Shadow Slave

About a month had passed since the day Sunny was assigned to act as a government envoy for the forces of Valor. In that time, they had reached a distant port fortress, met up with the main contingent of the great clan - including Cassie, the Fire Keepers, and the valiant Saint Summer Knight - and traveled to the region that was supposed to be their zone of responsibility.

However, almost as soon as they settled in one of the siege capitals there, Wake of Ruin requested the emissaries of both great clans to join forces against a tremendous horde of Nightmare Creatures that had formed around several Titans.

The emissaries had promised to join forces if the situation required it, after all - and it certainly did. If the horde was not stopped, their plans were bound to suffer, as well. So, they reluctantly answered Saint Cor's summons and ventured into the wilderness to form a united army.

Valor and Song were hellbent on destroying each other, but that did not mean that they couldn't cooperate. Once faced with a common enemy, the champions of the two warring Domains at least had the decency to not strike their opponents in the back... or at least they hadn't yet.

Mordret was suspiciously absent from the battlefield, though. Who knew what "Ascended Bast" was doing right now?

Actually, Sunny knew exactly what he was doing. Jet was doing him a favor by keeping an eye on the bleak man, so Sunny was well-informed on Master Bast's movements. He was currently in a siege capital far to the west, establishing a supply chain for Song's expedition forces, which prowled the wilderness in search of suitable Nightmare Gates.

Ascended Bast was also in charge of an industrial production facility. In that facility, he... was making mirrors. Thousands of them, for unknown reasons.

Or at least he had been a few days ago. Currently, Jet was right here by Sunny's side, watching the battlefield with a hungry expression. For all they knew, the bleak man might have slaughtered the entire siege capital by now.

Jet suddenly raised her head.

"There! Look!"

Everyone except for Cassie looked up.

In the skies above them, a titanic clash was taking place. Myriads of crows were swirling like a black maelstrom, and in the middle of it, two giant shapes were entangled in a murderous dance.

One was a giant bird of prey with white feathers and talons forged out of lustrous steel, her wings wreathed in lightning and thunderclouds. The other was a scaled beast with three long necks and three terrifying maws, its enormous body held up in the air by vast, skeletal wings.

The scaled beast was littered with thousands of wounds from the swarm of crows assaulting it, but it did not seem bothered by their merciless attacks. Instead, a miasma of rot and corruption flowed from the numerous torn holes on its body, trailing behind the titan and spreading through the sky like a cloud of pure, inescapable death.

Saint Tyris had been controlling the winds to blow the cloud away from the battlefield, but right at that moment, the crows suddenly dashed away from the winged horror. A split second later, it was encased in a cage of lightning, and then, the white bird flew through the lightning to crash directly into the giant beast.

Her talons tore at its chest, and her beak closed on one of its necks, ripping it to shreds. Sky Tide jerked her head violently, and severed the neck of the titan completely.

As vile miasma billowed from the terrible wound like a fountain, the head of the creature plummeted down and crashed into the ground, obliterating several hundreds of Nightmare Creatures.

Sunny clenched his fists, then looked away from the aerial battle.

Breathtaking and terrifying things were happening on the ground, as well.

In one corner of the battlefield, a mountain of malformed flesh was crawling across the plain, absorbing everything in its path into itself. Those Nightmare Creatures that were unfortunate enough to approach it were instantly caught by fleshy tentacles, drawn into the body of the ghastly titan, and consumed, becoming a part of it.

If the mountain of flesh reached the defense line of the human army, the same fate awaited the soldiers. However, it did not get the chance.

Long before the titan drew close to the ranks of Awakened, a lone figure stepped forward from between them, and then... disappeared. Sunny saw the moment clearly, but even still, it seemed as though Whispering Blade had never been there at all.

In the next moment, something both spectacular and terrifying happened.

It was as though a wide, bloody path was carved through the horde of Nightmare Creatures by an invisible force. No one could see what was delivering the cuts, but countless abominations were instantly turned into minced meat. Gaping wounds simply appeared on their bodies, as if the creatures were sliced apart by an unseen blade.

No... a swarm of unseen blades. A wave of them.

The wave rolled through the horde, rending everything in its path, and soon reached the crawling mountain of flesh. Countless tentacles wreathed, trying to catch whoever was attacking the titan - however, all they caught was air. Meanwhile, bloody lacerations started to appear on the surface of the flesh mountain, sometimes several at a time, each dozens of meters in length, and extremely deep.

Tentacles were severed, and sent flying away... only to crawl back like fleshy snakes. Despite suffering dire wounds, the titan was not succumbing to the assault of invisible blades, yet. But it had stopped completely, letting the soldiers sigh with relief.

In another spot of the battlefield, a man in lustrous armor was wielding a lance that seemed to be made of clear water to cut through a sea of grey vines that grew from the ground with terrifying speed. The brooks, rivers, and lakes around him seemed to have turned into weapons, as well. Streams of water rose from them and flew through the air like whips, cleanly slicing through the vines and washing them away.

The Summer Knight remained calm and composed as he faced the wrath of the unseen titan. He welcomed its attention - because it lessened the pressure on two different Saints.

Deep in the area completely consumed by the grey vines, a creature that resembled a towering, monstrous mix between a human and a wolf was clawing at the ground, digging into it with vicious purpose. With each movement, countless vines were torn apart, and a great deal of soil was displaced.

The giant fiend - Saint Dire Fang - was being assaulted by the vines from all sides. However, very few reached him. Most were cut down by Summer Knight, and those that were not ended up being obliterated by heavy arrows that flew from the fringes of the battlefield, where Silent Stalker moved, unseen.

And finally, there was the last titan - a ghostly figure surrounded by shimmering haze, which moved across the battlefield like a mirage. Wherever it passed, the reality itself seemed to twist and come undone, revealing indescribable horrors. The Nightmare Creatures who gazed at the mirages grew still and silent, then moved again... or rather, their bodies moved, as if worn by something not quite familiar with what flesh was, and how beings made of flesh were supposed to carry themselves through space.

No Awakened barred their path, and neither did any Saint.

However... abominations did. First a few, then a dozen, then a hundred... and finally, an avalanche of them threw themselves into the shimmering haze, trying to disperse it. Each of them had clawed their eyes out before attacking, driven mad by a strange and overwhelming desire to destroy the ghostly titan at any cost.

The Nightmare Creatures who had been possessed by the haze were torn apart by other abominations, as well.

It was as if Beastmaster was laughing at the harrowing creature... you can possess the bodies of living beings? So what? I can take their minds, their hearts, and their very souls. Let's see which one of us is more harrowing!

Sunny stared, feeling both stirred and grim.

Such power...

Would he hold such power one day?

If he did... he would be laughing too.