Shadow Slave

Sunny had never fought in his shadow form, and really, he didn't even know how. All he had were his instincts, but that wasn't enough. In fact, trusting your instincts too much was a sure way to get yourself killed.

Intelligence was the most dangerous weapon in the arsenal of a human, and it was Sunny's mind that ended up saving his life.

He had realized that his enemy was not invisible, but a shadow just like him only a moment before the creature was upon him. In that split second, Sunny managed to come up with the only way to escape death.

As sharp pain pierced his entire being, he lunged forward… and escaped the shadows, rolling away on the grass. Jumping to his feet, Sunny staggered and clutched at his side, blood flowing between his fingers.

"Argh…"

The shadow of the unknown abomination lunged in pursuit… and swiped uselessly across his body, not causing him any harm.

It was just a shadow, after all.

Throwing a glance at the thin tear in the Puppeteer's Shroud and a deep wound beneath it, Sunny took a step back. Simultaneously, he gave his shadows a command to hide themselves under his armor and augment his body.

Physical attacks couldn't harm shadows… but shadows also had no way to harm living beings. That was the thought that had saved him. If he had failed to assume the shape of a human in time, he would have been dead by now… most likely.

Because he had not, however, he and the shadow creature were now at a standstill.

The master of the Reckoning Island tried to attack him several more times, each strike ending up as fruitless as the previous ones. Then, it froze, as if slightly confused by the situation.

Sunny finally had a chance to take a good look at the hostile shadow.

It looked just like a shadow would — like a dark, ethereal silhouette of a person painted on the grass in black. The creature seemed to have two legs, two hands, and one head. If Sunny didn't know what it really was, he would have assumed that the shadow was cast by an ordinary person.

There was no one else in sight, though.

Backing away and grimacing because of the pain radiating from the deep wound in his side, Sunny stared at the enemy and thought feverishly:

'No, this is wrong…'

shadow creature was, indeed, deadly for someone like

human on the Chained Isles,

people had been killed by it? And what about the Nightmare Creatures? How had this shadow slaughtered so

His eyes widened slightly.

threw his hand to the side to summon the Midnight Shard… and just in

next caused

a human figure stepped out of the shadow. It was a young man with pale skin and cold, cruel eyes

black, lustreless leather. In his hands,

grip his heart as he recognized the

he did. It was his own

of Reckoning was like

since when was

Sunny recoiled in shock.

the hell are

apparition mimicked his expression, then opened its mouth. Its lips moved, however, there was sound, as if the abomination was

no problem

hell are

'What is going on...'

that thought, though, he had to defend himself against a lightning-fast strike

back, his hands trembling from the force of

'Curses…'

but it was much, much stronger. About as strong as a Fallen

to recover before his evil twin was upon him once again, attacking with the painfully familiar grace of his own battle style.

appeared

Sunny grunted.

lethal attacks his way, each swift and vicious, he struggled to defend himself and fought through the pain. He was barely holding

someone who knew all his tricks, but was also much more powerful? Even the Shadow Dance was useless... what was the point in trying to mirror the style of an opponent who had stolen his technique from

good, at all. Especially because blood was still streaming down