Shadow Slave

Of course!

Why the hell had he assumed that this crazed maniac would follow the rules?! The first thing she had done after becoming his Shadow was strike at the walls of his Shadow Core, after all!

His mind must have been more tired than he had thought…

At the same time as Sunny realized that the Slayer had shaken off the state of stasis she was supposed to be in, the Shadow already lunged at him. Sunny staggered back, barely avoiding her fingers, and fell on the surface of the black water.

They were currently in front of the steps of the Nameless Temple, some distance away from the silent shadows. Sunny glanced at them briefly as he fell, hoping that the legion of his past victims would surge forward to protect him.

But the shadows remained still and unmoving, not reacting to the plight of their master at all. It was just as he had expected… the Slayer was a part of his soul, so the silent shadows did not see her as an intruder.

’Damnation!’

Rolling over his shoulder, Sunny jumped to his feet and stared at the beautiful Shadow scornfully. At the same time, he commanded her to stand down.

”Hey, you! Now listen…”

His orders were absolute, as far as Shadows were concerned. Well… at least they were supposed to be. To be fair, his other Shadows were all quite loyal and obedient, never trying to resist his orders — except for Fiend, who sometimes put up a small fight.

But even that guy was not serious about his disobedience, mostly putting on a show. After making his indignation or reluctance known, he always swiftly complied with whatever it was that Sunny commanded him to do.

So, he had expected that the Slayer would freeze in place.

And she did…

For a second.

Then, as if struggling against terrible weight, the Shadow moved once more.

Her movements were slow at first, but then accelerated beyond imagination, making blood run cold in Sunny’s veins.

’Curse it all.’

The Slayer wore armor, not matter how minimal, but she lacked weapons entirely. Nevertheless, that did not matter at all — her entire body was a weapon, and she could easily rip Sunny apart with her bare hands.

Especially now that he was tired, and his soul was in tatters.

She was weakened by having to resist his direct order, at least — more so than she had been weakened as a Shadow Creature by having to defy the will of the Lord of Shadows, at that.

So, Sunny wasn’t entirely powerless.

Dodging another strike, he tried to reason with the feral Shadow:

”Look around! Do you know where you are? What, exactly, are you hoping to accomplish here, you lunatic?!”

Instead of answering, the Slayer simply gave him a murderous glance.

Her gaze, full of infinitely cold killing intent, made Sunny shiver.

He took another step back to avoid a crushing strike and scowled.

What was he supposed to do here?

Fighting the Slayer again would be a problem… not only because Sunny could not retreat, thus giving her free rein to wreak havoc in his soul, but also because he did not want to destroy her. 𝐑äΝȎᛒĘꞩ

Why would he destroy such a powerful Shadow after going to all that trouble to gain it?!

The alternatives, however, seemed grim.

If he left the Soul Sea, she would destroy his Shadow Cores and kill him… actually, she would probably massacre the silent shadows first, absorbing them and growing even more powerful first.

Of course, he could summon the Slayer back into the Shadow Realm and fight her there, thus saving his soul from her fury.

But that would just result in his bodies suffering more, not ot mention wasting precious time. Apart from that, Eurys had said that the Shadow Realm would be much more destructive for Sunny’s Shadows, so even if he won, he would probably lose the Slayer for good.

So, the only thing that remained…

Was what?

He blocked a vicious kick and was thrown back, almost reaching the first row of the legion of silent shadows.

’I guess… I have to restrain her.’

That was not an ideal solution, but the only one he could think of.

He had to put Slayer somewhere she would not be destroyed, but would not have the ability to further damage his soul, either.

Then, after she was restrained, he could come up with a way to tame her slowly.

In fact…

Sunny had noticed something when he was talking to Eurys.

His knuckles were split, and a few drops of his blood fell into the ghostly smoke shrouding the defeated figure of the Slayer. She seemed to react to his blood slightly.

Was that, perhaps, something he could explore further?

Another strike landed on Sunny, almost knocking his wind out.

It did not matter right now!

Angered, he snarled.

”I… said… STAND DOWN!”

The Slayer did not seem to react to his bellow.

…However, she did react to a vast presence that suddenly appeared behind her.

But it was too late.

There stood an enormous creature. It was a scaled beast with three long necks and three terrifying maws, its enormous body framed by vast skeletal wings. A black miasma flowed from the numerous torn holes on its body, spreading slowly over the restless surface of dark water.

Its size dwarfed both Sunny and the Slayer, making them seem like toys.

Before the murderous Shadow could react, the beast’s claws closed around her, crushing her in an iron grip.

Sunny let out a relieved sigh.

”...Thanks, Serpent.”

Indeed, the ghastly beasts was none other than Serpent, having assumed the form of one of the silent shadows.

That of the Defiled Seeker of Truth, a Titan that Sunny had once slain in Antarctica.

Sunny was a Titan himself now, which meant that Serpent had become a Titan, as well.

And as such, it had the ability to turn into the form of the Titans Sunny had killed, as long as they were not of a higher Rank than Serpent itself.

Defiled Seeker of Truth, Goliath…

Winter Beast.

That was one of the main reasons why Sunny had wanted to venture into the Shadow Realm and earn his Titan Core.

Inhaling deeply, Sunny glanced at the Slayer, who was struggling to free herself from the Titan’s inescapable grip, and headed for the Nameless Temple.

”Follow me.”

…Soon enough, Sunny was standing outside the stone chamber that served as a treasury in the real world.

In the replica of the Nameless Temple, however, it had become a cell.

The Slayer was locked inside behind an iron door. She had already landed a few crushing strikes, both at the door and at the walls of her cell, but even her strength was not sufficient to damage them.

Sunny let out a dejected sigh.

’This is my Soul Sea, damn it…’

Apparently, now, there was a jail in his Soul Sea.

Shaking his head, he turned around and said tiredly:

”Stay put for now, Slayer. I’ll deal with you later…”

Somehow…

He felt that rehabilitating his misguided sixth Shadow would take a bit of time... and a lot of effort.