Shadow Slave

’How ironic.”

The immortals stood at the boundary of the vast plaza, their beautiful and youthful figures drowning in the stark darkness cast by the tall buildings of the Eternal City. Only their eyes glistened like cold silver stars, reflecting the light of the magnificent spires.

They seemed to be studying the Shadow Legion with curious smiles... but that was an illusion. By now, Sunny knew that their smiles were merely masks that these abominations wore to resemble humans.

There was nothing human about them, though.

Now that he could see them clearer, he noticed things that had escaped him during the frenetic battle with the fiend who had welcomed them to the city. Something moved under their supple skin from time to time, as if straining to escape, and their breathtaking faces turned monstrous for a split second now and then.

Before, Sunny had assumed that these abominations took human shape to hide their harrowing nature. But now, he realized that they looked human through no effort or will of their own.

On the contrary, the beautiful immortals were endlessly straining to become monsters. It was just that every time their bodies began to mutate into grotesque abominations, the same sorcery that granted them endless life returned their flesh to its original form.

So, they were not fiends who pretended to be humans. Instead, they were monsters trapped in human bodies against their will...

For all eternity.

This eerie contradiction made his skin crawl, and considering that the skin of these fallen immortals literally crawled, that only disturbed Sunny more. While it seemed like the beautiful youths were observing the Shadow Legion with curiosity, in fact, they were simply waiting for more of them to arrive.

A few figures turned into a crowd, and a crowd turned into a swarm.

The swarm flowed onto the plaza like a tide.

Sunny inhaled deeply.

’Here we go.’

His mind spun like a wheel.

What was the best way to fight these monsters? How could he achieve victory, and do it in a way that was the most beneficial for him and the Shadow Legion? Sunny considered what he needed to do for a brief moment and quickly came up with an answer.

Funnily enough, it was almost offensively simple.

At the beginning of his journey as an Awakened, Sunny had mostly relied on his skill and combat intelligence to survive. His technique, physical prowess, and state of mind had decided the outcome of battles.

Later, however, things changed. As both Sunny and his enemies grew more powerful, most of his victories were earned by his wit and his soul arsenal instead. Skill and martial prowess were still of vital importance, of course, serving as the irreplaceable foundation of everything, but he won countless battles by using obscure enchantments of inconspicuous Memories in unexpected ways.

The outcome of battles he fought these days, meanwhile, was often decided by more mystical forces. Who was stronger, whose power was more versatile? Who knew how to use it best? In the clashes of deities, the very concepts of what they were often played the most important role.

Facing the swarm of immortal abominations, though, Sunny realized that he had made a full circle. Since the conquest of the Eternal City would come down to a battle of attrition, Sunny had to minimize his losses. And to minimize his losses, he had to adhere to a wholly primitive set of tactical values.

’There was no trick to overcoming this trial, just mundane warfare. The greatest advantage Sunny wielded was that his Shadow Legion was an organized combat force, while the fallen immortals, while dreadfully powerful, were merely a monstrous mob. So, he had to make sure that his shades fought with the skill and technique of exalted warriors, and that all of them displayed flawless cohesion.

Beyond that, the tried and tested rules of military strategy would be of utmost importance. He had to prevent the enemy from flanking his army, for example, and use terrain to his advantage. Whenever possible, he would have to reduce his losses by building or usurping fortifications. Even the simplest elements of warfare, like battle formations, would once again become vital.

It was a far cry from the conceptual battles and clashes of opposing Aspects... but it was also familiar territory. So, Sunny was able to adjust his mentality swiftly.

There were mere moments left before the fallen immortals descended on the battle formation of the Shadow Legion...

And in those few moments, Sunny made a decision.

With the nature of the battle for the Eternal City being what it is, his ability to finely control each of his shades was more important than ever. He had already achieved great success in that regard thanks to Mind Weave, but even that was not enough.

So, taking a deep breath, he summoned one more shade.

’The Rat King was resting in the lightless expanse of his soul now... which meant that Sunny could call upon a different Sacred shadow.

As the fallen immortals rushed forward, their bodies rippling and bursting into torrents of eviscerating flesh, a colossal silhouette appeared above the plaza. Then, a titanic black moth opened its vast wings, perched atop the main tower of the Dark Castle and looming over its walls.

Sunny had summoned the shadow of Puppeteer Moth, the Spirit of Doubt.

As it regarded the plaza with its enormous black eyes, countless strands of ethereal black silk shot forward, spreading through the air like a spiderweb — so thin as to almost be invisible.

Each of those strings buried itself in the back of a shade, connecting them all to the Puppeteer.

At the same time, one of Sunny’s incarnations turned into a shadow and wrapped itself around the Sacred shade, sharing its senses.

”Aaah...’

Sunny shuddered, overwhelmed by the feeling of fusing with the shadow of a Sacred being. It was too strange, too vast, too great for him to fathom fully... But he did fathom the connection between the Puppeteer and the soldiers of the Shadow Legion.

Like that, Sunny gained nearly flawless control of his undying army.