'Attack!'
The box scurried from its hiding place, reach the cell, and ran through the door on its eight short iron legs, just in time to sink its sharp triangular teeth into the sentinel's heel. They easily pierced the steel of his armored boot. Blood spurted into the air, and with a surprised shriek, the man stumbled forward, fell, and rolled down the slope of the dome, crashing into the bars of the cage.
The arrow flashed past Sunny, missing him by a hair's breadth.
But he did not care, already moving.
As soon as the damage was done, Sunny dismissed the Covetous Coffer, and before the runes could devour the tiny amount of shadow essence returned to him by that act, sent all of it into his hurting muscles.
And now, he was dashing up the slope toward where the Lost was trying to get back to his feet.
Before he could, however, Sunny was already upon him.
He thrust his hands through the bars, wrapped one arm around the man's neck, pressed him against the cage, and used the other hand to lock him into a stranglehold.
Sunny was weakened by the runes, the hunger, and the thirst… but he still had three cores, and three shadows wrapped around his body. His strength was fueled by fury, desperation, and cold, murderous will.
,m All of it was barely enough to hold the struggling sentinel in place.
The two men struggled furiously, one trying to break free, the other trying to squeeze the very life out of his enemy. Sunny used everything he had, and then a bit more, strangling the Lost with all the strength he had left in his gaunt, starved body. He knew that there was not going to be another chance. He had to kill this man in order to survive.
…And even more important than that, he simply wanted to.
So, he bit his lip, feeling drops of blood flowing into his dry mouth, and pulled, pulled, pulled.
After what felt like an eternity, when his vision had gone almost entirely black and his muscles were on the verge of collapsing, he felt something snap under his grip, and then the body of his enemy suddenly grew limp.
The sentinel was dead…
Probably…
Sunny let out a shaky breath, let go of the man's corpse, and fell back, sliding down to the center of the dome.
He couldn't stand up anymore.
In truth, he couldn't even open his eyes. Not that he would be able to see anything. The fight had taken the last of his strength.
His chest rose and fell, every breath sending a wave of agony through his body. He didn't think that he could move.
'...I'm done.'
Through the haze, Sunny heard someone walk unsteadily past him, and some time later, a loud click. Then, two small, weak hands grabbed him by the shoulders, and Sunny felt himself being dragged across the cold stones.
He didn't quite understand what was happening.
However… soon, his whole body shuddered, and a dark grin slowly appeared on his face.
A raging, revitalizing flood of shadow essence was flowing into his three cores.
...He was free!