Shadow Slave

”Brace yourselves!”

Slayer sank one of her swords into the floor of the temple, while Kai crouched low to the floor. The sight of a crouching dragon was peculiarly magnificent, but also slightly comical - Sunny had no time to laugh, though.

He could feel an abyss of shadow essence raging somewhere deep below him, the gigantic weave he had etched into the mountain coming alive at his touch. The pulse he had sent spread through the intricate web of essence strings running through the vast network of tunnels Abundance had created, and then…

The entire mountain moved.

Some distance away, on its southern slope, the Wolf had been given no time to reach the caldera. On the northern slope, the Snow Wolves were still disoriented by the sudden disappearance of their enemies. On the eastern slope, the unflappable brass giant was taking a step.

The ash covering the slopes of the volcano suddenly ignited with a soft glow, as if the rock beneath it was shining. The soft glow rapidly turned into blinding, luminous radiance.

Then, the ash was incinerated, dissolving into the searing light. Sunny belatedly remembered his own advice and glanced for something to take hold of.

’Damn…’

The shadows rose to envelop the Shrine of Truth, and the platform it was resting on, into an impenetrable cocoon. The world turned white and absolutely silent.

Outside, the entire volcano suddenly ignited with pure white light, shining brighter than the rising sun. The luminous white mountain was like a finger pointing at heaven, carved from peerless white jade - the golden radiance of dawn paled in comparison to its radiance, seeming dim and bleak.

Then came the heat.

The ash was annihilated. The shattered rocks were annihilated, as well. The rivers of lava were turned into clouds of radiant plasma. The plasma… was turned into something else, something unknown.

Divine flame, possibly. The primordial soup of creation, Creation was just the other side of destruction, though, if Nephis was to be believed. And Sunny was about to witness that destruction with his own two eyes…

Metaphorically speaking, naturally, since he was on his knees in the darkness of the temple, with his eyes closed. There were no shadows left anywhere on the volcano, either, so he could not even sense the frightening majesty of the destruction he had unleashed.

Outside the range of his senses, a wave of unfathomable heat was unleashed from the slopes of the volcano. The veil of ash above it ignited like a starlit sky, then dissolved into the blinding light. The glass bridges melted.

The sea of clouds around the mountain evaporated - luckily, he was not there to see what was hidden below. He did hear something, however…

[You have slain an adversary.]

[You have slain an adversary.]

[You have slain…]

The enchantment was aimed at anything that touched the surface of the volcano, which meant that the Shrine itself, which stood on a hanging platform suspended above the main shaft, was the only safe spot. However, the scale of the unleashed power was far too great for it to remain unscathed.

As an annihilated heatwave radiated outward from the slopes of the volcano, making the atmosphere boil and causing the snow on the mountains dozens of kilometers away to melt, some of it reached the cocoon of shadows enveloping the Shrine, as well.

The shadows burned.

But that… was only the beginning.

Because the volcano was melting like a candle from its own heat. The damage dealt to it by the first activation of the grandiose enchantment was absorbed, as well. And then released as an obliterating shockwave.

’D - damn!’

The towering volcano shuddered.

And then, it exploded.

It simply ceased to exist - the part of it above the vanquished clouds, at least. Deep fractures covered its melting slopes, and in the next instance, the slopes disintegrated into a rapidly expanding mass of burning rock and boiling lava. The fiery debris rained down, some leaving scorch marks on the surrounding mountains. The chains that held up the Shrine had been melting, and now, they snapped. 𝐫Ἀℕồ₿Ëṥ

The platform plummeted down.

Sunny had made himself as heavy as he could, but still, he was almost thrown into the air.

[You have slain an adversary.]

The cocoon of shadows was pulverized by the tidal wave of sound that arrived in the wake of the harrowing explosion. Sunny was suddenly both blind and deaf, barely cognizant of where up and down were.

By the time the Shrine of Truth crashed into something solid, the soundwave reached the surrounding mountains, stripping them of the remaining snow and sending cracks running through their slopes.

There would have been a secondary eruption of heat, and a secondary explosion… but now that the entire upper part of the volcano was no more, the enchantment Sunny had woven into it was gone, too.

The Snow Wolves were dead. The Cursed Demon - the Wolf - was dead, too. It had already been wounded, and while it did survive the initial wave of heat, the following shockwave tore what little remained of its scorched body apart.

A god died just like that, slain with the help of its own strength by the trap of a cunning hunter.

The Clockwork Giant, though… was still alive.

But he did not stay alive much longer.

His brass breastplate had melted in the heat, but then restored itself. The following explosion, though, sent him flying high into the sky.

He plummeted down like an luminous comet, seemingly impervious to all harm. Soon, however, his shining metal body reached a point where clouds would have been before.

Something monstrous moved far below, then, reaching up to grab him and pull him down.

Soon enough, the sinister construct was no more.

The clouds slowly flowed from afar, repairing the vast rift in the torn sea. The melting glass bridges finally cooled, turning into peculiar and gorgeous sculptures.

Where the towering volcano had once stood, only a melted stump of it remained. White mist washed against the glowing rock, turning into steam.

The entirety of the broken volcano had turned into a giant bowl, filled to the brim with lava.

And in the middle of the fiery lake, a lonely platform floated on the lava, supporting the weight of a scorched temple.

Inside, suffering from unbearable heat, Sunny slowly rose from the floor and glanced at one of the two altars with a dazed expression.

There, three jade figurines had appeared at some point, as if summoned by magic.

He smiled, causing the crust of baked blood covering one side of his face to crack.

His voice was hoarse and unsteady:

”I, I think… I think we won.”