Shadow Slave

Sunny had grown accustomed to calling his youngest Shadow an imp... however, now the Ravenous Fiend was finally worthy of his fearsome name.

The creature in front of Sunny could not be called little, nor could it be called scrawny. It was almost as tall as Saint, towering above him like a demonic warrior whose body had been forged out of dark steel in the infernal flames of hell.

There were a lot of similarities with how Imp had looked during their last battle in Falcon Scott... but there were also differences.

The original Ravenous Fiend had been tall, but gaunt. His body had been covered in thick plates of black bone armor, and he was as ferocious as he was stealthy, like a vengeful wraith born out of hungry darkness.

The new and improved Imp, however, was not gaunt. Instead, he seemed like a knight clad in a suit of plate armor. That armor was not made out of bone, either - it was made out of a strange dark metal.

The ravenous Shadow had seemed like he was forged out of black steel before, but the look of his metallic body was changed now. It acquired a dark sheen and a glossy quality, as though the Transcendent Devil had been cast out of black silver or covered in a layer of dull chrome.

There were changes in the... design of his armor, too.

It was as though Fiend had been forged out of countless broken swords. There were curved blades growing from his elbows and knees, as well as ferocious spikes rising here and there from his dark armor.

His face was hidden behind the visor of a fearsome helmet, with twisting horns rising from it and a jagged line breaking its surface where the fiend's terrible mouth was hidden, brimming with dagger-like teeth.

His claws were like short swords, and in his ferocious eyes, infernal flames burned with intense heat.

'C-crap...'

And that demonic monstrosity... was currently staring at Sunny with an extremely nasty expression in its glowing orange-red eyes.

Sunny awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Ah... hey there, buddy."

Imp's mouth split in a sinister grin, releasing more heat and infernal glow.

Sunny forced out a smile.

delicious magical steel I found and fed you... out of nothing but pure kindness, maybe... really did you

He coughed.

the times I kicked and berated you,

eyes and incinerating maw falling on Sunny's face.

voice sounded like a

"Like... revenge..."

Imp raised

that moment, Sunny's expression changed, and

reason to find out

a moment, and his

a moment... and then carefully fixed a crease on Sunny's

steel fiend

"Master... good..."

stared at Sunny for a

out a relieved sigh,

grow

shadows followed Imp into the corridor to see what the

for a creature of his size and weight, the steel devil approached Saint

stood,

the fact that the bastard was puffing out his chest and secretly throwing glances at Saint, as

stone knight finally turned her head and stared at the steel fiend indifferently. Imp seemed to have secretly

hand and casually flicked the fiend's chest with a finger. After hearing a melodious ring, she tilted her head a

the graceful knight nodded curtly and turned

...Imp looked beyond himself.

appearance, he also looked away and returned to silently guarding the

in his eyes were

Sunny scoffed.

idiot... ah, he's

then summoned the runes to learn exactly what had changed about Ravenous Fiend, except

The runes read: