Shadow Slave: Immortal Ice

Eirwen screamed at the top of his lungs, slamming his palm against Bernard's back armour to urge him on. 'Faster, faster!' he shouted, his eyes locked on the fight behind them.

The dark snake snapped its fangs at the honey badger but couldn't break through its thick hide. Meanwhile, the honey badger tore into the snake's belly with sharp claws, spilling thick, acidic blood that poured down in streams.

Suddenly, thick dust clouded the tunnel, obscuring the two battling Saints from Eirwen's view. But he could still feel them—every roar and ground-shaking attack vibrated through his entire skeleton. The energy and force flooding the tunnel from their battle was impossible to ignore. The aura they emitted was already enough to make everyone flee.

Bernard kept sprinting forward without looking back. The collapse of the ceiling had stopped, and as far as Eirwen could tell, none of the knights had died. Everyone was running for their dear life, completely forgetting about keeping up their formation.

---

"Good God," Eirwen whispered to himself as they finally stopped, allowing him to stand on his own leg again. He leaned heavily on a spear Bernard handed him for support. "That was horrifying," he muttered.

Bernard nodded silently; his expression hidden behind his fearsome helmet.

Some of the knights removed their helmets, their exhausted faces streaked with sweat, dust and blood. They slid down the walls to sit on the cold floor, heads in their hands. It was clear they were reaching their limits.

This last division of Red Cloaks had been fighting for who knows how long without rest. They had witnessed their comrades dying horrific deaths, narrowly escaped death themselves, and were painted with wounds. All of this was taking its toll on them.

Eirwen glanced back into the darkness where they had come from. It was eerily silent, no roars, no tremors, just an oppressive silent void. Somehow, they had run far enough to escape the chaos. Yet, he was still uneasy.

How could they have traveled so far in this tunnel and still not reached its end?

"Bernard," he called out, his voice cutting through the heavy silence. The commander was crouched, wrapping a torn bandage around a knight's arm. He glanced up.

"How long is this tunnel?" Eirwen asked, his brows slightly furrowed.

Bernard turned, removing his black helmet. His face was streaked with sweat and specks of blood, his damp hair stuck against his forehead. Despite his exhaustion, his sharp eyes retained their usual intensity, that of a soldier.

"It might seem like we've been traveling in a straight line, Your Royal Highness," Bernard began, his voice as rough as always. He wiped his forehead with the back of his gauntleted hand before continuing, "But you should know better than anyone else, logic does not work here in the Underworld."

Eirwen's brow shot up and he nearly asked something he probably shouldn't have.

'Does that mean I'm in the Underworld? Good God, this is only getting weirder and weirder,' Eirwen thought, his head beginning to ache because of all the mysteries piling up around him without getting answered.

There was the Underworld, sovereigns, hell itself, and that ominously named Garden of Hell. All of this was too much for Eirwen to think about right now. He could only assume that getting rid of his already existing views of Hell and Underworld would help him to understand all of this more clearly. He also understood that comparing the Sovereigns of hell and those from the waking world would be foolish.

Bernard, meanwhile, continued tending to his subordinates, offering them water and carefully wrapping their wounds in what looked like some black cloth.

Eirwen rolled his eyes in frustration and limped towards Bernard, irritation clear in his voice. "We're wasting time here. I'm sure your guys have rested enough. Let's go."

Bernard didn't even glance back at Eirwen as he replied, his voice as gruff as ever, "Pardon me, your Royal Highness, but my men need a bit more time. We're far enough, and those Beasts won't reach us here—"

"Those weren't just Beasts, you moron! Those were Transcended. And did you just defy my orders?!" Eirwen snapped, his annoyance clear as he leaned heavily on his spear.

Bernard's head snapped back, and he immediately shot up, his eyes wide. 'Fuck, did I say something I shouldn't have?' Eirwen swallowed but didn't back down. He stood tall, eyes meeting Bernard's, ready for a fight if it came to that.

"What did they look like?!" Bernard nearly barked, his tone too sharp and loud for Eirwen to like.

His brow twitched, but he still answered, "One was a giant honey badger-looking bastard, and the other one was a slithering snake-like fuck. Satisfied?! Now move your goddamn asses!" Eirwen roared, snapping at Bernard. All eyes turned toward them.

The tension in the air was visible. Eirwen's anger burned hot, but it was more than that. Everything was catching up to him. His deaths, his exhaustion, his fears and his rage, all of it was weighing on him. He might act like some almighty man, but the truth was, he was only an 18-year-old spoiled Aristocrat. He was strong yes, but all of this was still new to him. It was also much easier to process everything when death didn't feel final, when he knew that if he died, he could restart true, but still, that didn't make it any less real.

The exhaustion was holding his throat, ready to snap it. The fear of dying, it was still there too, even if he could come back. Dying, in the end, was still dying. It wasn't something he wanted to face again.

The fact that he was a cripple for now and so horribly mentally exhausted only irritated him further. Every step felt like an eternity, his body and mind both close to their breaking points.

'I swear I'm about to accept that damned deal and just end everyone in here,' he snapped in his mind, frustration overwhelming him as he looked down at his missing calf. He almost forgot for a second that Bernard could kill him in one move, but that thought didn't even register in his angry mind. At this point, the thought of ending it all, of escaping this hellish reality, seemed almost... tempting.

'Not this bullshit again too!' Eirwen groaned and shook his head, trying to shake of these alien thoughts.

"A dark snake…" Bernard mumbled meanwhile, his voice distant, as if he wasn't even in there anymore. His eyes were blank, and his mind seemed to be drifting somewhere far away.

Eirwen's face twitched in annoyance. "Bernard." His voice cut like a blade through the tunnel, sharper than before.

The knights, sensing the change in the atmosphere, immediately shot up from their resting positions and quickly donned their helmets, ready for whatever was coming next.

Bernard ignored him again, his distant gaze unfocused, lost in whatever thoughts plagued his mind. Eirwen has had enough.

Without warning, his hand whipped forward, palm striking Bernard's dark cheek. The smack echoed through the tunnel.

Eirwen hissed, shaking his hand in irritation, Bernard's face was hard like iron, and it felt like slapping a truck, "Did you wake up now finally?!"

The commander's eyes widened in shock, his head snapping to the left, the sudden impact jolting him out of his trance.

"Please excuse me, your Royal Highness," Bernard muttered, his voice quieter than before, almost hesitant.

"What was that? I didn't hear you," Eirwen replied, his tone cold, demanding.

"Please, excuse me, your Royal—" Bernard began again, but Eirwen cut him off, pointing firmly at the stony floor.

"Get on your knees and repeat it."

Eirwen could see the flicker of rage in Bernard's eyes, his jaw tightening as his gaze darkened. His nose crinkled in frustration, but the commander, despite the tension in his body, knelt down. The heavy clank of his armour echoed through the tunnel as he dropped to one knee.

"Please forgive me for not listening to your orders, your Royal Highness!" Bernard said loudly, his voice forced, as his gaze stayed fixed on the ground, hiding the burning anger and fury.

Eirwen only snickered, not bothering to say anything, letting the words echo down the tunnel. All his frustration had faded as he looked down at Bernard, kneeling in front of him, his anger almost bursting out of the commander. The man's fury was clear, his clenched fists and tight jaw betrayed his true emotions. Bernard knew he could kill him if he really tried, and yet he remained there, kneeling, suppressing every violent thought. Eirwen knew why. He wouldn't be any better than Marcel if he betrayed his prince. And that knowledge that Bernard's loyalty to him still held strong despite everything, amused Eirwen even more helping him relax from being so strained.

Everyone else was silent, the tension was thick in the air, until Eirwen spoke again, his tone still dripped with amusement, "Get up and start moving."

"Yes, Sir!" Bernard roared, snapping to attention. He immediately gave commands, rallying his knights as they fell into their usual formation.

Before long, they resumed their march down the tunnel, the heavy sounds of their armour rattling echoing in the quiet.

For now, the chaos had stopped.

---

After another twenty minutes of walking, Eirwen finally understood what Bernard meant about logic not working here.

From what he had gathered about the structure of the castle, it was titanic. Even at the start of the Nightmare Trial, when he had looked down at it from the sky, the sheer scale had been apparent. But only now, as he walked through the seemingly endless tunnel, did Eirwen truly grasp the size of it.

His walk from his private chambers to that hallway where he lost his leg had taken him about ten minutes, and even then, it felt like he had covered a considerable distance.

Later, after grouping with the Red Cloaks, they had walked for nearly another full hour toward the storage room, and that was without even counting the time it had taken them to fight the Nightmare Creatures.

Now, after entering the tunnel, they had been walking for God knows how long. Time had become almost impossible to measure in this place, as it was completely cut off from any source of light.

'This whole tunnel is somehow in some weird pocket dimension…' he assumed, piecing things together from certain strange factors he had noticed.

One of the factors was that, according to Bernard, the tunnel had many entrances, but he had never seen any turns. From what Eirwen could tell, they had only walked straight. Secondly, they had been walking for far too damn long.

'But if all entrances are connected to the tunnel, how are we supposed to go out? How does it choose the door?' New questions immediately flooded his mind. They felt pointless, like trying to comprehend something beyond his comprehension, utterly useless. Eirwen was smart, but this was too much even for him. 

"We reached the end," Bernard's metallic voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts. In front of them were dark, circular steps that led up.

Eirwen put his arm around the necks of two knights and allowed them to help him walk up, as frustrating as it was. 'At least the pain is gone,' he thought. His body healed quickly, but unfortunately, it couldn't heal the missing part of his leg. Still, there was another way to get it back. The strange Deal remained in the back of his mind.

The stairs were narrow, forcing the formation to shift. Now, two Shields led the way at the front, followed by two rows of swordsmen. Bernard positioned himself in front of Eirwen, while the spearmen took up the rear, ready to defend. Everyone was tense, if something attacked them now, they might just collapse down the stairs like domino pieces.

"Hey Bernard," Eirwen called out as they slowly ascended step after step.

"Yes, your Royal Highness," Bernard answered without looking back or slowing down.

"You scared of death?" Eirwen asked, his voice filled with amusement.

Bernard didn't answer immediately, taking his time to think before replying. "I suppose I am, your Royal Highness. There's just too much I wish to do before my death and on top of that I do not think Death is particularly pleasing."

"Oh, really now? What's something you wish to do so much, commander?" Eirwen asked, more out of boredom than any real curiosity. His mind was more or less relaxed now compared to before. 

"Right now, what I wish the most, your Royal Highness, is to kill that bastard Marcel…" Bernard answered, his voice dripping with malice and hate through his helmet.

'This bastard seems even bigger when I look at him from behind,' Eirwen cursed.

But then, he couldn't help but chuckle. "You want to kill a Transcended? And why exactly? Because of his betrayal? Or is there something else? Were you just waiting for an excuse to get rid of him since you never liked him?" He bombarded him with questions, clearly enjoying the moment, making fun of Bernard and annoying him.

Bernard only shook his head, his voice low and strained as he spoke through gritted teeth, "No, it's because he killed our brother."

Eirwen looked at his back with a poker face before groaning and rolling his eyes. 'Speak of ruining the mood.' But suddenly, his eyes widened for a second.

"You said 'our'?" Eirwen asked, his brow raised in curiosity as he allowed the two knights to practically carry him, only hopping slightly. The cold metallic gauntlets pressed into his bare skin, and he was still clad in nothing but tattered, blood-soaked beige pants.

Bernard nodded firmly, his voice dripping with even more malice now as it echoed through the narrow stairway. "One of the two Transcended Marcel killed was Arnold, our brother."

"So, Marcel is your brother too?" Eirwen chuckled. The situation was somehow amusing to him. "How is it that you have two Transcended brothers, yet you aren't one yourself?"

Eirwen had no siblings of his own, but he couldn't help imagining that, if he ever did, he would undoubtedly be superior to all of them.

Bernard didn't answer and remained silent.

Eirwen's brow twitched, and he groaned in frustration. The commander's calmness was getting on his nerves. It might have been foolish to provoke the person trying to save him, but Eirwen didn't care, he needed something to entertain him so he didn't completely snap. "You just ran away from two Transcended. You felt how strong they were, yet you think you can beat your brother? Who, let me remind you, is a Transcended as well," he said, his laughter echoing through the stairwell.

Bernard still didn't seem to react, but suddenly his metallic voice echoed again. "That snake you saw earlier... that was Marcel himself, after manifesting his Sin."

'Manifesting his Sin? Is that what they call the transformation ability of a Saint here?' Eirwen was stunned for a split second as his laughter ceased fully. 'Not even under drugs would I come up with all this bullshit. Are these people Satanist by any chance...'

He shook the thoughts away and kept making fun of Bernard. "He was right behind you. Why didn't you rush in and get killed? You could've met that dead brother of yours too," Eirwen kept chuckling.

Suddenly, Bernard stopped and turned around, manifesting something in his right gauntlet.

Eirwen immediately called the Runes, ready to accept the Deal to get his leg back. There was also a glow around his forearms as he summoned the [Bone Gauntlets]. His eyes widened slightly as he braced himself for a battle.

"We've arrived, your Royal Highness," Bernard suddenly said, but a sword still manifested in his right gauntlet, so Eirwen didn't stop his summoning either. After a moment, he was clad in his Gauntlets as well.

Eirwen scoffed and looked up. After five more steps, he could finally see a tall wooden door ahead.

Bernard nodded towards the door, and the two front Shields immediately pushed against it, opening it wide enough for at least two of them to fit through.

"Everything clear, command—"

Swoosh

Not even a second later, the two Shields turned into red mist as both were pulverized by what seemed like a giant feline paw. Their shields fell while their blood sprayed everywhere.

"Shields up!" Bernard roared.