Shadow Slave

A swift figure streaked across the sky, and then, a black steed landed on the deck of a flying ship, its eyes burning with crimson light. The stallion had a coat that was as black as night, two horns of adamantine metal, and fangs that resembled those of a wolf.

On its back rode a graceful knight clad in onyx armor, the scarlet blade of her odachi matching two ruby lights shining behind the visor of her closed helmet. Without pause, the dark rider sent her steed forward, and her sword flashed, beheading the nearest warrior of the Sun Legion in one smooth strike.

The other Awakened froze for a moment, suddenly grasped by a cold feeling of dread.

And as fear crawled into their hearts, the terrifying crimson flames burning in the eyes of the tenebrous stallion ignited even brighter. It moved its head, biting into the neck of another soldier and tearing it wide open. More blood flowed onto the deck...

On another ship, the soldiers suddenly screamed and aimed their bows up as a massive shadow suddenly covered the deck.

But they were too late.

As a gale of wind raised by mighty wings threw some of them off their feet, a repulsive creature crashed into the deck. It resembled a giant lion with the head of a raven, its body gaunt and entirely black. The creature had two powerful hind legs and six limbs protruding from its wide chest, each ending with a set of long talons.

Lean muscles were rolling under its skin like worms, and its terrifying beak was open, revealing rows of sharp, needle-like fangs and a long tongue. Both the fangs and the tongue were of the same black color as the rest of the abominable monstrosity.

Using the momentary shock of the warriors, the Soul Serpent, who had assumed the form of a Spire Messenger, reached out with its six arms and sliced six bodies apart with its talons. Blood sprayed into the air, and a chilling, ghastly wail escaped from its beak.

…And lastly, on the stern of yet another ship, a towering devil wearing black armor simply appeared out of the shadow, silently and without anyone noticing him for a split second.

That one second was enough for a bolt of lightning to fly off his bow and hit a warrior in red armor that had been preparing to pull the lever of a ballista on the bow of the ship. Instantly, arcs of furious radiance chained to a dozen nearest soldiers, killing several, burning a few, and stunning the rest.

tachi he held in the other two of his four hands. He knew that his time was short… yes, Sunny was powerful, and so were his Shadows. But when the

who knew how long

thing to do was to cut off

flying away and raised the Midnight Shard for a devastating downward slash. The captain of the ship — a grey-haired man with a noble face and a thick beard — reacted too fast, throwing his own

tachi never came down… if Sunny really wanted to attack it with it, he would have never telegraphed his strike so clearly. Instead, the Cruel Sight shot forward from below, piercing the captain through the chest. Infused with divine flame, it easily went through

time to look at Sunny with eyes clouded by pain… and smile happily. Then, he fell down like a tree that had

'Damned crazies…'

of the ship, now fully aware of his presence and clamoring to spill his blood. Sunny had fought plenty of Solvane's followers in the Red Colosseum, and knew very well how skilled and powerful

to survive a battle against that many, especially now that he had no

him to serve as his eyes. With the enemy possessing such a terrible numeric advantage, he judged that being aware of his surroundings would

going to fight them all unless

corpse out of his way with a powerful kick, Sunny dashed forward… and grabbed one of

not have known how to fly a ship, but from watching Noctis and Cassie do it, he at least knew

his belt and devoured all light nearby, thus hiding him in a cloud of darkness and making it harder for the archers to hit him, Sunny

started to turn left, going off

back. He could see ten or so of the closest Warmongers already running at him, and further back, even more rushing to join their comrades. Those who had been stunned by the Strike of Thunder

'Crap…'

keep the oar in place and thus immobilized, he gritted his teeth and threw the Cruel Sight as a javelin, aiming to kill the nearest of the approaching enemies. However, his spear simply froze in the air, as if the attackers were surrounded by an invisible

light invaded the cloud of darkness that protected him, dimming somewhat,

the problem with fighting against Awakened… every one of them had an Aspect, and