Shadow Slave

Stepping through the spatial rift experienced no different from taking a mundane step. It was only a little bit disorienting — the sudden change of the landscape, the direction of the wind, the subtle shift in the tone of the firing armaments. For Sunny, it was especially so, because he could also feel that the shadows around him were entirely different.

However, there was no time to waste on being confused.

Forcing himself to focus, he followed Dale to the edge of the wall and peered down.

Far below, there was a stretch of land flooded by attacking abominations, with brood beasts swarming above them… and behind those, the edge of a tall cliff that descended toward the shore. The dark expanse of the ocean stretched for as far as the eye could see, moonlight dancing on its restless, black surface.

The sphere of light was slowly growing dimmer as it burned somewhere above and beyond the cliff.

Dale spoke, his voice sounding slightly muffled by the helmet:

"We will have to fight our way through."

Sunny nodded.

"I'll clear the way, you follow."

The Sin of Solace was already manifesting itself into his hand, and shadows were wrapped around his body, filling him with resilience and strength. The Marble Shell was augmented, as well.

Sunny lingered for a moment.

"What about when we reach the Tyrant? We can't allow it to escape, and with Master Jet gone…"

The stalwart Master shook his head.

"I'll trap it and us within the barrier. Then, either the Tyrant dies, or we do. No one will escape."

Sunny had already seen one of Dale's barriers — the one that allowed things to pass from within, but blocked everything coming from the outside. Today, he would see the second one, which functioned in reverse.

More than that, he was going to be trapped inside that barrier with a damned Fallen Tyrant. If they wanted to be sure of the result, there was no better way.

"Great. I'll be going, then. Come down in a few seconds."

Instead of summoning the Dark Wing, Sunny simply turned into a shadow, slid over the edge of the battlement, and swiftly glided down the surface of the wall. In a moment, he was already on the ground, emerging from the darkness with the jade jian whittling through the air.

By the time Dale landed behind him, using some sort of rope Memory, half a dozen abominations were already bleeding on the ground.

The defenders on that section of the wall had already received orders to support their sortie, as well, shifting their fire to help the Ascended create a corridor through the mass of Nightmare Creature. Granted, they were spread too thin between the Devouring Cloud and the abominations attacking the wall in a desperate attempt to escape from the swarm, so the results were modest.

At least Sunny did not have to worry about catching a tungsten round with his back.

'Goddamn… great…'

Sunny and Dale rushed forward, fighting their way through the tide of frenzied Nightmare Creatures. The stalwart Master used his heater shield and heavy flanged mace to crush and break the abominations, flinging their bodies out of the way. Sunny simply cut through them, rendering the hideous body with the jade blade of the Sin of Solace.

However, there were just too many enemies to kill. Even if Dale's plate armor easily shrugged off blow after blow, and Sunny could simply ignore most of the attacks that got through his defenses, the weight of the horde threatened to push them back. More than that, they were constantly accosted by the brood beasts from above, making it much harder to remain alive.

For now, they had not met a creature powerful enough to be a lethal threat — which was a testament to how incredibly durable both Masters were... but it was only a matter of time.

Sunny growled, and then called upon the shadows.

Instantly, dark hands rose from the ground, grabbing the abominations and either throwing them aside, or outright tearing their bodies to pieces. Black chains whipped in the air, obliterating lunging brood beasts.

"If you have a good Memory or two, use them now!"

Dale bashed a leaping abomination with his shield, turning its body into bloody paste, and tore something off his belt.

In the next moment, there was a blinding flash, and then a sound akin to the roar of an angry dragon shook the world. Sunny smelled the carnage before he witnessed it. In front of them, a morbid path of charred corpses cut through the horde.

Dale pushed Sunny forward and lunged into the momentary rift in the mass of Nightmare Creatures.

"That one has to accumulate charges for a long time! We won't be able to use it against the Tyrant…"

Sunny snarled as he ran.

"We need to find the damned bastard first! Don't hold back!"

A few minutes of frenzied slaughter later, battered but alive, they reached the edge of the cliff and plunged down. Sunny had turned into a shadow once again, while Dale utilized an enchanted rope with a vicious hook tied to its end. The hook had been ruthlessly thrust into the flesh of an especially massive Nightmare Creature just a second before.

…Down on the stone beach, there were much fewer abominations. Some of them had already been cleaned to the bone by the brood beasts, while others were alive and full of murderous fury. Some distance away, Sunny could see the tall walls of the port fortress and the shapes of gargantuan ships resting on the waves.

As he looked around in search of their prey, something flew from the darkness, forcing him to jump aside. It turned out to be a massive chunk of bleeding flesh that had been the torso of a Nightmare Creature seemingly only moments ago.

Looking at where the chunk of flesh came from, Sunny witnessed a chilling sight.

Out there ahead of them, halfway to the dark water, a towering being being besieged by a mob of abominations. Six segmented legs, a tail with a long stinger, torn and broken leathery wings… and three terrifying circular maws swaying on the ends of long necks.

As he watched, one of the monstrosity's maws shot down, biting into the body of a powerful Nightmare Creature. With a violent twist, the creature came undone, rivers of blood and viscera spilling onto the cold stones. At the same time, the other two maws shredded a couple more abominations, swallowing large chunks of them whole. The tail stinger shot forward with blinding speed, piercing another and pumping poison into its convulsing body.

Sunny gazed at the macabre scene with dark resentment.

'...Be careful of what you wish for, I guess.'

They had discovered the Tyrant of the Devouring Cloud.