Shadow Slave: The Blessing of Fate

There are vital points to creating a solid plan. First of all, one must have a goal in mind—that being perhaps the most crucial part. Second being a strategy as to how one would reach said goal. Then there's a deadline to hit. The amount of resources and steps may differ, but universally; for every plan to work out, one should take some steps beforehand and prepare accordingly. 

And that's precisely what Sunny was doing at this moment.

Mud spread across the ground all around him. At some spots, it even reached up to his chest, due to his pitifully short stature.

A sheet made out of seaweed lay on the ground, on the sheet was a pile of mud that increased minute by minute. Once there was an acceptable amount on it, he moved it closer to their temporary camp.

Right now, he was preparing several clay pots that would be full of oil to the brink. His intentions with the oil were obvious, of course.

To burn a colossal tree and an abominable demon, the group would require quite a large amount. The fire itself wouldn't need to be very powerful to light the tree ablaze, but a considerable flame could certainly hasten the process.

However, they were not naive and knew that to slay the Carapace Demon, they'd need to not only torch the foul creature, but also pump it with fire continuously—if they wanted to kill it fast.

An Awakened Demon would certainly be a gruesome opponent with a tough shell to crack, but thankfully, it had a crucial weakness.

It was intelligent, so it could be deceived.

While Sunny was preparing the pots, Nephis had an assignment of her own. For some reason, he made her build a boat.

At first, she was hesitant to listen to him, but the pale boy simply revealed that through his shadow, he saw that there was no path to continue west unless they sailed across the Dark Sea itself.

This revelation shook them, mainly Cassie seemed to have her hopes of escape from the Labyrinth crushed, and Nephis was also put into slight distress, but her nature and goals overtook any bad emotion.

If a boat had to be built, then she'd do it.

She scavenged bits and pieces of Carapace Scavenger carcasses and repurposed some of the shell into building material. With her education as a Legacy of a prestigious, albeit fallen, clan—this task was a piece of cake for her.

***

A couple of days later, the structure for the boat was prepared and the pots were filled with oil. The only step remaining for the boat would be to tie it all together with Evertwine, the golden rope Nephis owned, but that had to wait until later.

Though the preparations took a few days, they would not spend almost a month under the Soul Devouring Tree's influence in exchange, so Sunny deemed it worthy.

For now, the plan was to have Sunny transport some of the pots to the tree, while Nephis and Cassie distracted the Carapace Demon.

After an embarrassing exchange, he and Cassie swapped armors. The reason was simple—her unassuming cloak had an enchantment that made the wearer less likely to draw attention.

Using the armor while augmenting it with Gloomy and the shadows from Shadow Sea—the renamed space that stored the shadows in Sunny's soul—he should be able to accomplish that task safely.

Memory: [Tideborne Veil].

Memory Rank: Awakened.

Memory Type: Armor.

Memory Description: [As the stormy seas surged, harrowing creatures lurked beneath their surface. A lone, unassuming boat challenged the mighty waters, skillfully evading every danger on its journey.

However, once the lighthouse—the guiding light that served all seafarers—was extinguished, the boat lost its way. Stranded in the vast, unforgiving ocean, it vanished without a trace, never to be seen again.]

'What an ominous description…'

The beautiful cloak draped over Sunny's shoulders, making him look slightly noble. Perhaps Noctis would have found it beautiful, but it didn't suit Sunny at all. Fortunately, he only needed it for its ability.

Puppeteer's Shroud on the other hand looked simply amazing on Cassie, but that was simply because she herself was beautiful. And for other reasons…

Nephis stared at Sunny for a bit, taking in the view of a messy malnourished kid wearing a fancy cloak. 'Does she… find it amusing?'

There was no sign of emotion on her ivory face whatsoever, but he was inclined to believe she had her own thoughts on his new, temporary appearance.

***

The dark waters filling the Labyrinth were finally beginning to withdraw, the sun was rising.

Time of reckoning was slowly approaching, and so, Sunny blessed himself with a hefty breakfast—a platter of dried meat, and… dried meat.

Chewing on the slightly tough strips of dried flesh, he began talking over the plan with Nephis and Cassie once again.

"Swo, while I bwing ova the po–"

"Can you not speak with your mouth full…" Nephis shook her head and a slight frown caressed her face.

He gulped loudly and continued.

"Sorry about that. While I bring over the pots, you two will take care of the Carapace Demon until I am done with that."

"Your plan still sounds crazy… It's an Awakened Demon! It could simply not care about the commotion we would cause, have you not thought about that?" Cassie remarked dejectedly. Frankly, she didn't believe in the effectiveness of his plan at all.

"Tell me this, why would a seemingly intelligent Awakened Demon hang out around a mind controlling tree? That's right, its mind was taken over already. And do you know what that implies?"

The beautiful blind girl continued to stare at him, but didn't still didn't seem to catch on.

With a slight sigh, he explained: "If we go around causing trouble for the tree, the most likely scenario is that it will send out its champion to take care of it, right? It's not like it can directly hurt us."

Her big blue eyes widened, she finally understood.

"And don't worry, I'll leave the Scavenger Echo with you, hopefully he'll turn out to be useful."

"How long?" Nephis had a question for him, and being the expert on her vague questions, Sunny knew exactly what she had meant.

"I would say around 20 minutes. Give me 20 minutes and we can go light up a fireworks show unlike any other!"

Nephis nodded and Sunny continued explaining.

"As you know, the basis of this plan is me not getting caught, in the event of something unexpected happening, you will hear a very loud bell." 

A small silver bell materialized in his hand once he finished speaking those words.

"Let's go burn down a mind controlling tree and a foul demon then!"

***

Stepping onto the expanse of greyish dust that separated the Ashen Barrow and the rest of the Labyrinth, Sunny became slightly nervous while thinking about what was about to happen.

He gazed up at the uneventful grey skies, staring at the artificial source of daylight as he brought his hand before his face. Through the gaps between his fingers, a blinding light entered his vision.

Sunny sighed and calmed himself down. It was not the time to reminisce about the past nor stress about the future. He just had to do his job well, that's it.

Thankfully, they had plenty of time until the Dark Sea—and the horrors lurking deep inside it—returned to fill the halls of the Labyrinth.

Soon, the group of Sleepers would separate. Sunny grabbed the five pots tied together with the golden rope that he had been carrying until now, and continued to walk straight towards danger.

Most of the pots were being carried by the Echo, the big guy was proving to be very useful. Sunny almost felt bad, because there was a high chance he would not last to see another day. Though if the Scavenger did survive, perhaps he'd consider turning him into a Shadow.

Nephis, and Cassie slowly approached their designated spot. It was a tiny, inconspicuous hill—however, beneath the grey dust covering it, a giant root hid itself.

The entire area was filled with the Soul Devouring Tree's roots, albeit hidden by soil. Luckily for them, a certain blind girl had a staff capable of stirring the winds.

The strong air that blew on the dust slowly uncovered the contents buried beneath it, and so they did the only thing to do at that moment.

Hit, slash, burn, cut—basically anything to damage the root. 

While they hacked away at it, Sunny continued dragging the pots behind him. Once he reached the base of the enormous hill crowning the horrible tree, he untied the rope and grabbed two pots—one in each hand.

He enveloped the cloak he wore with his gloomy shadow, and turned the area around him into a lightless field. Sunny finally felt like an assassin for once, even though he was just carrying a couple of pots.

As he began climbing the hill, suddenly a tremor ran through the ground, prompting him to drive his feet deeper into the dirt beneath them. Thankfully, he didn't drop the pots, and the ones waiting at the bottom of the hill didn't seem to break because he heard no noise coming from there.

With each step the incoming threat took, the ground shook slightly. Sunny could only hope that nothing bad would happen.

He would soon have to pass around the abominable creature, that would be the breaking point. If it noticed him, everything would be over.

In the distance, a towering figure appeared. With somewhat hasty, wide steps, it headed towards the source of danger for its almighty protector and savior. Dust filled the air as its eight segmented legs, which resembled pillars, thumped on the ground.

The Carapace Demon passed right around him, it didn't notice his presence whatsoever! Relaxing slightly, Sunny hastened his pace just a little bit.

A powerful tremor ran through the hill, releasing large pieces of debris that rolled down the hill. And this avalanche of rocks was heading straight for him. Hastily moving out of the way, Sunny managed to spill a bit of oil, but it wasn't a large amount.

Looking back behind him, he saw the Awakened Demon distancing itself from him—leaving the tree completely unprotected.