Sunny tore the Chain Worm apart, pieces of flesh and puddles of blood covering the red stones of the arena like a ghastly carpet. Then, shrouded in impenetrable shadows, he thrust his hands into the mangled carcass of the slain abomination and ripped three bloody soul shards out.
…Ironically, killing the Fallen Demon had not been too hard for him. A long time ago, Master Roan had described these vile creatures as incredibly formidable and deadly opponents, someone that even he would not have wanted to face alone. But that was because Master Roan was a human.
Chain Worms fed on metal, and as such, steel weapons and armor were useless against them. Sunny would have been in trouble if he was still in his human body, and most of his arsenal of Memories suddenly became ineffective. However, he was a demon now — one of the shadowspawn, or Shadow's kin, or whatever it was he had been turned into.
His claws, his fangs, and his shadows were the perfect weapon to destroy such abominations.
Of course, fighting against a creature one Rank higher than him was not easy. But, augmented by three shadows, he had managed to dismantle the massive abomination without too much trouble. In fact, killing the Chain Warm had been much easier than killing Master Pierce. He wasn't even wounded, at least not seriously.
The crowd grew silent, shocked by his display of ruthless brutality, and then exploded with cheers. Glory, glory… it seemed that they enjoyed seeing someone triumph against a stronger opponent much more than anything else.
'Crazy bastards…'
Sunny glanced at the spectators with resentment, then walked over to the young Awakened and pushed the soul shards into his hands. The youth looked at them with a frown.
"These… are these soul shards?"
'Gods. How can he be an Awakened and not know what a shard looks like?'
Sunny stared at the young man darkly, then nodded and raised one hand to his chest, making a fist.
The Awakened hesitated:
"Don't you want to consume them yourself?"
Sunny snarled, then shook his head. Finally convinced, the youth crushed the shards in his fists and froze, a funny expression appearing on his face.
"Wh... what a strange feeling…"
'...Whatever.'
Sunny wasn't giving the shards away out of altruism. For better or worse, the young man was now his partner. The stronger he became, the better he would be able to aid Sunny, both in battle and while using his healing Aspect.
And Sunny was going to need a lot of healing. That, he was sure of.
After that was done, they proceeded to the fifth cage, and then to the sixth. And finally, to the last.
By that point, Sunny was nearing his limit.
Both battles after the Chain Worm had tested him in ways he had not expected, draining him of essence, damaging his body, and putting a heavy strain on his endurance. He was exhausted and overwhelmed by pain, the merciless sun shining blindingly in the blue skies and making his black eyes ache.
At least the Crushing seemed to ignore the island where the colosseum was located. In fact, Sunny had not felt the island move either up or down even once. Perhaps it had a permanent altitude, like the Sanctuary of Noctis.
The seventh battle… the last one they had to survive today… was, indeed, different.
The central stage of the arena was circular in shape, with six gates in its walls. Four were already opened, and two still stood closed.
Corpses of several terrifying creatures were laying on the red stones, steam rising from the pools of blood surrounding them. And in the middle of the killing stage, two humans stood, their faces hidden behind the helmet visors.
Both were tall, strong, and clad in archaic armor. Their garments were painted bright red, and so were the plumes of their helmets. One was armed with a spear and a shield, while the other wielded an axe and a sword.
These were worshippers of War God, just like the spectators singing from the stone seats of the great amphitheater.
The young man shivered:
"Warmongers… these mad dogs…"
Sunny tilted his head, paying no attention to the raging crowd as he studied the two humans. Both were Awakened, and from the look of it, of sufficient power and skill. They were calm and solemn, their eyes empty of even a hint of fear, and instead full of confidence and savage joy.
…Glory. That was what all of them were here for, willingly or not. The masters of the arena wanted their slaves to fight for it, but they also wanted to achieve it themselves. After the initial culling had taken place, the final obstacle the gladiators had to overcome each day was to kill some of their slavers.
And the slavers had to survive the onslaught of the slaves, if they wished to live.
In fact, all of the battles in the arena served a singular purpose — to deliver the best and the most formidable opponents for the worshippers of War to temper themselves against, or die trying.
'Mad dogs, indeed.'
All these people were insane. Sunny was now more sure of it than ever.
It didn't change anything, though. He still had to kill the two Awakened warriors, if he wanted to survive. Or rather, if he wanted to earn the chance to be killed in the arena some other day.
With a low growl, Sunny sent one of the shadows to the ground. In this fight, being aware of his surroundings was going to be more important than raw strength. No Awakened human could challenge him in terms of raw might, after all… unless their Aspect was solely focused on it.
But such an Aspect was the least dangerous an enemy of his could possess. It was easy to understand and predictable, at least.
It was the versatility and unpredictable nature of Aspects that made Awakened so dangerous…
Without much fanfare, the four of them lunged at each other, an almost palpable killing intent permeating the arena.
The two warriors fought with tremendous skill and combat prowess. The two warriors fought bravely and furiously, moving like two parts of a single organism.
The two warriors fought with incredible insight and cunning, both wielding clarity like a deadly weapon. Truly, they were worthy of being the followers of War.
…But in the end, both of them died.
How could they resist a creature that could turn their skill against them, who had faced terrors so vast that most humans would have been driven mad by a mere glimpse of them, and who lived his life wearing countless lies like a mantle?
Sunny watched as the corpse of the second human fell to the ground, awash in blood, light dimming in his unbelieving eyes, and sighed.
'Here's your glory, poor fools… how does it taste? Is it sweet? Is it bitter? Or does it taste like nothing at all, like the empty lie that it is?'
Turning away from the dead men, he glanced at the crowd, expecting to finally see sorrow and displeasure on the faces of the spectators.
He had just killed two of their own, after all.
But his hopes were instantly crushed.
The people gathered in the amphitheater were not at all perturbed by the death of their brethren. Instead, they were even more excited, pride and joy gleaming on their faces.
Laughing and smiling, they pointed at him and yelled one word, over and over.
Only this time, it was a new one.
All of them were shouting:
...Shadow!