Shadow Slave

Sunny would be a fool not to be wary of a Great Titan... especially one as ominous as the Flesh of Kanakht.

True, he had slain a Cursed Tyrant once — a being who was far more powerful, at least in theory. However, that had happened inside Ariel’s Game, where the Puppeteer had been heavily restricted by the rules of the miniature realm. Its greatest power was the beings it controlled, but in the end, the sinister moth had been forced to face Sunny alone in melee combat.

So, now, its shadow helped him control his legion.

The Flesh of Kanakht was not restricted by anything, though, and could unleash its power fully.

Still, while Sunny was worried, he wasn’t too worried. Facing the Great Titan alone might have been tough, but at the moment, there were two Supreme Titans set against it — the Lord of Shadows and the Star of Ruin. Speaking of ruin, Nephis had thoroughly destroyed the Eternal City with the help of the Crushing. Sunny had unraveled the sorcery sustaining it, while she obliterated the city itself. Now, it was slowly being turned to dust by the growing number of hexagonal pillars of water, and only the area around the Palace Island still remained unscathed.

Well... relatively unscathed. The Palace itself was gone, and the entire island had cracked. The Shadow Legion was still cleaning up the remaining wraiths, exacerbating the damage.

‘What wondrous destruction.’

The Eternal City had survived thousands of years, but Sunny and Nephis wrecked it in the span of a day.

Now, all they had to do was destroy the Flesh of Kanakht, as well — or at least stall it long enough for him to make Nightwalker mortal again.

Sunny considered his options carefully while his avatars moved to the northern shore of the island. He abandoned the Puppeteer, as well, judging that the Shadow Legion could finish the job even without his direct participation — so, four of his avatars stepped out of the shadows near Jet.

She was still in her wraith form, looking calmly at the looming Titan.

Letting his avatars fuse into one, Sunny spent a second enjoying the rush of power and raised an eyebrow.

“Why are you not turning back into a human?”

Her ghostly eyes pierced him with a distant gaze. Jet remained silent for a while, then shrugged.

”Oh... somehow, this felt more natural for a moment.”

The mist around them flowed, being absorbed into her ethereal form and her scythe. Then, she turned back into a human and forced out a smile.

“Damn. I look like a corpse.”

Her armor was torn, and her face was bloodied. Having endured the duel against the Cursed Wanderer, Jet looked quite battered — although, surprisingly, not as battered as Slayer was.

That was the difference between fighting an enemy that you perfectly countered and one that you did not.

Sunny stared at her for a moment, then said neutrally:

”You are a corpse.”

Jet grinned.

”At least I have a corpse, though! You’re just a creepy shadow.’

Sunny could not help but smile back. ”Excuse me, creepy? I am not just a creepy shadow. I’m also six other shadows.”

He fell silent for a few seconds, then added earnestly:

“Also... good job killing the Dutchman.”

Jet nodded.

”Good job destroying the Palace. You should think about opening a demolition company.”

With that, she turned and looked back at the Flesh of Kanakht.

She remained silent for a moment, then asked:

”So, what now? I sort of... gained a lot from slaying that dreadful duo. Essence, a deluge of fragments, and their souls are trapped in the Mist Blade now, as well. However, as much as I hate to admit it, I don’t think I am ready to fight another damn part of Kanakht””

Sunny shook his head.

”That’s alright. You should head back and help Cassie and Naeve finish off the remnants of the wraith armada. We’ll take it from here.”

He paused to think for a second, and then added:

“Oh, and since this whole place seems to be falling apart, be ready to board the Chain Breaker and get the hell out of here, Great Titan be damned.”

Jet chuckled.

“I guess our expedition is really coming to an end then.”

She looked at the scene of devastation around them, then sighed and turned her back to the lake.

”It was fun. But also... let’s do something less exciting next time”

Sunny wasn’t sure that he could promise something like that in good faith, but still nodded.

”Deal. Actually, I’ve been thinking about exploring the Underworld...”

But Jet was already rushing away.

”Nope! Not a chance! Take Cassie instead. She hasn’t had an astonishing adventure with the Lord of Shadows yet!

With that, she was gone.

However, Sunny was not alone on the fractured shore. At some point during their conversation, Nepis had landed on the stones behind them, her silver hair moving faintly in the wind.

Now, she walked over to stand beside Sunny on the edge of the water, and both of them looked at the approaching Titan.

“Why did she run away? What did you say?” Sunny coughed.

”I just shared my plans. You know... one last expedition.”

She remained silent for a moment.

”I see.”

Her voice should have been flat and devoid of emotion, somewhat, but it sounded strangely full of it instead. Sunny studied her carefully, feeling that something about his girlfriend had changed.

”The Madness of Kanakht... I assume it’s dead?”

Nephis shrugged slightly.

“It’s dying. Having it in my head... was fruitful. I think I took a big step toward mastering the Knowledge of Corruption.” Sunny smiled faintly.

“That’s good.”

He fell silent, then asked in the same tone:

”So, how are we going to handle this Great Titan?”

Nephis looked up at the immense expanse of the walking, abhorrent mountain of grotesque flesh and said with a hint of hesitation in her voice:

”I go high, you go low?”

Sunny studied her for a moment.

“Was that a comment about my height?”

Nephis finally turned away from the Titan and looked at him silently.

“I love your height.”

Sunny coughed again.

”Oh. That’s good, then.”

As Nephis took a step forward, though, his expression changed subtly.

“Wait! Hey! You didn’t say no!”