Before Sunny could begin doing anything, he was struck by an overwhelming pain.
'W-what the…'
He had forgotten to account for one thing. Sunny had a Domain till. And that Domain was supplying him far too much essence for him to handle.
So much that it was tearing his body and soul apart.
'Never t-thought I'd ever have this problem, huh?'
Suddenly, he remembered that he had Serpent around his arm. Using Serpent's [Shadow Guide] attribute, Sunny began to circulate the essence around his body, hoping to find an equilibrium.
Thankfully, it was found and he managed to calm his aching body and soul to a bearable degree.
'At least… I won't have essence problems now.'
He sighed a ragged sigh of relief.
Shifting his focus, Sunny continued on his previous train of thought.
He started by experimenting with his would-be abilities. However, the fact that they were greyed out meant that they were locked behind some sort of seal.
'That attribute did say my powers would return eventually…'
Sunny was left with his dormant ability, Shadow Control. But it was not as if he was left without clues on how to unlock his sealed powers.
So, Sunny examined the runes of his ascended ability.
[Shadow Manifestation]
[You can manifest shadows as tangible objects.]
[The shadows of this era have not witnessed the Lord of Shadows. Earn their reverence and they will become as malleable as the shadows of your time.]
Sunny sat up, continuing to gaze at the runes.
'That shouldn't be too hard, right?'
Sunny dismissed the runes and sat up.
He shifted his gaze to the shadows that painted themselves across every surface in the room. They seemed to be scared of Sunny, uncomfortable with his presence and wary of his power.
Using the voice of the Lord of Shadows, he spoke menacingly:
"You."
He pointed to the shadow of the table.
"Come here."
The shadow shivered in fear, and if he could have, he would have shaken his head.
Sunny tried to keep his cool, but his anger surfaced and twisted the look of his delicate, porcelain face.
"Damnation! You scaredy cats…whatever a cat is. Nevermind that, get over here!"
The shadow continued to disobey the supposed Lord of Shadows.
Sunny flung himself onto the bed, clearly upset with these mundane antics.
'I'm the Lord of Shadows for crying out loud! They should be reveling in my presence, not quivering in fear!'
The supposed Lord of Shadows continued to comfort himself until a sudden thought crossed his mind.
His face returned to its delicate form, but only for a moment. A devious grin began to creep up Sunny's face, scaring the mundane shadows even further.
'Oh, that's right! I have some guests to attend to.'
* * *
Along the streets of cracked cracked stone, decrepit stone buildings sit, seemingly untouched by all but time itself. Secrets and horrors alike hid within their rotting interiors, just close enough to spark lethal curiosity.
Shadows permeate the entire area, unperturbed by any source of light.
The Dark City hadn't changed one bit.
Crys and screeches could be heard in the distances, but up close, the sound of six sets of human footsteps echoed through the barren walkways.
Six unkempt men of similar stature wore simple breastplates and grieves.
A tired yet hopeful look pasted on their faces.
Suddenly, a grating voice broke through the eerie silence.
"Are you sure we shouldn't just kill the guy? What kind of memories could be worth such attrition?"
Most of the Hunters ignored this rhetorical question, but after a while, a breathy voice whispered out in retort:
"Are you kidding me? We're Sleepers for crying out loud, any memory is worth doing this shit. Even to such a… specimen."
"What do you mean specimen? Are you some kind of mad scientist, or do you…feel something for the guy?"
The breathy voiced man scoffed.
"Is it wrong for a guy to admit another guy is attractive? Especially when he is THE Night."
"No, but you make it sound like it's anything but-"
A blood curdling screech resounded the area around the Hunters. A deafening crash followed soon after.
Chills crept their way into the very being of these royal Hunters.
Their leaders took command in a gruff, hushed voice.
"We will investigate first and then continue on our route. We don't want anything to harm our "specimen"."
The six men made their way towards the site of the noise, with weapons raised. They knew what to expect from this odious city at night, but no one could ever be too careful.
Things never went the way they were supposed to, especially in the Dark City.
Coming upon the site of the noise, they hoped that their eyes had betrayed them.
A sight so harrowing to a sleeper, it was surely meant to be their last.
Two houses had been completely flattened, reduced to nothing but dust and rubble. Blood littered the rubble of the fallen buildings, painting the entire site red.
As if in unison, the six gazes followed the blood, only to be met by worse horrors.
Laying in the bloody rubble of the ruins were Blood Fiends.
Not one.
Not two.
But seven.
The way their corpses fell made it seem as if they were hunted down, one by one.
The first fiend was simply decapitated.
The second one stood a few meters away, bifurcated and missing its arms.
The third and fourth were impaled on said arms, decapitated as well.
The fifth. The fifth was simply the blood and guts that stained the rubble.
The sixth had its ankles slashed and was cut down the middle.
And the seventh was found embedded in the wall of the nearest building. Where its torso once had been, a gaping hole took its place, leaking more blood onto the archaic stone.
'Holy shit.'
The man with the breathy voice went to turn around, to run from this grotesque sight.
Instead, a terrible feeling gripped his heart. He felt a cold blade press against his throat.
"How is this for the Lord of Shadows?"
Before the man could even utter a groan, his throat was slit.
* * *
[You have slain a Dormant Beast…]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
Sunny's plan had worked fantastically.
He had methodically hunted that Blood Fiend pack in the most harrowing way possible, just to scare those hunter bastards.
Of course, that wasn't his only reason. He was also still pissed that the shadows continued to disobey him.
Letting the shadows swallow him once again, he kicked the body of the hunter into the group's line of sight.
Sunny watched as the colors drained out of their faces, unable to muster even a single word.
'I'm going to enjoy this part even more.'
Sunny exited the shadows, a devilish grin plastered on his face.
* * *
Their companion's body was lying on the floor in front of them, his throat slit.
No one spoke, all of their faces pale in horror.
Suddenly, a figure emerged from the shadows.
It was a boy of short stature. However, his appearance caught them completely off guard.
His skin was of flawless porcelain, free of any imperfections.
His onyx eyes seemed to house their own perilous realm, as if you would lose yourself gazing into them.
Thick, medium length, raven hair so luscious, it was as if he willed it to be that way.
His face was ethereally crafted and impossibly charming, so beautiful it shouldn't exist.
But his smile told a different story, that of devilish mischief and murderous intent.
His dark-gray garments were soaked in blood, and in his hand, he held tachi so dark it made the shadows around it tremble.
"What are you all looking at me for?"
The Pathfinder of the group shouted at Sunny.
"You killed Yore, didn't you?!"
"Who the hell is that?"
Sunny looked where the Pathfinder was looking.
"Oh, this guy right here?"
Sunny nudged the body with his foot.
"Don't worry, you won't miss him for very long."
In a flash, he was upon them.
While Sunny's body was still not at the level to use Shadow Dance properly, he still had his foundational battle art, Nephis's battle art.
Sunny became a flurry of steel, weaving in and out of the shadows.
The five Hunters failed to keep their eyes on him, failed to block without having their bones be damaged, and failed to protect themselves from the petty strikes that soon littered their bodies.
One thing became apparent upon this sanguinary battlefield, this boy was toying with them.
For every slash they parried, more shallow yet infuriating gashes would appear on their body.
However, the sound of something hitting the ground resounded in the ears of the Hunters. All gazes quickly shot towards the direction from which the noise came.
Shadows, only shadows.
But then something began to approach them. It was a corpse, a decapitated corpse.
It was the Hunter's leader.
His head was rolling on the floor, a dreadful expression eternally stuck on his face.
Devilish laughter began to erupt from all around them. This boy was no boy, he was a monster. A monster that took joy in taking reaping lives.
The four remaining members of this hunting party ran away; they wouldn't let themselves be a victim of this wrathful entity.
However, the further they got, the more the noise of their rapid footsteps began to dwindle. Soon, it was just the Pathfinder. He was the one who had brought them there, and yet he was the one who would escape alive.
Or so he thought.
Turning around to assess his situation, the man was met by a dark blade that put even the starless sky of the Forgotten Shore to shame.
* * *
Sunny brandished the Midnight Shard, ridding it of the hunter's blood.
"Welp, now the Cohort is going to have to deal with this mess again."
Sunny chuckled to himself.
His real reason behind killing these bastards was simple. He wanted to make the shadows revere him once again. Shadows are of the Shadow god, who is the god of death, so giving death to these hunters, even if it is a mercy they don't deserve, should help legitimize him.
Sunny soon drifted into deep thought, but of course, that meant talking to himself
"Saint needs a body, but I only have one core right now. But… I might not get a chance to regain her original body. I can just keep her as an echo until I gain my second core."
Sunny began to smile mischievously.
"After that, I'll go see my favorite bird in two worlds… Now that I think about it, why is he a dragon even though he's named after a bird?"