Shadow Slave

Focusing solely on causing as much devastation as possible, Sunny slaughtered the Nightmare Creatures. The power of the fully augmented shadow fiend shell was staggering... that power was so great, in fact, that getting drunk on it was simply too easy.

However, he did not. His savage butchery was just for show... even though Sunny had allowed himself to gleefully dive into the battle frenzy, the core of his mind remained cold and clear. The more abominations he slayed, the more somber that part of his consciousness became.

'What the hell is Morgan doing?'

The Fire Keepers were supposed to hinder the advance of the Nightmare Creatures until reinforcements were pulled out from other parts of the battlefield to repair the breach in the army's formation. They had done that, already... but the reinforcements never arrived.

Had another crisis prevented Morgan from sending more companies to replace them? ...Or was something else at play?

Sunny did not know, and he had no time to care. He might have made it look as though cutting through numerous abominations was effortless for him, and in fact brought him nothing but vicious joy, but it was really not an easy task.

He was strong, fast, and immensely skilled. His armor and weapons were outstanding, too... however, there were just too many enemies pressing down on the five Masters as their soldiers. The horde of Nightmare Creatures truly seemed endless.

Even if most of these abominable creatures were not strong enough to threaten Sunny, and easy to kill, the sheer number of them posed a threat. His task was not just to withstand the flood of monsters, but to cut through it, breaking its momentum.

And that... was a perilous task. Sunny had to watch his every step, and keep the next dozen steps in mind. Otherwise, it would be too easy to end up in a situation where there was no next step to take.

Granted, he could carve his way out of many situations that would have doomed a different Ascended. But still, Sunny had to be careful about where he moved and what he did.

others were struggling with the same issue. Kai had it the easiest, since his speed and the ability to fly made maneuvering around the

Effie, and Jet were starting to struggle, though. Chances were, they would have to retreat back into the formation of the Awakened soon - once that happened, the formation itself

'...Not yet, though.'

not done playing the role of a

his teeth and continued to fight. This... this was good, really. He had missed that feeling, the feeling of giving it

of a person who was just as desperate and frightened as everyone else around him, but that was a lie. He wasn't. Sunny had

in the past few months. It had always been the lives of others that he desperately wanted to preserve, not his own. The times when Sunny found himself in mortal danger in Antarctica

life had not been at risk until the very

same now. However, Sunny had tricked himself into feeling that

killed

as many as there

the vicious, blood-chilling grace of a natural killer. Red mist

his strength, his skill, and the perfect sharpness of the Sin of Solace. The only creatures here that could

tools in his toolbox to handle most of these threats. It was just a matter of identifying the strengths of the enemy, and finding a way to turn that strength into

a natural barrier against the advancing horde. At first, he was pleased

grew tall enough, the Nightmare Creatures started lunging at Sunny from

continued

death. Even when relentless Soul Reaper cursed through gritted teeth and retreated, he continued to kill. Even when nimble Kai soared high into the sky, dismissing his sword

were just the two of them left in front of the formation - Sunny and Nephis. One was like an

unflinching resolve to obliterate the enemy at any cost...