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.

emerged from the shadows and saw, with horror, a giant mass

his hands, trying to catch the falling tree. As a groan

that a second

collide with another one in the

away, the real Saint dismissed the bow, raised

'Eat that, bastard!'

and threw the massive tree at the abomination with a tremendously powerful push. When he used his essence and augmented his body with both shadows, Sunny was able to achieve

was the bastard

shadows and appeared on the other side of the flying trunk. Then, it met attacking Saint with a devastating

thrown back,

Sunny paled.

'S—shadow Step. Not good…'

to him

maleficent and utterly mad, but at the same time… incomplete, somehow. Behind the evil will and terrifying killing intent that dwelled in

since he had felt the same deep and indescribable emotion

otherworldly rivers, he had sensed the same feeling of loss, anguish, and confusion in the

is that

because the creature had once again turned into a pale young man with dark eyes

not win this fight. Nor was he

he was truly in

was going to see before falling

Unless…

sent Saint back into the Soul Sea and met the apparition's attack with a block, feeling his body shudder from the force

a shadow because Sunny himself had been

be caught by that trap. Knowing that the thrust was just a feint, he threw his own blade downward, and just barely managed to deflect a vicious slash that followed. He was late by a fraction of a second, though… another tear appeared in the fabric of the Puppeteer's Shroud, and a shallow wound on his