Shadow Slave | School Days

Hours had flown by since Sunny fell asleep, he felt his body rapidly recovering from its weeks of malnourishment, frankly, overall, he was in a good mood. Shifting in his bed, Sunny looked his body over, he had regained his entire muscle mass back in the span of a singular day, all that was left was to sharpen his skills once more. 

Landing on the floor, he stared at the empty space that Silent Stalker had once taken up before stretching his limbs. He had things he wanted to do, mainly being figure out who he wanted to be and who he was, but that was all secondary to regaining the miniscule bit of strength he had lost. 

Walking in his typical, soundless fashion, Sunny stared at the long, wooden hallways of Ki Song's manor. Closing his eyes, he recalled what 'Sunny' remembered of his time with Anvil and his time within his manor. Truth be told, Ki Song had far better taste in buildings than her fellow Sovereign. 

Slipping through the hallway, he allowed his nose to guide in during what could only be presumed to be night time, and soon enough he found himself in the kitchen where he stared down Lonesome Howl. 'The Song sisters have very peculiar code name choice' he thought to himself as he approached her. 

She hadn't noticed his presence in the slightest, idly frying an egg in the background while humming a happy tune. Instead of addressing her directly, Sunny scanned the room for anything edible, finding a biscuit and immediately assaulting the container it was in. 

Snapping her head towards him, on instinct alone Lonesome Howl grabbed a nearby knife and swung it at his head with blinding speeds. Instead of dodging, Sunny caught the blade with his teeth, shaking his head and pulling the knife from her hands before gripping it in a reverse grip in his hands. 

"Why are you attacking me?" Sunny asked, confusion and annoyance riddled across his face as his other hand idly drifted towards the biscuit container, grabbing three in his hands. It was far too easy to slit her throat, she was far too slow. And yet, he didn't. 

"Says the bastard who snuck up on me shirtless! What am I supposed to think about that!?" Sunny looked down at his shirtless form before raising an eyebrow at the woman. What was the issue in remaining shirtless? He hadn't been informed that such behavior was improper. Maybe it would have been for 'Sunny' but he had a girlfriend. 

"I didn't sneak up on you, I walked here in the open without attempting to hide my presence then decided to start eating! Why are you eating eggs at this hour woman!" Sunny fired back accusations as he pointed a finger at the woman who clearly was taken aback by the sudden allegation before pointing at the biscuit he was eating between replies. 

"You can't accuse me while eating at the same hour you know. But let's cut to the chase, you have something to ask me, don't you?" Sunny nodded, swallowing his biscuit before flicking the knife around between his fingers idly. These knives didn't suit him, they weren't good enough. 

"Where do you typically train? I'd like to know if I could use your training grounds." Raising an eyebrow at him, Lonesome Howl turned off the fire of her now cooked eggs before placing them between two slices of bread and biting down. Frankly, the eggs smelt amazing but Sunny didn't want to turn himself into a glutton. 

Waiting patiently for her to finish her meal, he watched as she greedily ate the last pieces while making direct eye contact with him. Almost mocking the fact that he would be unable to have any of her food. 'I might slit her throat.' Sunny thought to himself with irritation as she cleared her throat. 

"I'll take you, so follow me." With that, she began walking out the door as Sunny briskly followed. Neither of the two spoke, Sunny was more excited to finally have a chance to move his limbs compared to speaking and Lonesome Howl was just antisocial. Especially with the guy who had walked in on her eating at night. 

Finally, they arrived in a massive clearing with expansive steel walls that gave the room its own unique impenetrable presence. Within the room, were three men. Sunny didn't quite recognize them but they smelt...wrong. Turning her head to him, Lonesome Howl signaled for him to remain still as she made her way towards the three men. 

Quickly unshackling them from the massive chains that surrounded their arms, Lonesome Howl beckoned him to come closer as she began speaking with mirth in her tone. "We captured three men from Valor to see if you'd get rusty. The deals simple. If they defeat you, they get to go free, if not then well that's good training." 

Shoving the three men forward, Sunny inhaled quickly, he smelt something awful on them. A name flashed in his mind, a name that caused hatred to boil within the very depths of his soul as he felt his blood boil and veins bulge. 

"Morgan." 

In the next moment, Sunny blitzed across the distance between the two, slamming his heel into the man's solar plexus. Stepping inward, he slammed his elbow across the man's temple, feeling the bones crunch under his force as he smiled wickedly. These people would not be allowed to die quickly. 

Their body moved to fall to the ground unconscious but Sunny wasn't done there, hooking the man's chin with his foot as he fell, Sunny flung the man upward with one leg before hooking behind the man's head with his other foot, slamming his knee into the man's skull as he felt the man's face explode, brain matter flying in random directions under the impact. 

Not even a moment later, Sunny drove both of his hands into another man's chest, ripping the man's upper body into two pieces as he grabbed the man's forehead and pressed it against his own, staring the man in the eyes as he watched the light fade from his eyes. 

"You're dying, aren't you? Dying slowly. You're pathetic, your friend over this is just as pathetic, I'm going to kill him too. And I'm going to kill all of you fucking animals. Die knowing you achieved nothing." 

In the next moment, Sunny crushed the man's head between his arms as he turned to the next man. Being the last man, he was smarter. Feinting left, he threw a heavy right hook. A solid punch—but Sunny had already seen it before. He didn't know where, he didn't know when. 

But he had. 

Tensing his body, he allowed the fist to collide with his forehead, feeling it explode once faced with an immovable object as he mockingly commented. "Strong punch." In the next moment, his hand hooked the back of the man's head, striking his throat with his knee and watching it be crushed under the force as he slammed the man's face into the ground. 

"But, no." With one quick movement from his hands, Sunny removed the man's head from his body as he stared into his eyes emptily. "It takes a bit over forty seconds for a human's brain to stop working when decapitated. Meaning, you can see me. You understand who took your life, I want to see the horror on your face, you fucking peon. I'm going to kill you Morgan, I'm going to rip your intestines out your body and drown you with them." 

Soon enough, light faded from the man's eyes as Sunny raised himself to his feet, flicking his wrist and snapping his body in random directions causing lingering blood to fly from his body. Turning his head, he stared blankly at Lonesome Howl who looked at the gruesome scene with indifference. 

But beneath it, parts of her were utterly terrified at what she just saw. 'What...was that? How do you even win against that? How do you win against death itself?' She thought to herself with a cough before Sunny's stare intensified. Blinking, Lonesome Howl cocked her head to the side before letting a halfhearted scowl arrive on her face. 

"What do you want? The training ground is all yours since you passed." Sunny shook his head at her last comment before stretching his body. His expression forced an air of seriousness to surround him as his glare intensified. 

"If I stay here, how many more of them will I be able to kill?" Lonesome Howl had no way to respond to the question. After all, a good 30% of Valor's possible forces had been killed by the man asking the question yet he didn't know. But she had to go with the answer that would appease the monster in front of her. 

"Millions." 

-- 

Standing in front of a golden throne, Nephis stared down Orion with a piercing gaze laced with horrifying bloodlust as the two individuals remained in silence. Orion's piercing gaze never left her form for even a moment as a small smile arrived on his face. 

"You know, typically whenever one is in the face of a king they bow." He commented, gesturing to his golden laced room as he stared at Nephis curiously, awaiting her response as he watched her eye twitch. "Well, I'm far from typical so I'll need to refuse that request." 

Her anger was almost palpable, Orion wasn't quite sure of what had happened on her trip to Sunny's holding cell, but he wouldn't ask Nephis directly. Why would he? He hated her after all. Anyone affiliated with the vile machinations of the immortal flame could die for all he cared. 

Lifting himself to his feet, Orion appeared beside Nephis, hand firmly gripping her shoulder as he half-heartedly tried to push her downwards. "That wasn't a request." Nephis' eyes sharpened, her hand gripping his own intensely as she shrugged his palm off her shoulder before releasing his own. 

"If you want to fight, we can make it happen, I'm not willing to just stop at a forfeit though." Upon hearing those words, Orion almost burst into laughter. The girl before him was speaking as though she had quintupled the strength in her possession since he last saw her. However, the look in her eyes displayed barely suppressed grief. 

Something was wrong, and he was going to give her the opportunity to relieve stress. 

"What do you want from me?" Orion asked, cocking his head to the side as he stared the silver eyed woman down. Nephis matched his gaze, not averting it for even a moment before asking plainly. "Who do you want dead? As soon as possible if preferable." 

Her question was odd, Sunless had told him specifically that the woman before him was entirely averse to killing people, in fact, he wasn't sure if Nephis had ever killed another human in her entire life. Despite this, he wasn't willing to stop her. 

"There's a group of child traffickers working for Valor around here, Luster will take you there if you don't know where to go. You're to kill everyone there and bring all the children here." 

Nephis nodded curtly, moving to exit before Orion grabbed her by the shoulder. "Are you sure you're ready to kill someone? Have you even taken a life before?" Nephis offered no response, shrugging off his shoulder before turning around and making her way out. 

At the door, she stopped and turned around to look at him. "If I freeze up here, ask Luster to leave me to die." With that, she exited, likely going back to her own home to regroup. 

Luster blurred into the room at a mere wave of the hand by Orion, staring down the younger boy, Orion patted his head gently as the boy ate a piece of cake idly, neither speaking for a moment. "I need you to escort Changing Star to the place you found out, if she freezes up... decide what you'll do with her yourself." 

He couldn't do it; he'd never let the person Sunny had fallen in love with die. But going against her resolve would be disrespectful to everything he believed in. And so, he left it up to chance. If she failed, her life rested in the hands of a lazy fifteen-year old. 

It only took a few minutes for Luster to find her and begin reach the location. Turning towards the older woman, Luster grabbed her firmly by the shoulder, barring all escape as he let out a yawn. "Are you sure you're ready to kill someone? How will you rationalize it?" He asked, staring at her lazily as she cocked her head to the side. 

"Since when did I need rationale to kill pests?"