Shadow Slave

A towering wall of white flame rose like a curtain, obscuring the depths of the desert. The shades in the first line of the battle formation braced as the shockwave of the titanic explosion slammed into them – weakened by the distance it had travelled, it failed to destroy them, only serving to slow them down.

A moment later, the deafening roar of the explosion washed over the Shadow Legion, as well, followed by a wave of unbearable heat and, finally, by a boiling cloud of white sand.

Glass rained from the sky, piercing the ground like shrapnel.

The marching shades endured the calamitous consequences of Changing Star’s opening blow, rushing forward in an orderly manner. The Deathless in front of them were in disarray, momentarily weakened by the aftershock of the explosion.

Just before the leading shades clashed with the rearguard of the undead horde, Sunny saw another flash high in the sky above him.

There was one more radiant ray of white flame that swiped across the dunes far away, causing another earth-shattering conflagration. But he did not pay it much attention, focusing on his own surroundings.

The Deathless were thrown off balance by the explosion and preoccupied by their eternal battle. So, they suffered greatly when the Shadow Legion first descended upon them like a dark flood.

Saint was the first one to engage the enemy, her black sword falling to crush an undead soldier’s neck. The ancient bone proved to be all but impervious to damage, though, and the blade of darkness only left a deep gash on it. Nevertheless, the dire force of the attack sent the skeleton flying into the distant flames.

A moment later, Saint twisted her torso and slammed her shield into a different enemy, putting her shoulder behind it. The black bones of the Deathless warrior splintered and crumbled, the broken remains falling to the ground and straining weakly to crawl. Taking a step forward, she assumed her true size, towering above the Deathless who had once been human like a beautiful statue. Crimson flames blazed the visor of the helmet, and her foot fell upon the struggling foe, crushing him into dust.

Slayer was not far behind, having unsheathed her blades instead of relying on her bow. She moved between the Deathless like a ghost, shattering the joints that connected their skeletal limbs and throwing them down to the ground. Sadly, her weapons proved as ineffective as Saint’s sword.

Slayer was a sage of visiting death upon living things, after all, and those cursed by Shadow God were undying.

Sending a black skeleton staggering back with a graceful kick, she spun like a dancer and then leaped forward.

By the time Slayer landed on the ground again, she had already assumed the shape of an enormous black tiger. Baring her fangs, she lunged at the Deathless, shattering their bones with her ferocious jaws.

Surprisingly enough, it was Serpent who proved to be the most lethal of the three Shadows in this battle.

Having assumed the shape of the King of Swords, it advanced forward with measured steps. Serpent held one of the seven onyx swords in his hands, while the other six revolved around him like a rustling shield of slaying steel. With these seven blades, it easily kept the Deathless at bay, beheading them with powerful blows when they got too close.

But that was not what made Serpent so deadly… if the word could be used here, in a battle against the Deathless. Instead, it was the fact that every sword in a wide area around the serpentine Shadow trembled and moved according to its will.

Countless blades tore themselves from the hands of the Deathless warriors, spinning around to aim themselves at their former masters.

A whirlwind of steel raged in the heart of the undying horde, grinding the cursed warriors to dust like a bladed mill.

Sunny’s most powerful shades entered the battle in the wake of the three Shadows. The immortals of the Eternal City, the bestial abominations of Godgrave, the prisoners of Ariel’s game, the shadow of Daeron the Serpent King — all the Supreme shades, as well as the strongest among the Transcendent ones, slammed into the Deathless horde and cut a path through it. They were led by the fierce, furious, feral shade of the Wolf.

Sunny lingered for a moment, and then joined the fray as well.

When he descended upon the battlefield in person, all of his terrifying champions suddenly seemed weak and merciful in comparison.

Neglecting to manifest a weapon, Sunny chose to assume the shape of the Shadowspawn instead and went on a rampage among the Deathless. His towering body was encased in the fearsome carapace of the Jade Mantle, and he moved with an eerie, impossible kind of speed.

He stepped through the shadows as naturally as if he were walking, instantly appearing near the next enemy after breaking the bones of the first. Their old bones were tough and difficult to shatter, but the strength of the Supreme Titan was simply too titanic. Subjected to his fists and his claws, the Deathless crumbled as if they had been made from straw.

Of course, the ease with which Sunny broke the ancient undead was not founded purely in dire strength.

Instead, it was because of his Will.

Sunny willed the Deathless to be broken, and so, they broke.

The Shadow Legion slowly but surely advanced forward and reached the wall of immolating flames. The wall was much lower by then, seemingly on the verge of being extinguished. His shadows stepped into the dying flame and emerged on the other side, ready to continue the battle.

‘This… is not that bad.’

Catching himself thinking that thought, Sunny grew even paler than his usual self.

‘Damnation.’

No, really. Was he a fool?

‘Why… why! Why, you fool?! Why did you think that aloud?!

He knew that if anything could go wrong, it would inevitably go wrong. Sunny had not deluded himself into thinking that the Deathless could not present a serious threat to him and Nephis…

And now, he had invited their wrath upon himself.