Shadow Slave

1521 Sharpest Arrow

In the courtyard of the drowning fortress, a harrowing dragon growled and took a step back, its massive body shuddering. His silver eyes had lost their sinister light, turning glossy and unfocused.

A vicious battle must have been taking place in the dragon's corrupted soul.

The maddening whispers thundering in Kai's head finally grew silent. He swayed, then took a labored breath and limped toward Sunny.

His friend was laying on the cold stones, barely alive. His body was a terrible painting of torn flesh, white bones visible through its mangled mess. Eerily, he was still not bleeding at all… usually, Kai would have been reassured by that fact, but right now, it looked like Sunny was already a cold corpse.

But he wasn't a corpse. Sunny was still moving, struggling to stand up. Even after battling a Defiled Saint tooth and nail, he was still unbroken, trying to continue to fight.

As Kai approached, he heard his furious whispers:

"Kill you… I'll kill you… shut up! I'll tear you apart!"

Strangely enough, his hateful gaze was not directed at the archer. Instead, Sunny was glaring past him, seemingly at an empty spot.

Kai felt his heart tighten.

'What is happening to him?'

Sunny had always had a wild personality, and there was that time he had turned a little feral in the Dark City… but he was never truly mad. Now, however, it seemed as though his friend had entirely lost his mind.

'There must be a reason.'

He had warned Kai to stay away before, had he not? That meant that this strange condition Sunny was in had a purpose. To resist the authority of the Dread Lord, most likely… somehow. It had to be a part of some cunning scheme.

He would deal with it later.

For now, Kai had a more serious problem to solve.

The abominable dragon was still alive. And while that man, Mordret, seemed confident in himself, there was no telling who would prevail in their dire fight.

The result would be clear in seconds.

But…

the dragon

He still remembered what the scion of the Great Clan Valor had done in the Second Nightmare. The harrowing massacre he had perpetrated in the

the dreadful authority of Kai's voice fall into the

more, Sunny. I'll come

the air, he strained his core muscles to draw the string of his bow,

of producing devastating blasts, or robbing Nightmare Creatures of their strength. Its enchantment was rather simple — it burrowed much deeper than other arrows would,

It was disobedient and slow, too, so hitting anything with it was a tough task. More than

its soul, Kai had a chance. Of course, the battle could

could even end right now, leaving him defenseless in front of the terrifying

dragon's maw, and looked into the

his Ascended Ability and uttered a

the Dread Lord, however. He was addressing

"KILL HIM!"

body,

Kai aimed carefully… and sent an arrow flying straight

for it to stray off course, and there was no armor in the way to make the tip

brain. It had been shot from a Transcendent bow of the Fifth Tier by the hand of a Master, and so the havoc it wreaked inside the Dread Lord's head was truly

Sunny, and his soul had been weakened by the battle against Mordret

and let out

that groan, Kai was thrown back and crashed into the pile of

a fountain of silver blood shooting from his open maw. His head

toppled and fell heavily to the

This time, forever.

Kai heard the Spell whisper

a Corrupted Tyrant, Hideous Ruler of the

[You have…]

pain, he

did, however, hear

blood. There was something terribly wrong with that lunatic, though. His face, which

groan, Mordret clutched at the stones and crawled to the nearby puddle. Reaching it, he thrust his hand into the water… no, into his own reflection… and tore something from

shard… no, a piece

mirror shard suddenly rippled and turned into a vague figure. That figure then turned

ripping one of his cores out of