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.

sensed the advancing threat, or maybe grew tired of the relentless attacks by the other Nightmare Creatures. It suddenly jumped, soaring high into the

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

slow it down! Catch up as fast as you

The monstrosity barreled forward like a

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

'Ah…'

him back, his feet leaving two grooves in the stones. The monstrosity struggled to

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

and dashed aside, narrowly dodging the maw, then lashed out with the Sin of Solace. As a

being immobilized. Sunny could waste more essence creating shadow implements… maybe even encase the monstrosity and himself in a large dome… but

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,

'Curse you…'

by the [Sinister Whisper] of the

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

cease to be a threat to the

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