Shadow Slave

Sunny realized that he would not be able to do a lot in this fight... but then again, he did not have to. Right now, his role was to support Saint and let his Shadows do all the heavy lifting.

Maybe that was how he was supposed to fight every battle, really... but sadly, fate rarely gave him such opportunities.

In any case, there was one thing that he could do. Dismissing the Sin of Solace and the Dying Wish to get back a bit of essence, he summoned the Shadow Lantern instead. As soon as it manifested, Sunny tossed the Lantern in the direction where the towering Gate Guardian - a monstrous arachnid wielding six weapons carved of bone - advanced on Saint.

He did not have enough essence to sustain the divine Memory's enchantment for long, but he did have enough to open its gate, unleashing a swarm of shadows onto the battlefield. The darkness enveloping it grew even deeper than it had been before.

In the next moment, Sunny and Nightmare slammed into the crowd of the abominations.

'Crap!'

The rest of the battle... was a hazy mayhem of violence.

Sunny struggled to remain atop his black steed, lamenting that there had not been enough time to saddle it. At some point, he simply slid to the ground, using Nightmare's body to shield himself from the enemies. Not trusting himself to wield a weapon that demanded strength in his weakened state, Sunny summoned the Moonlight Shard instead.

A beautiful chalice of white jade appeared in his other hand. Submerging the narrow blade of the ghostly stiletto into the black liquid, he used it to strike at the cracks in the enemy armor and finish off those abominations that Nightmare had wounded with his fangs, horns, and steel hooves.

At some point, other soldiers and Awakened joined the fight. More Nightmare Creatures emerged from the Gate, and more humans threw themselves into the meat grinder to stop the enemy from reaching the streets of the city. Their resistance was desperate and haphazard, but for now, at least, they held the tide of abominations back.

Beyond the wall, obscured by the hideous rift of the Nightmare Gate, the sky was painted white by lightning.

Sunny knew that they were going to win when the Spell whispered into his ear, its voice drowning out the sounds of the battle:

[You have slain a Corrupted Devil, Silkway Archon.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

glanced in the direction where Saint had

limbs severed and its massive body cleaved apart. His Shadow

battered, and there were thin streams of fine ruby dust flowing from the breaches. However, wreathed in darkness, her body seemed to be healing already. Without ever slowing down, she shook the dark blood off her sword and dashed

scales of battle slowly started to tip in favor of humans. Sunny was not of much use, but with Saint and Nightmare rampaging amidst the abominations, dealing with them

almost abruptly...

tiredly on a piece of rubble, observing the scene of utter slaughter. His armor was bloodied, but his body was nearly devoid of wounds - most had been

a magical shell reinforcing

felt terrible,

soldiers were busy building improvised barricades around the Gate. The first wave of abominations might have been destroyed, but more could emerge from the rift at any moment. A few of them suddenly froze, staring at a menacing black figure that had emerged from the darkness into the dim

eyes burned with demonic crimson light, and her onyx armor was glistening, awash in the blood of the arachnid

rifle with trembling hands, but the other suddenly

"Mongrel! It's Lord Mongrel!"

hum of voices soon rose

in

killed the Gate

clearly a she, you

"We're saved!"

Broken Oath long dismissed. She approached Sunny and froze, looming

his neck to look at Saint,

great job out there. You really saved

lingered for a few moments, slowly raised her

in the cheek

studying him. Her ruby eyes betrayed