Shadow Slave

Sunny was too close to dodge the sudden strike, and the Scavenger was too quick to let him. Even though the Sin of Solace was longer than his whole body, the little fiend managed to swing it fast enough to leave the enemy no time to retreat.

'What... the hell...'

Knowing that the jade blade would easily cut him in half, or at least deliver a devastating wound, Sunny stared at the deadly white blur as it approached his torso. The time seemed to have slowed down.

'Is this a joke?'

Without having to do anything, he simply dismissed the Sin of Solace. Instead of the lethal touch of the perfect jade, his skin was washed by a scattering of white sparks.

The gremlin blinked in confusion and then awkwardly clenched his fists, as if trying to understand where the sword he had been just holding went. In the next moment, Sunny kicked him in the chest, sending the abomination flying again. Judging by the satisfying crunch he felt, the plate of bone armor on the Scavenger's chest was broken, and very likely a few of his ribs, too.

...Best of all, the damned sword finally stopped talking.

The wounded fiend bounced off the rocks, rolled a few meters, and then jumped to his feet. He did not seem too wounded to not be able to continue the fight, and more than eager to. However, his expression was slightly pained, and before doing anything, the gremlin hit his head a few times.

Sunny smiled.

It seemed that the annoying whispers had done a number on the Scavenger's mind, as well.

Now, all that was left was to finish the little menace off. Preferably, without losing any more pieces of flesh or getting even more poisoned than he already was...

Sunny just started to consider the best and most painful way to kill the Scavenger, but at that moment, a beautiful sound reached his ears.

It was the ringing of adamantine hooves that was approaching them from somewhere further up the road.

A nasty grin appeared on his face.

"Oh, you are so done now, bastard..."

Nightmare had obliterated his foes and was coming back to assist his master.

The Scavenger seemed to understand the meaning of the ringing, too. He hesitated, staring at Sunny with an expression of burning hatred.

'Time to die.'

...Then, something changed. The expression on the ugly face of the vicious gremlin shifted, turning into one of indescribable fear. Moving his head, the little fiend stared at something behind Sunny's back. But there was nothing there...

Sunny wanted to scoff.

'Does this cretin really think that I will fall for the oldest trick in the book? I wrote that damn book, fool!'

...except for the ocean.

Then again... Sunny had already neglected to look behind himself once today. Which had led to his current pitiful state.

Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine.

With all four shadows wrapped around his body, Sunny could not see what was happening behind him. Gritting his teeth and knowing that he would regret it, he briefly glanced at the dark surface of the water.

The ocean was just as it had been a minute ago, and no horror was lunging at him from the cold waves.

'...No, no, no!'

By the time he looked back, the Scavenger was already gone.

Sunny did not know where the little bastard had disappeared to, but he could not see any trace of him. It was as if the Scavenger had never been here at all.

A stunned expression appeared on Sunny's face.

"Did... did he really... slip away from me? Again?!"

He opened his mouth in disbelief.

'...Damnation!'

Infuriated, Sunny kicked the nearest rock and then spun, hoping against reason to find the hateful gremlin, somehow. He could not have gotten too far away, or hidden too well... there was no telling just what sort of powers the hateful abomination had absorbed by devouring countless Nightmare Creatures, though.

The Scavenger was thoroughly gone.

"I can't believe it! Curse that damned wretch!"

Gritting his teeth, Sunny sent his shadow sense outward, reaching as far as he could in the hope of discovering a hiding goblin.

He did not sense a scrawny shadow of the fiend anywhere...

...He did sense something else, however.

Suddenly, Sunny felt very cold.

Slowly turning around, he looked at the ocean again. The surface of the undulating waves was unchanged...

But somewhere beneath it, at the very edge of his senses, he could feel shadows moving across the ocean floor, drawing closer and closer.

Dozens... no, hundreds and hundreds of them, all heading toward a single point.

Him.

Backing away, Sunny gulped.

'Was... was the little wretch not faking, after all?'

What could have frightened the Scavenger so much that he had chosen to abandon his attempt at murdering Sunny?

'I... better not find out.'

Without a drop of essence in his cores and Black Venom coursing through his veins, Sunny did not feel particularly keen to learn what horrors were approaching him from beneath the waves.

He took a few more steps away and then turned around, noticing a familiar shape.

Nightmare appeared in his view, galloping across the shattered surface of the highway. Following Sunny's command, the black stallion flashed past him without ever slowing down.

As he did, Sunny grabbed the hook of the saddle and pulled himself up, jumping on the back of the galloping steed.

Together, they dashed away from the water, heading north as fast as they could.

Throughout all of it, Sunny never looked back. The feeling of cold dread he felt from the approaching shadows...

It was eerily familiar.

'To hell with this... to hell with it all. This is too damn much for one godforsaken day!'

...The silhouette of the dark courser and his half-naked, battered rider disappeared behind a bend of a mountain slope. And just a few seconds later, the dark waters parted, and the first of the eerie visitors stepped from the water onto the shore.