Jing Yuan, under the possession of Cirrus, sat confidently atop the tower known as the Creation Furnace in the Artisanship Commission as his gaze was pressed against a distant mountain. The earth around him had been eviscerated when his attack had been returned towards him — though, with his resistance to lightning, it didn’t have any real effect.

The Artisanship Commission lacked any human life. Rather, it was considered an off-limits area by the General of the Luofu himself after the Phantylia disaster was temporarily resolved. Despite the fact that the Mara-Struck had been cleared away and exterminated, with the roots of the Ambrosial Arbor destroyed, there was still the lingering possibility that the Abundance somehow lingered in the air.

If it did, then it must have been an unnoticeable amount, making it relatively harmless towards Saints while quickly hastening the growth of Mara in long-life species of lower Ranks.

Cirrus thought it was a shame. They thought it would be interesting to see how much of a Transcendent human’s Aspect was retained after becoming Mara-Struck.

As a Transcendent Tyrant, they had two Abilities. Cirrus’ Devil Ability allowed them to bypass any defenses preventing them from from invading a body. As for the Tyrant Ability, it granted them a sixth sense that allowed them to sense anything within the space between multiple thralls.

If there were only two thralls, a line could be drawn between them. That was the range of Cirrus’ sense, not extending beyond the line. If there were three thralls standing in the formation of a triangle, however, anything within the triangle would be within their sense. The range was theoretically infinite.

Thus, as Cirrus rapidly possessed the bodies of the mundane, Awakened, Ascended, and even a Transcendent human, their awareness grew, as well.

All Heliobi gained the power to separate themselves and take on multiple bodies upon becoming Tyrants. How the Tyrant Ability manifested was always different, however.

There were few areas on the Luofu that Cirrus couldn’t sense, and that was simply because their conquest hadn’t spread that far, yet. They had been expanding for months, staying in hiding until they could usurp the Luofu’s throne of power.

It was disappointing, really. Teng Xiao, who managed to best the glorious Ignamar, Cirrus’ completed state of being, wouldn’t have fallen for such a simple and petty trick.

So, they had to set their sights on the Marshal, but it would be foolish to challenge a Supreme human with only this much strength. Cirrus had to consume as many Heliobi as possible, preferably those who were also fragments of Ignamar. Once critical mass was reached, they could evolve themselves back into a Terror, then a Titan, reclaiming their former Titanic might.

...And that is where Cirrus encountered a problem.

With their current awareness, they could sense two Heliobi atop the mountain that carried Fyxestroll Garden. Consuming them both was the priority, but they didn’t seem to be attacking each other. If they were, Cirrus could simply swoop in when one devoured the other, eating two ghosts in one bite.

Moreover, they couldn’t tell whether the Heliobi were possessing the humans or not. Were they putting on an act, or were they genuinely allied? Cirrus couldn’t tell.

...Though, the one that was connected to the Foxian girl’s tail seemed familiar.

Anyways, when Cirrus noticed Fu Xuan heading up the mountain after escaping possession, they tried to annihilate the humans simply due to a faint sense of unease. Unfortunately, the Master Diviner managed to stop Jing Yuan’s attack, and even had the audacity to send it back.

Cirrus was only more unnerved when Fu Xuan summoned a Memory in the shape of a paper crane covered in writing, which she seemed to use to directly transmit information into their minds. Now, Cirrus had no idea what they were planning.

"..."

A slingshot? Splitting up, in this situation?

They wouldn’t try something so... ridiculous and idiotic, right?

***

"You know those birds who are unnecessarily angry? Almost like some kind of... Angry Birds?"

"What nonsense are you on about?"

"Gah, never mind!"

Sunny huffed as he and Fu Xuan took another step back.

"The point is that we’re going to slam into King Yuan— I mean, Jing Yuan, like a cannonball. I can get pretty big, you know? Uh... hypothetically speaking."

He was encased in the Marble Shell, something that he normally wouldn’t show in order to keep his Mongrel identity a secret. However, Sunny decided to continue on his excuse of the armor having been received from the same type of Nightmare Creature. It wasn’t unheard of, though a little unbelievable.

In any case, he needed the full extent of the Mantle’s weight manipulation in order to pull this off. He even activated the passive durability of the Preservation. Using the active variant would consume too much Essence, which he was already going to consume plenty of.

As Saint stretched the sling of shadows even further back, giving Sunny and Fu Xuan more room to move, the latter grimaced.

"Is that supposed to be an innuendo? And if you ever call that man King Yuan again... ugh."

"I meant it literally! And that was a slip of the tongue! It’s not my fault your names are so difficult to spell and pronounce."

She clicked her tongue.

"Don’t talk back to me."

Their backs stopped against the manifested shadows.

The slingshot Sunny created had it’s massive frame stabbed into the edge of Fyxestroll Garden, looking out in the direction Jing Yuan was. The band had an artificial elasticity, much like rubber, but more durable and compact, promising force like no other. As for the pad, Sunny made it more comfortable than an actual slingshot’s leather pad would be.

Both his and Fu Xuan’s asses kept bumping against it as Saint actually struggled to pull the band back. Turning towards his trusty Shadow, Sunny put on a sultry smile, dragging his finger down her tenebrous armor seductively.

"Aren’t you a strong one, missy?"

Immeasurable disappointment radiated in the aureate crimson glow of Saint’s eyes, managing to free one hand to chop him on the head.

"Ow! That was a compliment! A compliment!"

Sunny crossed his arms in displeasure as he turned around and stared at the closed-eyed woman besides him, Fu Xuan sneering in disgust.

"With the knight?!"

"...What? She’s you don’t meet a companion like Saint everyday, right?"

He raised his fist, and fortunately, Saint was not so annoyed by his antics as to ignore his request for a fist bump, cracked onyx gauntlet smacking against smooth marble.

Fu Xuan’s voice was oddly suspicious.

"’Companion,’ huh?"

Sunny tilted his head.

"Why did you say it like— I’m not fucking Saint!"

With that, the taciturn Devil seemed to have grown tired of their banter, releasing the sling.

Sunny screamed into the wind. Fu Xuan screamed into the wind.

Luckily, he was quick enough to wrap an arm around the woman, his shadow sense telling him that Saint was summoning a bow of Darkness and an arrow of Light.

As they passed the base of the slingshot at breakneck speeds, being shot off up into the sky, the Shadow Lantern opened, shadows coiling around Sunny and Fu Xuan.

When Sunny first discovered Shadow Shell, he did it by transforming his physical body into a shadow, while simultaneously compounding wild shadows onto himself using Shadow Control. After shaping the form he desired to take, he would use Shadow Manifestation on himself, becoming physical once more.

The reason he needed to turn his own body into a shadow was because the Shadowspawn form, which was the only one he could properly use outside of his own human shape, was not so large as to not be encumbered by the presence of a physical human inside. He needed to become one with the Shell.

The limitation was size. If the Shadow Shell was too small, his body wouldn’t fit, meaning he needed to turn into a shadow. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

But what if the Shadow Shell was dozens, if not a hundred times larger than himself?

In that case, there was no need to become a shadow.

Before the shadows oozing out of the Shadow Lantern could fall disperse, he manifested them immediately. They extended in every direction, wrapping around Sunny and Fu Xuan as the tendrils twisted and tightened around each other.

At the moment, Sunny was not using the Shadowspawn form. It wasn’t a secret, considering Yanqing, Dan Heng, and Jing Yuan himself have all seen it with their own eyes.

On the other hand, a massive chunk of pure Sunny was not something that has ever been seen before.

A pitch-black copy of Sunny flew threw the air, Mantle manifesting around it. In the center, Sunny and Fu Xuan were cradled in its chest, the latter seeming deeply uncomfortable with the surrounding darkness, despite the fact that she didn’t have her eyes open to see it. The armor covering his real body was gone, leaving some clothing he prepared beforehand.

He felt like he was piloting an crashing spaceship... with the intention to crash it.

Once the Shadow Shell was fully manifested, its weight quickly caused it to lose altitude. Essence burned as Sunny forcefully increased that weight beyond what its mass would suggest, further multiplying its descent speed.

By the time Cirrus realized their plan, it was too late.

Because the moment lightning struck and Jing Yuan transformed into a white tiger—

A great fist of onyx crashed into him, shattering into stone and shadow from the burden of its own weight.