In the ravine of the forgotten shore were the sleepers, tired and scratched up from their escape from the unit of scavengers. The four of them were certain of the imminent demise.
After all, sleepers should have stood no chance against a multitude of awakened beasts, no matter how injured.
All until the ear-shattering roar crashed into the sand in front of them.
They couldn't believe their eyes.
Kade, otherwise known by his true name, Heart of Chaos, was there, standing atop a mythical tiger echo. Not a shred of doubt, fear, or anger came into his expression.
Just glee, eagerness, thirst—and a wicked smile.
For how much they avoided this particular figure, his power was known throughout the cohort of sleepers; he had bested the two other strongest of their peers. He also had a reputation for picking fights and being a troublemaker.
A gangster who had somehow risen past legacies.
The sleepers had similar thoughts as they looked at the radiant figure.
'Am I going to live?'
It should have been impossible, but they couldn't help themselves from getting influenced by his proud presence. They saw hope and salvation.
"Mind if I tag in?"
His call rang out, and the sleepers got back into formation—a new fire burning confidence within them. They summoned their respective memories, the blue essence shimmering their deadly passion into reality.
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At the front stood a broad-shouldered sleeper with a square jaw and heavy armor, gripping a war hammer. Crystalline barriers shimmered around his plated arms, and something new settled into his stance of resolve.
Beside him, a slender girl with bright orange hair crouched low, twin blades at the ready. The wind danced across her skin. coiling around her like a subdued gale. She looked ready to leap into the fray at any second.
Behind them hovered a short girl with messy dark hair veiling her eyes. She looked nervous but determined. Hex-like orbs of flame circled her like a fiery vanguard, casting strange shadows across the crimson coral.
And finally, just slightly off to the side, stood a tall guy clad in plain chainmail. A dull broadsword rested in his hand, and calm focus shone in his sharp eyes. Apart from the streak of white cutting through his spiky brown hair, he looked like a totally average dude…
Except for the cape.
It billowed dramatically in the wind...
'Not bad...' Kade thought even the last guy looked like he had some wit about him.
The scavengers didn't wait. The first line of overgrown lobsters skittered forward with snapping claws and hungry shrieks.
"Names, if you don't mind," Kade inquired.
The broad-shouldered one stepped up, slamming the butt of his hammer into the sand. "Grudge." Beside him, the red-haired girl twirled her blades, wind curling around her stern smile. "Sandra," the flame-wreathed girl behind them gave a stiff nod, clearly nervous. "Ayen"
She jerked a thumb at the final sleeper. "And that's Ike."
Ike met Kade's gaze with an indifferent look, gave a casual thumbs-up, and stepped forward—silent, but ready.
"All right, squad, follow me and try not to die," Kade commanded with a grin. The sleepers nodded, ready for the war.
They had trained for the first nightmare; despite their fear, they were soldiers too, despite their young age. Although Kade was happy about his new allies, there was a factor that gave him much more joy.
'Finally, FINALLY, I can get rid of some Battle Lust!
The itch clawed at the back of his mind, a leech on his will and common sense, drawing his violence to surge and burst out to the poor souls in his way, and after days of experiencing it grow stronger and stronger, he could weaken it.
All that stood in his way were these poor crabs.
Byakko roared, his anticipated hunger surging the beast forward to its prey, claws outstretched to sunder the unlucky scavenger.
His cohort of sleepers roared behind him, imitating his divine beast, following behind like the vanguard.
And Kade leapt from atop Byakko, soaring into the sky for a split second, [Rings of the Ravaged] forming the blood-red gauntlets. Pure malice and thirst filled his happy grin. He dived upon a poor scavenger, ready to pulverize its carapace.
[Battle Lust] tightening its control of his mind. Clawing at his thoughts with ill-wanted madness, stricken with the debilitating flaw, Kade proclaimed eagerly to his new victim.
"DIE FOR ME PLEASE!"
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30 minutes earlier.
In the distance of the forgotten shore, on the head of a beheaded statue, was a young man with lusterless black hair, alabaster skin, and a shine to his scuffled appearance.
It was the second lowest-rated sleeper, a street rat who seemed to have none of the luck of his compatriot Kade.
But alone, and in a place more dangerous than any sleeper should experience, he didn't exude fear, anxiety, or doubt. Just a slight frown and focused eyes, observing the surroundings, taking in things like potential hiding spots for him or for his enemies to use.
He scanned the environment diligently, yet not with his eyes; they seemed unaware of his close surroundings.
Instead, the sleeper was looking through two separate shadows, the gloomy and happy aspirations gliding across the sands of the forgotten shore.
He hadn't seen any of his peers; Sunny couldn't determine whether his [Fated] had bastardized his solstice and sent him here alone or whether he was the only one who survived the night against the Black Sea's monstrosities.
'Damnation, I can't just have a normal experience with the spell, can I?'
First he was facing an awakened tyrant as a puny slave, and now he was thrown into a den of fallen and corrupted creatures, certain death for any normal sleeper.
'Luckily I'm not any normal sleeper.' Sunny mused.
No normal sleeper would have a divine attribute like his; they would be incredibly lucky to even get ascended. Compared to them, he was leagues above, despite the bad treatment his peers gave him.
Of course, they would only view Sunny positively for his power if they knew, and not for him.
But they didn't need to know it, or anything about him, as a matter of fact. They were just strangers, sleepers who had a high chance of kicking the bucket and disappearing from his memories.
They were all just dormant humans, unlike Sunny.
The long-dead shadow god gave a parting gift with his blessings, and Sunny awoke from his trials as a dormant monster, a class above all those around him.
Since, unlike everyone else, he shared the similar trait of nightmare creatures in being able to contain multiple soul cores.
Suddenly, from gloomy, distant east, he spotted an orange blur. Sunny quickly shifted his attention all through gloomy eyes.
"Wha--Kade!?"
Sunny's jaw dropped as he watched the familiar brawler riding stupidly fast on a mythical tiger, his dumb grin wide as ever.
Of course it was him.
Sunny narrowed his eyes, retreating happily from the distance to run back to him. He had found his first sleeper, and it was the Heart of Chaos.
'Should I follow him?' Sunny had multiple reasons to. The assassination was off the table for now at least; Sunny only entertained the idea when he expected a normal solstice and not this hell—or at least until he was at the gateway.
At least until he reached the gateway... the thought of six million credits in his account was enough to make him wince.
'Farewell, fantasy,' he muttered bitterly in his mind.
Right now, he needed to live, and Kade was one of the best the academy had to offer.
Master Jet had told him about how no one survives in the dreamworld alone, and Sunny was surely above Kade; that brute would have probably thought that he could do it all alone.
He wouldn't allow him to stoop to that fool's level.
-
The tiger had long left the sight of Gloomy.
Happy returned to him shortly after, surrounding his body in a dark embrace. Sunny sunk into the shadows a little further, his body flowing with new strength.
Sunny grinned, grasping at his own hands, and feeling his own power, one far beyond what he could have wished for as an outskirts rat.
'Kade will probably attract enough attention to die five times over,' Sunny thought dryly. 'Hopefully, he's still alive when I get there.'
Descending off the statue, Sunny's form abstracted further in the deeper and darker shadows cast. a thoughtful expression on the hidden boy.
"I could really use the perfect meat shield"
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[Authors Note]
From the comments, I've gone with Monster sunless.
I wanted to have the first half of the proper fight with the sleepers this chapter, but I didn't have enough time + my brain felt cooked.
So I decided to bring in sunny a little bit earlier since I can write him doing his thing like 3x faster and a lot more natural, since it just flows from the head. I tried to up my sunny game up, and hopefully you guys think I've done well!
And yea, since in this continuity he won't meet Nephi's and Cassie first.
Thanks for reading, your support means the world!