Shadow Slave

The battle formation of Clan Valor was steadily advancing while keeping its shape, but Sunny was a poor fit for their polished tactics. Someone needed to break the momentum of the horde of the Beastmaster's thralls, anyway. There was a sea of them, ranging from pitiful Dormant vermin to frightening Corrupted behemoths. The charge of the cavalry had destroyed some, but countless more remained.

Looking at the surging mass of abominations, Sunny couldn't help but feel a shiver run down his spine. Beastmaster... her power was truly great and terrible.

But then, he could be terrible himself.

As Sunny unleashed the shadows contained within his divine lantern, a tide of darkness suddenly spread from his feet, reaching into the attacking horde. A moment later, it came alive.

'Kill!'

Sunny had come a long way in his mastery of Shadow Manifestation. From swiping a piece of trash from his kitchen table to binding a titan and beyond, he had never stopped improving. And now, it was time to make use of all those lessons for one single purpose.

Maximum devastation.

...The darkness came alive, and countless inky-black hands suddenly rose from it. They grabbed the lunging abominations, tearing their flesh with long obsidian claws. A wide swath of the horde was instantly turned into a harrowing hellscape of moving shadows, spilling blood, and mutilated bodies. There was a cacophony of piercing shrieks and howls, too, all of them full of chilling agony.

Sunny paid no attention to the reactions of the warriors of Valor. His mind was in a state of battle clarity and augmented by the Shroud of Dusk on top of that, but still, it took every bit of his mental ability to control that many manifested shadows. He felt as though his brain was going to explode, but as a result, the destruction he had perpetrated was on such a large scale that it almost seemed like the work of some profane deity.

He only maintained it for a few short seconds, not wishing to burn too much essence, but that was more than enough - the center of the horde was utterly broken, its momentum spent.

and another chunk of

vanguard of the

an intricate black armor, with soft white radiance spilling from its seams. Her longsword, however, shone the brightest, cutting through the Nightmare Creatures like a ray of incinerating starlight. She

as deadly, although her battle style seemed much less refined. It was all about efficiency, practicality, and butchery - even though her strikes

Everything around her was cut and sliced to pieces, as if she was surrounded by a shifting field of some invisible severing force. However, there was no force - there

fought. It was best described by the word elusive - he danced between the abominations like a shadow, easily evading the deluge of attacks and sometimes

the horde of thralls, the battle

fell. Arrows flew. Hundreds of Aspect Abilities activated in

on the

Sunny was startled.

the hell

Sunny knew it better than most, since he had been a part of an Awakened cohort before, and even led one for a period of time. He had been in command

how important synergy and synchronicity really were. Only when the cooperation between the members of a cohort reached the level where they could move as a

usually small for a good reason. With how different and unpredictable Aspect powers were, it was nearly impossible to bring them together in harmony - and the more Awakened there were, the more difficult that task was. The difficulty grew

unity that went beyond reason. It was not exactly perfect, but close enough to perfection to be startling. Their battle formation seemed less like hundreds of warriors fighting side by side,

perfectly crafted

honestly a

'Damn...'

advanced, withstanding the pressure of the horde of Nightmare Creatures like a moving fortress of steel. Countless abominations were

was marching behind the formation, serving as a mobile fort... but even its presence could not explain how the archers were so effective in slaying the enemies without