Shadow Slave

'Die, die, die...' Sunny kept trying to strangle the Scavenger in a strange reversal of their previous encounter. His face was contorted into a bestial snarl, and his eyes were burning with indescribable bloodlust.

The Scavenger, however, was not easily killed. At first, he seemed to have panicked and tried to throw Sunny off himself, but after realizing that getting rid of the small human was all but impossible, the abomination calmed down, stared at him with seething hatred, and tried to stab him in the back with the black tusk.

The tip of the crude saber bit into the silk of the Graceless Dusk, and failed to pierce it.

Sunny laughed with savage joy.

"Try harder, bastard!"

The Scavenger obliged.

Dropping the tusk, he grabbed Sunny by the collar... and, instead of trying to push him away, instead pulled him down. The two of them were suddenly face-to-face.

'Crap...'

The jagged line splitting the abomination's helmet opened, and countless sharp fangs instantly sank into Sunny's cheek.

"Aaaaaargh!"

Realizing that he was moments from having his face bitten off, Sunny let go of the fiend's neck and delivered a vicious punch into his solar plexus. Then, he grabbed the creature's jaws, pushed them open by a few millimeters, and staggered back.

The Scavenger once again let out a hoarse, hateful laugh, his teeth painted by Sunny's blood.

Sunny landed awkwardly on his backside and grabbed his cheek. The right side of his face was all torn, but at least he did not lose an eye. Sadly, he already knew that the Scavenger's teeth were poisoned...

'You horrid wretch!'

Grabbing the Sin of Solace, Sunny lunged forward to strike down the fiend before he stood up. However, the creature simply turned into a shadow instead, trying to flee and then launch a surprise attack from a random direction.

"Not so fast!"

Without ever slowing down, Sunny dove into the shadows, too.

In the dark realm of shadows, the shapeless form that was the Scavenger was swiftly flying away, and the shapeless form that Sunny pursued. All of the abandoned area was shrouded in darkness, so they could travel as far as they wanted, unimpeded.

The Scavenger... as a shadow creature of the Corrupted Rank, here, he was vast and dreadful, much more so than Sunny.

And yet, Sunny held an absolute advantage.

He had fought as a shadow before, a couple of times, and was all but helpless each time. But Sunny had been a mere Child of Shadows then. Now, he was their Master.

He had gained plenty of insight into shaping shadows thanks to Shadow Control, Shadow Manifestation... and especially his recent breakthrough, which he decided to name Shadow Shell.

And since he was currently a shadow, too...

Closing in on the fleeing Scavenger, Sunny willed his shapeless body to change. Instantly, it came to possess four long, powerful arms. Then, sharp claws grew out of his fingers.

Knowing that he didn't have a lot of essence left, and thus wouldn't be able to remain a shadow for long, Sunny did not waste any time and tore into the formless abomination. Instantly, it was as though a soundless wail of pain spread through the dark space.

The Scavenger seemed both surprised and aggrieved by the fact that Sunny was able to hurt him in this realm, which he must have considered absolutely safe before. Frightened, he tried to fight back, launching powerful but awkward attacks of his own.

A familiar, sickening pain of having his soul damaged permeated Sunny's senses. He had sustained some damage, too... but not nearly as much as the damned goblin. Partially because the creature's blows were rudimentary and crude, and partially because his soul was protected by the Marble Shell.

The Scavenger realized that his struggles were not having any effect, too. Escaping Sunny's cruel claws, he instantly escaped the shadows and emerged into the world above.

They rolled through the ruins, exchanging a series of blows. Sunny received several more wounds, but the hateful fiend... his armor was still as impenetrable as ever!

'Curse you! What do I have to do for you to finally die, damn it?!'

Infuriated, Sunny grabbed the towering ogre and smashed through the wall of a building, using the creature's body as a ram. Of course, that was not going to be of any use... a Corrupted Devil could crash through a mountain, and still walk away without anything more than a couple bruises.

Behind the wall, there was a slope of charred rubble. They fell down, ending up in a shallow pit.

At some point, Sunny had lost his swords, and the creature had lost its black saber. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, both full of murderous rage.

...Then, however, the Scavenger's gaze changed slightly.

Sunny's face changed, too.

That was because he felt a slight tremor spreading through the ground beneath them. His eyes widened.

'Hell...'

In front of him, the battered fiend suddenly recoiled, trying to escape into the shadows once again - this time, he was going to simply blink away instead of traveling through the dark realm.

But Sunny had other plans.

"Where do you think you're going?!"

Grabbing the abomination by the shin, he dragged him back, and then pressed the bastard into the ground. A series of painful blows rained on Sunny's already cut and injured body, but he just held the ogre tighter.

"What, are you afraid to die?! Let's die... let's die together!"

The Scavenger, despite all his sharp intelligence, was really too naive. The explosion was not going to harm a Corrupted Devil... however, the creature did not know that. He had only gained full sentience a few short months ago, after all.

Sunny laughed, then used all but a few drops of his remaining essence to call upon the shadows. They surged forth, encasing the two of them in a sphere. Then, more shadows rose, creating a second layer around the black egg, and then the third.

Sunny could have tried to escape the blast by turning incorporeal... however, there had to be a shadow for him to remain in that state. Once this whole area blew to smithereens, everything would be flooded with light. The shadows would be banished, and he would be thrown back into the material world.

So, he created this egg, trapping the two of them inside.

Maybe it was even sturdy enough to resist.

"Wretch... one way or the other... you're going to die today!"

He continued to hold the Scavenger and pummel him with his free hand, feeling the skin on his knuckles splitting despite being reinforced by the Marble Shell. The bone armor of the abomination, nevertheless, refused to crack.

The Scavenger fought back desperately, too.

They were surrounded by darkness, the world outside hidden by the walls of the black sphere.

That was why Sunny did not see the Rampart Protocol coming into effect to obliterate a vast swath of the city, the remains of the wall, and the killing field beyond.

...However, he did feel it.