Shadow Slave

Sunny was ready for battle.

Now... he wasn't Sunny anymore.

He was a mighty serpent, clad in an armor of onyx scales, with fangs as sharp as diamonds and enough fury to incinerate the world.

But that was not enough.

Following his wrathful roar, the Shell hiding below his scales turned into the adamantine Mantle. A fearsome obsidian armor encased his flexible body, light as a feather and crafted so intricately as not to restrict his movement in any way.

The water exploded into the air when he dove into the depths... the depths that belonged to him, and him alone.

"OLD SNAKE!"

The call escaped his monstrous maw, turned into a senseless roar.

...What he had done was simple, but also indescribably hard.

He had dove deeper into Shadow Dance than ever before, mirroring both the mind and the physique of a Nightmare Creature. He had not been sure that it would be possible until the last moment, but his meticulous preparation paid off.

It was do or die, nothing less.

He had spent countless hours observing the Azure Serpent and learning everything there was to learn about it. Then, he dissolved into the shadows, and manifested himself back into a tangible form. Finally, he summoned the dead shadow of the Black Turtle, which he had lured into the Lantern, to form a mighty shell around his fragile incarnation.

But, for the first time, the shape of his shell was not that of the shadow fiend. Instead, it was the shape of a monstrous river serpent... the shape of the mad beast whom he feared, admired, and wanted to kill.

Of course, this Shadow Shell could not compare to the real thing. He was only an Ascended, after all, while the Azure Serpent was a Great Beast. It was weaker, less resilient, and smaller - maybe a quarter of the size of the actual abomination.

However, it was suffused with the power of both shadows and soul flame, granting it power well beyond the limits of what an Ascended could possess.

also protected by the Mantle, and made to reign

another challenging

mind, and he shot forward through the water like a black spear. He could feel it... the

it was older? So what if it was

torn apart

Azure Serpent had felt

meet him.

was

how to be

he knew was wrath and

armor, wreathed in shadows

would have been his last if he had not twisted his body at the last

had to

he was

not a mindless Nightmare Creature. He was not a Beast. He was cunning, resourceful, and skilled. He possessed the honed battle sense of a masterful warrior

to both believe that he was a serpent with all his heart and know that he was something else. Losing himself in the dance was just too easy... but his True Name

Sunny... understood that he had to remember himself if he wanted to survive. His current form was immensely powerful - no less powerful than a Saint's Transcendent form would have been, perhaps. He could feel the barriers that had been preventing him from mastering the fourth step of Shadow Dance breaking.

in front of the Azure Serpent, that strength was almost laughable. Despite the terrible wounds covering the body of the Great

why he had to be devious, cunning, and sober if he

deranged and

had to guide his mad fury and sharpen

the Azure Serpent's neck. It was

because the leviathan's jaws snapped

they ascended from the depths. The Azure Serpent was much larger, more powerful, and terrifyingly domineering. The black serpent

caught in the leviathan's

bodies brushed against each other, a vast stretch of the Mantle cracked and shattered. The shadows below rippled, the internal structure of the shell twisting and breaking apart. The violent currents created by the passing of the Azure Serpent's body were slowing him

was