1524 Bitter, Sweet
By the time Sunny woke up, it was night.
Even this place of endless dawn had a night, just like the crimson expanse of eternal dusk had one. However, nights were short and fleeting at the edges of the Great River.
Before he knew it, the sevens suns were already rising again.
The world became painted by the soft colors of the breaking dawn.
With a sigh, Sunny rubbed his eyes and sat up.
He felt… strangely great. His body was in perfect shape because of Neph's healing flames, and his mental energy had been restored with the help of the Shroud of Dusk after having a good sleep.
Nightmare had also guarded his dreams, as well as the dreams of everyone else aboard the Chain Breaker. Here in the pyramid built by the Demon of Dread, that alone was more important than one would think.
'Great…'
Nevertheless, his good mood was diminished when he remembered what had transpired in Twilight.
'I... should probably be happy, right?'
Beyond himself, even.
And he was, to an extent. Two of the most dangerous enemies there were in the Tomb of Ariel had been slain, so why wouldn't he? Finally, the end of this Nightmare did not seem so distant as to be impossible anymore. Salvation was within reach, already visible far in the distance — just like the first rays of the rising suns were, shining from beyond the horizon to break the reign of night.
But Sunny couldn't feel completely happy. That victory of theirs had been too perilous, almost turning into defeat. In fact, it should have been a defeat, if not for a couple miracles.
Other than that… he was not happy with himself, personally.
Sunny had accomplished a few astonishing feats during the battle for Twilight, true — reaching the throne room of the Serpent King's palace, lifting the curse of frozen time, resisting the authority of the Dread Lord, fighting the Defiled Saint almost to a standstill while being inhabited by madness, and even realizing the full potential of his current level of mastery over Shadow Dance.
What other Master could boast that they were not only capable of transforming themselves akin to a Saint, but were also not limited to a single static form? Turning into monstrous serpents, winged horrors, and dreadful beasts… truly, the depth of his Divine Aspect was slowly starting to put the entire hierarchy of Awakened under question.
Most of the things Sunny had done yesterday, nobody else could have accomplished. And without him there, the cohort would have undoubtedly perished.
And yet….
In the end, he had been defeated. He had been defeated by the Dread Lord, and he had been defeated by the [King's Resentment] enchantment of the Crown of Twilight. Most of all, he had been defeated by his own lack of foresight and knowledge. He was only alive by chance.
Knowing that did not feel great at all.
Sunny sighed.
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