Nephis gestured for Saint Tyris to follow her and headed for the Ivory Tower.
"We will handle the rest. Allow me to guide you..."
As they were walking away, she threw a poignant look at Sunny.
He smiled and nodded subtly, telling her not to worry about him. As Master Sunless, he was not supposed to participate in any battles — so, he could only observe today. It was a strange situation to be in, but he could not complain.
There would be plenty of battles for him to fight before too long, anyway... perhaps more than he could handle, even with his seven bodies.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Sunny turned to the edge of the island and looked down.
At some point, the door of the Marvelous Mimic opened, and Aiko walked out, yawning as she looked around with sleepy eyes.
Noticing him, the petite girl floated off the porch and flew around the cottage, eventually landing on the grass near the edge.
She looked down and made a face.
"Damn, boss. There are so many of them. So many potential clients!"
Sunny gave her a dark look.
”Cover your arms."
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Aiko was wearing mundane clothes — and not even formal ones, at that. Her black t—shirt had some kind of Nightmare Creature printed on it with a band name written above in bold letters... which wasn't really a problem, except for the fact that the intricate tattoo of a snake that coiled around her right arm was almost fully revealed.
She grinned sheepishly and summoned a green Memory tunic.
Sunny hesitated, then said quietly:
"Are you sure you don't want me to bring you away, to the waking world?"
Aiko looked up at him and blinked a few times.
”And miss all the fun... I mean, miss such a historic event? No, thanks. Plus, I know these guys well. Don't worry, boss, they'll be fine — they have survived worse."
He stared at her for a few moments, wondering if she would change her mind after witnessing Godgrave.
In the end, he didn't say anything. Together, they watched as the shoulder of the colossal skeleton grew closer and closer.
The Ivory Island accelerated, leaving the ascending army far behind. Soon, the sky was entirely hidden by a veil of clouds, and the air grew warmer, the daylight changing subtly.
They were heading for the collarbone of the dead deity, where the base camp of the Sword Army was supposed to be established. And they — the Fire Keepers — were meant to be the vanguard of the human invasion into Godgrave.
Their task was not only to clear out the Nightmare Creatures populating the area and serve as a bulwark that protected the slow advance of the army from the arm of the titanic skeleton. What they had to do was much more important.
It was to bring the authority of the King of Swords, and the power of his Domain, to this cursed land.
Soon, the vast range of the ancient collarbone was beneath them.
The ground was white, but there was barely any of it visible under the thick carpet of scarlet growth.
Moss, grass, and grotesque towering plants were all red, as if bloody marrow had exploded from the cracks and fissures in the ancient bone.
Of course, the vermilion jungle was teeming with all kinds of abominable creatures, all moving and devouring each other in a mad rush to live and grow in the unknown, but inevitably fleeting amount of time before the veil of cloud broke, and the merciless sun burned them all to ash.
At such a late stage of infestation, the surface of the dead god's collarbone was not much safer than the dark expanse of the Hollows, where the true horrors dwelled. The strange Nightmare Creatures populating Godgrave would have had enough time to grow immensely strong, reaching the Corrupted or Great Rank en masse.
The strongest would have already retreated underground, to try and claim a place for themselves away from the annihilating heavens, but many still remained.
And now, all their undivided attention was turned to the beautiful island drifting below the clouds.
Usually, these abominations would have felt nothing but fear when looking at the terrible sky.
But today, perhaps for the first time in countless years, they felt something else.
A hunger so deep that it drove them into a state of frenzy.
Immediately, the scarlet jungle seemed to... boil.
Numerous abominations rushed in the direction of the descending island like a morbid tide. Most of them simply ran, slithered, or crawled, but there were those capable of soaring into the air, as well.
A vast swarm of Nightmare Creatures rose from the ground to meet the Ivory Island. It seemed inevitable that the flying Citadel would be swallowed by the cloud of them.
But then, an imperceptible change spread through the world.
Sunny's eyes narrowed when he recognized the familiar feeling.
Another Component of the Ivory Tower was unleashed, and suddenly, it was as if a wave of invisible force crashed into the rising abominations, throwing them down or outright obliterating their hideous bodies. Blood spilled from the sky like crimson rain.
The tyrannical Crushing had come Godgrave, reaping countless lives in the first culling of the great Domain War.