Shadow Slave

The flood of slithering, hungry flesh collided with the vanguard of the Shadow Legion.

A vast swath of the beautiful plaza exploded into a cloud of stone shards, then was restored to pristine condition, then was destroyed again.

-

The fallen immortals each possessed the power of a Great One, bending the very fabric of the world with their profane will. However, the enemies they faced were not weak, either there, at the forefront of the great battle formation, the shades of the Black Millipedes and the Ember Queen flowed forward like a dark tide, unleashing their fury upon the abominable fiends.

The millipedes were connected to the Puppeteer through the ethereal strands of black silk, and through the Puppeteer to Sunny.

Suddenly, he could sense and command numerous monstrous, segmented bodies. Sunny had a myriad of sharp legs and a myriad of even sharper mandibles, using them to rip and tear the flesh of the immortal swarm to shreds.

The prisoners of the Eternal City were unmade, and then restored once again. Countless shades were vanquished, returning into the dark embrace of his soul. A moment later, the tide of millipedes rippled and changed its behavior. Instead of flowing forward like a tide of chilling, bestial fury, the millipede formed an unbreakable wall from their glossy black chitin. Those of them who had been cast by beings of higher Classes rose above that wall, spitting torrents of corrosive black acid at the advancing immortals...

For a few moments, the plaza was drowned by acrid smoke.

Then, segments of the chitin wall were breached or tom apart, and the mayhem continued.

Sunny observed the battle through numerous eyes and through his own four pairs of them, as well. ”I’ve noticed something peculiar.”

Jet’s voice was strangely calm despite the terrifying spectacle happening in front of them.

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

”What?”

She looked around. Her gaze lingered on Saint, Slayer, Nightmare, the gargantuan shape of Serpent wrapped around one of the Dark Castle’s towers, and the lumbering figure of Fiend far below.

”You seem to be holding back.”

Sunny forced out a smile.

”I need to establish a baseline to know how swift my shades can be destroyed by these things. Once I know that, I will know how to plan for future battles better.”

She frowned slightly.

”Are the losses you are suffering worth it?”

He grimaced.

”That is something I need to find out, as well.”

Sunny was not going to sacrifice too many shades in pursuit of vital information, though. He was definitely not going to sacrifice the Ember Queen and her more powerful champions — so, when the wall of chitin came close to collapsing, he moved one to the next test.

Three of his incarnations stepped through the shadows and fused with him, augmenting his power.

’Ah... feels great.’

This was the strongest he had been after the final battle at Godgrave, so Sunny almost felt like himself again. Enjoying the feeling of ferocious power running through his veins, he cast his attention to something else.

The moment four of his incarnations were reunited, four links of the Curse fused, as well. Instantly, its power soared... and his did, too.

In fact, it worked so well that Sunny was stunned for a brief moment.

’Oh. I see what is happening.’

It was the [Absence of Light] enchantment doing its work. That enchantment was supposed to grant Sunny more power when he was surrounded by deep shadows... and where would he find shadows that were deeper than those that dwelled at the bottom of the Stormsea, in the abyssal darkness that had never been touched even by an echo of sunlight?

Perhaps only in the Shadow Realm.

Spending a split second to come to terms with his immense potency, Sunny inhaled slowly, and then activated two of the three core enchantments of the Curse: [Shadow Flame] and [Mercy of Shadow].

Instantly, the augmentation he was enjoying was transferred to the champion shades of the Black Millipede tribe. At the same time, more of his deathly will was expressed through them, as well.

The cadence of the battle changed.

Far below, the rate at which his shades were being destroyed increased drastically. At the same time, the rate at which the fallen immortals were obliterated increased.

Not that it mattered much, considering that they were revived before too long. Sunny frowned.

The effect was significant... but that was because there were relatively few of the immortal nightmare creatures on the outskirts of the Eternal City. Once they delved deeper into its streets, the scale of the battles would increase, and therefore, the impact of the Curse would become less pronounced. But that was valuable information in and of itself, because it helped him understand what kind of engagements he had to avoid, and what kind he had to force.

Jet sighed.

”are you done gathering information, perhaps?”

Sunny lingered for a few moments and then sighed.

”Yes. That should do, for now.”

It seemed as if Slayer had been waiting to hear these exact words. A moment after Sunny spoke them, she was already drawing her bow, the tip of her arrow swelling with blinding light.

At the same time, Saint turned into a torrent of darkness and rushed toward the battle. Nightmare leaped into the air, while Serpent slithered to the ground like a river of onyx scales.

Fiend simply plummeted into the shadows, stepping through them to appear just beyond the mass of Shadow Millipedes.

He did not manage to disappear before Sunny stirred and shouted, his voice full of concern:

”Don’t eat them!”

The first thing he had thought about when presented with the problem of containing the fallen immortals was feeding them to either Fiend or Mimic. However, the dwellers of the Eternal City were too eerie, too unnerving. Sunny was worried that swallowing one of these creatures would allow it to infect his Shadows.

Observing the Shadow Legion stir, Jet asked in a calm tone:

”So... are we joining the fun, as well?”

Sunny looked at her and smiled.

”Of course. We wouldn’t want to miss something so memorable, would we?”