"Tell me something, Uriel. Did you intend to lose the fight from the beginning?" asked Sunny, looking at the black-haired young man leaning motionless against the rock.
"Don't tell me you're still playing your stupid savior game? You don't even believe that crap yourself. You might have fooled everyone, but not me. I know deception, and I know how much everyone is being deceived."
Uriel didn't respond, remaining silent for a few seconds. Everything he had done, everything that had happened, had been orchestrated by him since he saved the Sleepers from the Awakened demon.
He had done it to change destiny. He saved hundreds of Sleepers who were originally supposed to die. He made Nephis leave instead of being trapped in this place.
"I suppose you're smart, Sunny," he finally said.
"Yes, it's true. I don't consider myself a savior or a messiah. I already told you, I have plans—big plans—that I can't afford to fail."
"You'd better leave before the portal is destroyed. You have a family, right? Go to them, or do whatever you want. I am alone in this world, Sunless. No one will care whether I'm alive or dead." Uriel paused.
"Do you think I want to stay in this hell, sacrificing myself heroically? Look at me. I can't even stand up in my current state." Uriel sighed, looking at Sunny.
The boy was selfish and prioritized his own life over everyone else's. He wouldn't care about someone like him; that's how he was built.
He should cross the portal without regrets, simply abandon him, and not make all this unnecessary drama.
"Or are you telling me that our time at the academy was enough to be friends? Or that you owe me something for giving you Memories and showing you knowledge no one else knows?" Uriel asked with an arrogant smile.
'I'm sorry, Sunny, but this is the only way for you to leave here.'
A tremor shook the tower, opening more cracks than before.
Sunny grimaced, looking at Uriel.
"We can find another way. There must be another door to return to the waking world," asked Sunny.
"No. There are no more doors, no other way out of this zone," said Uriel.
"Sunny, you only want to stay here out of self-imposed obligation, so you don't feel like you betrayed a friend. Then you'll trust me just to become stronger and overcome this hell. When did you become so kind, Sunless? When did your petty, arrogant, selfish self care about anyone other than yourself, you selfish piece of shit from the outskirts?"
Uriel saw the insult land on Sunny, making the boy shudder a little at his cruel words.
"Gods. Let me tell you, your mind games don't..." Sunny froze.
"You didn't mean all that... did you?" Sunny's voice was low, almost pained.
"Oh, of course," Uriel smiled, an arrogant and contemptuous grimace. "I'm already tired and really fed up with being a babysitter. I'm fed up with having to save lives, fed up with all of this, and fed up with everyone. So do us both a favor and cross the damn circle and get lost."
Uriel gathered his strength, slowly standing up.
Then he lunged forward in a blur of speed that took Sunny by surprise.
Punching him in the stomach, Sunny's eyes rolled to the back of his head.
Uriel threw him mercilessly into the circle.
Sunny opened his pained eyes, seeing Uriel looking at him with eyes full of guilt and pain.
The last thing Sunny heard was:
"Have a good life, Sunny."
"Ur—!" Sunny didn't finish, as he disappeared in a sea of white sparks moments before the portal deactivated. A large crack appeared on its surface.
At that same moment, a groan of exhaustion resonated throughout the Crimson Spire.
In the sky, the remains of the artificial sun crashed against the Crimson Spire. Uriel, without hesitation, jumped through the hole, summoning the Winged Cloak, and flew away from the tower, which was collapsing in enormous fragments of marble.
He watched as the tower finally collapsed, putting an end to the horror.
In this world that had claimed countless lives and caused unimaginable suffering, it had finally come to an end, and only one person witnessed it all: Uriel, who, unknowingly, would become the most famous Sleeper recognized by all of humanity.
'I guess it's finally all over,' said Shade in Uriel's mind.
"Yes, it's all over now."
"Do you regret it?"
Uriel thought for a few seconds before giving his answer.
"A little. I suppose our dream of being the ones who revolutionize the world of animated training will have to wait."
Shade laughed.
'I guess it will.'
...
[POV Sunny]
Sunny woke up in his recovery unit in a somber and heavy mood.
He had done it. He had returned from the Forgotten Shore alive after five full months in that hell.
He had returned to the waking world as one of the most powerful Sleepers of all, with access to incredible new powers.
He should be happy, excited, or euphoric, but he wasn't.
After all, he had come out alive, he was strong, he had made friends and allies in that hell, who surely had already returned.
However, his friend—the one he initially found to be a persistent annoyance and someone he swore to punch if given the chance—was no longer there.
He had gone from considering Uriel an annoying and irritating guy to someone he considered his friend—his best friend, in fact, since he was the first person he had met.
Clenching his fists, he felt the anger and frustration boiling under his skin. He opened the capsule's glass with a punch, shattering the reinforced material under the strength of an Awakened monster.
He was furious. Uriel had deceived everyone. Sunny considered himself a master of deception, but Uriel surpassed him by creating an elaborate deception that he couldn't see until it was too late.
Uriel had insulted him to make him angry and abandon him. He threw words after words at him, which Sunny initially didn't take seriously. But Uriel's objective was simply to gather a bit of energy to move.
Sunny knew that Uriel had held back in the battle he fought against him and Nephis. He was a true monster in combat, something that defied logical sense.
Suddenly, one of the nurses in charge of monitoring the Sleepers entered the room. She looked at the broken capsule, then at Sunny, and finally blushed upon noticing he was naked.
Sunny realized this and immediately covered himself with the Puppeteer's Shroud.
"Awakened Sunless! I'm glad to see you back!" said the nurse, unsuccessfully trying to remain professional.
"Yeah, whatever," said Sunny, approaching the nurse. "Can you take me to Uriel's room?"
The nurse was confused.
"Lord of the Darkness," said Sunny, saying Uriel's True Name.
"Yes," said the nurse with a slightly strange look.
Sunny followed the nurse through the hallways for a minute until she stopped at a door. He could clearly feel two shadows inside the room, and he knew who they were.
...
Sunny entered the heavily guarded underground room. The room was large and empty, with only a transparent machine keeping its occupant's body alive. Black hair as dark as night, straight, attractive features, pale skin, and a peaceful expression on his sleeping face.
Next to the machine were two girls. The first was a girl with long blonde hair and pale skin. Her eyes were covered by a blue bandage, and her hand was resting lightly against the glass while an expression of guilt and pain was drawn on her features.
On the other side was another girl with white hair and silver eyes, her gaze contemplative, not openly expressing emotions. Her eyes were fixed on the young man who remained asleep, waiting for him to wake up at any moment. But no matter how much she waited, the young man continued—and would continue—sleeping.
"Hello, Sunny," said Cassie, breaking the dense silence of the atmosphere.
"I see Uriel did it."
Sunny furrowed his brow.
"Did what? Stay in the Dream Realm to die uselessly?" asked Sunny angrily. "Why? If that's it, I don't understand a damn thing, Cassie. This wasn't supposed to end this way. I was supposed to fight Nephis, not for both of us to fight Uriel and leave him half-dead."
Cassie said nothing, remaining silent for a few seconds.
"Answer," said Sunny.
Cassie finally sighed, and a sad look appeared on her face. Her body trembled slightly from the pain she felt.
"I lied to both of you," she finally said, causing Nephis and Sunny to open their eyes.
"How?" asked Nephis. "And since when?" asked Changing Star.
"When we were on top of the headless knight's statue. The vision I told you was one I had modified—not the vision I really saw."
"I knew what would happen and how everything would end."
Sunny visibly showed anger.
"You knew from the beginning... and yet, why didn't you try to change anything? Why didn't you tell us? We could have found another way for all of us to return."
Cassie looked at Sunny. Her expression, previously melancholic, changed. She removed her bandage, revealing her eyes, which were red and swollen—a sign she had been crying or suffering.
"Do you think I didn't try?!" Cassie shouted, looking at Sunny with her voice mixed with rage, sadness, and helplessness.
"Of course I tried! I tried everything possible to change the future I saw! But no matter how much I tried, it never changed. It was always the same! It always ended the same way! Worse, my attempts only made it seem even more inevitable."
Cassie closed her mouth, taking several breaths after her emotional outburst.
She closed her eyes for a moment.
"I couldn't do anything. I didn't tell you the truth about how everything would end because it would make it even more painful for all of us. So I made a decision: I lied to you and manipulated you to a certain extent, and I met with Uriel and told him everything and how this would end—hoping he would do something to change the final outcome." Cassie looked at the capsule where the young man remained asleep, oblivious to the discussion taking place.
"Everything in this life has a high price that needs to be paid. Uriel knew that and decided to pay that price himself. To save your lives, to change destiny, he chose to sacrifice himself silently for everyone.
"But look at the final result. You two are alive, and Uriel is surely agonizing, fighting a slow and painful death," said Cassie.
Sunny sighed and looked at the one responsible for all this intently.
"...I understand. Rationally, I understand. You were forced to make a terrible decision. And you chose the lesser of all evils—you chose a lamb and sacrificed it. Congratulations, Cassie. Uriel is dead, and you killed him. Live with that remorse for the rest of your life." After those final words, Sunny disappeared from one moment to the next, leaving the room.
Cassie looked at Nephis.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" she asked in a broken and weak voice.
Nephis thought about her words for a few moments and then said, "You did what you had to do. Now you have to live with it." Nephis left the room, leaving Cassie alone.
Cassie, hearing the door close, shuddered. She felt Nephis move away, and she was alone again, just like the first day she arrived at the academy.
Her face turned back to Uriel.
Both knew what the outcome of all this was, and they needed to learn to live with that guilt.
"See you in a few years, Cass," Cassie remembered those last farewell words from Uriel.
Cassie placed the bandage over her eyes and walked toward the door. She still had things to do. She would live with the weight of knowledge and shatter the chains of destiny.
With one last look, Cassie left the room, leaving Uriel alone.
[End of Volume One: Demon of Darkness]