Abner left the Dreamscape disappointed after defeating 100 Awakened in just 2 hours, thinking, 'None of them had any real skills; is this the level most awakened are at?'
After getting out of the Dreamscape pod, he left the basement, and soon his mother requested he go on a grocery run. Abner agreed.
As he left the house, he spotted his brother Julien bullying a little dog and a little girl trying to stop him.
Abner sighed, thinking, 'My Tsundere brother, this is not how you should show your love!'
He just silently approached his brother and grabbed his ear, dragging him to the grocery store with him despite his brother's complaints.
Along the way, he saw many posters made by the government promoting the idea that Arthur was the Ideal Righteous Awakened and that there would even be a movie about him!
Abner knew this already, though soon after doing his groceries he handed over a notebook he wrote describing the forgotten shores and the Nightmare Creatures there, plus some of his experience being a part of Arthur's cohort, to the Academy to be publicly published and used as a reference for the film.
Soon after doing those things, he went to sleep in his room, awakened, didn't actually sleep though, so he just went to the Citadel of the Sorrow Clan.
He soon met with his cohort, and they started hunting. Not long after they left the citadel, they noticed something strange:
Many nightmare creatures were heading towards the citadel from the direction they hunted in; some ran away elsewhere too; they seemed to be running from something; among those running there was even a fallen devil!
Abner and the rest caught the attention of the fallen devil, a four-armed demon-looking creature with red skin and purple markings on its body; it had no hair of any kind, and six eyes were weirdly placed on its head, one in the middle of the forehead, two on the sides of its face, one on its tongue and the bridge of its nose, and another on the back of its head.
It was nearly 3 meters tall and had a humanoid muscular body, the Fallen Devil Radiated Malice.
Brave noticed The Fallen Devil was trying to start a fight and started shooting him. Abner targeted him with his Pure Light too.
But the fallen devil released a malicious aura around him that protected him from the light, and his skin was too tough for the arrows to pierce through.
He didn't seem too affected by their attacks, so Glorielle and Abner had to intercept him. Glorielle activated her aspect, rushing at the Devil before Abner could catch up.
But the Fallen Devil was much stronger and faster than a mere awakened, so it easily blocked Glorielle's War Hammer with two arms and attacked with the other two.
Glorielle managed to barely block his counterattack until Abner came to help, and Brave then used his aspect to distract the fallen devil so he would reveal an opening to the two.
And it worked once The Fallen Devil looked at Brave, who was running away; he momentarily ignored Abner and Glorielle and only thought to chase after him until it was stabbed in the chest by Abner, who used his Pure Light ability on his sword to destroy the Fallen Devil from the inside.
Glorielle also didn't waste the chance and slammed the fallen devil on the side of his face with her enhanced Sunlight Shard.
The Devil screamed as the aura surrounding him became bigger and thicker as his wounds healed, and he became smaller and grew an intimidating mustache for some reason.
Abner realized what was happening—'Devil-class nightmare creatures have mystical abilities and flaws like awakened; his power seems to be a healing aura, and whenever he uses it, he's getting younger!'
Abner sighed as he thought, 'Aren't most nightmare creatures hundreds of years old? This will take too much time; we have to inform the Saint of Sorrow about the strange movements of the Nightmare creatures fast!'
However, Abner didn't have time to come up with a plan as he heard Glorielle who had temporarily stopped using her aspect, tell him, "WAIT A MINUTE, BRAVE RAN AWAY FOR REAL, THAT BASTARD LEFT US!"
Abner stopped looking at the fallen devil momentarily and confirmed that Brave had really left them and ran to the Citadel!
Abner breathed a sigh of relief as he thought, 'With the Devil's tough skin, Brave couldn't help much anyway; this is for the best.' Before he could turn his head to look at the fallen devil, he heard Glorielle warning him, "You can't dodge that block!"
Turning his back on an enemy proved to be unwise, as the Devil attacked him. Abner barely managed to use the enhancement of his armor to increase his weight before he was sent flying back about 5 meters from the force of the Fallen Devil's punch; he only managed to react due to Glorielle's warning.
Abner's armor was dented from the impact, so he used some essence to repair it as he got up and went to help Glorielle who was having a hard time stalling the Fallen Devil alone. As he did, he thought
'Just how did Arthur, Kaelen and Glorielle manage to kill a fallen tyrant, a fallen devil, and a fallen terror in just 2 days without any substantial injuries!? And that's not mentioning the Siege in between all of that... No, this guy is just a terrible matchup for us!'
Fighting the Devil even two on one proved to be difficult for Abner and Glorielle The monster seemed to be skilled in martial arts.
Abner and Glorielle barely managed to hold out before the Saint of Sorrow arrived in his transcendent form of a gargoyle, killing the Fallen Devil they struggled to survive against with just one blow.
The saint of Sorrow didn't even land; though he looked forward in the distance on the other side of the river, a big nightmare creature was heading towards them from there, a corrupted ranked Tyrant with his minions.
The Saint of Sorrow then ordered them to go back to the citadel and tell the master in the citadel to come here.
As they hurried back, Abner asked Glorielle "Do you think we could have beaten the fallen devil if Arthur were here?"
Glorielle nodded and said, "With his echo's ability to deal the finishing blow, he could just stall it until then by himself and win easily."
Abner nodded and thought to himself, 'Even if we both have divine aspects, he also has an aspect legacy... so he's still stronger than me; I should have realized he was just pretending to be passed out; the one staying behind should have been me!'
Abner shook his head and sighed, 'It's too late for that now; I already lamented it enough.'
As they arrived at the Citadel, they told the only other master, The Saint of Sorrows' own Son, that his father was calling him, and he didn't waste time and went immediately towards him.
Soon after they saw Brave, who greeted them, "You guys are fine. That's a relief; it's a good thing I went to the Saint of Sorrow to tell him about the strange movements of the Nightmare creatures and our situation."
Abner nodded, agreeing with Brave, "If it wasn't for the saint, we would be dead."
Glorielle was not of the same opinion, though she glared at Brave and said, "You have the nerve to show your face after you left us to die!?"
Brave looked at her, confused. "But I didn't leave you two to die, though? If we kept fighting that fallen devil, we were bound to lose, so calling for backup was the right decision."
Glorielle shook her head and told Brave, "That's not true! We landed two hits when you used your aspect; if we all fought together, we could have won right, Abner." They both looked at Abner, who had an exasperated expression.
Abner sighed as he answered them, "Does it even matter? All of us are fine now, and I'm sure Brave didn't leave us to die, so it's fine."
But his words didn't stop Glorielle from being upset as she started calling Brave a Chicken.
After a few hours of failing to convince Glorielle to forgive Brave, Abner and Brave just went together through the citadel as they sought advice to resolve their cohort's situation from others.
One young awakened man, seemingly less than 20 years old, just sighed hearing their story and slightly shook his head as he closed his eyes and said, "Ah, women, those creatures are impossible to understand. Just apologize and pray you will be forgiven; most of the time it works."
Brave nodded seriously as they went in search of more advice. Just in case this one fails, Brave told Abner, "That guy seemed to be talking from experience; I'm confident his advice will work!"
Abner thought about it for a moment and shook his head. "His advice is probably meant for most girls, but since Glorielle is more akin to a battle-hungry gorilla, I doubt it will work."
Brave thought for a second and nodded. "Yeah, you're right; Glorielle is indeed different from other women; if I just apologize, she might just kill me since she hates cowards, especially those who run away from the battlefield."
Abner nodded, and they soon found another awakened, this time a woman who looked about as old as the last guy they asked for advice.
She told them, "What is she even so mad for? Everything turned out fine; it's her fault for blowing this small issue into such a big deal; she's the one who needs to apologize!"
Brave shuddered as he thought, 'If I tell Glorielle to apologize, I might really get killed by her!'
They decided to ask another awakened, a middle-aged man.
The man told Brave, "Isn't she right, though? You three had the chance to kill that Fallen devil yourselves, but you decided to run away, putting your companions lives at risk."
He sighed as he continued, "No amount of apologies can make up for that; you should be grateful your friends still talk to you after that."
Abner defended Brave, "But his decision still saved our lives and informed the Saint of Sorrow faster than if he stayed to fight with us."
The middle-aged man scoffed, "You two only lasted long enough against that fallen devil by luck; even if you survived the Forgotten Shores, Awakened still have limits! Leaving you and that girl to fight that thing is the same as leaving you two to die!"
Brave answered this time, "That's not true. I know them well; a fallen devil wouldn't be able to kill them, and I was proven right."
The middle-aged man scrutinized Brave for a moment before he told him, "Just don't assume you can always run away, or you will come to regret it."
Brave nodded and went to try apologizing first and promising he won't run away again; if that doesn't work, he will try the second advice and blame Glorielle for blowing this out of proportion, although he might die if it comes to that...
Luckily for Brave, Glorielle seemed to already have forgotten the matter by the time he approached her; just apologizing was enough.
Brave breathed a sigh of relief as he thought, 'If I had to resort to plan B, I might have died; good thing it got resolved so easily.'
Meanwhile, Arthur was performing a divination to see if his friends had encountered any trouble since they arrived in the waking world. Out of curiosity, he wanted to make sure they were fine.
Arthur saw Abner, Brave, and Glorielle's fight against the Fallen Devil and their dispute; he couldn't help but lampoon to himself inwardly,
'They still fight over small stuff like this? Heh, I guess their power was the only thing that grew since we separated.'
As he chuckled, he saw Alec looking tired as he kept muttering to himself in his room, almost devoid of light; he was reading a Cultivation Manhwa! And worst of all... he was even speaking in idioms! Arthur sighed as his heart filled with pity for Alec.
Although Alec now looked to be approaching his thirties instead of his forties, and his hair had not yet receded to an obvious extent, he was still the oldest looking among the Cohort, if they could even be called that anymore.
But Arthur didn't have time to pity Alec too much, as what he saw next almost made him choke on air.
What Arthur Saw was Kaelen's parents' nightwalker, The Leader and founder of one of the Three Great Clans, and his wife, a Master, almost begging their son to wear a dress!
Arthur was filled with shock and anticipation, thinking, 'No way will he actually do it!?'
Kaelen responded with a sigh, "Didn't you both promise you two won't ask me to wear a dress once I became an Awakened? Uh, fine, but no one hears about this!"
Arthur's eyes widened hearing Kaelen's response, 'So his parents convinced him to wear dresses when he was younger!?'
Arthur chuckled menacingly as he thought, 'Don't worry, Kaelen I will make sure you won't regret your past like a good friend by complimenting it in front of the others. I'm sure you will be filled with confidence then... hehehe... Ahahahahahaha!'
As Arthur was chuckling like a JoJo Villain, he barely heard Kaelen mutter to himself as he went to change. "I knew it would come to this. Training can only be used as an excuse for so long... ugh!"
'So that's why he trained so much after getting back? This, coupled with how easily I beat him, must have really motivated him,' Arthur thought to himself as then saw Naamah carefully writing and deleting what she wrote moments before.
She muttered under her breath, "I really ran out of creativity for the new ghost's backstory! It's so frustrating! I think I will go kill some nightmare creatures; the description of the memories they drop should give me some ideas..." Naamah smiled sadistically as she thought of how to kill them.
Arthur wasn't a writer, but he was however delusional about Naamah's true nature as such he only thought to himself, 'She's far too humble as expected of such an angel. I'm sure her story is just fine; she's just pushing herself to unrealistic standards for her readers, that must be it!'
After that, his visions ended, and he thought to himself, 'About 5 more months before I reach the Hallow Mountains; luckily I won't need a guide like Eurys since I'm a seer, but I'm already going insane...' Arthur picked up his friend a bone and asked it.
"I'm gonna find the nightmare seed and get out of here; you believe in me, right, buddy?"
The bone did not answer.
Arthur sighed as he summoned a sword memory and said out loud, looking into his reflection on the blade and throwing the bone away,
"Why am I even talking to bones when I could talk to this handsome guy here? No, to assume such beauty belongs to mortals is an insult; this man must be a god!"
Looking into his reflection, he responded to himself, "Indeed, I am no ordinary man; I am the most handsome person ever in all existence and nonexistence!"
Arthur smiled, looking at his reflection, and praised himself, "Indeed, as expected of myself in looks, no one can dare say they are my match!"
The worst part about this was that with his faceless magic ability, he could look as good as he wanted to, so he wasn't wrong.
Like that, Arthur continued his journey to the Hollow Mountains.