The harrowing battle was still raging all around them, and Sunny struggled to suppress the feeling of primordial terror that threatened to overwhelm his reason. Thinking back to their mad dash across the dark battlefield, he felt his hands tremble.
How the h.e.l.l did they survive?
He winced, and pushed the fear to the side. There was no time to be afraid.
Glancing at Jet and Seishan, Sunny nodded silently, and took a step toward the ruin.
No matter what awaited them inside, they couldn't remain in the open.
The ancient structure was in a sorry state. It had withstood thousands of years of heat and wind, but was nearly destroyed by whatever it was that had transpired here minutes ago.
The spherical dome was raptured, and stone shards lay on the white sand, some covered in dancing flames. It was as though a powerful explosion had wrecked it from within, spreading fire and debris all around. A few chunks of broken stone were large and heavy enough to crush an armored vehicle.
Sunny extended his shadow sense as far as he could, but the black walls of the ruined structure were somehow blocking it.
Followed by Jet and Seishan, he carefully approached the hole in the dome's wrecked wall, lingered for a moment, and jumped inside.
The first thing that met them was the stench of burned flesh.
The ruin was much smaller than the one they had sheltered in before, and from the looks of it, there was no path to the underground portion of the structure. There was only this one spherical chamber, with its floor partially buried under the sand.
A blackened corpse lay in the middle of the round hall. It seemed human, but it was impossible to tell who that human had been — the corpse was burned too badly, and all its features were destroyed by the flame.
There was someone else in the chamber, too.
Sunny cursed and dashed forward, appearing near the motionless figure a split second later. Nephis was laying on the black stones, her armor almost destroyed, with her eyes closed. Wisps of white fire were escaping from the terrible wounds covering her body, and in the bleak light, her face looked pale and vulnerable.
'No, no, no…'
A moment later, a relieved sigh escaped from his lips.
She was alive, just unconscious. The wounds were already healing, too — just in these few short seconds, their edges had already grown closer.
Jet and Seishan slowly approached. Soul Reaper kneeled, studying the charred corpse.
After a while, Sunny forced himself to turn away from Neph and asked:
"Who is it? Can you tell?"
Jet hesitated, then shook her head.
"No… the body is too damaged. However, it gives me the creeps."
The three of them remained silent for a few moments, wondering what had happened here.
Had Nephis fought with another survivor? Or had there been another creature like Ascended Xu?
Both possibilities were a little unnerving.
Eventually, Sunny shook his head.
"It doesn't matter. We need to destroy this corpse. Otherwise, there's a chance that it will rise and start talking to us again."
There were no objections.
After disposing of the corpse, the three of them gathered around the unconscious Nephis and sat in tense silence, waiting for dawn with terror gripping their hearts.
***
In the morning, the sounds of the battle grew quiet. Sunny, who had not closed his eyes or allowed himself to relax for a single moment, sent one of his shadows to take a look outside.
He was utterly exhausted. Usually, an Ascended could go a long time without needing to rest, and Sunny had the benefit of wearing the Shroud of Dusk, as well… but in the past twenty-four hours, he had partic.i.p.ated in a viciously intense battle, fought a Saint, traversed countless kilometers of the Nightmare Desert, and even survived the ruinous clash of the dead armies.
Not to mention facing the harrowing creature that wore the corpse of Master Xu.
Sunny was tired.
Outside, the desert was tranquil and pristine. The white dunes stretched as far as the eye could see, and there was no sign of the terrible forces that had fought across this h.e.l.lish place just hours before.
The sand had swallowed everything.
It had been terribly cold in the desert during the night, but now that the sun had appeared above the horizon, the unbearable heat was coming back.
He let out a hoa.r.s.e sigh.
"They're gone."
The skeletal warriors were gone, but what about Master Xu? Had the creature followed them into the battlefield and got destroyed, or had it waited inside the ruin patiently, waiting for the sun to rise?
Was it coming for them now?
Sunny did not know.
Jet and Seishan were sitting back to back, while he was a couple steps away. Neph's head rested on his knees.
Summoning the Endless Spring, Sunny brought the beautiful gla.s.s bottle to her lips and poured out a little bit of water.
As it flowed into her mouth, Nephis stirred a little, and then coughed.
Her eyes opened, and she stared at him from below, slightly confused.
A slight smile appeared on Sunny's face.
"You're awake. Take it slow."
Nephis flinched, then sat up and grabbed the Endless Spring. She drank from it greedily, and then looked at Sunny.
White sparks danced in her eyes, as if agitated.
"How… how are you here?"
He shrugged.
"I told you that I would see you on the other side."
Sunny lingered for a few moments and scoffed.
"What? Don't look at me like that. To be honest, we saw the light of your flames from afar, and rushed here, hoping to find shelter. If not for that, we'd be dead for sure."
Nephis glanced at Jet and Seishan. A small frown appeared on her face.
Then, she suddenly shuddered and turned around, staring at the spot where the charred corpse had been before.
Seishan finally spoke:
"We got rid of it. We… have encountered a creature that can possess corpses. So, keeping a dead body with us did not seem safe."
Nephis s.h.i.+vered.
"Yes… I… I have encountered such a creature, too."
Sunny remained silent for a while, wondering how was it that she had managed to kill the d.a.m.n thing. Did it have something to do with her Ascended Ability, [Longing]? Or the nature of her Aspect in general?
The dead of the Nightmare Desert seemed unwilling to approach the white flames, too.
More importantly…
Was there more than one creature like the one they had fought? Or was it a creature capable of inhabiting multiple vessels at the same time?
His expression was grim.
"...Do you know what that thing was?"
Nephis hesitated for a few moments, then nodded.
"I'm not sure… but I think I do."
She grimaced, looked at her ruined armor, and raised one trembling hand.
"There were three Nightmare Gates, but only two Gate Guardians entered the waking world. The third… I think that it stayed behind in the Dream Realm."
Nephis grew quiet for a bit, and then added:
"To hunt us."