Deep Sea Embers

Since adjusting to her new life on board the ship, Nina had become skilled at managing the myriad challenges that popped up in the course of her academic pursuits. These challenges were diverse and complex, ranging from apparitions originating from the spirit realm casting sinister shadows, to terrifying abyssal shadow demons making sporadic appearances, and even inconsistencies found within the pages of her textbooks. Her rigorous and methodical training schedule had significantly contributed to her remarkable progress in controlling her magical abilities.

As a testament to her growing prowess, she had learned to unleash a kick of such power that its temperature soared to 6000 degrees Celsius. Yet, she managed to control the heat in such a way that nearby items, such as bunk beddings, would remain unaffected and undamaged.

In one memorable incident, a blinding flash of light filled the room. It was the manifestation of Nina’s might, and under its glare, a shadow demon was instantly turned to dust. The radiance of the sun had obliterated it entirely, leaving no signs of charring or any trace of a burnt smell. Instead, the room was permeated by the comforting scent of the beddings that had been warmed by the sun’s rays.

The final remaining dark hound, a creature conjured from one of Nina’s textbooks, stood at the center of the room in confusion. Even for a creature governed by chaos and pure instinct, the sudden vanishing of its companions was puzzling. Waiting to face it was Dog, growling menacingly while under the firm control of Shirley, and Nina, walking steadily towards it, radiating a glow as fierce and intense as the midday sun.

Upon sensing Nina’s approach, the shadow demon swiveled its head towards her, meeting a gaze as blinding as the sun. As a result of this direct eye contact, the hound ignited, engulfed by the ancient and raw power of the solar sun.

This scene left Shirley, who had never seen Nina in a fit of rage before, utterly taken aback. She had always considered Nina to be eternally jovial, never displaying anger. However, her assumption was proven wrong – Nina was indeed irate, and the heat and intensity of her anger were as awe-inspiring as the sunrise. Despite Nina trying to rein in her rage, the blazing light emanating from her was suggestive of a force powerful enough to incinerate a soul.

As Shirley’s unease grew, and she was about to intervene, Nina finally voiced her outrage. Plasma flames flickered at the corners of her mouth as she spoke, her voice echoing around the room like thunder, “My homework!” The note of loss and anger in her voice was palpable as she continued, “My papers! My reference books! And even Shirley’s homework! These demons have torn them all to pieces!”

Nina’s anger paralyzed the demon in fear, while Shirley, battling to suppress her laughter, stuttered, “Really? My homework’s gone too?”

Realizing the situation was no time to laugh, Shirley tried to intervene before Nina could further retaliate against the demon, “Wait, wait! Leave this demon alone! Dog has a question for it!”

Nina, who was already in mid-swing to kick the demon, halted at Shirley’s plea and turned to her friend, “What could we possibly ask? Isn’t it simply another shadow demon that’s been interfering with our studies? We’ve dealt with plenty of them already on the ship…”

“But it’s daylight now!” Shirley exclaimed, a note of urgency in her voice.

Nina hesitated for a moment, and then the realization hit her.

Despite the heavy mist making the sky as somber as twilight, it was technically daytime — a time when Vision 001 still maintained its protective veil over the world.

During these hours, the city-state was safe from intrusion, and their study sessions wouldn’t typically lure the attention of shadowy entities. So, what was causing these shadow demons to emerge now?

With a burning intensity of 6000 degrees Celsius, Nina’s penetrating gaze fell upon the last remaining dark hound.

The demon, finding itself in the direct path of Nina’s solar brilliance, began to smoke as the heat started to consume its bones. It thrashed around, seemingly attempting to create a dimensional rift to escape back into the abyss. However, this instinctive response was quickly quashed by Dog, who interrupted the portal that had begun to form.

“Are you able to extract any information from it?” Nina asked Dog, pulling back some of her overwhelming power, “You’ve previously stated that standard shadow demons lack intelligence and are incapable of communication, haven’t you?”

“Creatures without intellect remain as such, but upon closer inspection, you can sometimes discover fragments of memories within their chaotic minds,” Dog responded, shaking his head, a residual motion likely from his recent clash with the other dark hound, “Don’t worry, shadow demons possess their own unique ‘language’.”

“What kind of communication methods?” Nina and Shirley both asked at once, curiosity piqued.

“…They’re rather unpleasant,” Dog muttered, cautiously moving towards the immobilized dark hound, which had by now ceased struggling under Nina’s blazing gaze. He cast a look at Shirley, “Close your eyes, Shirley.”

After a moment of hesitation, Shirley followed his instruction and shut her eyes tightly.

A brief growl, a scuffle, and then the gruesome sound of bones being torn apart, crushed, and chewed resonated throughout the room. The demon’s desperate struggle was short-lived.

A while later, Shirley cautiously opened her eyes. All that was left at the center of the room was a small pile of rapidly disintegrating black dust. Dog stood beside the remains, while Nina stood a bit taken aback on the opposite side. The brilliant aura around her took a few moments to fade as she exclaimed in amazement, “Wow!”

Shirley pieced together what had happened while her eyes were closed. She gave Dog a complicated look: “Actually… I didn’t…”

“You’d have nightmares, I know you,” Dog shook his head, then ground his teeth and spat out distastefully, “Ugh.”

“Did you break a tooth?”

“Chewing on an uneducated demon is like gnawing on a stone. You can’t extract a coherent sentence from it despite its peculiar desire for knowledge,” Dog remarked, expressing his disdain for his illiterate counterparts. His confidence and pride as an enlightened dark hound were clearly visible. Then, he lowered his head, seemingly to mull over the information he had just “communicated” with.

A moment later, he lifted his head, an expression of puzzlement wrinkling his canine features. He turned towards Shirley and Nina, voicing his concerns: “It’s strange… the residual memories of this dark hound suggest that it hasn’t undergone the suppression of Vision 001…”

Shirley and Nina shared a glance of surprise.

“But at this moment… it’s clearly daytime…”

Shirley murmured almost to herself, slowly gravitating towards the window to survey the outdoors.

The fog outside had consolidated into a thick mass that swathed the streets in veils of white. This dense shroud muted the daylight to a twilight-like gloom, rendering the buildings across the street nearly indistinguishable.

Still, there was a visible patch of brightness in the sky marking the position of the sun—it was undoubtedly daytime under Vision 001’s watchful eye.

“Nina, look,” Shirley gestured towards the skies above, “The sun is there…”

But then her voice trailed off abruptly.

Within the conglomeration of dense fog and clouds, the bright luminescence fluttered a few times, then began to ripple outward like light reflecting off the surface of a pond.

Upon closer inspection, it seemed that it wasn’t the sun after all—it was merely a visual afterimage, a residual glow that lingered in the city’s sky once the curtain of day lifted.

Above their city of Frost, the sun had vanished.

…

Concurrently, deep beneath the earth’s surface, within the ancient and sealed Second Waterway under the metallic mine at the city’s heart.

The city’s enveloping fog hadn’t seeped into the underground, and minor anomalies on the surface did not impact the exploration team’s operations. In the deep, forsaken subterranean world, the church’s guardian forces were diligently bolstering their newly established outpost.

Steam-powered mechanical creatures, bearing a striking resemblance to spiders, navigated through the vast labyrinth of sewer corridors. High-powered searchlights probed every dark nook of the passage, and the multi-barreled cannons on the spider-like machines subtly adjusted their angles, perpetually on alert for shadows lurking in the darker intersections. Silent priests cloaked in black robes quietly offered prayers in bunkers at the crossroads, amassing strength for the impending offensive. Elite senior guardians fortified the entrances and gates, lanterns swaying from their waists, one hand clutching a staff, the other wielding a specially modified shotgun or large-caliber revolver.

The Second Waterway had been under the dominion of darkness for an extensive period. Thus, venturing on an exploration mission into this gloomy abyss was less about “investigation” and more akin to declaring war on a distorted, terrifying realm.

The enemy could be anything, for the enemy was the darkness itself.

An unusual sibilant noise resonated from a distant connection, interjected by the sounds of a large body wriggling and contorting. Two steam-powered walking machines stationed at the intersection were quick to respond. Four potent flashbangs were launched from the arachnid-like machines, followed by the guardians manning the machine guns, who released a deluge of bullets towards the peculiar sound source. Amid the resounding clamor, the darkness rippled violently, suggestive of an injured entity on the verge of revealing itself.

A dozen silent priests draped in black robes arose from their hiding spots behind the bunkers. They hoisted their holy books and directed their bandaged arms towards the darkness, their voices merging into a harmonious battle cry.

In response to their call, pallid flames sparked into life within the darkness, aligning with the barrage from the steam walkers. The blaze immolated whatever monstrosity the darkness had birthed. Eventually, the agitated darkness retreated, calming down once more. The intersection gradually transitioned from an impenetrable black to a dim twilight until it was fully illuminated as it usually would be, rendering it visible to mortal eyes.

However, there was no sign of any entity—only bullet-ridden walls exhibiting holes of diverse sizes and a fleeting, rapidly dissipating stench pervading the air.

Agatha pulled her gaze away from the unsettling scene. Her mission wasn’t to engage with these “intersections.”

“Lead me to that door.” The command fell from the lips of the gatekeeper, directed at one of his subordinates in a barely perceptible turn.