Shadow Slave

Sunny could see three cars rushing through traffic to catch up to them — which did not mean that there weren’t more. All three were nondescript and unassuming, but at the moment, they looked quite menacing.

He sighed.

”Doesn’t make much sense, does it?”

The Other Mordret, who seemed oddly relaxed despite the threat to his life, lingered for a few moments and asked in a curious tone:

”What doesn’t make sense, exactly?”

Sunny frowned.

”None of it makes any damn sense…”

By now, they knew that there was a larger conspiracy hiding behind the seemingly random Nihilist killings. Still, the first seven victims had been killed by the same lunatic — their missing eyes hinted at that, at least. However, there was also the driver of the truck who had pushed Mordret’s car into the river, as well as all the assailants from last night.

And now, there seemed to be a large coordinated force trying to finish the job.

Sunny grimaced.

”Hold on tight. This… might be a bumpy ride.”

Pressing the pedal to the floor, he threw the PTV forward.

”Ack!”

Saint grabbed the assist grip and looked at him darkly.

”Detective Sunless, where did you learn to drive?”

Sunny grinned.

”The wartorn reaches of Antarctica!”

Spinning the wheel, he managed to just barely squeeze the PTV between two speeding vehicles and change lanes. With a bit of free road in front of him,

he accelerated even more.

The rain was pelting the cracked windshield, and the wipers were drowning as they fruitlessly tried to clear it. It was practically impossible to see what was ahead, and the headlights of the vehicles around them fused into red and white blurs. His black PTV raced across the freeway at a speed that would have usually been negligible to Sunny, but was now terrifying.

The black vehicles roared, as if welcoming the mad race. It was met with outraged horns of surrounding PTVs, which fell behind in a matter of moments.

Sunny weaved between lanes, taking over one vehicle after another with risky maneuvers. Their pursuers, sadly, were doing the same.

He glanced into the rearview mirror briefly.

”Do you know, guys…”

He threw the PTV in front of a heavy truck, managing to swerve onto an exit ramp at the last moment. The curve of the ramp was too steep, however, and

the left side of the black vehicles was stripped bare of a layer of paint as it slid along the concrete barrier with an ear-piercing screech.

Recovering from being jostled, Sunny sent the PTV onto the streets of Mirage City and smiled.”This one time, my APC drove through a horde of Nightmare

Creatures on a coastal highway, maneuvering between carriages of a derailed train… while a sinking battleship bombarded the mountains above us with artillery fire…” 𝙧ά𝐍Ó𝐛ËS̩

There was the sound of something crashing behind them, and a car shattered the concrete barrier, falling from a height in a rain of debris. A moment later, it hit the asphalt and rolled, crashing into the wall of a nearby building as a pile of bent metal.

But another car was already rushing down the ramp, eager to catch up with them.

The Other Mordret forced out a pale smile.

”I… don’t really understand half of what you said, Detective. But you must be an incredible driver!”

Sunny glanced at him in confusion.

”What? Oh, I wasn’t the one driving… to be honest, I am not even certified as a vehicle operator…”

With that, he spun the wheel, sent the car drifting around a narrow corner, and accelerated again to climb a steep hill.

The pedestrians crossing the road rushed away in a panic at the sight of the speeding car. Sunny’s PTV crested the top of the hill at high speed and was airborne for a few moments, then crashed heavily into the asphalt and continued forward, cutting through the layer of water flowing down the sloping

road.

”In any case…”

Behind them, two pursuing cars soared from behind the hill. Landing with a bit more grace than the black vehicle, they accelerated, almost catching up

to him. Sunny swerved his PTV left and right, trying to prevent them from taking over.

”I guess we are lucky that the Devil Detective drove automatic. Sort of out of character for him, don’t you think? Not that I really know what a stick

shift is. Or what a shift is. It’s just that there’s a lot of nonsense about that in his memories…”

One of the cars managed to get past him, after all. It sped up and came to ride side by side with the black PTV. Behind its windows, dark shapes were moving…

Not giving the pursuers a chance to do anything, Sunny spun the wheel and crashed the side of his vehicle into the enemy. He groaned slightly, being rattled by the impact, and struggled to maintain control. The other vehicle was only pushed aside a little…

But that little was enough to throw it into the concrete divider. The damage was catastrophic, and the vehicle was almost cut in half.

A split second later, it was far behind, out of sight.

’One left…’

Sadly, the last pursuer was moments away from running Sunny’s PTV off the road.Looking at the side mirror, he briefly noticed the Other Mordret.

That guy… was smiling brightly while holding for dear life.

Sunny suppressed the desire to curse.

”You… what the hell are you so happy about?”

The Other Mordret looked at him with an excited glint in his odd mirror-like eyes.

”Sorry. It’s just… exactly like in the books I used to read! A high-speed chase with our lives on the line. So exciting!”

Sunny stared at him silently for a moment, then hurriedly turned back to the road.

’...And he had the nerve to put Morgan into an asylum. That lunatic!’

He flew across an intersection on a red light, barely avoiding being hit by the rushing traffic. Sunny had hoped that the last pursuer would be less fortunate, but the enemy car passed the intersection with no trouble, with only bystander vehicles ending up losing control and smashing into each other. They were not going too fast, at least, so the passengers would only receive minor injuries…

By then, Sunny had reached the bottom of the hill.

He turned at the last second, sending the car onto the raised pavement. The pursuer, however, reacted a little too slowly — as a result, the PTV drove

straight into the deep puddle at the bottom of the hill, burrowing into the water deep enough for its engine to be flooded.

Sunny’s PTV had to struggle against the flooded area, as well, but the water was far shallower on the edges of the street.

Barreling through the rows of crates and a few trash bins, Sunny swerved back onto the road and looked at Mordret with a dark smile.

”How’s that? Exciting enough for you?”

Just then, they reached the next intersection.

And a moment later, a fourth vehicle appeared out of the rain, crashing into the side of the black PTV at full speed.