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Chapter 2358: First Ring
Shadow Slave

With a sigh, Kai walked over to the altar and placed the Snow Beast figure - the one they had retrieved after slaying Abundance - on its surface. Sunny watched him intently, wondering if the figure would still have to be tossed into the volcano. And how would it have worked if the Shrine of Truth belonged to the Snow Domain, instead? There would be no pit filled with smoke here if it had been, after all. However, he did not have to worry. Almost as soon as Kai placed the figure on the altar, it began to glow. Then, luminous fissures appeared on the surface of the flawless white jade, and a second later, it suddenly exploded into a swirling mass of ash.

"Huh…"

Before either of them could react, the ash swirled around Kai… and then suddenly flowed right into him, disappearing into his chest. Neither Sunny nor Kai moved for a few moments. Eventually, Kai coughed and waved his hand in front of him. "Great. More ash…"

His expression was a little miserable. They had enough water to drink, but not enough of it to properly clean themselves. Considering the nature of the Ash Domain, with its pillars of smoke and ash constantly falling from the sky, that meant that Kai was constantly covered in smears of soot. The charming archer had managed to maintain a neat appearance even on the Forgotten Shore, so Sunny knew how much his friend was suffering. "Kai… hey, Kai…"

The charming archer turned and glanced at him bitterly. "What?"

Sunny sighed. "Did you not notice? That cloud of ash did not just swirl around you. It went into you, you fool!"

Kai blinked a couple of times. "It did?"

Sunny nodded. In fact, the whole process looked quite familiar. It was similar to how essence entered Awakened when they broke soul shards, to the point that Sunny was inclined to assume that Ariel had modeled the process to look the same.

He hesitated for a moment. "How… how do you feel?"

Kai looked into the distance, as if concentrating on the state of his body. Slowly, a startled expression appeared on his face. "I feel… stronger. Much stronger."

Sunny studied him for a bit, then shifted his gaze and studied Kai's soul. Eventually, he said in a curious tone: "Well, buddy, I don't know how to tell you this… but there's a ring of ash surrounding your soul core now."

He was, naturally, telling the truth. There, under his gaze, Kai's Transcendent soul core was shining brightly with breathtaking light. But now, there was a ring of ash suspended around it, many black flakes shining with reflected radiance. It looked very much like a planet surrounded by a thin ring system.

Peculiarly enough, the soul essence that flowed in and out of Kai's core passed through the ring of ash first, assuming a new and peculiar quality.

Kai flinched. "There's ash… inside me?"

He looked like someone desperately wishing to take a shower. Sunny cleared his throat, then patted him on the shoulder. "Relax. It's… mystical ash, not real ash. Point is, it's making you stronger, so all is good, right?"

Kai let out a long sigh. Sunny studied him for a moment, then asked: "But, more importantly… how much stronger is it making you, exactly?"

The charming archer remained silent for a while, then said evenly: "I am not entirely sure, but… I feel like I can crush a mountain."

Sunny grinned. "How about you try crushing me, first?"

He summoned a pedestal made of shadows and put his elbow on it, inviting Kai to an armwrestling match. After a brief struggle, the back of the charming archer's hand slammed into the pedestal, and he took a step back, massaging it with a pained expression. "Ouch."

Sunny contemplated for a bit, then smiled. "You're not exactly as strong as a Supreme Beast, but you are way stronger than a Transcendent should be now. Your essence has become more potent, and even your will seems to be receiving a boost. I can understand the former, but how the hell does the latter work?"

Not only had Kai's will become more intense, but it also felt… familiar, somehow. Cold, and murderous. Quite unpleasant, really. Like the Will of a despicable, unhinged psychopath…

'Wait.'

That was the flavor of Sunny's own will!

He blinked a couple of times, then stared at Kai again.

'No, it actually makes sense?'

Kai was being enhanced by the Ash Domain, and who was the ruler of that Domain at the moment? It was Sunny! So the source of the force empowering Kai was not Ariel's Game itself, but the Ash Tyrant. The Ash Beast was being strengthened by the power of its ruler, with the laws of the miniature realm, and the ash itself, serving as intermediaries.

'But if I am the master of the Ash Domain…'

Sunny extended his power outward, trying to form ash like he had always shaped shadows. To his surprise, it worked - a bit of ash rose into the air, solidifying into a crude effigy of a human. Allowing the effigy to crumble, Sunny peered into Kai's soul once more. 'If I can manipulate this ash, then won't I be able to influence that ash, as well?'

And indeed, he felt a subtle connection. Using this connection, Sunny poured more of his will into the ring surrounding Kai's soul core. It accepted a bit, but rejected the rest, as if reaching its capacity.

Sunny looked up, studying Kai's face. "And how much stronger do you feel now?"

Kai moved his shoulders slightly. "Hmm. I can't say that I feel any stronger. But… I am not quite sure how to explain it, but I do feel much deadlier."

Sunny remained silent for a while, staring at him with a neutral expression. Then, he grinned widely. "That you are!"

With that, he looked the other way. "Slayer… Slayer! You turn now. Come on, put the figure on the altar!"

As the same minor miracle happened to his Shadow, Sunny laughed. "Great. Amazing! That is almost like a miniature, way more modest version of what happened to me once."

Kai gave him a hesitant look. "And… what happened to you, exactly?"

Sunny shrugged dismissively. "Oh, nothing too insane. I just received a blessing by making a sacrifice on an altar once, too. Naturally, I did not have such handy jade figurines with me back then, so I had to sacrifice myself… good thing Shadow God was in the mood to rise from the dead for a second and bless me."

Kai sighed. "Right. Nothing too insane. Indeed!"

Shadow Slave
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Comments 34

  1. Offline
    KimDokjassi
    + 7 ⋅ 3 -
    Cmon I thought the power up would be much cooler
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    1. Offline
      Архиепископ ШИРОизма
      + 20 ⋅ 0 -
      Kai has literally become a guide of the Will, the supreme heir of death, and the effect of one statuette is not enough for you?
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  2. Offline
    Pro100zver25
    + 2 ⋅ 0 -
    Chapter — 2359: First Siege.

    Kai and Slayer had little time to get used to their new power… granted, Slayer had not required time for adjustment at all. She simply took the change that had happened to her because of the boon of ash in stride, as if remembering something she already knew instead of coming to terms with something new.

    Then again, she wasn't very expressive, so it was hard to tell what was on her mind.

    ‹Why am I always surrounded by stoic women?›

    Sunny chuckled.

    Perhaps it was neither good luck nor bad luck, but simply a sign of the times. Considering the world they all lived in and the horrors Awakened faced, it was really not that surprising that there were a lot of strong, silent types walking around.

    ‹Couldn't be me…›

    Kai, meanwhile, had spent the few hours left until sunrise training. He performed a variety of exercises and shot his bow hundreds of times, slowly getting used to his newfound strength. Sunny observed him, feeling like he was watching an intricate masterpiece of a machine tune itself to perfection.

    Then, the sky in the east finally brightened, and as the violent winds howled in the distance, a familiar snowstorm enveloped the world. Plumes of snow stretched toward the fuming volcano like tentacles, ready to turn into glass bridges as soon as the first ray of sunlight spilled over the horizon.

    «Get ready.»

    He felt a bit of trepidation in his heart.

    This time, they were going to be attacked by three figures of the Snow Domain — a Cursed Demon, a Cursed Beast, and a pack of Great Beasts. Therefore, he had to split his forces to face all three threats simultaneously.

    Slayer and a number of Obsidian Wasps would be defending the north slope of the volcano against the Snow Wolves. Kai and the shadow of Abundance would defend the east slope against the Clockwork Giant. Sunny and the rest of his shades… were going to face the Cursed Demon on the southern side of the mountain.

    The odds were not in their favor, but thankfully, they did not have to defeat their fearsome enemies. All Sunny and his companions really had to do was hold the enemy back until the dawn exhausted itself. That said… Sunny had no intention of choosing a passive strategy. Only death was waiting for them that way.

    True, they could simply hold the enemy back, but that would simply mean facing the same threat tomorrow. And by tomorrow, their power would be diminished — they would be wounded, lacking essence, with fewer shades to help them in battle. The burden of consecutive battles would only mount after that, and sooner or later, it would crush them.

    So, Sunny had to finish today's battle — and every battle after that — in a way that would leave him more powerful than he had been yesterday. That meant removing at least one Snow figure off the board, or better yet all of them. If he managed that, there would be new shades in his slowly growing army, and new jade figurines for his companions to sacrifice.

    ‹Let's hope things go according to plan.›

    Which was complete and utter annihilation, of course.

    «What do you think, guys? Will we convince the Snow Tyrant not to underestimate us too much?»

    He looked at the Obsidian Wasps that surrounded him from both sides. Considering their size, Sunny had to crane his neck a little to look at their expressionless, gemlike eyes.

    Their eyes were huge and compound, so he could see hundreds of his reflections staring back at him.

    …It was a good thing that Mordret wasn't around.

    In any case, the Wasps did not respond, making him sigh in disappointment.

    «I mean, who does that bastard take me for? Sending a mere Demon and two Beasts to kill me… how humiliating.»

    He forced out an unconvincing smile.

    Of course, Sunny knew that the Snow Tyrant was probably not trying to kill him seriously today. Rather, today's battle was merely meant to wound and exhaust the Ash Tyrant until the true elites of the Snow Domain arrived — the Devils, the Monsters…

    The coming days would be quite eventful, to say the least.

    Actually, it was a bit peculiar that the Snow Tyrant had not employed that strategy already. So peculiar, in fact, that Sunny was starting to suspect that being able to bring several figures to a single square was a unique privilege of the Tyrants. After all, Slayer and Kai had never remained on a mountain without him…

    That was something to consider, at least.

    As Sunny did just that, the snow plumes finally solidified into ethereal bridges of glistening glass.

    The golden light of dawn washed over the sea of clouds. It looked just as dreamlike and gorgeous as ever, but Sunny was in no mood to appreciate gorgeousness.

    Instead, he watched chillingly as a vast protuberance seemed to extend from the milky wall of the snowstorm, as if the blizzard itself was crossing the glass bridge.

    That was the Cursed Demon coming to kill him under the cover of swirling snow.

    «Ah, hell…»

    Summoning the helmet of the Jade Mantle, Sunny reached into the shadows and pulled a black odachi from them.

    The Obsidian Wasps seemed to tremble a little, as if shivering in the cold.
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    1. Offline
      Pro100zver25
      + 2 ⋅ 0 -
      Chapter — 2360: Leader of the Pack.

      On the other side of the mountain, Slayer had begun her barrage. The pack of Great Beasts was rushing across the bridge, turning into billowing streams of snow from time to time — Sunny was not sure what Attributes the grotesque Wolves possessed, but they seemed quite elusive.

      He did not sense any new shades entering his soul, at least, which meant that none of them had been slain by the arrows.

      On the eastern slope of the volcano, Kai sent an arrow flying, as well. Sunny heard it fly — this one was quite unique, having been crafted specifically for the charming archer. Its enchantment allowed him to imbue the arrowhead with sound, which allowed Kai to record his commands and deliver them from a distance. In other words, the arrow carried his mystical voice.

      Far away, the Clockwork Giant had already stepped onto the glass bridge. The singing arrow struck him square in the chest… and powerlessly bounced away, not dealing the Cursed Beast any damage.

      That was just as Sunny had expected.

      Empowered by the boon of ash and Sunny's own deathly will, Kai might have been able to wound some other Cursed being. But the brass giant glanced like a thing that had been created specifically to be sturdy and resilient… practically indestructible.

      In fact, it was probably impervious to most anything, which was why Kai with his rattling sonic attacks and Abundance with its sheer mass were a better choice. Even if they were not able to destroy the Cursed Beast, they would at least be able to stall him.

      Sunny was not at all ashamed to use the easy, but effective powers of Abundance to his advantage. A dumb meat shield was a perfect foil for an indestructible adversary. He was actually most worried about himself.

      Unlike his two companions, Sunny did not try to attack the Snow Demon on the bridge. He just waited patiently, watching as the blizzards rushed toward the volcano at great speed.

      «Ah. This thing just had to go and make me angry…»

      Sunny had not felt any personal animosity toward the Cursed Demon before seeing it advance just now. That was because any creature using a veil of snow as cover reminded him of Winter Beast.

      And although Sunny had already killed that Titan, he still carried quite a lot of spite toward it and its ilk in his heart.

      «Come here, then.»

      Finally, the billowing mass of snow reached the slope of the volcano and enveloped it in bitter cold.

      This was Sunny's territory, though. This was his Domain.

      As soon as the blizzard — and the thing hiding within it — reached the ashen ground, the shadows surged. Darkness swallowed the entire southern side of the volcano, and the ash rose into the air, mixing with the snow.

      The ash remained, but the snow turned black and melted, disappearing without a trace. Even the cold winds were suffocated.

      And once it was gone, the wraith that had been hiding within it was revealed, standing motionlessly in the hurricane of ash.

      Sunny smiled darkly.

      «Unexpected.»

      What faced him was a frozen corpse.

      It was the corpse of an enormous wolf, its rotten fur as white as snow. There were innumerable crude spears sticking out of its desiccated hide like a palisade, the spearheads carved roughly from flint and obsidian. The Cursed monstrosity had three eyes, each burning with malevolent, crimson flames… the sight of them reminded Sunny of the primordial hunter Jet had slain once, an eternity ago, in front of the Nightmare Gate in NQSC.

      That Gate Guardian had worn a skill with three empty eyes as a helmet, too. Sunny had suspected that most of the Nightmare Creatures trapped in Ariel's Game had been collected by the daemons in the frozen wastelands west of the Jade Palace.

      If so, he could imagine the corpse of the appalling wolf being encased in ice after dying to the spears of the primordial humans of the bygone era… only to become possessed by a malevolent spirit thousands of years later and emerge from it as a vengeful wraith.

      Had it been an appalling predator who hunted primal humans and feasted on their flesh? Had it been a guardian Spirit of a human tribe whom the hunters from a different one had slain to eradicate the adversary? Had it hunted alone, or had it led other predators like a bestial deity?

      Slayer was fighting the pack of wolves on the northern slope of the volcano right now, but this one — this one might have been the leader of the pack.

      Or possibly their god.

      In any case, Sunny was going to have to face this primordial horror in battle.

      The three harrowing eyes of the wolf glanced at Sunny, and he felt his very soul shiver and shudder under their gaze. The pressure that descended upon him was suffocating, and he felt something that he had not felt in a long time.

      A primal, utterly irrational, overwhelming fear rising to drown his wildly beating heart.

      Sunny scoffed.

      «Hey, you… who do you think you are?»

      He took a step forward, walking between the Obsidian Wasps. Then, he pointed to the ground with the tip of his odachi.

      Instead of answering, the Cursed Demon lowered itself to the ground and let out a dreadful growl. Sunny felt a cold shiver run down his spine, and his very soul shook, as if straining to remain intact.

      He was quite certain that this malevolent growl alone could have snuffed out the souls of many humans of a lesser Rank — mundane people, Awakened… possibly even Masters. Saints would be left paralyzed and writhing in agony after being exposed to this malice…

      He grimaced.

      «Very well. Come closer, then… I'll give you the honor of becoming the second god I've slain.»
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  3. Offline
    Unknownorign
    + 2 ⋅ 0 -
    No update??
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  4. Offline
    TylerDoms
    + 6 ⋅ 0 -
    Quote: Aether
    okay but where are the song sisters? werent they also sucked into the game?

    No idea, maybe they didn't get sucked into the game or they might be a part of the the snow figure army but I doubt that
    Quote: Aether
    okay but where are the song sisters? werent they also sucked into the game?
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  5. Offline
    Aether
    + 4 ⋅ 0 -
    okay but where are the song sisters? werent they also sucked into the game?
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    1. Offline
      Bastard Son of Fate
      + 6 ⋅ 0 -
      In the beginning Sunny suspected that they weren’t sucked into the game
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    2. Offline
      Sami2222
      + 2 ⋅ 0 -
      Sunny speculated if he's the tyrant and 2of the beast that entered were Kai and Slayer he speculated that they might have switched placed sending 2 Cursed beast outside ....so the Song Sisters maybe facing both Cursed beast but he isn't that worried Cassie was watching the situation so the guess is that Neph would have been on their way to handle it killing 2 beasts won't be a problem for her after all Sunny killed 1 at 1/7power and also Sunny other incarnations are around as long as he isn't I'm some suspended consciousness they'll easily handle it

      Sunny speculated if he's the tyrant and 2of the beast that entered were Kai and Slayer he speculated that they might have switched placed sending 2 Cursed beast outside ....so the Song Sisters maybe facing both Cursed beast but he isn't that worried Cassie was watching the situation so the guess is that Neph would have been on their way to handle it killing 2 beasts won't be a problem for her after all Sunny killed 1 at 1/7power and also Sunny other incarnations are around as long as he isn't I'm some suspended consciousness they'll easily handle it
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  6. Offline
    Bounding Monarch
    + 4 ⋅ 0 -
    If slayer managed to keep herself in the shadow realm, is it possible that Smile of Heaven, Nephis' mom, could still be alive then. We've never been told the details of her aspect, but we know it has something to do with souls and the ability to wander around in soul form. I'm probably reaching, but maybe Broken Sword was right.
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    1. Offline
      Bastard Son of Fate
      + 3 ⋅ 0 -
      It’s possible but very unlikely, slayer is a lot stronger
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      1. Online Offline
        ivanpaz
        + 0 ⋅ 0 -
        Maybe there are other conditions for the survival of the soul
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  7. Offline
    Grimwald
    + 3 ⋅ 0 -
    After this game, will Sunny learn to give blessings like the Shadow God did to him? Or is the shadow mark that each of his subordinates receives a blessing? Or is it just a legacy ability, not a blessing?
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    1. Offline
      Klein Moriarty
      + 0 ⋅ 0 -
      Interesting thought. Maybe a sacred sunny would be able to strenghen his subordinate or to be exact raise their class rank just like sunny became a divine shadow
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  8. Offline
    Earthly Desert Fox
    + 0 ⋅ 0 -
    But how could he get new allies to position himself in the mountains he occupied, better than leaving them defenseless, the Snow Domain has a lot while the Ashes are just three, I mean assuming the Truth Demon and the Fate Demon started with the same number of squares (nightmare creatures), how did Weaver get more of them?
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    1. Offline
      Bazzinga
      + 0 ⋅ 0 -
      Пустая клетка меняет цвет, как только на нее наступает кто-то из снежной или пепельной команды. Не нужно стоять на ней для поддержания домена. Т.е если команда Санни убьет всех снежных юнитов, то он может просто направить Кая, Убийцу (а возможно и теневую армию) захватывать клетки для укрепления пепельного домена
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    2. Offline
      Sami2222
      + 0 ⋅ 0 -
      By beating Ariel and taking all his figures of course....it was a game they both played....the question is how good was Weaver at strategy for Ariel to lose so badly and I have a theory remember the jade queen I'm like 80%sure she's the snow tyrant I think it was a form of sick joke from Weaver using someone Ariel cared about to play him after all a remnant of the jade queen was a corrupted Tyrant it isn't impossible for the original to be a Cursed Tyrant

      But he doesn't really need to position them the snows 12 figures he's killed 2 if he kills 3 more he just has to keep moving to their formerly occupied mountains if he's strategic enough as he kills he can surround the snow territory with his ash domain ..they hold some vital shrines that they won't want to leave undefended and moving too much will scatter their forces and give more chances to kill them and kill the snow tyrant if he can surround them he's domain will be much stronger at the final battle by maybe he'll use one of the figures to enhance himself during the final battle against the tyrant cause taking on something as strong as condemnation with 1/7 of his power shouldn't be feasible maybe if he can control the snow devil
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  9. Offline
    Bastard Son of Fate
    + 7 ⋅ 0 -
    After all this time I’ve finally fully caught up, feels crazy how there’s no next button
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  10. Online Offline
    ArMiks
    + 15 ⋅ 0 -
    Lmao even sunny thinks his will resembles that of a despicable, unhinged psycho.
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