He watched them gradually become motionless.

Then, he observed as the spark of life inside them slowly faded away. Samara was the first, followed by Dorn. Belle was the last.

Only when their shadows had become lifeless and hollow did Sunny allow himself to merge into the darkness, confronting the lethal cold.

They were miles away where they fought or buried.

Years later, he still remembered the faces that had looked up to him.

They truly believed they had a chance to defeat the beast. Those naive soldiers were convinced nothing in the world could overpower their Captain.

Yet, they were proven wrong in their final moments.

The oddest thing was that when Sunny remembered that moment, their faces were featureless.

No nose, lips, or eyes.

Nothing.

Just blank faces staring at him.

'What kind of madness is this?'

The Winter Beast struck Sunny on the head with its chill. His hair turned so brittle and stiff that it snapped off in several places.

His feet and toes, even in his most Supreme memories, accumulated pain. The numbness in the areas where his skin was exposed was concerning.

'What if I get frostbite from this cursed thing?'

The winds howled, the absurd and wild cold persisted.

But this time was different.

Sunny made his way to the eye of the storm.

He didn't summon his Odachi sword, as he didn't in his first fight. That time he still had his Sin of Solace and didn't summon it.

This time, instead, he entered the eye of the storm through his shadow.

This time, Sunny had only a minor issue reaching the eye of the storm.

Then Sunny realized his error.

Inside the eye of the storm, instead of rising temperatures, the temperature plummeted so drastically that gases like oxygen and nitrogen liquified and solidified on the ground.

There was nothing to breathe.

'Damnation.'

He swapped places with the shadow outside the eye of the storm. Taking a deep breath to fill his lungs, he leaped back into the storm's eye. The other shadow, already battling the beast, was replaced mid-strike as he brought down his Odachi.

The snake, now an transcended Odachi, struck the beast, yet it remained unscathed. Retreating to attempt an uppercut, he heard the rock beneath him crumble to dust.

'What kind of beast is this, that not even an transcended sword can mark it, and its mere presence shatters the solid ground?'

Sunny felt the biting cold pressuring him. It hampered his movements and dulled his mind, though he resisted masterfully.

'No wonder Tyris failed to slay it,' he muttered, his sword swings futile.

He switched with the shadow for respite and reflection.

"If only that accursed sword were here. Annoying as it was, it could slice through anything."

What was that Beast made of? Nothing could withstand such temperatures; everything became brittle, even Memories.

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"Fiend will feast once I slay this creature. That fortunate wretch."

A realization dawned on him, widening his pupils.

'Why wait? The feast can begin now,' he thought, a sinister grin spreading across his face.

He plunged back into the storm's eye, trading places with the shadow. Inside, he summoned Fiend and commanded it to start devouring the Winter Beast's leg from behind. With the Holy flame within, Fiend thrived, turning the ground to mist with each step, as if enjoying a steam bath amidst the battle.

'That lucky devil.'

It wasn't just luck that the fiend managed to bite the Winter Beast; when it did, the heat from its maw and the cold surface of the beast clashed. Unaccustomed to warmth, the beast's surface shattered like glass, and cracks spread across it like a spiderweb to its knee.

A cry of anger echoed for kilometers, causing mountain peaks to crumble and avalanches to thunder down.

Sunny commanded the Fiend to burrow into the Winter Beast and consume it from within.

Aware that a sword couldn't win this battle, Sunny retreated into the safety of his shadow to dodge the cascading rocks and snow.

He observed as the Fiend entered the Winter Beast, and the beast's vain attempts to crush the Fiend by striking its own leg.

The Winter Beast was as helpless as Sunny and his allies had been in their attempt to slay it.

Memories of Samara, Belle, Dorn, Dr. Abell, and millions of others buried far away flooded Sunny's mind.

The Winter Beast's cries persisted for days, bringing with them wild swings in temperature from bitterly cold to merely frigid.

The beast found relief from the Fiend only when it was sated and needed to digest its meal. During these times, Sunny seized the opportunity to enter the beast and unleash his own destruction. Though not as effective as the Fiend, Sunny refused to remain a mere spectator. He merged with the shadows within the beast, using the tunnel created by the Fiend.

The interior of the Winter Beast was a stark contrast to its exterior. Sunny's snake sword cut through it effortlessly. Yet, the beast's putrid stench, akin to a sewer, stopped Sunny's onslaught. Shrouded in shadows, Sunny felt the stench corrupting him.

The smell wasn’t the only reason he stopped getting inside. He thought to himself why should he cut the misery of the Winter Beast? Let him be in pain. Let him understand what hopelessness feels like.

For that, he stepped back to observe the Winter Beast's suffering from a distance.

With each passing day, the Winter Beast grew feebler, its roar diminishing to a mere loud noise.

It took the Fiend three weeks to vanquish the beast.

When the beast finally perished, Sunny felt hollow. No message appeared to say, [Congratulations! You have slain the Winter Beast.]

Standing atop the corpse, there was neither joy nor a sense of victory.

Looking back from the corpse, he saw millions gazing downward. They resembled the shadows from Shadow Soul.

This time, their faces were visible; he could make out the facial features that were absent during the battle.

However, they were devoid of life, staring down emotionlessly.

And then, the scenery shifted.

Darkness enveloped everything, and all those people were absorbed into his Shadow Soul.

'No... No... I didn't kill them. It wasn't my fault.'

Then, laughter echoed from his right. Turning, he saw a man who bore his likeness, eyes gleaming with glee, staring back at him.

"You fool. Did you think that by slaying the Beast, you could clear your conscience? Why should the dead care whether you avenged them or not? They are dead. You are as witless as ever," he said, his mockery ringing in the air.

Another bout of laughter came from his left. He turned to find yet another doppelganger, this one with eyes wild with madness.

"What does it mean to be free? You sought only to distance yourself from the past, yet here you are, slaying a Beast for personal vengeance. The dead won't mind, and your former crew will never know their Captain sought retribution for them. They'll likely believe another, mightier beast was his end, which isn't far from the truth," he said, smiling as madness twirled in his gaze.

"You believed you were free from slavery, yet you are enslaved by your own past and the people you were destined to meet. You yearn to see them, even for a fleeting chance. Is this why you betrayed your friends? Abandoning them at a critical moment, just like those foolish soldiers who entrusted their lives to you, only to be betrayed," Sin of Solace declared with evident delight. "There is no hope for you."

Sunny glanced back at Samara, Dorn, Belle, and Professor Abell. They appeared as lifeless as they had been in his soul space.

Then, he sensed a massive presence behind him.

Turning, he was met with the sight of an enormous bird, its feathers disheveled, and madness in its eyes staring back at him.

He had no time to summon his sword or dissolve into shadow before he was forcefully thrown to the ground.

The bird's claw dug in, seizing what it had missed before. It shredded his shadows, taking his echoes, and stripped away his memories, seizing his core shadows one after another.

He was left with nothing but the mocking laughter of two people who reveled in his suffering.

As the cursed bird reached for his last core shadow, it emitted a blinding light. A crack spread from its center to its edges like a web.

The core burst outward, incinerating everything in its wake, as if cleansing a sacred site.

Sunny opened his eyes to the harsh glare of the sun's light.

He took a few deep breaths, rubbed his face, and rose from the bed.

‘I should let the Nightmare to hang around more.’ He thought to himself as he sighed.

His room was not very large and not very luxurious. However, it was very cozy. There was a bed, a nightstand, a case with various books crowding the shelves, a writing desk, and simple dresser. The furniture was made of natural wood, crafted with affection and care. There were a decorations added here and there, as well as plenty of signs of the room being well lived-in.