Shadow Slave

Sunny stared at the lump of metal in Saint’s hand.

Saint stared at it, too.

Effie stared at Sunny and Saint with a funny expression.

”Wow.”

She came closer and inspected the former revolver, then said thoughtfully:

”Is this the power of therapy?”

’What in the world is she saying?’

Sunny finally managed to regain his composure.

At that moment, he smelled something in the air. An acrid stench that assailed his nostrils despite the rain.

Smoke.

His eyes widened a little.

’Oh, no.’

”Help me get him out!”

Behind them, the leaking fuel had finally ignited, and fire was swiftly spreading across the overturned PTV.

”Crap.”

Forgetting her jokes, Effie grabbed the deformed passenger door and tried to pry it open. Sadly, even her incredible strength was not enough to dislodge it — the door was bent completely out of shape and stuck, jammed by something from inside.

It only took Sunny a split second to evaluate the situation.

Finally taking what remained of the revolver from Saint’s hand, he gestured to the PTV.

”Dr. Saint… can you give it a try?”

Still showing symptoms of being in shock, she nodded slowly, and then reached forward to grab the edges of the deformed door.

The bent metal simply tore like paper under her fingers, and a moment later, she easily ripped the door of its hinges.

Dropping it to the ground, Saint stared at her hands in dazed silence.

”Great job!”

Sadly, Sunny did not have time to comfort her at the moment. Diving into the interior of the battered PTV, which was slowly filling with fire and smoke, he swiftly cut the seat belt and grabbed the unconscious form of the Other Mordret.

A second later, Sunny had already dragged the CEO of the Valor Group out of the PTV. The fire just barely managed to lick his designer leather shoes.

Falling into a puddle, Sunny let out a stifled groan and allowed the rain to cool down his face.

’Ah… damnation.’

He had been stabbed yesterday. Today, he was hit by a PTV.

What the hell was going to happen tomorrow?

Before Sunny could relax, Effie grabbed him and hoisted him to his feet.

”What are you doing?!”

Sunny stared at her in confusion.

Exasperated, Effie pointed at the burning PTV, which was already spouting billowing pillars of black smoke.

”Flammable fuel, remember?! It’s going to explode!”

Sunny stared at her with confusion for a moment, then shuddered and jumped to his feet.

He grabbed Saint and dragged her away,while Effie hoisted the Other Mordret on her shoulder like a sack of synthpaste and followed.

They dashed forward, suffering from the pain in their bruised and injured bodies, only stopping when they were a safe distance away.

Sunny fell to the ground again, and this time, Effie followed, panting heavily after she placed Mordret down.

They looked back at the burning car, preparing to duck down when it blew up.

However…

A few seconds passed, and then a few more.

And then, even more still.

Effie scrunched his face.

”Huh… why isn’t it exploding?”

Sunny gave her a long look, then palmed his face and let out a long sigh.

”Why would it explode? Flammable and explosive are two entirely different things! There’s not even much pressure in the fuel tank!”

Effie blinked a few times.

”But they always explode in the movies!”

Sunny groaned.

”Do you believe everything you see in the movies? There are movies about you, damn it! And those are completely fabricated!”

Effie remained silent for a while, then coughed sheepishly.

”Oh. Right. Makes sense.”

Sunny wanted to say more, but at that moment, a new PTV appeared out of the rain, sliding on the wet asphalt and stopping just in front of them.

He would have prepared for another fight if not for the fact that this PTV was quite familiar — it was Effie’s family car, which they had entrusted to ȒÅꞐÖʙĚ𝙨

Morgan.

Sunny had suspected that getting the Other Mordret out would not be easy. So, Morgan had been left behind to make sure that his security detail did not catch up to them, then follow them from a distance.

Her secondary goal had been to check if anyone else was following the CEO of the Valor Group — as a result, she called Effie and informed her about the pursuing vehicles.

Granted, the plan did not go as intended, in the end. Sunny had hoped to meet up with Morgan further down the road and change vehicles before retreating back to the abandoned church, so that nobody could track them. Sadly, the pursuers ended up acting far more aggressively than he had anticipated, resulting in a car crash and a bloody fight.

…In hindsight, it was for the best.

If everything had gone without a hitch, Saint would not have absorbed the white mist and regained some of her power.

The door of Effie’s PTV opened, and Morgan walked out into the rain, still wearing oversized clothes.

It was a bit funny, to see the elegant Princess of Valor in such a peculiar outfit… but Sunny wisely held his comments back,knowing that he could very

well lose at least a finger or two if he said anything.

Morgan stopped for a moment to take in the sight of the carnage.

An overturned PTV was enveloped in flames, with a pillar of black smoke rising into the sky. Another vehicle was standing tilted to one side, its entire forward portion crushed. The road was covered in blood, with two motionless bodies soaking in the rain.

Sunny and Effie were both battered and sitting on the ground, Saint was standing above them with a lost expression, while the Other Mordret was unconscious, his stylish suit charred and dirty.

Morgan stared at him for a long while, then sneered and looked away.

”Having fun without me? What, were these two highly skilled, elite assassins too?”

Sunny shook his head.

”They were trained, for sure… but actually, there had been eight of them.”

Effie nodded somberly.

”Until Miss Saint shot six of them dead, and then... ate them.”

Saint flinched and looked at her with wide eyes.

Morgan frowned.

”Let’s leave the explanations for later. For now, get in the car.”

Sunny hesitated for a few moments, then shook his head again.

”This altercation was far too public. We’ll need to give some sort of explanation, unless we want to become official fugitives.”

He sighed.

”And we can’t become fugitives, because that would give the entire city a legitimate reason to hunt us down — an opportunity that the Castellan won’t ever miss. So, take Saint and the Other Mordret and go. Effie and I will stay and deal with the repercussions.”

Morgan gave him a cold glance, lingered for a while, and then nodded.

”Alright. You two look like you need to visit a hospital, anyway. I promise I won’t kill this… person… before we meet again.”

With that, she pulled her leather gloves up, bent down, and grabbed the Other Mordret.

”Dr. Saint, please get into the car.”

Saint looked at her for a few moments, then quietly climbed into Effie’s PTV.

Soon enough, the PTV drove off, leaving Sunny and Effie alone at the scene of the crime.

She sighed.

”You know what? I never thought I’d be a cop one day. What about you?”

Sunny considered her question for a bit.

”Actually, I had been a cop for a day, once.”

She looked at him with a stunned expression.

”Really? What did you do?”

Sunny shrugged tiredly.

”Tracked an unhinged Awakened and helped the government put him down. You know how it is.”

Effie stared at him for a while, then threw her head back and laughed.

”Oh?And when you did… did you think that you’ll be the unhinged Awakened, one day?”

Sunny smiled tiredly.

To be honest, he had been a little bit unhinged back then, already...