“What do you mean push right through them?!”
As the wind pressure threatened to throw him off the pegasus descending at a rapid speed, Somnu did his best to hold onto the golden armor in front of him.
“I’m glad we got to meet and talk things through on this side, scarecrow kid!” Eamon said, seemingly unaffected by the whole ordeal as if the wind was gently brushing his silver hair. “Once we get closer, Betty will take you to the portal leading to the First Layer…”
“What about you?!”
“Like I said earlier, I can’t leave this sanctuary. And as for these small fries…” The golden knight suddenly hopped and stood on his pegasus’ back, making Somnu hold on to his feet instead. “Just leave them to me.”
“!”
Suddenly, just as the old knight summoned his holy sword, a blinding light shot down and connected with an almost invisible barrier. It was envelopping a structure that seemed all too similar to the crypt Somnu had first stayed in after fighting off the scarecrow monster without his System.
The barrier immediately lit up, clearly denying most Nightmare Creatures any entry.
Is that the power of the holy sword…? Somnu questioned inwardly.
“It’s a different Memento of mine, I leave it here to regulate which Nightmare Creatures to send to the First Layers.” Eamon confirmed as his holy sword Dawnbringer continued to emit a bright shine like a sudden makeshift sun appearing in the night. “The next generation starts in the Abyss of Lethe, It’s only natural that I give them a helping hand.”
“If you can do this, do it for everyone, dammit!” Somnu cried out as he remembered his agonizing pain facing the zombies. “Just put barriers on all of the portals!”
Before saying anything, Eamon jumped down from Betty, descending like a meteor.
And yet, his voice still resounded inside Somnu’s mind.
“You appeared in the portal leading to the Third Layer. If you can’t take care of a few zombies by the time you make it there, then the crown was wrong to choose you as a successor.”
“...”
Somnu grinded his teeth as he held onto Betty’s mane. He didn’t dare blurt anything out, knowing full well what Mr. Emberlyn was trying to say.
The scarecrow kid needed to get stronger and handle his own problems, he needed to grow more confident and responsible.
The scarecrow kid needed to become worthy of the ones believing in him, someone the souls and Mementos of those he was carrying would be proud to have relied on him to protect their legacy, their dreams.
The scarecrow kid needed to stop being a kid.
Even though the golden knight had long since put distance between him and the pegasus, Somnu shouted with full confidence the words would reach the right ears.
“I don’t know how just yet, I’m still too weak and powerless, but no matter how long it takes me… I’ll grow stronger, much stronger, enough to come back and get you out of here if it’s the last thing I do!! I promise you that!” The scarecrow’s voice echoed through the air just as Betty slowed her descent. “That will be my oath!”
***
BOOOOOM!!
As the last knight of Nirvia defended the sudden onslaught of attacks from the nightmares on the ground, barriers of light under him accompanying his descent, he couldn’t help but raise the corners of his lips after hearing Somnu’s words.
You say you are weak, but it is the strong who are hard on themselves. He thought, not allowing his words to be heard. It is the weak who are hard on others.
“He’s just an old man! Beat him up!”
“The years must have weakened him already!”
“We have grown much stronger! He’s nothing to us now!”
“We’re undefeatable in our current state!”
The Nightmare Creatures’s distorted voices rang out from all over, sending more and more attacks at their one enemy while belittling him.
“Go, Somnu! Don’t look back and don’t lose sight of yourself!” Eamon stopped his descent in the middle of the air, then raised his shining holy sword above his head. “Forge your own path across the Nightmare Realm, boy! Once it’s all over, let’s enjoy a cup of coffee on my porch again!”
***
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“...”
Without waiting for an answer from her rider, the words from her master sent Betty whipping through the air towards the shielded structure. The portal inside that mausoleum was Somnu’s last chance to make it back to the Abyss of Lethe.
Even though he had been told not to look, Somnu couldn’t help but glance back towards his old employer.
The old knight’s next words threatened to shatter every eardrum in the vicinity.
“AS I HAVE DONE MY DUTY TO WARN YOU ONCE BEFORE, I FEEL NO OBLIGATION TO DO SO AGAIN!”
“!”
“A LITTLE BIRD HAS ONLY ITSELF TO BLAME IF IT ATTEMPTS TO FLY WITH AN UNDEVELOPED WING, ONLY TO PLUMMET TO ITS DEATH!”
“Did he just call us little birds?!”
“Can’t you see how far we’ve grown, old fool?!”
“Step away and let us feed on that kid so we can grow much stronger!”
“I want to taste his insides again!”
“Oh, the delicacy of his cries!”
“Give us his fear!”
Far away, Somnu shuddered in place as his grip on Betty’s mane tightened.
However, he had his own problems. While Betty continued her flight, Nightmare Creatures of unspeakable horrors began to reach up to him, some flying with featherless wings, others extending long eye-filled tongues. He refused to look at the rest, but he summoned Eclipsed Requiem and began to send slashes left and right.
He had to do his part if he wanted to make it safely to the portal.
Thankfully, it seemed as though some Nightmare Creatures were still being blocked by sudden barriers of light popping around the pegasus…
“COME LITTLE BIRDS, IF YOU ARE SO EAGER TO STAND BEFORE ME, I WILL GLADLY DELIVER DEATH UPON YOU!”
With those words, Eamon’s figure began to glow as brightly as his weapon.
“!”
“Wait… don’t tell me…!”
“He wouldn’t dare…!”
“That’s overkill!”
The voices of the Nightmare Creatures rescinded in a panic as they seemed to realize what the old knight was planning.
“He’s summoning his Mind Palace!”
“IN THE HONOR OF THE COUNTLESS TITLES BESTOWED UPON ME… I, SIR AEMON EMBERLYN, THE LAST KNIGHT OF NIRVIA, SHALL DESCEND THE EMBRACE OF THE SLEEP SOVEREIGN UPON YOU!”
Just as he was about to enter the shielded structure, barely having managed to keep the Nightmare Creatures at bay, Somnu glanced back one last time. What he saw made him doubt his eyes.
Although he could barely make it out, Somnu could definitely tell what it was supposed to be.
A golden castle with all its splendor manifested around the old knight, descending with him as he swung his holy sword down.
All he could witness after that was a light so bright, it felt as though his eyes had been completely blinded.
As if everything had turned into a pure white void.
***
“!”
After opening his eyes again, Somnu found himself beyond the barrier, standing inside the hallway of yet another mausoleum.
“NEIGH!”
Beside him, Betty shoved him forward, urging him to go on ahead.
“...”
With one last look back towards the entrance, Somnu could only see the barrier and nothing beyond it. The calmness on the inside was surreal, but the chaos of a raging battle outside was a fact, even he could no longer sense it.
He wasn’t sure what might have happened, but Betty’s existence should have meant the old man was still alive.
“Thank you, Betty. You were awesome.” Somnu stroked the white pegasus’ mane slowly. “You can go back now, I’ll take care of it from here.”
“NEIGHHH!” Betty raised her head, enjoying the praise.
“Ah, it seems someone else wants to thank you.”
[Crow’s Call!]
“Caaw!”
Landing on her master’s shoulder, Fala raised a wing at the pegasus.
Then Somnu and Fala watched as Betty turned around, flew towards the entrance, and beyond the barrier.
“Let’s go back, Fala. Let’s get much stronger from here on out.” Somnu muttered as he turned around and walked inside the hallway. One that wasn’t too dissimilar to the one he was familiar with, the same dimly lit torches hanging on the sides.
“Caaw!”
A second later, Somnu took off running towards an opening in the far distance.
Along the way, he noticed a bunch of small Horned Cockroaches and Soul-Sucking Mosquitos, as well as other bugs he had encountered before.
Seeing as they were affecting his active fears, he chose to maximize his time here.
“Fala! Go eat as much as you want! I’ll cancel the summoning before I step into the portal, so don’t worry about being left behind!”
“Caaw!”
Receiving her command, Fala split into two and went on the hunt.
However, that wasn’t the full efficiency Somnu had been looking for.
So, he let out another command.
“Grudgekeeper, you go too!”
And so, Somnu was running at full speed in what seemed like an endless hallway, fully bare once more as he left both his outfit and his crow companion behind.
This is only to get stronger! I don’t have spare clothes, I’m not some weird pervert!
He felt as though rumors about him would spread, even with no one around to witness his current state.
And yet, he wholeheartedly hoped it wouldn’t happen.
One’s reputation had a major influence on the mind, after all.
And on the way of living.
Somnu knew that all too well.
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