Shadow Slave

Sunny's life had been pretty complicated as of late.

But right now, it was very simple. All he had to do was... kill.

Kill, kill, kill.

Even the Sin of Solace seemed to be enjoying the spectacle.

There was no more hiding, no more caution, and no more trying to undersell his abilities... well, at least the most obvious and visible of his abilities. Sunny had much more tricks up his sleeve, and in fact, this display of power was meant to misdirect his opponents and draw their attention away from his more insidious talents.

However, even that did not matter right now.

All that mattered was murder.

...Dashing through the formation of the Wolves and Nightsingers like a lightning made of darkness, Sunny tore into the tide of Nightmare Creatures. The echo of his deafening roar was still rolling across the battlefield when the Sin of Solace reaped its first life. It passed through the body of a massive abomination, easily rending it into two halves.

[You have slain a...][Your shadow grows...]'It was a Fallen, huh?'

Sunny had activated the [Omen of Dread] enchantment of the jade sword, just for good measure. The faint remnant of a whisper of Ariel, the Demon of Dread, lingered on the cursed blade - all beings who witnessed it had no choice but to be stricken by terror.

The Nightmare Creatures seemed to slow down a little. The Awakened soldiers behind him trembled, too...

However, they were also being affected by the Dying Wish. Fear and inspiration fused together in their hearts to produce savage awe. The soldiers surged forward, their spirits ignited with killing intent.

The abominations, meanwhile, were being assaulted both by the feeling of fear and the irresistible desire to rip the dreadful four-armed fiend to shreds above all else. Such a contradiction was enough to drive one mad...

'Good. Give me madness... give me insanity... the more, the better!'

Didn't the Sin of Solace feel especially light, sharp, and lethal today?

Maybe it was just the effect of his body being augmented by five shadows...

Full of rapturous malice, Sunny continued to move.

His mind was cold, calculating, and full of dark, murderous glee. His shell was brimming with so much power that it seemed as though it would soon burst at the seams. His hands moved faster than his thoughts.

'Kill...'

The jade sword flashed through the air, sending an abomination's head flying away in a fountain of blood. The Cruel Sight pierced the throat of another and ignited with incandescent light, filling the air with the smell of burnt flesh. His tail shot forward, the armored spike on its tip shattering a monstrous abomination's temple. Sunny whipped his tail, throwing the collapsing corpse into the mob of beasts.

All of it took a split second.

'Kill...'

A monster lunged at him, its maw full of sharp fangs. Sunny caught it with his two lower hands, his armored gauntlets scraping against bone, and tore the creature's jaws apart. At the same time, he severed another abomination from top to bottom with the pristine blade of the Sin of Solace. At the same time, he gutted a third one with the silver shortsword that was burning with the immolating heat of divine flames.

'All of you, die!'

At the same time...

Nephis entered the melee.

Changing Star was wearing the black armor forged by the smiths of Valor, wielding a sword that seemed to be made of pure white flame. Her silver hair flew in the wind like a radiant crown, and on her forehead was a simple band of metal adorned by a single gem... the Dawn Shard.

All around them, the Memories wielded by the Awakened soldiers suddenly grew vastly more powerful.

Neph's skin was suffused with a brilliant white glow. She looked like a spirit of pristine flame, and in front of her, the Nightmare Creatures seemed to melt and turn to ash. Her incandescent sword moved with such speed and precision that it was almost invisible.

All that could be seen was the carnage left in its wake.

Sunny had not seen Nephis fight in a long, long time... he had almost forgotten how beautiful her skill was.

But she was an Ascended now, and so, swordsmanship was not her only tool.

As the corpses of the Nightmare Creatures she had slain caught fire, that fire swelled and moved, as if being controlled by an invisible will. The air rippled from the unbearable heat, and the flames surged forward in an immolating wave. A deafening explosion rang, ripping a dozen abominations apart.

As Changing Star moved through the mass of them, the fires moved with her like a whirlwind, burning and incinerating the Nightmare Creatures in her path.

Tearing an APC-sized monster limb from limb, Sunny frowned.

'That won't do... she's stealing my spotlight...'

At that moment, Jet finally joined them, followed by the Fire Keepers. The tide of abominations was momentarily pushed back.

Neph's voice drowned out the cacophony of battle:"Spread out! Hold the line! Ascended, step forward!"

The seven cohorts of the Fire Keepers separated, reinforcing the faltering line of the Wolves and the Fire Keepers. At the same time, five figures stepped forward to become the wavebreakers against the flood of abominations.

Nephis, Sunny, Effie, Kai... and Jet.

'What a fearsome quintet...'

Sunny spared a split second to appreciate the image of them standing against the tide of Nightmare Creatures, and then threw all unnecessary thoughts out of his mind.

His task had only grown harder.

Now, he had to outdo all these monstrous talents.

Commanding the Extraordinary Rock to let out a harrowing growl - one stolen from the demented Corrupted Devil, Myriad Eater, no less - he launched himself forward.

The Sin of Solace whispered as it severed flesh and bone.

The Cruel Sight sang.

Claws, fangs, and spikes rang against the onyx surface of the Mantle.

The Nightmare Creatures shrieked, howled, and wailed as they died.

The four-armed fiend had turned into a dark maelstrom as he slaughtered one abomination after another... sometimes two, three, four at a time. The weaker monsters fell like autumn leaves in front of his blades and claws, the stronger ones were obliterated in a most cold and ruthless way.

There were no ingenious schemes to how Sunny fought, no cunning tricks - just pure, savage, calmly calculated butchery.

The soldiers behind him were looking at the rampaging spawn of shadows with awe in their eyes. Sunny did not pay their gazes a lot of attention... however, he did regret not leaving a shadow to keep an eye on Morgan and Seishan. He was a bit curious about their reactions.

But only a bit. Killing as many abominations as he could, as fast as he could, was much more important.

The radiant Changing Star, the steel-bodied Raised by Wolves, the swift and deadly Nightingale, the death incarnate, Soul Reaper Jet... and the Devil of Antarctica, the most fiendish of them all.

The five of them brought the horde of Nightmare Creatures to a halt.

For a while...