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.'

his head. Instantly, the

escape the damned curse even if when I'm mute… how is this

The Awakened blinked.

know shame… it's… wait! You... you

in the Nightmare was gone, too. However, Sunny found himself able to discern what the young man was saying, as well as the only word the spectators

not exactly the same as the ones he had learned before, first in the Academy and later during his travels in the Dream Realm, but similar

the youth

The young man blinked.

one of the Corrupted, then? What kind

word meant something that was tainted, infected, changed, and perverted… a being cursed with some form of corruption. But what exactly was the Awakened asking?

his head again, and pointed to the coils of the

The youth frowned, confused.

No wonder the Warriors

he talking to

step forward. The Awakened flinched, torn away from his pondering,

away, demon,

felt silent when the gaunt, towering monstrosity walked past him

wasn't going to fight the 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

would have to come down in person if they wanted to

old… the only thing in common they had was the color of their white garments. Some had been unarmed, and some had wielded weapons. The weapons were what he was really interested

any enchantments. He picked up a battle axe, glanced at it, and then threw it back to the ground.

against using the sword against him, too. He just stood there, staring at the

was, did not seem

to

young Awakened glanced

toward the

***

comfortable… well, he at least could stand

in

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 prevailed in