However, Sunny really needed that to have happened. This was the only method to get rid of the unbreakable slave collar he had managed to come up with. He had even considered chopping his head off himself, but came to the conclusion that his own strength was not going to be enough to overcome the durability of Bone Weave.
So, he had decided to try and use the might of an Ascended apostle of War instead. Death, indeed, was the only escape.
…In front of him, a river of blood flowed from the body of the taciturn Master. The red priest had lowered his guard, thinking that the shadow demon was dead, and received not one, but three whole fatal wounds as the result.
Honestly, he should have been more careful. The dead were often the most troublesome of enemies, after all.
As the body in the tattered red robe slowly toppled and fell to the ground, the headless body of the demon raised one hand, hooked a claw beneath the slave collar, and tore it off its severed neck.
The band of metal rang as it hit the floor.
…Sunny was not dead, of course, thanks to the [Undying] enchantment of his Transcendent armor. For as long as it was active, he would remain alive, and even in control of his body. This was the good part…
The bad part was that the enchantment was devouring his essence with an inconceivable speed, and in the next few seconds, when his reserves ran completely dry, Sunny was really going to die.
Before that happened…
The headless demon took a few unsteady steps forward, nonchalantly picked up its head, and awkwardly placed it on his neck. Then, he approached Elyas and fell to his knees in front of the petrified youth.
'C—come one, fool! I don't have much time!'
Due to the fact that his mouth wasn't currently connected to his lungs, Sunny couldn't even growl to pull the young Awakened out of his stupor.
Luckily, Elyas shook it off himself, flinching and throwing his hands into the air to place them on both sides of Sunny's mutilated neck.
"Oh Lord… oh gods… oh Lord! Hold on, Demon!"
He activated his healing Ability, trying to make the cleanly severed head of the shadow creature attach itself back to the flat stump of his neck.
Sunny shuddered, overwhelmed by terrifying pain.
'How… how does it even makes sense?! Why am I in so much pain?! My brain isn't even connected to those nerves… argh! Curses! Damnation!'
For almost anyone else, recovering from having their head cut off would have been nearly impossible. However, Sunny was a bit special… because avoiding death was one of his specialties.
There were several factors that played to his advantage.
Firstly, the Midnight Shard had judged his current state dire enough to unlock the hidden well of power that its [Unbroken] enchantment granted him.
Secondly, his bones and his blood were transformed by Weaver's lineage, gifting him with inhuman tenacity. That was the reason why he had not bled out already, and why his body was capable of rapid healing. All those qualities were enhanced by the drop of Shadow God's ichor that Blood Weave had unceremoniously devoured, and then augmented ever further by the Midnight Shard.
And lastly, while [Undying] was rapidly consuming his reserves of shadow essence, Saint was out there in the darkness, slaying one powerful Nightmare Creature after another. She was wielding the black odachi, whose [Soul Reaver] Ability transferred a portion of essence of all creatures slain by the Serpent in either its Soul Weapon or Soul Beast form.
So, with each mighty abomination Saint killed, Sunny received a considerable amount of essence, thus allowing him to keep the [Undying] enchantment active longer.
Was it going to be long enough for him to survive, though?
That was what he was going to find out…
Torturous seconds passed, with Elyas desperately trying to heal the harrowing wound, and Sunny desperately observing his reserves of shadow essence plummeting further and further. The rate with which the Undying Chain was eating through his essence was much, much faster than the rate with which Saint and Serpent replenished it.
He was only able to slow down the inevitable, not stop it.
His whole being was overwhelmed with agony and pain… but what else was new? Even though Sunny had never had his head chopped off before, he experienced similar tortures, if not worse.
There was almost no shadow essence left in his cores…𝘧ree𝘸e𝑏𝒏𝒐v𝒆l.𝑐𝘰𝙢
And then, there was none.
The [Undying] enchantment deactivated.
…But Sunny was still alive.
He moved his lips, and tentatively touched his neck, which had a ghastly scar running all around it now.
Then, he bent over and spat out a torrent of blood.
Sunny felt terrible. He felt like a zombie...
But he was not dead.
More than that, he was now truly, really free…