Shadow Slave

Another bridge collapsed into an avalanche of debris, sending countless tons of jagged stone plummeting into the river. When the pieces of the broken bridge froze in the air and moved in reverse, huge tendrils of shadow rose again to hold them back. Standing in the runic hall of the Night Garden, Sunny grimaced and swayed faintly, his porcelain face turning even paler than usual.

He was pushing against his limits.

Directly controlling the Shadow Legion was already far more strenuous than what he was used to, and he was manipulating the shadow golems that fired the cannons as well. But it was actually the act of preventing the Eternal City from restoring the shattered bridges that was the most taxing.

Creating a tentacle out of shadows was the simplest form of Shadow Manifestation — in fact, it was the first thing he had manifested after becoming a Master. Sunny was capable of shaping shadows in infinitely more intricate and sophisticated ways now, but he had never used his Ascended Ability on quite that scale.

Only the dome he had built around the Night Garden recently could compare, but that dome only needed to exist. The gigantic black tendrils extending from the bow of the living ship, however, had to move, accurately grasp the slabs of stone, and overcome the pull that the sorcery of the Eternal City exerted on them.

The sheer size of the black tendrils was daunting. It was to the point that Sunny found his reserves of essence actually draining for the first time in a long while — an unexpected and unwelcome development that made him frown.

Sunny was not the only one losing essence, either. Aether was quickly draining his own reserves to maintain the shield of starlight around the Night Garden, and unlike Sunny, he did not have seven soul cores or a Domain supplying him with a constant torrent of spirit essence. He was going to exhaust his reserves far sooner than Sunny would.

They were quite short on time.

Luckily, their harrowing race through the canal of the Eternal City was coming to an end. The Night Garden had not reached the finish line just yet, but the towering silhouette of the Palace was already looming above the horizon like a dark mountain set against the radiant backdrop of silver light.

The two swarms of the dreadful immortals besieging the living ship had grown immense and frightening, as well. By now, it was as if two slithering walls of grotesque flesh surrounded the Night Garden on both sides, with a monstrous mass of limbs, tendrils, and appendages reaching toward it across the deep dark chasms.

The seething waters below were turning strange, as well, having swallowed dozens, if not hundreds, of undying abominations. The Flesh of Kanakht was infecting new hosts there rapaciously, already subjugating and changing them to suit its goals — the main of which was to devour every living soul aboard the Night Garden.

And worst of all, the Shadow Legion kept suffering casualties. Far fewer shades than one would expect in such an unimaginably harrowing battle were being vanquished, but the incremental losses added up. It was not to the point that Sunny had to start worrying just yet, but it wasn’t negligible either.

The Defiled Seeker of Truth was already gone, torn apart by the lightning-quick tendrils of hungry flesh. So was the shadow of the Winter Beast, which had already been damaged on the Residential Island. Countless of the Obsidian Wasps had been caught and crushed by the fallen immortals, and several of the human Saints were gone...

But the silent shades knew neither fear nor hesitation. Despite the heavy losses, they continued to defend the living ship with a quiet and indomitable determination — and why would it be any different? The dead did not fear death.

Sunny gritted his teeth.

‘Come on... a little more!”

The Night Garden passed through the cloud of debris left behind by the shattered bridge, and he released his hold on its pieces with a relieved sigh.

”Look alive, Shadow! Starboard!”

Sunny gave Nightwalker a dark look and opened his mouth, wanting to point out that he was technically dead. But Jet beat him to the punch, chuckling quietly.

In the next moment, he got too preoccupied to talk.

An especially gigantic Nightmare Creature appeared portside of the Night Garden, and a swarm of fleshy tentacles shot across the canal, threatening to pierce the hull of the living ship. At the same time, the shield of starlight grew a little dimmer, betraying the fact that Aether was approaching his limit, as well.

Then again, maybe he had long passed it — the youngest of the Saints of Night was pale and covered in cold sweat. His face, which had been calm and composed before, was now twisted by a deep scowl. His hands clenched into fists.

‘Damn it...’

The Night Garden veered right, creating as much distance between itself and the monstrous tendrils of flesh as possible. The cannons barked, and a rain of enchanted arrows descended upon the towering Nightmare Creature, tearing it apart. A moment later, the grotesque hill of slithering flesh exploded into a dreadful rain of blood and bleeding meat, painting the ground red. And in a few moments more, the Night Garden collided with the foundation of the opposite island, its hull scraping across the stone wall and sending cracks running through it. Cursing under his breath, Sunny sent his Shadows and the strongest of the shades rushing toward the right side of the ship.

For a few moments, there was no gap between the ship and its pursuers, and although the starlight cut and burned them, more than a few made their way onto the deck of the Night Garden.

‘Curse it all:

Saint, Fiend, and Serpent descended upon them almost immediately, followed by a coordinated attack of countless shades. The abominations were cut down and thrown into the water before they could do any real damage, but not before slaying several dozen of Sunny’s silent warriors.

”Can you go faster?!”

Standing in the runic circle, Nightwalker smiled. His silver eyes glowed like stars in the night sky, and his youthful face seemed to drown in their nebulous light.

“That might be a little dangerous.”

Sunny scoffed.

“Does it seem like we’re safe now?” Nightwalker lingered for a moment. Then, his smile widened a little.

“You make a fair point. In that case, I suggest you put your seatbelt on...”