Shadow Slave

Trapped in the small bubble of the energy barrier, the Tyrant turned into a murderous hurricane. Moving with speed that was surprising for such a large creature, it thrashed and spun, trying to rip the hateful humans apart.

Sunny and Dale had managed to dodge or deflect the barrage of devastating attacks, for now, but avoiding being crushed by the sheer mass of the frenzied monstrosity was even harder. The barrier was just too small to move away, leaving them no choice but to try and straddle it.

That had not been a good choice… even on the Tyrant’s back, the three maws and the stinger could attack them freely. More than that, the abomination instantly rolled on the ground, throwing them off.

Sunny barely avoided being buried under the mountain of flesh. Just a handful of seconds after Dale had erected the barrier, he felt the salty taste of blood on his tongue. Both Ascended were battered and wounded.

Of course, the Tyrant was not unscathed, either.

Three of its legs were gone, its body was covered with a multitude of deep cuts, and one of its necks was halfway to being severed. Better yet, the creature seemed to have surrendered to its most primal instincts, driven into madness by the Sin of Solace.

The bestial rage of the Tyrant was terrifying, but it would have been much more dangerous to fight the monstrosity if it had retained its inhuman intellect. A smart enemy was infinitely deadlier than a senseless one.

Now, all they had to do was put it down.

“Cut off its head!”

“I’m… trying…”

Dale’s shield was wedged into one of the Tyrant’s necks, and as Sunny yelled, he hammered its rim with his mace, as if driving a nail into wood. The heater shield sliced through the flesh of the abominations like a blade, causing a river of black blood to spill onto the stones.

Half-deafened by the creature’s shriek, Sunny manifested a wall of shadow to defend Dale from one of the remaining two maws. The wall broken under the monstrous assault, but by that time, the Ascended had hammered his shield one last time, and one of the Tyrant’s heads flew off.

‘Damn!’

After that, Sunny had to worry about himself. The wounded creature shifted, slamming him into the barrier with the looming bulk of its body. Bone Weave and Marble Shell saved him from being turned into bloody paste, but he was trapped, crushed, and unable to breathe. What’s worse, there was no escape…

Well, for most people. Sunny simply dissipated into the shadow projected onto the creature’s body by the shimmering barrier, and appeared on the other side of the abomination, his sword already falling to bite into the its side.

Just like that, the dire battle continued. Sunny and Dale were one mistake away from being greatly injured or killed at every moment, but neither of them had made that mistake yet. As time went on, their enemy grew more and more frenetic, but the two Masters only grew more effective in their attempts to butcher it. They were learning how to better hurt it with every blow, dodge, and step.

Dale’s armor cracked, but in return, the Tyrant’s stinger was shattered by the heavy flanged mace. Sunny was now bleeding from a deep cut above his left eye, but in return, one of Tyrant’s maws was missing half of its fangs.

Using a momentary opening created by the monstrosity throwing all of its weight against the barrier, Sunny finally managed to position himself for an all-out attack. He dashed forward, turning his body light to create momentum, and slashed the Sin of Solace across the base of one of the creature’s necks.

The jade jian seemed to laugh as it sliced through the tough hide, steel muscles, and unbreakable bones of the Tyrant, emerging from the other side of its neck in a fountain of blood. The second of the three maws fell to the ground.

“One more!”

Dale received an earth-shattering blow on his shield and slid back with a low grunt. His hand trembled a little.

“The barrier won’t hold for much longer. We must… hurry…”

Sunny did not need to be reminded. He already felt that the shadows surrounding them were changing — the shimmering energy was growing dimmer every time the Tyrant slammed into it. By now, most of its shine was already gone.

But the creature had lost most of its weapons, as well.

It was bleeding heavily, maimed and wounded, its speed gradually decreasing. Sunny knew not to let his guard down — these last moments were often the most deadly, both because human fighters tended to get overconfident when the victory neared, and because their enemies would often abandon all caution in one last desperate attempt to destroy the opposition and survive.

Still… this had to end quickly.

‘Risky…’

The thought flashed through his mind, but Sunny was already moving. Pushing himself forward, he deflected a glancing blow from the creature’s tail… and slammed into the Tyrant like a cannonball.

Thrown off balance, the monstrosity reeled, and then threw itself into a fierce retaliatory attack. Sunny managed to dodge its legs, but not its maw. He simply slashed at it with the Sin of Solace, feeling the flesh part before the jade blade.

At the same time, the creature left itself completely open to Dale. The stalwart Master lunged forward, his mace suddenly igniting with a dangerous red glow. The moment it connected with the base of the Tyrant’s last remaining neck, the flanged head of the mace exploded with ominous light, and something thundered.

Sunny saw the shape of the abomination’s neck melting in the furious red light as it was torn apart.

Then, for a second, he could not think about anything anymore.

Moments before it died, the Tyrant managed to grab his shoulder with its maw and fling Sunny into the air. Feeling a pulse of tearing pain, he found himself flying backward away from the dying creature. His back connected with the weakened barrier… and shattered it, the Marble Shell turning rigid from the impact.

Sunny landed gracelessly a dozen meters away from the convulsing body of the Tyrant, rolled for a few meters more, and came to a stop at the edge of the water. A pained groan escaped from his lips.

‘That… hurt…’

He slowly sat up and glanced at his shoulder. The leather pauldron of the Puppeteer’s Shroud was pierced in several places, and there were deep scratches on his skin. The Tyrant’s fangs, however, had not cut deep. The lacerations were shallow.

He took a shaky breath and looked up. High above, the Devouring Cloud seemed… aimless and lost. Without malevolent purpose guiding the swarm of brood beasts, they were being slowly obliterated by the city defenses.

Saint and Master Jet must have finished off their Tyrant, as well.

Sunny glanced at Dale, who seemed rather battered, but alive.

‘We… won.’

By all accounts, he was supposed to feel jubilation and relief. Even though the battle was not over, the Irregulars had accomplished their task. Today, the First Army was going to celebrate a victory.

However, Sunny did not feel relieved.

Instead, he felt… cold. Very, very cold.

And frightened.

‘What the hell is this feeling?’

Struggling against a deep sense of unease, Sunny shivered and turned to the black waves, his hand reaching for the hilt of the Sin of Solace.

Just as he did, the water parted, and something… someone… appeared from below it.

Sunny froze, staring with wide eyes. His face paled terribly.

There was a man walking out of the ocean, water flowing from his armor. He was tall, with a powerful build. His hair was dark, and his bloodless face… was empty, not a hint of emotion hiding in his hollow eyes.

Instead, there was something different in them. Something vast, alien, and terrifying.

The man slowly appeared from the water and took a firm step toward Sunny, looming above him like a hollow wraith. The empty stare of his glassy eyes fell down.

Sunny’s hand shook.

Stunned, he tried to crawl back and whispered in a faint, trembling voice:

“…V—Verne?”

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