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Chapter 2398: Fuel of Desire
Shadow Slave

At first, Sunny laughed.

The question was really too preposterous. What was the Puppeteers insinuating? That the horrors of the modern era were caused by humans, and not by the plague and Nightmare Creatures lusting to destroy and devour the world?

"Oh, it is definitely because of you. Believe me, I am quite a peaceful person. You can even call me the Heir of Peace, if you wish."

Well.

Sunny did have an army of tens of thousands of dead souls dwelling in his own, all of whom - most of whom, at least - he had personally killed. But that was not because he was a bellicose and violent person. He had just been forced by the circumstances to go on a rampage or two.

And while few even among the Nightmare Creatures had caused as many violent deaths as Sunny had, that was not because he particularly enjoyed slaughter and carnage. Well, he did enjoy them sometimes, but not that often.

Very rarely, really.

Sunny opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again.

He wanted to explain that humans would have left the Nightmare Creatures alone if the Nightmare Creatures did not represent an existential threat to humanity, if they had not attacked first, but that would have been a lie.

After all, humans had managed to eradicate most life on Earth - and had almost eradicated each other - long before the Nightmare Spell descended. They were full of avarice, violence, and insatiable desire to have more, spread more, be more. They pillaged and plundered anything and everything that was of value relentlessly, repeatedly, and without remorse. So, if there had really been a flock of harmless Nightmare Creatures grazing peacefully somewhere on a meadow, humans would have probably slaughtered them and dismantled their precious bodies for parts. The soul shards alone would have been a reason to drive them to extinction.

Sunny pursed his lips, suddenly unsure of himself.

Eventually, he simply repeated:

"Yeah, it is most likely because of you."

The Puppeteer seemed to look at him with pity.

After a few moments of silence, the soft voice spoke again:

"There is a far more meaningful question, Liberator. The Incarnations of Flame, why did they create their cruel world this way? Why must they make life a constant struggle, and deny solace to the beings trapped in the cage of their design? Why is there desperation, desire, hope, and war? Tell me, creature of the Flame."

Sunny suppressed the desire to scoff, surprised by the sudden philosophical question. Philosophical questions, by definition, had no answer - that was what made them such, to begin with. So, the better question would have been why the Puppeteer insisted on wasting his time. But then, the derisive smile slowly drained from his face. Because Sunny suddenly realized that he knew the answer.

He lingered for a few moments, and then whispered in a stunned voice:

"Because, the Flame, wanes."

The black silk fluttered in the wind, its many strings rustling like a sea.

The soft voice of the Puppeteer was born from that rustle:

"Indeed. The Flame is Desire, and Desire is the Flame. But flame needs fuel to burn, Liberator. It needs to be fed. It needs to devour something in order to sustain itself. Our longing, our yearning, our desire, our hope - they fan the Flame. You and I are different, but in the end, we are both the same. Our lives are fuel, and we only exist to be devoured by the Flame."

The giant black moth lowered its enormous head, staring at Sunny from above. "We are both prisoners of this game, as well. We are different, yes, but we are the same. What we share is far more immense than what divides us. And so, there is no reason for us to be enemies."

Sunny shifted, engrossed by the truth - a version of truth, at least - offered him by the Puppeteer. His mind slowly drifted to its last claim, and after hesitating for a short while, he asked in an even tone:

"We are both prisoners? Is that why you keep calling me the Liberator?"

The giant black month's antennae swayed lightly. "Yes. A long time ago, the one you call Weaver offered me a bargain. I would help them defeat the Demon of Dread in the Death Game, and in return, they would twist the Strings of Fate to ensure my survival. And if I waited long enough, a being would come to liberate me from my cage."

Sunny chuckled. "Weaver promised you freedom, huh?"

The Puppeteer stirred. "Freedom. Survival. Salvation."

The winds howled above the silken making, making the strands of black silk billow fiercely, urgently.

Sunny smiled darkly.

".Did you not know that Weaver was a consummate liar? No, really. You would have been hard-pressed to find a more treacherous bastard to make a deal with."

He shook his head.

"Let me tell you, Puppeteer. You should never trust the gods, but you should really never trust Weaver. Only a fool would. In fact, the only thing more foolish than that, would be to trust a Cursed Tyrant."

Looking up, he stared the colossal black moth in the eye."Let me ask you one question."

Sunny sighed and raised his hand, stretching slowly. "Actually, I asked it already - as a matter of fact, it was more or less the first question I asked. Why are you talking to me?"

He lowered his hands and regarded the Puppeteer chillingly.

"It wouldn't be to stall for time and make sure that I can't kill you before the sun sets, would it?"

There was silence for a few long moments.

And then, the soft voice resounded from nowhere once again. Only it wasn't so soft anymore. And neither did it resemble anything that could be even distantly mistaken for a human voice.

Instead, an eerie, deeply disturbing, dreadful rustle washed over Sunny, making his skin crawl.

"Argh, kill, me?"

The world itself seemed to laugh at Sunny, full of scorn, sending his mind into a spin.

"Your death is liberation. Ash Tyrant. Weaver. kept their promise."

The Puppeteer did not speak after that, but moments before they clashed, Sunny thought that he heard a dying echo drowning in the wind.

He could barely discern the words:

"Your flame, so sweet, it's calling."

Shadow Slave
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Comments 86

  1. Offline
    The_manipulator
    + 20 ⋅ 0 -
    He truly trusted weaver, such miserable creature
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  2. Offline
    Ethan
    + 44 ⋅ 0 -
    Just because his self aware doesn't mean he isn't effected by that same hunger, most drug addicts are aware of their addiction doesn't stop them from taking the next shot
    Read more
    1. Offline
      ARandomReader
      + 32 ⋅ 0 -
      That reminds me
      Does a crackhead say: „I can‘t get high today because I‘m broke.“? No. They make it happen. Don’t let a crackhead try harder than you.
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      1. Offline
        NoverReader
        + 22 ⋅ 0 -
        Why is this actually kind of motivating
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        1. Offline
          ARandomReader
          + 12 ⋅ 0 -
          Ikr???
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  3. Offline
    KnowledgeSeeker
    + 18 ⋅ 0 -
    it was obvious he was talking to let doubt rise in sunny, thats his literal name, he was also stalling for time, but it was not bad sunny could have used it to get close without getting his mind attacked, he should have stalled for time as well
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  4. Offline
    Harsh_32
    + 22 ⋅ 0 -
    he is just the same as others just he can talk

    just a moth attracted to the flame
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  5. Offline
    Letitgo
    + 8 ⋅ 0 -
    The moth got me at first
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  6. Offline
    disposable_anonymous
    + 10 ⋅ 0 -
    bruh meme_10 NOW THAT'S A LOTTA GOOSEBUMPS!!!
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  7. Offline
    BlessedCurse
    + 15 ⋅ 0 -
    Fire chapter meme_7
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  8. Offline
    K4R4TUG
    + 3 ⋅ 0 -
    Puppeteer might thralled 11 ash cards. Not just killed them. In that case that would be pretty hard battle.
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  9. Offline
    EVOLT
    + 14 ⋅ 0 -
    I would help them defeat the Demon of Dread in the Death Game, and in return, they would twist the Strings of Fate to ensure my survival. And if I waited long enough, a being would come to liberate me from my cage.


    While I do admit the action in this arc has varied quite a lot and see why ppl hate it, THE LORE IS INSANE!!! Like genuinely, how can yall read abt the nine, the gods, and now learning how the moth is a being who can directly speak even though it is “corrupted”. Chapters like these are mainly the reason I’m reading SS, so I’m just surprised
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  10. Offline
    Magmun
    + 3 ⋅ 1 -
    2399 Bound
    Sunny did not know whether the Puppeteer had told him the truth or woven intricate lies, shaping them to suit the mind of its prey. Perhaps it was both, with fragments of truth mixed in between deceit to make it all sound so much more believable and tantalizing.

    One thing was certain, though. Sunny had not believed even for a heartbeat that the Puppeteer was above the malevolent madness all Nightmare Creatures seemed to suffer from.

    Maybe nightmare creatures were indeed driven mad by the Call of the Flame, just like Awakened struggled to maintain their sanity when exposed to the Call of Nightmare.

    Perhaps the enormous black moth was indeed adept at suppressing its malice, somewhat.

    But not because it was truly free from the rabid compulsion to destroy and devour anyone and anything not twisted by the Void. Rather, it was merely to lure its victims into a false sense of security - just like the Puppeteer had attempted to lure Sunny. It had always intended to consume Sunny - at best. At worst, its intention was to turn him into a puppet, infect him with Corruption, and make him its thrall.

    If so, Sunny was not inclined to believe the rest of what the giant moth had told him either. But still, still. What if the rest of it was indeed true? What if some of it was? What if the world as Sunny knew it - the existence itself - was nothing but a furnace where all of them were doomed to burn? If the purpose of all living things was merely to be fuel? The universe was a cage built to contain the Void. But weren't all of them caged within it, as well? It was such a dreadful thought.

    Sunny felt that there was something wrong with that line of thinking.

    Even if the Puppeteer had offered him some version of the truth, though, it had to have omitted something, changing the context and twisting the meaning of everything. But Sunny. Was not sure. He could not be sure, because the seeds of doubt had already been planted into his mind.

    'Damnation!' Even after realizing what was happening, Sunny could not do anything.
    All he could do was kill the Puppeteer before these seeds sprouted into something that could not be contained. Luckily, the wasted time did not only benefit the eerie moth. With every minute that passed, Sunny was growing stronger - the Evening Star burned in the dark depths of the Underworld Armament, bestowing him with ferocious power. Of course, it was hungrily consuming his essence and willpower, as well, But that was a trade he was willing to make.

    Sunny had been lulled by the conversation with the Puppeteer, but now, he shook that enthrallment off.

    And when he did, he felt a chill run down his spine, realizing that passing time was not the only thing he had been overlooking. In truth, Sunny had failed to notice quite a few things, as well.
    Come to think of it, he had been behaving peculiarly from the second his foot landed on the slope of the Snow Castle. Starting a conversation despite knowing better, humoring the Puppeteer's suspiciously convenient claims, failing to pay attention to anything about his surroundings - except for the billowing strands of black silk.

    Most of all. Forgetting that Kai and Slayer existed at all. 'W - what? How did I?' Why had Sunny not even thought to question what his companions were doing while he conversed with the Cursed Tyrant? 'Curses!'

    Sunny hastily glanced around, casting his shadow sense out at the same time. His eyes widened, and fear grasped his heart with icy claws. Kai was hundreds of metres away. What looked like Kai, at least, in his Transcendent form. A giant figure was buried under a slithering mass of black silk, straining desperately to tear itself free. Sunny could hear the muffled cries of a dragon as the great beast tore at the silk, midnight scales glinting through the gaps between the dark strands. Slayer was nowhere to be seen, as if swallowed by the billowing mass of black silk entirely. The Puppeteer was still perched atop the mountain, motionless, looming above them like an eerie insectile deity.

    Most disturbing of all. Was the fact that, without Sunny ever realizing it, impossibly thin strings had wrapped themselves around his limbs, penetrating his body, and reaching into his very soul.

    Sunny shuddered. 'Oh.'

    Throwing a murderous gaze up, at the still figure of the colossal black moth, Sunny lunged forward. He tried, at least. But the black strings held him in place, controlling him like a marionette.
    "Argh!" A hint of panic flooded his mind like a dreadful wave. Suppressing it fiercely, Sunny strained against the invisible strings, feeling them tremble and give. His Will cut at them like a blade, severing a few.
    But more took their place, piercing Sunny's flesh, soul, and spirit. These strings were both tangible and intangible. They restrained him physically, but much more perilously, they restrained him mentally as well. His mind was infected by doubt, and the Puppeteer used that doubt to control him. When Sunny wanted to lunge forward, the strings strangled his determination to do just that - and so, he stayed in place, unable to force himself into commanding his body to move.
    'You. vile. thing!' Sunny growled and purged his mind, throwing it into the state of battle clarity. At the same time, he steeled his resolve and wrapped himself in an armor forged out of pure Will. He rebuilt his consciousness around an indomitable axis. His killing intent. His cold, scathing, overwhelming desire to visit death and destruction upon the Puppeteer. To tear that vile moth apart. Innumerable strings of black silk snapped.

    But. even more surrounded him, binding him like a suffocating cocoon. Or a Chrysalis, perhaps. Sunny let out a stifled scream, falling to his knees. The strings cut into his skin, drawing drops of crimson blood. 'Kill it. I must.'

    Kill it.

    Kill it.
    He had to! Kill! Grinning wickedly, Sunny commanded his blood to flow back into the thin cuts left on his body and released his physical form. His body turned into a mass of formless darkness. But he failed to escape the stranglehold of the Puppeteer's strings, still, since they bound the shadows just as easily as the bound flesh.

    The vast shadow struggled and strained, enveloped by the web of black silk. Bound, trapped. Unable to escape. Some distance away, no glimpses of the magnificent dragon could be seen through the billowing mass of glistening strands anymore, and no sound of him could be heard. Kai's figure was buried entirely under a dark hill of silk.

    Most of the sun was hidden behind the horizon, and the fiery splendor of radiant sunset was slowly turning into the dim twilight of dusk.
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    1. Offline
      Magmun
      + 1 ⋅ 1 -
      2400 Breaking the Rules
      Aaahh.'

      Sunny could feel his mind slipping.

      The Puppeteer loomed above the world like a dark cliff, the giant black orbs of its eerie black eyes staring down upon the slopes of the silken mountain dispassionately.
      Kai was still struggling to free himself from under the mass of black silk, but he was almost entirely immobilized by now. Sunny was straining against the Puppeteer's strings, as well. But it was pointless.

      If they were only holding him in place, he could have torn them apart. He could have slithered his way out of their inescapable embrace, at least. But the strings bound his mind just like they were binding his shadow - his very thoughts were restrained, and Sunny could not even fathom trying to break free anymore. Time was running out.

      The only thought the Puppeteer could not poison with doubt was the one Sunny kept repeating silently, using it as an axis that held his mind together and prevented it from falling entirely under the eerie Nightmare Creature's control.

      'Kill it, I must kill it!' His bloodlust was his only salvation. The vast shadows stirred. Sunny broke his mind apart into innumerable streams, abandoning most of them to free some from the insidious grasp of the Puppeteer.

      He had to do something drastic. The time for desperate measures had come. And gone.

      Now was the time for pure madness. Sunny imagined himself taking a deep breath. Then, he took all his willpower, all his authority, all his killing intent, and all the power granted to him by the Evening Star. And used them to call forth a shade.

      If he thought about it, the Puppeteer was really in a bad situation. Its true power lay in its thralls, but none of them were here to protect their master. The black moth stayed still and motionless, and that was not because it had no need to move - rather, it was because the Snow Tyrant was not that ferocious and physically strong. All it could do to deter the adversary was use its profane powers and peculiar will to reach it. On top of that, Sunny was more or less its natural predator.

      That was because Sunny commanded a legion of shades, and shades possessed neither will nor a sense of self. They had no desires, no resolve, no determination of their own. And therefore, they knew no hesitation. They were immune to doubt, because doubt was foreign to their very nature. There was nothing for the Puppeteer to poison, so it was powerless to control the shades - it could only control their master. But as long as Sunny remained firm in his conviction, his shades would be able to do what he could not.

      There was just one enormous, mountain-sized problem. The Puppeteer might have been weak in direct confrontation, but that was only in relative terms. It was still a Cursed Tyrant, no matter where its true talent lay.

      Not just any shade could face it in battle. The Obsidian Wasps would be destroyed by one flap of the Puppeteer's wings. The Shadow Wolves would be vanquished and torn apart in an instant. Abundance would hold out longer, but it would not muster enough offensive power to kill the detestable moth before it was too late. The Rat King was vicious and annihilating, but it needed time to propagate and grow unstoppable. That only left the Wolf.

      The ruthless, proud predator from the dawn of time, one ferocious and fatal enough to tear the Puppeteer's wings off and crush its appalling head. And yet. Sunny was full of doubt.

      Would the Wolf really be able to kill the Snow Tyrant? Would Sunny himself remain firm enough not to command his frightening shade into retreat? 'No.'

      Doubt made Sunny weak and indecisive. It made him feel despair. He still was in control of enough of himself to summon a shade, but he was not confident that the same would hold true in a few minutes. So. He did what he always did when forced into a corner. He cheated.

      The shade Sunny called forth was not an Obsidian Wasp, Abundance, Rat King, or the Wolf. Instead, it was the shadow of another Cursed Tyrant. It was Condemnation.

      Sunny had lost access to his shades after entering Ariel's Game, but they still existed somewhere out there, within his soul. Other shades might have been summoned and carrying his orders, but Condemnation wasn't. Because it had never answered his call before.

      Augmented by the Evening Star, Sunny's tyrannical will and his undeniable authority descended upon the somber giant, commanding it to emerge from the peaceful darkness of his soul. Sunny had thought that he would be able to overpower the obstinate Tyrant while strengthened by the Sacred Memory.

      But he was wrong.

      His will and his authority crumbled against the unfathomable, inert depths of the enormous shade. Condemnation refused to move, just as it always had. It remained still and motionless, towering above the silent waters of his soul. Sunny had expected as much.

      After all, he had not been able to call upon any other shade earned beyond the confines of Ariel's Game, either. But while Sunny could not summon them with his [Shadow Legion] Aspect Ability, which the laws of this artificial realm were interfering with, that did not mean that he could not fool these laws.

      So, instead of commanding the gigantic shade to reveal itself, he simply gathered all his willpower. And banished Condemnation from his soul. He threw Condemnation out.

      Sunny had never done something like that before - which did not mean that he couldn't. Now that he was Supreme and wielded greater authority both over his soul and over the shades populating it, he could summon them forth and call them back. He could also store physical items within his soul and expel them from it, effectively manifesting them. And that was what he did with the vast, huge shade of Condemnation - he expelled it.

      Sunny had not attempted to do that with any of his shades in the past for a good reason, though. Any shade he could not summon with his [Shadow Legion] Aspect Ability was a shade that did not obey his commands. That fact would not change even if he managed to summon it into existence, somehow, which meant that once the shadow of Condemnation emerged into the light, Sunny would have no control over it whatsoever.

      It could attack the Puppeteer. It could just as well attack him, instead. It could even remain still and do nothing, content to simply be. But that was a risk Sunny was willing to take, at the moment. In fact, he welcomed it.

      The potentially deadly drawback of summoning a disobedient shade was actually a life-saving grace in his current situation. Because if Sunny could not control Condemnation, the Puppeteer could not control Sunny to order Condemnation to stand down. And since he was not using [Shadow Legion] to summon it, the laws of Ariel's Game would, hopefully, fail to prevent the shadow colossus from appearing.

      'Snow Tyrant, Ash Tyrant. let's add a third Tyrant into the mix, shall we? Let's break the rules!'

      As innumerable strings of black silk fluttered in the wind, rushing to bind the vast shadow. Reality seemed to ripple. The sea of clouds swirled. And then, the mass of silk stands was torn apart when a huge hand emerged from Sunny's formless vastness, extending far into the sky and casting a titanic shadow onto the slope of the shuddering mountain.
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