Shadow Slave

By the time Sunny flew close enough to distinguish the source of the white spark, it had already disappeared. However, finding the source was not too hard - there were not a lot of things that could be distinguished from the empty expanse of flowing water on the Great River, after all.

By then, it was already morning. The suns were slowly rising from below, and the world was enveloped in the dim glow of twilight. The soft radiance of the shimmering water had dissipated, making it easier for Sunny to see colors.

Hovering high above the current, he froze. There was a stunned expression on his face.

'...How is this possible?'

Far below him, a vast span of the Great River was painted red. Blood was clouding the clear water, and the polluted patch of it was at least half a dozen kilometers across. From high up, it looked as if a bloody flower was slowly blooming in the middle of the river.

At the center of the red patch... a familiar Great Monster was floating lifelessly, the silver bands encasing its neck broken and bent.

The black turtle was dead.

There was a vicious wound at the spot where its neck met its body. The wound was large enough to be a tunnel, with rivers of blood still flowing out of it into the water. The equally gruesome exit wound was all the way across the monster's massive body, just below one of its armored flippers.

Shaken, Sunny lingered for a while, and then looked down, at the spot where his pursuer was hiding beneath the water. At that moment, the azure serpent rose its head above the surface and stared at Sunny with mad fury burning in its cloudy eyes.

The Great Beast looked battered and maimed, with several huge chunks of flesh missing from its long neck... but it was undeniably alive.

He had thought once that the azure serpent was like a little snake in front of the colossal turtle. But from the looks of it, that little snake had managed to burrow into the body of the larger monster, tear it from the inside, and escape back into the river to catch up to Sunny.

must be a queen... king?... of Beasts. It actually took down a

He was slightly impressed.

disturbed. Being pursued by a Great Beast was already bad enough, but now that he knew that the azure serpent was a fearsome existence among

'Damnation...'

ancient leviathan stared at each other some more, and then he turned

of the white spark had to be hidden somewhere on the

to descend yet. After

wrap itself around the arrow, drew the string,

moss covering the monster's shell. Piercing the layer of soft moss, it then hit the weathered black rock and

destroyed, but the shadow had already been transported on

gloomy guy looked around, shivered, and then glanced at the sky with a resigned expression. His resentful gaze seemed to deal damage directly to

Sunny shifted a little.

clear conscience!

of Solace, who was standing by his side,

the gloomy shadow to go and explore. Then, he looked at the

patches of moss covering the weathered rock, while the rock itself was rough and uneven.

could be seen. From what Sunny could tell, the Great Monster had been somehow fashioned with a battle armor of sublime silver in the past... perhaps thousands of years ago. Now, the silver armor was dull and covered with

at least on the surface - only the edges of the shell, the neck, the head, and the flippers were still encased in vast bands

not want to study the nature of the dead abomination in detail right now, though. First,

shadow noticed

where it had been burned away, revealing the rock surface