Shadow Slave

For a moment or two, Sunny's mind was empty. He crawled back, looking up at the familiar figure towering above him.

Verne… it was Verne. There was no mistake.

…Or something wearing Verne's corpse, at least.

His shadow was much more vast and dreadful than a human's shadow was supposed to be.

The hollow gaze of the dead Master pursued Sunny, his face still and unmoving like a mask. Behind him, the dark waves stirred, and more figures rose from the water. Men, women… dozens of them, hundreds even. They marched forward like an army of the dead, silent and emotionless, their eyes drowning in darkness.

All their shadows were wrong.

The people of LO49 that Sunny had left to die. He recognized all of them, staring at the undulating surface of the ocean in horror.

'The… the Terror…'

Strangely, it was the contemptuous laugh of the cursed sword that shattered his paralysis.

"Look, Lost from Light… your sins have come to haunt you!"

Sunny shuddered, coming to his senses.

'What sins, you bastard? I did everything I could to save them!'

The insidious voice laughed again, then whispered, its hissing words falling like drops of poison:

"Weakness is also a sin, you pitiful worm… it is the greatest sin of them all…"

snarled, then rose to his feet and froze for a split second, thinking

between the ocean and the northern wall of Falcon Scott, so nothing could escape the shore without being

garrison. Bloodwave and the Awakened of the

not going to put a dent in the defenses of the port. As for

he saw something that made his blood run cold. There, behind the slowly advancing figures of the drowned residents of LO49, the black water seethed and boiled, releasing even more thralls.

involuntary step back, then steeled

to reach the port. Hundreds of thousands of refugees were currently there, with even more already on the ships. Thankfully, the elevator platforms leading to Falcon Scott were empty,

light fell from above, illuminating the quiet horde. A instant later, a

But it didn't.

onslaught of heavy rounds, all that came were

on the wall of

chill

'The hex…'

get a chance to finish the

been capable of as a human. Sunny shifted, trying to deflect the incoming attack, but his reaction was too slow. A devastating blow sent him flying backwards, the breath knocked out of him entirely. He crashed to the ground and rolled, feeling cold numbness spreading through

'Curse it…'

mistaken to assess the enemy's power based on how powerful the thralls had been before falling prey to the Terror. Whatever the creature had done to them… had made them into…

neglectful fool, aren't

he was… he had already known that the hexed residents were capable of showing unnatural strength. Why would the slaves be different? If anything, their change would

of civilians… and thousands

seemingly blind to their

situation was

Sunny

'No, not everyone…'

Terror's thralls, some were still firing their rifles. That meant that the creature's hex was not absolute. With so many residents around, it could only do