Shadow Slave Cinema (reaction fanfic)-Chapter 17: The end?

On the floor of the Shadow Realm, the room's shaking finally quelled as the hazy smokescreen of inky sand began to fall, slowly settling back into the blackened desert. All around them, chunks of Condemnation were strewn about all over the place, as they began to dissipate into a myriad of white sparks at varying rates.

A comfortable distance away, the annihilating vortex of white flames slowly moved into the distance, signalling that the worst had passed.

Though it had not directly threatened them, nor did it breach the room—it was unnerving nonetheless, having witnessed the excruciating pain it caused Sunny while breaking down the towering Nightmare creature like it were wet clay.

Hands began to relax as few let out long sighs of relaxation, the adrenaline of the moment now starting to dissipate, as their eyes and mind calmed, allowing their usual calculative demeanor to return.

Kai's face finally relaxed, "Thank god the worst seems to be over for him..."

Effie grinned as she smacked his shoulder with enthusiasm, "Are you kidding? That was exhilarating! I would not have minded an extra few minutes of them throwing hands, or.....uuh, shadow hands!"

Ananke turned to her with a confused look on her face:

"But he is fighting with his life on the line"

Effie stiffened as the adrenaline continued to leave her body, her fists slightly lowering at the weight of the words. Her face began to droop and turn conflicted. She had indeed been lost in the bloody moment, not even able to recall with confidence what she might have said. Slowly, her eyes became slightly conflicted, as brief memories of her Second Nightmare flashed before her, the recollection of atrocious crimes committed by the War followers, and more importantly their maniacal absorption in the moment of combat at the sight of another's suffering.

"Well..."

"....."

Her gaze became distracted at the sound of Ling's giggling to her side, as he sat in Anankes lap. Effie's gaze softened, as she slowly reached over and pulled him back onto her lap. He looked at his mother with eyes of excited wonder as he grinned honestly.

"I didn't know Uncle Sunny was so cool and strong!" he exclaimed, causing Effie to smile.

"He is pretty awesome...."

Ling nodded vigorously, "Really awesome sauce! Maybe he could be my teacher, like that movie daddy likes...ummm...Karate....yeah! Karate Kid!"

Effie starred at him, before aggressively rubbing his hair:

"I hope he's not coming off as a bad influence to him...." she mumbled, causing Jet's eyes to widen with incredulousness.

This time, it was Effie who utilized her hidden sense, as she turned to Jet.

"Yeah, yeah...don't start, because in the end..." she sighed, while quickly turning back to Nephis

"I'm always rooting for your little shadow" she cooed.

However, Nephis didn't betray the slightest bit of reaction or agitation like she thought she would, instead remaining silent for a few seconds, before slowly turning to Effie, her face unreadable.

"Please just call him Sunny, he has a name" she said silently.

Effie held her gaze with an equally unreadable look. Before the revelation about his affiliation with her, she had been noncompliant and immune to her prodding, but after learning more about him; to her joy, she was for once affected and seemingly tilted by her shameless jokes.

But now her response....

Was similar to the start?

'Is she adapting or something? I thought she could only adapt on the battlefield...'

Slightly defeated, she patted Nephis on the shoulder, "Alright, alright, got it...you're his number one fan" she sighed, slowly adjusting herself.

"But i'm still the number one Sunphis fan" she murmured, this time causing Nephis's to slightly shudder. A satisfied smile slightly crept on Effie's lips.

'Well, thankfully that still works'

On the opposite side of Nephis, Cassie listened in silence as her body remained motionless. Strangely, her mind churned as she continued to process the events of the fight. Yet briefly, an estranged thought that didn't feel like her own, surfaced in reaction to Effie's remark.

'Hang on, I'm the number one Sunphis fan...'

She paused.

'W-Wait, why am I thinking of something like that?'

Her feelings and thoughts were still somewhat chaotic and nonuniform after the revelation about his connection to them, and more importantly the heart wrenching realization about what actually happened with both of them and her plan. But the worst had passed, and she was smoothly regaining her composure that she had trained over many years.

Admittingly.....

The Sunphis lounge had helped.

But had it also awoken something strange in her?

'No, no....our aim is to learn more about him and complete whatever objective this thing has in mind, so we can then return. Although what comes after will be a unique Nightmare on its own...'

In seriousness, she considered whether her mind was under the influence of some unseen hex, but when she checked, her memories were all in order.

She remained silent in thought.

"It wouldn't hurt to have some popcorn next time we're at the lounge...." she murmured

Meanwhile, Rain remained a silent victim sitting in the middle of the group, all the....questionable remarks and comments about her brother stabbing her like arrows.

Rain's eye twitched slightly as the conversation continued to spiral into... whatever this was. Her brother was fighting for his life, and yet, somehow, this had devolved into a competition over who was the biggest fan of him?

No....

The fan of....Sunphis?

.....

She remained frozen, staring blankly ahead, trying not to process the absurdity of it all.

Then, as Cassie absentmindedly muttered about popcorn, a tiny, strangled noise almost escaped her throat.

'Popcorn?'

She slowly exhaled through her nose, pulling the collar of her shirt onto her face to seemingly hide.

And yet, the damage had been done. Somewhere deep inside, a small, weary part of her soul let out a silent scream.

'Crazy....his friends...old friends? Forgotten friends? Real friends? They were all unique lunatics just like her brother?!?'

Weren't they supposed to be some of the most fearsome and renowned Saints in the world!?

It was too much for a mundane girl like her.

First, she had been fearful of his connection to her being discovered, then she had been touched about his real identity, then she had been slightly conniving and condescending about his good-nature propaganda being spread to everyone.

She didn't even want to understand how he had developed a relationship with Nephis, her idol, or if he had been the one claimed by her, weirdly like her slave?

'Well strangely, that's one of the more manageable things to think about...'

....

She slapped her face at the spontaneous thought, as she tiredly stared at the scene before her.

And now....she was watching with her heart in her mouth, as he fought something that could only be connected to the description of, God, in her mind.

In full-honesty, she didn't know how to react or what she should feel anymore, the more they kept watching.

She groaned, "Please...just let me leave"

Nephis turned slightly, and blinked, "But we can't leave"

Rain stared back, her eyes violently twitching, completely lost at who she had come to think of was talking to her, as she stared blankly at the screen.

"Then I'm leaving emotionally," she defeatedly whispered.

Nephis tilted her head in confusion, but before she could speak, the haze of sand began to finally settle, allowing a clear peripheral of the surroundings, as people began to speak up.

"Is...is it over then?" Noctis mumbled, a hint of disappointment in his tone.

Solvanne clicked her tongue in agitation, "The room hasn't changed back imbecile"

Julius chuckled, an unnaturally wide smile on his face "Interesting...no, breathtaking? Gods I can't even come up with a worthy adjective to describe this course of events!

"I....I-I just love it all! Where even is the Shadow realm, an unexplored part of the Dream Realm? Is the location of one's death correspondent to where their shadow manifests? Why and how does the Shadow Realm erode everything that enters it? What was that white vortex? How are some shadows able to retain some consciousness even after death? Can Sunny do the same after he dies, are there even more hidden abilities than come in tandem when he is present in the Shadow Realm?"

His ramblings continued as they became increasingly incoherent, as others began to consider things.

"A bit of a shame...I thought we would see more from them, since they are supposed old friends" Saint Cor muttered

"Still, I don't understand the extent of comradery to result in such a bloodlusted turn of events..." Saint Gilead

Jest snorted as he leaned back, "You first have to, have comradery to understand" he commented in a condescending tone.

Gilead paid his fishing no mind, as he continued:

"The Lineage of Shadow is quite fearsome"

"All the more reason to have it..." Morgan calmly echoed, causing some of the Bloodsister to stiffen.

Before anything could escalate further a low voice sounded, grabbing their attention.

"It's not over" Daeron rumbled, as the room slightly shifted, a figure now rising slowly in the distance.

Hundreds of meters away, a vague shadow was struggling to coalesce into a solid shape, writing on the ground. The damned archer seemed to have survived, as well.

And between them...

The remains of the shadow of Condemnation lay. The dark colossus was gone, and all that was left of its great obsidian body was a tall hill of fine black dust, no different from all the others. However, something was moving in the air above the obsidian dune. At first, it looked like a small twister — a mere gust of wind that spun weakly, sucking up black dust and tiny stones as it moved.

But then, Sunny saw a shard of bone being absorbed into its twisting mass, rising high into the air and then freezing in place at the heart of the strange anomaly. A moment later, a larger piece of bone flew up, and not too far away, a giant skull of a dead serpent trembled, rising a few centimeters above the ground.

The whirlwind was slowly growing larger... and stronger.

Consuming more and more of what was around it. It was then that Sunny understood what he was looking at. The body of the shadow of Condemnation might have been gone, but the invisible force that had built it from usurped parts of the world — the dead deity itself — was not. In fact, it was already starting to build a new vessel for itself. The shadow of Condemnation was right in front of him, intact.

Which meant...

Sunny glanced at the splinter of the ivory fang in his hand, then at the murderous archer who was slowly rising to their feet in the distance.

Then, he pushed his battered body forward with a greedy grin.

The shadow of Condemnation had not been destroyed, but it was currently vulnerable.

And while Sunny and the ruthless slayer of the Shadow Realm were both in quite a sorry state, they were also both positioned perfectly to deal the weakened deity a fatal blow. Well, Sunny was alive. The mysterious shadow was dead, but... refusing to depart.

In any case, either of them could kill the shadow of Condemnation. The only question was who would strike first. So, Sunny rushed forward without wasting any time. Or he tried to, at least... sadly, his body was damaged quite severely, so the best he could manage was limping forward with urgent haste.

'Ah, it hurts...'

That was what he would have thought in any other circumstances.

But currently, there was only one thought in his mind:

'Kill it, kill it... I must kill it first!'

Nephis and Mordrets eyes widened.

'He...he wasn't a titan?'

After everything they had just witnessed, while not having used the full extent of his mysterious abilities, he wasn't even at full power?

Against a dead Sacred no less.

Was he delusional? Had he in fact survived the whole ordeal just so he could greedily become a Titan? It somewhat scared them how determined and far he would go. Mordret could create an army of Mirror creatures to farm soul shards, while Nephis because of her DreamSpawn heritage could siphon some just from killing Nightmare creatures.

Yet Sunny didn't seem to have an unfair card in his hand. Even more unknowingly, they didn't understand the significance and the difference that "Shadow Fragments" had in comparison to normal Soul Fragments.

Did they provide more or less of a buff, and how different was it to acquire them?

Those who weren't Divine also seemed to catch on as murmurs rang out.

"He...he's really focused on killing that thing while a Sacred, no....a dead Sacred is trying to kill him!?" Kai breathed in disbelief

"Fool" Gilead snarled.

Noctis slapped his knee repeatedly as his laugh sounded around the room:

"Even in the face of death, his treachery knows no bounds!"

This content is taken from fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm.

Daeron nodded, "Then...we'll get to see what happens once his Soul, no. His Shadow Core is fully saturated"

Everyone watched with wide eyes as Sunny stumbled towards the remains of Condemnation, breathless, as if they were an Olympic crowd witnessing the final lap.

Leaping into the air, he plunged into the whirlwind of black dust. For a moment, the familiar alien force pulled at his mind, body, and soul, trying to absorb them — but it was much weaker now, so he simply ignored it.

A moment later...

He stabbed his ivory blade into the very heart of the dark whirlwind, where a perfect sphere was slowly forming from the shard of shattered bone. A mundane blade might not have been able to hurt the intangible force that was Condemnation. But Sunny was using the fang of a Soul Serpent, and of an unfathomably powerful one, at that. Soul Serpents were conduits of Death, and Sunny was its heir... so, he sharpened his will into infinitely cold killing intent, and channeled that intent into the splinter of the ancient bone, willing it to deliver death and destruction to the shadow of the dead god.

It seemed to have worked.

When the ivory blade pierced the heart of Condemnation...

Sunny sensed an imperceptible ripple spread through the world. And then, he felt something ancient and indescribably vast break apart. And then, he felt nothing but hollow emptiness take its place. The whirlwind of wind was suddenly torn apart, and the black dust settled. The shards of bone fell to the ground. Sunny fell, too. The splinter of the ivory fang had shattered, leaving only a small piece of bone in his fist.

But...

As he fell, his eyes widened, and a nearly inexhaustible torrent of shadow fragments — far greater than anything he had ever experienced before — flooded his soul.

It was both exhilarating and terrifying. He could feel his shadow cores, which had been damaged somewhat by the Shadow Realm, being replenished and rebuilt to how they were before.

And it did not stop there.

The raging torrent of shadow fragments filled his soul, saturating it...

And deep within it's dark depths, the seventh, final core had finally come to fruition, igniting with lightless splendor.

"H-He...he did it!" Rain yelped with an uncharacteristic joy, causing the brows of some to raise.

"No..." Tyris mumbled while shaking her head.

"He still has to deal with the Sacred..." Silent Stalker said in a low tone.

Everyone watched in anticipation as he continued to roll down the dune, groaning in pain as not too far away, the Archer rapidly approached him. His roll came to a stop, as he slowly pushed himself off the ground, but the Archer was already closing in from behind him.

Saint Cor's eyes narrowed in annoyance, "Moron, don-"

But before he could finish, Sunny turned around, not a hint of fear on his face, as he chillingly smiled with malice, blood flowing out of his mouth.

"Hey, fool..."

The archer did not pay his words any attention, raising their fist to deliver the final strike. Sunny tensed his muscles, preparing himself.

"...Behind you."

The murderous shadow froze for a split second, then spun around.

But it was already too late.

Eyes widened in similar shock to the Archer must have felt in that moment.

As behind them, a figure rose from the shadows.

Another Sunny, his face laced with an enraged look as he clasped his fists and brought them down with full force. The devastating blow caused an audible boom, as a shockwave rolled out, sand flying in all directions.

"Is....is it finally over?" Telle whispered.

"Shame.." Beastmaster sighed.

MoonVeil turned to her with a stupefied look, "Shame? It's a damn Sacred! Not even mother would be able to salvage what would remain of your corpse if you were in his position!"

BeastMaster looked with a complicated face, her smile only growing:

"No, no....you're right." she cooed, causing MoonVeil to smile, proud that her words got through.

"But....that's exactly why I want it to keep going."

"The rage. The Power. The Will. Gods, it's one of a kind, it's exquisite! Fate is broken? I beg to differ. How else would I have learned about such a delectable shadow?" she mused, her tongue running briefly over her lips, causing the BloodSister to twitch.

But she didn't stop there.

"And he's not even a fantasy, he's very real. Flesh and Blood..." she cooed

MoonVeil's face paled, deeply disturbed in having started her engine. Regret washed over her as she slowly sank back into her seat. Revel shot her a sympathetic glance, as if to say, You brought this upon yourself.

The BloodSisters were not the only listeners, as Effie looked at them with a face of shock.

"Princess are you hearing this! You have to do something!" she whined with impatience.

But Nephis didn't hear her words, locked in a trance as she stared blankly at the battle that continued to rage. Effie stared at her, her mouth agape.

"No...really. You must have dirt on him or enslaved him or something. Even Fate can't understand how he hasn't been snatched away from you.

Rain could suffer in silence, battling between covering her face and ears with her shirt, or risking missing out on what might happen next.

The enemy was weakened and dazed, but still dangerous. Even slowed down by the oppressive commands of the Lord of Shadows, they managed to dodge the lethal attack and roll away, standing up a moment later... Still burning with the same cold, murderous determination. Sunny smiled weakly as he pushed his original body from the ground. The mysterious shadow was truly stubborn. Or maybe they simply did not know any better, having spent thousands of years slaying others in order to survive.

Did it even remember anything except hunting and killing?

Was it even capable of giving up?

It did not matter, anyway. Even if the archer's resolve was infinite, they were already too far gone. Whatever strength they had left was enough to kill one Sunny, perhaps, but not two, especially with the second one bearing no physical wounds.

Surrounded by the towering remains of the dead serpents, the three of them fought without holding anything back. The ground quaked from the fury of their desperate clash, but it swiftly became apparent that the archer had no hope of emerging whole from that fight. Sunny even felt a little dirty, for a brief moment, for ganging up on the murderous shadow. But that bizarre and ridiculous notion quickly disappeared, replaced by vindictive glee.

'...So what?'

So what if it was two against one? That was what the damned maniac deserved!

Slowly people began to lean back.

It was clear, the fight was over. It may have been better to label it as a slaughter now. The shadow was a mangled mess of cuts and indents, like a worn out punching bag.

Some even felt some strange sympathy for the spiteful Shadow.

Having survived for so long and gone through who knows what, simply fighting to still exist even after death. Although Shadow was proclaimed to be a silent God that didn't act out, it seemed that he had a knack for collecting debts.

And the Slayer was long past due.

Thus, it had to deal with Shadows' personal executioner, which they had put up quite the fight against. But like darkness, it seemed that it could only delay the inevitable for so long.

Silently they watched, as the battle finally began to slow down.

The Seventh Shadow calmly dodged their crushing blows, delivering one cruel, inescapable strike after another in return. The original body served to distract and slow down the enemy, allowing for these strikes to land. When the murderous shadow tried to switch targets and finish off the original body first, the seventh avatar would ruthlessly punish the moment of distraction, thus making destroying the more battered version of Sunny impossible.

He had mastered the strange art of fighting as a group, after all — the two incarnations moved in perfect harmony with each other, weaving an inescapable net of death. Sunny evaded a swift and devastating kick with flowing grace, then used his other body to lunge at the archer from behind. The shadow sidestepped his lunge easily, but that took a precious moment — a split second later, Sunny's fist struck the side of their head, sending the enemy reeling.

And using that opportunity, the original body delivered a vicious kick to the side of the archer's knee, feeling something crack with dark satisfaction.

...It was a little barbaric, to simply batter the mysterious shadow to death. But what could he do? All his weapons were gone, and even the last splinter of the great ivory fang had shattered when he destroyed the shadow of Condemnation. Now, only a piece of it remained, still clenched in Sunny's fist to add some weight to his punches.

He inhaled hoarsely. "Just give up and die with grace..."

As the archer regained their balance and raised their arms to block an obliterating blow, the seventh shadow added: "Find peace within me. Or whatever..."

Their enemy looked almost like a ghost now, having lost most of their solidity. Black smoke was flowing from countless wounds on the archer's body, surrounding them like a billowing veil. The contours of the graceful body beneath it had always been nebulous, but now, they were so vague as to almost seem immaterial. It was time to end this. Sunny might have harbored a grudge against the mysterious archer, but an enemy like that...

They deserved a clean death, at least. Lunging forward with both of his bodies, he sent one of them low, while the other struck high. The archer staggered back, avoiding the strike to their head, but they failed to avoid the original body.

A moment later, Sunny managed to grab them and wrestle them to the ground. This was the end. While the seventh avatar grabbed the archer's arms, the original body pressed the enemy into the ground with all the prodigious weight allowed to him by the [Feather of Truth] and raised his fists. His face was calm and cold when he struck down, aiming to split the mysterious shadow's skull. One blow was not enough, so he struck again, and again, and again...

Until even the Onyx Shell could not keep up with the devastating power of his blows, and the skin on his knuckles split, drops of crimson blood falling into the ghostly wisps of black smoke. The archer was still struggling, but by now, their movements were so weak that it did not matter.

Taking a deep breath, Sunny allowed for the shard of ivory fang he was still holding in his fist to slide down, and then caught it between his fingers.

Around them, the curtains were already beginning to stir as their usual velvet returned, signifying the ending of the reward. Sighs rang out, as people began to shift in their seats, silently discussing what they had learned.

They had been starved for a battle, and it was impossible to deny that they had more than their fill.

"Well, I can't be greedy and say I didn't enjoy the scuffle" Noctis chortled.

Other Saints nodded unanimously in silence, as before them, Sunny brought the dagger up.

Only Julius seemed to be troubled as his lips slightly quivered, his heart silently aching, inside his desire to learn more about the secrets of the Shadow Realm and the rest of the Dream Realm burning brighter than ever.

"No...not yet!" he silently whimpered

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The Gods and Daemons were dead. The Void and the creatures inside still remained sealed. Even Fate was broken. It seemed no will alive had the power nor the prosecution to fulfill such an honest and burning desire.

And yet.

Outside of the cinema, in a place unknown....

A glowing white light faintly pulsed, the same white light that had touched the Divine Realms and brought them to this mysterious place. The same mysterious entity that somehow remembered and knew who Sunny was.

Something stirred, as the space around it vibrated, a noise sounding from it.

"That could work..."

In response, the light shifted as it began to faintly pulse.

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In the Cinema, the room slightly shook as everyone looked around in confusion.

"What is this...?" Daeron mumbled

Everyone looked around in confusion, noticing that now....

It had stopped.

The color was no longer returning, instead receding as curtains began to move to their original position. Gazes narrowed as eyes moved around in confusion.

'The reward...wasn't over?'

Silent tears began to form in the eyes of both Noctis and Julius, as people looked back to the scene before them, trying to notice a change. But it was all the same. Sunny still held the raised dagger, now ready to plunge it into the shadow.

Kai turned his head in a confused manner, his voice raising, "It wants us to watch him kill it? Wha-"

But before he could finish, someone cut him off.

A voice.

Someone they didn't know.

A person that wasn't in the room.

Their presence was completely hidden, yet the moment they spoke, an unbearable weight settled over the entire theater, pressing down on their chests like an unseen hand. It wasn't just the words—it was the depth behind them, something ancient and knowing, something wrong.

The words sent shivers down their backs, as a friendly voice sounded from somewhere in the darkness.

"My, oh my. I wouldn't do that..."

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No way am I about to have Eurys lore drop and the Slayer fight all in one Chapter

Too much!

But hey, at least I am temporarily freed from writing fights

(I think describing fights is boring) •́︵•̀

No I gotta read through all those Chapter and filter out info an yap

Chapter was slightly shorter tho, so next one in 2 days ( ◡̀_◡́)ᕤ

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