Shadow Slave

Luckily, Sunny managed to slide down the hill and escape into the mist before Devouring Beast noticed him. Still, he didn't dare to leave the embrace of shadows for a while.

'Effie...'

Effie's Aspect had always been uniquely powerful - which was no surprise, considering its Transcendent Rank. Even on the Forgotten Shore, there had been few people more capable than her. Some, like Caster of Han Li Clan, had been superior to the solitary huntress in certain facets of physical combat, but none had been as well-rounded. That was one of the reasons why Effie had survived years of hunting the Dark City abominations alone.

Her Aspect was all about battle and physical prowess... so, Sunny was not sure that Devouring Beast even had means of destroying his intangible form. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry.

...His heart was cold and heavy.

'How do I fight something like that?'

Effie's Dormant Ability granted her a powerful and, more importantly, comprehensive physical augmentation. She was inconceivably strong, fast, enduring, resilient... now that Sunny was a Tyrant, the gap between them was not vast, but she was still superior to him in certain aspects.

The same went for her Awakened Ability. It basically made her skin as tough as steel... Sunny, on the other hand, had his Marble Shell. The two could be compared, but although the Shell was more versatile, it was not as stalwart in terms of pure defensive potential.

Of course, he had Shadow Step instead, making him much more mobile and elusive on and outside the battlefield. He had Shadow Manifestation, as well, while Effie's Ascended Ability was meant to empower her allies.

So, there was no question about who would win in a duel. No matter how much Sunny admired his boisterous friend, he knew that she stood no chance in a fight against him. With Shadow Dance, it would not even be close... much more so if his Shadows were involved.

But that was Effie. Devouring Beast, on the other hand...

Was a Defiled Saint. Her Transformation was to become a towering giant, and that giant inherited the benefits of her other Aspect Abilities, as well - all of them elevated to a higher Rank. The strength of a dozen men, the skin of steel. Her gargantuan figure would also be much more visible on a battlefield, making it so that entire armies would be able to see her and benefit from her Ascended Ability.

'What a monster...'

Sunny was already terrified at the thought of having to face the mist wraith in a battle. The bestial giant... was, in a sense, even more harrowing.

'Damn it! Damn it! Since when do I have to fight Saints on a constant basis?! And how did the Plagues all Transcend, anyway?!'

Fang was supposed to be an exception, not

that there was enough distance between him and the tower to return to his human form. Diving out of the shadows, Sunny leaned on the trunk of a pine tree, breathed

because he had brought the sacred staff with him. Usually, Sunny was able to pull a certain weight of inanimate objects into Shadow Step... but perhaps because of

few moments there, Sunny had been concerned that it would

about the bestial giant. The

remembered how Cassie had described getting the sacred

'Come on... really...'

concentrated and

Light, can you

staff did not react. Its workings were really

radiance of the soul crystal changed, pointing back to where the Chain Breaker was. When he thought about

'Strange.'

mystery of how the Guiding Light worked, he commanded Nightmare to emerge from the shadows, climbed into the saddle,

turned out to be extremely dangerous, but not as dangerous as Sunny had imagined it to be. There were many harrowing abominations trapped in its fog, certainly - but not as many as

were three reasons

had been caught by the vortex and managed to reach the island over the centuries were still here, reliving the same period of time over and over again inside the loop. She

of having to fight them all... no matter how powerful, cunning, and lucky the members of the cohort were, they would inevitably die under

were still... whole. Many were motionless and empty, just like the Dark Butterfly he had

those that remained, many were

many areas where the trees had been broken, and bloodied remains of devoured Nightmare Creatures littered the ground. That was

Sunny found ghastly abominations laying on the ground, dead, not a single wound visible on their bodies. That was where Undying Slaughter

of the cohort in an ironic twist of fate. Without their bloodthirst,

evade many terrible creatures, using Nightmare's speed to escape them.

yet... Sunny still failed to find

Not knowing how long it was and not wanting to prolong the journey by riding around it, Sunny reluctantly dismounted

him in the moist darkness. Much worse, the

tide of worm-like creatures, but he was forced to move deeper into the chasm to

the suns were setting because the enchantment of the Crown of