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.

the darkness, bared his teeth in a vicious

is my domain, wretches. You are my

four

enemy was capable of hiding in the shadows and seeing in the dark, the golems changed their tactic. The Knight, the Stranger, and the

meanwhile, raised her hands

moment, a blinding light shot into every direction from her open palms, revealing Sunny,

'...Damnation.'

***

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

the radiant light of Changing Star,

stood their ground and fought.

and more of them fell, forever disappearing under the cold surface of the cursed sea, the black water

***

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

could maneuver better than the

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

care. He never hoped to defeat the harrowing heralds of the Spire, to begin with. He just wanted to keep them away

as long

against the crushing pressure of the wind and dodging bolts of lightning, Kai gritted his teeth and kept

***

a second after his position was revealed, Sunny lunged forward and delivered a swift thrust, aiming at the closest golem

the artificial creatures became considerably less fast and strong. They were no better than carapace scavengers, or

powerful than Sunny himself, thanks to

monsters, while

the outskirts who spent a whole year fighting

skill, the clarity, and

hands. The tachi changed its angle and then easily

slammed his fist and the hilt of the Midnight Shard into the