Shadow Slave

Somewhere far below, Azarax was engaged in a battle against the Ash Tyrant and two Ash Beasts — the ones Sunny, Kai, and Slayer had once replaced inside Ariel’s Game, and whom Seishan cleverly imprisoned in the Dollhouse.

Naturally, releasing at least one Cursed Nightmare Creature into the world was nothing to be happy about. That said… there were no human settlements in Ariel’s Hell or anywhere near it, and even a Cursed Tyrant would find it difficult to escape the harrowing sea of white dunes.

So, Sunny allowed himself to feel a hint of vindictive joy.

His body was still in terrible pain after the short clash with the Deathless Sovereign, so he hoped that the bastard would feel some pain in his bones, as well.

Still kneeling on the deck of the Chain Breaker, Sunny gritted his teeth and pushed away the maddening litany of the Call. Then, he tied the strip of white fabric Nephis had given him around his eyes, and only then stood up to evaluate the situation.

It was difficult to understand what was happening around him from the chaotic movement of shadows, but Sunny managed to get the general picture.

‘D—damnation.’

The Chain Breaker was like a tiny island of purity in a vast and terrifying ocean of horrors, besieged from all sides and only a small mistake away from being destroyed at any given moment.

The flying vessel was within the ghastly swarm of Nightmare Butterflies by now, ascending slowly. Saint had put its bottom parallel to the dark slope of the Tomb of Ariel, no more than a few meters left between the two, so that it was protected at least from one side… it was as if the Chain Breaker was sailing on the endless, perfectly flat surface on black stone.

As if it was sailing across a sea of Nightmares.

The giant Nightmare Butterflies swarmed all around it, but were kept at bay — for now — by the three defenders of the flying vessel. Nephis, the Puppeteer, and Slayer were engaged in fierce battle against the swarm of Great abominations, each straining to defend one-third of the black sky.

The sky where Nephis fought was a sea of white flames, the blinding light of the Blessing breaking through the dark, swarming mass of horrid abominations from time to time. She was killing enough of them to rebuild her soul cores, but was going all out, burning and detonating the newly formed cores as soon as they were born — to kill more Nightmare Butterflies and repeat the process.

The pain and agony of it all had to be ghastly, and she was struggling against the Call at the same time. Sunny’s heart was bleeding for her, but at the same time…

The unimaginable scale of devastation she had unleashed was both traumatic and radiant. It seemed far beyond what a demigod was meant to be capable of, encroaching upon the authority of the divine. Watching her was like watching a goddess descend into Hell to visit heavenly punishment upon the fiends who dwelled there… a stunning and awesome sight to behold.

At the moment, though, Sunny was more interested in the other two defenders of the Chain Breaker.

For no other reason than that they belonged to him, and therefore made him stronger with each Great abomination they slayed. In the sky where the Puppeteer fought, there was a vast and dreadful hurricane of billowing black silk. The titanic moth moved through the swarm, piercing and slicing the Nightmare Butterflies apart with its black threads. The Puppeteer was also defending itself with the silk, while at the same time using its superior size and strength to rend the abominations apart.

Sadly, its colossal size was both an advantage and a disadvantage in this fight. It allowed the great black moth to dominate the sky, yes, but it also made it easier for the Nightmare Butterflies to attack it.

Already, the body of the Puppeteer was shredded and battered, its enormous wings covered in gruesome rifts, its titanic silhouette shrouded in vast trails of ghostly fog.

The Puppeteer would be destroyed soon… it was not destroyed yet, though, and its sheer size prevented most of the abominations from reaching the Chain Breaker.

In the sky where Slayer fought in her draconic form, slaughter and malevolence reigned. The black dragon moved among the Nightmare Butterflies that lunged at her, tearing at her obsidian scales, ripping them apart with her talons, her terrifying maw, and breaking their wings with her long and powerful tail.

From time to time, torrents of lightless black flame escaped her maw with a dreadful roar, annihilating the Great abominations. That flame was not really fire, but something else — something different, cold, but just as merciless and devastating. It had an insidious quality to it, biting into the flesh of the abominations, sapping them of life, and seemingly feeding on it, spreading until its prey shriveled and disintegrated into black dust.

Slayer had entered this fight already battered and wounded, and now, she was even closer to being destroyed. However, that did not lessen her cold malice and bloodlust, and only made them more intense instead. It was as if the closer to true death she was, the more fearsome and ferocious she became.

Just like she had been in the Shadow Realm, when she battled Sunny on the enormous shadow of Condemnation.

All three of the defenders of the Chain Breaker were astoundingly fearsome…

But, still, their fearsome strength was not enough.

Not nearly enough.

The Nightmare Butterflies were already getting past them, diving toward the Chain Breaker. Saint had managed to evade them, for now, by steering the flying ship with steady precision, but she would not be able to keep it up much longer — because there were more and more abominations around her, and less and less space for her to maneuver.

Luckily, Sunny was here now.

“Saint!”

His battered figure separated into seven identical copies. One replaced Saint at the steering oars, while the other six prepared themselves for battle.

At the same time, Sunny inhaled deeply and summoned the shades…

The shades of the Nightmare Butterflies Slayer and the Puppeteer had already slayed.

They belonged to him now, after all.

Just as another abomination dove toward the Chain Breaker, dozens of them — hundreds, perhaps — escaped from his shadow like a dark tide.

They instantly tore the Great Monster apart and spread around the Chain Breaker, circling it like a tenebrous shield.

‘Not bad for the start…’

That was the horror of the Shadow Legion. Everything Sunny or his servants killed became a part of it, and therefore, the longer a battle lasted, the stronger his army became.

In theory, at least.

A hundred — or even a thousand — Nightmare Butterfly shades were not going to survive against millions of them, naturally. But they could at least buy the Chain Breaker a chance to make it inside the Tomb of Ariel and reach the Great River. So, Sunny had to endure the debilitating, harrowing cacophony of the Call and concentrate on increasing the number of these eerie shades as quickly as possible. Saint had already crossed the sharply inclined deck and reached the tip of the flying vessel, summoning a bow as her cold gaze turned forward. With her long hair whipping in the wind, she raised her fearsome black bow and drew its string, taking aim at the nearest abomination.

A black arrow struck the Great Monster in the head, and its entire giant body exploded into a cloud of viscera and black haze.

‘Good idea.’

Steering the Chain Breaker, Sunny sent his six incarnations into battle. Two summoned bows of their own, while four manifested wings with black, glistening feathers.

Out of those four, two manifested long spears and soared into the air, joining the Nightmare Butterfly shades that protected the flying ship. Two more flew toward where Slayer was fighting deep within the swarm — one to augment her, one to fight by her side.

Finally, Sunny commanded Serpent to assume the shape of the King of Swords and take position near the main mast of the Chain Breaker, where the sacred tree grew from the wooden deck, to defend it with the dark swords it was able to control in that form.

‘Now, we just need to hold fast.’

The question was…

Would they be able to?

With each moment, the Chain Breaker was traveling higher across the endless black expanse of the Tomb of Ariel.

And each moment, it was moving deeper into the apocalyptic swarm of the Nightmare Butterflies.

Only a small portion of them had swarmed out of the great pyramid, but even that amount was enough to wash over entire realms and obliterate them completely.

One Great abomination used to be a mythical threat, terrifying enough to eradicate all life on a populous continent. Thousands of them?

…Millions?

The horror hidden inside the Tomb of Ariel could wash and destroy not just any realm, but the Dream Realm itself… the Dream Realm, the waking world, and all of existence.

Sunny and Nephis had been able to protect the Chain Breaker so far not because they were strong enough to contend against the vast cloud of the Great abominations.

It was simply because so far, the Chain Breaker had been flying through the outer edges of the descending swarm.

Once the Nightmare Butterflies were upon them properly…

Sunny froze for a moment, and then forced himself to continue fighting, pushing away the chilling feeling of despair that had crawled into his heart.

What he was not able to push away, however, was the Call… and the utter, animalistic horror that was slowly washing away his reason.

‘Damn it, damn it, damn it…’