[SHADOW SLAVE] / Clash With Fate

"Is he here?"

"Yes, he's asleep down below… if bones even sleep in the first place."

"Do you have a plan to kill him? I mean, how do you plan to kill a pile of bones?"

Sunny thought for a moment, then turned his gaze toward Nephis. Nephis seemed to be trying to understand what he was implying, but Sunny spoke after looking at her for a while.

"I don't have a good plan… but Nephis does."

"Me?!"

"Yes, you."

Nephis looked at him in disbelief, a sense of betrayal filling her. He had just used her as a sacrificial pawn! Everyone's eyes turned to her with anticipation. Honestly, no one wanted to follow any plan set by the pale madman. To them, Nephis was an angel in comparison.

"So what's the plan, Princess?"

"Burn him?… I guess."

The hopeful expressions on Effie's, Caster's, and Kai's faces vanished. The only one who was happy with that was Sunny.

"That's great! I love this plan."

A black odachi appeared in Sunny's hand, exuding sharpness and danger—it felt like death itself was breathing from it. Then he gave the group a wide smile. Upon seeing it, they tried to stop him.

"You bastard, stop!"

"Sunny, don't jump!"

Their words fell on deaf ears as Sunny jumped off the cliff to meet the sleeping pile of bones. Sunny enhanced himself with four shadows, and with his innate ability, he was sixteen times stronger than any Sleeper. He had even surpassed Effie in physical strength. He summoned the Mantle of the Underworld—it was the best defense he had.

"Hello, Lord of the Dead. You're awfully rude to claim that title in front of me. I mean, it's pretty clear who the real Lord of the Deads is here, right?"

Behind him, Nephis descended the slope, holding her sword. Although the Dreamblade was a dormant weapon, its flame made it lethal. When Nephis landed, a tremor ran through the pile of bones—and then it rose.

"Neph, burn him!"

Sunny jumped backward with incredible speed—but even that couldn't match the speed of the moving bones that slammed into the place where he had just stood. The difference between his retreat and the impact of the bones was less than a second. Sunny gripped the hilt of the odachi and cut through the bones.

Every bone his sword touched or sliced shattered. The damage was insignificant to the Lord of the Dead, whose body was a mountain of bones. But if given enough time, Sunny could kill the Lord with even a small wound.

On the other side, Nephis was burning the mass of bones, stabbing her sword into it and setting it ablaze. The bone mass writhed and then struck her, throwing her backward. Nephis rolled several times, then quickly stood up and returned to burning and cutting the bone mass.

Then Sunny felt the bones tremble slightly. He didn't hesitate and sliced the entire mass in half using the black odachi. That's when they heard curses from above.

"Curse you, monster! I'm going to kill you!"

Effie jumped down with a bronze spear in hand and slammed it into the heart of the bone mass. The impact shattered some of the bones, giving Sunny and Nephis time to deal more damage, since the Lord of the Dead's attention had shifted to Effie.

Nephis's fire spread through the bone mass and began heading toward the Lord's core. As for Sunny, he abandoned the black odachi. Then he transformed the serpent into a mace and began smashing and crushing the bones. The mass of bones collapsed under the force of the blows and turned to powder. But what came next was worse.

The Lord of the Dead rose and lifted himself—not a problem in itself. The problem was that he was right next to Sunny. A mound of bones struck Sunny, sending him flying and crashing into the cliff's edge. The cliff shuddered from the force of the blow.

"Ugh, my ribs, you bastard…"

Sunny leaned on the mace, then opened his eyes to the sight of Effie swinging like a madwoman, while Nephis was burning entire bone masses. From atop the cliff, Kai was shooting arrows that bounced off the Lord of the Dead's body. As for Caster…

"That bastard didn't even come down!"

Sunny got up and dashed at insane speed toward the bone mound that housed the Lord of the Dead's core. He reached it in the blink of an eye, but the Tyrant was faster. It formed a tentacle of bone and struck toward him. Sunny didn't dodge—instead, he had one of his shadows empower the mace and smashed the tentacle with everything he had. Bone shards flew, and the air exploded around Sunny from the force of the strike.

The bones trembled violently as white flames devoured the bone masses. The flames then began searing the mound—it wasn't affected much, but the Lord of the Dead must have started feeling pain after his core was hit.

Sunny leapt with such force that the ground beneath him buckled. He grabbed one of the mound's bones and flung himself up its slope, smashing bones with the mace. Then five bone tentacles rose. He didn't notice them.

One tentacle stabbed into his side, but it bounced off the Mantle of the Underworld. Another scratched his helmet. The remaining ones couldn't injure him—he destroyed two, and the third was consumed by the flames.

"Ah, damn it… Why do you love burning everything?"

Sunny didn't know why Nephis had pushed her Aspect so hard that her flames engulfed the Lord of the Dead's mound—and him, too. Sunny wasn't immediately affected by the flames, but he wanted to jump off the Tyrant's body before it turned to ash. At that moment, the Lord of the Dead decided to unleash one of his abilities.

A roar erupted—not bestial nor human—from the Lord of the Dead's body. It wasn't a mental or spiritual attack, but one that targeted the person's vitality. Sunny felt tired and sluggish, but he didn't try to close his eyes—he knew that if he did, he'd fall asleep and never wake up.

What he did next might have been stupid, but he did it anyway. He dragged himself and jumped onto one of the burning bone masses. Before he fell, he commanded the Saint to emerge from his soul and catch him.

Effie saw Sunny falling from the burning mound, and the sound made her feel drowsy and lethargic. She didn't try to surrender to sleep, but Sunny might. She tried to run to catch him, but her body barely moved. She watched her pale friend fall—but she wasn't worried at all.

And she was right. A black shadow dashed in and caught Sunny, placing him on the ground. A black-armored knight stood over him, a crimson flame burning in her eyes. She scanned the surroundings while staring at the writhing Fallen Tyrant. Then, she did one thing—she picked up her master's mace and went to fight the Tyrant.

She didn't know why her master Had Not called her for help, but she knew who was responsible for his condition. That corrupted soul had harmed her master—and she had to destroy it. She banged the mace twice against her shield and charged the Tyrant with terrifying momentum.

The Saint collided with the bone mound, shaking the Lord of the Dead's entire body. When the roar stopped, Sunny stood up and quickly searched for his weapon. He couldn't find the mace—or the Saint—when the sound of a massive impact echoed, followed by the collapse of a large piece of bone that broke off from the Lord of the Dead.

Sunny turned his head and saw a terrifying sight. The Saint was smashing the Lord of the Dead with the mace she had taken when it fell from him. The Saint was only an Awakened demon—even though Sunny had fed her large numbers of Memories and she was missing only a few to Ascend, she wasn't supposed to be capable of something like this.

The mix of white flames devouring the Lord of the Dead and the collapse of the bone mound under the Saint's onslaught was a truly beautiful scene. Sunny watched the moment intently… until the bone mound fully crumbled.