Shadow Slave

"Before the battle, Morgan had said that she would have been certain of Valor's victory if not for Mordret's Reflections. Now that her final Echo had revealed itself, Sunny finally understood what she meant.

The arrival of the worm titan instantly changed the situation on the battlefield, but even such a creature was not enough to spell certain defeat for the forces of Clan Song.

...A mere Corrupted Titan would not have been able to doom the monstrous beings gathered on the desolate Antarctic plain today, and an Echo of one was tremendously powerful, but not nearly as dreadful as the real thing would have been.

So, even though the situation had changed, the outcome of the battle still hung in fragile balance.

The dead were rising to assist the outnumbered warriors of Valor. The main body of the Echo itself had to be dealt with, as well.

Instead of quelling the furious bloodshed, the arrival of the abominable worm only seemed to drive the chaos to a new, inconceivable level.

One thing it did manage to achieve instantly, though, was force Beastmaster to finally reveal herself.

Sunny felt her presence before he saw her.

It was as though an invisible hammer fell from the sky, pressing every soldier of Clan Valot into the ground. The Awakened, who had been fighting with indomitable resolve up until now, suddenly staggered and swayed. Their movements grew sluggish and strained.

'Aargh...'

Sunny gritted his teeth as he shook off the effects of the mental assault. Even his incredible resistance against mind attacks had been insufficient to fully deflect Beastmaster's diabolical power... the poor warriors of Clan Valor stood no chance against it.

Their only saving grace was that the enchantress was forced to spread herself thin to influence a thousand powerful Awakened at the same time. Their concentration was broken, and their strength was severely diminished, but at least they survived - if the task in front of the daughter of Ki Song had been less enormous, she would have probably managed to either subjugate them or outright shatter their minds.

The most frightening thing about it, though, was that the ordinary warriors were not even her main target.

Sunny saw it from the corner of his eye... but once he did, he couldn't look away.

Bestmaster appeared on the battlefield, standing calmly in front of the ravaged span of it where Whispering Blade had been fighting against the Reflections. Sunny did not know if she had used her Transformation Ability, but for some reason, the alluring Saint looked even more beautiful than she usually did... so much more...

Before, Beastmaster's beauty was mesmerizing. But now, it was simply ruinous.

She was so breathtaking that looking at her was actually painful.

It was as though Sunny's soul was bleeding.

'Damn it...'

As the beautiful demoness took a step forward, the four Reflections that had been fighting Whispering Blade dashed away to confront the titanic worm.

Bestmaster did not wield any weapons, and her enemy could not be seen. The ground around her suddenly exploded, and she was obscured by a cloud of dust. Something moved within that cloud, and a devastating shockwave spread outward, sending Awakened warriors and enthralled Nightmare Creatures flying. A moment later, there was another explosion...

Sunny had entertained ideas of eliminating the demonic enchantress, but looking at her bizarre clash with Madoc - one using ethereal mental attacks, the other invisible swords - he was suddenly not sure that he was qualified. How was he supposed to intrude upon a battle that he could not even perceive?

'Later.'

For now, he still had an unfinished task.

The dead had risen to support the warriors of Valor, but Beastmaster's calamitous assault had restored the lethal equilibrium between the two fighting forces. The titanic Echo was clashing with the four Reflections...

And Saint Tyris was still in danger.

He dashed forward, using the Sin of Solace to cut down one of the Masters who had attacked him before - the one capable of creating javelins of compressed air.

The Spell whispered into his ear, and at the same time, the cursed sword laughed at him from the other side.

Ignoring both, Sunny fought his way through the ring of enemies surrounding Sky Tide and arrived at her side.

Saint Tyris was on one knee in the middle of a pile of corpses, her armor battered and broken. Her sword was covered in a net of cracks, and her golden hair was sticking to her face, painted red by blood. Nevertheless, her amber eyes were as calm and severe as always, full of grave resolve and unbreakable will.

...But they were full of pain and exhaustion, too.

She couldn't have been alright after bearing the brunt of Beastmaster's power for so long.

Sunny cursed and threw himself forward, colliding with a Corrupted thrall that was bringing down its stinger on Sky Tide's cracked sword. The two of them fell to the ground, and the Sin of Solace hissed, slicing through the abomination's tail.

There was no retaliation from the Nightmare Creature, because Saint Tyris had pierced its neck a split second later.

While Sunny was recovering, she pulled her sword out of the thrall's corpse and braced it to block an Aspect Ability attack made by one of Song's Ascended.

Sky Tide's sword let out a low ring, and shattered, instantly turning into a rain of radiant sparks. She was tossed back and grunted, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

'You bastards...'

Sunny was already back on his feet, full of dark fury.

He quickly assessed the situation and reluctantly suppressed his desire to slaughter everyone in sight. Cutting down the minions of Clan Song would have been enjoyable, but there were too many of them around, and they were too powerful - he could face them, and he could defend Saint Tyirs. But he wasn't sure that he could do both at the same time.

For now, his priority was to ensure her safety.

Gritting his teeth, Sunny called upon the shadows. Instantly, a wave of darkness rose from his feet, pushing the enemies away and solidifying into a tall wall. That wall was not going to hold them back for long, but it would at least buy him some time.

He dashed toward Sky Tide and grabbed her by the shoulder, helping the Saint balance herself.

Her face was pale, and marred by blood.

"Lady Tyris! Are you alright?"

He knew that it was a stupid question to ask, considering the situation, but he still couldn't help but ask it.

She looked at him with a pained expression, and then, a pale smile appeared on her lips.

"I'll live. You should..."

Sky Tide did not finish the sentence. Sunny saw something reflecting in her eyes, and then, she suddenly pushed him away.

As Sunny flew back, he felt the wall of shadows he had created explode.

A split second later, monstrous claws tore through the spot he had been standing on. The ground shook from the terrible impact, and a vast cloud of dust rose into the air.

Those claws belonged to a towering creature that filled Sunny with a sense of dread.

The creature looked like an abominable hybrid between a human and a wolf. Even hunched, it was at least four meters tall, with terrifying fangs and bestial eyes that were full of wicked fury. The beast radiated a feeling of wildness, savage power, and primal ferocity.

Dire Fang had arrived to finish off the fallen Saint of the White Feather clan."