Shadow Slave

"Shadow! Shadow! Shadow!"

…Sunny swayed, looking at the broken sword in his hand. When did it break? He didn't quite remember. This was one of the first weapons he had picked up in the arena, right after killing… wait, who had he killed for that sword?

Dead faces spun in his mind, staring at him with empty eyes. There were so many that he couldn't even tell whether all of them had once belonged to real enemies or were simply created by his imagination. No, that one was real… the first human he had killed in the coliseum. That had been the battle where he took the sword.

These days, he was having trouble remembering things.

Sunny threw the broken sword away and looked at the crowd that was chanting his name. Shadow… right! That was him.

'What is wrong with you, fool… since when was that your name?'

He growled, wishing that he had thrown the broken weapon at one of the humans. Not that it would have done any good — there were powerful enchantments permeating the ancient stones of the coliseum. Some of them were meant to prevent the fighters from escaping, others protected the audience from their ire. Some, he had no idea about.

All his attempts to break free of this cursed place had failed… for now.

"Demon… are you alright?"

Sunny lingered for a few moments, then glanced at Elyas, slowly returning from the bizarre state of mind the battle had sent him into. The young man was looking at him with a strange expression on his face, a bit of apprehension hiding deep in his light blue eyes.

The youth had grown considerably stronger in the weeks they had spent fighting all kinds of monsters — both of the Nightmare and human kind — in the arena. All those soul shards had not been wasted on him. His healing Ability was now much more potent, and his skill as a warrior blossomed. His face also changed, becoming gaunt and angular... almost mature.

One had no choice but to grow up quickly in hell...

The pain of the Flaw washed over Sunny, finally shattering his strange trans. He gritted his teeth, and nodded.

"Well… good. You are being weird recently, you know. I have some essence left, so let me heal you before they take us back to the cages."

youth to approach and activate his Aspect Ability, staring at the Warmonger they had just killed. This one was a bit of a challenge… the bastard had almost

fought were growing

'Something is wrong.'

about the Warmongers. He was thinking about his own state. At the start of all this, he had been in very bad shape… day after day, he had fought in the arena, receiving terrible wounds and being beaten down, time after time, just to claw his way to survival, somehow,

of his situation. He kept thinking and studying his surrounding, searching for a way to

then heavier still. A seed of despair

had not broken. But he had to search for a way to survive in the arena without losing pieces of his flesh each time, to bide

found that way

had Sunny summoned it into the light. He had decided to try and expand the purview

was a resounding

demon's body, Sunny had found it surprisingly easy to peer into the very essence of how the mad abominations carried themselves in battle, how they used their monstrous bodies and vile abilities to

too. He had fangs and horns, too. He had plenty of hatred and cruelty burning

in the end. It was the willingness to shift the way he thought

ravage, rip

done exactly that, and slowly, his performance in the arena started to improve. Being able to shadow the

and what impulses guided them was, in a sense, much harder than deciphering even the most sophisticated battle style. Their minds were perverted, bizarre, and alien to everything he had

nothing else to do but practice, as if his life depended

eventually, his efforts

he had made a breakthrough, but at some point, he found himself being able to understand the Nightmare Creatures

And with frightening speed.

assume the shape and form of all his enemies, at least in his mind, and thus know how they were going to try and destroy him. By knowing that, he had been able to anticipate and kill them first, instead,

And here he was.

remembering who

stared at the dead Warmonger, his scowl growing deeper

becoming a

sent a cold