Chapter 1090 Tyrant

[Your shadow is overflowing with power.][Your shadow is taking shape.][Your shadow...]

Sunny did not have to summon the runes to know that he had finally accomplished his goal... after absorbing thousands of shadow fragments, his soul was ready to form a new Shadow Core.His fifth one. He was about to become a Tyrant.

A conflicting mess of emotions rose in his heart. Of course, Sunny felt a sense of joy and triumph - his power was about to take a significant jump, after all. The bleak, dreadful months he had spent in Antarctica, enduring hardships and grisly defeats, made this moment possible. In a sense, this was his reward, and so, the invisible scars he had been left with were not for nothing.

On the other hand, this boon came at a very unfortunate moment. In the past, Sunny had been mostly able to time his advancements in a way that allowed him to go through the process in relatively safe conditions. A battlefield where hundreds of Awakened were fighting against an army of Fallen Nightmare Creatures and a Corrupted Tyrant, however, was in no way safe.

And on top of that... he had already gone through this ordeal three times. He knew how much it was going to hurt.

'Hell yes! And also... damn it!'

Sunny glanced at the Skull Centipede, who was reeling from the dreadful blow dealt to it by Saint's arrow. A huge chunk of flesh was missing from its neck, with bone dust and rivers of fetid blood spilling into the river. Effie was moments away from reaching the wounded abomination, her sculpted steel body glistening in the sunlight, and Kai was preparing to draw his bow.

One of the dead trees had been destroyed, which was supposed to rob the Tyrant of its most terrible powers... however, the outcome of the fight was still far away from being set in stone. A Corrupted Tyrant was still a Corrupted Tyrant. Sunny felt that Effie, Kai, and Saint had a good chance of emerging victorious from that fight, but he couldn't be sure.

Jet and the Awakened soldiers were struggling to hold back the tide of bone fiends.

Sadly, for now, there was nothing much Sunny could do to help them.

The rest of the battle was up to others to win.

As a hint of terrible pain appeared in his soul, Sunny hurriedly jumped backwards, hiding between two mounds of dug-up dirt. Two figures emerged from his shadow - one was a fearsome black stallion, the other a scrawny little imp.

He gritted his teeth and looked at his Shadows.

"Protect me."

Then, Sunny lingered for a moment and threw a glance at Nightmare. A cold smile appeared on his lips.

"Oh, and if the little bastard does something stupid... you have my permission to eat him, Nightmare."

The dark destrier snorted in calm agreement, while the imp stared at him with shocked outrage and fear.

And, mercifully, the pain ended.

He inhaled deeply, trembling.

He felt... stronger.

His body had become stronger. His reserves of essence had grown the most, by far.

Most importantly, he was now in possession of the fifth shadow.

And... he was a Tyrant.

'A Tyrant.'

Sunny exhaled.

A complicated emotion grasped his heart.

Finally, after years of struggling and chasing after something that often seemed unreachable, he had caught up with Nephis. Sure, she was still ahead of him by a sizable amount of fragments... but they were of the same Class now. They were both Ascended Tyrants.

Strangely enough, Sunny did not care too much.

He had wanted desperately to be as strong as Changing Star once. There had been a lot of reasons for him to harbor that desire, some better, some worse. And now that he had reached that goal...

Sunny knew that his former understanding of what real strength was had been terribly misguided. And so, he did not really care.

Still... it felt nice, to be equal to her on paper. Even if what was written in shimmering runes was not that important.

'Now... for the important stuff.'

Sunny shifted, turning his head to observe the battlefield.

There was another Tyrant nearby, and that Tyrant posed a threat to his friends and the soldiers... so, the creature had to be dealt with.