Shadow Slave

Two weeks after Sunny had returned to Antarctica, he stood on a cliff overseeing a vast scene of devastation. In front of him, a great valley was formed from collapsed mountains and stone debris, the ruinous landscape now covered in ice and snow.

This was the place where Sky Tide, Wake of Ruín, and Dire Fang had battled the three emerged Titans - Whispering Legion, Goliath, and Winter Beast. The Whispering Legion had been slain, while the other two calamitous abominations drove the Saints away. An entire span of the mountain range had been demolished in the process.

There were Nightmare Gates hidden under the crushed stone, without a doubt, or maybe above it.

Sunny could not see, because most of the valley was hidden by a raging blizzard. This blizzard was the very same that had once enveloped Falcon Scott, sapping the lives of all its remaining inhabitants.

It was the manifestation of the Winter Beast's authority,

The air was so cold that each breath Sunny took felt like he was swallowing a scattering of sharp knives,

Not paying it any attention, he was gazing down with an expressionless face, his eyes drowning in deep darkness. His gaunt body was encased in fearsome onyx armor, and that armor was shrouded in darkness.

Out there in the valley, far below, a long line of Nightmare Creatures was advancing into the blizzard. Their movements were still and unnatural, as if they were corpses animated by some unknown force. But, at the same time, none of them showed any fear or hesitation. Neither did they show the demented frenzy inherent to most abominations.

They just slowly marched into the snow, stretching into a wide line that seemed to encompass the front of the blizzard.

A few moments later, the first of the Nightmare Creatures collapsed, its corpse swiftly becoming encased in ice.

cliff, Sunny pursed his

‘Weak.'

needed these useless things to be strong. No, their purpose was different... it was to show him which type of Nightmare Creature was the most resistant to the Winter

tell, the cursed thing was not that powerful physically... at least as far as Titans went. It did not rule a legion of powerful minions, either, What made the Winter Beast so lethal was its uncanny ability to freeze everything around it to death - corporeal or incorporeal, weak or

the heart of the blizzard, even time itself seemed slower, as if the chilling cold

his reason. if he wanted to kill this Corrupted Titan, he needed to understand It first. Only after dismantling the secrets of the Winter

these thralls were the sacrifice he had prepared to

sight. Sunny could not see his sacrificial pawns anymore, but Soul Serpent still shared a connection with them. Therefore, he could know if the

Nightmare Creatures under his command, and by studying which ones lasted longer, he would be able to determine a few things

Die

yet, in the end, Sunny

none of

that far into the snowstorm. The cold did not differentiate between

then

'No matter

seem to be a

were risky, yes... but, actually, he did not feel regretful. Because they

fashion was bound to

blizzard suddenly expanded, as if coming to life. A terrible wind blew, crushing into Sunny with a chilling force. The wall of swirling snow and ice particles slowly advanced, moving in his