Shadow Slave | School Days

Stamina was not something that humans had the capability of possessing in infinite amounts. Despite having a body honed to the limit of what was logically possible, Sunny's stamina still had a limit, humans did not regularly kill two hundred thousand of their kin on their own.

Letting out a breathe of fatigue, Sunny felt sweat finally begin to build on his brow as he took a moment to survey the battlefield. One hundred thousand people were left, each of them possessing looks varying from rage to utter terror under his gaze.

"Don't think. Kill."

In a moment, Sunny vanished. His body twisted sideways, moving before the bullets could reach him. Time slowed from his perspective, the storm of lead tearing through the empty space he had occupied a fraction of a second prior.

His feet barely touched the ground as he flowed forward in an onslaught of violence and horror as he moved forward. A bullet grazed his cheek, drawing a thin line of blood that quickly healed as Sunny moved forward. He was slowing, but still far too fast.

Twisting his wrist, Sunny's knife bit at the air, slamming into lead in a flurry of sparks as a bullet was sent flying. Tearing through the skull of a comrade, Sunny could only watch the soldier's final expression of horror for a brief moment before he cut the man into two.

Gunfire turned the battlefield into a storm of death, turning Sunny into a harrowing visage surrounded by fire and blood as he moved like a shadow only amplified by the light around him.

'What would Neph think if she saw me right now? I'm a monster, I'm broken. Something like that? Who cares, I'll break everyone, and we'll all be equal.'

A rifle barrel rose to meet him; he severed the arm holding it. Grabbing the missing appendage with his feet, he twisted his body and slammed the man over the head with it. In the next moment, he shoved his knife into the man's skull as he pulled it out in a matter of moments.

A bayonet lunged for his throat; he twisted, letting the strike pass inches away before his blade found the attackers neck. Slicing it clean off, Sunny crushed it brutally by pressing his two blades together with impossible force as he continued forward.

Blood sprayed.

Hundreds of men died in less than a second.

A monster was in their midst.

Swordsmen, each wielding their blades that told their own story rushed at him in a tidal wave of flashing blades. Roaring in fury. Yet, Sunny met them like a storm. His gold-plated knife caught the first blade mid swing as he twisted it aside and stepped in close.

Getting that close to Sunny was a death sentence.

Sheathing his knife for the briefest of moments, Sunny reached forward and ripped the man's head from his body in a single movement, spinning and slamming his skull into a bullet at the perfect angle allowing it to pass by his body harmlessly. Throwing the skull into the crowd, Sunny unsheathed his blade and continued forward.

It wasn't easy, cutting down this many people. But that was only a challenge that Sunny welcomed. In fact, he remembered Revel's exact words when he faced a challenge that many deemed as insurmountable.

--

Deep within Sunny's self cultivated forest, he found himself sparring intensely with Revel as he continued to weave his way through the flurry of grabs and holds, she attempted to land on him. It was quite a mundane process, seeing as he was far faster than her.

At least that's what he wanted to think.

Seeing the smile on her face as she fought him made him feel something.

She was the first to make him feel joy.

Eventually, he felt her slender arm wrap itself around his wrist as he found himself upside down midair. Unconsciously, he had restrained himself and allowed her to grab him. Even despite his fear of women. As he was midair, he caught the punch that barrelled towards his face with ease as he responded with a throw of his own.

Landing gracefully on her feet, Revel fell to the floor as she wiped the sweat off her face. A wide smile painting itself across her lips as she let out a scream. Sunny took a few steps back, taken aback by her sudden show of volume as he watched her celebrate to herself.

"Why are you celebrating, mother?"

Sunny edged towards her once more, sitting opposite to the older woman as she stared at him with a puzzled expression. Cocking her head to the side, she allowed a small smile to settle across her face as she patted the dirt next to her.

Shifting over with suspicion, Sunny noted how the physical distance between the two had been utterly erased as the young woman stared into the night sky. Her voice was gentle, laced with fatigue yet silent pride.

"I grabbed you."

This time, it was Sunny's turn to be shocked as he cocked his head to the side, utterly confused by her statement. "But your throw was not effective, I could have escaped it at any moment." Revel only laughed slightly and stared at him for a moment, reaching down and ruffling his hair.

A part of Sunny wanted to move.

A part of Sunny wanted to run.

A part of Sunny wanted to hide.

And yet, he remained there, flinching slightly as Revel ruffled his hair. Eventually, she pulled her hand away from his head as she stared into the starry night sky. "You see, not many people can boast of having grabbed you at all, correct?"

Sunny nodded, confused as to where the woman was going with this as Revel continued.

"In other words, I defied the limits of thousands of people, millions if you chose to make yourself known publicly. I achieved what is, to some, the impossible."

Not responding, Sunny simply looked at the curious older woman as she stared at the sky for a moment before looking down at him. An emotion flickered through her eyes; one he would not learn how to recognise for a long time.

"Sunny, I know you may not do this often. You're the quiet type so what could I expect. But when you receive a challenge, one which many may not think is possible. Can you do something for me?"

Sunny cocked his head to the side, suspicious as to what the woman may ask him to do. And yet, he found himself nodding. An unconscious seed of trust being placed between the two, grown by her actions and nurtured by her words.

"I want you to scream. Scream like you never have before. Force the world to acknowledge your existence."

--

A great sword cleaved toward him. Sunny leaned back, allowing the blade to pass a hairs breadth from his nose, then surged forward. Driving his knee into the attacker's chest, he felt their ribs explode in shards from his back as he flicked his wrist, slitting the mans throat.

Another came from the left, three hundred on his right.

Too slow, far too slow.

His golden knife, remaining unstained by the blood-filled battle slashed, severing a wrist. Its twin punctured an eye socket. Grabbing a fallen body, he spun and used it as a shield to defend against oncoming bullets that had buried themselves into friendly flesh.

Pulling a gun from the mans pocket, Sunny sheathed his knives as he blurred towards men in milliseconds. Placing a gun below a man's chin, he watched as the light faded from his eyes as he pulled the trigger without remorse. Several more died in similar fashion before he quickly ran out of bullets.

Encroaching upon a man of monumental height, Sunny grabbed him by the chin, prying his mouth open as he stuck both of his hands in. What happened next scared hundreds into fleeing, yet none of them dared escape his grasp.

Sunny pulled; he pulled with strength that a human should not have as he pried the mans body into two separate pieces as he watched a shower of blood raise itself into the air. Yet in a single movement he had avoided it without remorse.

In only a small fragment of time, ten men were left.

Ten men were soon dead.

Sunny exhaled, oxygen draining from his body as lactic acid caused pain to tear through every limb in his body. He was unharmed, but he was tired. His head hurt; his heart burned. Yet, he remained unharmed as he glanced around at the pile of dead bodies surrounding him.

In less than three hours, Sunny had killed three hundred thousand men.

He had achieved the impossible.

Staring into the sky, Sunny threw his headphones from his head as he allowed himself to take in the full extent of the horror around him. Media helicopters hovered above him as Sunny stared at the beautiful sky, rain beating his face.

Gripping his hair, Sunny's face curled into a large, pained smile as he let out the loudest roar he had ever done in his entire life. Sunny fell to his knees, placing his head on the floor as he commemorated the place in which his mother had died.

A battlefield blessed by blood.

"I did it! I won! I killed them all! Do you see me mom? Do you see me?"

His voice could only ring out into the empty clearing, acknowledgement settling into his very soul as he came to a simple realisation.

He would never hear Revel's voice again.