Things moved quickly after Tessai's death, without his leadership the guards fell into chaos, many surrendered and those who did not were surrounded and killed with the help of Seishan and her handmaidens.
The Hunters and the Artisans quickly retreated from the hall and barricaded themselves in one of the towers of the castle.
The rest of the day was spent cleaning up the bodies and moving people from the slums into the Bright Castle.
By the time everything was sorted, it was late evening.
Nephis and Sunny were in the Bright Lord's chambers, observing as Gunlaug's private stash of soul shards was being removed so they could be distributed tomorrow.
Seeing the last of the helpers leave, Nephis let her composure drop a bit as she rolled her shoulders.
Closing the door, Sunny turned to her.
"Feeling a bit tense?"
"Mm, it's been a long day."
She rolled her neck, a faint crack sounding in the room.
Sunny hesitated a bit.
"...I can give you a massage, if you want."
She quirked a brow with a bit of amusement.
"Do you even know how to give a massage?"
Sunny shrugged.
"No, but how hard could it possibly be?"
Nephis paused for a moment before nodding her assent.
"Alright, we can give it a try."
***
Sunny was in the middle of the greatest trial of his life.
'This… this is absolute torture! Why did I say that? Why did I think this was a good idea? I'm an idiot. A doomed idiot.'
Nephis lay beneath him on the bed, her hair spilling over the sheets. Every time he pressed his hands into her shoulders, she let out soft, breathy sighs that made his brain short‑circuit.
"Ahh, Sunny… That feels… really good."
Nephis purred as he worked.
Sunny did not reply, he was far too busy trying to maintain what little remained of his sanity.
***
Seishan was walking through the corridors of the Bright Castle, two handmaidens flanking her a step behind.
She had matters to discuss with Changing Star, and last she heard she was in the Bright Lord's quarters.
Raising her hand to knock.
Then froze.
"Ahh, Sunny."
Seishan's eyes widened, she never would have guessed the stoic Changing Star could sound so… sensual.
She turned back to her handmaidens, their eyes even wider than her own.
Ceres wore a knowing smirk, while Felise was blushing furiously.
Her blush only grew as more sounds were heard through the door.
"Feels… good."
Seishan cleared her throat.
"Perhaps we should come back another time."
She said quietly as she returned the way she came, her handmaidens following behind her.
***
Nephis woke to something warm and damp on her neck.
Slowly opening her eyes, the first thing she noticed was that it was still dark.
She must have fallen asleep during Sunny's heavenly massage.
'How was he so good at that? Did he… practice on someone else?'
The thought made her a bit jealous, but then she remembered Sunny's flaw and that fact he said he didn't know how to give massages before, and the feeling faded.
The second thing she noticed was that Sunny and herself were in each other's arms.
A blush bloomed on her face and neck.
'Sunny must have been tired as well.'
She could imagine it all too well, Sunny passing out the moment the massage was done.
'This isn't bad.'
She tightened her arms around him just a little.
The third thing she noticed was that Sunny's mouth was on her neck.
'That… tickles.'
She thought as he shifted slightly, murmuring something in his sleep.
"...oul …uit…"
'He must be dreaming of food… Am I really that tasty?'
An amused smile shone on her face as she had that thought and drifted back to sleep.
***
The next morning, Nephis and Sunny entered the dining hall and sat with the cohort, minus Caster. They ate quietly, listening to Effie ramble through a mouthful of food
"I'm telling you, that rumor is just a bunch of rubbish, those two are way too dense to do anythi–"
Talking with her mouthful, Effie started to sputter as she looked at Nephis and Sunny, who had been suspiciously flushed and silent this morning now that Nephis thought of it.
'Is he feeling well?'
She hoped he wasn't sick, turning to the slack-jawed Effie, she asked.
"What are you guys talking about?"
Effie opened her mouth, then closed it again.
Cassie spoke instead, smiling faintly
"Oh, we were just talking about what the handmaidens have been gossiping about. They're spreading a rumor that you and Sunny slept with each other last night."
The blind seer said with a small laugh.
Nephis blinked.
"But we did, though."
Cassie froze.
Effie dropped her spoon.
Kai did a spit take.
Sunny buried his face in his hands.
Nephis tilted her head, confused.
Why was everyone acting so strangely? They had slept together. Literally. In the same bed. That was what the words meant.
Wasn't it?
Recovering, Effie grinned wickedly
"Well, well, consider me impressed, Princess. Didn't think either of you had it in you. Explains the hickey on your neck, too."
"Hickey?"
Nephis touched her neck, the exact spot Sunny's mouth had been.
Sunny tried to intervene.
"Neph–"
Effie interrupted him.
"Mmhmm, quite an impressive one too, tell me, is Doofus any good with his hands?"
The huntress said wiggling her eyebrows.
"Neph–!"
Sunny tried again.
"He's very good."
She said honestly.
"I actually passed out whe–mmph!?"
"Nephis! For the love of all that is holy, please be quiet!"
Sunny hissed loudly as he slapped a hand over her mouth
Nephis looked around the table, the entire cohort was red, even Effie looked a bit flustered as she scratched her cheek.
"Uhh… wow, princess, I know I asked, but I didn't think you'd be so forthcoming. At least tell me you used protection."
Nephis blinked and pulled Sunny's hand off her mouth.
"Protection?"
At her words, Effie and Cassie turned to look at each other, panic starting to form on their faces.
"Alright! Emergency! You two need The Talk! Come on Effie!"
Cassie almost shouted as she and Effie pulled Nephis away.
"Kai! You handle Sunny!"
Effie shouted over her shoulder.
Sunny, stunned, turned to Kai.
"What the hell are they going on about?"
Clearing his throat and looking like he would rather be anywhere else, Kai spoke.
"Well, Sunny, when a man and a woman love each other very much…"
***
"So you two really didn't do it?"
"Yes! How many times do I have to repeat myself!? You can detect lies Kai! Why do you keep asking me?"
Sunny exclaimed for what felt like the umpteenth time to Kai's incessant questioning.
"Hmm, if you say so… Oh, look, there are the girls."
Sunny turned, relieved at the change in topic.
Raising his hand in greeting, he locked eyes with Nephis.
She froze. Her face turned scarlet. Then she spun around and power‑walked away like the floor was on fire.
"Wh– What the hell?"
Sunny stared after her, baffled, while Effie grinned like a wolf and Cassie facepalmed.
***
It had taken a few days, and the promise of sparring, for Sunny and Nephis to settle back into something resembling normal.
Having just finished their warm-up routines, they were facing each other in a sparring ring.
Nephis rolled her shoulders, white hair tied in a ponytail, exposing the nape of her neck… Sunny tried not to stare.
Tried.
His traitorous gaze drifted to the curve of her slim neck. Nephis noticed. Her eyes widened just slightly, and a faint flush crept up her cheeks.
Well… they were mostly back to normal.
Sunny tore his attention away, forcing his stance to settle.
"Ready?"
Nephis nodded, expression smoothing into calm focus.
"Always."
They clashed.
Steel rang against steel, shadows twisting around Sunny as he moved. Nephis met him with fluid precision, her blade a streak of silver. Their movements were familiar, but today something felt different.
Sunny felt it the moment he slipped into the rhythm of Shadow Dance.
The world narrowed, his body moved with a clarity he had been chasing for weeks. Every shift of weight, every breath, every flicker of Nephis's sword, he saw it all.
He was close. Right on the edge of something.
Nephis lunged.
Sunny pivoted, his body flowing, instinct and technique merging until…
The spell spoke.
[Your Aspect Legacy mastery level has increased.]
[You have received the right to claim a Legacy Relic.]
Sunny froze mid‑step, nearly getting clipped by Nephis's blade. She halted instantly, eyes widening.
"Sunny?"
He blinked, then laughed, breathless and disbelieving.
"I… I think I did it."
They sat on the ground side by side, sweat cooling on their skin. Sunny couldn't stop smiling. Nephis watched him with a small, quiet smile of her own,
He summoned his runes.
Aspect Legacy: [Shadow Dance].
Shadow Dance Mastery Level: [1/7].
First Relic: [Claim].
Second Relic: Unearned…
Third Relic: Unearned…
Holding his breath, Sunny focused on the first relic.
"Claim."
The symbols flared with brilliant light, rearranging themselves.
First Relic: Claimed.
And a moment later, the Spell spoke softly into his ear:
[You have received an Aspect Legacy Relic.]
[You have received a Shadow: Soul Serpent.]
Sunny blinked.
'A Shadow…?'
He summoned it immediately.
Then…
Nothing happened.
"...Huh?"
He looked around the room, confused.
"What the hell? Where is the damn snake?"
"Snake?"
Nephis, who had been patiently waiting, asked him.
"Yeah. The Spell said I got a new shadow called Soul Serpent. But when I summoned it, nothing happened."
Nephis frowned, then, without warning, she reached out and took his wrist.
Sunny nearly choked.
"Wha? Neph?"
Sunny flushed slightly.
Was she… comforting him? Examining him? Grabbing him for no reason? His brain short‑circuited trying to decide.
She tugged his sleeve up, revealing a patch of black ink on his skin.
Sunny froze.
Nephis brushed her fingers lightly over the mark. "Here."
Dismissing the upper layer of the Puppeteer's Shroud, Sunny stared.
A tattoo of a black serpent, its tail resting above his left wrist, its head above his right. Its body wound up his arms, across his chest, over his back.
Sunny swallowed. "Oh. That's… new."
He summoned the serpents runes
Shadow: [Soul Serpent].
Shadow Rank: Dormant.
Shadow Class: Devil.
Shadow Attributes: [Shadow Guide], [Soul Weapon].
Shadow Description: [When the end came, Shadow was the last of the gods to be destroyed. Many have resented him for creating death, but in the end, death embraced all.]
[Shadow Guide] Attribute Description: "Soul Serpent guides shadow essence as it flows through your body."
[Soul Weapon] Attribute Description: "Soul Serpent can assume the form of a weapon."
Sunny stared at the runes, then at the tattoo, then at Nephis.
"…Okay. That's actually pretty cool."
Nephis's lips curved slightly. "It suits you."
Sunny wasn't sure if she meant the serpent… or the way it wrapped around him.
Either way, he wasn't complaining.
***
After a week of barricading themselves in a tower, the Hunters and Artisans finally decided to surrender to Nephis. Hunger, fear, and the uncertainty of it all had worn them down until resistance felt more dangerous than submission.
With the situation stabilized and responsibilities distributed among his people, Gemma finally allowed himself a moment to breathe.
He made his way to the chamber that had become the exclusive training room of Changing Star and her rumored lover.
A man said to be the second‑strongest Sleeper on the Forgotten Shore.
Gemma paused outside the heavy door, feeling the faint tremor of movement from within. He knocked.
"Enter."
The voice was calm, almost bored. Gemma pushed the door open.
Opening the door, Gemma was greeted by a shirtless man of average height with a snake tattoo running across his arms and torso swinging a black odachi with serpent motifs in an elegant dance-like style.
Gemma blinked. From Kido's description, he had expected a hulking brute, a monster of a man straight from a nightmare.
Instead, the figure before him was… deceptively ordinary. Until Gemma saw his eyes, those eyes were not the eyes of a warrior, but the eyes of a killer. What kind of life had he lived to get eyes like that so young?
The man, Sunless, or Sunny as he seemed to prefer, finished his dance-like kata and let the odachi come to rest against his shoulder, looking at Gemma assessingly.
"Can I help you?" He asked.
Gemma cleared his throat, feeling like the walls were closing in on him when Sunny turned his attention to him.
"I wanted to thank you, for saving Kido from the guards. So… Thank you, I don't know what I would have done if something happened to her."
Gemma answered with a slight bow of his head.
Sunny studied him for a long moment with an unreadable expression. Not coldly, just thoughtful, as though weighing Gemma's words against some internal scale.
"Well," Sunny said at last, "if you want to thank me, how about a spar?"
Gemma lifted his head, one brow arching.
"A spar? If the rumors are correct, someone as strong as you won't be able to learn much from me."
Sunny scoffed softly, shifting the blade on his shoulder.
"Most of that strength is due to my Aspect. Raw power isn't the same as skill."
His gaze sharpened, a faint spark of interest flickering there.
"Neph is busy these days, and I need variety in my opponents. Who better than the leader of the Hunters to test me?"
Gemma hesitated. Sunny wasn't boasting, if anything, he sounded almost… earnest.
But there was something else beneath the request. A hunger. As though the dance he'd been performing moments ago had only been a warm‑up, and he was searching for something to sharpen himself against.
Gemma exhaled slowly. "If that's what you want… then I suppose I can oblige."
Sunny's lips curved, not quite a smile, but close enough to be unsettling.
"Good," he said. "Let's see what you can do."
Gemma stepped onto the training floor, rolling his shoulders as he adjusted his grip on the blade he'd chosen.
Sunny watched him with quiet interest, the odachi resting loosely in one hand.
"Ready?" Sunny asked.
Gemma nodded.
Sunny moved first, a testing swipe, a half‑step forward, a shift of weight. Gemma parried easily.
Another strike came, then another, each one smooth but lacking commitment.
He's feeling me out, Gemma noted.
So Gemma gave him something to feel.
He stepped in sharply, catching Sunny's blade on the inside and twisting. Sunny's eyes widened a fraction as Gemma's elbow shot forward, forcing him to retreat.
Gemma pressed the advantage, driving him back with a flurry of precise, efficient strikes.
Sunny's foot slid, just slightly, and Gemma seized the opening. His blade came down in a controlled arc, stopping just short of Sunny's collarbone.
Sunny froze.
Gemma allowed himself a small breath of satisfaction. "Point."
Sunny blinked, then let out a quiet, amused exhale. "Interesting."
They reset.
This time, Sunny didn't probe. He watched, really watched. His eyes tracked Gemma's stance, the angle of his hips, the way he shifted weight before committing to a strike, and most importantly, his shadow.
Then Sunny moved.
The change was immediate. His attacks came faster, sharper, each one angled to exploit the tiny habits Gemma didn't even know he had, a slight hitch in his left wrist, a tendency to guard high after a feint.
Sunny mirrored Gemma's earlier sequence, then improved it.
Gemma blocked the first two strikes. The third slipped past his guard and tapped his ribs.
"Point," Sunny said.
Gemma gritted his teeth. "Again."
They clashed, steel rang, footsteps scuffed across stone. Gemma tried to vary his rhythm, to break the patterns Sunny had begun to read, but Sunny adapted faster.
It was like fighting a mirror that learned.
Gemma lunged low. Sunny pivoted, catching the blade with the flat of his odachi and redirecting it effortlessly.
Gemma stumbled a half‑step, and Sunny was already there, the tip of his sword resting lightly against Gemma's throat.
"Point," Sunny murmured.
Gemma exhaled, chest heaving. "You're… frighteningly quick at this."
Gemma straightened, wiping sweat from his brow. Despite the loss, he felt no shame, only a simmering respect.
Sunny tilted his head. "Again?"
Gemma let out a breath that was half‑laugh, half‑groan. "You're insatiable."
Sunny's lips curved. "I prefer 'motivated.'"
***
A/N: Hi all, sorry for the delay but I'm back at work so I'll likely only be able to get out 1 chapter a week from now on.
Anyway, I was planning on including more POVs this chapter but I got a bit carried away with the sunphis moments... I'll include the POVs in the next chapter. Speaking on POVs let me know how I did with Gemma and how he viewed Sunny. Any other feedback is appreciated as always too.