Indeed, with so much blood streaming down the Messenger's pale body, the savage augmentation of the Blood Blossom had grown vastly more powerful.

If before Sunny had felt as though he was cutting stone, now the Midnight Shard sliced through the tough flesh of the abomination with just a moderate amount of trouble. Of course, the fact that it was aimed at the soft belly of the monster instead of the adamantine black feather also played its part.

The tachi cut through the pale skin and muscle tissue, tearing its abdomen open.

As blood, guts and viscera fell from the terrible wound, Sunny slid from under the massive creature — just in time to avoid being crushed under its weight.

Even then, however, the Messenger was not yet dead.

'...What?! Curses!'

Lying on his back in an awkward position, Sunny was momentarily left defenseless. He had hoped that his strike would if not kill the monstrous abomination outright, then at least leave it stunned for a few seconds, giving him time to disengage and get away to a safe distance.

But the creature seemed to be impervious to pain and the fear of death that all living beings felt. Despite receiving a mortal wound, it only became more ferocious.

Staggered by the unexpected attack, the Messenger lost balance and fell to the ground. Its head hit the black sand, sending a cloud of it into the air.

…Then, its round corvine eye locked onto Sunny and flushed with eerie madness.

Knowing that he was not going to be fast enough, Sunny desperately tried to roll away. But it was too late. The terrifying jagged beak shot in his direction, threatening to impale him through the chest.

'Damn it a…'

However, at the last moment, a human figure in an elegant black and white armor suddenly appeared between him and the abhorrent beast. The incandescent sword lashed out, pushing the beak slightly to the side.

As the result, the Messenger failed to kill Sunny. Instead, the beak pierced the Starlight Legion Armor and tore through Changing Star's shoulder, almost severing her left arm. Nephis was thrown aside in a rain of blood, while the abomination opened its mouth and let out another deafening shriek.

For a moment, time slowed.

Sunny, who had just rose to one knee, noticed a sword surrounded by ghostly green lights approaching the Messenger's neck. Caster was seconds away from finishing the cursed creature off…

But before he got the chance, a heavy triangular dagger flashed in the air and sunk into the creature's eye, penetrating through it deep enough to reach the brain.

The Messenger froze. Its ugly raven-like head swayed slightly. The beak fell open, revealing rows of sharp teeth and a long, wet, crimson tongue.

Looking at the monster with a dark expression, Sunny pulled on the string of the Prowling Thorn, wreaking havoc inside its skull. The kunai tore through the round black eye on the way back, flying into the air in a stream of blood, bone, and chunks of brain matter.

Finally, the creature convulsed and crashed onto the ground.

Its eyes dimmed, then glossed over.

The corner of Sunny's mouth curled upward.

[You have slain a Fallen Monster, Cursed Herald.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

'Come on!'

[...You have received a Memory.]

A triumphant gleam appeared in his dark eyes.

***

The cohort was in a pathetic state.

Effie had the bones in her arm shattered into tiny pieces, with sharp splinters tearing through her skin. Her ribs and lungs were wounded, too. Caster was bleeding heavily from the four gashes left on his torso by the Messenger's claws. Kai lost too much blood to the Blood Arrow and was now on the verge of fainting.

Neph's left arm was partially severed and barely attached to her body. The sight of it was ghastly.

Even the Stone Saint was severely damaged.

Only Sunny and Cassie were more or less in one piece.

It was all worth it, though. The Spire Messenger was actually dead, while they were not.

Lying on the black sand, Effie suddenly laughed. Sunny gave her a strange look.

"Have you lost your mind? What are you laughing at?"

The huntress shrugged, then grimaced from pain.

"Oh, it's just… I was thinking whether we are legendary heroes now or just, you know… fools of legendary proportions. All of us in the outer settlement — the Castle too, I guess — heard the stories about the incredible exploits of the first cohort hundreds of times. Killing a Spire Messenger who made its nest in the throne room, and all that. But I never once thought that I would actually do something that impossible as well."

She grew silent, and then added:

"It's weird."

Sunny sort of understood her feelings. However, he wasn't going to admit it. He didn't want his name to ever appear in the same sentence as the word "hero". After everything he had experienced, Sunny had become allergic to it.

He sighed.

"You do know how one becomes a mythical hero, right? It's really easy, you just have to do something outlandish and then die. The death part is the key, actually. So I would rather not be a hero, ever."

With that, he stood up and tiredly dismissed his battle Memories and the Stone Saint. Since only Cassie and he were unscathed, it fell to them to help everyone treat their wounds.

Well, in this case, they just had to make sure that no one died before Neph summoned her flames and healed everyone. Sunny wasn't sure that she'll be able to remain conscious after that, though.

Walking over to their leader, he sat down, looked at her, and then asked:

"...Are you stupid? Why did you do that?"

She glanced at him with her usual indifferent expression, straightened her back, and said:

"What do you mean?"

Sunny sighed.

"Why did you get between me and the Messenger? Look at the state you're in."

She looked at him, then shrugged with one shoulder.

"I can heal myself, remember? You can't."

He shook his head.

"I also remember that my armor is two whole tiers above yours. Chances are, I wouldn't be even wounded that terribly."

Nephis was silent for a bit. Then, she simply said:

"...Too risky."

Sunny couldn't help but laugh.

"Gods! I just don't get you. I really don't. You are so morbidly cunning sometimes, but other times, you are so stupidly naive. It doesn't make any sense."

Changing Star did not respond for a long time and just stared at him. When she responded, her tone was as flat as usual:

"Right back at you."