Shadow Slave

Dodging a bullet was impossible... well, for a mundane human, at least.

However, dodging a gunshot was not that hard.

After all, the shooter had to raise their arm, take aim, and squeeze the trigger. The hammer had to strike, and the gunpowder had to explode, propelling the bullet forward. All of that took time.

At long distance, there was still little one could do to avoid being shot despite having ample time to react. Things were different in close quarters, though, especially if a fighter was well-trained.

And there was hardly a more trained fighter than Sunny in all of Mirage City.

Even lacking the ability to sense shadows and use Shadow Dance, he still possessed a profound knowledge of countless battle styles and a keen understanding of the fundamental laws of combat — not to mention a morbidly rich battle experience. So, now that Sunny was among the mercenaries, they were already doomed. He shot the first one in the face, then moved to escape the line of fire of the second one. A deafening gunshot rang out, but the bullet whistled past him.

A moment later, Sunny kicked a henchman in the chest, sending him plummeting off the battlement. Taking a swift step forward, he used the mercenary whose bullet he had dodged to shield himself from the guns of two more — they lingered for a split second, hesitant to shoot their own comrade, and he used that split second to plunge his knife into his neck.

By then, someone else was already aiming at him. Pushing the body of the mercenary at his two friends to slow them down a little, Sunny leaned back to avoid another bullet, then leaped forward.

His knife hissed, slicing the shooter’s wrist and forcing the henchman to drop his gun. At the same time, Sunny’s revolver barked twice, and the backs of the heads of the two mercenaries who were staggering because of the thrown body exploded into a bloody haze.

‘Let’s dance...’

Sunny grinned wickedly.

Wielding a gun and a knife, he tore through the remaining mercenaries like a somber reaper. The battlements were relatively narrow, and their numbers were of little use when the enemy was that close — on the contrary, they were a hindrance, since those closer to him prevented those further behind from firing.

The mercenaries were better equipped and far better trained than the members of the Black Snake gang, but they were just as powerless to stop his swift and cold-blooded advance.

Blood spilled on the cold stones, mixing with rainwater. Effie joined him halfway into the slaughter, while Morgan covered them both with several well-placed shots from the safety of the guard tower.

By the time Sunny discharged his sixth and last round, there was a pile of bleeding bodies on the battlements, as well as under the wall in the courtyard below. The remaining henchmen fled, retreating into the main keep.

Making sure that nobody was moving, Sunny exhaled slowly and leaned on the parapet to try to catch his breath. This one skirmish seemed to drain him considerably.

‘I have mundane stamina now... ah, what a pitiful existence...”

All he had done in the past few days was avoid sleep altogether, throw an assassin out of a window, fight Mordret, kill a few thugs targeting Saint, survive a car crash, fight some more thugs, do a bit of investigating, storm an ancient castle under a deluge of bullets, get shot, and dispatch a dozen mercenaries in hand-to-hand combat.

And just because of these few measly things, he was already tired.

‘How embarrassing!’

Sunny was suddenly glad that he had only started dating Nephis after becoming a Saint. Morgan and the Other Mordret caught up with them while he was trying to recover. The latter glanced around the scene of mayhem with wide eyes and then turned to him with a bright smile. ℝ𝒶NộβƐS

“Goodness! Detective, you...”

Just then, something boomed thunderously down in the courtyard, and the entire castle shook. A pillar of fire rose above the walls for a moment and then collapsed, suffocated by the rain.

Ignoring the dull pain in his chest, Sunny took a few steps to the edge of the battlements and peered down.

Mordret seemed to have dealt with Madoc’s henchmen on the other side of the wall and was nowhere to be seen — all that remained in his wake was a trail of bodies. The mercenaries in the courtyard itself had retreated into the main keep... but not before detonating some kind of explosives, it seemed. Or perhaps it was just one of the construction machines that had exploded when a stray bullet hit its fuel tank.

Out there below them, Saint slowly rose from the fire, just as aloof as always. Black smoke and white mist spun around her like a fierce whirlwind, making her onyx-black hair flutter wildly in the wind. Her eyes seemed to glow red as they reflected the dancing flames.

‘She’s alright.’

Sunny let out a relieved sigh.

Saint turned and glanced up, staring directly at him as she absorbed the white mist. Raising a hand, Sunny pointed to the magnificent keep of the Castle and shouted: ”Keep! Let’s rendezvous in the main keep!” She glanced at him for a few seconds, then nodded silently and headed toward the heart of the ancient castle with steady steps.

Sunny turned to his companions and pointed to where an aerial bridge connected the battlements to the towering keep.

”We should hurry, too.”

Sheathing his knife, he searched his pocket and pulled out a bullet — his last bullet, it seemed.

Sunny sighed.

”I’m out.”

He glanced at Effie, who shrugged.

”Me too. Oh... and I dropped my gun when I was hauling that door. It’s somewhere in the courtyard.”

Morgan simply shrugged.

”I’m on my last drum. Couldn’t you have shaken off those gangsters for more ammunition?”

Sunny coughed, then winced when that caused a flash of pain to radiate from his bruised ribs.

”Hey, it’s not an armory, okay? I took everything they had.”

Loading the last round into his revolver, he gripped it and looked ahead, at the great keep of Mirage Castle.

Madoc was somewhere in there... and something was telling him that the Castellan was there, as well.

Sunny holstered the revolver and unsheathed his knife.

“Let’s go. We have a criminal mastermind to catch.”