The leaves were rustling, and the branches were swaying, their sound full of desperate fear.
He placed one hand on the obsidian bark and closed his eyes for a moment.
Then, Sunny poured his essence into the eerie torch. Opening his eyes, Sunny sighed... and set the magnificent tree aflanie.
'You really chose the wrong person to enthrall...‘
Then, he walked back to watch it burn.
The view was breathtaking.
Bright flames were climbing the towering trunk. The obsidian bark cracked, blooming with smoldering embers. Soon, the fire reached the leaves and exploded, spreading across the swaying crown of the Soul Devourer with tremendous speed.
When that happened, the darkness shrouding the Forgotten Shore was dispelled by the colossal ball of flame burning above it.
There was a cacophony of sounds. The roaring of the fire, the hiss of leaves being turned to ash, the cracking of dying wood- All of them fused into a chilling litany of pain, as if ten thousand souls were shrieking at the sky in agony.
It was... incredibly disturbing.
Sunny almost felt as if he was really hearing the ancient tree scream.
...It screamed for a long, long time.
The Soul Devourer was huge, so it took a while for it to burn down. The beautiful crimson leaves had turned to ash. The branches did, too, falling down in a whirlwind of sparks. The delectable, juicy fruits were ruthlessly incinerated.
The trunk had taken a few days to die, but it eventually turned into a scorched, broken, hollow husk.
But it was only when the roots died that Sunny felt... nothing.
He didn‘t feel anything at all. He was of a higher Rank than the Soul Devourer now, and so, killing the insidious fiend did not even give him a single shadow fragment.
A few days later, Sunny was still sitting on the ground, looking at the smoldering remains of the great tree. He could feel that the creature was dead.
He thought that exacting his revenge on the Soul Devourer would bring him joy, but it didn't. If anything, Sunny felt... sad.
Such a death was... almost humiliating. it was unworthy of the creature that had haunted his nightmares for so long. He never wanted to humiliate an enemy that had earned his respect.
'When have I become so strong?‘
He wasn't sure.
He wasn‘t that strong, either... but he did outpace most of the things in two worlds, as far as the acquisition of power was concerned.
Finally, Sunny stood up, summoned the Endless Spring, and washed the ash off his face. The Soul Devourer was no more, and so...
'That is done. Now what?"
There. He had kept his promise.
Somewhere in Ravenheart, the sun was rising.
Which meant that Sunny was twenty-four now.
It was his birthday.
Sunny stared at the ghostly torch, which looked like it was on its last leg.
With a sigh, he walked around and collected a few pieces of charred wood. Then, he used the last of the eerie flame to make a fire.
Summoning the Marvelous Mimic, he pulled an alloy pot from its maw, as well as a tin can. The tin can contained his last spoonful of coffee powder.
Pouring the coffee into the pot, he filled it with water from the Endless Spring and placed it on the fire. A few moments later, a delicious smell spread in the air.
Sunny summoned the Shadow Chair, sat on it, and waited for the coffee to be ready. Then, he brought the pot to his face and inhaled the fragrant aroma.
"Ah…"
He remained silent for a while, and then smiled.
"Happy birthday to me."
Relaxing in an opulent chair that stood on top of a tall hill, surrounded by boundless darkness, Sunny sipped his coffee and enjoyed the view of fiery sparks dancing in the boundless black sky.