Shadow Slave

The grass covering the surface of the island moved, and strange shapes appeared from beneath it. Some were similar to each other, while some were not, but all shared the same deep emerald color. The shapes levitated upward, slowly coalescing together.

The creepy shadow observed the eerie event from the shade of a large boulder, darkly excited. Sunny only understood what it was so excited about when the boulder suddenly split open and fell apart, making way for another of the shapes… this one easily recognizable.

It was a massive emerald jawbone, similar to a human one in all aspects except for size.

…The creepy guy had always been strangely fascinated by dead things. No wonder he got fixated on a bunch of flying bones.

As Sunny watched, the emerald bones assembled into a towering human skeleton — very similar to the powerful abomination of the same kind Sunny had fought and destroyed in the Red Colosseum, but much larger and way more frightening.

The emerald skeleton stared north for a while, and then slowly headed toward the edge of the island, each of its steps making the ground shake.

At the same time, a loud rattle of the heavenly chain rolled through the two skies. Sunny was so used to hearing them that he didn't pay it any attention at first, but then, a deep frown appeared on his face.

Something… wasn't right. The rattling of the chain sounded different, somehow.

He lingered for a few moments, then silently dove into the shadows and glided to the northern slope of the flying isle.

As soon as Sunny saw the heavenly chain stretching far into the distance, his heart grew cold.

A terrifying abomination with a body that resembled a dirty mass of pitch-black tar was crawling underneath it, its back facing the Sky Below. Each second, a dozen tendrils of liquid darkness shot forward from the mass, sticking to the links of the giant chain and pulling the creature forward.

meters long and so heavy that the iron of the heavenly

nightmare

of corruption that hid within its soul. The two

'Corrupted… a Corrupted Monster.'

felt the shadow of a powerful fiend hiding beneath one of them. Who knew that the horror nesting on the Dark Side of

a large boulder suddenly flew from the island and hit the massive body of the Black Tar fiend, sending ripples across its liquid flesh. The force of the impact was so great that a destructive shockwave spread in all directions, causing the heavenly chain to rattle even

of the island, the towering emerald skeleton lowered its arms and stared at the invading horror, dark lights igniting in the

it had just thrown disappeared within the body of the Corrupted abomination, seemingly dealing it no damage. The creature simply continued crawling, its massive

probably need

by fetid black liquid. Some rained on the emerald skeleton, and some hit the slopes of the

he was an incorporeal shadow right now… but he would not make the mistake of assuming

this horror was

tar spread around the point of impact — and dozens of similar ones nearby. As he watched, the foul liquid started to move, coalescing into

moment, and then flowed toward him, as though sensing his

'Crap!'

back the creepy shadow and lunged away, gliding through the shadows as fast as he could. By

the towering abomination. Despite all its might, the emerald skeleton was instantly trapped and pulled inside the mass of liquid darkness. It struggled desperately,

about me, hellspawn... I'm too small and inconsequential,

on the southern slope of the island, rushing toward the other heavenly chain that led away