Shadow Slave

'I... am going to die...'The thought that flashed through Sunny's mind had nothing to do with the fact that each strike of the possessed corpse was devastating enough to obliterate his body, but more so with the strain that fighting the abominations was putting on it.

Yes, it was true - Sunny was facing a Great Nightmare Creature, but he felt as if exhaustion was going to kill him even if the creature did not.

Time moves slowly in a battle like the one they were fighting. He wasn't sure how many seconds had passed since the second vessel of the Gate Guardian had shown up - a dozen? Two dozen?

Maybe it was just five or six instead.

The six Masters and one Shadow were somehow holding up against the harrowing abomination, for now. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that the constant barrage of attacks did restrain the corpse a little - if there was one vulnerability they could exploit, after all, it was that the vessels of the Guardian were not as resilient as the body of a true Great creature would have been.

Perhaps it was because each of them was at the pinnacle of what a human Ascended could be, and knew that there would be no retreat. They fought without holding anything back, knowing that death was looming, almost inevitable.

Sunny was relatively unharmed, for now, and so was Saint. Kai had been circling above the abomination, sending one enchanted arrow flying after another.

The rest of them... were in dire straits.

Jet was, perhaps, mangled the most, but her unique constitution allowed her to persist in her attempts to shatter the creature's soul despite that. By now, Soul Reaper looked no less of a corpse than their opponent, and maybe even more so.

Both Morgan and her were fighting with their bare fists - although, in the case of Morgan, her entire body was the weapon, not just her hands. She had also suffered much more damage than any of them, often taking the initiative to shield the others with her body. That was because the Princess of War was physically the sturdiest, except maybe Effie.

The difference between the two was that Morgan seemed to have absorbed a powerful healing enchantment into her Aspect Ability, which allowed her to recover from the wounds that would have permanently taken the huntress out of the fight.

Seishan had gone even further than Jet and Morgan - with her arms broken, she had to resort to using her monstrous teeth to damage the abomination. Her jaws did not seem any less lethal than a powerful Memory would have been, but the need to be in close, almost intimate proximity to the enemy put her in grave danger. The hideous, ferocious creature she had transformed into was covered in blood, both her own and that of the Guardian.

Effie was in a much better position due to the long reach of her Transcendent spear.

Together, they fought the great abomination, desperately trying to destroy it, slow it down... or at least prevent it from approaching the beautiful bonfire of white flames that still burned behind them.

'Die, die... why won't you die!'

the vessel of the Gate Guardian was moving too fast. The jade blade barely scratched its skin, but this time, Sunny was not fast enough to retreat - a sharp pain pierced his right side,

silk was torn apart. Sunny's flesh beneath it was shredded and turned into an appalling mess - the wound was large enough for most Ascended to be at the risk of bleeding out, but he was

Bone Weave. The abomination's glancing strike cracked his ribs, but did not manage to shatter them - otherwise, Sunny would have lost

it, damn it, damn

to his feet. Sweat was rolling down

were not going well

verge of running out of essence - before, all her wounds would swiftly heal, but now, she was forced to concentrate on only a few of the most dire ones,

slow down, because this fight was a true nightmare for her. Facing one overwhelming opponent was the least favorable situation for her Aspect, since it prevented her

terrible blow, falling into

spear and pulling the huntress off her feet. A split second before its other hand delivered a lethal blow, Kai suddenly fell from the

Kai's spine, and he fell into the sand with a

'Curse it all!'

lunged forward, and at the same time, Saint did

mangled side was pulsing with terrible

He was tired.

had to

there was still

was true. The corpse had

creature had

had to push it

had not summoned Nightmare or Imp, knowing that they were too weak for this battle. He wasn't sure that he could summon them - his shadows, which served as the gates of his soul, were with Nephis, inside the incinerating mass of white flames. Even if he could, all the two would be able to do was buy him a second or two

had to buy those seconds

his cunning, all his will - into the attack. At the same time, Saint thrust her sword forward, covering her cracked breastplate with the broken remains of

it was not

abomination easily avoided Saint's sword, and stepped forward. Its fist struck Sunny like a mountain, and the next

at the vibrant

I was... too

to stand up and gasped, overcome with unbearable pain. His arm seemed to be broken... no, it was only dislocated...