The two of them sprinted down the metal walkway, boots ringing out sharply as they wove between crates. Sunny's shadows kept flitting ahead, occasionally pointing the way like excitable scouts. March looked almost disappointed whenever they turned a corner and nothing immediately tried to kill them.
Sunny didn't have the heart to tell her that he shared the sentiment.
They reached an open sector of the shipment zone — a platform bordered by high rails and overlooking a sheer drop into fog. Dozens of crates had been shoved aside, forming a wide combat area. And in the middle of it, chaos was unfolding.
A woman stood at the center, dressed in elegant red and white, fox-like ears twitching atop her head. She had long, dark hair tied neatly, earrings ringing faintly every time she moved. A spear lay snapped at her feet. Several knights in ornate armor formed a loose circle around her, all fending off…
Sunny squinted.
"What in the—"
Knights. Sort of.
If knights had been shoved into a garden mulcher and then resurrected by an overly enthusiastic botanist.
Yellow blossoms sprouted between metal plates, blooming in clusters across shoulders, ribs, thighs. Twisted branches curled down their arms, replacing hands with jagged claws. Their limbs were swollen, elongated, mismatched. Their armor had been bent and warped to accommodate the growths, making them look vaguely humanoid but unmistakably wrong.
The infected knights moved with jerky, unnatural motions, slashing at the woman and the defenders.
The fox-eared woman struck one across the face with a talisman glowing with golden light — but she was clearly running out of options. The Awakened knights beside her weren't doing much better. They were shaky, tired, barely keeping up.
March lifted a hand toward Sunny.
"Race you?"
He smirked.
"Do you seriously think—"
She darted ahead before he finished.
Sunny hissed under his breath and ran after her. His shadows folded over him like a second skin, granting him the strength of three Ascended Demons. As he ran, a lance of burning amber manifested in his right hand — the Lance of Preservation.
He didn't need to call the shadows. Not for this.
He didn't need to show anything he didn't want to, either.
March crashed into the first mutant like a meteor.
Frost exploded from her fists as she drove a frozen gauntlet into its chest. The mutant went skidding across the platform, flowers scattering off its armor like torn confetti. She pivoted, swinging another punch into the jaw of a second. Ice crackled up its throat before she kicked it away.
Sunny didn't bother trying to compete with her brute force.
He slid into the fray like ink spilled across a page — low, fluid, efficient. He didn't clash so much as reposition, shadowing each wild swing with smooth footwork. Every movement he made mirrored the mutants — reading their motions before they committed to them.
A distorted knight lunged, branch-claws reaching for his throat. Sunny stepped to the side by half a foot — just enough for the claws to scrape air. In the same movement, he brought the lance down in a tight arc, cleaving through flowers and wood. Sap-like ichor spattered the ground.
[You have slain an Awakened human, Mara Seed.]
'Uh… human?'
Another mutant swung a bloated limb toward his ribs. Sunny let his body tilt slightly, the attack grazing past as he stabbed the amber lance straight through its shoulder plate. The amber flames licked along the shaft, burning rot away.
[You have slain an Awakened human, Mara Seed.]
Knights glanced at him and March with wide eyes. Whatever fight they had left seemed to perk up with new hope.
March, meanwhile, was having the time of her life.
"Sunny, check this out!"
"No."
She snapped her fingers, sending a shockwave of frost before her. Three mutants froze solid mid-lunge before shattering under her heel.
Sunny pretended not to be impressed.
One mutant with particularly severe mutations — its left arm had completely morphed into a thick wooden trunk — charged Sunny. He twirled the lance once, dropped low, and vaulted over the creature as it stumbled forward. Landing behind it, he swept the lance in a clean diagonal slice despite th blunt edge. Amber flames gutted the corrupted wood instantly.
The creature toppled.
The knights gaped.
Sunny didn't even break a sweat.
More mutants swarmed from the far side of the platform, but at this point, it didn't matter. March leapt into them with bright-eyed fury, smashing them apart with frost-covered knuckles. Sunny kept to the edges, picking apart anything that tried to flank her.
Together, they carved through the Mara Seeds like professionals.
More mutants, less than a dozen now, realized they were losing and tried to retreat. Sunny and March didn't let them.
In the end, the last remaining mutant fell to March's fist, collapsing into a pile of cracked bark and wilted flowers.
Silence drifted over the platform. Only the faint hum of lanterns remained.
March exhaled deeply.
"I needed that."
Sunny twirled the lance once more before letting it dissipate into embers.
"You really did."
The fox-eared woman stepped forward, brushing dust and splintered petals from her clothes. She regarded them with a polite smile, though her eyes were sharp, calculating. Her tail swayed lightly behind her.
She bowed her head.
"Thank you for the assistance, illustrious Masters. I am Tingyun, an amicassador of the Sky-Faring Commission. May I ask for your names and — more importantly — how you managed to enter the Luofu? We are under isolation. Every access point has been sealed. Even internal transport hubs are restricted."
'Straight to business… or… prison time?!'
Sunny and March froze.
Then very slowly, they turned to look at one another.
Their faces shared one expression:
'We are idiots.'
To be fair, they had been very focused on Herta. And Stellaron Hunters. And kidnappings. And pancakes. And teleportation existentialism. And then fighting plant zombies.
But yes. Maybe wearing their normal clothes was not the best infiltration strategy. They must have stuck out like a Nightmare Creature blending in with society.
Sunny cleared his throat. March opened her mouth, but he held up a hand.
No words were needed.
A spark passed between them.
One shared brain cell activated.
And collectively, they made the worst decision possible.
Sunny stepped forward, posture straightening, expression growing solemn.
"We are wandering cultivators, possibly-honored envoy. Drifters of the — uh… Astral Carriage!"
March joined him, hands clasped behind her back.
"Our sect is hidden, mysterious, untouched by worldly affairs. No isolation order can bar our path."
Sunny nodded grimly.
"For when Fate calls, even the heavens must make way in the face of shadow."
March added proudly:
"Even if we were to freeze over, our wills burn true."
Then, together, perfectly synchronized, they said:
"We greet the esteemed senior."
Silence.
Tingyun blinked once.
Twice.
Her ears drooped slightly in… confusion? Alarm? Second-hand embarrassment?
"...Please take this seriously."
Sunny felt his soul fracture.
March's expression crumpled.
They stood there, frozen, dying internally, as Tingyun stared at them like they were the strangest, least convincing frauds she had ever encountered.
Expression devoid of all joy, Sunny tactfully whispered:
"Should we kill them?"
March sighed in regret.
"No witnesses…"