Shadow Slave

The metal of the collars and the cages could not be broken… but it didn't mean that it couldn't be bent. Twisting a band of steel wrapped tightly around your neck would not have been a great idea, however, the iron bars trapping Elyas were another matter entirely.

Sunny just needed good leverage, and that was why he had cut the cage down.

Throwing a nervous look back, in the direction from which the Red Priest usually appeared, he gritted his teeth and thrust one hand through the bars, pushing Elyas back. He needed to soften the metal first, and that was going to be a dire process.

The blade of the Cruel Sight suddenly shone with radiant white light, spreading an almost palpable heat into the cold air of the ghastly dungeon. Sunny didn't linger and pressed the somber sword against the steel bars, letting the divine flame contained within share its immolating incandescence with the enchanted cage.

'Come on… come on…'

There were two possible results for his actions. One was that he would be able to soften the metal and bend it… the other was that he was going to cook Elyas alive inside the gibbet.

There was also the chance that their Ascended jailer would arrive quicker than usual, which would be really, really, really bad...

Sunny counted the seconds and stared at the iron bars, willing them to heat up swifter. Slowly, the cold metal turned slightly red, then bright orange. Finally, at the point where the incandescent blade of the Cruel Sight touched them, a hint of pure white appeared.

Sunny would have preferred to wait longer, but there was no more time.

Dropping the shortsword to the ground and biting down on the Midnight Shard with his fangs, he grabbed the scorching metal with all four of his hands and endured the pain of the furious heat slowly spreading through the gauntlets to his bare skin. Then, Sunny set his foot on another bar, commanded all three shadows to wrap themselves around his body… and pulled.

Now that the cage was on the ground and stable, he could use all the muscles in his demonic body to put pressure on it, not just those in his arms. His core, his shoulders, his back, his powerful thighs and calf muscles, the entirety of his body worked in unison in order to bend the steel bars.

A stifled roar escaped from his mouth, washing over the blade of the austere tachi and echoing in the cold darkness.

Sunny pulled and pushed in opposite directions with all his monstrous strength. Already a demon and augmented by the three shadows, he was terrifyingly powerful. And yet, the incandescent bars refused to budge… for a few seconds, at least.

Then, when his muscles seemed to be on the verge of exploding from the inhuman strain, the metal finally gave in. With a metallic groan, one of the bars started to bend, slightly at first, and then more, and more…

'Yes!'

Elyas, however, did not seem to share Sunny's jubilation. Instead, he paled, a frightened expression appearing on his face. Without saying a word, the youth raised one hand, pointing to somewhere behind his partner's back.

"Th—the… the priest!"

And just then, Sunny felt a mighty shadow flying toward him from the edges of his shadow sense, growing closer and closer with harrowing speed.

'Damnation…'

The Ascended arrived a few seconds earlier than he should have!

Without turning around, Sunny pulled on the incandescent bar one last time, creating enough distance between it and the next one for the youth to squeeze through.

Then, he reached inside the cage, grabbed the young Awakened, and roughly pulled him through the narrow breach.

He already could hear the heavy steps behind him.

'Crap, crap, crap…'

Elyas stared into the darkness with eyes full of fear.

"Demon! Behi…"

Without letting him finish, Sunny forcefully pushed the youth away, then swiftly turned around, grabbing the Cruel Sight from the ground and catching the hilt of the Midnight Shard.

The warrior in a tattered red robe and worn leather armor was already upon him, the terrifying heavy blade cutting through the air with unthinkable speed. Sunny moved his weapons forward, trying to block the obliterating blow…

But his exhausted, wounded body seemed to have finally betrayed him. He swayed, missing the timing by a split second.

It looked like the tiniest of mistakes…

But one mistake was all it took.

His luck had run out.

The great blade of the mighty Ascended slid past Sunny's defenses… and hit him right in the neck.

The sharp metal sliced through his tough skin, his muscles, and his spine, emerging in a fountain of blood from the other side. Sunny felt terrifying pain spread through his whole being, and then the world suddenly spun.

...The head of the shadow demon flew high into the air, disbelief still frozen in his lightless eyes. It was as though it was screaming... as though it was trying to say something. To share a fatal revelation that had come a few moments too late.

That there was no escape.

...No escape except through death.

Elyas staggered, a stunned expression contorting his soft, youthful face.

"D—demon… you…"

In front of him, the legs of the decapitated demon buckled, and his towering body, still clad in bleak steel, fell heavily to its knees.

Just like that, his partner was gone.

His partner's nightmare was over.

The young man froze for a moment, then turned to the indifferent murderer, sorrow and wrath mixing in his hollow, tired, light-blue eyes.

"You… I'll kill…"

The priest of War remained silent, disinterested in the rambling of the young slave. He turned to Elyas and made a step forward, raising the monstrous blade once again.

It was all over.

…Or, perhaps, not. Because at that moment, the decapitated body suddenly stirred and attacked the indifferent slaughterer, the radiant blade of the Cruel Sight entering the man's abdomen while the tip of the Midnight Shard pierced his chest. At the same time, the tail of the dead demon shot over his shoulder, penetrating one of the red priest's eyes with the long steel spike.

Laying on the filthy stones a few meters away, Sunny's head observed it all with a terribly pained expression.

'Hurts… crap, dying really, really hurts!'

Yes, having your head separated from your body was not the most pleasant of experiences. In fact, it was probably one of the worst.

However, Sunny really needed that to have happened. This was the only method to get rid of the unbreakable slave collar he had managed to come up with. He had even considered chopping his head off himself, but came to the conclusion that his own strength was not going to be enough to overcome the durability of Bone Weave.

So, he had decided to try and use the might of an Ascended apostle of War instead. Death, indeed, was the only escape.

…In front of him, a river of blood flowed from the body of the taciturn Master. The red priest had lowered his guard, thinking that the shadow demon was dead, and received not one, but three whole fatal wounds as the result.

Honestly, he should have been more careful. The dead were often the most troublesome of enemies, after all.

As the body in the tattered red robe slowly toppled and fell to the ground, the headless body of the demon raised one hand, hooked a claw beneath the slave collar, and tore it off its severed neck.

The band of metal rang as it hit the floor.

…Sunny was not dead, of course, thanks to the [Undying] enchantment of his Transcendent armor. For as long as it was active, he would remain alive, and even in control of his body. This was the good part…

The bad part was that the enchantment was devouring his essence with an inconceivable speed, and in the next few seconds, when his reserves ran completely dry, Sunny was really going to die.

Before that happened…

The headless demon took a few unsteady steps forward, nonchalantly picked up its head, and awkwardly placed it on his neck. Then, he approached Elyas and fell to his knees in front of the petrified youth.

'C—come one, fool! I don't have much time!'

Due to the fact that his mouth wasn't currently connected to his lungs, Sunny couldn't even growl to pull the young Awakened out of his stupor.

Luckily, Elyas shook it off himself, flinching and throwing his hands into the air to place them on both sides of Sunny's mutilated neck.

"Oh Lord… oh gods… oh Lord! Hold on, Demon!"

He activated his healing Ability, trying to make the cleanly severed head of the shadow creature attach itself back to the flat stump of his neck.

Sunny shuddered, overwhelmed by terrifying pain.

'How… how does it even makes sense?! Why am I in so much pain?! My brain isn't even connected to those nerves… argh! Curses! Damnation!'

For almost anyone else, recovering from having their head cut off would have been nearly impossible. However, Sunny was a bit special… because avoiding death was one of his specialties.

There were several factors that played to his advantage.

Firstly, the Midnight Shard had judged his current state dire enough to unlock the hidden well of power that its [Unbroken] enchantment granted him.

Secondly, his bones and his blood were transformed by Weaver's lineage, gifting him with inhuman tenacity. That was the reason why he had not bled out already, and why his body was capable of rapid healing. All those qualities were enhanced by the drop of Shadow God's ichor that Blood Weave had unceremoniously devoured, and then augmented ever further by the Midnight Shard.

And lastly, while [Undying] was rapidly consuming his reserves of shadow essence, Saint was out there in the darkness, slaying one powerful Nightmare Creature after another. She was wielding the black odachi, whose [Soul Reaver] Ability transferred a portion of essence of all creatures slain by the Serpent in either its Soul Weapon or Soul Beast form.

So, with each mighty abomination Saint killed, Sunny received a considerable amount of essence, thus allowing him to keep the [Undying] enchantment active longer.

Was it going to be long enough for him to survive, though?

That was what he was going to find out…

Torturous seconds passed, with Elyas desperately trying to heal the harrowing wound, and Sunny desperately observing his reserves of shadow essence plummeting further and further. The rate with which the Undying Chain was eating through his essence was much, much faster than the rate with which Saint and Serpent replenished it.

He was only able to slow down the inevitable, not stop it.

His whole being was overwhelmed with agony and pain… but what else was new? Even though Sunny had never had his head chopped off before, he experienced similar tortures, if not worse.

There was almost no shadow essence left in his cores…

And then, there was none.

The [Undying] enchantment deactivated.

…But Sunny was still alive.

He moved his lips, and tentatively touched his neck, which had a ghastly scar running all around it now.

Then, he bent over and spat out a torrent of blood.

Sunny felt terrible. He felt like a zombie...

But he was not dead.

More than that, he was now truly, really free…