[17]Starlight Legion Armor

When Sunny came to, it was still dark, but the rain had stopped. That mean it was night already. The first thing Sunny noticed was that Nephis and Cassie were sitting next to him. Cassie had his head in her lap for some reason, and Nephis was on guard duty, just a few feet away. The second thing Sunny noticed, was that Nephis was back to the seaweed brazierre. Sunny was confused. Hadn't he lent her the puppeteer's shroud? Why was she not wearing it?

Sunny stirred, and sat up. Cassie seemed glad that he was alright. Sunny finally noticed a patch of seaweed making up a crude bandage on his leg. The gash ran from his thigh to his knee. . . 

'Oh!', Sunny blushed and checked his memories, and found puppeteer's shroud back in his soul sea. He hurredly summoned it. This was because. . . 

Sunny had woken up stark naked. Nephis must have realized that he had obtained the [Starlight Legion Armor], but he had told her he wanted the Puppeteer's Shroud back when he got a new armor. It felt annoying that Sunny could not surprise her, but she had thought things through, just as she normally did. 

Summoning his familiar leather suit over his bare body, he stood  up and went to Nephis. She looked at Sunny, and gave him a smile, but her face was all wrong. Sunny literally staggered backwards a step. This surprised Nephis, and she quickly hid her embarrasment.

Sunny walked up to her, and tried to speak.

"Are you alright? I know it wasn't easy to endure your flaw."

Nephis sort of scoffed. She turned away from him.

"Says the kid who perfectly bisected a monster an entire rank and class above him."

Sunny chuckled, and shrugged.

"It's not like that was really my kill. Who would have guessed that I would miss its neck, and then still kill it in one clean strike? Your Aspect is really overpowered. No wonder your flaw is so horrifying."

Nephis turned away from him. She didn't want to talk about her flaw. Just thinking about it made her want to empty her stomach again. Suddenly, she felt Sunny's hand on her shoulder, and flinched. She was about to move away, but a moment later, she felt the familiar intimate sensation of Sunny transferring her a memory. She wasn't used to it. Luckily, Sunny couldn't see her flushed cheeks.

Finally, she read the runes and proceeded to summon the armor he had given her. It wrapped around her in a tight black bodysuit that perfectly highlighted her body features, and the white plates of armor appeared over that only a moment later.

Finally all clothed, but still soaked, Sunny found himself sandwiched between the two girls as they all huddled together to sleep through the night. Sunny would have normally been embarrassed, especially with Neph, but he understood how tiring all this was to go through, at least for the first time. Sunny was secretly enjoying his time in the coral labyrinth.  Of course, he quickly tried to sleep, mostly to distract himself from the two defenseless girls hugging his body.

Soul serpent and and the scavenger echo were sleeping in his soul sea. The scavenger had gotten chipped up a bit but Soul Serpent came out mostly unharmed.

***

When morning finally came,  Sunny was the first up, and the first to move. He quickly dug out the soul shards of the Centurion, and gathered a few weeks worth of provisions from the scavengers furthest from the Centurion.

Sunny knew that the spire messenger was here as soon as the small black dot appeared in the sky. He informed the girls about it and went to the edge of the island and waited for the spire messenger to come into range of his shadow sense.

Finally,  when it entered his range, Sunny took advantage of the time between the messenger landing on the ground and its current height in the air to take advantage of the aerial view theough its shadow. He saw the Soul Devourer in the far distance to one side, and the knight statue to his other direction.

However,  the spire messenger quickly dive bombed the Centurion,  and grabbed some scavenger meat with it before flying off into the distance. It was a horrowing experience for Nephis and Cassie, who could feel the aura of Dread and death that seemed to emanate from the creature, but it only lasted for a moment,  before the creature flew off.

Sunny sighed.

"I guess we're not having fried chicken today. It didn't seem to notice us."

Nephis and Cassie looked at Sunny like they just saw him tear a God in half. This serious guy was actually crazy!

It was a few minutes of stunned silence, and then, finally, none of the three of them could hold their laughter. First, Sunny lost his composure. Once his rough laughter filled the air, surprisingly, it was Nephis who laughed next, finally followed by Cassie, who hadn't even been able to see the creature, just feel its dreadful aura.

Sunny was proud of his stolen grim joke. Neither Nephis nor Cassie had a lot to laugh about right now, so getting some rare humor from such a thorny and unapproachable character like how Sunny had acted since he came to the past, had really uplifted their spirits.

Sunny set up a hearty breakfast,  and Nephis endured her flaw for a split second to light the fire.

Once food and water were taken care of, the three of them sat around fire and rested. Both Sunny and Nephis were adept chefs, so they both cooked double time, and set up traveling rations for dried meat.

In the afternoon, Nephis went to sit on the western edge of the island. Sunny carried some seaweed he gathered around the island and sat next to Cassie. He figured Nephis could use some space.

Sunny began to sew with a needle of bone. He was making a saddle for the scavenger echo, and saddle bags.

Sunny had really studied a lot of craftsman methods when he began practicing shadow manifestation in the past, so weaving layers of seaweed together to make a seat for Cassie was child's play.

Cassie was silent for a while. Then, she quietly said:

"I'm sorry."

Sunny raised his eyebrows.

"Sorry? What are you sorry for?"

The blind girl lowered her eyes.

"For being so useless."

Sunny frowned and looked away. A second or two later, he said in his usual careless tone:

"You're not useless."

Cassie softly chuckled.

"Aren't I? If I want to walk, I need to be leashed to you or Neph. If I want to eat, I need to wait for one of you to feed me. That's my life now. I can't do even the simplest of things without your help… let alone be of use to either of you in return."

"Hey, don't you remember what I spoke to you about when we first met?"

Cassie blinked.  She thought back to the academy.

"You mean about your first nightmare?"

"I mean about how such a crippling flaw had to come tied to an extraordinary power. Sure, there aren't a lot of Sleepers in the world who would have saved you. Even once upon a time,  I wouldn't have either. But Nephis is here. I am here. Sure, you're not the most useful person in the cohort now, but I know better than to treat someone who might be literally able to see the future with contempt. That would be stupid."

Cassie was silent for a long time, lost in thought. It looked as though she was in the throes of some inner struggle. Sunny almost assumed that their conversation was over, but then she suddenly said in a low, raspy voice:

"I had more visions than I told you guys about."