Shadow Slave

"Glory! Glory! Glory!"

Sunny growled, falling to the ground, the heavy body of a stone gargoyle pressing him down, its claws buried in his chest. A dark radiance rose from his skin, the scales of a coiling serpent becoming more visible, and then, one of the forearms of the abomination shattered, pulled apart by his hands.

The creature roared, its tail shooting forward like a spear. He had no time to dodge or deflect the blow, so instead, Sunny simply endured the blinding pain of the stone spike piercing his shoulder, and pushed with his feet, straining to jump up.

As the result, his horns struck the gargoyle in the chin, impaling it through the skull.

Something cold streamed down his face, and, momentarily blinded, Sunny struck the abomination in the chest with all his might, sending the stone goliath flying back.

The gargoyle exploded into a rain of stone shards when its body struck the floor of the arena.

Sunny breathed heavily, his torso a mess of torn flesh, and then tiredly searched for the remaining enemy, which was supposed to be fighting the Awakened youth… if he was still alive.

His second day in the coliseum had been both easier and more harrowing than the first.

It was easier because Sunny was slowly growing accustomed to his new inhuman body. For someone else, this process might have taken longer, but he had always put adaptability and control of his physicality first.

Both the flowing battle style Nephis had taught him and Shadow Dance were meant to make the practitioner as flexible and versatile as possible, the latter especially being the pinnacle of malleability.

So, he had plenty of practice to prepare himself for waking up in the body of an actual demon, ironically. Who would have thought?

…But this day's battles were also much more lethal. At first, Sunny had thought that his luck was just this bad, but after he and the young Awakened had barely survived the first two boxes, the youth shared a bit of knowledge that put everything into perspective.

Apparently, by surviving the previous day's slaughter and making their way to the center of the arena, the two of them earned the privilege of being added to the main herd of gladiators. In other words, everyone — and every thing — they faced today had won seven consecutive fights in the past, as well.

This was the creme of the crop of the enslaved combatants, more or less.

And the final stage was also going to be different…

'Damnation…'

them. His eyesight wasn't the best in daylight, so Sunny relied on shadow

up in their second fight. He was dancing around the gargoyle, showing a good grasp of combat technique and more that a

battle prowess was perhaps on par with what Sunny himself had shown on the Forgotten Shore.

knowing how to

can't hold

behind the gargoyle in a whirlwind of claws. With a loud roar, he crashed into the towering creature and caught it in a deadly embrace. The steel cables of his muscles moved under the obsidian skin, and with a low growl, Sunny lifted the

how

of a monster of similar proportions, made entirely out of stone,

Almost…

his lunge, Sunny carried the gargoyle forward like a speeding train, and smashed

joy

the

shut up for a moment… you

hated the spectators even more than he

dead gargoyle with a dark expression. Then, he glanced at his sword, and finally at the

you… you don't look

him with his black eyes, no recognizable human expression

you noticed?

skin torn in many places and sliced muscle tissue visible beneath. The most disturbing thing about it was the fact that his mangled flesh was awash with crimson blood,

large part because the monsters had turned out to be much more powerful and

reluctant to do so, he suspected that he would have to reveal at least one of his two hidden

suddenly stepped forward and put

hissed, shocked by

demon… I'm trying

'What the hell…'

and his

the pain receded, and at the same time, the torn fibers of his flesh started to repair

almost closed. The young man, however, paled considerably and stepped back, his breathing

'Well, I'll be damned…'