Shadow Slave

Strategy was not an easy discipline, and when it involved armies capable of performing miraculous feats, it was downright hellish. Sometimes, though, the mystical nature of the warriors fighting these mythical battles offered Sunny a great advantage.

The Shadow Legion had countless advantages over a mundane army, even if the overall power of its soldiers was not taken into account.

The silent shades did not need to eat or drink, for example, and neither did they need shelter from the elements. That alone all but eliminated one of the most vital and laborious tasks of military strategy: establishing supply lines and maintaining logistics.

The shades were immune to disease and sickness, as well, which eliminated the main cause of deaths and casualties in the history of war - more soldiers had perished from disease than had been killed by adversary weapons, after all.

In fact, Sunny’s shades were downright immortal. Even if they were vanquished in a battle, they would rise from the dark depths of his soul anew before too long. So he did not even need to worry about casualties, in the traditional sense. However, there was one particular advantage the Shadow Legion possessed that was easier to overlook, but carried just as much weight.

It was how mobile his shades were.

Many battles in history had been decided simply by which of the competing armies was better at maneuvering. Mobility reigned on the battlefield, and it also reigned in war - that was why nomadic horsemen had always been a nearly unstoppable force, for example.

Needless to say, the Shadow Legion was far more mobile than ancient horsemen. Before, Sunny had been aiming to conquer the Eternal City, and he had also needed to spread the fallen immortals thin. That was why he had staged the battle across three separate islands.

Now, however, his goal had changed. The enemy forces were already divided, as well.

So why did he need to continue ignoring one of his greatest advantages?

As the abominable horrors of the Eternal City engaged Slayer’s bestial army in the embrace of a calamitous blizzard, he commanded his shades to disengage and retreat. Then, he called all but one of them back into the dark expanse of his soul and stepped into the shadows, carrying Slayer and Serpent with him.

The fallen immortals were left alone in the blinding blizzard summoned by the shade of the Winter Beast.

Sunny brought his Shadows to the tangle of streets of the leisure district, behind the mass of fallen immortals besieging the Hippodrome.

And there, he opened the gates of his soul once again, calling the bestial army back.

Serpent flowed forward like a river of onyx scales, letting out a terrifying hiss. Slayer jumped onto his back, nocking an arrow onto the string of her bow.

The Shadow Wolves, the Obsidian Wasps, the Ember Queen, and the legion of monstrous millipedes rushed forward like a tide.

Just like that, the abominations assaulting the black fortress were pincered between its defenders and a new, equal force of deadly shades. Not only were they attacked from the rear, but the strength of the enemy facing them had also doubled, instantly and completely shifting the balance of battle.

If that was not enough, one more incarnation of Sunny joined the fight, which meant that the capacity of the Curse doubled as well.

It was a massacre. The fallen immortals, who had already been slowly losing the battle after breaking themselves against the walls of the Hippodrome, suddenly found themselves assaulted from two sides.

From the rear, Slayer and her bestial army bit into their abominable flesh with primal fury. The defenders of the black fortress suddenly abandoned the battlements and attacked, with Saint and Fiend leading the charge.

Freed from having to maintain the fortifications reinforcing the Hippodrome, Sunny could manifest numerous chains to hold the disabled abominations down. More of them were restrained and immobilized, taking them out of the fight — and with each immortal who had been taken down, the burden on the remaining ones only increased.

It was as if they were buried under an avalanche of losses.

Which was a good thing.

After all, his sudden maneuver could only end up being beneficial if victory was achieved swiftly. If he lingered for too long, the nightmare creatures from the residential district would simply move westward to the park island, and his forces located there would find themselves overwhelmed and outflanked just like these monstrous creatures were.

’Faster... faster...’

Before too long, Saint and Fiend met Slayer and Serpent in the middle of the battlefield. The battle was all but finished by then the shades finished off the remaining immortals and restrained them, the obliterated buildings restored themselves, and the damaged Hippodrome was rebuilt, returning to its previous spotless condition.

The Dream Curse spread among the disabled abominations like a plague, claiming more and more of them.

It seemed like Nightmare was doing well in his own battle, as well.

Sunny would have liked to celebrate his victory, but there was no time. Instead of resting, he stepped through the shadows once again.

Soon, the four Shadows - Saint, Slayer, Fiend, and Serpent — as well as both armies — appeared among the silver trees of the beautiful park, encircling the forces attacking the Dark Castle.

The immortals who had been left in the dreadful blizzard on the residential island had just started crossing the bridge by then, with most of them still lost in the raging snow.

The shadow of the Puppet shifted slightly on its perch atop the tallest tower of the Dark Castle, casting the eerie gaze of its enormous black eyes onto the bloody battlefield below.

Now, there were four of Sunny’s incarnations present here.

As the reinforcements attacked the immortals from the flanks, the shadow of Daeron leaped down from the tall walls of the Marvelous Mimic. The mighty spear salvaged in the Hippodrome fleshed like lightning, causing havoc among the hideous abominations.

In the next moment, the Mimic itself stirred.

’show them hell!

Even though Sunny did not speak his command aloud, his Shadows seemed to have heard him.

And so, they did.