Shadow Slave

Sunny glanced down at the young man, then slowly moved toward him. The Awakened shuddered and took another involuntary step back, then gritted his teeth and lowered his stance, raising the sword into a proper defense position.

"Lord, shine thine light upon me! Let my s—soul burn unextinguished, as the sun can never be extinguished…"

'Huh… I've seen suns fade away and disappear before. Never say never, fool…'

Sunny listened to the strange prayer and allowed one of his shadows to slide off his menacing body, flowing to the ground like a dark veil. After that, he hissed from pain and stopped near a mangled human corpse.

He stared at the trembling youth for a few moments, and then bent down, stretching his hands toward the body.

The young man flinched and fell silent, then shouted:

"Get your vile hands away from him, demon!"

Sunny ignored the Awakened and used his claws to rip the white tunic off the corpse. Then, he straightened and glanced at it with displeasure, his black eyes narrowing.

This one was not too dirtied by blood, bud sadly, its previous owner was of a normal size for a human. As such, the tunic was way too small for Sunny's new towering body. He snarled, and then tried to tie the tunic around his waist like a makeshift loincloth.

There was a big problem, though… his tail.

Sunny froze, somewhat confused about what to do. Then, he awkwardly tore a hole in the tunic and made another attempt, this one, thankfully, successful.

With his nakedness finally covered, he instantly felt better and turned his attention back to the trembling youth.

The young man was staring at him with wide eyes, periodically glancing at the unceremoniously disrobed corpse at his feet. Finally, he opened his mouth:

"You… you barbarous beast! Have you no shame?!"

Sunny grinned, revealing two rows of sharp fangs and four long, terrifying canines.

In the next moment, though, his smile dimmed, because there was suddenly a familiar pressure rising in his mind.

So, his Flaw remained, as well…

'Damn it.'

hesitated, then slowly shook his head. Instantly, the

if when I'm mute… how

The Awakened blinked.

why would a demon know shame… it's… wait! You... you can

was gone, too. However, Sunny found himself able to discern what the young man was

before, first in the Academy and later during his travels in the Dream Realm, but similar enough to

the youth

The young man blinked.

you are not one of the Corrupted, then? What kind of a creature are

was tainted, infected, changed, and perverted… a being cursed with some form of corruption. But what exactly

hesitated, then shook his head again, and pointed to the coils of the Soul

The youth frowned, confused.

be Shadow's kin? No wonder the Warriors hunted him

he talking to me? Or to

The Awakened flinched, torn away from his pondering, and raised

away, demon, or

felt silent when the gaunt, towering monstrosity

youth… unless the fool chose to attack first, of course. Made into a gladiator or not, he was not going to play the part of an obedient slave. He had no qualms with killing humans, but not to satisfy anyone's thirst for entertainment, especially not of anyone

down in person if they wanted to

they had was the color of their white garments. Some had been unarmed, and some had wielded

at it, and then threw it back to the

sword against him, too. He just stood there,

arena, whoever that was, did not seem to want them to kill each other, as

rose, opening the path to the third box, this one even closer

and the young Awakened glanced at each

toward

***

more comfortable… well, he at least could stand

was in any mood

he had been forced to fight his way through seven killing boxes, the last circular one at the very heart of the coliseum. In each box, a new Nightmare Creature, or a group of them, awaited — those abominations who had