'Think, think, think…'

They had a very small chance of coming out of this fight alive. However, there was always hope, no matter how impossible the odds.

What was hope? Hope was a desire… perhaps the paramount desire. A yearning so powerful and resilient that it could hardly be vanquished or destroyed. The darkest and most inescapable despair could not conquer hope. Even demons in hell hoped to reach heaven one day.

They longed to see their deepest desires come true, and that longing alone could make them continue suffering and struggling instead of searching for solace in the peaceful embrace of death.

Life was war, after all.

Hope… desire… it was a powerful thing.

'Longing.'

Sunny glanced at Nephis, considering. She was the only one among them capable of dealing permanent damage to the vessels of the Gate Guardian. Her soul flame seemed to be like poison to the abominable creature — the wounds Sunny and the others had dealt to the corpse of Master Xu would instantly heal, but the puppet that had attacked Neph was burned to death by it.

A hurricane of thoughts flashed through his mind in a split second.

'She's our best chance.'

If they could survive today, it would be through the power of longing that the Light Bringer Aspect seemed to contain. The soul flame...

Pure, cruel, and incorruptible.

There was no time to think. Starting to move, Sunny connected the minds of the seven Masters together through the Blessing of Dusk.

[We need to destroy the creature in front of us before the one behind catches up. There is no other way — we might not even be able to fight one, so fighting two at the same time is a death sentence. The six of us will restrain it. Nephis will kill it. Go!]

They had maybe a handful of seconds before the pursuer showed up. The seven of them had to slay a Great abomination before that happened.

Usually, it would have been impossible to even deal minor damage to a creature two whole Ranks above their own level. Sunny had failed to pierce the skin of the first Fallen abominations he met as a Sleeper, after all… nevertheless, that abomination died in the end.

The gap between Ranks was vast, but it was not absolute. There was nothing indestructible in the world, and even the gods were dead. Everyone — and everything — was vulnerable to something.

None of them were ordinary Masters, and each had accumulated much more tools and killing implements than any Sleeper could ever possess. Better yet, there was someone among them whose Aspect countered the powers of the Gate Guardian.

Sunny knew that he had to use the best weapon at his disposal to destroy the enemy.

Right now, his best weapon was not the Sin of Solace.

It was Nephis.

Gritting his teeth, Sunny dashed forward. At the same time, all his shadows left him and embraced her, turning the hue of her white flame colder and more menacing. She had trusted him to kill Dire Fang… now, Sunny was going to trust Nephis to kill the vessel of the Gate Guardian barring their path.

As soon as the shadows slid from the blade of the Sin of Solace, the vague figure standing near him suddenly grew more blurry, and clicked its tongue in disappointment.

"Ah. And things were just getting fun."

Sunny ignored it.

There was no need to discuss anything — everyone knew what they had to do. All seven of them lunged at Master Xu.

It was hard to attack a single target without getting in each other's way. And yet, they managed.

A black arrow pierced one of his eyes, followed by a white one that destroyed the other. The corpse's head jerked back.

At the same time, an iron rain of shurikens shredded its chest and right shoulder, almost severing the entire arm. Jet knew that her power was not enough to damage the creature's soul — abandoning her most feared Ability, she aimed to reduce the creature's mobility instead.

Effie's Transcendent spear shot toward one of Master Xu's knees, while Morgan's sword flew at another with lightning-fast speed.

Seishan's claws sank into his left shoulder and elbow, tearing both joints apart.

The Sin of Solace hissed through the air as it fell on the creature's head.

Their task was to slow the Gate Guardian down and allow Nephis to deliver the fatal strike.

But…

As the two arrows exploded from the back of Master Xu's head in a fountain of blood and brain matter, his eyes had already restored themselves, burning with malice and glee.

The shurikens fell into the sand as the flesh mangled by them rippled and was immaculately restored.

The corpse took half a step, and both Effie's spear and Morgan's sword somehow missed.

Seishan's eyes widened.

Sunny cursed under his breath.

"Damna…"

The corpse exploded forward.

Effie's shield shattered as she was thrown back. Seishan fell down, sharp shards of bone protruding from her broken arms. Morgan blocked with her sword, but the sword burst into countless steel shards. She was sent flying in a whirlwind of scarlet sparks and blood.

Sunny barely avoided having his neck sliced open by falling into the shadows.

The creature… refused to be slowed down.

And Nephis was now alone, face-to-face with it.

'...tion!'

Her radiant sword shot forward with unimaginable speed, its vicious blow enhanced by the full force of the soul flame and the five shadows.

However…

Master Xu simply raised his hand, catching the incandescent blade in a fist and easily shattering it.

The fingers of his other hand wrapped around Neph's neck. © 2024.

For a moment, everything seemed to stand still...

Sunny was emerging from the shadows, but he was slow, too slow. Too slow to change anything.

…Then, Neph's neck snapped like a twig. Her body grew limp.

'...'

His mind was empty.

For a split second, everyone froze, petrified.

In that moment of shock, Neph's hand rose and grabbed the creature's wrist.

The sparks dancing in her eyes suddenly ignited, turning into two blinding stars.

White radiance shining through the gaps of her broken armor became larger, hotter, and infinitely brighter.

She was like a mass of blinding silver light, not too different from the merciless white sun that burned in the scorched sky.

A moment later, her radiance exploded into a flurry of flames, which swallowed both her slender silhouette and the abominable corpse of Master Xu.

Suddenly, the unbearable heat of the desert seemed mild and cold.