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.'

then slowly shook his head. Instantly, the

even if when I'm mute…

The Awakened blinked.

not, why would a demon know shame… it's… wait!

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

later during his travels in the Dream Realm, but similar enough to make out

at the youth from above, then nodded

The young man blinked.

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

perverted… a being cursed with some form of

again, and pointed to

The youth frowned, confused.

kin? No wonder the Warriors hunted him down, then… their God and

to

for a moment, then took a step forward. The Awakened flinched, torn away from his pondering, and raised

away, demon, or I

when the gaunt, towering monstrosity walked past him

to attack first, of course. Made into a gladiator or not, he was not going to play the part of an obedient

down in person if they wanted to force

of their white garments. Some had been

at it, and then threw

have decided against using the sword against him, too. He just stood there, staring at the corpses, a dark and inconsolable expression

of the arena, whoever that was, did not seem to want them to

of scraping metal, another rusty gate rose, opening the path to the third box, this one even closer

young Awakened glanced

then walked toward the

***

was larger and more comfortable… well, he at least could

in any

In each box, a new Nightmare Creature, or a group of them, awaited — those abominations who had prevailed in their own battles at the