Shadow Slave

As Nightmare Creatures rushed forward, the six Awakened began to act.

The two with elemental Aspects attacked first. Something flashed in the air, and then one of them was suddenly surrounded by a swiftly spinning ring of fire. The fire disc then flew forward and collided against the mass of abominations, immolating one of the hounds and burning several more.

The other raised her hand, and a thin blade made of nothing but air whistled as it bit into the flesh of one of the hunters, severing one of his arms at the shoulder.

Sunny blinked.

[You have slain a Fallen Monster…]

The fastest of the Nightmare Creatures were already lunging at the defenders. The girl he had spoken to before took a step forward and attacked with a slender saber, striking at the neck of a spiked hound and opening its artery with a precise cut. Two more Awakened were covering her from the sides, both wielding a shield and a Memory weapon of their own — one a short sword, the other a steel pike.

The last one did something to repel the arrows that were already flying toward their bodies, but Sunny had no idea what.

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

The Awakened were performing well… they acted with sufficient coordination and foresight, doing everything in their power to slow down the tide of approaching monsters. Although not elites, each of them was a capable combatant. They were brave and determined.

…And yet, it was not going to be enough. Not nearly enough to survive, let alone prevent the invaders from escaping into the city.

[You have received a Memory.]

'What to do, what to do…'

Not fully realizing what he was doing, Sunny commanded the shadow to wrap itself around his body, and for the Soul Serpent to slither back onto his skin.

Immediately, he felt much more powerful, his head more clear. His muscles brimmed with raw strength, double what he had just a second ago. His breathing became deeper.

Sunny knew that he had to slow the abominations down, and then get back into the fight.

That was the only way...

Making a step forward, he swayed a little, and then grabbed the roof of an abandoned PTV to help himself keep balance.

…Bending down, he then grabbed the bottom of the heavy alloy vehicle with his other hand.

essence rushing through his body, flooding it with as much strength as he could muster, he then growled and dug into the alloy

through the asphalt, Sunny strained every muscle in his body to

its frame deformed, the whole vehicle suddenly flew into the air. It breached the distance between him and the rushing tide of Nightmare Creatures and crashed into it from the side like a bizarre cannonball, turning several dormant beasts into bloody pulp, breaking numerous bones, and sending

runes shimmered in front of Sunny, and with no time to waste, he threw just one look at them, searching for the description of his new Memory.

Memory Type: Weapon.

'Good enough…'

with reading the rest, Sunny summoned the weapon and used Shadow Step to appear amid the

either attacking the six Awakened or escaping into

anything about it

could

out of a long and sharp piece of black obsidian materialized in his hands, he thrust it into the throat of one of the wraiths, then used its back end to slam another one

down on the head of a lunging hound, shattering its skull with

continued to fight, more Nightmare Creatures got past him… and more still were already emerging from the

you damn

***

breached the line

so the children gathered in the combat training hall of the school didn't panic, either. Nevertheless, they could feel that the adults were frightened, and

were frightened,

they experienced being near an opening Gate. Those who were older knew what to do, in theory… only none of those things could

younger children

looked menacing and beautiful… at least to Rain, who had never seen her teacher wield one of his real

the school because of those children whose

holding her training sword, realizing for the first time

was a real weapon, and not just a training

is going

and say

He said:

long, really. Only seven of them… I don't know who

if seven Awakened were supposed to die in less than a minute, then

felt cold and scared. The whole thing didn't seem real… how can something like this happen? This school was so

through everyone's bodies. The automatic turrets had gone

about work, she knew more about these matters than most kids of her age. Because of that, she understood how ineffective mundane weapons were against the