Shadow Slave

As Sunny watched, the Tyrant tore apart several more abominations, devouring their flesh with its three enormous maws. This creature… it was on par with the Lord of the Dead that Sunny had faced in the catacombs below the Dark City.

Back then, he was merely a Sleeper. Now, he was an Ascended himself, and an abnormally powerful one at that. His loyal Shadows were indisposed, but he was accompanied by Dale instead.

There was no reason for this fight to be too hard…

However, they had a big problem.

The more Nightmare Creatures the Tyrant killed and devoured, the more invigorated it seemed. The ghastly injuries on its wings were already healing, and very soon, the monstrosity would be able to take flight again.

Sunny could not allow that to happen.

Glancing at Dale with a grave expression, he said:

"It's now or never."

Above them, a swarm of brood beasts separated from the dark mass of the Devouring Cloud, rushing down to protect their ruler.

Dale nodded and silently lunged forward, closing in on the Tyrant to trap the monstrosity — and the two of them with it — inside a barrier of shimmering energy. Sunny followed, cutting down several abominations that had tried to bar their passage.

the towering monstrosity seemed to have sensed the advancing threat, or maybe grew tired of the relentless attacks by the other Nightmare Creatures. It suddenly

Tyrant had not managed to stay in the air for long, at least not yet, but it succeeded in creating some distance between itself and the pursuers. Then, moving with

Sunny's eyes narrowed.

'Damnation!'

split second to make a decision and

slow it down! Catch up as fast

pursued the Tyrant. The

its walls, Sunny finally overtook the monstrosity and jumped out of the shadow right in front of it. The Sin of Solace flashed, cutting one of the creature's limbs, and it toppled heavily to the ground. He barely managed to dodge the massive body, but in the next moment,

'Ah…'

as he could. The impact pushed him back, his feet leaving two grooves in the stones. The monstrosity struggled to stand up, but a dozen jet-black hands rose from the ground,

while the third flew toward Sunny. Staring at the repulsive fleshy circle full of razor-sharp fangs, he shuddered and realized that the

out with the Sin of Solace. As a

manifested were all but gone, and the Tyrant was nowhere near being immobilized. Sunny could waste more essence creating shadow implements… maybe even encase the monstrosity and himself in a large dome… but

fiercely determined to protect them. As shortly as Sunny tried to get closer to the abomination's wings, its stinger, three maws, and five remaining legs all came after him. He scrambled to dodge the hurricane of attacks, dancing between them like a

'Curse you…'

[Sinister Whisper] of the cursed sword — the effect of the charm was

to be repeating in the skies above them, where a large portion of the Devouring Swarm seemed to have lost a

a threat to the city once both Tyrants were dead,

was something strange going on with its mind, as well. It tried to disengage and lowered itself to the ground, as if preparing to jump again… only