Chapter Four: Nightingale

Third POV:

"How wonderful. I haven't been fed in a long, long time..."

Kai's voice echoed through the well. Fast forward everything went just like the last time. Sunny was considering his words very carefully while trying not to appear too friendly or too hostile.

He had to wait a bit though. if he wanted to make it a bit more realistic from Kai's perspective. Humans tend to favor offers more than orders, so he was just trying to make Kai offer his help in the castle in a way that would make it look like an equal exchange from his point of view And wouldn't make him feel indebted.

He could feel the shadow of The over-attractive man shivering like a leaf in the autumn breeze unwilling to let out a breath. Sunny could really understand how bad the situation looked from the perspective of the young man with the beautiful voice.

The only thing that could be worse than approaching a terrifying dark well while thinking that there's an ancient and utterly evil creature hiding inside was to actually be locked inside that terrifying dark well while thinking that some abominable thing was looking down on you from above.

'Now how do I convince him?'

A devious grin crept up over his face. For some reason, Sunny felt the urge to tease him a little. Soon Sunny cleared his throat.

"You sound like a human though. Are you a... human? I am a nightmare creature. You are a human and I'm a monster. You know monsters do love the human flesh, so how about you come out and we can discuss this in more detail."

He didn't lie though, it was true that he was a nightmare creature of sorts. Sunny was Grinning the whole time which made his voice come out as if mocking the poor Kai in the Well.

But that backfired pretty quickly.

After that abhorrent attempt, The young man in the well grew silent. Then, he silently said as if accepting his fate:

"Yeah, it's definitely all over for me. Oh, well. I had a good run, I guess..."

'Great job, idiot!'

Sunny sighed heavily.

"Stop panicking, you idiot! I am a human! I was just joking. Do you think a monster would talk to you this nicely? And ask you to come out politely so it can eat you? I would've already jumped in if I was one."

Kai The owner of the charming voice laughed:

"Please forgive me if I don't believe you."

He was using respectful honorifics, as though recognizing Sunny as an elder. Which was logical, given that he believed him to be an eldritch horror. An eldritch horror would technically count as an elder, all things considered.

Sunny groaned inwardly.

"Why are you using honorifics? I'm definitely younger than you."

Sunny tried to stretch out the conversation so Kai could be at ease or at least drop his guard a little.

The young man imprisoned in the well hesitated.

"Wait, you really are a human?"

Sunny smiled with excitement, feeling that he was making progress.

"Yes. I really am."

The voice returned a dozen seconds later:

"How come you're here alone and in the middle of the night? You also don't seem to have any source of light with you. Please don't get angry, sir monster, but that's not exactly something a human would be able to do. Maybe you should work on your story a bit more next time you venture out to devour innocent souls. Just a, well, a piece of friendly advice."

'How wonderful, Now he is even giving me some advice'

Sunny sighed.

"Very funny. I'm able to walk around the city at night because my Aspect allows me to hide in the darkness. I can also see through it, too. How did you end up in this well, anyway?"

Sunny already knew the story but asked nevertheless. Wasn't that something a human being that you've just met in such a situation would do?

The young man lingered before answering.

"How does one usually end up in these situations? A bunch of thugs decided to shake me down for my Memories. I politely refused, and here we are. They've been keeping me here for a couple of weeks, trying all kinds of methods to get me to transfer the Memories to them. But I must say, their attempts were very clumsy. In terms of knowing how to terrorize people, these fellows are not even anywhere near the laziest of sasaengs."

Of course Sunny didn't know what a sasaeng was, that was before Rain later explained to him that those 'sasaengs' were the obsessive idol fans who would go as far as invading private property, just to see someone breathe. Before that, he just assumed that it was some kind of a horribly malevolent Nightmare Creature.

"I see. Well... goodbye."

With a knowing smile. Sunny turned around and began to walk away. Soon, the owner of the beautiful voice stopped him:

"Wait! Wait! Are you... are you really human?"

The push-and-pull method turned out to be very useful with Kai.

Sunny knew why Kai was such a doubtful person, Kai is a very honest guy. He is also a very careful, alert, and collected person. His Flaw, while useful, was also often detrimental and misleading. The flaw that allowed him to sense lies made him less prone to having a lot of questions. But that was only the case with other people. In Sunny's case who couldn't even lie, his proclaims and answers came out very bizarre from Kai's perspective. Sunny had said that he was Both a monster and a human which from Kai's point of view turned out very confusing. Since he couldn't detect a lie in what Sunny said.

Sunny grimaced.

"I am! I've told you already!"

The young man imprisoned in the well hurriedly asked:

"Can you maybe get me out of here? Those guys are not coming back tonight, I think. If you help me escape, I'll make it worth your while!"

Sunny yelled an inward 'Finally' and scratched the back of his head, then asked:

"In what way?"

After a short pause, Kai's charming voice returned again, this time somewhat hesitant:

"Well, you might not know this, but I am quite a rich person. I have a whole stash of soul shards back in the castle. Some might even say that I have a small fortune. Half of it is yours if you get me out of this pit. That's ten shards, at least!"

If Kai knew who he was talking to he would've been curled up in a corner from embarrassment.

'I'm practically a billionaire when it comes to soul shards, just by the number of soul shards in my Coffer, I would be labeled as the wealthiest Guy in the world!'

Even though Sunny didn't need Kai's help in this round, Sunny suddenly got an idea. of course, he did not need the ten shards that the young man was offering. He can make use of The fact that he had these shards, though... that was more beneficial as it was already proven once.

He didn't need memories to feed Saint but he can still get some to practice his weaving!

That was a very good way to spend his time. And since all the memories in the castle market were of the awakened and dormant rank, He could copy some useful enchantments that he might find there to his companions's arsenal relatively easily.

Although It won't do much as a dormant and an Awakened memory. It will definitely make the journey easier for mere Sleepers.

He smiled.

"Do people know that you have a fortune?"

The young man answered, a bit of surprise in his voice.

"Do they... know? Yeah, I guess they do. I am known to spend a lot from time to time. On entertainment, as well as, uh... some other things. I'm a patron of arts, one can say."

Sunny smirked at him. It seemed like his friend was quite enjoying himself back in the castle.

Soon Sunny moved toward the Grate and began to lift and push it off the entrance of the well.

"I will be lifting this off the entrance, Let's hope that u can fly to get out of there"

So far Sunny hadn't made a single mistake. Aside from his previous joke, everything went just as he remembered....or maybe slightly different but he still had the same results.

Soon Kai's hesitating voice rang

"...I can"

"Oh.."

Sunny made an exclamation voice, As if Surprised.

Kai's voice soon followed.

"That's my aspect ability"

As if remembering something, Sunny froze. Not because he was surprised but because he suddenly felt very conscious of himself.

Sunny mentally looked at himself. His ghostly pale skin and dirty hair were covered in dirt and layers of dried and fresh blood. His looks didn't look presentable at all. Especially not when meeting a very dear old friend for the first time again.

And Sunny's competitive spirit surged. He would for sure lose in terms of looks when he was compared to the Saint Version of Kai but he was sure as hell he didn't want to lose to the Sleeper version of Kai. Especially not when he was an Awakened now while Kai was a Sleeper.

Sunny immediately dropped the grate he had barely lifted off the well and summoned the Eternal Spring.

Soon after, Sunny used the Eternal Spring to wash his face and hair and summoned the Coffer. Opening the lid of the Coffer, Sunny's Hand Dashed in it. Soon after a bit of search he grabbed and pulled a small white towel and began to wipe the water off his face while also drying his hair.

There were a lot of things in the Covetous Coffer that Sunny had put there himself, such as everyday necessities.

The whole process took about three to five minutes before Sunny managed to Look a bit better. Since his Transcendent Tunic was already clean, it didn't take him that long.

Sunny remained motionless for some time, thinking things over and checking himself. After a while, Kai spoke again, his pleasant voice tinted with a bit of apprehension:

"Well? Will you help me?"

Sunny walked back to the dark fissure of the well:

"Alright. I'll remove this grate, and you can fly out. However, I don't really need your shards. If you want to come out of there, you'll have to help me buy some stuff from the castle instead."

The prisoner of the well hesitated, then cautiously asked:

"What stuff?"

Sunny smiled.

'Alert and cautious, no wonder he was my friend.'

"Just a couple of memories. Don't worry I will pay for what I buy."

Soon Sunny added:

"So, do we have a deal or not? I've wasted enough time here already."

Since Sunny knew what type of person Kai was he didn't need to threaten him like he did the last time.

Kai didn't have to think about it too long. Soon, his voice resounded a bit relieved from the darkness once again:

"We have a deal."

It sounded strangely relaxed, as though the young man had become resigned to fate.

He kneeled near the well, grasping the grate with his hands. As An awakened Titan Sunny was already stronger than most. He can take down most of the creatures in the dark city. Aligned with his rich experience and Arsenal, He was unstoppable.

So a Grate this big is nothing to him.

without much effort, he slowly moved the heavy grate to the side. few seconds passed each feeling like an eternity. Sunny was tensely staring into the circle of pure darkness in front of him, waiting with anticipation and excitement.

Then, several more seconds passed

....And then a few more.

Nothing happened.

'Uh...'

Sunny almost forgot why Kai still refused to come out. Soon he tilted his head, then asked:

"Aren't you going to come up?"

After a bit of a delay, the charming voice resounded from the darkness once more:

"...You see, I just thought of something."

Sunny sighed lowered himself and sat on a nearby Gravestone. He already knew the kind of question he wanted to ask so Sunny prepared an answer in his mind and asked:

"What is it?"

Kai was silent for some time, then answered with a bit of wariness:

"Ah, it's just that this grate is so heavy that it wouldn't even budge when I tried to move it. It took all six of my captors to put it in place, actually. And they were all big, strong men. So..."

He hesitated.

"I know that we have already established that we are both human, and it's not that I doubt your honesty, but would you mind explaining to me how is it that you were able to remove it all by yourself?"

The honorifics were back.

Sunny cursed under his breath. This guy was even more paranoid than him!

But that wasn't a bad thing in any sense. If anything.....it was just slightly annoying.

Taking a deep breath Sunny asked.

"You do know that all humans in this cursed land are Sleepers right?" Emphasizing the word "humans" as he spoke.

Sunny was taking advantage of his very own unique existence. telling half the truth often becomes as misleading as utter lies.

Without a second delay, Kai responded.

"Yes, and?"

Sunny continued.

"And you do know that most of the Creatures here are either Fallen or Awakened, right?"

Emphasizing the word "Creatures" Sunny easily prepared the impression and the natural thought process that Kai would unconsciously take.

In the end, weren't Dreamspawns and Shadowspawns also Creatures?

But Kai would naturally assume that the "Creatures" in that context were the Nightmare Creatures Since Sunny has already singled The humans out earlier. Although Sunny was pointing at himself in that context, Kai didn't need to know that.

Without waiting for Kai's response, Sunny continued.

"To tell you the Truth, my aspect allows me to be one with the shadows. To put it more simply, my aspect is a utility-type aspect. while my aspect is one of the most versatile aspects out there, it does have a unique feature. I can augment myself with my own shadow, which allows me to double my strength, speed, agility, resilience, etc, for several folds depending on the state of my core. And that's mostly how I survived in the dark city."

By that Sunny was done speaking, and simply waited for Kai to digest the information he just threw at him.

By this Kai would naturally assume that Sunny's core has already reached its brim, and he was at least as strong as the hunters and the guards of the Bright Castle.

But no matter how much you try to change Fate, it will only Toy with you.

Soon Kai seemed to suddenly become very curious about completely something else, as if whatever Sunny just said was for naught.

"Oh? You're indeed very strong! Very few people in the castle are strong enough to Survive in the dark city. I think I know every one of them by name."

After a short pause, he added:

"...By the way, what is your name?"

Sunny rolled his eyes and answered:

"My name is Sunless."

Sunny felt a strong sense of deja vu.

'Oh...'

Meanwhile, Kai suddenly laughed.

"Sunless? That name does not sound like something only a soul-devouring demon would be called at all! Zero chance of that, right?"

After saying that, he laughed again, this time with a hint of desperation in his voice.

Sunny was starting to have a headache.

Annoyed, he said in a flat tone:

"Very funny. Now, come out of that well before I change my mind."

It seems like peace was never an option. Sunny was trying to not threaten his friend like the last time but Kai was leaving him no room for that.

Eventually, Kai stopped laughing and said:

"There's no one in the castle with that name. At least no one as strong as you described. From what you have described, you should at least be one of Gunlaug's Generals. Do you maybe live in the outer settlement?"

'Oh, come on. Someone is dying here to see you and you're playing the detective role!'

Feeling the pressure of the Flaw growing in his mind, Sunny closed his eyes and answered truthfully:

"No."

Kai cleared his throat.

"So... you are someone who walks the cursed ruins alone at night, possesses the strength of at least six men thanks to his 'utility' type aspect, dwells in the darkness beyond the castle walls, and calls himself Sunless. Did I miss anything?"

Sunny grimaced.

"Not really."

For a few moments, there was silence. Then, the prisoner of the well said with a voice full of dark humor:

"Would you climb out of this well to meet a creature like that?"

Hidden in the darkness of the cursed night, Sunny smiled darkly with a bit of menace and said.

"If I was in your shoes, I would. And I think that you should do it, too. Do you know why?"

After a small pause, Kai asked with sincere interest:

"Why?"

Sunny stopped smiling and allowed a cold indifference to seep into his voice:

"Because I can put that grate back anytime."

Without waiting for Kai's response, he grabbed the grate and moved it a little. A moment later, the horrid sound of stone scraping against stones invaded his ears once again.

Almost immediately, the prisoner of the well changed his tune:

"Uh... alright! Wait! Stop!"

Sunny released the grate, allowing silence to reign over the lonesome courtyard once again.

Kai was quiet for some time, and then said with dejected reluctance:

"...You'd better not be a demon, alright? Stand clear, I'm coming out."

Sunny felt a soft breeze lightly caress his cheeks, and then something moved in the darkness of the well.

A few moments later, a graceful figure appeared in the air, rose above the well, and then gently landed on the stones in front of it.

The corner of Sunny's mouth twitched. A young man wearing a light lamellar armor, with luscious dark auburn hair and mesmerizing green eyes stood there in all of his glory. His well-fitted armor was made out of burnished brown leather, with deep blue embroidered garments beneath.

'How am I supposed to Compete with someone who looked so gorgeous just by breathing??'

Kai was practically beaming sunshine once he confirmed that I was a human being.

'He even called me a "Cutie"!'

Even though with his improved body condition thanks to being an Awakened, Sunny was sure that he was slightly taller by half an inch compared to his previous height as a Sleeper.

That seemed like a blow to his already damaged Pride!

'But I can't even hate him for it'

Sunny silently smiled and looked at Kai. He seemed to still possess that special type of warm charm that was always around him. It made him almost irresistibly attractive.

'How was that even fair?!'

Kai looked just as he remembered. a genuinely nice person, without the smallest trace of arrogance or entitlement on his pretty face. There were playful sparks of humor hiding deep within his eyes, and one could be absolutely sure that when Kai smiled, cute dimples would appear on his cheeks.

In short, Kai was the most beautiful person Sunny had ever seen, even compared to other Sleepers, Awakened, Ascendant, and Saints.

"Let's not dwindle here more than this. It's already late. I will answer all of your questions once we reach a safe place. Now I need you to head toward the huge cathedral in the southern part of the City and no matter what, stay on its roof."

Kai just stared at him obviously zoned out but soon the light of realization dawned on him.

"I think I have heard of you! Aren't you the Crazy Kid that lives in the ruins?"

If it was anyone else Sunny would have been very frustrated but Sunny Soon Shrugged at the Handsome man.

"Yup, that's me. And trust me I'm not that crazy once you know me better."

Kai didn't seem convinced at all, so Sunny quickly added.

"Trust me you gonna Love to see my Roommates, the talking rock that tells me what to do, and the mad knight are the best. And you can Call me Sunny by the way."

Meanwhile, Kai was staring at him with a very strange expression on his face.

Sunny cleared his throat.

"Let's go, obviously you have a lot of questions, and I haven't spoken to someone for quite a while now."

Kai shook his head.

The handsome young man continued to stare, his face full of doubt. He cautiously shook his head.

"It's not that. I just feel like I have to inform you about something."

Sunny immediately guessed that the handsome guy was going to tell him about his flaw.

He was just too nice for this world.

"Yeah? About what?"

Sunny feigned ignorance.

Kai hesitated, then said in a very calming tone:

"about my Flaw. I can actually tell when someone is lying to me. So, uh... when you said that there's a rock that tells you what to do, I knew that it was true right away."

Sunny shrugged

"Well that would make it easier for me actually, my stories are so bizarre that people tend to dismiss them as lies since they are so unbelievable."

As they were heading towards Sunny's chamber, Kai's interest peaked. he was hovering slightly higher in the sky but was close enough to hear Sunny speak, he asked

"Like, What?"

Without skipping a beat Sunny replied.

"Hmm.....Let's just say that I killed a Great Devil as a Sleeper."

The moment those words were uttered, a thud could be heard not too far ahead from where Sunny was walking.

Kai has fallen from the sky, barely managing to stop himself from stumbling face-first into the ground.

His face was pale. Kai asked carefully.

"You....did what?"

With a smirk, Sunny Shrugged nonchalantly.

"Why are you even surprised? It barely took me a single Strike. and that wasn't even my most impressive kill as a Sleeper."

_________

Later that night. A poor soul has fallen to the 'totally believable tales of the most honest man in the world, two worlds even'

May Kai rest in peace.