Дарангуйлагч

[Your shadow is overflowing with power.]

[Your shadow is taking shape.]

[Your shadow…]

Sunny did not have to summon the runes to know that he had finally accomplished his goal… after absorbing thousands of shadow fragments, his soul was ready to form a new Shadow Core.

His fifth one. He was about to become a Tyrant.

A conflicting mess of emotions rose in his heart. Of course, Sunny felt a sense of joy and triumph, his power was about to take a significant jump, after all. The bleak, dreadful months he had spent in Antarctica, enduring hardships and grisly defeats, made this moment possible. In a sense, this was his reward, and so, the invisible scars he had been left with were not for nothing.

On the other hand, this boon came at a very unfortunate moment. In the past, Sunny had been mostly able to time his advancements in a way that allowed him to go through the process in relatively safe conditions. A battlefield where hundreds of Awakened were fighting against an army of Fallen Nightmare Creatures and a Corrupted Tyrant, however, was in no way safe.

And on top of that… he had already gone through this ordeal three times. He knew how much it was going to hurt.

'Hell yes! And also… damn it!'

Sunny glanced at the Skull Centipede, who was reeling from the dreadful blow dealt to it by Saint's arrow. A huge chunk of flesh was missing from its neck, with bone dust and rivers of fetid blood spilling into the river. Effie was moments away from reaching the wounded abomination, her sculpted steel body glistening in the sunlight, and Kai was preparing to draw his bow.

One of the dead trees had been destroyed, which was supposed to rob the Tyrant of its most terrible powers… however, the outcome of the fight was still far away from being set in stone. A Corrupted Tyrant was still a Corrupted Tyrant. Sunny felt that Effie, Kai, and Saint had a good chance of emerging victorious from that fight, but he couldn't be sure.

Jet and the Awakened soldiers were struggling to hold back the tide of bone fiends.

Sadly, for now, there was nothing much Sunny could do to help them.

The rest of the battle was up to others to win.

As a hint of terrible pain appeared in his soul, Sunny hurriedly jumped backwards, hiding between two mounds of dug-up dirt. Two figures emerged from his shadow, one was a fearsome black stallion, the other a scrawny little imp.

He gritted his teeth and looked at his Shadows.

"Protect me."

Then, Sunny lingered for a moment and threw a glance at Nightmare. A cold smile appeared on his lips.

"Oh, and if the little bastard does something stupid… you have my permission to eat him, Nightmare."

The dark destrier snorted in calm agreement, while the imp stared at him with shocked outrage and fear.

Sunny grinned, then turned white as a sheet and swayed. His hand rose, grabbing at his chest.

'Argh… this is the worst…'

A familiar, but no less dreadful agony overwhelmed his entire being. Sunny was momentarily blinded and deafened, losing all sense of the world around him.

Something was rising from the depths of his soul, tearing at it with sharp edges. The torment of it was nothing short of exquisite. He had experienced this pain several times before… but it grew more and more unbearable with each time.

Human souls were not supposed to possess many cores. Neither were they able to sustain them. It was only because of Sunny's Divine Aspect that his soul had become stronger, growing vast and powerful enough to endure the strain. Nevertheless, this was not in its nature. Therefore… the birth of a new core brought with it immeasurable pain, with each successive one hurting more…

The first time Sunny had gone through the process, he had been rendered absolutely helpless, thrashing on the ground and wailing like a dying beast. The second time had brought him to his knees, making his screams echo in the desolate halls of the ruined Chalice Temple. The third time… Sunny had managed to remain silent.

…Up to the point when the body of the Shadowspawn he had been occupying started to change, too.

The pain had grown more intense with each new core, but Sunny had also grown more resilient. He had been through so much, and had experienced so much… the journey through the endless procession of nightmares alone would have been enough to drive anyone mad…

And so, this time, Sunny endured.

He did not fall down, remaining on his feet. He did not scream.

He did, however, lose all track of time, and of what was happening around him.

All that remained was agonizing pain and the sensation of something being born within his soul.

It lasted for an eternity.

But then, eventually…

The eternity had ended.

Sunny realized that he could hear again. He knew that because he heard the voice of the Spell whisper into his ear softly:

[Your shadow is complete.]

And, mercifully, the pain ended.

He inhaled deeply, trembling.

He felt… stronger.

His body had become stronger. His reserves of essence had grown the most, by far.

Most importantly, he was now in possession of the fifth shadow.

And… he was a Tyrant.

'A Tyrant.'

Sunny exhaled.

A complicated emotion grasped his heart.

Finally, after years of struggling and chasing after something that often seemed unreachable, he had caught up with Nephis. Sure, she was still ahead of him by a sizable amount of fragments… but they were of the same Class now. They were both Ascended Tyrants.

Strangely enough, Sunny did not care too much.

He had wanted desperately to be as strong as Changing Star once. There had been a lot of reasons for him to harbor that desire, some better, some worse. And now that he had reached that goal…

Sunny knew that his former understanding of what real strength was had been terribly misguided. And so, he did not really care.

Still… it felt nice, to be equal to her on paper. Even if what was written in shimmering runes was not that important.

'Now… for the important stuff.'

Sunny shifted, turning his head to observe the battlefield.

There was another Tyrant nearby, and that Tyrant posed a threat to his friends and the soldiers… so, the creature had to be dealt with.