Shadow Slave

In the vast empty darkness, myriads of distant stars were shimmering with ethereal light. The vista of the night sky was boundless and stark, full of promise and mystery.

Above it was another sky. This one blue and bright, full of sunlight and gentle winds. White clouds flowed across it, telling enchanting stories with their movement and shapes.

Between the bright sky and the dark sky, an island floated in the air. It was surrounded by freely levitating pieces of rock and ancient masonry, its surface awash in the soft radiance of the sun, its underbelly veiled by impenetrable darkness.

Several gargantuan chains stretched away from the island, cracking thunderously as it slowly rose and fell.

The clangor of iron was almost loud enough to drown Sunny's voice… almost.

"...Argh! Drop dead, bastard! Damn you! Crap!"

Sunny had a good reason to be screaming bloody murder, because he was seconds away from being eaten alive.

Near the edge of the flying island, where the forest covering its surface made way for a narrow expanse of patchy grass, a massive wolf-like beast was currently trying to swallow him whole.

The Nightmare Creature was the size of a small truck, with fur as tough as steel wire and a long, terrifying muzzle. Its jaws were wide enough to bite a human in half, and strong enough to crush both bones and armor into dust.

Currently, those jaws were trying to close on Sunny, and the only thing preventing them from doing so were his hands — he held the upper jaw of the beast with one, and the lower jaw with another, trying with all his strength to keep them open.

His muscles felt as though they were about to explode.

The abomination was also trying to bite down on the hateful human with all of its tremendous might, but for the moment, neither of them could overpower the other.

was just a

to augment his physical strength, and those reserves were not endless. When the well of power

'Not good…'

after he had chosen to come to this place, and now, Sunny was

and sound behind its walls right now. Maybe even in the embrace

a deafening growl and doubling its efforts to devour him. Sunny

'Just... don't feint...'

centimeters closer to sinking into his flesh. Sunny gritted his teeth,

A little

be seen. She was a good

of the abomination away, but it was useless. The damn creature

hissed past his shoulders, and two menacing black arrows sunk into the feral eyes of the beast. They arrived

'Thanks!'

the momentary shudder that ran through the wolf's body, Sunny pushed the jaws sideways, allowed them to close with a loud crack, and poured as much essence as he could

meters and crashed into a trunk of an ancient oak, plowing straight through and turning it into

drew in a shaky breath. Then,

made out of horn and polished black wood. Two ruby eyes burned behind the visor of her helmet, and a crimson coral gem was set into the center of her obsidian

'Nice shots…'

further, though, at least not for a dozen seconds. Sunny was pretty sure that the Shadow had spent all

monstrous wolves was now blind… probably.

already rising from

'Curse you…'

crawled a few steps and picked up the Midnight Shard. The austere tachi was as