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.

tired of the relentless attacks by the other Nightmare Creatures. It suddenly jumped, soaring high into the air, its broken wings raising a

but it succeeded in creating some distance between

Sunny's eyes narrowed.

'Damnation!'

a split second to make a

it down! Catch up as fast as you can and set

that, he left Dale behind and turned into a swift shadow. Flying with terrible speed across the stone beach, Sunny pursued the Tyrant. The monstrosity barreled forward like a speeding train, its six legs turning

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, the Tyrant's stinger was already shooting through the air, aimed

'Ah…'

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,

of the Tyrant twisted like snakes. Two maws bit into the shadow hands, tearing them apart, while the third flew toward Sunny. Staring at the repulsive fleshy circle full of razor-sharp fangs, he shuddered and realized that the thing could

his weight and dashed aside, narrowly dodging the maw, then lashed out with the Sin of Solace. As a bloody wound appeared on the abomination's neck, a ear-splitting

waste more essence creating shadow implements… maybe even encase the

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 demented acrobat. Shards of stone and wet

'Curse you…'

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

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

only cease to be a threat to the city

as well. It tried to disengage and lowered itself to the ground, as if preparing