there was a quiet certainty in his voice — the kind that made it clear this had never been a question of if, only when.
He raised his head, enough for Sunny to catch a glimpse at his scornful expression.
"Sunny, I don't have the luxury of returning to the Waking World as an Awakened and wasting years preparing, searching for the perfect Seed," he said quietly. "There's a war coming. You can't see it yet — but it's already taking shape.
"Right now, being an Awakened feels like power. In a few years, it will mean nothing. You'll be no different from the countless bodies thrown at the front lines — useful, expendable, forgettable.
"If you want to stand on your own terms… if you want to keep up with people like her…" he added, not needing to say Nephis' name, "then you don't need safety. You need to take risks."
Sunny was silent for a moment, the wind dragged across his dark armour as his thoughts churned. There was no madness in Mahoraga's voice, no reckless excitement — just unwavering certainty.
That made it worse.
His gaze remained fixated on the man, then shifted past him, idly scanning the horizons.
And then, he stilled.
"…Hey," Sunny said, his tone changing just slightly as he lifted his hand and pointed past him, squinting faintly. "What's that supposed to be?"
After a second, Sunny quietly muttered. "What is a tree doing out in the middle of nowhere."
Mahoraga followed Sunny's gaze — past the dunes, past the intense rays of sunlight and past the dozens of Nightmare Creatures huddling around there — a lone, ancient tree was rooted in the heart of the desert, its dark silhouette cutting into the horizon like a flaw in the world itself.
Mahoraga went limp.
Then, slowly… something changed.
A strange grin unconsciously spread across his face — not wide but unsettling nonetheless.
"…Finally," he said quietly, the faintest trace of satisfaction bleeding into his voice, "I've found it."
"That's what you were looking for? A tree?" Sunny asked dryly. Mahoraga turned to him, his voice finally tinged with happiness. "That and the Seed but mostly the tree."
Sunny looked at him and added, "You know no sleeper in the history of the Spell has ever conquered the Second Nightmare?"
Mahoraga's expression did not change.
"Then we shall be the exception" he said simply. "History is not a law that governs what can be — it is merely a record of what has been. There is no such thing as impossibility, only the limits accepted by those who came after."
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A/N - Extra chapter as promised. Man I'm so sleepy, it's 2:33 and I need to wake up at 7 and go to church tomorrow. If a few dialogues don't make sense it's because I wrote this chapter by pinching my arm to stay awake or something idk. I'll fix it later. I'm too tired. Ima go sleep.