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Sunny ran to the statue with every bit of speed he could manage. Which was quite a considerable amount, by human standards... no, even by those of other Sleepers.
As the wind whistles in his ears, the shadow flew off the blade of the Midnight Shard and turned around, observing the wounded abomination. Despite the fact that its wings were mangled, the Messenger did not seem perturbed. On the contrary, it opened its terrible beak and let out a blood-curdling shriek, then lunged at the tiny humans with even more bestial fury.
'...I think it's not happy!'
Despite the mortal peril his companions found themselves in, Sunny did not stop to help them. Nephis had said that the creature guarding the cave had to be killed by a person who had touched the ancient statue—until someone did, this battle was nothing but a futile and stupidly dangerous game.
The essence of combat was murder, after all. If no one truly aimed to kill the damn thing, how could they ever hope to survive?
So Sunny was helping them after all, in a way.
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Behind him, the cohort was fighting the wounded abomination. Sunny knew that the Messenger was too big, too strong, and too swift for a group of Sleepers, no matter how talented. In the Dark City, it was thanks to a miracle that none of his friends present at the time had been torn to pieces, but even then, multiple hunters had been killed only for the Spire Messenger to fly away.
Yet today, another miracle was here with them and stood at the forefront of battle.
Lysander.
Clad in an immaculate white armor that reflected Nephis' white flame and the ambient light in the cavern, he stood before the Fallen Monster like a beacon of hope. Radiance coming from the cave, from Nephis' Aspect, and from the gemstone resting upon his forehead flowed toward the First Bright Lord to empower him.
In his hands, a blade of pure night was once again raised against his foe.
Ten years ago. A fatal blow that should have claimed him but didn't.
And today, brilliance was wielding darkness to end horror.
The Messenger's jagged beak crashed down.
Lysander stepped aside in a swift movement, and the beak struck only stone. In the same breath, his greatsword rose in a heavy arc and split through one of the creature's front limbs. Bone cracked. Black blood sprayed. The Spire Messenger staggered.
Seeing the fight through his shadow, Sunny had to admit that he had never seen a Sleeper more powerful than the young man in his life. As strong as Effie, with a speed rivaling Caster and possessing an Aspect that allowed him to empower himself like Nephis' white flame and Sunny's shadow, the First Bright Lord was formidable beyond measure.
With the enchantment of the Dawn Shard that improved the rank of his Ascended Memories, Sunny could finally see how Lysander had managed to kill a Fallen Monster alone.
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Sunny's speed doubled.
Pursued by the sounds of a ferocious battle, he neared the unfinished statue.
However, before he could touch it, a human figure suddenly appeared in front of him in a blur and slid on the black sand, stopping right in front of the stone pillar. It was Caster.
The proud Legacy didn't look all too well. His shiny scale armor was torn by the claws of the terrible beast, leaving four deep wounds on his muscular chest. Blood was streaming from them, leaving the handsome young man pale and disheveled.
No, it wasn't just that. Caster seemed a bit off, somehow… Sunny just couldn't tell what was wrong with him exactly. He did notice, however, a crystal amulet in the form of an hourglass hanging on a silver chain around his neck.
'What is that? A charm Memory? I didn't know that Caster had a charm. …'
Not wasting any time, the Legacy put his bloodied hand on the statue and closed his eyes for a moment.
'...He wasn't wearing one back on the marble arch. Right?'
Opening his eyes a second later, Caster glanced at Sunny with a dark expression and turned into a blur once again, rushing back to rejoin the battle.
Just as soon as he disappeared, Sunny crashed into the stone pillar, unceremoniously using it to stop his momentum. Bouncing off the hard surface, he rolled on the ground and shakily rose to his feet.
'Agh! Dammit! That hurt!'
That counted as touching the statue… right?
Had to.
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Glancing back, Sunny saw Effie slamming her shield into the Messenger's flank. Another Blood Arrow pierced the flesh of the Spire Messenger and shattered a moment later.
Nephis moved like a living flame, burning deep into the Messenger with every attack.
Quiet Dancer darted unpredictably around the head of the Spire Messenger, aiming for the eyes, and sometimes, dealt shallow cuts.
Caster was a blurry figure running around the Fallen Monster, aiming to claim the last strike and the Shard.
Already nearing the scene of the massacre, Sunny willed his shadow to flow onto the Midnight Shard. The power of the Dawn Shard was burning inside of it, making the stalwart blade sing. With the blood that was spilled on the battlefield's sand, the vile Blood Blossom was filling the tachi with insatiable bloodlust and hunger.
Sunny rushed toward the back of the Spire Messenger. Exchanging a look with Lysander, who was holding the monster's attention, he shouted:
''Now!''
The First Bright Lord, forged in the hardships of the Forgotten Shore, reacted instantly.
He raised one of his hands toward the eyes of the Spire Messenger.
Light.
White filled the cavern.
The Messenger screamed, a guttural cry of pain, and tried to turn around to flee.
Seeing that the Messenger was now blinded and that the head of the monster was now in front of him, Sunny jumped into the air with the help of Stone Saint pushing him below.
The razor-sharp sword easily cut through skin and skull, penetrating through the head of the terrible creature deep enough to reach its brain.
The Messenger froze. Its ugly raven-like head swayed slightly. The beak fell open, revealing rows of sharp teeth and a long, wet, crimson tongue.
Finally, the creature convulsed and crashed onto the ground.
Its eyes dimmed, then glossed over.
The corner of Sunny's mouth curled upward.
[You have slain a Fallen Monster, Cursed Herald.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
'Come on!'
[...You have received a Memory.]
A triumphant gleam appeared in his dark eyes.
Looking around, Sunny was surprised by how well the state of the group was.
Effie leaned on her spear, arm bruised but intact.
Caster stood breathing heavily, wounded but stable, with a somber look on his face.
Kai was pale from the effect of Blood Arrow, but conscious.
Nephis' shoulder armor was dented, but her body remained unwounded.
Cassie, being away from the fight, was unarmed, but her Echo, Quiet Dancer, was damaged.
Stone Saint, though cracked and chipped, stood tall.
At the center of it all, the reason for the good state of the cohort, Lysander, rested the tip of his dark greatsword on the sand.
White armor streaked with black blood.
Golden eyes watching the corpse of the Spire Messenger.
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I will not lie, writing the fight scene of the original novel, but changing things to match with the addition of Lysander, while still not forgetting to write important elements to the story that are explained, is not easy. I don't really find what I wrote good compared to the past 3 chapters, because I had to copy-paste part of the fight to follow the original scenario, and I didn't trusted myself.
I will stop doing that, because I want to write my ownstory in this fan-fiction, and right now, I am just twisting some things, but not really writing my own ideas.
So, I think I will sort of like speedrun the writing of the end of theShadow Slave's Forgotten Shore arc. Of course, I will take time to write the important part related to my story, but I will start skipping parts that are not important in my opinion, so if some informations are not wrote, like the exchange of Shards between Effie and Sunny, that's because I assume you know it and that's just a waste of time to rewrite it.
Of course, it will not be like that for a long time, just until I finish the part of the fan-fiction from the POV of Sunny, and we start seeing things from the POV of Lysander.
I already have started to write the story when I will deviate from the original story, but before that, for scenaristic reasons, I need to finish the Forgotten Shore's arc (of the main cast)(you will see the arc of Lysander, don't worry). All I can say is that I have planned only peak content.
Sorry for the long message!