Sunny froze in horror.
Beneath the crimson canopy of the Soul Devouring Tree, Nephis, Cassie, and Elysia sat peacefully together while eating strange crimson fruits.
The fruits looked disturbingly beautiful.
Their outer skin was smooth and black like polished obsidian, while the flesh inside glistened like fresh ruby. Crimson juice stained their lips and fingers like blood, and a sweet fragrance filled the air so thickly that Sunny could almost taste it just by breathing.
The sight instantly sent chills down his spine.
"What are you doing?!" Sunny shouted.
The three girls turned toward him in confusion.
Nephis raised an eyebrow.
"Eating," she answered calmly.
Elysia tilted her head slightly.
"…Why are you yelling?"
anwhile, Cassie simply sat quietly beneath the silver glow of the Soul Lantern, her blind eyes unfocused as always. Crimson juice stained her pale fingers while the untouched white pupils stared emptily toward Sunny's voice.
The sight unsettled him even more.
Sunny opened his mouth imdiately.
"We agreed not to touch those frui—"
Then he stopped.
His expression slowly stiffened.
Why… had they agreed not to eat the fruits?
He knew there had been a reason.
An important one.
But every ti he tried to grasp the thought, it slipped away from his mind like water through his fingers.
Sunny frowned deeply.
Sothing was wrong.
Very wrong.
At that mont, his stomach suddenly growled loudly.
The sweet scent of the fruit beca overwhelmingly tempting.
Cassie turned her head toward him imdiately upon hearing the sound. Even without sight, she always seed strangely aware of where everyone stood.
Then the blind girl smiled softly and pointed toward a nearby fruit resting beside the roots of the tree.
"We saved one for you, Sunny."
Her pale eyes stared blankly into nothingness while she spoke.
Yet sohow…
It almost felt like she was looking directly at him.
Sunny hesitated.
Then, before he could stop himself, he picked up the fruit and bit into it.
The mont the juice touched his tongue—
His eyes widened.
It tasted heavenly.
Cool.
Sweet.
Refreshing beyond belief.
Compared to this fruit, everything Sunny had ever eaten before felt like dirt.
Warm energy imdiately spread throughout his exhausted body, soothing his aching muscles and calming his mind.
And yet…
Even while devouring the fruit greedily, a faint sense of wrongness lingered deep inside him.
Sunny slowly glanced downward.
His shadow sat nearby in complete silence.
Usually, the little creature copied everything he did.
But not this ti.
It simply stared at the fruit motionlessly, almost as if disgusted.
Then suddenly, the Spell whispered into Sunny's mind.
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
Sunny froze.
His eyes widened slightly.
"What?"
Nephis calmly swallowed another bite of fruit before speaking.
"I gained soul essence after eating it."
Elysia nodded as well.
"It happened to too earlier."
Cassie quietly smiled.
"I received essence first."
Sunny stared blankly at the fruit in his hands.
Then greed instantly overwheld most of his remaining suspicion.
Soul essence without risking their lives?
Without fighting Nightmare Creatures?
Without nearly dying every single day?
Sunny imdiately continued eating.
And just like that…
The Ashen Barrow transford into paradise.
—
The following days passed peacefully.
With the Carapace Demon dead, the five Sleepers decided to remain beneath the Soul Devouring Tree and recover completely.
The miraculous crimson fruits fed them endlessly while gradually strengthening their souls.
For the first ti since arriving on the Forgotten Shore, they were not starving.
Not running.
Not bleeding.
Not fighting.
They simply rested.
Elysia quietly tended to everyone beneath the soft glow of the Soul Lantern, patiently healing old wounds little by little. Her presence sohow made the cursed crimson forest feel less oppressive.
anwhile, Senrix spent most of his ti resting beneath the tree.
Or at least…
That was what it looked like.
In reality, the young man was fighting a silent war inside his own mind.
The roots of the Soul Devouring Tree had already spread deeply throughout his consciousness.
Every mont felt like drowning beneath invisible chains.
And yet his crimson eyes still remained clear.
Barely.
As days passed, everyone gradually beca more relaxed.
Too relaxed.
The next morning, Sunny awoke feeling strangely peaceful.
There was no fear.
No anxiety.
No urgency.
The sensation itself felt unnatural.
Nearby, Nephis quietly sharpened her sword while Elysia humd softly beside the Soul Lantern.
Cassie sat beneath the crimson leaves with her face tilted upward slightly.
Though blind, she always unconsciously oriented herself toward sounds and voices around her, almost as if trying to paint the world inside her mind through hearing alone.
A gentle breeze brushed against her silver hair while her empty white eyes remained unfocused.
And beside the massive trunk of the tree…
Senrix sat silently.
His ash-white hair shifted slightly in the cold wind while his crimson eyes stared absentmindedly into the distance.
Sothing felt strange.
No one rembered why Nephis had climbed the Soul Tree before.
No one rembered why they had feared the fruits.
And sohow…
None of them seed concerned about forgetting.
It was as though their minds quietly accepted the missing pieces.
Naturally.
Effortlessly.
At one point, Sunny frowned and glanced toward Senrix.
"You're older than us, right?" he asked lazily. "Do you know why things feel… weird lately?"
Senrix remained silent for several monts.
Then he finally spoke.
"Waking."
Everyone blinked.
"…What?" Sunny asked.
But Senrix said nothing else.
The next day, when they questioned him again, his answer changed.
"Rembrance."
Then the day after that:
"Voracity."
And finally:
"Dreaming."
None of them understood what the words ant.
They sounded random.
Disconnected.
Yet strangely important.
What they failed to realize…
Was that Senrix was desperately fighting the mind hex alone.
Every word he spoke was an attempt to anchor himself to reality before the Soul Devouring Tree erased his sense of self completely.
And the tree held every advantage.
Senrix was not skilled in ntal battles.
He was a warrior built for destruction and direct combat, not resistance against subtle corruption.
Every passing day made the struggle harder.
—
Late one night, Senrix suddenly opened his eyes.
The crimson forest remained silent.
Most of the others were asleep beneath the glowing lantern.
Except Cassie.
The blind girl quietly moved through the darkness with slow, careful steps, lightly tapping the ground ahead of her with her staff.
Even after losing her sight, Cassie had adapted frighteningly well.
She counted steps unconsciously.
asured distance through sound.
morized terrain through touch.
Yet despite all that…
She still occasionally stumbled against roots or uneven ground.
Because no matter how capable she beca—
Cassie was still blind.
Completely blind.
She could not see the crimson leaves above her.
Could not see the silver glow of the lantern.
Could not see the exhaustion hidden inside Senrix's crimson eyes.
She only heard his voice when he suddenly spoke.
"If I ever lose myself… utter these six nas."
Cassie paused.
Her sightless eyes slowly turned toward his voice.
"What nas?"
Senrix remained silent briefly.
Then he spoke in a low voice.
"Anvil. Aster. Nero. Filian. Ki Song. Deter."
Cassie frowned slightly.
She did not understand why those nas mattered.
Still, she nodded softly.
"…Alright."
Afterward, she quietly continued moving deeper into the tree alone.
Completely alone.
The climb was agonizing.
Cassie could not see where to place her hands.
Could not judge distances.
Several tis, her foot slipped dangerously from narrow branches.
Once, she fell entirely—
Only barely managing to catch herself by clinging desperately onto rough bark while trembling violently above the abyss below.
Her breathing beca uneven.
Her palms bled from gripping the branches too hard.
Yet she continued climbing upward anyway.
Because fate was pulling her forward.
Cassie trusted her visions more than her own fear.
Eventually…
She found it.
A nest.
The mont her fingers brushed against the woven structure, Cassie imdiately recognized what it was. As a child, before losing her sight completely, she had once loved observing bird nests.
Even now, years later, her fingers still rembered their shape.
Carefully stepping inside, Cassie used her staff to maintain balance.
Then she froze.
Sothing enormous rested at the center of the nest.
An egg.
Or at least…
Sothing resembling one.
The giant object was nearly as tall as Sunny himself, ancient and cold beneath her fingertips.
It felt lifeless.
Petrified by countless years.
Cassie slowly summoned the Azure Blade Senrix had once given her.
Then, cautiously, she stabbed the surface of the egg.
The blade pierced through surprisingly easily.
And suddenly—
The Nightmare Spell whispered.
[You have slain a Great Devil, Vile Thieving Bird's Spawn.]
[Your soul grows stronger.]
[You have received a mory: Drop of Ichor.]
Cassie froze completely.
Her pale blind eyes widened.
"…Wait."
Her breathing beca shaky.
"A Great Devil…?"
Her hands trembled violently.
Nightmare Creatures possessing four soul cores were called Devils.
Creatures only one class below Tyrants.
That alone was terrifying enough.
But the truly horrifying part…
Was the rank.
The hierarchy of power followed the sa structure across nearly everything touched by the Nightmare Spell:
Dormant.
Awakened.
Ascended.
Transcendent.
Supre.
Sacred.
Divine.
Humanity had only ever reached Transcendent rank.
Those who did were known as Saints — beings powerful enough to reshape battlefields and stand against entire armies of Nightmare Creatures alone.
anwhile, Nightmare Creatures possessed equivalent ranks of their own:
Dormant.
Awakened.
Fallen.
Corrupted.
Great.
Cursed.
Unholy.
Which ant…
A Great Devil was an existence comparable to a Supre human.
A creature beyond anything humanity had truly conquered.
And sohow…
Cassie had just killed one accidentally.
The blind girl stood silently within the ancient nest, gripping her sword tightly while cold wind swept across the endless darkness around her.
____________________
A/N: let's congratulate Cassie for becoming a mother of a great devil.
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