Shadow Slave

The Night Garden moved through the canals of the Eternal City, surrounded by starlight and enveloped by the thunderous roaring of its cannons. The mass of abominations pursuing it along the shore of the portside island was steadily growing, making Sunny frown and strain to load the cannons faster.

Strengthened by the Curse, all shades that could attack from range were helping the cannons slow down the pursuers and reap a dreadfully bloody harvest. The swarm of fallen immortals was continuously torn and decimated, but restored itself each time like a horrid, fierce, undying beast. The sight of it all was indescribable, ghastly, and uncanny...

But then again, Sunny had long grown numb to all the horrors of the Dream Realm.

Saint was among the shades, tossing one javelin after another into the seething mass of abominations. Funnily enough, the shadow of Goliath, whom she had slain with a javelin once, was nearby, unleashing its immolating gaze upon the swarm of corrupted immortals — due to its Rank, the damage it dealt was not deadly, but it served to wound and weaken the enemies.

Slayer had mounted an Obsidian Wasp and flew to the very top of the main mast of the Night Garden, hiding there in the shadow of the Puppeteer’s wing. Her arrows fell like a fatal rain, unerringly felling the most appalling of the immortal swarm despite the great distance.

Sunny had wrapped one of his shadows around her to enjoy the benefit of sharing her incredibly sharp senses. From the great height of Slayer’s precarious position, most of the southern part of the Eternal City was like an open book...

He did not like what he saw at all.

The shadow of Daeron had put aside the spear and took up a fearsome greatbow that had been salvaged in the armory of the Hippodrome. His arrows struck the fallen immortals like bolts of lightning, impaling their grotesque bodies.

Strangely enough, Serpent had assumed the form of Daeron and picked up a bow, as well. However, its arrows were far more lethal and devastating than those of the dead Supreme that was because Serpent was a Shadow and possessed the Will, while the shadow of the Serpent King did not. ’Quite ironic, isn’t it?’

While its defenders repelled the pursuing abominations, the Night Garden slowly approached the edges of both islands. Sunny could already see the ice-covered building of the Residential Island in the distance — I - Nightwalker could see them, as well.

His expression turned somber.

”This... is pretty bad.”

Sunny turned and gave him a questioning gaze.

”What exactly?”

A pale smile appeared on Nightwalker’s youthful face.

”Don’t you see this ship, Shadow?”

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

”Of course, I do”

Nightwalker nodded.

”Then you should have noticed that it’s very damn long.”

He let out a heavy sigh.

”Navigating it through this narrow canal is already difficult enough, so how hard do you think making a turn will be?”

Sunny blinked a couple of times.

They were currently moving east, but to reach the Palace, they had to turn north. The quickest way would be to do that at the nearest junction of several canals and sail right toward their goal. If that was impossible, though, they would have to reach the edge of the city, escape into the open waters, circle the city counterclockwise, and enter the canals again from the east.

Time was of the essence, though.

Looking ahead, Nighthwalker let out another sigh. His silver eyes suddenly seemed to glow brighter.

”Don’t worry too much, though. I have a tendency to always get to where I’m going... I do suggest you hold on to something, though. This is going to be rough.’

Sunny grimaced and looked away.

”It always is.”

Nightwalker chuckled.

”Indeed...”

The Night Garden was rapidly approaching the junction between canals separating four islands. The water was turbulent, and the stone walls of the isolated districts of the Eternal City seemed awfully close to each other...

Even if the junction itself was much wider than the canals were, and shaped irregularly, Sunny could not help but feel like guiding the Night Garden through the turn was impossible.

He winced.

”Say, is it a bad time to tell you... that I absolutely hate traveling by ship?” Nightwalker did not seem pleased by that question.

”What? Why?”

Sunny scowled.

”The first time I did, it was on a boat made from demon bones, sailing across an abomination-infested sea that was actually a Great Titan. Halfway through the journey, the boat was destroyed by a creepy depth dweller, and I almost died”

His scowl deepened.

”The second time was on an alloy battleship across the Indian Ocean, and wouldn’t you know it? Halfway through the trip, we were attacked by some horrid sea monsters, the hull was breached, and I almost died” Nightwalker coughed.

Sunny, meanwhile, continued:

”The third time — gods, don’t even get me started. I had to brave a river of an Unholy Titan’s blood on anything and everything, starting from makeshift rafts and ending with the corpse of an enormous, grotesque turtle. And guess what? The raft was shattered, the corpse was eaten, and when I finally found a normal ship... that’s when the really terrible part began! | almost died.”

It began as a joke, but now, Sunny was really fuming.

”Ah, damn it. Curse it all! Why the hell did I think that this damn expedition would be any better?”

Nightwalker gave him a look of pity.

”No way. That’s some awful luck! But it couldn’t have all been bad, right? What, have you never had a good experience on a boat?”

Sunny opened his mouth to offer an angry retort, but then closed it.

A strange expression appeared on his face. Eventually, his frown was replaced by a faint, absent-minded smile.

”Well, come to think of it... I did go boating ona date once. That was nice.”

He lingered for a moment, and then nodded.

”I take it back. Boats are great...”