'FASTER! FASTER!'
Sunny swam with all his forces amidst the cold waters of the dark sea. His nature as a Shadowspawn kept his body from suffering from the cold.
Jumping into the water like that wasn't a wise move. But his friends were in danger, if he doesn't act now, then when?
He'll have time to regret his decision later.
The Corrupted Devil didn't seem to have specifically targeted Cassie and Serpent, it seems more like it was running from something.
A greater predator, probably.
Even from this afar, Sunny could sense that the Corrupted Devil was naer at its end after the fight with its hunter.
Otherwise, the creature should have already reached them by now.
Maybe, Sunny has a chance.
As for Whatever was hunting a creature of the Corrupted rank, well...
He sure wanted nothing to do with it right now.
Nevertheless, the creature was still swimming toward Cassie and Serpent at a dangerous speed. With the Gloomy shadow wrapped around him, now, Sunny moved faster.
Serpent immediately sensed the presence of its master. Cassie was on its back and still unharmed, fortunately. She was holding on to Serpent's back as hard as she could, helpless and unable to do anything, just praying that all of this would be over as quickly as possible.
A few meters away from each other, Sunless gave Serpent an order through their bond.
'Don't come to me! There is a cliff a few steps from here, take Cas there!'
Serpent obeyed.
The two passed next to each other, after, Sunny stopped swim and immediately summoned [Rivers of blood]. The red uchigatana manifested in his right hand from sparks of light. The scarlet red color of the blade shone on the surrounding black water, craving for blood.
The Corrupted Devil, who didn't noticed him, neither Serpent and Cassie, was now before Sunny, it was a shark-like monster. The shark was riddled with wounds. Its once diamond-hard scales seemed brittle as glass, so much damage had been done to him. Much of its head was missing several layers of body and scales.
Sunny raised the tip of his red uchigatana toward the Nightmare Creature and the creature, still ignoring him because it was too busy to run away, charged at the tip of his sword with the top of its head.
The uchigatana pierced the Corrupted Devil with the tip, emitting an unusual metallic sound upon impact, piercing the flesh and the bones right on its head where the scales were missing.
Sunny found himself slammed into the shark-like creature's head. The blade piercing its flesh must have been just a toothpick for the Corrupted Devil, because it still wasn't paying him attention.
Sunny's right hand was still firmly holding [Rivers of blood]. Fortunately the [Puppeteer's shroud] protected him from harm, the shadow augmentation allow him the strength to resist and [Gift of the sea] guaranteed him the oxygen, even if breathing in that situation was not easy at all.
The adrenaline rush of the moment allowed Sunny to ignore everything else.
He used his left hand to hold himself up on the scales and gain some stability.
In the next instant, the [Bloodhunter] enchantment of [Rivers of blood] activated and started to drink the blood of the Corrupted Devil. The creature roared and finally paid him attention.
'No. No. It's nothing! Keep running from whatever shit is chasing you, you're welcome!'
Sensing the new danger, the Corrupted Devil acted accordingly to survive. It began shaking its head to get the enemy off him, still running away from the other one behind.
The Uchigatana didn't budge an inch, and neither did Sunny. You can't get rid of a cockroach that easily, especially from a Noble cockroach!
So, starting to feel the lack of blood, the Corrupted Devil changed its direction. It moved up and down, right and left, doing circles, pirouettes and even somersaults to free itself from him. Sunny had to tighten the grip on the scales and on his weapon, which fortunately was self-supporting itself very well, to keep from falling back.
Sunny was not having a really good time.
'Why did I think this was a good idea!?'
If it wasn't for the Shadow lineage who had turned his blood in shadows and his [Shadowspawn] attribute, by now he would have surely passed out.
After what it seemed to be an eternity for Sunny, the Corrupted Devil stopped flailing and resumed to swim straight. Sunny could finally take a break and breath a little now. The part of the Corrupted Devil's head where he was standing had emerged from the water just enough to allow him to do so.
For his own safety, Sunny didn't dare to release the grip on the [Rivers of blood].
After catching his breath for a moment, Sunny looked behind him to see where the shark was moving to.
...
His heart skipped a beat.
Behind him, Sunny saw in the distance the cliff where he had sent Serpent and Cassie earlier. The Corrupted Devil was now heading there, it wanted to crush him into it to get rid of him.
By this, Sunny would surely have ended up in a pulp of flesh there.
'FUCK!'
Seeing the oncoming danger, Sunny panicked for a moment before quickly regaining his composure.
Something snapped inside him.
A sort of survival-instinct.
Something developed to survive on the ruthless alleys of the Outskirts.
His brain shut down and then instantly came back on.
Sunny was calm.
Very calm.
As if every cell and shadow of his being was now focused solely on his own survival.
Using the shadows of Serpent and Cassie like a pole, he measured how much distance there was still between him and the cliff.
He didn't have much time, but he had enough of it to act.
As if following some instructions from a manual, Sunny released his shadow and wrapped it around his uchigatana. The shadow augmentation enhanced the [Bloodhunter] enchantment, which consequently accelerated the blood consumption and pushed the shark to accelerate.
Sunny then positioned himself to prepare for the leap. His hands and feet acted as leverage, using the shark's body as a base. If he had jumped sideways, he would certainly have died. Therefore, to survive, Sunny will have to jump ahead at the last second.
The Corrupted Devil was now only a few meters away from the cliff.
Ten meters to go.
He didn't move.
Nine meters.
He still didn't move.
Eight meters.
Still unmoved.
Five meters, four meters,
Three, two, one...
SBOOOM!
...
Sunny jumped at the last.
His strength, amplified by his shadow and aligned with the speed of the creature, allowed him to jump high enough to avoid being crushed. Furthermore, being a shadow, he was light enough to do so.
The shark crashed into the cliff, throwing up some debris, emitting a thunderous sound; the cliff remained unmoved despite the clash with the huge creature.
Meanwhile, Sunny landed on it, rolling to the side.
'Again! Why did I think this was a good idea!?'
He thought once he stopped rolling.
In the next second, the Spell whispered in his mind...
[Rivers of blood] had finally finished doing his job. It bled the shark to death.
[You have slain a Corrupted Devil: Peacemaker of the Depths]
[You have received a Memory]
"yeeeh... Aaaah!"
A pain from his right arm interrupted suddenly his celebrations. During the race against the shark, Sunny had torn a muscle in his right arm upon the impact.
Sunny was obviously happy. A Sleeper who kill a Corrupted nightmare creature it wasn't an everyday thing. Rather it was unheard of. But the pain did not allow him to feel that joy right now.
The adrenaline rush from before had now cooled down. So, the pain came at him all at once after landing.
Sunny due the pain even forgot that [Rivers of blood] was still stuck in the dead body of the Corrupted Devil shark.
Gloomy, however, had already returned attached to his feet.
Good shadow!
Sunny grabbed his dislocated arm with his other hand, gritting his teeth to keep from crying out in pain.
Looking up, Sunny saw Serpent. His shadow had come to aid its master, worriedly.
"Come to me!"
Sunny left the grip on the dislocated arm and reached out with his still good arm toward Serpent, commanding him to wrap itself around him in its tattoo form.
Using the [Shadow Guide] with the help of the Shadow lineage, Sunny should be able to heal his wound within half an hour.
He had learn this trick when during one of his spar sessions with Nephis, she "accidentally" broke one of his arm.
DAMNIT NEPH!
It wasn't regeneration, nor was it a healing effect... it was more of a middle ground between the two.
"Sunny? Are you... are you here?"
Sunny heard Cassie's sobbing voice a few steps away from him, she was shaken by what she had just been through.
Without looking up, Sunny replied: "Yes, Cas. It's me."
He smiled at her, even though she couldn't see him.
The girl immediately ran toward Sunny, throwing herself on top of him and hugging him tightly.
"Huff!" Sunny snorted in pain; Cassie had thrown herself on top of him with all her weight.
He let her do it.
Cassie was now crying against his chest, she was so happy in that moment.
Sunny had found her.
The shadow had kept his promise.
Her tears slid down the surface of his armor. Letting her vent a little, Sunny stroked her hair, his gaze fixed on the gray sky above him, not raising his head to look at her.
Sunny wanted so much to focus only on her right now.
To return her embrace.
To feel her softness.
Her scent.
But he couldn't.
There was only chaos in his head at the moment.
Despite the danger just averted, Sunny still had not forgotten that message.
Don't trust your memories.
What was he missing?
"Aaah!"
Between a tear and another, Cassie tightened her embrace a bit to much, pressing against his dislocated arm.
"Oh! Sorry, Sunny!"
She apologized, releasing the embrace and sitting up on top of him. With one hand, she brushed away a strand of golden hair that was falling in her eyes. One could see the fresh tear marks that were printed on her cheeks.
Sunny finally lowered his gaze to look at her.
...
'HOLY HEAVEN!'
He froze.
His eyes widened, almost popping out of their sockets.
Cassie wasn't so "petite" after all.
At least not horizontally.
Only now did Sunny realize that Cassie was naked and, more dangerously, on top of him.
The heavenly sight of two huge, pointy and wet "golden fruits" presented itself before him.
The sight enchanted him so much that he could even swore, somehow, to hear in his head the song of "Knocking on Heaven's door" of Guns N'Roses.
In that moment, all the pain, turmoils, and doubts vanished into thin air from his mind.