Shadow Slave

Sunny was keenly interested in anything that had to do with Eurys, and by extension with the Nine. So, he glanced at Azarax, lingered for a moment, and asked:

“That Eurys… Eurys of the Nine. The two of you must know each other well, considering that you spent thousands of years side by side.”

Azarax ground his teeth. Instead of answering the question, he regarded Nephis.

“That knave must have really guided you out of Hell. So, where is he now? What has become of him?”

She shrugged.

“I left him in the Underworld.”

Sunny spared her a brief glance, then added:

“He made it to the Shadow Realm, in the end. He is still there, searching for peace.”

And waiting for Sunny to grow powerful enough to slay him.

The skull of the ancient skeleton remained motionless for a few moments, then lowered slightly.

“…A shame.”

Azarax stared at the sand, then pierced with a murderous glare.

“It’s a shame that he escaped Hell before me. Oh, how joyous it would have been, to join the battle together!”

Sunny was momentarily surprised by the uncharacteristic show of sentimentality. It seemed that Azarax was not immune to camaraderie and affection, after all. However, he was proven wrong a second later.

“If he and I were to become swallowed by the curse together, I would have been able to crush, shatter, and mutilate that wretched worm for all eternity! I would have destroyed him a thousand times… ten thousand times! I would have visited a vicious death upon him for every accursed day I had to spend in his excruciating company!”

The vitriol in his voice could only compare with the hatred he had expressed when sensing the legacy of Shadow God in Sunny.

‘I… guess not.’

Sunny cleared his throat.

“Would you even be able to defeat him once, though? That man killed a god. Azarax the Mighty is a fearsome name, sure, but can it really compare to Eurys the Godslayer?”

Azarax glowered at him silently.

“That worm was full of tricks, but he has never been more powerful than me. All he could do was plot and scheme. However, no scheme would have helped him defeat someone as fearsome as I was… as I am.”

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

“How did he end up killing the avatar of War God, then?”

He wasn’t asking out of mere curiosity. If he and Nephis succeeded and became Sacred, it would not be long until they would have to defend the borders of humanity from Cursed and Unholy creatures. So, every little bit of information about the nebulous art of godslaying was of vital importance to them.

Azarax turned his skull away.

“…Who really knows? It was a long time ago. And Eurys of the Nine had never been a forthcoming person, even before we ended up nailed to this tree.”

He remained silent for a moment, then continued:

“All I know is that those of his people who hadn’t been slaughtered were made slaves. The slaves from that particular realm were gorgeous, mild-tempered, and exquisitely cultured, so they were valued a lot by the wealthy merchants and the nobles of the Empire. Eurys was quite handsome and highly educated, so he fetched a good price… that was what people said about him later, at least, when he became infamous.”

Azarax turned to look at Sunny and Nephis.

“He served his masters well and was resold several times, ending up in a more affluent household each time. Eventually, he became an Imperial Slave — as in, a palace slave for the Great Temple of the War Empire, where the Dragon and his descendants dwelled.”

The ancient skeleton let out a cackling laugh.

“Eurys served them faithfully… for a while. In fact, he was quite valued by the Great Temple and entrusted with important duties. He was even allowed to cultivate his soul and walk the Path of Ascension, eventually becoming Transcendent. That was when he was given the greatest of honors — the honor of serving the Dragon himself as a personal attendant.”

Azarax grinned.

“He bided his time, waited patiently, and then slit the God Emperor’s throat. Ha, haha! The proud and mighty Dragon, killed by a slave. Truly an inferior imitation…”

There was vicious, spiteful glee in his voice. He was gloating.

Sunny shook his head.

“Didn’t the same Dragon do you in and destroy your own empire? Are you really in a position to scorn him?”

Azarax turned his skull and stared at Sunny with a hint of malevolence. Eventually, though, he simply scoffed.

“Did I ever say that it was the Dragon who defeated me? No, I only said that it was a champion of War God. My conquest of the mortal realms had been unstoppable, and I was well on the way to subjugating them all… until my great conquering horde besieged a small city protected by a War Maiden. They were an ancient order of warrior priestesses who had once served a different avatar of War God in a bygone era. That avatar was long gone, but the covenant between War God and them still remained.”

Sunny suddenly felt his chest itch, remembering Solvane’s hand rending his heart out.

He knew who the War Maidens were all too well…

In fact, Effie had received training from that ancient order.

Azarax clicked his jaws in anger.

“It was that War Maiden and the city she was hired to protect that became the ruin of my great army, my empire, and me. By the time I finally managed to kill her, it was already too late… everything around me was in ruins. She was cast to Hell for breaking the divine covenant, while the Dragon built his empire on the ruins of what she had destroyed. He could have never defeated me himself… if he tried, Eurys would have never gotten the chance to kill him. Because I would have ended him long before that.”

Nephis frowned.

“From the way you speak, it sounds like the vessels of the gods did not start their lives as beings of the Divine Rank. They had to walk the Path of Ascension first, just like the rest of us. But surely, the Dragon was Divine by the end of the Golden Age… how could Eurys, a mere Transcendent, have killed him?”

Azarax stared at her somberly.

After a long stretch of silence, he said simply:

“Where there is will, there is a way. And Eurys was eerily adept at wielding his Will even before becoming a Supreme.”

He paused, and then added in a lower tone:

“Of course, that alone would not have been enough to slay a god. How did he do it? Nobody knows. However, for every force that exists, there is a force that is its antithesis. Now, then, what is the antithesis of war… of life?”

Sunny tilted his head a little.

“It’s death.’

Azarax laughed.

“Indeed. So, Eurys did not simply slit the Dragon’s throat. He did so with the Slaying Blade — the blade of Death. He must have…”