Cassie's consciousness returned amid scattered sensations.
There was no gradual awakening. One moment held nothing, while the next forced a damaged fragment of thought into existence. Her mind responded as though some distant hand had pressed a switch with the last of its strength, restoring only enough power for her to recognize that she remained alive.
That recognition brought little comfort.
Her thoughts were fractured. Memories surfaced without order, collided, and disappeared before she could examine them. Even so, one certainty emerged from the confusion.
She was dying.
Cassie had always possessed senses that compensated for her blindness. Her hearing reached across astonishing distances. Her nose could distinguish blood, stone, ash, and corrupted flesh beneath the odors of the Forgotten Shores. Through touch, she perceived details others missed entirely. Even taste, despite its limited usefulness in the Dream Realm, remained unusually precise.
Those senses had protected her when sight could not.
Now, they were fading.
'Ah... so that is what happened.'
Blood had gathered beneath her body. Its metallic odor filled her nose, and some of it frothed between her lips whenever she attempted to breathe. She could feel broken stone beneath her cheek and the pressure of debris against her ruined limbs.
The blood belonged to her.
That meant Nephis was absent.
Cassie remembered the Bright Castle collapsing. She remembered the ground caving in, Nephis laid within its path, and her own mangled leg betraying her at the worst possible moment. Since Cassie could no longer pull Nephis to safety, she had thrown herself forward and pushed her away instead.
Had another person possessed the courage to act, Cassie would never have needed to move.
The bitter thought passed through her mind before shame followed it.
Her leg had already been destroyed. She should never have been able to place weight upon it, yet desperation had granted her one final attempt. Unfortunately, the limb had collapsed before she could escape the falling grounds.
It had failed her at the decisive moment.
Cassie found that appropriate…
After all, she had failed everyone else first.
She tried to breathe more deeply and nearly choked. Pain spread through her chest, revealing damage that her confused mind had previously failed to perceive. Several ribs had broken. Her spine felt wrong. One arm lay beneath her at an terrible angle, while the other had become trapped somewhere beneath the debris.
Considering the height of the fall, every injury was reasonable.
What troubled her was something else.
'Why… am I… still alive..?'
The creature responsible for the destruction could not be mistaken.
Cassie's intuition had always possessed an intimate relationship with Fate. Even now, with her body reduced to a ruin and her mind approaching death, that affinity carried an unmistakable impression.
The Disaster of the West had descended upon the Bright Castle.
The Silver Wing of the Evil Star had come for them.
It was the same terrible existence from her vision. In that dream, a small figure had consumed a heavenly wing whose radiance seemed capable of illuminating the world. The memory had haunted Cassie long before she knew what it meant.
Apparently, the creature had remained active since then.
The Crimson Terror had been attacked as well. Judging by the pressure that had shaken the castle and the streams of corrupted power that stained Cassie's fading perception, the Disaster might have devoured its fellow abominations to nourish itself.
'I see...'
Yet the creature had left her alive.
A Nightmare Creature possessed little reason to spare a human. Perhaps it had examined her shattered body and concluded that death had already claimed her. Another possibility was that something beneath the castle had frightened it away.
Cassie could not determine which answer was correct.
Therefore, she cursed it.
She cursed the creature for leaving her beneath the ruins, broken beyond salvation and conscious enough to experience what remained.
Fear rose through her.
Cassie wished the fall had killed her. She wished her thoughts had ended before the blood began pooling beneath her and before the darkness regained its old dominion.
She did not want to die alone.
'Someone... anyone...'
The plea reached no farther than her mind.
Time lost its flow. Several breaths might have passed, or perhaps an hour had gone by. Cassie had no means of judging it. Pain distorted every interval, while blood loss severed one thought from the next.
She was only human.
She was not an experienced Oracle who had endured decades within the Dream Realm. She possessed no profound wisdom with which to confront death.
She was Cassia.
A blind girl who had survived because two people protected her. During their journey across the Dark Sea, Nephis and Sunny had become the center of her brief world. Cassie had learned to trust their voices, their footsteps, and the presence of their hands whenever terror overwhelmed her.
Neither of them was here.
That truth entered her fractured mind and awakened something desperate.
Cassie's breathing grew frantic. Her body could no longer obey her, yet it still trembled beneath the debris. Tears ran down her face, mixing with the blood around her mouth as broken cries forced themselves through her throat.
The fear was familiar.
Long ago, shortly after entering the Dream Realm, she had folded her limbs against herself and waited for death. She had been helpless then, abandoned in an unfamiliar hell where any nearby abomination could tear her apart. Cassie had cried until her voice weakened, whispering assurances she did not believe because no one else was present to offer them.
Now, that same helpless girl had returned.
She was afraid.
She… she wanted to live.
She wanted someone beside her. Their identity no longer mattered. A stranger, an enemy, or a dying creature would have been enough, provided another presence remained near her when the end arrived.
Yet the ruins offered nothing.
The loneliness pressed upon her damaged mind until even imagination became cruel. Cassie attempted to picture the place where she would die, only to encounter the same darkness that had accompanied her throughout her life.
She could not grant herself a final sky.
She could not imagine the stones above her or the blood covering her body. Within her mind, there was only Cassie and an endless dark.
That made everything worse.
'Help...'
No one answered.
'Please...'
There was no one to hear her.
Her throat had already lost the strength to carry a voice.
'Why...'
The question belonged to no one and accused nothing. It passed through her mind while exhaustion drew her toward unconsciousness.
Strangely, fear and relief arrived together. The pain had begun to recede. Cassie knew what that meant, yet she welcomed it. Judging by the sensations that had reached her before numbness claimed them, bones had pierced her flesh in several places. Her face might have been ruined as well.
She had become a broken doll whose strings could no longer move it.
'Ah... haha... ah...'
Her thoughts weakened. Hearing vanished first, followed by smell. Touch retreated from her extremities and gathered around the faint pressure in her chest before disappearing as well.
Cassie was certain she had died.
…However, death did not take her.
During the final instant before consciousness vanished, something looked down at her. A presence approached through the darkness and placed a hand upon her forehead.
'Aaah...'
Warmth entered her ruined body.
Cassie could not identify the person touching her, yet that ceased to matter. Whoever had come might have been unable to save her. They might have arrived only to witness her final breath.
Still, she would not die alone.
That knowledge followed her into the dark.
—
Cassie drifted through an abyss filled with foreign memories.
Her existence had become vague. She could no longer recall what she had been before entering the darkness, what she was within it, or what might emerge if she escaped. Fragments of identity floated near her and dissolved whenever she tried to seize them.
Death remained close.
She could hear its call below the memories, issuing from a depth that contained the remains of a dead god. Something else held her above that abyss. Arms carried her through the ruins, although their shape did not resemble human flesh.
The being smelled… sweet?
Beneath that sweetness hid something dreadful.
Cassie could not tell whether her body still lay broken upon the stones or whether this stranger had lifted her and begun walking. Nevertheless, she knew the being was male. His arms were unfamiliar, and their texture belonged to another form of existence.
Before the surrounding memories pulled her away, his voice reached her.
"Rest now, child. I will see to it that you do not die here. Do not rest with us... we memories of Constellia."
Sorrow filled the voice. It possessed such depth that Cassie wanted to know what loss had created it.
She lacked the strength to ask.
'I am not strong enough...'
The boundary of the foreign memories struck her mind.
Cassie fell.
.
.
.
Instinctively, she reached toward the nearest fragment. Her consciousness shaped itself into the body contained within it, adopted its senses, and grasped the world to which it belonged.
…Then she opened her eyes.
Cassie stood inside an ornate chamber.
Marble covered the walls and floor. Delicate trinkets occupied polished shelves, while carved furniture surrounded a broad bed draped in pale cloth. Silver ornaments reflected moonlight throughout the room, and unfamiliar symbols had been engraved into nearly every surface.
She stumbled and caught herself against the wall.
The impact barely registered.
'I can see...?'
Her gaze dropped to her hands. Cassie flexed her fingers several times, examining each movement with mounting disbelief. Then she turned toward the nearest window.
Moonlight poured through it.
Cassie raised an arm to shield her eyes and froze.
She could see the light.
'Why can I see?'
A hand mirror rested upon a nearby table. Cassie crossed the room, lifted it, and stared at the face reflected in the glass.
Recognition arrived from two lives at once.
'I am... Cassia.'
Her lips moved before she became conscious of the decision.
"I am Cassia? I am... Cassia."
The name belonged to the memory.
Her own name was Cassia. She was the blind girl who had accompanied Sunny and Nephis across the Dark Sea. Changing Star had saved her from the death foretold by destiny, while Lost from Light had filled many of her bleakest days with warmth.
Yet the face in the mirror possessed blue eyes that followed every movement.
Cassie turned the glass from side to side. She touched her eyelids, moved her gaze, and watched her pupils respond. Wonder occupied her for several breaths before alarm overwhelmed it.
The chamber was unfamiliar. The garments covering her body were elaborate, and jewelry adorned her hair, throat, and wrists. Even her hair had been arranged according to another woman's preferences.
'This style does not suit me at all...'
Cassie removed the ornaments and placed them upon the table. Without their ceremonial splendor, the girl in the mirror appeared far less imposing.
Her small stature would have defeated the attempt regardless.
'Shush.'
She paced across the room while trying to organize what she knew.
Her body had fallen beneath the Bright Castle. Someone had found her. Afterward, she had entered an ocean of foreign memories and awakened inside one of them.
A dream remained the most reasonable explanation.
Cassie had seen through visions before. Those experiences, however, never allowed her to inhabit a body with such clarity. She could feel the marble beneath her feet, smell the oils burning in the room, and perceive the pressure of cloth against her skin.
'This may still be a dream. It merely follows unfamiliar rules.'
The possibility offered little guidance.
A white door stood at the far end of the chamber. Numerous symbols covered its surface, while a grand handle waited at the center. Cassie approached and placed her trembling hand upon it.
Unknown territory lay beyond.
She hesitated.
'I have nowhere else to go…'
Cassie turned the handle—
The memory rejected her.
The chamber disappeared, and her consciousness was hurled through darkness with enough force to tear a cry from her.
"Milady! I was not expecting you today."
'Whose voice was that?'
Pain pierced Cassie's mind before an answer could arrive. It spread from her eyes and drove through her skull, extinguishing the borrowed sight. She writhed within the ocean of memories, unable to determine where her body ended and the surrounding darkness began.
'Argh!'
Another memory drifted near her.
Cassie seized it.
.
.
.
Her feet touched stone.
She stood in an empty street beneath a sky crowded with stars. After regaining control of the borrowed body, she raised her head and forgot her fear.
'So many stars... beautiful...'
Constellations stretched across the heavens. Blue stars burned near crimson ones, while orange radiance formed paths between distant clusters. The sky seemed to contain every color the soul could produce.
Cassie perceived traces of divinity among them.
Death occupied one constellation. War burned within another. Moon and Sun existed apart, while Soul and Disaster shaped patterns that defied mortal astronomy.
The knowledge belonged to the memory.
"Constellia, the City of Heaven."
"Constellia, home of the free."
A realm of mystics that would become the land of the…
The thought broke.
Cassie froze as the stars began to vanish.
One after another, their light was extinguished. The foreign memory trembled around her, and a crimson influence spread through its structure. Something else had entered the dream.
A desperate voice reached her.
"Run, child! I am unable to keep him at bay!"
'Who?'
Cassie turned in every direction.
The town square had changed. A grand fountain once occupied its center, erected in reverence to Storm God.
Now, blood poured from its shattered basin.
Bodies covered the stones. Crimson blood mixed with gold, filling the ruined square with a sacred stench that made Cassie recoil.
"A-ah... no..."
A figure knelt among the corpses.
It held an indistinct object in its hands. Cassie could not perceive what it was. Whenever she attempted to focus upon it, a terrible darkness pressed against her soul.
She looked away.
Yet, the memory forced her gaze back.
A crushing sound spread through the square as the kneeling figure devoured the heavenly wing from Cassie's vision.
The person had once worn a flowing ghagra. Blond hair framed an ambiguous face of extraordinary beauty, while golden eyes shone beneath a broken crown.
That human form began to disappear.
Flesh calcified across the figure's body, producing a paste-white shell. Its face dissolved beneath a featureless mask, and the expanding armor formed a monolithic exterior around the abomination concealed within.
Two additional arms tore themselves from its back. Bloodied feathers followed them.
The flesh beneath the shell darkened. Crimson and gold blood poured from every opening, winding around the body as feathers gathered into deformed wings. Pressure mounted beneath the armor until the white surface fractured and peeled away.
A malformed creature emerged.
Molten heavenly power pulsed through its body. Its proportions expanded beyond anything human, while the last traces of its former beauty became decorations upon a cataclysmic form.
A term entered Cassie's mind.
'Corrupted Nephilim.'
Such a creature should have been impossible.
Therefore, it belonged among Myths, beside the Corrupted Shadows whose existence defied the order of the world. They were Mythical Creatures.
'How do I know that?'
Someone seized Cassie and twisted space.
The Nephilim's attack passed through the place where she had stood. Her rescuer crossed the square in a single movement, carrying her beyond the reach of the collapsing world.
"You wretched Blight? Would you taint this innocent child as well?"
Cassie looked up.
The man wore pale armor whose surface resembled frost carved from moonlit stone. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and powerful. Alabaster skin framed piercing crimson eyes filled with betrayal. Beneath that anguish resided the authority of a tyrant.
He was the owner of the sorrowful voice.
The Supreme glared at the Mythical Creature.
Its faceless head split apart.
Teeth emerged from the opening and continued growing until the smile appeared to stretch into the air itself. Laughter filled the ruined square, carrying the same horror Cassie had spent the past week trying to forget.
Her stomach convulsed.
When the creature spoke, several voices overlapped. One belonged to a Nephilim. Another retained the remnants of a human. The third had no origin Cassie could recognize.
Its words pressed against her spirit, promising peace through surrender.
"My Blight? Come now, Father... perhaps I should call you my king. My lord? The Supreme of this land of mystics? Ah, what are you again? Yes! The Supreme of Nothing!"
The creature laughed again.
Horror entered the Supreme's face.
"'F-father?' Do not speak such lies. You are not..."
His crimson eyes changed.
Whatever power they possessed had revealed the creature's true nature. The Supreme's arms weakened, and Cassie slipped from his grasp.
She struck the ground.
The stones opened beneath her, casting her into the abyss as the memory collapsed. Voices followed her descent.
"Milord! You cannot continue! There is too little flame remaining within you!"
"Then I will burn my soul until it is enough! This red Blight be damned!"
'Sunny... and...?'
Cassie recognized the second voice.
Joy entered her despite the pain. Sunny was alive. Furthermore, he was close enough for his voice to reach whatever dream had imprisoned her.
Her relief lasted only a moment.
A freezing presence spread through her body. Another force opposed it, raging within her consciousness as though suffering unbearable agony. Neither belonged to Cassie.
The conflict pushed her into another memory.
A fragment shaped like a storm of crimson lightning opened beneath her.
Cassie fell into it.
.
.
.
A ruined city descended from the heavens.
Cassie stood above it, yet the body belonged to Esdras, Leader of the Anointed Legion and Heir of Peace. Through his eyes, she watched towers collapse and districts tear themselves apart while screams rose from the streets.
The curse had reached nearly everyone…
Soldiers who once guarded the royal family had become abominations that spread war through the city they swore to protect. Priests of Soul and Guidance had suffered similar transformations. Their blessings now served the corruption consuming Constellia.
Esdras, though, had been born with the Blood of Death.
He was among the few blessed by Shadow God, yet he had abandoned the Realm of Shadows long ago. During his youth, he ascended through the Underworld while protecting his sister, Perpetva, whose soul had not been chosen to unite with Shadow.
Scars covered him by the time they escaped.
As a young man, Esdras reached the Land of Mystics. Its King carried the Blood of the Sun, while its Queen bore the Blood of the Moon. Divine descendants existed throughout their realm with a frequency that should have been impossible.
Esdras had cared little for that mystery, though.
The King extended a hand, and he accepted it. From then onward, Esdras became the royal blade. His hands carried death toward the enemies of Constellia, provided Perpetva remained protected within its walls.
Later, he severed his remaining ties to Shadow God and assumed command of the Anointed Legion. The legion belonged to War, while Esdras belonged to Shadow. Life and Death stood in opposition, yet Constellia had once welcomed such contradictions.
The world contained within this memory came from an earlier age.
Perpetva had yet to rise as her brother's equal. The Prince of Constellia had yet to commit his betrayal. Blood had not flooded the streets, and the priests had not become creatures condemned by their own scripture.
Most importantly, the Miracle had yet to descend into the Mortal Realm.
Its whispers had yet to infest the royal family.
Esdras turned from the falling city. Cursed radiance spilled from the heavens, illuminating a tainted heart that continued beating above the distant ruins.
A Great Terror struggled upon the altar before him.
The creature exerted its Will, attempting to crush Esdras through Devotion. Unfortunately for it, the power had been borrowed from the heavenly being above the city.
Esdras possessed a Will of Inevitability.
Although he had fled the Realm of Shadows, he remained a Shadow Slave. The dying Terror could not overcome the certainty embedded within his existence.
Esdras raised the greatsword bestowed upon him by the King. It had been forged to defend the royal family, the people, and the land itself.
The blade descended.
It tore through the Great Terror and delivered its corruption into death's embrace. Blood washed across Esdras's hands, then transformed into darkness before it could stain the floor.
He would not permit its lifeforce to defile these sacred halls.
This was the Church of the Mother of Mothers. It might also be the final place where a priestly ritual could still carry his plea toward the gods.
Esdras's body had been ruined by battle. His Shadow bore grievous wounds. His mind had fractured, while his soul contained enough damage to kill an ordinary Transcendent many times over.
Being a Shadow Slave allowed him to resist "death," but it could not preserve him forever.
"Not yet..."
Esdras exhaled and opened his eyes.
Through Shadow Sense, he perceived the immense presence approaching the church. He would die soon. Even the King seemed incapable of contending with the angelic abomination.
Accordingly, Esdras continued forward.
He reached the pale altar and placed one hand upon it. Blood stained the sacred stone before dissolving into pure shadow.
…A bitter smile appeared upon his damaged face.
"Still insufficient... Have I lost that much Divinity?"
The answer was apparent.
The Curse of Devotion had begun overtaking him. As it advanced, the remnants of his Divinity faded. The Miracle had finally turned its gracious malice upon him.
Weariness entered Esdras.
He had fought for years. In truth, the struggle had begun long before he ever drew the King's sword. When the Miracle deliberately descended upon Constellia, Esdras had recognized it as an omen of horror and unrepentant agony.
A higher being had called itself a Wandering Spirit. It claimed the title of Sacred and presented its arrival as a blessing.
And now five years later, the realm drowned in madness.
The Prince had fallen first…
Esdras laughed.
The sound emerged hoarse from his ruined throat as his legs failed. His back struck the altar, and blood ran down its steps. Even then, one hand remained wrapped around the greatsword embedded in the floor.
Stabbing a weapon into the church's sacred stone constituted blasphemy.
Esdras found the concern amusing. The priests had become everything they once condemned. Their church was already a monument to sacrilege and deserved to be erased before another desperate fool attempted to call upon a god.
The Mythical Creature entered through the grand doors.
"…I see you have come to finish me. Tell me, Nephilim, did the Death within me frighten you enough to send that Vassal first? Such cowardice ill suits a heavenly creature."
The Nephilim approached slowly.
Its head possessed two abyssal eyes without pupils. A foaming mouth formed beneath them, spilling gold blood as it divided the featureless face.
"Kill you? By the Miracle, of course I will not! Esdras, O my dear Esdras, your devotion is too precious to waste. Fear nothing, lost one. I have come to-"
Esdras spat upon its face—
One of the creature's hands moved.
The strike tore away much of his jaw. Teeth and muscle painted the nearby wall, while strips of flesh slid from his neck and gathered upon his chest.
Esdras continued laughing.
His voice emerged from one of the five shadows surrounding him.
"Oh my! What happened!? Did I anger you? How pitiful. Is that all the provocation required to fracture your mask? I recall that you named yourself the salvation of this world."
The Nephilim's neck twisted. It lengthened into the form of a serpent, while one hand pierced Esdras's chest and pinned him against the altar.
"I am Salvation! I am! Only I can carry the desires of all beings beyond the Dream! Fate has decided our end, so why do you continue resisting me?"
The Curse of Devotion entered Esdras in full.
Corruption flowed toward his Shadow Cores. His remaining life would soon belong to the Nephilim.
That outcome did not matter.
The Wrapped Agony was gone. Esdras had entrusted the relic created by the King to another person before entering the church.
'Surely… Cedric will reach that place...'
The Nephilim's voice entered his soul.
"Before you lose the gift of speech, tell me what you have done with those wrappings. Please, O please, speak! It would be dreadful for another creature to inherit such heresy."
Esdras manifested an arm from shadow and formed an insulting gesture.
"Rot in the Realm of the Dead, abhorrent parasite. May you never reach the fields of-"
The memory expelled Cassie.
She returned to herself before Esdras succumbed to corruption. Her soul could no longer bear the pressure. Even from that brief contact, Cassie perceived that the Curse of Devotion differed from the corruption afflicting the abominations of the Dream Realm.
She had little opportunity to consider the distinction.
Cassie was sinking through the ocean of memories.
This descent carried her toward an otherworldly Blight. Countless eyes covered its body, while wings unfolded from every section of its otherworldly form. Crimson radiance spread from it, seeping into the memories around her.
'NO! HELP ME! DON'T LET IT DEFILE ME! IT'LL VIOLATE ME-'
The Blight desired union.
Every form of guilt, repentance, mourning, and spiritual agony sought tangible existence through Cassie's body. The creature wished to bless her and curse her within the same embrace. It offered tenderness while preparing violation, extending comfort through mouths that wanted to consume her.
Another presence stood between them.
A blurry figure of complete darkness pressed both hands against the advancing Blight. Rage poured from it. Neither existence belonged within Cassie's memories, yet they fought for dominion over her dying soul.
However, crimson Will proved stronger. The Shadow was expelled and winged being descended upon Cassie.
'Help.'
Thousands of mouths opened across its wings.
'Help...'
The feathers transformed into hands. Their fingers rushed toward her, eager to sink into her fragile body.
'Help...'
Its eyes stretched from the crimson mass and approached her face. Each one promised a form of sight no mortal soul should possess.
'Help... please... Sunny, anyone, help!'
The hands reached her…
.
.
.
「 Enough. 」
A tremendous metallic clang crossed the ocean of memories.
Someone caught Cassie from behind and pulled her away. Air entered her lungs. The crushing pressure vanished, allowing her to hear and see once more.
Another pair of arms drew her close.
An arm covered in black and white radiance pierced the Blight. Shadows and light divided into countless lines, impaling its wings, eyes, and mouths at once.
"A-ah..."
Cassie began to cry.
A woman she did not recognize stood near her. She possessed such beauty that Cassie briefly wondered whether any human could compare.
Then Cassie saw… him.
Sunny held her with his left arm, allowing her head to rest against his shoulder. His right hand controlled the threads of darkness and radiance tearing through the Blight.
Cassie stared at his face for a long, long while.
She had longed to see him for months. Now, even the approaching horror could not draw her gaze away.
She pulled herself closer, accidentally dragging the unfamiliar woman with her.
"S-Sunny... you came for me..."
His voice reached her for the first time in two months.
The woman spoke first, though.
"M-milord... is that a..."
Sunny clenched his teeth and closed his palm.
Several parts of the Blight ruptured, releasing black blood and clouds of crimson power into the dark ocean.
「 It isn't a Nephilim at all, no. However, this Blight has been suppressing my Soul Flame, and it carries the characteristics of an Angel's Curse. 」
Sunny's eyes deepened until their darkness seemed capable of consuming the surrounding dream. Golden divinity appeared within them, while hatred distorted his expression enough to frighten Cassie.
「 However, this thing isn't even close to an Angel, either. Its Rank may tower above mine, yet I stole this uniqueness long ago. Because of that... 」
A blade formed within Sunny's right hand as he immediately swung upward.
The Blight's body came apart. Wings, eyes, and mouths collapsed into mangled flesh as the force of his Will tore through its existence.
「 Dreams and Nightmares belong to my Authority as well. 」
The Crimson Blight screamed.
Then it vanished.
…Cassie felt herself waking.
Coldness spread through her body as the dream released her. Her physical senses returned, and wounds that should have killed her began closing within seconds.
'Wait... a little longer-'
Time did not heed her plea.
Soon, sight would be taken from her again.
Cassie turned toward Sunny and the woman. She studied their faces with desperate concentration, engraving every detail into her memory. She attempted to speak Sunny's name, yet the ocean had already begun to fade.
The final thing she saw was his relieved smile, and the blinding smile of the woman as well.
—
Sunny encountered resistance when he attempted to heal Cassie with Soul Flame.
The obstruction seemed insurmountable at first. His flame entered her ruined body, closed several lesser wounds, then faltered against the marks upon her chest and leg.
Saint warned him about his Flaw repeatedly, yet Sunny ignored her.
His thoughts had already become distorted, yet preserving his mind held little importance while Cassie lay before him. He would accept whatever damage followed if his Soul Flame could keep her alive.
His refusal to stop eventually revealed the source of the problem.
The two marks emitted a Blight.
Sunny recognized its nature because he carried Deathblight. Such afflictions could not be defeated by treating their manifestations. Their source had to be reached and destroyed directly.
To accomplish that, a part of Sunny needed to enter Cassie.
'Here goes nothing.'
He unleashed his innate ability and bestowed his Blessing upon her.
[Black Sun].
Sunny did not know what consequences the Innate Ability might produce. He hadn't been conscious when Abaddon created his Aspects and their powers. Nevertheless, the Blessing formed a profound connection between him and Cassie.
It remained insufficient.
[Shadow's Grace] granted his subjects a Divine Shadow and access to his Dormant Ability. Cassie's Blight had occupied her body for too long, however. Its roots extended beyond the reach of his external power.
She continued to die.
The Noble Creature preserved her through its presence. Sunny had confirmed that the being was a Phoenix. The Will of a Supreme Shadow had also entered Cassie and opposed the Blight from within.
Those two forces had delayed her death, yet could not save her.
Saint studied Cassie's Shadow while forcing herself to remain calm. Unlike Sunny, she retained enough clarity to notice that Cassie's body was unconscious while her mind remained active.
"What if you weave your Shadow into hers? Join them briefly, then enter her dream."
Sunny stared at Cassie.
Fear and his Flaw had concealed the answer from him. Saint's suggestion pierced both.
He acted at once.
Saint placed a hand upon him because she knew what would follow.
Golden threads appeared within one of Sunny's Shadows. Inside his Soul Sea, they wrapped around his Devil Core, then extended outward and pierced Cassie's Shadow.
At the same time, Sunny unleashed [Dreamwalker] and pulled Saint with him. Their consciousness descended into Cassie's dream as the Shadows became one.
Sunny suspected [Dyad of Shadow] would temporarily appear among Cassie's Attributes. She was not one of his Shadows, yet the Blessing of his Devil Core had reached her. She had also become his subject.
Provided Cassie retained the mark of shadows, some remnant of [Dyad of Shadow] might survive after the union ended.
That problem belonged to the future, though. Sunny and Saint plunged into an ocean of memories, though neither expected such a place.
Regardless of it all, they found Cassie.
Saint's expression changed the instant she perceived the presence pursuing her. Her body recoiled before she could suppress the response.
Fear was reasonable before a heavenly being.
However… Sunny felt only fury.
He had killed Angels. He had slain an Archangel. He had even confronted an Avatar of the Forgotten God and emerged victorious.
The thing reaching for Cassie may have possessed power beyond his current Rank. But within the world of consciousness, Rank ceased to decide anything.
Sunny had stolen a uniqueness belonging to the Forgotten God in the final Worldline. Its influence remained limited throughout the material world, yet Dreams offered an environment where his Authority could unfold.
Inside them, his Will reached the level of a Supreme.
In reality, that same Will amounted to almost nothing.
Cassie's Shadow could remain joined to his for only a brief period. Corruption existed within Sunny's soul, making a prolonged union dangerous. As such, he used every instant available to him.
Sunny imposed Death upon the Crimson Blight. It only lasted moments before it ceased to exist.
Moments later, the dream released them.
Sunny awoke with both hands pressed against the crimson mark at the center of Cassie's chest. His mind had borne an Authority while possessing the limitations of a Dormant Devil.
The burden exceeded what it could endure.
He collapsed.
Saint caught him with one arm before his head struck the ground. She looked down at him, then released a weary breath.
"Reckless..."
Something touched her free arm.
Saint turned and smiled. Of course, Cassie's eyes were opened. They stared without focus while her hands searched blindly for the nearby movement. Her voice emerged weakly.
"S-Sunny? A-Are you there?"
Saint took Cassie's hand. The blind girl flinched at the unfamiliar contact.
"Lady Cassia, Milord has fallen asleep. He exhausted too much Essence and Life. His Mind has suffered as well, but don't worry — he's merely asleep."
Cassie's relief disappeared. Panic entered her face as both hands searched the air.
"W-what? Where is he-"
Saint moved Sunny closer.
Cassie's fingers touched his clothes. They traveled across his chest and shoulder, confirming the familiar shape before wrapping around him.
For a time, the chamber became quiet.
Saint watched them and felt that she was witnessing the reunion of two people precious to each other. The sight brought an unexpected fulfillment.
'It is only natural.'
For a long while now, she had wondered how she would react upon meeting Cassie in this Worldline.
The woman from the previous one had betrayed her lord. Her actions turned Sunny into a Slave and condemned him to years of suffering. His desperate pursuit of freedom eventually caused the world to forget him.
The years after that had left wounds Saint could never forget, or forgive.
Yet the girl holding Sunny had committed none of those acts.
This Cassie had not planned to abandon him upon the Forgotten Shores. She had not arranged the release of the Prince of Nothing. She had not driven Sunny to break Fate and vanish from every memory.
She was Cassie.
A frightened blind girl who was only one year younger than Saint. Had they met at the academy under ordinary circumstances, Saint could imagine becoming her friend.
Cassie's shoulders began to shake.
She held Sunny's unconscious body while tears crossed her face. Broken words escaped her, carrying months of fear and relief that could no longer remain contained.
"S-Sunny..."
Saint drew both of them into her arms and gently ran a hand through Cassie's hair.
The girl continued crying.
Her tears carried joy.
Saint smiled.
They had saved Cassie.
And she would not condemn this suffering child for the sins of someone born in a forgotten world that no longer existed.