Shadow Slave

'Well… one mystery is solved, at least.'

Sunny became painfully aware of how the devil of the Reckoning was able to slaughter so many Awakened, and why no Nightmare Creature could survive on its island.

If the bastard was able to turn into a copy of any enemy while remaining as powerful as a Fallen Devil, then very few things could ever hope to escape from it alive.

And those Awakened who had escaped despite everything mistakenly believed that their companions fell to a creature that could mess with people's sight… what else would they think after watching a human being killed by what looked like their exact copy?

Well… why had no one thought that it was an actual copy and not a trick on the eye, damn it?!

If there was one thing that landed Sunny in this dire situation, it was that people in the Sanctuary severely lacked imagination!

…All these thoughts flashed through his mind as he used Shadow Step to disappear and fall awkwardly to the ground a dozen meters behind the devil, completely out of the way of the flying arrow.

'Great… but now what?'

Just a few moments before, Sunny had been contemplating abandoning the fight and simply running away. Unlike some humans he had met in the past, he wasn't burdened by useless things like pride or vanity. If the situation called for a cowardly escape, he was ready and willing to do just that.

But now that the bastard had turned into Saint and was holding a bow, the idea of trying to run was not very enticing. The last thing he wanted was to be hit in the back of his head by an arrow.

'Think, think…'

There was no time to think, though.

The reflection of Saint swiftly spun and lunged toward him. As Sunny teleported further away, the creature suddenly pivoted and crashed into the trunk of a tall, ancient tree.

saw, with horror,

with as much strength as possible and raised his hands, trying to catch the falling tree. As a groan escaped from his mouth, Sunny's feet dug into

at this moment that a second

one in the air and fly

real Saint dismissed the bow, raised

'Eat that, bastard!'

with a tremendously powerful push. When he used his essence and augmented his body with both shadows, Sunny was able

was the bastard

lowered its shoulder, then simply disappeared into the shadows and appeared on the other side of the flying trunk. Then, it met attacking Saint

the taciturn demon cracked, and she was thrown back, causing another tree to explode into a cloud of

Sunny paled.

'S—shadow Step. Not good…'

apparition turned to him and mockingly

and utterly mad, but at the same time… incomplete, somehow. Behind the evil will and terrifying killing intent that dwelled in its ruby eyes, there was a hint

he had felt the same deep

of the misty stone labyrinth between to otherworldly rivers, he had sensed the same feeling of loss, anguish, and confusion

even is

turned into a pale young man with dark eyes and was lunging at him, a vicious

cold shiver running down his spine, Sunny realized that he would not win

he was truly in

island… and the last thing he was going to see before falling into the embrace of death would be

Unless…

met the apparition's attack with a block, feeling his

that the Devil of Reckoning was a shadow, and it was indeed similar to one… but, really, it was not. It only appeared as a shadow because Sunny himself had been in the

Knowing that the thrust was just a feint, he threw his own blade downward, and just barely managed to deflect