Shadow Slave

Sunny stared at the colossal reptilian head that had risen from below the waves. There were streams of water flowing down from it like roaring waterfalls, and brands of tarnished silver encasing it like armor. The monster's eyes were like murky lakes, and its massive beak was like the ram of an oceanic battleship.

Of course, there was no vessel in the waking world that could compare with the destructive power of that beak.

The thing that Sunny had assumed to be an island was, in fact, the shell of a giant, monstrous black turtle.

He froze, stunned by the sheer size of the Great Monster.

'...And I thought that that sea snake was enormous.'

The sea serpent that had been following Sunny was, indeed, quite large - it was easily larger than the Fallen Titan Goliath, whom Sunny had killed during the siege of Falcon Scott. However, the creature's body was still only a couple hundred meters long.

The monstrous turtle, meanwhile, spanned more than a kilometer. In front of it, the serpent looked like a little snake.

And yet, it seems undeterred.

The azure serpent had risen its head out of the water, too, and was staring at the Great Monster in front of it with its mad, cloudy eyes.

The two Nightmare Creatures observed each other.

Sunny, meanwhile, was cursing his fate.

'Damn it... damn it! I was hoping to step on something solid again!'

Instead of a safe harbor, he found an abomination that was even more harrowing than the one waiting to swallow him whole.

"You can still step on that turtle, you know."

The Sin of Solace grinned.

Sunny spared him a dark glance, then turned to look at the two abominations.

At that moment, the giant turtle lowered its head a little and let out a low, threatening huff - which sounded like rolling thunder. Water was still flowing off its black scales, and its murky eyes were slowly igniting with dark silver light.

It was clearly not happy that another Nightmare Creature had invaded its territory and disturbed its sleep.

The azure serpent stared at it for a few moments more, then turned its snout and threw a deranged gaze at Sunny.

'What is that old snake thinking? Turn your tail and run, lunatic!'

Sunny still clearly remembered the ease with which the Carapace Centurions had slaughtered the Carapace Scavengers. A Monster was much more powerful and deadly than a mere Beast, no matter the Rank... if the sea serpent had any sense left, it would retreat to avoid angering the black turtle.

Which was good news for Sunny. Even though he had not managed to find shelter from the abomination on the shell of the Great Monster, the Great Monster could still rid him of the dreadful pursuer.

The turtle did not seem to have noticed Sunny, either. If things turned out well...

But, of course, they did not.

Despite being much smaller than the Great Monster in front of it, and presumably much weaker, the azure serpent let out a mad roar and dove into the water, swimming toward the colossal turtle with stunning speed. The giant blades protruding from its back cut the surface of the river and left a trail of white foam in their wake.

Sunny was a little startled.

'...Does it want to eat me that bad?'

The monstrous armored turtle, however, was unfazed. Its giant flippers moved, and it propelled itself forward with surprising speed. Its beak opened, and an indescribable sound exploded from its maw, making the world shake.

The calm surface of the Great River suddenly turned chaotic and tumultuous, as if in the middle of a raging hurricane. Giant whirlpools formed, powerful enough to swallow alloy vessels whole.

Sunny was almost thrown from the sky by the violent force of the abomination's battle cry.

'Argh...'

The azure serpent and the black turtle clashed below him, and a tremendous fountain of water suddenly shot into the air. The turtle was much more powerful and deadly, but the serpent was faster - it nimbly evaded the harrowing beak and opened its maw, trying to sink its fangs into the gargantuan scales of the enemy's neck.

However, the dreadful fangs simply slid off the tarnished silver encasing it.

Sunny lingered for a few moments, awed by the cataclysmic fury of the clash between two great abominations. The forces being unleashed below him... were probably enough to erase an entire siege capital from the face of the world.

Shuddering, he imagined what would happen if two such creatures appeared in NQSC. Would the largest city of humanity survive such a catastrophe?

...It probably would, if barely. The Sovereigns might have abandoned Antarctica, but they were bound to do something if the seat of their power came under threat. Bastion and Ravenheart were important, yes, but the Northern Quadrant was still the heartland of humanity.

At least that was what Sunny wanted to believe.

'What am I thinking about?'

The waters of the Great River were already painted red by blood around the two clashing abominations.

Sunny would have loved to watch the azure serpent die, but he couldn't miss the chance to slip away. If he failed to escape from the two great abominations now, he might never get it again.

Turning away, he flew forward as fast as he could.

Behind him, the world was shuddering, and the water was roaring as it rose in giant waves.

'Gods...'

Sunny gritted his teeth and refused to look back.

Gradually, the sounds of the titanic battle grew quieter and quieter. And then, he couldn't hear anything at all.

He let out a shaky breath.

'That... I knew that Third Nightmares were absolutely lethal. But isn't it a bit too much?'

Was he supposed to battle Great Nightmare Creatures as a mere Ascended? What kind of perverted logic was that?

Suddenly in a somber mood, Sunny sighed and looked at the Sin of Solace.

"What do you think?"

The sword wraith smiled.

"I think you are going to die of hunger before finding land. Oh... or you can go fishing in the river and be eaten by the fish instead. There's always a choice!"

Sunny grimaced.

'Why did I even ask?'

He continued to follow the current of the Great River, flying north... into the past.

Eventually, the seven suns drowned again, suffusing the water with their light. The sky was black and devoid of stars.

The world was silent.

Sunny tiredly closed his eyes.

'...Can't sleep. Falling asleep might kill me.'

He stared at the expanse of softly shining water beneath him, then blinked a couple of times.

'What... the hell... how is this possible?!'

A familiar shadow was hiding beneath the waves below him.

The azure serpent was back. There were hints of blood in the water around it, but the damned creature was indeed there, still waiting to devour Sunny.

'Did it escape from that giant turtle?!'

Struggling to believe in it, Sunny turned around and looked back.

Of course, the place where the two abominations had battled was too far away for him to see anything.

But... he did notice something else.

Somewhere out there, upstream, almost too distant to be noticed... a tiny spark of pure white light was glistening above the blush-green, luminous waters. It was hard to notice because of the soft glow of the Great River at night, but it was certainly there.

Sunny held his breath for a moment.

'I shouldn't get my hopes up. Right?'

He slowed down, and then came to a halt. The Sin of Solace stopped, too, looking at him with a detached expression.

'Still... I must make sure...'

Sunny rubbed his face, glanced at the azure serpent once again, and then sent himself flying back.

'Let's see if you want to meet that turtle again, old snake!'