章 11: Chapter 11 : Rightful Heir of Death
Sunny, Neph, and Cassie. We're about to receive their usual breakfast when the whole grand hall suddenly grew dead silent. Feeling that something was weird, Sunny and Neph turned to the entrance - just in time to see a torrent of guards pouring inside.
Neph and Sunny stood there as they saw the guards quickly dispersing around the hall and moving the long tables to the walls, creating a large open space in the middle.
Cassie grasped Neph's shoulder and whispered:
"Neph, what is going on?"
Neph looked at the guards with her usual indifference.
"I'm not sure, Cassie." said Neph in a low voice.
One by one, all the Sleepers turned to face the same direction. Both Sunny and Neph followed their example
Slowly, five figures stepped out of the darkness of the alcove and stood at the steps leading up to the throne. They were Gemma, Tessai, Seishan, Kido, and the last of the five, Harus.
Previously, Sunny felt scared from those five, especially Harus. But now, all he thought about is how strong they would have been if they survived. Seishan was the only one of them that survived and later became so strong.
As Sunny was staring at them, his eyes were placed on Harus for a while, and it seemed Harus noticed his gaze as he turned to face him.
Sunny looked at him dead in the eye. Feeling no pressure from him at all. Even if Harus used his Aspect to make him temporary blind, it wouldn't affect Sunny at all now that he's very experienced with using his shadow senses.
Under his stare, Sunny could've sworn that he saw Harus tremble a little under his gaze. But he quickly got a hold of himself and remained his indifference expression.
'Heh, even he felt pressured under my stare.'
Sunny then turned his gaze to look at the last figure that appeared from the darkness. Covered in his weird echo, Gunlaug was walking towards his throne. Covered with golden liquid that covered his whole body.
Sunny trembled a little as he saw his reflection in the smooth expanse on where Gunlaug face was. Everyone around him, including Neph, shivered while looking at their own reflection.
'To this day, I wonder where he got this Echo from.' Sunny sighed and looked around a bit, avoiding looking at his reflection. It seemed that Neph also noticed that looking at their reflection make them tremble.
As Sunny was looking around the big hall, he saw familiar figures. Kai, Aiko, and even Stev.
'What is that guy doing here?' Sunny was confused on why this fat sleeper was here also.
As Gunlaug finally sat on his throne, he started speaking.
"Ah, what a nice day it is today. A perfect day for justice, don't you think, my precious wards? I've heard that there's a criminal hiding among us today. Well..am I not fair? Am I not just? Let me show you how just I am..."
'Here it begins.' Sunny sighed to himself, preparing for what's going to happen next. He saw how almost everyone in the hall tried resisting the urge to kneel down and confess their sins.
But what caught Sunny's attention was the sudden commotion at the doors. He saw two guards dragging Jubei to the center of the hall and threw him on the floor.
Unlike his past life. Sunny saw a cold expression on Jubei's face. Not anger and hatred. Jubei slowly stood up and stared at Gunluag dead in the eye. Of course, Jubei shivered because of the Echo wrapping around Gunlaug.
Everything went like how Sunny remembers. Except this time Jubei kept a cold look on his face. Like he was expecting something to happen. And that moment came.
"So how about, Jubei? Will you step down? Or do you want to challenge me?" Gemma looked at Jubei with a wide, friendly smile.
But Jubei didn't answer. He kept silent. Just then, a voice echoed in the large hall.
"Excuse me, may I say something to help deliver justice" A figure from the inside the crowd started walking confidently to the center of the hall as he stands next to Jubei and looked at Gunlaug with a friendly smile. A look of relief appeared on Jubei.
Gunlaug looked at the short boy that interfered for some reason "Well of course, if it helps serve justice, then you can say what you want."
"Thank you, Lord Gunlaug." Sunny said while bowing a little, then turned to look at Gemma.
"Mr. Gemma, you said that any crime one of your subordinates commit while on their duties is your crime, right?" Sunny said while giving a friendly smile to Gemma.
"Indeed, that's what I said." Gemma nodded.
"Then" Sunny turned to look at Jubei, "I think my friend Jubei is not fully sure about seeing Andel, right? And he'll drop the accusations."
"Yeah, I might have misunderstood what happened." Jubei said while scratching the back of his head.
Suddenly, everyone was stunned for a moment. Even Gunlaug seemed confused from this unexpected development. Then he spoke
"Alright th-"
"But!" Sunny suddenly cuts off Gunlaug, not letting him continue. "I want to accuse Andel of theft." The crowd suddenly was shocked to see this unknown sleeper accuses one of Gunlaug's men in front of everyone righr after the past accusation were dropped.
"Andel has lost a considerable amount of soul shards while gambling, but refused to pay. That is stealing. Since it was done on his private time and not while performing any official duties, you have nothing to do with it." Sunny said as he looked at Andel like he's looking to some criminal
Gemma frowned a little. "A gambling dept? Did Aiko send you?"
Sunny shock his head. "I've never met her in my life" this was true, he didn't meet her in this life.
"If you don't even know the person Andel owes the shards, why are you here challenging him on her behalf?!"
Sunny looked Gemma in the eye. "Since when does someone need to know the victim to punish the criminal?" Sunny said in a tone that made him seem like he cares about justice more than anything.
Gemma hesitated a bit and then said, "..It's just a gambling debt. I can pay the shards myself, and we all can.."
"It's not about the dept. It's about justice and law. In this forsaken lands, only law and justice can guide us. Isn't that right? Lord Gunlaug, after all. You're the judge and justice here." Sunny looked at Gunlaug with eyes filled with faith and naivety.
"Of course, in this cursed land, only law and justice can guide us." Gunlaug spread his arms as if he was teaching the teachings of a God. "But, how do you want to punish the criminal." Gunlaug asked.
"Well, as a representative of justice. I want to invoke the right of challenge." The audience were shocked. They thought for a moment that this sleeper came with a way to not let the pathfinder have a way out of the charges. But then he challenged him!!
"Very well, Pathfinder Andel. Step out for the challenge. If you die, then you're guilty. If you survived, then you're free." Gunlaug said with his charismatic voice.
Then, one of the pathfinders started walking towards the middle of the hall with an annoyed expression.
***
'Tsk, what an annoying little brat.' Andel was walking towards the center of the hall after being accused of theft. Everyone was moved to the side of the hall.
"You asked for it, kid. I promise I won't be gentle. I'll give you moments to say your goodbyes." Andel looked at the short sleeper in front of him. He looked so naive and blinded by his stupid sense of justice.
'Let's see what justice is gonna do to you when you die'
The crowd looked at Sunny with pity like he's already a dead man. Except only two, Neph and Cassie.
Andel looked at the naive looking boy and summoned his weapon while dashing towards him, wanting to end the battle quickly.
But then, Andel noticed an odachi that came from the boy's hand.
'Weird, where did that came from?' Andel didn't think much about it. But right when he was close to hit the boy, something weird happened.
'Eh?' Suddenly, Andel's vision turned upside down. 'What's happening?'
Just then, Andel saw something that made his heart sink.
'My body headless!?!' Just when Andel realized that his head was cut off in an instant. His consciousness started to fade away. 'No, no way. Is this the end?! Is this how I die!?'
Then, Andel consciousness finally faded. Andel was now dead.
***
Sunny saw as Andel dashed towards him. He ordered Serpent to turn into a weapon. Just when Andel was close enough. Sunny wrapped his shadow around him, and with a fast move that couldn't be seen by the naked eye.
He cuts Andel's head with a clean cut. He saw as the head was separated from its body. But the body didn't lose its momentum and was thrown at Sunny.
Sunny just moved to the side and then picked up the head from the hair while it was flying.
Suddenly, a cold silence fell on the hall. Weak sleepers only saw Andel's head flying in the air and got catched by Sunny. But those who were strong. Neph, Caster, Gunlaug, and his generals all saw what exactly happened.
Sunny's odachi moved so fast that if they didn't focus, they wouldn't have seen it. They saw as Sunny cut Andel with a clean cut and quickly getting back in his normal position.
Everyone's faces suddenly paled. Including the generals and Gunlaug. They all looked at Sunny with anxious eyes. At that moment, they all realized that if they fought him. It could be their death.
No one dared to talk.
Sunny felt all the scared and anxious eyes staring at him. But he ignored them and just threw Andel's head at Jubei and said.
"I hope you feel justified." Jubei stared at him with shocked eyes. He knew that Sunny was strong. But he didn't expect him to be this strong.
Well, how does Jubei know that Sunny was strong? This isn't the only weird thing. But it's rather the fact that Jubei's accusations happened after one month from now. So, how did it happen now? Well, we're gonna have to go back 3 days ago.
***
3 days ago, Jubei was heading back to his tent. When he suddenly saw someone waiting for him at his tent. A short young man with pale skin. The young sleeper looked at Jubei and smiled while saying.
"Hey there, Jubei. Right? I'm Sunless, can you please give me a moment of your time. I wanna talk with you about important matters." Jubei looked at this unfamiliar sleeper anxiously. Jubei saw that boy a couple days ago, he was one of the people that came here with this year winter solstice.
"Spit it out here." Jubei said while still looking cautious.
"You're familiar with the name Andel, right?" Sunny said with his usual smile friendly smile.
Then, Jubei eyes were suddenly filled with hatred. "Yeah, I know that bastard. What do you want? "
"Well, it's simple. I wanna serve him to justice and kill him just as you do. You don't need to know how I knew about this. But all you should really care about is that I wanna kill him too. He's a criminal who needs to be killed. Am I right?" Sunny's expression turned then to an evil smirk.
"Yeah, you're right. But what does that have to do with me. They'll eventually try to use the right to challenge and then make Harus fight me instead of that filthy bastard." Jubei said with his tone filled with hatred towards Gunlaug's men.
"You're right about that one. But I have a way to make him unable to make someone instead of him fight. And for that I want you to accuse him after 3 days. And when they mention the right to challenge. That's when I'll step in and take on everything. "
Jubei looked at Sunny, still anxious. "How do I know that you're not setting me up. And why are you confident that you'll even win against him."
Suddenly, Jubei felt an invisible pressure falling on him. For a moment, he was suffocated and looked at Sunny with scared eyes.
"I'm sure you saw me when I first came here and that I'm from this year sleepers. So I don't have any loyalty or thing to Gunlaug. And why I'm confident? Well, it's because I'm strong. Really strong."
***
And just like that, Sunny was able to all this. All what Sunny wanted is a big audience and all the Gunlaug men to be present.
Sunny turned to look at Gunlaug, and then a wide, friendly smile that held back coldness inside appeared on Sunny's face.
"I believe I haven't introduced myself yet, right? How careless of him." Everyone stared this sleeper with scared and curiosity on their eyes.
"I'm Lost from Light. Who was born from the shadows..." Sunny stopped for a moment, and then he summoned the mantle of the underworld. Although it was damaged, but it still looked majestic and strong.
"And the rightful Heir of Death! One of Ms. Changing Star of the immortal flame clan cohort members" Just as Sunny said that. A heavy, cold, invisible pressure fell on the hall. Everyone inside the hall started trembling, and some fell on their knees.
Unlike Gunlaug presence. Sunny made it seem like compared to his presence. Gunlaug was just a kid. Of course, that is understandable. Unlike Gunlaug, Sunny was a former saint. Who fought countless battles. And killed thousands upon thousands of nightmare creatures. And survived the Tomb of Ariel.
In Sunny's presence, everyone felt like the god of death was behind them, ready to claim their souls. They felt like there was a sharp scythe hanging right above their heads. A cold drop of sweat ran down their spine. And in that moment, everyone thought about the same thing.
'Death!' In that moment, they realized that Lost from Light is really the rightful Heir of Death. He was a holder of a true name. Who got a true name from their first nightmare.
Gunlaug and his generals all felt scared from Lost from Light.
***
'This guy shouldn't be missed with' this thought rang in Gunlaug's. But then, Sunny started walking to what Gunlaug thought was Changing Star. Of course, he had heard of her from some of his men. But he didn't care about this matter, thinking that it was all lies.
But now, Gunlaug knew that everything was true. 'There is two people with true names this year. And if this is the strength of one of them. How strong would they be together!?'
***
Sunny walked to Neph who looked at him with widened eyes.
"Let's get out of here, Neph."
Neph looked at Sunny with shock still left on her eyes. But she knew that it wasn't the right time to ask questions. It was already their last day here anyway.
Neph nodded and took Cassie's hand, and started leading the way. Neph knew that Sunny said he was one of her cohort members to make her look like she's his leader.
Caster followed them. His eyes were filled with disbelief, the guy that he thought was just a lucky sleeper in the academy turns out to be a monster, a deadly monster, who also got a true name. Caster quickly started reevaluating Sunny. 'He must be a hidden legacy. There is no other explanation'
Before they left the hall. Sunny gave Gunlaug one final look and said "I only harm those who harm me first." It was a clear statement that Sunny won't harm Gunlaug unless he starts first
...
After a while, the cohort were outside the castle. Neph looked at Sunny and said "Sunny, can you explain what just happened. I thought you didn't want people to know too much about you."
Sunny looked at Neph, and he also saw that both Cassie and Caster were curious
"Well, I was just setting ground for your plan, Neph. I'm sure you understand what I mean by that. And it's also because..."
He looked at Neph and said slowly.
"I'll be leaving this place soon."
-------
[Hello everyone, hope you enjoyed the chapter😁. Anyway this will be the last chapter for the upcoming days. As I said before my exams are close and I wanna focus on them. It would take around a month. But after that I'll have so much free time. And I promise to post more chapters. Goodbye]
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