Shadow Slave

Sunny was not too worried about being able to reach East Antarctica. Unless something truly harrowing rose from the depths of the ocean to devour them, he was certain of his ability to either kill or escape it.

However, he was worried about Jet.

A week ago, she had been weak... but not nearly as weak as she was now. Her mental state was also getting worse. He knew that Soul Reaper had been intentionally starving her body of essence in order to conserve as much of it as possible, but still...

Sunny did not know how much longer she would last. Right now, she was not even able to afford summoning a Memory... every drop of essence counted, and there was very little of it left in her shattered soul core.

Which presented a problem.

Saint was capable of killing most Nightmare Creatures that attacked them with her bow, and Sunny was not far behind her in terms of lethality. However, Jet was in no condition to kill anything.

But despite that...

As he considered his options, the corpse stirred, then started laboriously crawling in his direction again, demented lights burning in its glassy blue eyes.

”Come here... come here...”

Sunny stared at her with distaste, then shook his head and stood up. His shadow sense spread outward, encompassing as much of the world as he could perceive.

He remained motionless for a while, allowing the corpse to draw dangerously close. Jet’s hollow eyes glinted.

Got you!”

Before she could grab his shin, however, Sunny sighed... and dove off the edge of the raft, disappearing under the cold water. The Graceless Dusk dissipated into dancing threads of black silk.

Jet seemed startled by his disappearance. She fruitlessly clawed at the surface of the raft a couple of times, then grew still.

”...He’s gone.”

A hoarse sigh escaped from her bluish lips. She didn’t inhale after that. By now, even breathing was a chore. She didn’t really need to, anyway.

The corpse remained motionless for a long time. Eventually, a black bird landed on the raft, hopped over to the corpse, and stared at it curiously. A few moments later, the crow tried to peck one of the glassy eyes out.

Jet blinked.

”You stop that, Crow Crow, or I’m going to make you into a soup.”

The bird hurriedly jumped away, seemingly nervous.

Soup! Soup!”

Its voice sounded indignant. Soul Reaper looked at the bird silently, then rasped:

”Did you find land?”

The crow spread its wings and waved them a couple of times.

”Land! Land!”

The corpse tried to smile, which looked quite disturbing. Even Saint spared it an indifferent glance.

”How far is it?”

The bird ruffled its feathers and made another hop back.

”Far! Far!”

Jet gritted her teeth.

”I know that it’s far, you stupid bird! How far?!”

The Echo simply stared at her in confusion. After a couple of seconds, it cawed proudly:

”How! How!”

Soul Reaper hissed, then hit her head against the alloy surface of the raft a couple of times.

”Goddammit!”

After that small outburst, she didn’t say anything else, remaining still and unmoving.

The raft swayed gently on the waves. Below the raft, hundreds of small metallic feet were furiously paddling the cold water. On top of it, a living statue, a talking corpse, and a small black bird were silently waiting.

...Some time later, the water behind the raft suddenly boiled, and a young man with silky black hair and alabaster skin emerged from it, dragging something in a stranglehold. A terrifying creature with long tentacles that were as wide as a man’s thigh was struggling furiously, trying to free itself. Its spongy flesh was awash with inky black blood.

Stop fighting, you bastard!”

Sunny gritted his teeth and ignored a tentacle that was wrapped around his neck, exerting enough pressure on it to crush an armored vehicle. Using one hand, he swam toward the raft, climbed aboard, and dragged the Nightmare Creature with him.

Saint silently moved to the opposite side of the Coffer, so that the weight of the abomination did not make it capsize. The crow flew up and landed on her shoulder, staring at the monstrous creature with apprehension.

Sunny pressed the abomination down and barked:

”Stay still!”

He was rather angry.

Yes, he and Saint were enough to slay most of the Nightmare Creatures that would attack them, either from underwater or from the sky. However, capturing one alive... that was a whole different level of trouble!

”Jet, get in here!”

Soul Reaper slowly gathered her limbs, and then sluggishly tried to stand up. After a few tries, she succeeded and stood there for a moment, swaying. Sunny summoned the Cruel Sight and tossed it to her, using his knee to press the abomination into the alloy. Soul Reaper caught the spear and used its shaft to help herself stay upright.

He held the Nightmare Creature down and cursed.

”Hurry the hell up... that thing... is really strong!”

Not to mention that it had more limbs than he did. Immobilizing it was a miserable task.

Jet shambled over, then spun the somber spear and thrust it into the center of the mass of furiously dancing tentacles, using the whole weight of her body to give the strike some force. The silver blade pierced the flesh of the abomination and disappeared inside, causing a river of black blood to flow onto the alloy surface of the raft.

The corpse of Soul Reaper lost balance and fell flat into the puddle of blood. She remained laying there, not paying the convulsing tentacles any attention. Slowly, an eerie smile of satisfaction appeared on the dead body’s blood-stained face.

”Ah... that feels better...”

Sunny let go of the slain creature and sent it back into the water with a furious kick. Saint moved back to the middle of the raft, balancing it with her prodigious weight. The crow slid off her shoulder and landed at the edge of the pool of black blood.

It stared at it for a moment, and then cawed excitedly:

”...Soup! Soup!”