Three months later, a group of six battered humans appeared from the sea of crimson coral and approached a magnificent white arch. Moving with the precision of experienced predators, they swiftly slaughtered a few transient creatures that hid in the deep shadow cast by the ancient structure, stripped them down for meat, and swiftly climbed up.

Against all odds, the cohort had survived the journey back to the Dark City.

…If only barely.

Looking north from the top of the marble arch, Sunny saw the distant grey wall. His gaze lingered on it, full of exhaustion, triumph, and dark apprehension.

Finally, they had returned.

The past three months had been an endless bloody nightmare, with countless horrors and battles leaving their marks on him. And yet, they had also been an anvil against which he was tested, tempered, and made stronger as the result.

Sunny didn't have a mirror, but was sure that his appearance changed a lot. He could tell just by looking at other members of the cohort.

Changing Star's white armor was now covered by numerous scratches and tears that even the restorative effect of the Soul Sea couldn't heal. Her silver hair was longer, reaching to the middle of her back. The ivory face of their leader had grown thin, with dark circles visible under her striking, burning grey eyes.

Caster changed even more. The neat and dignified young scion was nowhere to be seen: instead, a man with disheveled hair and a short scruffy beard stood in his place, his face dark and grim. Sometimes, Sunny thought that he could even see a grey hair or two in his luscious mane.

Kai was still beautiful and elegant, but most of his charm was hidden under layers and layers of dirt, dust, and dried blood. The stylish armor he had worn was now long gone, destroyed in one of the vicious battles they had fought, and replaced by a rather unflattering garment that seemed to be woven out of bluish seaweed.

The archer also wielded a new bow, this one long a powerful, fashioned out of two curved horns that had belonged to a creature that Sunny would rather not think about. Suffice it to say, this Memory was of the fifth tier and truly deadly.

Effie was much the same, except for the fact that she had become even leaner, her robust musculature not covered even by a gram of fat. The huntress wielded two Shard Memories, both responsible for sending dozens upon dozens of Nightmare Creature to their deaths. Her archaic bronze armor was dented all over, but somehow still held together

Cassie was the youngest of them, so the changes that had happened to her were perhaps the most pronounced. By now, she had lost most of her childish softness and had turned into a beautiful young woman that looked to be on the cusp of adulthood. She had three Echoes tied to her core now, one given to her by Nephis, the other one by Kai.

With the help of her Echoes and the Dark Wing, Cassie was now able to move and participate in battles almost as if she was not blind.

…Almost.

And then there was Sunny himself. He was perhaps even more beaten and battered than the rest of them, the Puppeteer's Shroud almost coming apart at the seams. His hair was long, messy, and in desperate need of a good wash.

Sadly, his skin was still as pale as that of a corpse. He was also unable to grow even a bit of scruff, let alone a real beard.

But, oh well… why care about the little things?

Summoning the runes, Sunny found a particular cluster and glanced at it.

The runes shimmered in the twilight of the approaching night.

Shadow Fragments: [938/1000].

A dark smile appeared on his lips.

'Almost.'

***

In the past three months, Sunny had participated in countless battles. His main responsibility was that of a scout, and as such, he was not a part of the cohort's main strike force. But even then, he had faced and slain more than a hundred Nightmare Creatures.

Closer to two hundred, in fact.

Among them were beasts, monsters, as well as a few demons and even a devil or two. Sunny absorbed the remnants of their shadows and used his share of the soul shards to trade for Memories with other members of the cohort, which he then fed to the Stone Saint.

And now, he was so close to reaching full saturation of his Shadow Core.

His prowess and physique were considerably enhanced, too. Somewhere along the way, Sunny had crossed the line of humanly possible and was now firmly in the realm of inhuman ability. He was faster, stronger, and more enduring than any mundane human could ever hope to be.

His shadow had grown much more potent, too, since its enhancement increased proportionally to his own power.

…Or was it the other way around?

In any case, Sunny felt that when the shadow was wrapped around his body, he was now almost at the level of an actual Awakened. Very few Sleepers on the Forgotten Shore could challenge him in terms of raw power.

Of course, all of them had deadly Aspect Abilities of their own.

…And several of the most deadly Sleepers among them were all right here, with him, setting up camp and getting ready to cook him food.

Sunny wasn't sure, but guessed that Effie and Caster had already fully saturated their Soul Cores, beating him to it — the huntress because of the years she had spent hunting monsters on the streets of the Dark City, and the Legacy because of the soul shards his clan must have provided him before his first journey into the Dream Realm.

Nephis… Sunny wasn't sure. Logic dictated that she should have reached the point of saturation before Sunny did, but he still saw her absorbing shards after each battle. So either she did not, or her Aspect had other uses for the excess soul essence.

Or she was just putting on an expensive show.

Kai and Cassie were behind him in terms of the amount of accumulated essence, but not by much. Each of them was now a powerhouse, just like the rest of the cohort.

Looking at the people busying themselves with mundane tasks of setting up the camp, Sunny inhaled deeply and smiled.

"Ah. Aren't we a sight to behold?"