Shadow Slave: Eternal Madness

Raphael stood behind Sunny. In front of him, on the screen, the face of Master Jet appeared.

"Sunny, I have a new mission for you…"

Soul Reaper seemed a bit tired as she spoke from the screen:

"...a bit of a problem. There's a Category Three Gate blocking their way, guarded by a powerful Corrupted creature. From the initial observation, it's at least a Devil… but it could also be a Tyrant. Winter can't handle it alone. You and I are the closest, so… buckle up. Separate from your division and move southeast at full speed until you reach the rendezvous point. It's about seventy kilometers away from your current position."

Sunny briefly studied the map, then said hesitantly:

"A Corrupted Tyrant… are you sure the four of us can manage killing it?"

All Corrupted abominations were frightening, but a Tyrant… the thought of facing one in battle made Sunny feel ill at ease.

Master Jet didn't seem to share his concerns. She grinned darkly and shook her head.

"The four of us are enough. However, this time, we won't be fighting alone. Someone else will be joining the fun."

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

"Who?"

Soul Reaper leaned forward slightly.

"A Saint…"

Raphael sighed as he heard Jet's words.

'It must be the time when Sunny gets Sin of Solace.'

Raphael knew how important Sin of Solace would be in the future. Without it, conquering the third nightmare would be impossible—or nearly so, if everything went according to plan.

With a sigh, Sunny sent Luster the coordinates of the rendezvous point and walked over to the pilot's cabin.

"We have new orders. Get to this location as fast as possible."

The young man yawned, studied the coordinates for a bit, and then nodded.

"Aye, sir."

He lingered for a moment.

"Uh… by the way, what's there?"

Sunny shrugged with a nonchalant expression.

"A Corrupted Tyrant? Something like that."

Luster paled, stared at him with wide eyes, and suddenly grew very quiet.

Raphael walked toward two Masters locked in a heated conversation.

"...is definitely a woman. Hot as hell, too!"

"I'm telling you, idiot, I saw that Mongrel guy myself once. He's definitely a man."

"Everyone knows you're blind in both eyes when it comes to these things, Reaper. I mean… remember the time when that handsome Saint tried to hit on you?"

"What are you talking about? He just wanted to cooperate with us to claim a new Citadel."

"Damn. You're hopeless, you know that? All men…"

Raphael sighed and interrupted:

"That woman is not Mongrel."

Master Jet and Winter turned to him. Winter raised an eyebrow and asked:

"What do you mean she isn't Mongrel? And how do you know that?!"

"As I said, she isn't Mongrel. I'm sure of it. And how do I know… ask my Captain, who sent me to that gate… alone."

'I sent Saint and Nightmare to help you, ungrateful bastard,' Raphael thought bitterly.

Master Jet smiled and waved at him.

"Ah, Sunny. You're just on time. The Saint should be arriving any moment now, too."

He couldn't help but frown.

"Who, exactly, is…"

At that moment, a vaguely familiar feeling suddenly overwhelmed him. Sunny sensed a massive shadow covering the ruined outpost, followed by a sound resembling the rustle of a thousand wings.

A fourth figure appeared among them.

The woman standing in front of Sunny was tall and slender, with long hair cascading in waves of pale gold. Her posture was perfectly straight, and her cold face was dazzlingly beautiful.

Sunny blinked, momentarily lost for words.

"Saint... Saint Tyris? What are you doing here?"

Before him stood none other than Sky Tide of the White Feather Clan.

———————————————————

Everyone turned to Sunny, waiting for him to share information about the guardian.

Sunny glanced at Saint Tyris, Master Jet, Raphael, and Winter with a dark expression.

"…It's a Tyrant, alright. Large, thick armor. Resembles an insect. There are around five hundred drones under its command, many of them Fallen. I've noticed at least two dozen Corrupted lieutenants, as well."

He paused before calling out:

"Kimmy!"

The Seer of his cohort activated her Aspect Ability, allowing Sunny to see the swarm of stone beetles in a new light.

After a few moments, Sunny shared what little he had been able to gather, then glanced at the others with doubt.

"So… what do we do now?"

Saint Tyris remained silent, but Master Jet smiled.

Her smile was dark and vicious.

"What else? We kill it."

Sunny blinked.

"How?"

Soul Reaper waited a moment, then looked at Sky Tide.

The Transcendent crossed her arms.

"I'll handle the Tyrant. As long as it's bound to the ground, I can attack the creature with impunity. If one strike doesn't crack its shell, ten will. If ten strikes fail, a hundred will do the job."

She looked at the Irregulars and frowned.

"However, you'll have to deal with its retinue. That task… is not going to be easy."

Winter snorted and suddenly laughed.

"Easy? What's that?"

———————————————————

Raphael sighed as he looked ahead. His role this time was long-range support.

With a practiced motion, he sliced his chest, and blood gushed out, pooling on the ground.

Master Jet glanced at him and frowned.

"How long will you need?"

Raphael wiped his blade clean and replied:

"I don't know... maybe ten minutes?"

Jet cursed under her breath and summoned her glaive, the dark blade glowing faintly in her grip.

Behind her, Saint Tyris hurled her javelin high into the sky, aimed at the Corrupted Tyrant. The weapon struck true, but barely left a mark on the thick, milky-white chitin.

Meanwhile, Winter and Samara unleashed a volley of arrows and bullets, tearing through the advancing horde.

The tide of abominations was nearly upon them.

Jet turned to Sunny, her sharp voice cutting through the chaos.

"Sunny!"

He turned to see her running toward him, her short raven-black hair flying in the wind, her chilling blue eyes burning with resolve. Her black leather armor clung tightly to her, and her glaive trailed behind her like an extension of her will.

Sunny crouched slightly and interlocked his fingers, creating a step. As soon as Soul Reaper's foot landed in his hands, he strained his muscles and launched her into the air.

Boosted by three shadows, his strength was monstrous. Jet soared forward like an arrow, her glaive flashing as it sliced cleanly through one of the Corrupted creatures. The abomination stumbled, its massive body convulsing before collapsing in a lifeless heap.

Raphael, still preparing his technique, glanced up briefly. His expression darkened. He could finish in a minute, but exposing his regeneration ability was too risky—it would jeopardize everything.

Sunny fought with ferocity, cutting through the abominations with precision, but the endless tide was overwhelming. They weren't meant to win this outright—they just needed to hold the line until either Saint Tyris killed the Tyrant or Raphael completed his preparation.

The battlefield descended into chaos. Blood and viscera covered the ground as Sunny pushed himself to the limit, his shadows weaving through the enemy like deadly vipers.

From above, Raphael unfurled his black wings and ascended into the sky. Fifty blood spears materialized behind him, floating ominously.

Raphael's ability allowed him to manipulate his body to his will, and with the enhancement of his Nether bloodline, he could even control detached parts of himself.

Controlling all the spears took a heavy toll on his mind and soul essence, but that was nothing to a Titan like him, and the toll in his mind was nothing compared to the agony of Mohg's torture in his second nightmare.

One by one, the blood spears rained down, piercing abominations and leaving destruction in their wake. Each spear carried a drop of Raphael's blood, which lingered inside the corpses, ensuring their demise.

"Captain! Leave everything here to me and help Saint Tyris!" Raphael called out.

Sunny nodded, diving into the shadows.

With the line of defense momentarily secured, Raphael shifted his focus to the Corrupted lieutenants. His spears descended in coordinated strikes, thinning their numbers.

Among the chaos, Raphael spotted Jet, surrounded but holding her ground. Her glaive moved with deadly precision, but the strain was beginning to show.

Raphael directed several blood spears to her aid, skewering the Corrupted abominations threatening her.

The battle raged on, and Sunny found a brief moment to look skyward. Above, Saint Tyris clashed with the Corrupted Tyrant, her strikes relentless but unable to break through its thick armor.

Sunny gritted his teeth and summoned Morgan's Warbow.

The black bow appeared in his hands, its weight familiar and reassuring. Drawing the bowstring, Sunny infused the weapon with essence.

[Soul Arrow.]

[Death Dealer.]

A golden arrow materialized, glowing faintly with a deadly radiance. Its broadhead gleamed with an otherworldly light, designed to slice through flesh and cause devastating damage.

Sunny took aim, time seeming to slow as he wrapped his shadows around the arrow. Then, with a deep breath, he let it fly.

The golden arrow tore through the air, striking the Corrupted Tyrant's translucent wings. It didn't aim to kill—Sunny knew that was impossible with a single strike. Instead, the arrow pierced one wing and lodged into the base of another.

[Burden of Peace.]

The enchantment activated, causing the arrow's weight to increase drastically, as if it were a ship's anchor.

Grounded by the weight, the Tyrant's movements faltered.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Saint Tyris lunged, her talons slashing through the remaining wings. With a powerful strike, she sent the massive jade beetle plummeting.

Wounded and barely able to keep its weight in the air, the Corrupted Tyrant was ruthlessly sent into a perilous fall. The jade beetle tried to slow down the speed of it, but failed. A few moments later, the massive body hit the slope of the mountain with a thunderous crash...

The Jade beetle falling down crashed into the mountain with terrible speed.

The impact caused the whole slope to tremble, as if from a powerful earthquake.

As a result, not only Sunny, but also every other Irregular, as well as every soldier of the stone hive, were suddenly thrown to the ground.

'Argh... damn...'

Slightly disoriented, Sunny sat up and looked around.

Sunny strained to regain his wits and frowned.

'...Did I do that?'

The damage seemed too exaggerated to be done by Sunny or his shadow tentacles. He couldn't see very far, either, because a wall of white stone was blocking his view.

'Where... where did this crag come from?'

If he remembered correctly, there were no large boulders or tall outcroppings near where he had fought. Had he rolled that far down the slope?

As Sunny was trying to understand why a wall of rock suddenly appeared in front of him, a stream of inky black liquid flowed down its smooth white surface.

Then, the wall of stone slightly moved.

...His eyes widened.

'Oh... crap...'

Craning his neck, Sunny managed to get a better look at the thing that he had assumed to be a stone cliff. Of course, it was not.

Instead, it was the carapace of the Corrupted Tyrant that had been thrown into the mountain by Sky Tide's vicious attack. The creature seemed battered, with its milky-white chitin cracked in several places and leaking viscous black blood... but very much alive.

In fact, at the same time as Sunny looked up at it, the jade beetle's expressionless black eye shifted and peered directly at him. Its terrifying mandibles move slightly.

'Oh, crap!'

Sunny jumped back at the same time as one of Tyrant's legs came down, shattering the mountain slope and sending another tremor running through it He was only saved by his quick reaction and a bit of luck.

Suddenly spear of blood came penetrating it's white-milky chitin.

"Kill it captain, my spears didn't penetrate enough!"

Sunny looked at Raphael who was still flying in the sky, his face looked pale like there was no blood inside of him.

"D-Damnation!"

In the middle of the Jade beetle a hole was made by one of Raphael spears, the spear lost it's shape and made a small pile of blood that was melting the chitin of the beetle.

Sunny cursed his mind and summoned the Underworld Mantle, he then summoned the Shadow lantern.

From the Shadoe lantern, shadow emerged taking the shape of a large spear.

Sunny took the spear and using his [Feather of Truth] he made himself as heavy as possible and thrusted his shadow spear into the hole.

The Jade screamed and tried to move, but in the end it stopped moving and Sunny heard the Nightmare Spell voice.

[You have slain a Corrupted Tyrant, Remnant of the Jade Queen.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

[You have received a Memory.]

With the Jade beetle dead Saint Tyris joined the battle with the other irregulars.

And after 5 minutes the battle was over.

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I don't know if I wrote the battle good, I hope there wasn't any plot holes.

Anyway next chapter will be LO49.

See you tomorrow👋