Carefully stalking through the shadows — the passerby's none the wiser to his presence — Sunny savored his Shadow Essence as he refrained from using Shadow Step. Considering that he was heading towards a den of criminals, anything could happen. Violent acts were pretty common among them… he would know.
Walking over to a sewer manhole, Sunny easily lifted it up. It was cleaner then most, a testament to how often it had to be used. Tossing it up, he hopped into the sewers. As he landed into a murky liquid of unknown origins, the manhole had landed perfectly back into place, sealing the sewers once more.
Dim lines of light shone into the sewers, revealing faint graffiti markings that are supposed to lead to an Echo fight club. Sunny paid them no attention, trudging through the disgusting sewer water as if it left him unbothered.
In reality, he was quite distressed.
'This is gross! I'm taking a long bath once I get back…'
After a few minutes of walking, Sunny came across a steel door, camouflaged with the sewer walls. The owner of the place never installed a door knob, as they used a seperate path to get here. This door was for customers, and could only be opened from one side.
Of course, an Awakened could just blow it open with a single blow, but that would alarm the other Awakened inside.
Sunny had done extensive research into how things operated around here. He could have used the owner's passage to get in without hassle, but that would also cause conflict. He wasn't planning on getting into any fights… yet. This was simply to establish his presence while scoping out his prey.
After knocking on the door and waiting for a few moments, the eyehole slid open as a pair of grizzled eyes appeared. They weren't looking at him, though. He seemed to be preoccupied by something else.
"Password?"
'…What?'
Sunny… didn't know he needed a password. How unfortunate. It looked like he'd need to rely on good old intimidation tactics. Speaking in a voice that was not his own, he growled:
"Open the door… or are you courting death on this fine morning?"
Or was it night? It was kind of hard to tell with all the smog above ground.
The grizzled eyes furrowed as the man turned to look at Sunny.
"Listen, bub. Unless you tell me the password, you aren't getting…"
Staring straight into the empty darkness of Weaver's Mask, the man froze up. His eyes widened pupils dilating in fear. He stuttered:
"R—Right away, Lord Mongrel."
'Huh. I'm a lord now. Sweet.'
As the eyehole closed and the door swung open, Sunny took a couple preliminary steps into the establishment. It was a tavern, one with a bar counter, skimpy waitresses, and shady individuals. Textbook stuff, except that Sunny wasn't too sure about that, since he's never opened a textbook in his life.
"Welcome to our fine establishment, Lord Mongrel!"
The cadence of suspicious dealings and loud banter suddenly shattered as heads turned in bafflement. As countless eyes laid upon Sunny, their gazes morphed into caution and awe as he turned towards the bouncer — at least, that's what he assumed the man was. The man who had opened the door for him seemed to be an Awakened, and yet, there was an obvious fear emitting from him.
"Where are the Echoes?"
The bouncer stared at him for a moment, befuddled by his request. Then, his eyes widened in understanding.
"I—If you're talking about the Echo fighting ring, it's behind that door over there. As long as you follow the path, you'll run into it."
Sunny scoffed. He already knew where it was. He was simply feigning ignorance.
Taking that as a sign of displeasure, the bouncer asked:
"Would you like me to escort you, Sir?"
'No.'
"Hmph. Lead the way."
Going through the door as he followed the bouncer, Sunny found himself in a ridiculously long corridor. Looking through it, he found that he could see the very curvature of the planet due to how far it stretched — five to six miles, if he guessed correctly.
Sunny paused for a moment, before turning to the bouncer.
"You're an eyesore. Begone."
The man's eyes widened for a moment, before he nodded. He walked back through the fore, going back to the bar.
With a sigh, Sunny used Shadow Step to travel quickly. He could have ran, but he'd probably end up damaging the corridor. So, with a single Shadow Step, he found himself at the opposite end of the corridor, standing before a single door.
Opening it, he was presented with a crowd of mundane humans cheering for something. Using his shadows, he could see two Echoes fighting against each other in the middle of an arena — a slender figure with milky eyes, bony limbs, and a deformed jaw, and a ferocious wolf with four eyes. Currently, the wolf was tearing the slender creature apart with it's teeth.
Looking into the spellweave through his shadows, he concluded that they were only Awakened Echoes.
Sunny easily slid through the crowd, slipping past different people of all shapes and sizes. A few times, he even saw a child or two, either alone or with an adult. His eyes twitched, wondering who in their right minds would bring children along with them to watch this.
'That's just horrible parenting…'
As he looked around the arena, he located more doors. They probably led from different corners of the city, considering how far the place was. Where he was currently was for civilians, and above him was a deck where the Awakened were. Sunny assumed that they'd summon their echoes from up there, allowing them to fall into the arena.
He guessed that none of these lowlifes had a Titan on them, or else everyone present would get crushed or splattered against the wall from the shockwaves. With a discrete dive into the shadows, Sunny arrived behind the dozen or so Awakened participants on the balcony. Looking around, he guessed that there were a couple of Masters mixed in, but no Saints.
'Which means that I could slaughter them all if I'm careful.'
Not that he would. He was very picky with who he would target. He wasn't planning on fighting everyone present simply because they hung out at an illegal fighting ring. They may all be criminals, but there were levels to crime.
So, hiding in the shadows, Sunny watched the Awakened viewers. Most of them seemed rather normal. They all had the eyes of a killer, but that wasn't necessarily a sign that designated a murderer. They were calm, focused on the match before them as they cracked jokes and spoke of trading Soul Shards, Memories, and Echoes.
'Except for one…'
He was around thirty, with a gaunt unshaven face and bloodshot eyes. The man was fidgety, his eyes flickering around with obvious paranoia.
…Maybe it was just his imagination, but Sunny thought that he was sending a confused glance at the shadow he had been hiding in.
"Yo, Kurt."
The man flinched as he was slapped on the back, one of the other Awakened sending him a friendly smile.
"Listen, I just got a whole bunch of Ascended Memories on one of my expeditions. You still got that Ascended Echo, right? I'll give them all to you in exchange. What do you think?"
Kurt's dark, crazed eyes narrowed as he lowered his hand, seeming as if he was preparing to summon a Memory.
"Have you lost your mind? I don't care if it's a Transcendent Memory. A single Echo is worth much more…"
The other man blinked, shrugging.
"Sheesh, fine. No need to be rude about it…"
From within the shadows, Sunny's gaze focused on Kurt. He… certainly seems unwell. Like he was the one who lost his mind instead.
A Transcendent Memory might not be worth much in comparison to an Ascended Echo when one is an Awakened, but if one became a Saint, the Ascended Echo would have lost it's worth due to the sheer power of one. Even an Ascended Memory might be worth more to a Saint for utility purposes.
Still, an Awakened would have trouble wielding a Transcendent Memory. Their Soul Essence would be too weak.
***
Snorting, Kurt stood up. His expression darkened as he headed for the stairs that led to the mundane humans. As he approached them, white sparks began to dance around his hand, forming a knife. Darting for the closest living creature, Kurt raised his weapon mad glee surging through him…
Until an arm encased in an onyx gauntlet grabbed his own. Alarmed, he whirled around, preparing himself to either attack or retreat. Considering his current position, the latter would have been ideal.
A moment later his face was drenched in sweat.
'Fuck!'
Staring into the abyssal eyes of a horrible thee-horned demon, Kurt cursed his luck. Why the hell was a Stellaron Hunter down in this dump?
Knowing that he'd need to disable Mongrel for a moment in order to escape — he wouldn't humor himself with actually winning — Kurt stomped onto his shadow, attempting to inflict soul damage.
'…Huh?'
Mongrel… Mongrel was missing his shadow.
'What kind of…?'
The grip on his wrist was positively crushing, unnaturally so, for an Awakened. Some even thought that Mongrel was an Ascended, and was simply good at hiding it. In any case, Kurt had no way to escape… not unless he summoned his Echoes to cover for him.
Just as he was about to do so, a woman's voice interjected.
"Hm? What do we have here?"
Kurt blanched even further, recognizing that voice. Cautiously looking at the lady approaching them from the crowd as they parted in both fear and reverence, he noted that Mongrel slightly turned — no fear, simply… curiosity, he supposed. Was he even human.
She was elegant, poised, and laced with something cruel just beneath the surface. Her smile was delicate, almost warm, but it never reached her purple eyes. Those eyes, half-veiled by a tilted white hat crowned with a black flower, seemed to hold an ocean of blue flames beneath — too unnatural to ignore, too beautiful to look away. Her voice wasn't needed. The room already felt colder.
Dressed in ivory and adorned like a noblewoman from another age, the brunette with bluish tints radiated charm in the same way the devil invites one to sin — inviting, fragile, and lethal. Each motion was deliberate, her eyes lingering on Mongrel as if she wanted to know if he would scream. She was lovely, yes —but the kind of lovely that left bruises on the soul. A presence that smothered and seduced all at once, promising ruin in the softest tone.
And considering what he had planned to do within her territory, in an establishment that brought her revenue, Kurt feared that he would need to face that ruin.
She was followed by handmaidens, and looking between Mongrel and Kurt, she asked in a deceptively gentle tone:
"Is there something wrong, gentlemen?"
***
'A Saint.'
That was the first thought that crossed through Sunny's head.
'She's hot!'
That was the second thought.
'…Haven't I seen her somewhere?'
That was the third thought, and yes, he had.
Indifferent on the outside, but stressed in… more ways than one on the inside, Sunny politely nodded.
This was Constance, a Saint from the Ever-Flame Mansion, which was a branch of the Annihilation Gang.
Constance was a young woman with long dark brown hair that reached her thigh, tinged with light gray-blue undertones. She had black, pride-shaped horns, a demon tail, dark purple eyes, and a purple mole beneath her left eye.
She wore a large white sun hat adorned with a black dahlia flower on the top right side. Her outfit consisted of a white, wrap-like dress with poet sleeves and two slits at the thighs, the central fabric of the dress falling to her knees. Beneath it, she wore black clothing with a long neckline that partially covered her arm. A white glove adorned her right arm, and a white tie was fastened around her neck in a large bow. She also wore a white thigh garter and stiletto heels.
Curious about the inhuman features — the horns and tail that made Sunny want to do certain things — he reviewed the information he had on her.
With all the research he had put in, he was aware of major figures in the criminal world such as Constance herself. This planet was under the control of the Annihilation Gang, and would continue to be unless the IPC found a way to profit off the planet… which would lead to conflict.
Either way, now that he was under the scrutiny of a Saint, one who was exceptionally hot… with law enforcement, Sunny did the first thing he learned in his short life.
Snitching.
Pointing towards Kurt, who still had his arm in Sunny's grip, he sarcastically told her:
"My Lady, this man was absolutely not going to slaughter your customers."