Shadow Slave

A new day brought with it a new portion of pain, hardship, and despair.

Sunny and Elyas were dragged into the arena, the same Ascended warmonger guiding them by the chains attached to the collars. Sunny stumbled forward, his gaze locked on the man's broad back.

The jailer was incredibly tall for a human, his height more than even that of the shadow demon Sunny was currently inhabiting. His figure was solemn and powerful, a sense of terrifying strength radiating from it in almost physical waves. The apostle of War wore the same ragged leather armor and a tattered red robe, his features hidden behind a deep hood.

In all these weeks, Sunny had never seen his face, or heard him speak.

The great blade on the Ascended warrior's back looked special, too. It was definitely enchanted with very powerful magic… now that Sunny turned his thoughts to the nature of sorcery, he was silently studying the line of runes inscribed along the edge of the heavy weapon.

'Runic magic again…'

That made sense… how else were these ancient people supposed to enchant their weapons? It was not like they could rely on Memories and spellweave. That said, magical weapons seemed to be much rarer in the Kingdom of Hope than in the waking world. Most of the Awakened Sunny had fought in the arena wielded either mundane ones or those possessing weak, primitive enchantments.

It was the far cry from the powerful Memories he was used to, although Sunny did not know if that was the nature of this era, or just another sign of the ubiquitous regression that seemed to reign in what remained of the Kingdom of Hope. Everything here seemed devolved, worn out, and on the verge of falling apart.

The whole region was obviously in decline, and had been for some time now.

...While studying the runes on the great blade, he also noticed that it had a few new nicks. The leather armor of the silent giant had more scratches than before, as well…

It seemed that the Ascended was participating in the battles in the arena himself.

'I guess I'll have to fight that monster too, eventually...'

Finally, a rusty iron gate appeared in front of them, blinding sunlight streaming through its bars. The rumbling voices of the crowd echoed from the stone walls, washing over him like a cursed tide.

their collars. Sunny and Elyas entered the first killing box and watched as their opponents crawled

brandished his weapon — a short spear fashioned out of a long twisting horn

is on our side today, Demon! These creatures are called Burrowers. On solid stone, their main advantage is gone!

dashed forward

going to be

of the Nightmare Creatures, despite suspecting that doing so too much threatened to destroy his already unsteady mind. He also had to both concentrate on the fight and thoroughly

was almost like his first training sessions with Saint, when he had to resist the taciturn monster while simultaneously keeping an eye on his shadow to decipher the secret of its dance. The problem was that, back then, he had ended up beaten black and blue by Saint most

he couldn't allow himself

the repulsive Burrowers, which looked like sacks of bulbous flesh with giant circular

it was time for the second one, and then the third

and then a creature that resembled a giant walking skeleton, its bones green and as tough as granite, and then a swarm of monstrous ants that covered the floor of the arena like a carpet, and then a being that was like an oozing mountain

and sliced, and crushed, and gnawed on. Elyas had healed the most terrible wounds, but the rest remained, not worthy

by pain, rage, and the desperate need to fight for his survival. Everything

And fear.

that

studying every corner of the Red Colosseum — the floor of the arena, the walls surrounding it, the rows of seats rising above —

were the statues of War God, the jubilant faces of the spectators, and the weathered surface of ancient stones.

'Where are you… where...'

While fighting against a familiar foe — a giant worm-like creature that possessed a seemingly endless reserve of vitality — Suny had tripped on the uneven surface of the floor of the arena, lost his balance,

the attention of the terrible abomination to himself, he would have been viciously mauled, or even lost his

time, the creature eventually succumbed to the soul damage continuously dealt to it

Only when its body was torn apart completely did the worm stop

hateful glance at the crowd chanting his name. Finally, he lowered his head

them. Usually, he took note of their