Shadow Slave

Sunny ran to the statue with every bit of speed he could manage. Which was quite a considerable amount, by human standards... no, even by those of other Sleepers.

As the wind whistles in his ears, the shadow flew off the blade of the Midnight Shard and turned around, observing the wounded abomination. Despite the fact that its wings were mangled, the Messenger did not seem perturbed. On the contrary, it opened its terrible beak and let out a blood-curdling shriek, then lunged at the tiny humans with even more bestial fury.

'...I think it's not happy!'

Despite the mortal peril his companions found themselves in, Sunny did not stop to help them. Nephis had said that the creature guarding the cave had to be killed by a person who had touched the ancient statue — until someone did, this battle was nothing but a futile and stupidly dangerous game.

The essence of combat was murder, after all. If no one truly aimed to kill the damn thing, how could they ever hope to survive?

So Sunny was helping them after all, in a way.

Behind him, things weren't going well for the cohort. The Messenger was too big, too strong, too swift for a group of Sleepers, no matter how talented. It was already a miracle that none of them had been torn to pieces already.

But how long would that last?

As the shadow watched, the terrifying beak came down again… and once again, bounced off Effie's stalwart shield.

However, this time, a wide crack appeared on the surface of the round shield.

Before the huntress could even react, several powerful limbs shot at the cracked shield, each striking it with the force of a cannonball. Finally, the Memory gave in and shattered — along with Effie's arm. Sunny saw fragments of bone piercing her olive skin as it twisted at an unnatural angle.

'Damn! Faster!'

As the pillar of dark stone approached, he watched the Messenger try to finish the wounded huntress off and be thwarted by the Stone Saint. Simultaneously, Nephis managed to penetrate the barrier created by the creature's front limbs. Her sword flashed and bit into the pale flesh, leaving a deep gash on the abomination's side.

Judging that he was far enough to not be afraid of a sudden attack aimed at his back, Sunny commanded the shadow to turn around and return to his side. His view of the battle immediately disappeared, and soon, the shadow caught up and wrapped itself around his body.

Sunny's speed doubled.

Pursued by the sounds of a ferocious battle, he neared the unfinished statue.

However, before he could touch it, a human figure suddenly appeared in front of him in a blur and slid on the black sand, stopping right in front of the stone pillar. It was Caster.

The proud Legacy didn't look all too well. His shiny scale armor was torn by the claws of the terrible beast, leaving four deep wounds on his muscular chest. Blood was streaming from them, leaving the handsome young man pale and disheveled.

No, it wasn't just that. Caster seemed a bit off, somehow… Sunny just couldn't tell what was wrong with him exactly. He did notice, however, a crystal amulet in the form of an hourglass hanging on a silver chain around his neck.

'What is that? A charm Memory? I didn't know that Caster had a charm…'

Not wasting any time, the Legacy put his bloodied hand on the statue and closed his eyes for a moment.

'...He wasn't wearing one back on the marble arch. Right?'

Opening his eyes a second later, Caster glanced at Sunny with a dark expression and turned into a blur once again, rushing back to rejoin the battle.

Just as soon as he disappeared, Sunny crashed into the stone pillar, unceremoniously using it to stop his momentum. Bouncing off the hard surface, he rolled on the ground and shakily rose to his feet.

'Agh! Dammit! That hurt!'

That counted as touching the statue… right?

Had to.

Glancing back, Sunny saw another Blood Arrow piercing the flesh of the Spire Messenger and shattering a moment later. It wasn't destroyed, at least, just returned to Kai.

Quiet Dancer was zipping around the massive abomination, aiming at its eyes. The elegant rapier was an Echo, and as such did not enjoy the gift of the Dawn Shard, so it was more of a nuisance than a real threat to the beast. Still, it managed to deliver a couple of shallow cuts, causing the bastard to bleed.

That was exactly what Sunny needed — blood, as much blood as possible.

Launching himself forward, he held the Midnight Shard behind him and dashed toward the Messenger.

'Let's see which one of us is can kill it first, Caster. Wouldn't it be funny if an outskirt rat like me got a third Ascended Memory, while a lofty Legacy like you still had none?'

Some distance away from his prey, Sunny commanded the Stone Saint to switch her battle style.

The one the menacing Shadow liked to use the most — or simply saw as most suited to her equipment and the situation — was deliberate, elegant, and steady. But that wasn't what Sunny needed right now.

What he needed was carnage, savagery, and bloody mayhem.

Lingering for a fraction of a second, the Stone Saint suddenly threw her shield away, grasped her sword with both hands, and lunged forward. Any sort of grace she had possessed earlier was now gone. Instead of a noble knight, the Shadow now appeared as a barbarous butcher.

It seemed as though she cared neither about self-preservation nor about protecting the members of the cohort anymore. She didn't even care about killing the enemy that much. All she aimed to do was inflict the maximum amount of pain, the maximum amount of damage, and, most importantly, the maximum amount of bleeding.

Just like Sunny had commanded her to do.

As he ran back, more and more small, but heavily bleeding wounds appeared on the Messenger's massive frame. It's pale body was now half-covered in dark blood. Caster's enchanted sword added one or two, but most came from the berserk Shadow and Changing Star.

Effie was still in the fight, as well. Despite the fact that her arm was severely broken and there was bloody foam on her lips, the beautiful spear broke through the abomination's defenses and left a bloody mark on its skin, too.

But none of these attacks were powerful enough to end the creature once and for all.

Already nearing the scene of the massacre, Sunny willed his shadow to flow onto the Midnight Shard. The power of the Dawn Shard was burning inside of it, making the stalwart blade sing.

And on top of it all, the vile Blood Blossom was filling it with insatiable bloodlust and hunger.

Without slowing down, Sunny lunged at the Spire Messenger… and fell on his back. As momentum pushed him forward, he slid on the black sand and thrust the Midnight Shard upward.

Piercing the abdomen of the terrible creature, the razor-sharp sword easily cut through skin and muscle, gutting the abomination and causing it to stagger and fall.