Shadow Slave

On a dark square surrounded by ruins of once-magnificent buildings, a vicious battle was coming to an end. The remains of its solemn protectors were lying on the cold cobblestones, ruthlessly shattered into pieces.

Sunny blinked in shock.

'They actually lost.'

He was really astonished. The living statues that used to guard the square were a very tough bunch. As far as Nightmare Creatures of the cursed city went, they weren't the most formidable in terms of size and physical might. However, their strange bodies were extremely durable and capable of withstanding truly devastating amounts of damage.

Aside from that, the stalwart stone warriors were also disciplined, proficient in the use of weapons and utterly deadly. They were able to perfectly coordinate their movements, using strategy and tactics to silently overwhelm opponents whose power far surpassed their own. Countless monsters fell to their blades.

That's why Sunny had always avoided getting into a confrontation with these weird creatures. Even though they weren't Fallen by rank, the stone revenants represented a threat that was enough to make him wary.

However, now the ownership of the square was about to change hands.

The bodies of the previous masters lay shattered to pieces. In death, they looked just like broken statues. Even their metal armor and weapons had turned to stone after the wielders were destroyed.

There were five or six of these stone piles scattered around the square, while the attackers seemed to have lost only three of their numbers — including the massive monster that had been sent crashing through a building earlier. Each body towered above the dark cobblestones like a small hill.

The invaders were of a type of the Nightmare Creature that Sunny had never seen before. These new menacing monsters looked like giant spiders with bodies covered in thick plates of wrought iron. They moved with terrifying speed and force, sending cracks running through the cobblestones with each step.

There were currently two of them left on the square, circling around the lone surviving stone warrior.

The last of the living statues seemed to be a female. Compared to the spiders, she was almost comically small in stature, standing no taller than Sunny himself. The graceful stone creature was armed with a sword and a round shield, wearing a plate armor that covered most of her body, leaving only the eyes exposed. Or, rather, two rubies burning with crimson flames that these creatures had instead of eyes.

Her armor and weapons were black in color, forged from some unknown and incredibly heavy stonelike alloy. Of course, in reality, they were made out of the same stone as their wielder. However, the dark force that had turned the granite body of this Nightmare Creature into the strange approximation of flesh had also turned the stone armor into metal.

Currently, the last of the living statues was standing with her shield raised, the blade of the sword resting on its rim. Her head was lowered, ruby eyes silently following the movements of the two spider monsters.

Sunny didn't know for sure, but he suspected that these spiders were both fallen beasts. In any case, the stone woman was doomed. Her enemies were just toying with her, savoring the helplessness of their victim before finishing the job.

He didn't really care. In fact, he was waiting for the show! Watching Nightmare Creatures slaughter each other was one of his favorite pastimes, and the best thing about it was that it didn't matter who won.

'Come on, get her!'

However, in the next moment, he was surprised. In a strange turn of events, the stone monster lunged at the spiders first. Calmly striking her sword against the rim of the shield twice, she dashed forward with grim determination.

The spider she was aiming at was a second too late to react. However, due to its superior physical form, it was still able to meet the sudden onslaught with a vicious strike of its own. One of its legs shot forward, threatening to shatter the stone body of the attacking living statue into tiny pieces.

The smaller creature deflected the blow with her sword and bashed the spider with the round shield, putting all of her weight and inhuman strength into the strike.

Sunny blinked as the massive body of the Fallen beast was thrown back and toppled over.

The black sword immediately lashed out, sending a shockwave through the spider's guts. A rain of strikes fell on the iron surface of the monster's abdomen, filling the square with the clangor of metal. The stone warrior attacked with savage ferocity, using both the sword and the shield to inflict as much damage as possible in a short amount of time.

Just as the iron plate protecting the soft innards of the monster cracked, the second beast joined the fray. The following bloodbath was nothing short of horrifying.

Despite the fact that the spiders were much faster and stronger, the steadfast stone wraith kept up with them for a while. Her indomitable will and ruthless resolve were enough to give the fearsome creatures pause. Moving with the deadly precision of a bloodthirsty killing machine, the living statue completely disregarded self-preservation in favor of making her enemies suffer.

It seemed as though she was determined to take them to the grave with her.

Soon, the terrible wounds on her body accumulated, making the stone creature look like a vandalized piece of macabre art. However, the spiders were no better: their fetid blood was spilling everywhere, painting the whole square red. Severed limbs and shards of cracked iron littered the ground, mixing with the shattered remains of the fallen stone warriors.

Finally, one of the spiders fell heavily to the ground and twitched, drawing its last breath. The remaining beast lunged at the staggered stone monster, its countless eyes burning with fury.

The round black shield rose one last time and then flew aside, torn away along with the right arm of the stalwart living statue. However, almost at the same time, the blade of her sword pierced through the massive beast's skull, ending its life just a moment before breaking apart and turning to stone.

Sunny shook his head. What an impressive sight! A lowly Awakened creature slaying two Fallen beasts… Midnight Shard would have liked that fierce last stand a lot.

Come to think of it, this was nothing short of inconceivable. However, the graceful stone warrior paid dearly for performing the bloody miracle.

Staggering once again, she fell heavily to the ground, clearly done for.

The battle for the ownership of the dark square was over.

Nobody won.