619 Seven Seconds

'Seven.'

Sunny stepped through the shadows and appeared outside of the cage, his towering figure finally free and unconstrained by the suffocating iron bars. He staggered as excruciating pain spread through his mutilated flesh, a myriad of badly healed wounds reminding him of their festering existence, and hissed.

Elyas suddenly moved, confused by the direction from which the familiar hiss came. Then, he grabbed the bars and stared at Sunny with wide eyes.

"How…"

All of a sudden, he could see his partner clearly in the darkness, because the obsidian body of the shadow creature had become enveloped by a storm of swirling sparks of light. Sunny had begun to summon his Memories — the Undying Chain, the Cruel Sight, the Midnight Shard, the Prowling Thorn…

'Six.'

The stygian serpent drawn on his skin suddenly moved, slithering forth to turn into a fearsome black odachi. Its sharp tip appeared in the air above one of Sunny's hands, and grew, swiftly forming into the length of the great blade.

At the same time, two ruby eyes ignited in the depths of his shadow with a furious light.

Elys flinched, staring at the gaunt demon in front of him in stunned awe.

'Five.'

Saint stepped out of the darkness, her graceful figure as black as the onyx, her posture straight and indomitable. Her hands were empty, devoid for now of any weapon.

Sunny stared at his Shadow with grim joy, and then bared his fangs, greeting her. He wasn't sure, but he thought that he noticed a slight change to the set of the taciturn knight's shoulders. Had she... missed him too?

'Four.'

The hilt of the Soul Serpent fell into his hand, the length of the odachi considerably increased to account for his towering height. Sunny didn't hesitate and threw the great blade to Saint, who caught it calmly and weighed the weapon in her hand, the hue of her ruby eyes suddenly growing a little brighter. It almost seemed like the Shadow was… excited?

Sunny glanced into the depths of the dungeon, where dozens of mighty Nightmare Creatures still remained locked in cages, waiting for their turn to be slaughtered in the arena.

Then, he turned to Saint.

'Three.'

...And said:

'Kill them. Kill them all!'

She tilted her head, sparing him a short look, and then wordlessly disappeared into the darkness, the black blade of the Soul Serpent raised to deliver the first killing blow.

'Two.'

A moment later, something whistled through the air, and a bestial scream thundered in the silence of the nightmarish dungeon. Sunny wasn't paying attention, though… the plan was already in motion, and his efforts were required somewhere else.

The familiar voice whispered into his ear, making him shiver.

[You have slain…]

…Oh, how he longed to hear it once more!

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

In one of Sunny's hands, a somber shortsword appeared, weaved out of tenebrous fog.

'One'.

In another, a stalwart tachi manifested itself. Sunny gripped the hilt of the Midnight Shard with both of his upper hands, leaving the Cruel Sight in one of the lower ones.

The Undying Chain finally finished appearing from a whirlwind of white sparks, covering his body with a caparace of bleak steel. Its shape changed to accommodate Sunny's monstrous body, new plates of perfectly fitted armor encompassing his digitigrade legs, his four arms, and even his long tail, a sharp metal spike protruding from the tip of it.

His gauntlets ended in vicious steel claws, and his helmet had two holes at the top for his curved horns to fit through.

Instead of a gaunt creature with a terribly mangled body, a fearsome steel goliath now stood amid the empty cages, jagged horns crowning the featureless steel plane of his face.

'One.'

Sunny dismissed his helmet and felt the collar snap back into function. Immediately, he sensed that his ability to Shadow Step was restrained again, and his connection to the Spell was cut. The sparks that had almost coalesced into the Prowling Thord disappeared, and the unfinished form of the heavy kunai with them.

…It didn't matter. He had already achieved everything he needed to achieve in these seven seconds.

Sunny could have used that time to Shadow Step as far as he could, escaping the premises of the Red Colosseum. However, that would have left him with no essence in the middle of Solvane's territory, with the accursed collar still wrapped around his neck.

It was easy to leave the Red Colosseum, but it was much harder to escape it. As long as Sunny was collared, he was going to remain tied to the enchantments of the ancient theater. He was still going to be a slave.

Plus… there was a thing he wasn't willing to leave behind.

Sunny heard Saint slaughtering the second Nightmare Creature and turned to Elyas, who was staring at him with wide eyes.

The youth was still trapped in the cage…

Of course, Sunny could have left him to die. In fact, doing so was probably an obvious decision. The young Awakened wasn't real, after all.

Only, maybe, he was…

Sunny had no idea whether these people were illusions or not. That was what the government and the common knowledge had told him. But was that knowledge the truth? He wasn't sure.

All he knew was that the shadows of the Mountain King and the old slaver he had killed in the First Nightmare were still in his Soul Sea, undistinguishable from all the rest of the creatures he had slain in the real world and the Dream Realm. An illusion created by the Spell, if that was what they were, might as well have possessed a soul, and a shadow… if so, were they so different from real people?

In any case, it didn't really matter. In the reality of the Nightmare, Elyas was a living being. His partner. Sunny was determined to save him, as well.

The two of them were fated to die in the arena. Well… fate could go screw itself. They had kept each other alive in the Red Colosseum, and now, both of them were going to escape it. Together. That was his furious, adamant resolution.

Plus… Sunny really, really needed Elyas for his plan of escape to work.

The problem, however, was the cage. It was forged out of the same indestructible alloy as their collars. So getting the youth out of it was not going to be easy…

With a low growl, Sunny jumped onto the hanging cage, grabbing the bars with the curved talons on his feet, and swung the Midnight Shard. He wasn't aiming at the cage itself… instead, he was aiming at the chain attaching it to the ceiling.

Reinforced by the shadows, the austere tachi cut through the rusty chain, easily breaking it apart. The cage fell to the floor, sending a loud rumble rolling through the dark dungeon, and then toppled to the side.

Locked inside, Elys was thrown down. Almost immediately, though, the youth regained his balance and crouched, staring at Sunny with wild eyes.

"Hurry! Whatever you're planning, Demon, hurry! The priest is going to be here soon!"

Sunny shivered, remembering the aura of savage, crushing strength radiating from their Ascended jailer, and the cold glint of his terrifying blade.

Elyas didn't need to remind him… Sunny was painfully aware of how little time he had left…