And who better to send into a terrifying aerial battle than the shadow of a Sacred moth?
Come to think of it, Slayer had some winged beasts in her repertoire of forms, as well.
"Slayer, help Nephis! Decimate those butterflies!"
On the white sands of the desert, an enormous black lioness raised its head and looked up, cold malice slowly igniting in her lightless eyes.
Sunny finally reached the Deathless army.
"Hey, fossil! Azarax! We need to..."
His voice trailed off.
Something was off.
The ancient tyrant was standing with his back to Sunny, his towering figure still encased in the heavy armor made of glass. His bones were entirely black now, just like those of the rest of the Deathless. His soldiers were facing away from the Tomb of Ariel, as well, as if watching their retreating kin.
They were too motionless, too still... and something about the way their tyrant's shoulders were set that gave Sunny a peculiar, unfamiliar feeling.
"Hey, Azarax. Answer me, damn it!"
Sunny pulled the improvised blindfold off his eyes, tied roughly around his wrist, and looked at the Deathless Sovereign.
There were a few moments of silence. Then, Azarax turned slowly and gazed at him, a cold and unfeeling kind of darkness nestling in the deep chasm of his empty eye sockets. There was something eerie about that darkness now, something Sunny did not recognize.
No... there was a lack of something, rather. Azarax had been slowly losing himself over these endless, dreadful weeks. But now, it was as if he was utterly gone. As if his mind had been entirely consumed by the curse, leaving behind only malevolent Will.
Sunny took a step back.
"Crap."
Azarax the Mighty, the Plague of Steel, the conqueror of a hundred thrones... had finally succumbed to the curse of Shadow God.
...He chose the worst possible moment to do that, as well.
As if brought back to life by Sunny’s call, the Deathless warriors of the cursed tyrant moved. Their rusty blades flashed, slaughtering the few remaining shades. Azarax himself, meanwhile, raised his fearsome battle axe and walked toward Sunny across the white sand, his steps making the desert shake.
Sunny took another step back.
“Damn it! I knew!"
His voice was full of indignation.
Behind him, the Chain Breaker was rising into the air, and an apocalyptic swarm of Great abominations was descending upon it.
“I knew this would happen!"
Sunny gritted his teeth, knowing that he had to hold Azarax back... somehow.
Now that the Plague of Steel had become an enemy, he was quite terrifying.
Sunny was outraged. He was appalled.
He was really quite incensed.
"I really, really didn't want to do this..."