Shadow Slave

'Crap…'

As hundreds of petrified people watched in fear, one of the sections of the giant compartment's outer wall bent slightly. An ugly deformity appeared on it, and as the echo of the loud and jarring bang died down, they heard the sound of water rushing into the narrow gaps between the different layers of the battleship's armored hull.

A dark expression appeared on Sunny's face. His fingers twitched, and then he turned his head slightly.

"On your feet, soldiers."

Dorn, Quentin, Kim and Luster rose, ready for battle. However, there was a subtle sense of hesitation hiding behind their masks of professionalism and composure.

As elites of the government forces, they knew how to fight against Nightmare Creatures, other Awakened, and horrors of all kinds.

But how were they supposed to fight the ocean?

A moment later, something crashed into the side of the ship with a thunderous bang once again, making the indentation in the bulkhead of the vehicle stable grow more pronounced. People that were closest to it shuddered and backed away. Some turned around and ran.

Soon, the space around the damaged section of the wall became completely empty. Everyone in the large compartment had moved as far away from it as they could, pressing against the opposite wall and staring at the massive deformity. A second passed in utter silence, then another. Then, one more.

All that could be heard was the sound of rushing water.

Someone cursed in a stifled...

BANG!

As several people yelped, the wall bent inward even more, its misshapen portion growing in size and reaching slightly deeper into the vehicle stable. A loud, deep groan of contorting metal rolled through the air, reverberating in their very bones.

"Captain!"

Kim paled as he stared at the deformed bulkhead. Sunny felt her Aspect Ability brushing against his mind, and then his perception of the world changed.

Everything was largely the same, but the damaged wall became tinted by several subdued colors. It was as if a mad painter had vandalized it with an unsteady brush.

Most of the wall remained metal grey, but closer to the massive dent, the armored alloy turned anxious orange and pale red. A small patch of the red was vibrant and vivid, instead.

Sunny gritted his…

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three consecutive strikes crashed into the outer hull, exacerbating the damage and making the wall bend even more. People screamed and tried to get even further away from it, but there was simply nowhere for them to go. Some eyed the exit from the vehicle stable, while some stared at the contorted bulkhead, frozen still.

Somehow, it still held. The metal groaned once more, but endured.

Nothing happened for a dozen seconds.

Then, another blow crashed into the damaged section of the hull, and the wall bent a little more. As it did, a thin crack appeared right where the alloy had been painted vibrant red.

A single drop of black water seeped through the crack and rolled down.

Hundreds of people watched the drop with horror written on their faces.

…Before the next strike tore the hull open, however, a tide of shadows suddenly rose and rushed toward the deformed wall as a wave. Converging on the damaged section, the wave splattered across its surface and then somehow solidified, turning into an improvised brace.

Sunny grunted, feeling the strain of keeping such a heavy mass of shadows tangible. It was well within his limit, though… if plugging the leak was the only thing he had to do.

The problem was that the crushing blows against the dented bulkhead did not stop coming. One after another, they impacted against it, sending tremors running through the entire vehicle stable.

Sunny had to keep exerting opposite pressure to keep the wall intact. It was as if he was trying to brace a castle gate as a heavy ram was pounding on it from the other side.

Keeping shadows tangible was hard, but forcing them to continuously press forward with that much force was even harder.

Clenching his fists, Sunny looked at his subordinates and said in a strained voice:

"Dorn… help me push the brace against the bulkhead. Quentin, try to use your Aspect to repair the cracks. Luster, keep Dorn and Quentin supplied with essence… transfer your own to them if one or both come close to running out."

Then, he turned to the rest of the humans gathered in the vehicle stable and barked:

"What are you staring at?! Make yourself useful, fools! Those of you who are Awakened with useful Aspects, help if you can! Those of you who are mundane… there are literally tons of equipment and handy machinery in this damned compartment! Even a complete idiot can find a way to reinforce the hull with all that gear, so get to work!"

The people stared at him for a split second. Then, Dorn and Quentin dashed toward the shadow brace. This prompted the others to start moving, as well.

Another bang rolled through the spacious compartment, but no one paid it any attention. Now that Sunny broke the veil of fear that had paralyzed the members of the First Army, everyone got busy making sure that the bulkheads held.

With the mass of shadows reinforcing the most damaged section, it was not too hard for them to make sure that several smaller dents that soon appeared elsewhere never broke.

The immediate crisis passed. The people in the vehicle stable survived.

Now, all that remained was to wait and see if they would be able to continue staying alive in the coming hours.

...They did.

After what felt like an eternity of intense and terrifying struggle, the battle outside finally started showing signs of slowing down. Sunny, who was slowly growing concerned about his reserves of essence, let out a sigh of relief.

Through his shadow on the upper deck, he could see that the fleet had escaped from the vast blotch of black water that marred the surface of the ocean. The cannons were slowly ceasing their bombardment, and the crews of the battleships had already started evaluating the damage.

A giant shape rose from the depths and broke the surface of the water as it jumped into the air. Sunny saw a glimpse of a creature that resembled a monstrous killer whale, with its black-and-white hide torn and showing many signs of an intense confrontation against an unknown and ferocious enemy. Then, it shimmered and turned into a tiny silhouette of a human, who then tiredly climbed onto the deck of the flagship and disappeared.

More human figures emerged from the water and returned aboard the ships of the convoy. Master Naeve was among them.

The handsome man climbed onto the deck not too far away from where Sunny's shadow was hiding and sat down with an exhausted expression. Drops of water were falling from his black hair. His wetsuit appeared more ragged than it had been when they first met, but the scion of the House of Night did not seem to bear any serious wounds.

Soon, his indigo eyes shined as they reflected the first rays of sunshine that broke through the eastern horizon. A new day had come.

The fearsome battle was over.