Chapter 2959: Deadly Dance |
Sunny could have gotten discouraged after losing both his sword and his hands in a single exchange with the Thieving Bird. However, he did not.
Instead, his heart was burning with wicked glee, his mind drowning in murderous malice. That was because he noticed the change their adversary had undergone. Neph's attack only left a shallow burn on the Thieving Bird's wing... but it did leave a burn.
The Cursed Terror had easily shaken off her flames before, but it failed to entirely escape harm this time. Its other wing had a small cut on it now, too — which meant that Neph's command, as well as hexes placed on the Thieving Bird by Sunny and Ananke, were working.
The Thieving Bird was bleeding... so it could be killed.
Sunny was going to kill it.
‘I'll admit...’
The loathsome Terror descended upon him like an avalanche of black feathers and grotesque eyes, moving so fast that Sunny could barely follow its movements with his eyes. Its beak shot forward with the speed of a lightning bolt, aiming to pierce the chest of the Shadow Colossus Shell and fish out the shadow safely hidden in its depths. Sunny barely managed to turn his torso, sacrificing the entire left side of his Shell to save himself from the frenzied assault of the Thieving Bird.
‘Most of the responsibility for what happened to me lies squarely on my own shoulders. However...'
And yet, he managed to daze the Cursed Terror, even if only for a moment.
Nephis used that moment to deliver another incinerating attack, the colossal blade of white flame slashing the Thieving Bird across the back.
Smelling the scent of burning feathers, Sunny grinned viciously.
"That doesn't mean that I don't hold you accountable as well, you wretched thing. Do you even know what I have gone through because of you? What I lost? You're going to pay me... for every day that I wasted.."
The Thieving Bird's talons tore into the abdomen of his Shell, slicing it open. The Shadow Colossus was damaged too gravely and crumbled, leaving Sunny entirely undefended and vulnerable.
But that was fine.
Assuming a corporeal form and landing on the obsidian, Sunny threw a hateful gaze at the towering Cursed Terror.
The Shadow Lantern was hanging on his belt, so he could easily summon more shadows from the Realm of Death and form anew Shell. However, he didn't.
There was a reason why his arms had shattered so easily in that first exchange with the Thieving Bird, failing to hold on to Serpent's hilt. It was because those weren't really his arms — they were merely the arms of his Shell, made from manifested shadows.
Even if those shadows were infused with the essence of a Supreme, they could not compare to the arms of an actual Sovereign. So, Sunny did not need to summon a new Shell.
Instead, he released the constraints of his human form and allowed his true self — a vast, boundless shadow — to flood the world, then manifested a new Shadow Colossus out of nothing but himself. Weaver's Mask expanded to fit his giant face.
Now that he was devoid of the protective frame of the Shell, each wound he received would deal direct damage to his soul... however, his soul was quite tenacious and difficult to destroy due to Soul Weave. So, Sunny knew that he could endure a lot before being entirely destroyed.
He also knew that this battle could not be won by holding something — anything — back. Attempting to save himself from harm would only result in his death, while being ready and willing to harm himself was the only way to survive.
Somewhere far above, the cracked blade of Serpent embedded itself in the roof of the inconceivably vast cavern. It shook from the force of the impact and then rippled, changing form.
Far below, a hurricane of flame descended upon the Thieving Bird, making it beat its wings and cry out in pain. The discomfort it felt due to Neph's attacks was significant enough for the loathsome Terror even to forget about Sunny for a moment, turning its head to look at the vicious, radiant being that kept hurting it from afar.
The Vile Thieving Bird's eyes narrowed, overflowing with murderous intent.
It was about to shift targets.
However, Sunny had other plans. He wanted to keep the odious thing's attention on him, and only him.
So, summoning the Jade Mantle back to cover his towering body and the Nebulous Mantle to cover the fearsome armor, Sunny gazed at the Thieving Bird...
And spoke.
He said:
"I am Weaver, the Demon of Fate!"
He glared at the loathsome Terror with a dark, smoldering fury and growled:
"Where is my eye, you wretched thief?!"
The Thieving Bird froze for a moment.
Then, it forgot all about Nephis. Its demented eyes blazed with a new kind of madness, and it rushed at Sunny with a distressing shriek.
He laughed.
"You are going to pay for every scar, every nightmare, every moment of despair... every drop of blood, every piece of flesh, every splinter of bone... sure, it might not be fair to demand all that payment from you alone. But then again, who asked you to steal the fate of an outskirt rat who grew up learning nothing but spite? Who asked you to make an adversary out of Lost from Light?"
The Thieving Bird descended upon him like a dark storm of madness. An onslaught of blows rained down on him like hail — its beak, its talons, its wings, the devastating gusts of wind it raised, the mind-shattering shrieks it let out... Sunny was burning with a scathing desire to break, hurt, and kill the loathsome Terror, but instead, he was forced to continuously retreat.
He danced in the storm of feathers, following the movements of the Vile Thieving Bird's shadow instead of its own. When he could, he avoided the attacks... however, even weakened by Neph's command and two curses, a Cursed Terror was still a Cursed Terror.
Sunny did well to survive, but he did not survive unscathed. Every time he failed to dodge an attack and had to deflect or block it instead, a part of him was broken. The harrowing agony of soul damage was ravaging his entire being, but he simply gritted his teeth and continued his deadly dance. Because the odious bird was not unscathed, either.
Every moment that Sunny kept its attention on himself was a moment that allowed Nephis to deliver another attack from the sky. Blinding rays of immolating light fell upon their terrifying adversary one after another, leaving patches of scorched feathers and ugly burns on its hide.
The Thieving Bird paid no attention to its accumulating wounds... but Sunny did. They were relying on quantity in this dire battle, after all.
Even if they could not kill the loathsome Terror in one decisive blow, a death by a thousand cuts — or a thousand burns — was still a death.
In fact, even as terrible agony washed over his mind, Sunny felt a dark sense of delight and satisfaction.
He liked this turn of events much better. Dying from one blow?
That was too good for the vile Thieving Bird.
Suffering the pain of ten thousand cuts and burns before finally dying, though?
That... that was about one-tenth of what he wanted to visit upon the loathsome creature.
Sunny was going to make do with just that, though.
Comments 34