Shadow Slave | School Days

Having the attention of hundreds of thousands of people fixed on you at once is a feeling which could knock the wind even out of the most experienced fighter. Those who await for you to lose, and those who await to see what new excitement you can offer them.

Thousands of expectations, focused onto a single man.

Sunny paced slowly out of the gate, with his microphone in hand as the crowd silenced themselves awaiting for him to challenge his first opponent. Currently, Sunny was at the bottom of a five-hundred-man leaderboard with no record of note.

For him to gain audience with the man he wished to make an ally, Sunny would need to prove it in the only method that had allowed him to survive so far, the guiding light that offered him a path whenever words and rationale failed him, and emotions offered no solace.

Violence.

Raising the microphone to his lips, Sunny stared at the leaderboard, his eyes scrolling through the several people who dared to potentially engage him in combat as he let out an excited laugh. There were many prominent prospects, but challenging one man or woman alone was too pedestrian.

"Any of you, all of you. Come fight me at once if you dare! I won't even use my hands to break you!"

Thousands of roars indicating support echoed through Sunny's ears as he fixed his mask tightly, fastening his mask as tight as possible and throwing his microphone to the side. With his hands now freed, Sunny ripped off his shirt allowing his defined muscles to be easily viewed as he tucked his hands into his pockets.

It only took mere moments before opponents rushed out to meet him, a man, six foot five at the shoulder and appearing like an amalgamation between a bear and a rhino stood before him as Sunny stared at him impassively. There was no need for referee's, you fought till the opponent could no longer move, and that was what Sunny intended to do.

Nephis watched Sunny square off against the larger man with a curious expression on her face as three silhouettes appeared from behind her. There, she took in the sight of Kai, Cassie and Effie. Upon being informed that she was standing before Nephis, Cassie mirrored Effie's dumbfounded expression as she struggled to form words.

"What the hell has happened to you for the last few months!? We thought you've been kidnapped!" Nephis stared at them with a sigh before shrugging her shoulders, preparing herself for what seemed like it would be a long explanation before Effie raised her hand to stop her.

"Wait, before we even talk about anything else. That's your boy toy! Sunny! What's he doing fighting against such an ogre!? Are you trying to kill him?" Nephis smiled slightly, surprised at Effie's concern as she turned her attention back onto the battlefield. "Don't worry, Sunny's the strongest person I know."

It only took two seconds, Sunny's foot collided with the other man's shin sending pain lancing through his body as the older man staggered. Keeping his hands in his pockets, Sunny hooked the man's foot, tossing him off balance as he fell forward toward Sunny.

What happened next, silenced the roars of the crowd.

It was like Sunny was walking on air, his foot disappeared from view and slammed into the man's face with such speed that there wasn't even time for blood to fly as the man fell unconscious onto the floor. A deafening silence overwhelmed the audience as Sunny offered a deep bow to the nearest camera, and the colosseum erupted once more.

Nephis couldn't believe her eyes, she had never seen a fight be conducted in such a manner. Usually, whenever Sunny decided to fight, it was a bloody and gruesome display that left most people sick and worried for their own health. But what she saw before her was something she was unable to put into words.

'I thought fights were bloody displays of strength and ferocity!' Kai thought to himself, it was partly the reason why upon being kidnapped like the other two he had chosen to be a marksman instead of a direct combatant. But all his stereotypes had been utterly erased.

'Can a human even fight like that?' Was the question that rang out through Effie's mind as she watched Sunny obliterate another array of people in two kicks without even removing his hand from his pocket. The way he was moving wasn't efficient, it wasn't ferocious, it was something far more sublime.

'Beautiful.'

Back onto the battlefield, Sunny prepared to face another opponent. Unlike the other twenty he had faced; this one wielded a shotgun, and had it directly aimed at Sunny's face the moment he entered. 'Gun users, how boring. We aren't in the wild west anymore.' Sunny thought to himself as he cocked his head to the side curiously.

"You're a fast little shit I'll give you that, but can you dodge a fucking bullet flying at your skull? You know it just like I do, killing's never been prohibited, so why not try this out."

Instead of offering a reply, Sunny walked back to where he had thrown his microphone before tapping it lightly, sending a ring throughout the colosseum as he slowly paced toward the man standing before him. Sunny could tell from the shaking in his legs that the man had never taken a life, and so he was going to make a spectacle out of him.

'How dare this peon call me little, my growth spurt's just delayed!'

Clearing his throat, Sunny's voice echoed throughout the arena, silencing the crowd as they awaited to hear what he had to say. "So, supposedly I can't dodge a bullet. But we've all seen that in the movies so why don't we make it more interesting." The distance between he and the man evaporated in moments as Sunny grabbed the barrel of the shotgun and pressed it against his forehead.

"If a single bullet grazes my skin, you win." Before the man could even offer a reply, Sunny pulled down his mask slightly, hiding his full face from view as he opened wide and bit down gently onto the barrel of the shotgun, smiling widely as he shouted. "Pull the trigger, you don't have the balls do you!?"

It took Nephis being restrained by Effie and Kai to stop her from leaping into the arena as she watched Sunny stare the man in front of him in the eye as his finger shakily placed itself on the trigger. Silence enveloped the colosseum as they awaited for a bloody spray to envelop their vision.

BANG!

Sunny blurred from view, leaning backward at an impossible angle as he watched the shotgun pellets fly past his head, barely grazing his hair as his foot flew on its own. In a moment, his foot wrapped around the shotgun, pulling it down roughly as Sunny crushed it against the floor before shooting back upright with a smile on his face.

In mere moments, the man who stood before Sunny had been flung across the colosseum, his eyes rolled into the back of his head marking Sunny's twenty first victory. Chants rang out so loud that even Sunny feared a headache as the floor shook with the combined anticipation of thousands of people.

"Nephis...where did you get that type of monster." Kai asked, his voice shaking slightly as Nephis turned around and gave him a glare. "He's not a monster, he's just overwhelmingly strong. Still, as his manager I can't have him doing something so reckless."

Sunny paced slowly back into the managers booth as chants of 'Mongrel!' Rang his eardrums. Truly, this was the best way for him to unwind and relax in a world where every fight typically had high stakes. And although this was one of those situations, the presence of a crowd allowed Sunny to unwind in ways he couldn't regularly do.

Pushing past several fans attempting to get an autograph, Sunny was greeted by the sight of Nephis, Cassie, Effie and Kai as a grimace arrived on his face once more. "You don't need to act so unhappy to see us! What did I do to you!?" cocking his head to the side, Sunny flopped down onto one of the nearby couches before sighing deeply.

"I already know the story; you've been kidnapped by Valor to get leverage on Nephis and got intercepted by Orion and now you've been trained under his wing blah blah..."

Taking off his mask, Sunny placed it on the floor nearby before placing a hand over his face to block out the light as he let out a long sigh. "You're all weak, so stupidly weak and it's getting annoying. Neph is the only one out of you two who's useful! Do you even know what the stakes are!?"

Effie's lip curled downward in anger as she paced toward Sunny and attempting to grab him by the collar. In a moment, she was on the floor without even noticing what happened. Raising herself to her feet, she didn't attempt continuing her assault as she stared at him with fury.

"We're all here because of you! Keep that in mind! It's your fault that we're in this predicament to begin with, your fault that we got kidnapped and your fault that I can't see my parents right now! But you don't know how that feels, you don't know what it's like to suffer at all because this is all you've ever known!"

Her voice was harsh and filled with fury, Nephis stepped in between the two of them as an invisible force pressed down against all three, sending Cassie flying to her knees as Sunny remained in his position, slowly raising himself to face Effie with a frown supremely visible on his lips.

"Say that again."