Chapter 40

"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents." — The Call of Cthulhu.

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It's been a whole day and more since he had gotten any rest. Mind you, his body was still pumping with no restrictions. No sign of tiredness. Because the moment he began to feel a sliver of discomfort in his body. It will be swept away by his aspect in a matter of seconds. But that's all in the physical realm, the mental realm wasn't so simple. He could feel the strain of pushing your mind recklessly, his Absolute Domain created pressure on his eyes and mind. Like an invisible hand pressing down on them. It was just like in his fight with the tentacle pervert. However, then. The pressure and strain was unlike anything else he had experienced. It wasn't painful, it was suffocating… very severely so.

His aspect would adapt tirelessly but the side-effect of Absolute Domain was that much more dangerous. Every time his aspect deflected the suffocating force, it responded with even greater intensity. It was like a never-ending war between two sides. One side never ran out of energy, and the other side never stopped its assault.

Ariel deduced that his Absolute Domain was hiding various things, it did not appear as it seemed. Not at all. Which was pretty obvious.

So, sensing a chance to get some shut-eye. He took it gracefully. Although the current state of the region stated otherwise with its harrowing storm. The rain showering him as his eyes inevitably closed and darkness reigned his vision.

Some movement occurred near him. Movement that he promptly ignored becuase of his silent instincts, which would've alerted him if something was wrong. Then, he heard the shuffling noise get closer before something warm pressed itself against him. And him being slightly dazed by the aftermath of his ability. He unceremoniously wrapped his hands around the object bringing him warmth, causing said object to stiffen for a second before deflating a moment later.

…

…

…

His eyes abruptly opened to a pale orb hanging in the sky, its presence fleeting aside from its blinding brightness. His body was wet from sweat and rain. Fortunately the smell on him was drafted away by the storm, his armour that was covered with thick blood and pieces of flesh was squeaky clean. However, it was then that he felt a weight on his hands. Looking over, Ariel's eyes gazed incredulously at Nephis whose body was curled snuggly around his hand. A small smile was displayed on her otherwise, icy face.

Ariel did not have the time to appreciate her beauty as it was time for them to wake up and create a suitable plan of action. Then he proceeded to gently stir her awake by shaking her for a few times. Eventually, her eyelashes fluttered, a cute yawn escaped her lips. Her body stretched for a second before freezing under the looming eyes of Ariel. A few seconds passed in silence. In the end, Nephis mechanically turned her head to meet his blank stare. Her expression indifferent and impassive.

In a sudden gesture, she coughed. Opening her mouth to speak.

"Have you rested well enough?"

"Yes, but did you?

"Mhm, I have gotten enough sleep. But enough about that, do you have any contingency plans for our situation?"

"I bet you did, as for plans… actually there isn't one, we will just do what we did before, try to cover as much distance as we can in the span of a day. We got cut off prematurely yesterday becuase of the damn, untimely storm. But we were fortunate to be close enough to the cliff."

Both of them chose to ignore mentioning how they slept. Ariel was particularly curious about it but he managed to hold himself back from embarrassing her furthermore. This was no time for stupidity.

"Alright, let's wake these sleepy heads up." Ariel declared. He was already beside Sunny when the last word rang out. Crouching down, he flexed his middle finger with his thumb, waited a few seconds to let it strengthen itself. Then he released it towards the middle of Sunny's forehead. Filtering a resounding bang as Sunny let out a loud, startled scream while clutching his head.

"Why did you do that?!

"Because I wanted to."

"That's no reason to wake up a person like that! Are you not human?!

"You slept the most out of all of us, what do you expect?"

Sunny breathed through his nose heavily, his eyes carrying a venomous glint.

He didn't have to use that much strength! And why is it hurting so much?!

Sunny began rubbing his forehead tenderly, to avoid suddenly being stabbed with a pang of pain. His body stood up begrudgingly. He still felt spent, his muscles were screaming at him. Sleeping on a rocky and spiky earth wasn't the best experience. His back was sore from all the thorns digging into it.

Hah… why are we the only ones brought to this region of the dream realm? Why weren't we summoned to a citadel? There, we could have easily reached a gate, touched it. Then summoned back to the living world. Why couldn't it be that easy?

"Come on now, stop brooding like a little kid and get ready. We have 37 scavengers waiting to be plucked of their soul shards."

Ariel waved him over, his voice rambunctious. Nephis along with Cassie were already heading out ahead of them. They didn't have anything with them that were of value except scavenger meat wrapped by shredded clothes and a big bag of soul shards that will certainly get bigger if Ariel is saying the truth.

Sunny catched up to him, slightly out of breath. Before asking.

"Thirty-seven scavengers? When did that happen?"

"Forty of them to be exact, three of them met a rather unhinged death. It happened When you were deep in your beauty sleep."

Sunny ignored the slight jab of words.

"And you… killed them all? No, actually don't say anything, I already know the answer."

…

…

…

Arriving at the bottom of the fissure, everyone aside from Cassie looked around in amazement. Numerous bodies littered the ground with some spots painted by a pool of dark, red blood. One even had its whole chest area empty of flesh and bones.

Sunny could not believe his eyes, even though he had seen this sight before. This, right here was creating history to him, opening a new chapter in their world that he was as much as excited as he was apprehensive for. He was sure that it was not just him that felt the same way. Hell, he had a divine ranked aspect himself that he has not seen even a small percent of its potential. Although it sounded useless. He knew he had potential hiding within him, he will just need enough time to tap into it.

And this guy… Sunny eyed Ariel from the side. I'm now sure he has a divine aspect if not a sacred one, there's no possible way he can slaughter forty awakened nightmare creatures with an 'awakend' aspect. Sure he said that he will receive a brief amount of strength when fighting creatures one rank above him. But this much strength isn't brief at all.

Clap! Clap!

Ariel clapped to get their attention.

"As much I appreciate your wondering stares and the high it gives to my ego. We have to get to work, we will spend an hour here. No more, no less. After the hour, we will set out immediately, even if we have to leave some of the shards. We have plenty enough as of now and with this collection, we will be basking in them."

Sunny And Nephis nodded in tandem, their eyes glinting at the sight of so many shards. In a few seconds they were already working on their first body. Ariel and Cassie went into a corner before comfortably sitting down. With Ariel suddenly dragging Cassie onto his lap, getting a small, cute yelp out of her.

Cassie, feeling the unexpected sensation of his body, let out a deep sigh that she didn't know she withheld. Then, she Squirmed atop his lap to better her posture.

Finally settling in, she laid back her body fully against him, her head using his broad shoulders as a pillow. She nearly craned her head into his neck but held herself back. Not wanting to further embarrass herself.

Then, she spoke in a tone that betrayed her by conveying a bit of meekness.

"I like this, I could get used to it."

"Me too."

"Are you okay? You've fought forty scavengers just by yourself. Not to mention, you technically carried all of us up to the cliff. I know you had some rest. But are you truly alright?"

Ariel couldn't suppress a smile from blooming on his face when he heard the concern in her tone.

"I appreciate the concern. I'm truly alright, my body hasn't felt this good since ages. My mind is under some stress, I don't really care about it though, it will eventually dissipate."

Cassie returned his smile with a sweet one.

"If you say so."

An hour passed with Cassie and Ariel basking in the white radiance of the sun. Strangely it didn't give off any warmth, it just existed before being flown away fleetingly. The warmth of their bodies made up for the lack of it. Their eyes were closed in bliss when a heavy thud prompted them to open them.

Sunny and Nephis were panting a bit. In front of them, there was a rag with visible bumps outlining it. Its colour identical to Nephis's robe memory. Looking up, Ariel focused on Nephis, noticing a large slit by the side of one of her legs. The slit spread apart at the base of her thighs, revealing her supple, luscious, and sleek long leg. The paleness of her body was no joke. Her feet stood out like a sore sight to the eyes with how contrasted it was compared to the surroundings.

Wow.

Ariel tapped Cassie's shoulder, indicating for her to stand up. Then he went near the rag before opening it with a swift swipe of his hands, the soul shards clattered to the ground. Spreading wide like a wave. Two of them, oversized all of the others massively. Obviously the transcendent ones. There were also four Monster shards. The rest were Beast shards. All of them totaled to a staggering fifty-seven.

"Now, we will separate some for ourselves, leaving the remaining ones for use in case of an emergency."

Ariel then proceeded to gather 25 of them. Immediately pushing fifteen towards Sunny and Nephis. Taking ten for himself and Cassie.

Everybody's strength matters. If we can't coexist as a team, there will be no future for us. Sure I can upgrade my memory significantly with this amount of shards. But Everyone needs to have a sufficient amount of power to take care of themselves even when they're alone.

Both of them went wide eyed at my gesture, causing Sunny to instantly speak.

"This is way too much, we're grateful for the opportunity, but me personally. I can't use them, they don't have any use for me. It's better that they fall in Nephis's hands."

Sunny gathered the shards before dropping them in a pile in front of Nephis. Nephis seemed even more bewildered by his actions.

Ariel witnessed their theatrics with a smile.

"It's settled then, Sunny sounds honest, so it all goes to Nephis. Use them well."

It was then that Ariel remembered something important.

"Oh right, I forgot to mention it…

I got an echo."

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A/N: yo! I hope you like it. As for Ariel being a team player, don't be mad about it. Believe me when I say they need everyone to be in top shape. It is the Same in the novel. Also give me your power stones. Let us get to first in rankings!!!