Shadow Slave

Just a moment before the Patient Avenger detonated, Sunny fell backward and dove into the shadow cast by a wide stone pillar. He noticed a hint of surprise in Pierce's eyes, and in the next second, everything was suddenly drowned by blinding white light.

The sound came next, a thunderous roar that would have probably destroyed his ears if he had not turned into a shadow. Then, the shockwave arrived, obliterating the pillar and turning it into a mass of flying rubble. Sunny's shelter was destroyed, and he was thrown back into the corporeal world… just in time to be engulfed by a terrifying, immolating flame.

Luckily, he had summoned the Memory of Fire at the very start of the fight. Protected by its enchantment and by the Undying Chain, Sunny had withstood the terrifying heat. His eyes were tightly shut, and so only his eyelids were singed.

The explosion… had turned out to be much more powerful than he had expected.

'D—damnation…'

The hall was completely decimated. The pillars supporting its ceiling had been destroyed, and its walls had cracked, some sections crumbling completely. The bodies of the murdered Lost were practically erased from existence, and everything was obscured by a cloud of stone dust mixed with thin crimson mist, which had appeared after the pool of blood had evaporated.

In all this mayhem, Sunny was able to sense a few familiar shapes. The Serpent had merged with the shadows before the explosion had hit, too so it was unharmed.

Saint, however, was not as lucky — her entire left arm had been torn off at the shoulder, the onyx armor mangled and revealing scorched alabaster skin. Fine ruby dust was flowing from the terrible wound, falling to the floor like a stream of a morbid hourglass, as if counting off how long she had left to live.

That was the result of augmenting and overloading an Ascended Memory… even the wielder was not safe from the consequences, as it turned out.

Sunny's mouth twitched, and he immediately dismissed the taciturn knight, then called back his third shadow.

In the short moment before it reached him and wrapped itself around his body, he managed to sense the rest of the devastated hall.

The Echoes seemed to be obliterated. Welthe was kneeling at a distance, shaken and superficially wounded, but still alive. Mordret was sprawled on the floor, seemingly thrown out of his invisibility.

…Only Pierce was still on his feet, as if not affected by the explosion at all. His armor was battered and scorched, wisps of smoke rising from the cracks, but the Master himself appeared unperturbed. In fact, his murderous intensity only grew more suffocating.

He was like an impregnable stone cliff that could never be brought down by the raging winds.

Not wishing to reveal himself, Sunny suppressed an infuriated growl and silently dashed forward.

The silver blade of the Cruel Sight whistled quietly, shooting toward the bastard's heart.

However…

At the last moment, Pierce shifted and easily deflected the blow with his sword, throwing the spear off course. His armored fist flashed, flying toward Sunny's head.

When the blow connected, Sunny was blinded for a moment. His eyes were still closed, but it was as if something exploded behind his eyelids, and at the same time, his mind blanked. He only felt the world spinning.

Disoriented, Sunny continued his lunge and collided with the fearsome Master. The impact threw them both to the ground in a clatter of metal.

They flew back, then collided against the stone floor. Pierce grabbed Sunny by the throat and drove a knee into his abdomen, causing another explosion of pain to spread through his body and sending him rolling over his head and away.

…But not before Sunny's free hand snaked toward one of the cracks in the Ascended Knight's armor and planted something deep into his flesh.

A long, narrow needle forged out of black steel, with gold wire wrapped around one of its ends.

Driven with all of Sunny's strength, the Heavenly Burden sunk into Pierce's flesh almost entirely, with only a few centimeters sticking out of his skin and barely visible in the narrow fissure marring the surface of the knight's armor.

Of course, such a tiny needle was not going to wound a Master seriously, or even slow down his movements. But damage was not what Sunny used it for.

Rolling on the ground, he twisted and landed on his knees, sliding a few steps back and almost instantly regaining his balance.

A few meters away, Pierce was already rising to his feet, too. His eyes were brimming with killing intent, and his longsword was glistening as it reflected the flames burning around them. He was ready to finish this fight...

But then, something strange happened.

The fearsome Master suddenly swayed, a confused expression appearing on his face. A moment later, the soles of his armored boots separated from the stone floor and rose into the air.

…The Heavenly Burden was the Memory Sunny had exchanged for contribution points after helping Master Jet put down the demented Awakened, Shadow Blade Kurt. Its single enchantment was simple and straightforward: living beings pierced by the needle would float up, and up, and up, until it was removed.

Sunny had acquired it to combine the enchantment with the Dark Wing and receive the ability to fly out of the Sky Below, if need be.

Which did not mean that it had no other uses.

…Pierce was rising into the air, his feet already a full meter above the floor. His initial confusion was gone, and he swiftly looked down, at the tip of the needle buried in his flesh. The Master's hand shot toward it, but the fingers of his armored gauntlet were too thick and clumsy to dig the needle out on the first try.

Sunny had no doubt that he would manage soon. He was also fairly certain that the Ascended knight possessed at least one Memory in his arsenal that would be able to help him either counteract or control the effect of the Heavenly Burden.

However, both of these options were going to require some time, no matter how short.

The time that Sunny wasn't going to give him.

He thrust his hand forward, sending the Moonlight Shard flying toward Pierce's eye. Without anything to use as purchase, the knight was deprived of the very foundation of combat ability — the warrior's connection to the ground. He couldn't move to dodge, couldn't control the distribution of his weight to mount an effective defense, and couldn't even use most of his strength.

However, Pierce still managed to deflect the ghostly stiletto with his sword…

Which left him open and defenseless to Sunny's true attack.

As soon as the Moonlight Shard left his right hand, Sunny brought his left up and behind him, used all of the strength the three shadows gifted him, sent a flood of essence into his muscles, and cast the Cruel Sight forward.

His throw was performed with perfect form, just like Effie had taught him.

At the last moment, the three shadows flowed from his fingers and wrapped themselves around the somber spear's silver blade.

Pierce's eyes widened.

The Cruel Sight shot through the air like a black comet and sunk into the fearsome knight's chest. The force of the throw was so great that it went right through his damaged armor, his tough skin and bones, and then his heart.

Still affected by the Heavenly Burden, the Master's body was sent flying up with terrifying speed and impaled on the stones, hanging lifelessly from the tall ceiling of the devastated hall.

A stream of blood fell down like crimson rain.

Sunny staggered then supported his weight with his hands and let out a shaky breath.

'Come… come on…'

A moment passed in silence, and then, he finally heard the painfully familiar voice.

This time, the Spell's whisper sounded like beautiful music to his ears:

[...You have slain an Ascended human, Pierce.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

'Gods... I actually did it...'

Sunny smiled darkly, allowed himself a second of rest, and then rose to his feet, knowing that the battle was not other.

Mordret and Welthe were still there, both as deadly as the damned bastard he had just killed.

He dismissed the Cruel Sight and immediately summoned it again, simultaneously checking on his reserve of shadow essence. Sunny had spent a lot, but not so much as to worry… yet.

The Soul Serpent appeared from the shadows and slithered onto his skin, turning into an intricate tattoo.

Still keeping his eyes closed, partially out of caution and partially because his eyelids were burned and hurt like hell, Sunny extended his shadow sense forward and tried to understand what was happening to the other two participants of this hellish battle.

Welthe was standing some distance away from him, swaying. Her hands were pressed against her face.

Meanwhile, Mordret…

Sunny froze.

The female sentinel... was dead.

He had not noticed it before, but she was laying lifeless on the floor, her neck twisted at an unnatural level.

'How… how can this be?'

Something was not adding up… how could Mordret lose his only vessel so easily? He had only fought one of the Masters… surely, he had the ability to defeat Welthe one on one. Otherwise, what had he been planning to do if Sunny allied with the knights of Valor? How had he planned to resist both of them, let alone with a third enemy added into the mix?

The Prince of Nothing could not have been that weak…

Suddenly, a small detail attracted Sunny's attention.

One of the sentinel's hands was clenched in a fist, something dangling from it.

A piece of a torn chain…

...Didn't that chain feel awfully familiar?

A cold, uneasy feeling appeared in Sunny's chest. He turned his head slightly and concentrated on the last survivor of the Valor forces, searching for...

Welthe suddenly laughed. Her voice sounded strange and different.

And her amulet... the anvil amulet was gone.

The Master lowered her hands and smiled.

"Ah! That is much, much better…"