Shadow Slave

In front of him, Saint was barely holding on to life. Her armor was broken and painted red by the crimson dust that flowed from a dozen terrible wounds. The visor of the helmet was shattered, together with the side of her face. One of her ruby eyes was missing, replaced by a jagged black hole.

As he ran, a vicious blow of the Knight's sword got past the Shadow's defense and bit into her shield arm, severing it at the elbow.

Saint staggered and awkwardly lashed out with her sword. Then, she took a step back and fell heavily to one knee.

The menacing figures of the golems towered above her, approaching to deliver the final blow. The war hammer of the Builder rose, ready to fall down like a herald of destruction. The spear of the Hunter flew forward like a hungry predator.

The Shadow slightly tilted her head and faced her death. Her eerily beautiful alabaster face was calm and indifferent. The weapons of the profane constructs reflected in her one remaining eye, growing larger and larger as they drew closer.

…But in the end, all they managed to pierce was emptiness.

The wounded Saint dissipated into shadows, summoned back into the nurturing black flames of Sunny's core at the last second.

In the next moment, a wall of darkness swallowed the empty space in front of the Crimson Spire, bringing with it pelting rain and hurricane winds.

The storm was now upon them.

The six golems lingered for a few seconds, staring into the raging expanse of the terrifying tempest. They were submerged into its darkness, with only a rare flash of lightning illuminating the world. The wall of rain was so thick that it was almost impossible to see anything through it.

Suddenly, they discerned a hint of a movement to their left and swiftly turned, ready to attack the enemy. However, there was no one there.

A moment later, though, one of them suddenly shuddered, and then crumbled to the ground, its head flying off into the darkness. The flash of the blade that had decapitated it was so swift and unexpected that none of them had time to react.

It also came from the wrong direction.

The golems spun and raised their weapons… but instead of an enemy, all they saw was a heavy kunai appearing from the wall of darkness and hitting one of them in the neck.

The blow was powerful enough to make the golem stagger, but not that dangerous. The wounded abomination simply raised its hand and tore the dagger out of its coral flesh.

As it did, however, the figure of the Slayer that stood behind the rest of the golems suddenly fell to her knees. A moment later, her head slowly slid from her neck and tumbled down, revealing a perfect, smooth cut.

Sunny, who hid in the darkness, bared his teeth in a vicious grin.

'This is my domain, wretches. You are my guests now…'

Two dead, four to go.

Realizing that their enemy was capable of hiding in the shadows and seeing in the dark, the golems changed their tactic. The Knight, the Stranger, and the Hunter shifted to stand in a circle, protecting the Priestess with their bodies.

The Priestess, meanwhile, raised her hands to the skies.

In the next moment, a blinding light shot into every direction from her open palms, revealing Sunny, who had been just a few meters away from them and preparing to launch another attack.

'...Damnation.'

***

On the bloody battlefield, the remains of the Dreamer Army were besieged from all sides. They continued to fight with doomed determination, abandoning all fear and doubt. Even though the black water was already high enough to reach their knees, the humans continued to resist the horde of the frenzied Nightmare Creatures, slaying three for every one of them killed by the terrifying abominations.

Illuminating by the radiant light of Changing Star, not one of them tried to run.

Instead, they stalwartly stood their ground and fought. Some were smiling, and some were even singing.

…As more and more of them fell, forever disappearing under the cold surface of the cursed sea, the black water kept rising.

***

High in the skies above the battlefield, Kai and the Quiet Dancer were flying through the nets of lightning, dodging the attacks of three relentless Spire Messengers. The terrible monsters were infinitely faster and more powerful than the two of them, but had to rely on their wings to propel their massive bodies through the air.

Both Kai and his graceful defender flew thanks to magical abilities, and as such, could maneuver better than the winged abominations. This was the only reason why there were still alive.

As Kai dodged and evaded the onslaught of deadly attacks, he pelted the Messengers with precise shots of his bow. However, none were as lucky as his first one: the black arrow bit into the flesh of the powerful monsters again and again, drinking their blood, but all that achieved was slowing them down a bit.

But he didn't care. He never hoped to defeat the harrowing heralds of the Spire, to begin with. He just wanted to keep them away from the people fighting on the ground…

For as long as he could.

Flying through the storm, struggling against the crushing pressure of the wind and dodging bolts of lightning, Kai gritted his teeth and kept doing just that.

***

…Not pausing even for a second after his position was revealed, Sunny lunged forward and delivered a swift thrust, aiming at the closest golem — the Knight. The creature moved, deflecting the blade of the Midnight Shard with a coral parody of the noble weapon.

Now that the Lord was destroyed, the artificial creatures became considerably less fast and strong. They were no better than carapace scavengers, or maybe centurions…

Barely more powerful than Sunny himself, thanks to the shadow.

However, they were just monsters, while he was something much more deadly.

A kid from the outskirts who spent a whole year fighting for his life in the depths of hell.

He had the skill, the clarity, and the murderous will of a human.

Allowing the Midnight Shard to slide along the blade of his enemy's sword, Sunny made a step forward and raised his hands. The tachi changed its angle and then easily moved past the Knight's defenses, piercing his neck. One twist, and it flew out of the golem's flesh, disintegrating half of his neck in the process.

Continuing the motion, Sunny slammed his fist and the hilt of the Midnight Shard into the golem's face with enough force to break the remaining half.

[You have slain…]

Using the grounded footwork that he had learned in the countless spars with the Shadow Saint, he quickly repositioned himself and blocked the attack of the Hunter's spear. The Stranger was still trying to move past the Priestess to join the fight — Sunny had planned to use this to his advantage from the start.

Before his current opponent could react, Sunny delivered a deadly counterattack, cutting off one of his arms. A moment later, he pulled the tachi back, thrust it forward, piercing the Hunter through the chest, and then pulled it up, cutting the cursed creature apart.

[You have slain an awakened…]

The Priestess lunged forward, wishing to rip him apart with her bare hands, but was suddenly pulled back by the invisible string that had wrapped itself around her neck at some point in the fight.

That was all the time Sunny required.

As pieces of coral fell to the ground, the Spell spoke once again:

[You have…]

With the Priestess dead, the Stranger was left in the darkness once again. He hesitated and raised his shield, looking at the spot where the enemy had been just a second ago and listening to the sound of water through the roaring storm.

However, in the next second, something rustled behind him. The Stranger spun and delivered a wide horizontal slash with his sword, but then paused, staring down.

His sword hand was gone, cut cleanly at the wrist.

Then, something flushed through the rain and streaked across his body. The golem staggered, and then fell down, crumbling into halves as it fell.

Breathing heavily, Sunny lowered the Midnight Shard and looked at the six piles of crimson coral that were disappearing beneath the black water in front of him. Then, he spat.

"Who told you that you can hurt my Shadow, bastards?"

Turning around, he saw a bolt of lightning hit the gargantuan gates of the Crimson Spire. Arcs of electricity danced on its stone surface and then dissipated, leaving a ghostly afterglow in their wake.

Only the shapes of the seven stars continued to shine, as though full of energy.

Clutching his burning chest, Sunny looked at the black water that was already up to his knees and headed toward the Spire.