Shadow Slave : Light Devouring Shadow

"My, oh my, what's a little divine shadow doing here?"

At that voice, Sunny's body stiffened. He hurriedly got up and looked around.

There were only skulls surrounding the strange tree. Except for two withered skeletons nailed to one of its branches. Sunny could have sworn the voice came from that direction.

As he stared at the skeletons, he heard the voice again.

"My, oh my. If you keep staring at me like that, you'll make me blush." Sunny's eyes widened. He was certain the voice came from the skeleton, yet it didn't have any vocal cords. It just... spoke. From its skull?

"Who are you?" he asked cautiously, narrowing his eyes and shifting into a battle stance.

"Oh, me? I'm just a humble slave. And this other guy here, the one with the high temper, is Azarax." After saying that, the other skeleton snarled and turned to face the first.

"Azarax?! That's all?!" The second skeleton turned back to Sunny. "I am Azarax the Mighty, the Plague of Steel, King of Kings, conqueror of a hundred thrones!"

'Plague of Steel? King of Kings? Conqueror of a hundred thrones? What is this guy talking about?' Sunny was utterly confused by the titles. Deep in thought, he barely noticed as the two skeletons began arguing again.

"You imbecile! Can't you sense the smell? He's one of Weaver's!" Sunny froze at the mention of Weaver.

'One of Weaver's? What does that mean? Does he know about my forbidden lineage?' He looked cautiously at the two skeletons and asked, "What do you mean by 'one of Weaver's'?"

This time, the skeleton that had called itself a humble slave chuckled. "Oh, don't mind what he just said. But say, little divine shadow, how could someone like you, blessed by shadow, exist in this era? Let alone be thrown into this hell?" The question was posed in a somewhat friendly tone.

'How does he know I'm blessed by the shadow god?!' Forced by his flaw, Sunny had no choice but to answer truthfully. "I don't know what you mean by 'exist in this era.' I just received the shadow god's blessing during my first nightmare. As for how I ended up here... well, I was thrown here by that damned spell," he growled at the last part.

"The spell? You mean Weaver's little spell? Hahaha! Who knew that such a little spell would grow to such an extent?"

Sunny's eyes widened. 'Weaver's little spell? Are you telling me the nightmare spell was created by Weaver?'

But then, something else occurred to him. These two were speaking a completely different language, yet he understood them perfectly. He knew it was probably due to the spell, but what language were they even using?

"What language are you speaking?" he asked.

The skeleton laughed. "The only language there is in this place. Why? Do you wish to learn it?"

Sunny shrugged. He didn't really care about it, but this could be his chance to find a way back to the waking world. It seemed like these two knew something about the spell, but his priority right now was to return to the waking world.

"Do you know a way to the waking world?" he asked.

"The waking world? What's that?" the humble slave asked.

Sunny pondered for a moment. "It's the world I came from before I was dropped here in the dream realm."

The skeleton fell silent for a moment, while Azarax seemed content to simply spectate. Then, the skeleton began to laugh.

"Oh, oh, I see! So there's still a realm out there that hasn't been consumed yet. Very well, little divine shadow. Help us come down from this tree, and we'll guide you through the shores of the underworld and its dark expanse back to the world of the living."

'A realm out there that hasn't been consumed? Forget it, my priority is to find a way back.' Sunny scratched his head, thinking over the skeleton's words.

"I only need one guide. And by the way, why are you two even nailed to the tree?" Sunny tilted his head, looking at the two.

"Don't you know where you are, little divine shadow?! I am here because I led my armies into the great war, slaughtered a myriad of souls, and was punished for my strength and my pride!" Azarax growled.

'Great war? Just how old are these two?' Sunny shifted his gaze to the other skeleton.

"What about you?"

The skeleton answered succinctly, "I angered the gods."

"And how exactly did you anger them?"

"Well, if you must know... I slit a god's throat. My, oh my! One could say it was a misunderstanding. Was there really a need to be so petty?"

Sunny froze. 'Is he messing with me? Slit a god's throat? What kind of lie is that?' He exhaled and stared at the horizon.

The sun was already sinking behind the horizon, and a chilling cold spread across the white desert. Even though his armor protected him from freezing, the place was still bitterly cold.

Soon, night descended upon the world, revealing a myriad of bright stars. As darkness fell, the sand began to shift, and slowly, countless figures rose from beneath it. All of them were corpses, their flesh long gone, leaving only perfectly black bones. Some resembled humans, others were towering giants, and some were beings too strange and terrifying to describe.

In a clamor of rusted armor and a litany of howls, the hordes of abominations clashed against each other, continuing their terrible battle even in death.

Sunny moved closer to the tree, which somehow remained an island of calm in the sea of terror, and looked at the first skeleton.

"You'll be my guide, then. What should I call you?" Sunny moved closer to where the skeleton was nailed. He choose the other skeleton simply because the one called Azarax seemed that he'll be a pain in the ass with his temper. Besides, this one seemed like a talkative one, which will help him stay sane at least.

"A name? I used to have one of those, before. What was it? Oh!" The skeleton moved its jaw slightly and then said, "Eurys. Eurys of the Nine..."

'The Nine? Why do I feel like I've heard this name before?' A memory popped into Sunny's head—a memory of his appraisal after finishing the first trial.

[You have defeated a human awakened: Auro of Nine.]

He looked at Eurys and asked reluctantly, "You said you're from... the Nine?"

"My, oh my, have you heard the tales I'm not so proud of?" Eurys chuckled in a friendly manner.

"Not exactly..." 'I'll have to ask him later,' Sunny sighed inwardly.

With that, Sunny's journey to the underworld began.

---

Many months had passed.

Nephis sat in an office inside the Ivory Tower. It had been two years since she left Sunny on the Forgotten Shore, and even after all this time, he was still alive out there.

He had also grown rapidly, especially in the past few months. His shadow fragments had suddenly increased by over 500 sometimes, and he had gained new shadows in his territory.

The last time Nephis had checked Sunny's runes, he was a Tyrant. His mastery of the Shadow Dance legacy had reached the third step, making his Soul Serpent an Ascended Tyrant.

His shadow, Saint, had also grown significantly. She was now an Ascended Devil. He had also gained two new shadows in the past few months.

One was called Nightmare, an Awakened Terror. The other was called Shadowspawn, an Awakened Tyrant.

Overall, Sunny's strength had grown exponentially. Nephis, too, had grown immensely over the past two years. She was also a Tyrant, and she had challenged the Second Nightmare with her cohort—Cassie, Kai, and Effie. The seed was located on the Ivory Tower island, which they had reached with Cassie's guidance.

They had also, perhaps accidentally, freed a monster—the Prince of Nothing. But he had been killed in the Second Nightmare due to his foolish attempt to kill Hope, which turned out to be a disastrous decision. Somehow, he had managed to survive and return, even though his plans had failed miserably.

So, overall, she too had grown significantly since the Forgotten Shore, as had the rest of the cohort.

Sighing, she looked over the papers on her desk. One, in particular, was about the upcoming ball that the Valor clan would be hosting. It was scheduled for a month from now, and she had finally decided it would be best to attend and join Valor's side in order to achieve her ultimate goal.

She leaned back in her chair and wondered how Sunny was doing. Just as she was about to check his runes, a voice rang in her head.

[Neph! Neph!]

Nephis stiffened, her expression turning serious. Cassie's voice was filled with a mix of emotions she couldn't quite decipher.

[What is it, Cass?]

Cassie was silent for moments and said in uncertainty.

[Sunny... he woke up!]

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[Author's note]

Hey guys, i know I said I'd release the chapter yesterday, but I was quite busy with somethings. You know, important stuff. Scrolling on tiktok, chatting on discord, and fighting off my procrastination.

But anyway, the chapter was a bit late yeah. But I might release the next chapter in the next 12 hours. Or 24 hours at max. Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter.

Lastly, if there was some plot holes or some information wrong from the original novel, I don't care tbh. I don't wanna spend so much time rereading chapters.