Shadow Slave

Sunny had never been able to summon the shade of Condemnation, and that was not for the lack of trying.

The shadow of the fallen god simply refused to submit to his will. It was too vast, too ancient, and too unfathomable to be compelled by his commands, while Sunny himself was not nearly powerful enough to assert his authority over it.

In a sense, trying to deal with the shadow of Condemnation was even more difficult than trying to command the Fragment of the Shadow Realm.

After becoming a Supreme, Sunny could manipulate the Fragment a little bit - enough so to separate it from the Nameless Temple, at least, even if it had felt like moving a mountain. The Fragment was devoid of personality, though, while the shadow of Condemnation… it had a mind of its own.

Or a shadow of a mind of its own, at least.

In any case, Sunny could not summon the shadow of Condemnation. The dead god remained in the tranquil darkness of his soul, seemingly at peace, and since it was the only shade of the Sacred Rank there, Sunny simply assumed that he could not command shades of a higher Rank than his own.

After facing the Snow Worm in battle, though, he began to doubt that theory. The Cursed Beast had been frightening and dreadfully powerful, true, but not… beyond the realm of understanding, when compared to Sunny. More than that, Sunny had already experienced if not overpowering, then at least defeating the creature’s Will.

Plus, unlike Condemnation, he had killed the Snow Worm with his own two hands… metaphorically speaking.

In truth, naturally, he had killed it with his boot.

So who was to say that he could not command its shade? How could the shadow of a mere Beast rebel against the Lord of Shadows?

So, that was exactly what Sunny tried to do. He tried to summon the shade of the Snow Worm and make it follow his commands.

The result… was both promising and disappointing.

Just like Condemnation, the Snow Worm… Abundance… refused to answer Sunny’s call. Really, it was not even so much a refusal as it was a flat - out indifference. Both Sacred shades simply ignored Sunny and his commands.

However, unlike Condemnation, Abundance was not so immense as to be indomitable. So, Sunny let his temper flare and descended upon the easy - minded shadow with all the ferocious power of his cold and imposing Will.

’Come here, you!’

…That, too, felt like moving a mountain.

The thing, though, was that Sunny actually possessed enough willpower to move this particular mountain.

And so, the mountain responded his call and came to him.

’Ah…’

Sunny felt a crushing pressure fall upon him the second the shadow of Abundance reluctantly passed through the gate of his soul and escaped into the miniature world of Ariel’s Game.

’That… uh… that should be quicker, no?’

He pretended to smile while wincing on the inside.

Controlling a Sacred shade was different from controlling the other members of his Shadow Legion. Summoning his army of shades, even those of the Supreme Rank, felt effortless and natural. Summoning the shade of Abundance, though, required him to keep overcoming its reluctance both continuously and meticulously. Needless to say, that put quite a strain on Sunny. ṟ𝔞ℕо𐌱Ê𝒮

In short, it was like riding an enraged bull.

…Sunny assumed that bulls were some kind of horse - like creatures who somehow managed to be even more ill - tempered than horses. Considering that the only horse he knew was Nightmare, that painted a pretty horrifying picture.

He did not know why anyone sane would choose to ride such a creature, but the experience must have been similar to his attempts at keeping Abundance under control.

There was another unexpected complication to summoning a Sacred shade, as well. Usually, Sunny did not need to worry about essence while commanding his Shadow Legion - the flow of it he received from his shades was far greater than the expenditure needed to keep them summoned. The situation was reversed for the shadow of Abundance, though. Not only was the Ash Domain weak and feeble when compared to Sunny’s actual Domain, but keeping the damn worm summoned was consuming his essence at a disheartening rate. He would not be able to maintain the summoning indefinitely… he would not be able to maintain it for too long, even, which meant that calling upon Sacred shades was a tool that had to be used strategically.

It was still amazing news for Sunny, though. Not because Abundance would be able to excavate the volcano and retrieve its own figure faster than Kai would, naturally.

Rather, it was because Sunny had been worried about the Rank of his enemies for a while, now. It was a stroke of great luck that the first Snow figure they had faced was a swarm of Great Beasts - slaying them had not only weakened the Snow Domain, but also strengthened Sunny.

If the rest of the nightmare creatures on the board had been Cursed, however, then he would not have been able to grow his army exponentially. And that was what Sunny had been counting on… that was his only hope of winning the Death Game despite starting it in a tremendously disadvantaged position.

In a position so hopeless and dire that it had made Ariel, the Demon of Dread, admit defeat.

’Look carefully, Snow Tyrant, whoever you are.’

Sunny’s smile grew firmer as he watched Abundance burrow into solid rock.

He was going to slay the abominations of the Snow Domain, one after another, and turn them into his own soldiers.

And with those soldiers, he was going to lay siege the Snow Castle, and bring its ruler down.

Best of all, he was going to bring his army of Sacred shades out of Ariel’s Game into the real world.

So, the piece of Weaver’s Lineage was not the only boon he would carry away from this peculiar, lethal miniature world.

’How nice. There are ten of them left, aren’t there?’

Kai glanced at him dubiously.

’What are you thinking about? You look… suspiciously cheerful?’

Sunny laughed happily, I was just thinking about how there are ten more eldritch horrors waiting to kill us in horrendous ways. Isn’t it wonderful?

Kai exhaled slowly.

’Wonderful? Oh, wonderful. Wonderful, he says. And he means it, too! That… is not the word I would have used…’