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,

even if when I'm

The Awakened blinked.

know shame… it's… wait! You... you can

ability to translate any language 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 seemed to know, even if it demanded some

same as the ones he had learned before, first in the Academy and later during his travels in the Dream Realm, but similar enough to make out some of the

stared at the youth from above, then nodded

The young man blinked.

Corrupted, then? What

tainted, infected, changed, and perverted… a being cursed with some form of corruption. But what exactly was the Awakened asking? Was he referring to the Nightmare

and pointed to the coils of the Soul Serpent glistening

The youth frowned, confused.

demon be Shadow's kin? No wonder the Warriors hunted him down, then… their God and Shadow are

is he talking to me? Or to

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

away, demon, or I

when the gaunt, towering monstrosity walked past him with absolute

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

down in person if

Men, women, young and 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

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

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

did not seem to want them to kill each other,

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

the young Awakened glanced at each other

then walked toward

***

more comfortable… well, he at least could stand up straight in

that he was in any mood

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