Shadow Slave

1513 Furious Shadow

Sunny had transformed himself in the image of the Serpent King. However, he was not as powerful as Daeron. His onyx body was giant, compared to a human, but it was still much smaller than the Azure Serpent had been.

Much more importantly than that, it did not possess the power of a Great Beast. Sunny was merely an Ascended, after all, and even though the shadows he had used to form the onyx serpent were more powerful and ancient than him, the essence that had manifested them was that of a Master.

Six shadows were augmenting his shell, this time, but Nephis was not here to grant him the blessing of her flame… and although the Dread Lord was weaker than the Azure Serpent had been, the dragon was also not littered with gruesome wounds and nearing death.

None of it mattered to Sunny, though.

Consumed by frenzy, all he knew was the mad desire to rip his enemy apart.

'Kill you… I'll kill you…'

His fangs pressed down on the impregnable dragon scales, leaving deep grooves on their dark surface. His mighty body coiled tight around the Dread Lord, restraining and crushing him.

'I'll kill you no matter what!'

However, the harrowing dragon was full of ire and murderous will, as well. Even though his most dreadful power — the tyrannical authority of his voice — had proved to be futile when used against Sunny, he still had plenty of means to destroy the insolent slave.

A furious roar shook the dim throne room.

And, at the same time, an insidious whisper resounded in Sunny's clouded mind:

[ALL THAT EFFORT TO ESCAPE… AND YET HERE YOU ARE…]

Sunny vaguely realized that the Dread Lord was confusing him with the Mad Prince and doubled his effort to tear open the vile worm's throat. At that moment, however, his enemy finally moved.

Its tail whipped across the great hall once again, crushing countless Soul Stealer vessels. At the same time, he strained his wings against the coils of Sunny's giant armored body, causing cracks to appear on the surface of the Mantle.

Much worse than that, the Dread Lord lowered his head and bit into Sunny's own neck. His porcelain fangs pierced the onyx armor plates and sank into the shadows, tearing them apart.

not matter,

from the open gate of the

Twilight. If the Dread Lord wished to win, he had his work cut out for

one drop at

cut into the tough hide beneath. Tasting blood… or maybe simply imagining tasting it with a tongue made of shadows… Sunny let out a triumphant

Lord threw his massive body down. Tangled together, the dragon and the serpent rolled across the ruined floor of the throne

'...Is Kai alive?'

Sunny's mind and disappeared. He did not care… he did not even really remember who Kai was. All he

moments away from becoming separated from his body. Even though he was mending the damage, the hateful dragon was tearing through

But…

he tasted

full of

was like a circular saw now, sending clouds of sparks flying from

Flame…

go of Sunny's neck, the dragon pierced him with a loathsome

the serpentine shell, Sunny gritted

maw was not a torrent of flame…

shattered. Terrible cracks appeared on its surface,

sonic boom sent a hurricane of stone dust into the air, and Sunny was thrown away, his shell torn asunder. Freed from the crushing embrace of his coils, the Dread Lord rose, his eyes burning

the side of his head. A fiery

of the palace, Kai gritted his teeth and drew the

maw, wanting to give the archer another

that moment, Kai

your mouth, you

the authority of his voice was not nearly powerful enough to restrain the Defiled Saint, the Dread Lord's jaws did

was all Sunny

like snakes and connected, almost instantly growing back together. His ravaged head

were much thinner, and