After everyone had slept off their fatigue, they began their journey towards the bright castle.

The journey towards the castle was silent.

They all had to process the loss of one of their cohort members Electra.

Thought that he could have her in the cohort to strengthen their team for the future, but it seemed fate had other plans.

Speaking of fate.

Isaac had noticed multiple things that had made him uneasy.

One of Cassia's dreams had not changed in the slightest.

This made him extremely confused.

As he was a fateless being shouldn't be chaotic or somewhat distorted.

Yeah, when he tried to probe answers from Cassia she repeated that her memories seemed very vivid and had all come true.

Or for the most part, the ones that made sense.

Isaac didn't know what to make of it so he left it in the back burner.

They were already half the way to the city entrance.

The outer city was already in view.

Isaac looked at them scanning them thoroughly to make sure they weren't endangered.

Though it seemed like fate hadn't changed much he still didn't want to take any chances.

Sunny was also observant using his shadow to check the surroundings.

'This should be where they meet her'.

Sunny and the others were supposed to meet Effie near the outer city while she was on the hunt.

But Isaac had different plans.

He already knew they needed one soul shard per person to enter the inner city.

At the current moment, they only had three just like he planned.

He was going to stay in the outer city for a few different reasons.

But the most important one was so he could make first contact with Effie and gain her trust.

This would effectively put another protective barrier on him in the future.

Though he was certain he had lost his connection to the Spell that did not mean he could not make contingency plans for the future.

So Isaac slowly leads the cohort through a detour towards the city gate.

And through this the cohort effectively missed Effie.

And then they reached the gate.

As they kept walking a man in Armer appeared from behind the gate.

He smiled at them as he spoke.

"I am sorry entirely through here is not for free".

The cohort stopped as they looked at each other.

"How much".

Nephis spoke first.

Sunny on the other hand had a hand behind his back ready to summon a weapon.

The man smiled.

"One soul shard per person".

Nephis and Sunny furrowed their brows.

They both knew they only had three shards.

That meant one of them could not enter and would have to sleep in the outer city.

Yet before anyone could say anything Isaac spoke out.

"You guys go I will stay out".

Nephis looked at him with a neutral expression.

Yet Isaac could see the worry in her eyes.

Sunny on the other hand had a confused expression.

In his mind, it would be idiotic not to go into the city.

Why would he sacrifice himself thereby putting himself in danger?

Sunny had already seen the state of the outer city.

In his professional opinion, it was no different from the dregs.

So Sunny could not comprehend Isaac's choice.

Yet weirdly Sunny felt uncomfortable going in without Isaac.

He wanted all of them to be inside the city walls.

Sunny could not place this emotion anywhere.

He was also confused about why he felt it.

It's not like he had not tried to make friends before.

But no matter what he seemed to never fit in.

Like something that was inside the minds of others was not in his own.

Yet within this cohort, he felt weirdly at peace.

He had let his guard down a few times which confused him.

Of course, he knew no one could survive in the dream realm alone but still.

He trusted them to a certain extent.

So seeing that one of his companions was going in danger of his own will brought a weird feeling in his chest.

Yet before he or Nephis or even Cassia could say anything Isaac spoke again.

"This is not up for debate".

After a few seconds, the cohort finally had one of its members separate.

This brought about a weird feeling among the members.

However, it seemed that the one most affected by this separation was Cassia.

"D-do you have to go".

Her face was sullen as she spoke.

Isaac pulled her into a hug and spoke.

"Only for a week or at least till I get a soul shard".

He patted her back giving her a reassuring smile.

Cassia then left with the others.

Isaac then turned around and he began to walk towards the outer city.

And with that six months had passed.

Many things had changed.

Yet that was not important at the moment as Sunny was currently running for his life.

The doglike creature leaped towards Sunny who using his two shadows to augment himself was fast enough to dodge.

"Now".

The dog-like creature froze for a moment as it sensed something coming towards it with tremendous speed.

Yet before it could move its body, something crashed into its left side.

Cracks could be heard as the bones immediately collapsed on themselves.

Its organs are pierced by the shards.

The doglike Nightmare Creature, let out a whimper before breathing gets last breath.

A man stood next to the dead abomination.

He had smooth, milky white skin.

He had dark black hair that reached slightly under his ears, close to his jaw.

He had calm, striking gray eyes.

He was a handsome young man with a chiseled figure.

The man's looks were unnatural for a mundane human.

And so was his herculean strength.

No sleeper should have these kinds of looks and power.

Yet the man was not a sleeper.

He was Awakened.

To be more precise he was an Awakened Monster.

And this man was Isaac.