Shadow Slave

Landing on the deck of the enemy ship, Sunny swayed and caught himself, then stared somberly at the warriors of the Sun Legion, all of whom had already noticed his arrival.

Following the command of the captain, the swordsmen advanced in a loose, but orderly formation. Behind them, the archers drew their bows and aimed them at the towering devil, their eyes shining with faith and resolve.

…They did not get a chance to shoot, however.

A split second later, a ghastly abomination landed between them, its six front limbs and terrifying beak reaping half a dozen lives in an instant.

This was Sunny's signal to move.

He dashed toward the ranks of the advancing swordsman, and at the same time, the Soul Serpent attacked them from behind. The two cut through the defenders of the ship and met in the middle of its deck.

It was at that moment that the Shadow finally exhausted the last of its essence. The abominable form of the Spire Messenger suddenly lost its shape and crumbled into a tide of darkness, which then rushed toward Sunny.

A serpentine black odachi then appeared in his hands. Sunny dismissed his other weapons, leaving only the great blade to keep him company... and roared.

He was too low on essence to use any of their enchantments, anyway… but each kill of the odachi was going to return a portion of it into his cores. More than that, the Soul Serpent was not the only one who reunited with Sunny — the haughty shadow had returned, as well, and had already wrapped itself around his body, alleviating some of his exhaustion and gifting him with its strength.

Now, all Sunny had to do was fight and kill. With each of the enemies that fell, he was going to replenish more of his dwindling shadow essence, and that essence would then be used to kill more enemies and destroy more ships.

As long as he continued to kill, he would not have to stop. Unless he was killed himself, of course…

[Soul Reaver] was, indeed, an insidious Ability.

In a split second before the avalanche of enemies descended on him, Sunny glanced into the crimson sky.

Out there, at a distance, the graceful ship was climbing high into the sky. Its hull was in shambles, with several sections of it shattered by the heavy bolts of the enemy ballistae. The powerful siege engine on its bow was gone, blown away by some terrible strike. There was a massive harpoon lodged in the vessel's side, with a piece of an enemy ship swinging below it on a thick chain.

Barely any Sailor Dolls remained on the deck, most of them broken or destroyed.

Seeing the pitiful state of the once-majestic ship, Sunny couldn't help but grit his teeth.

Then, he frowned.

'What the hell is she doing?'

Why was Cassie rising into the sky? Out there in the boundless vastness of the night, there was nothing to protect her from the ire of Sun Prince and the enemy ships. The winds were much stronger up there, and the air much thinner. It was very risky…

However, Sunny had no time to think about it. The blind girl must have known what she was doing… out of everyone he knew, he was confident in Cassie's foresight the most.

She always had a reason.

…Throwing these thoughts out of his mind, Sunny strangled his worry for her and clashed with the first few of the enemies.

He slashed down, splitting the opponent's helmet and skull with the sharp blade of the great odachi, then slammed its hilt into another man's face, shook off the first corpse of the sword, and cut low, severing another enemy's leg.

Then, Sunny grabbed the disoriented man whose face he had just crushed with one of his free hands and, using his body as a shield, barreled through the enemies, slashing left and right. The Mantle of the Underworld rang, withstanding several powerful blows.

One of the strikes was especially dire. Something managed to cut through the onyx armor and bit deep into his flesh, making Sunny stumble and hiss. It was the captain of the vessel — the woman in bright armor stood among the slaughtered archers, her hands raised, two disks of sharp, blinding light forming on her palms.

Cursing, Sunny threw the body of the still struggling enemy at the attacking legionnaires… and then bent down, picking up a stray bolt meant for the ship's ballistae.

In the hand of the towering demon, the massive projectile almost looked like an oversized spear.

Sending some of the newly received essence into his muscles, Sunny grunted, and then tossed the bolt with all his mind.

…The captain's eyes widened, but before she could even move, the improvised javelin struck her in the chest with the force of a siege ram, ending the woman's life immediately.

[You have slain an Ascended…]

Sunny had no time to celebrate, because he was once again being attacked from all sides.

The corner of his mouth twitched.

'She was an Ascended, huh…'

***

He slaughtered the remaining crew of the ship, then rammed it into another vessel and slaughtered its defenders, as well. By then, the Mantle of the Underworld was full of cracks and gaps, and his battered body beneath was full of holes.

On the bright side, he had regained enough essence to freely activate the [Living Stone] enchantment of his armor, which allowed it to quickly recover from the damage and glisten darkly once again, its surface flawless and pristine.

Sunny could not say the same about himself.

Even though he had managed to recover some essence, his physical state was swiftly deteriorating. The countless shallow wounds were not too dangerous, especially because Bloow Weave refused to allow his blood to flow out of them. A couple of the more serious injuries he had received were not too bothersome for now, as well.

However, his endurance was not limitless. Sunny was dead tired, and no amount of essence could fix that. He had only managed to last that long because of the Blood Blossom and the [Underworld Armament], but even that was not enough to sustain him anymore.

And the battle… the battle still raged on.

Cassie had climbed so high into the sky that he could not even see her damaged ship anymore, taking most of what remained of the enemy fleet with her. The light of their lanterns turned into small dots that moved high above, resembling falling stars. From time to time, a piece of broken wood would fall from the darkness, reminding him that a fierce clash was still taking place up above.

The pressure on the boarding parties reduced somewhat, but there were still a dozen ships left to stall them… or rather, hunt them down. Now that Sunny, his Shadows, and his friends were tired and riddled with wounds, the roles they played subtly changed. He was not sure who was attacking whom anymore.

But worse of all…

With the distraction of Cassie's ship gone, the steel colossus once again resumed his search for Noctis.

Sun Prince grabbed two of his gargantuan javelins, then bent slightly, and lunged forward. Gaining incredible speed, the giant leaped into the air, flew across a vast gap between two islands, and landed on the surface of a new one with a thunderous crash.

This island was just one chain away from the Ivory City, with several tall pillars rising into the air to serve as mooring masts for the flying ships. Much more importantly…

From it, the colossus had a clear shot at the last place where Noctis and Solvane had shown themselves, still locked in terrible combat.

Sun Prince gazed into the crimson darkness, and then slowly raised his hand…