Shadow Slave: The Blessing of Fate

After blinking a couple of times, he looked up to see the Carapace Demon's face.

The creature wasn't looking at him, but behind him. Sunny turned around and witnessed an enormous cloud of smoke rising into the skies. 

The Soul Devouring Tree had been lit aflame.

Its champion was frozen solid at the view of its almighty savior perishing.

And it joined it as well.

Sunny was utterly confused; he had no idea why he was standing before the Awakened Demon and why he was holding the searing hot Dream Blade…

He screamed out in pain as the sword had already burned his skin to a crisp. All of the pain came in at that moment, and he collapsed to his knees, holding his now useless hand. Tears welled up in his eyes, his teeth gritted aggressively.

No pain of that level was tolerable, and one that came seemingly out of nowhere shook him even more. He forgot about the Spell's previous messages because of the agony.

Sunny lost consciousness again.

***

Nephis propped herself up after being blown back by the demon's powerful attack. She felt unable to walk because of her messed-up left leg. Using her Aspect Ability, she healed it, but with that came immense torment as well.

With the Dream Blade in her hand, she was about to jump back into the fight just as a nimble shadow appeared beside her. Just the sinister, chilling aura seeping out of the figure had her freeze up for a second. Nephis hastily looked to her right and saw a familiar pale Sleeper looking her way.

However, his eyes were closed.

She was puzzled by what she was seeing. Looking closer, she noticed his eyeballs moving rapidly beneath his eyelids. The strangely acting Sunny walked closer to her and… snatched her sword away from her.

Nephis' eyes widened as she realized just how hot the blade must have been for him. Her hand reached out to take it back, but Sunny simply took off with insane speed. He didn't even react, as if he didn't even notice.

It looked as though he had swapped to autopilot.

The Nightmare Creature that stood a few meters ahead released an unbearably loud screech as it launched a devastating stomp to the ground, attempting to stab Sunny with its legs. The land below them quaked, dust particles flew into the air, and with them did Sunny.

Narrowly dodging all of the eight limbs, he jumped up against one of them and tried to stab its back. The demon simply cleaved with one of its incredibly sharp, scythed arms. However, it missed him. With a flip, the shadow distanced himself by a meter or so.

He circled around it, but the creature just turned around to face him again. It attempted to split Sunny in two; however, Sunny parried the slash and used it to close in on it. The razor-sharp scythe stabbed into the ground, sending even more dust upwards. Unable to stab the weak point on its chest from where he stood, he attacked with a horizontal slash to hit two of the legs.

The Dream Blade cut through like butter as the sword emanated an incredible heat with suppressed, breathtaking white flames. The shade beneath Sunny concentrated into a slightly smaller spot, making him somewhat less visible to the abomination.

The demon lost some of its balance, which in turn made it lean towards one side—the side on which the weak point lay. With another hasty cleave, the Awakened creature forced Sunny to jump back to evade.

Sunny tried to circle around it as the Carapace Demon spun with great speed, sending one of the scythes his way. A big wound ran across Sunny's chest—fortunately, due to the gap between them, it was merely a surface wound, but it still had to have hurt incredibly.

Strangely though, Sunny didn't so much as react to the damage, and the wound on his chest didn't even bleed.

Blood Weave had taken care of it.

If one were to take a close look, Sunny's hand was a complete charred mess. It should have not been functional whatsoever, but the Sleeper took it like nothing was happening.

The flames were aggressive and ruthless, not taking any pity on him.

Luckily, not even the demon was pitied. Sunny used the opportunity, and while it spun, he cut off another leg, purposefully the one on the same side.

The creature tilted towards one side slightly more, but it still had not lost its balance. But seemingly out of nowhere, it just froze.

A colossal tree burned in the distance. 

The one thing that the Carapace Demon had sworn to protect was now about to fall.

Using the miraculous opportunity before him, Sunny jumped at it, now holding the handle of the Dream Blade with both of his hands. With a stab more powerful than any regular human could have managed, he plunged the searing hot blade right into its chest.

The heart of the Carapace Demon was pierced, and the flame began incinerating it.

Sunny opened his eyes and looked at the spectacle before him.

Nephis only watched the fight with her mouth slightly hung open, her eyes fully opened and unblinking. The entire battle was absurd; Sunny should have fallen already just because of the torment pain he had been undergoing.

But instead, the guy didn't even grunt!

How could a person ever be numb to pain like him? Even under the torturous effect of her Flaw, Nephis would have been grinding away at her teeth, and tears would have rolled down her cheeks.

Just then, she heard an incredibly loud scream.

Sunny fell on the ground.

Nephis rushed to his side and fell on her knees; she immediately cupped her hands around his face and began to heal him.

The creature in front of her fell over on its side, making a weak tremor run through the ground.

But she didn't even notice because her attention was turned to just one man.

***

The majestic tree was lit ablaze; its roots and branches were being burned to ashes. The scarlet leaves encompassing its glorious crown rustled, as though the tree had wailed out in agony.

What did it do to deserve such a cruel fate?

It gave out its juicy, rich fruit in return for seeking protection.

It protected its champions from danger.

It guided their minds to happiness.

They would be happy together, they would grow together, they would prosper together, they would devour together…

Devour…

It could have devoured all if it had just been protected.

Would it have been possible for it to reach even greater heights?

Could it have towered over the ominous Crimson Spire?

The tree had hoped for many possibilities, but this was not one of them.

[End of Volume I: Possibilities]