629 Pursuit

Sunny's upper arms were much longer than that of a human. Bending down, he fell on all fours and broke into a bestial gallop, flying forward with incredible speed. With each jump, the saving darkness grew closer and closer. The links of the heavenly chain rattled and swayed wildly beneath him as the Black Tar fiend pursued.

Sunny could have tried to find safety in the depth of the Sky Below, but his speed and maneuverability in the air would have been severely diminished. If the abomination decided to expel another rain of tar-covered projectiles, he would be shredded, torn to pieces, and consumed. Besides, there was no saying if the harrowing creature could follow him into the abyss.

His best chance was to reach the segment of the chain submerged in darkness, glide across it as a swift shadow, and escape to the next island.

Behind him, the mass of liquid darkness rolled forward with staggering speed, hundreds of black tendrils shooting out of it every moment to form a ceaseless tide. The distance between them grew smaller and smaller, and smaller still.

'Oh, gods…'

Just a split seconds before the tendrils of darkness descended upon him, Sunny finally reached a sufficiently low altitude and dove into the shadows, turning into one of them and rushing forward across the giant chain. The space where he stood just a moment ago was instantly enveloped by the foul flesh of the tar monstrosity, which then lunged after him, somehow starting to move even faster.

A strange, deafening sound that resembled a gurgling wail escaped from the depths of the mass of liquid darkness, causing Sunny's whole being to wreathe in pain. It washed over the world like a wave, penetrating deep into the darkness of the Sky Below and the radiance of the Sky Above, and making both shudder.

Sunny fled across the border between two skies, and the harrowing creature from the Dark Side followed.

Soon, the length of the heavenly chain that was shrouded in shadows came to the end, and he escaped them at a terrible speed, sliding across the metal of the links and barely keeping himself from plummeting down.

A tide of black, shifting tendrils fell at him almost instantly, but hit only ancient iron. Sunny had stepped through shadows, appearing a couple of dozen meters away, and then once again, teleporting to the surface of the island that loomed above him now.

That last jump ate a lot of his essence, but he had no other choice than to make it.

Falling to the ground, Sunny grabbed at his chest, which was pulsating with dull, crippling pain, and groaned. Then, he threw himself up and continued running.

Behind him, the tendrils of black tar were already above the edge of the island.

Sunny found himself among remnants of an ancient battlefield. Carcasses of broken ships lay forlornly on the barren earth, their blackened hulls covered with scorch marks and gaping with empty darkness. Here and there, pieces of rusty weapons and armor protruded from the ground, covered with ash. The ground itself was shattered and uneven, littered with pockmarks of deep craters.

Knowing that he would never escape the giant fiend on foot, Sunny alternated between galloping and jumping through shadows for short distances, sometimes chaining several jumps in a row. By exerting every fiber of his demonic body to its limit, he managed to stay ahead of the pursuing abomination for now, even if it was just barely.

Behind him, the monstrous creature barreled through wreckages of the fallen ships, breaking them apart with a thunderous cacophony of crashes. Its tendrils ripped the wooden hulls apart like paper, sending clouds of ash and debris flying through the air.

On the opposite side of the island, Sunny saw the remnants of a colossal pyre, thousands upon thousands of charred human bones arranged into a solemn pyramid to form it. These were, perhaps, the remains of the warriors that had thought in this battle and once crewed the broken ships.

What had brought them to this island, and what had they fought for? Who had won the terrible battle, and at what cost? Had this pyre been meant to honor fallen heroes, or dispose of dead enemies... or even prisoners, perhaps?

Without sparing a single thought to these questions, he dove down from the edge and fell through the air, reaching another chain and escaping further south. A few moments later, the Corrupted fiend flowed over the edge, as well, landing at the heavenly teather with a deafening thud.

Sunny was still ahead… the fiend failed to outrun him. For now.

The problem was that Sunny was growing tired and slowly running out of shadow essence, while the Black Tar monster was not.

South, south, south… pursued by the fiend from the Dark Side, Sunny fled south, crossing one island after another. But no matter how fast he ran, the damned monstrosity was faster.

Many of the islands he traversed were populated by Nightmare Creatures of all kinds, but unlike the towering emerald skeleton, these ones did not even try to fight the Corrupted abomination. Instead, they fled, too, scattering to the neighboring islands in something that resembled panic, or being consumed if they were not swift enough.

At some point, Sunny found himself running side by side with all kinds of Nightmare Creatures that would have usually not hesitated to attack him. They were like forest animals escaping from a raging fire… when a forest fire spread like an insatiable monster, devouring all in its way, predators and prey were made equal before its terrifying strength.

Besides, with his monstrous body and his mind still clouded by the countless times he had shadowed the abominations of all kinds in the Red Colosseum, Sunny was less unlike the Nightmare Creatures than he had used to be.

The Black Tar monster, however, was making a clear distinction between him and all the other creatures. It only paid attention to those abominations that were directly in its way, while its only goal, for some damned reason, was singular — to catch and consume Sunny.

'Curse it all… what's so special about me?!'

Was it the fact that he followed the path of Ascension instead of Corruption? Was it his nature as a shadow? Or maybe… was it the flame of divinity that burned in his soul and flowed through his veins?

Was that flame an irresistible lure for a creature like that?

There was no answer. All Sunny could do was run, run, run... run as his chest became consumed with pain, and his soul became empty and barren, devoid of any essence at all.

...Some time later, he escaped from the shadows one last time and fell on the emerald grass of a new island, almost completely spent of essence and sapped of all stamina.

He was done… done for. His single heart was beating wildly in his aching chest, drowning as it tried to do the work meant for two. His four lungs were on fire.

This was it. This was as far as he could go.

Sunny drew in a hoarse breath, and then slowly rose to his feet. His eyes shone with grim darkness.

'So be it… good. Come and get me, beast. Let us see which one of us is stronger. I… I have killed creatures mightier than you before…'

Granted, during the battle with Wormvine, he had months of preparations and a whole cohort of Fire Keepers supporting him.

Sunny used the last of his essence to summon the Cruel Sight and turned around, ready to face the assault of the black tendrils.

However… something was off.

'...Huh?'

The rattling of the heavenly chains... it had grown quiet.

He frowned, then took a few steps toward the edge of the island and looked down.

The Black Tar monster was some distance away, its massive body hanging motionlessly from the heavenly tether. It was frozen and unmoving, with only its tendrils pulsating in a bizarre and nauseating rhythm.

The abomination… seemed to be reluctant to approach this particular island. It was as though there was an invisible boundary that it refused to cross, for some reason.

Sunny stared at the harrowing creature for a few moments, and then snarled.

…He had escaped an inescapable situation once again. He had successfully fled the pursuit of the terrifying fiend! It seemed that luck was on his side, in the end.

However…

Was it, really?

Sunny shivered.

'But what… what, exactly, can scare a Corrupted Monster away?'