Shadow Slave

The Sin of Solace was a Transcendent Memory, and one that had an enchantment enhancing the material of the blade, at that. And yet, as soon as the creature grabbed the white jade, Sunny felt that it was moments away from breaking.

He had been planning to deliver the follow-up strike while augmenting the cursed sword with all five of his shadows, but it felt like if he did, there would be no sword for him to augment.

Cursing, Sunny hurriedly dismissed the jade blade and staggered back.

At the same time, Master Xu moved, and Saint was suddenly flying back. She hit the wall of the chamber with a deafening boom, shattering the black stones and creating a deep crater. White sand flowed from the cracks, falling on her broken armor.

A split second later, Jet brought her glaive down on the harrowing creature. Its ghostly blade passed through the abomination's dead flesh unimpeded, cutting straight into its soul... then, a net of black cracks spread through the enchanted steel, and it exploded into countless fragments. Startled, Soul Reaper lost her balance.

Seishan's delicate hands were like demonic claws, easily slicing through the creature's neck.

But the creature was still smiling.

The wound on its chest that the Sin of Solace had left behind had already closed. The deep cut delivered by Saint's sword was gone, too. As Sunny, Jet, and Seishan watched in horror, the mangled neck of Master Xu rippled and healed, with not a speck left on his skin.

"W-what..."

Seishan's voice suddenly sounded small.

At the same time, she sent Sunny a tense mental message:[What do we do?]

He was the one who had informed her about the nature of the newcomer, so Seishan must have hoped that Sunny knew something about how to deal with the creature.

However, he did not. He only knew that fighting it was suicidal.

Sunny did not hesitate at all. Dismissing Saint, he dashed back and shouted:"Run!"

In the next moment, the whirlwind of sparks filling the chamber finally coalesced into a lumbering, monstrous figure. A bestial hand exploded forward, swatting Master Xu aside and slamming him against the wall.

No matter how strong the creature was, its mass remained the same as that of the possessed corpse. So, even if its power was great and terrible, it was not impossible to overcome.

At least for a few moments.

And that was exactly what the Echo of Saint Dire Fang Sunny had summoned was supposed to buy them. The body of the towering beast occupied almost half of the underground chamber, scraping the ceiling with its head. One arm was extended forward, pushing the abomination into the cracked stones, while the other was already flying to deliver a devastating strike.

...Sunny doubted that the Echo would be able to accomplish much, though.

'What the hell... I actually managed to receive the Echo of a mighty Saint. A Saint, damn it! But it's barely enough to slow the enemy down for a moment...'

The Nightmare Desert was veiled in darkness, and darkness meant death. However, being trapped in the small underground chamber with the harrowing creature also meant death.

They could either remain and try to fight, or escape and try to survive the ancient battlefield. Both choices were equally fatal, but at least the latter would kill them a few seconds, or maybe even minutes, later.

"Hurry!"

Jet was the first one to jump up, grab the edges of the narrow fissure, and climb into the narrow crawlway. Her figure disappeared from sight, and Seishan instantly followed.

Without wasting any time, Sunny stepped through the shadows and appeared above ground, just in time to grab Jet's hand and help her climb out of the fissure.

The roar of the eternal battle, which had been muted by the breadth of stone, assaulted them like a storm.

Looking out of the ruin, Sunny paled.

Under the ghostly starlight, legions of the ancient dead were fighting each other. There was no skin or flesh left on their perfectly black bones... some of the dead resembled humans, some were like giants, and some were too monstrous and alien to describe with words.

However, all of them were terrifyingly powerful.

It was strange to see that the world had not been destroyed by the dreadful fury of their battle. How was a fragile human supposed to survive that cataclysmic clash?

'We... we are supposed to go through... that?'

Seishan had just climbed out of the fissure and stopped, staring at the scene of the harrowing battle. Her silken grey skin suddenly seemed darker.

Jet looked at the desert beyond the ruin, then at the hole they had just climbed out of. Just at that moment, the whole structure shuddered, as if something was pushing against the black stones from below.

And a second later...

The Spell whispered into Sunny's ears:[Your Echo has been destroyed.]

He staggered and gritted his teeth.

'Just... just like that?'

Sunny knew that the Echo of Dire Fang would not be able to defeat the harrowing creature, but still... he had not expected it to be destroyed in mere seconds.

He had just gotten that Echo. And now, it was gone.

Just what kind of horror was wearing the body of Master Xu?

...No matter what it was, the three of them were not capable of fighting it.

Even if Dire Fang himself had been here - or all the other Saints of the great clans - Sunny was not sure that the abomination could have been stopped.

Summoning Nightmare, he shouted to Jet and Seishan:"Get on!"

Soul Reaper stared at him for a split second.

"But... but I still don't know how to ride a horse!"

Sunny was already running away.

"Figure it out, if you want to live!"

A moment later, both Jet and Seishan climbed onto Nightmare. The black steed instantly rushed away from the narrow fissure in the stone floor.

Sunny was just a step or two ahead, turning into a swift shadow.

Together, the four of them flew out of the ruin...

And plunged into the dreadful havoc of the eternal battle.