"Sunny?" Nephis asked rather abruptly throughout the dark abyss.
"...What?"
"Do you need healing?"
"...Yes." Sunny said through gritted teeth. It was strange, being surrounded by nothing but the dark expanse of the Sky Below with Nephis. This felt like the moment in a webcomic he had read where the two protagonists would get along and progress their relationship further, even if that further was an inch.
It wasn't so graceful in reality. Sunny and Nephis had ended up at the Chained Isles. Through a roundabout series of events that Sunny found highly improbable... he had ended up falling in the Sky Below, with Nephis right by his side on a giant mimic of a chest.
'How vexing.'
For one, Sunny knew that Kai, Effie, and Cassie likely had their own problems to deal with. Until then, Nephis and Sunny were stuck here falling into this endless abyss. Their best bet was that Saint Tyris would help them out of this predicament.
Sunny, however, out of desperation, and a tiny bit of morbid curiosity, used the [???] enchantment on Weaver's Mask. What a mistake that had been, but the good news was their was general direction Sunny and Nephis could follow, the bad news being...
Sunny let out a sigh of relief as Nephis' healing flames washed over him. Not only had the battle against the Mordant Mimic taken quite the toll on him, he had also suffered more damage from using the [Broken Oath].
Sunny stared down at the Mordant Mimic's corpse, the wealth of coins within that granted him Shadow Fragments a plenty. How beautiful it was, and how useful it would be. Well, at least the wooden parts of its chest head.
"Nephis, have you heard of a game called tic-tac-toe?" Sunny asked while summoning the [Moonlight Shard].
***
"Fairing better then most this week aren't we?" Olivia asked Milo with a satisfied grin. Milo for the first time in four months, didn't have dark circles under his eyes. The only reason Milo could tell was because of the fact that his eyes didn't feel like they were weighed down by fifty pound dumbbells.
"Yeah... but I'm getting a terrible feeling, like a jinx is about to happen. It wasn't like they finally gave us a break, it was like they were just putting us on hold until they figured something out." Milo muttered, and Olivia nodded along.
"Well, better to enjoy it now while we still can. Speaking of, I think I finally managed to break down another fighting style."
Milo let out a small smirk. "That's your fifth one now is it not? You should ask to see a sparring session between two legacies, that ought to give you a real fighting style."
"It's not my fault I keep having to fight countless Nightmare Creatures, I'd like to see you respond to two different Category Two Nightmare Gates in ten hours... Never mind, you would be just fine actually." Olivia grumbled angrily.
Milo laughed softly. "I know I haven't been in any serious combat, but I'm still a Divine Aspect wielder. The first of... two, three if we're counting Sunny. I mean, it's kind of obvious now isn't it. Star and her shadow."
"Don't even get me started on that... reviving the Immortal Flame clan? I think they have an even better propaganda machine then the government."
"Well, Saint Cassia certainly works hard, doesn't she?" Milo said in a sarcastically reverent voice, getting a chuckle out of Olivia.
"Hey, at the end of the day, they're still our allies... even if we tried to kill them."
"... Let's go spar, I suddenly have a feeling we'll need it." Milo got up from the couch and began to walk to the training area in the basement."
"Agreed." Olivia followed right behind him.
Once the two entered the basement, Milo simply allowed his prosthetic to turn into a blunt two edged blade, and partially summoned the [Mobile Suit]. Olivia summoned her own short sword.
Finding his spot on the padded floor, Milo prepared himself. Olivia did the same.
Then, Olivia made the first move, dashing across the mat with a downwards slash. Milo blocked with his blade. He then dodged a punch to his face. Milo moved to retaliate with a kick but was caught off guard by a sudden snappy movement from Olivia.
'Did she just try to bite me?' Milo thought to himself, perplexed by the idea.
She continued with her aggressive assault. Milo couldn't call her sword strikes wild... truly wild at least. Sure, they seemed erratic to the untrained eye, but their was still purpose behind them besides a blind attempt at hitting Milo.
'It feels like that time, on that damn Forgotten Shore.'
That is the fighting style Olivia had broken down, that of a Nightmare Creature. Of course, at the end of the day, she couldn't truly embody one. Olivia was still human, yet she felt shockingly close to doing so.
Milo was quickly pushed onto the defensive. His blade moving to block sword swings and his body twisting to dodge the occasional hand swipe or bite.
"That's really impressive..." Milo murmured as Olivia finally backed off, her breath uneven from the effort she exerted.
"I think I'm getting better at this."
Olivia's Awakened ability was simple. She could begin to see the essence of things. Her analysis went beyond just physical detail and could see mentality. Meaning with enough time she could read someone's intentions. She mostly used this to copy combat styles, this Nightmare Creature she copied being the fifth.
There was a limit to how far she could copy it. At the end of the day, Olivia was still herself, and she couldn't change that fact no matter how much she tried to mimic someone else.
"... Let's go one more round." Olivia demanded, and Milo smiled.
"Alright, bring it. This time I'll try hitting back too."
Olivia charged forward once again, this time she was light on her feet and graceful. Like a dancer, she flawlessly combined attacks into each other. It didn't matter if Milo deflected the downwards slash or kicks she threw, she would just use that momentum to throw yet another attack.
Milo allowed his prosthetic to break apart. The prosthetic fell into countless tiny pieces, those pieces then writhed and shot forward. Spreading around Olivia and eventually wrapping around her waist.
'Constrict.'
The prosthetic constricted, effectively immobilizing her. Olivia struggled against the restraints. Then, Milo waltzed over with a grin on his face.
"Don't do it." Olivia warned, her voice had a dangerous edge to it. Still, Milo leaned down with a smug look.
"Don't do it." She repeated, and Milo... flicked her forehead with his finger.
'Return.' The prosthetic let go, returning to its rightful place on Milo.
"I hate you." Olivia murmured while standing up, hand slightly rubbing where the prosthetic was.
"I'm sure you do. That's why you chose to live with me, right?"
Olivia shook her head. "I mean, you offered. It's not like my mom cared either, she's probably off arguing with her third husband by now."
Milo couldn't help but feel pity for Olivia. Her father had died as an Awakened when a Citadel was attacked. Leaving her mom not all there.
"... I'm sorry."
"Ah, it's fine. That's her life, not mine. I'm gonna go eat some ice cream now."
Milo watched Olivia walk upstairs. He then turned and looked at the ground, scratching the back of his head.
"Gosh, I'm an idiot."
Milo then looked at the unused forge... he should make something sooner or later. As much as he loved the [Prototype], as time went on he realized that there wasn't really a point for making it his main weapon. An Awakened weapon of the first tier was incredibly mediocre, in terms of the Memories at Milo's disposal at least.
"I guess I'll gave to go and gather some sturdy materials... The Moonriver Plains should do."
Milo knew that it was close to the Hollow Mountains, along with being filled with dangerous monsters. However, dangerous monsters made for great materials.
"Olivia! I'm going to be gone for quite a bit!" Milo yelled out.
"Alright! Don't die out there!" Olivia responded. Milo climbed into his Sleeping Pod. He had a long few days ahead of him.
***
Reina stared ahead at the monster in front of her. A rather intimidating piece of rock one could say. No seriously, was this the [Ordinary Rock]'s distant cousin? The Nightmare Creature itself seemed to be made entirely of stone, with some sort of energy powering it. The energy wasn't technological, but mystical with a faint pink glow. The stone itself looked ancient and worn down.
'I can't believe I'm asking this, but are you crazy?'
It had been about a week since Reina had arrived at the Moonriver Plain. After finally having some food from that tiger, she took a moment to regather herself and her thoughts.
First things first, she inspected [Weaver's Mask] thoroughly, discovering that the [Where is my eye?] enchantment had been replaced with an enchantment called [Speak no evil]. The description went as followed.
Enchantment: [Speak no evil]
Enchantment Description: [No sound emits from the user.]
Reina had found it had lots of uses actually. With no sound coming from her, sneaking up on things was really easy. If she needed to scream from an injury, she could so without alerting every Nightmare Creature within a fifty meter radius.
Reina also got used to [Osiris' Dagger] and it's broken enchantment.
It only had one, but was it a life saver. Frankly, Reina would kiss Carmen's toes if she could.
Enchantment: [Bloodsucker]
Enchantment Description: [This Memory will drain the blood of your enemies to heal your own body.]
This was what had kept Reina alive for so long. The ability to heal was simply marvelous. Of course, it wasn't as potent or as fast as Nephis' flames, but it was enough.
That is what made Reina so nervous, she wouldn't be able to heal at all in this fight. Any injury would be kept on her.
"Meaning I have to be flawless here." Reina spoke the words, but no sound came out. At the very least, [Speak no evil] made talking to herself not a detriment.
Reina had to admit, she never expected to make it this far. When she first got summoned here, she expected to die easily. Then she survived the First Nightmare. At that point, she had a chance for survival... however, there was one thing Reina learned. Both from reading Shadow Slave and from living in it.
"Only crazy people survive here."
With that, Reina sprinted forward, jumping towards the towering golem.