Shadow Slave

It happened a few weeks after he left the castle behind. Back then, Sunny was just starting to feel confident in the absolute darkness of the cursed night. He stalked the ruins, searching for prey and slaying one monster after another.

Looking back, those few victories might have gone to his head a little. Or maybe he was just too sane to survive alone in the Dark City.

It was the first meeting with the Black Knight that caused him to lose that state of mind.

Sunny did not become interested in the ruined cathedral by accident, nor was he led there by empty curiosity. In fact, he had noticed something strange about the ancient temple and decided to explore it after careful consideration.

Because the thing he saw was too alluring to ignore.

At dawn, for a few short minutes, he could see a weak, ethereal golden glow emanating from the dark cathedral. The same golden glow he had seen twice before.

Once deep within the ruby droplets of his own blood after consuming the Drop of Ichor, and another time exuding from Changing Star's unconscious body after her battle with the horror of the depths.

Without having to guess, Sunny knew what this golden shine was.

It was the light of divinity.

With his own eyes altered by the drop of divine blood, which was left on the talons of the Vile Thieving Bird after it had stolen Weaver's eye, Sunny was somehow able to perceive it.

Considering that both Nephis and he possessed some measure of divine affinity, it wasn't hard to come to this conclusion. More than that, the circumstances surrounding the awakening of his ability to see the golden glow supported it.

Thus, hoping to find another treasure equal to the Drop of Ichor, Sunny entered the ruined cathedral. Then he froze for a second, awed by its grandeur.

That second was all it took for the Black Knight to skewer him on his sword.

Sunny didn't know how the massive devil managed to avoid being seen by his shadow, nor how he got so close without making any noise. All he knew was that a menacing black giant suddenly stepped forward from the darkness that enveloped the temple and pierced him with a wrathful gaze.

There were two scarlet flames burning in the impenetrable emptiness behind the visor of the knight's helmet. Looking at them, Sunny felt as though he was staring into the eyes of death itself.

However, even though Sunny was caught by surprise, his body moved on its own. Countless hours of practice did not go to waste.

In the end, it were the reflexes that Sunny had engraved into his muscles and bones that saved his life, even if only by a hair's breadth. Because of his quick reaction, the massive greatsword of the evil creature did not cut him in two.

Instead, it simply disemboweled him.

Feeling a blinding pain pierce his abdomen, Sunny staggered and looked down, only to see a river of blood flowing from his stomach, which was cut wide open. The red ropes of his intestines were clearly visible in the terrible wound, already on their way to falling out.

The horror of seeing something that should have been inside of him moving to the outside was much more powerful than the excruciating pain of his flesh being torn apart.

Pressing one hand against the wound, Sunny fell on his back and weakly tried to crawl away. However, the Black Knight was already moving, rising his greatsword to deliver a finishing blow.

For a fraction of a second, everything froze. Sunny didn't have time to come up with an elaborate plan, nor even think things through. All he knew was that he had to buy himself a chance to crawl away… somehow.

to be of use. Not the austere and razor-sharp Midnight Shard, not the ominous and powerful Puppeteer's Shroud. His mighty tier-five armor did not even slow the black blade

shadow, they were not a match for

and ordinary-looking rock fly from it into the depths of the ancient temple. His shadow wrapped itself around the little stone, enhancing

last Nightmare Creature that Sunny had killed. Augmented by the shadow, the howl shook the

direction where the howl was coming from. He seemed to

rose to his feet and staggered away, almost slipping in the puddle of his own blood.

Knight stopped in the doorway, simply following the small figure

indifferently turned away and slowly returned into

***

City. He had found his way to this ditch and crawled into it, hoping to hide himself from the monsters stalking the

by pain,

it was all going

he was

but knew that no one

some reason, nothing but laughter

was just

like him, dying in a

What a fitting end.

Why wouldn't he laugh?!

was all just

time he moved, it felt as though invisible blades were cutting into his abdomen, slicing his

he couldn't

funniest thing of all was that he couldn't even

tried to repair the damage done to his body. However, the damage was just too extensive. Even augmented by the shadow,

was locked in an endless cycle of excruciating agony, not quite alive, but also unable to die... yet. Minute after minute, hour after hour, nothing but pain and suffering drowned his consciousness, until something

wouldn't have gone

sun had come up, then disappeared again. This

He couldn't

was time

a

anyone endure

He wanted to die.

He was ready… ready…

you? Are you

bit... and then suddenly bared

Fuck no.

He was not ready.

Give up?

Never! He was never going to