Savior in Shadow Slave

The wind howled past them as Murphy soared above the dark waters, his black coat snapping like a banner behind him. The radiant wings hummed faintly as they carried them over the endless expanse of the Dark Sea.

In his arms, Akame clung to him with both arms and legs, her hair whipping into his face every other second.

"Could you at least try not to strangle me?" Murphy muttered, adjusting his grip. "I'm flying here, not fighting for my life."

"You'd better hold me properly," Akame shot back, face flushed from both wind and embarrassment. "If you drop me, I'll haunt you. Forever."

"Yeah, because you wouldn't just die, you'd find a way to come back just to nag me," Murphy grumbled under his breath.

Just a few meters below them, Elizabeth rode atop the coiling White Serpent, its scales gleaming faintly as it slid effortlessly through the air like a living ribbon of moonlight. She was hugging its neck with a white-knuckled grip, her teeth gritted.

"Flying is terrifying!" she yelled over the wind. "If I fall, someone better catch me!"

"No promises!" Lucas shouted, his voice much closer—because he was sitting cross-legged on Murphy's shoulder like some smug little prince.

"Lucas, I swear," Murphy growled, "one wrong shift of your weight, and I'm sending you straight into the sea."

Lucas yawned dramatically, leaning an elbow on Murphy's head.

"Relax, old man. You've got enough muscle in those freaky wings to carry ten of me. I'm practically weightless."

"Weightless?!" Murphy's voice rose. "You're sitting on my shoulder like a boulder with an attitude. And stop tapping your spear against my head!"

"Oh, sorry," Lucas smirked, "I just like to remind our glorious pilot who's really in charge."

"In charge? You—" Murphy tilted sideways just enough to make Lucas wobble, and Lucas immediately grabbed Murphy's hair for balance.

"Oi, oi, don't you dare! You'll drop Akame!"

"I'll drop you first."

"Boys," Akame said sweetly, way too sweetly, "if you two don't shut up, I'll cut both of you into matching halves."

The two of them froze.

"…Yes, ma'am," they said in perfect unison.

Elizabeth, still clutching her serpent like it was the last rope of life, blinked at them and shouted, "How the hell are you all laughing right now? We're flying straight into the Dark City!"

"Welcome to the team," Lucas muttered, leaning on Murphy again.

Murphy just sighed.

The wind roared like a beast, carrying the scent of salt and something foul from the churning black waters below. The Dark Sea stretched endlessly beneath them, its surface rippling like the skin of a restless leviathan. Each time a wave swelled too high, it felt as if the sea itself was reaching up, desperate to swallow them.

He could see the outline of the Dark city faintly in the distance.

Murphy's radiant wings cut through the stormy air, each beat strong enough to shake loose droplets of black mist that clung to them. His jaw was set tight, but his eyes flicked irritably toward the weight perched on his shoulder.

"Lucas," Murphy muttered through gritted teeth, "if you don't stop humming that stupid tune, I will toss you into the sea."

Lucas, utterly unfazed, continued humming a cheerful, off-key battle song while leaning against Murphy's head like it was a pillow.

"Why so tense? You're like a delivery bird right now. Just focus on the glorious honor of carrying me."

"Glorious—" Murphy started, his wings giving a sharp, annoyed flap that made Lucas wobble.

"Hey, hey! Careful with the turbulence, Captain. You'll ruin my perfect posture."

Akame, still curled in Murphy's arms, tilted her head to smirk at Lucas. "You are kind of like a backpack, Lucas. A noisy, complaining backpack."

"I'm not a backpack!" Lucas shot back, pointing his spear dramatically, almost smacking Murphy in the nose.

"Stop waving that stick in my face," Murphy growled. "Next time, you're walking."

Elizabeth's scream of frustration cut across their bickering.

"Do you idiots ever shut up?!" She clung to her serpent like a lifeline, hair whipping into her face as the beast glided behind Murphy. "You're acting like this is a fun picnic! Look down! LOOK DOWN!"

Murphy glanced briefly at the sea below—where something huge and pale just rolled beneath the surface.

"Yeah," he said dryly. "We're not looking down anymore."

Elizabeth's eyes went wide. "What was that?! Did you see that thing? I swear it had teeth bigger than me!"

"Good thing we're not stopping for a swim," Lucas quipped.

"You're all insane," Elizabeth muttered, burying her face into the serpent's scales. "I hate flying. I hate this place. I hate—"

"You hate a lot of things," Lucas interrupted, grinning. "Maybe that's why your Aspect is so scary."

"Lucas, I will poison your food."

Murphy sighed, his wings glowing faintly against the blood-colored horizon.

'This is my squad. A half-crazy banshee, a murder princess, and a brat with a spear. And somehow, I'm the babysitter.'

He was about to complain about Lucas's boots digging into his shoulder when something shifted in the air. The wind grew heavier, colder, as if the Dark Sea itself had stopped breathing. Murphy's instincts screamed, his grip on Akame tightening just as his wings faltered for a split second.

Elizabeth's serpent hissed violently, coiling tighter beneath her.

"Murphy…" Elizabeth whispered, her eyes wide. "Something's coming."

From the edge of the horizon, just above the wall of Dark city, a silhouette emerged. It was humanoid, but wrong—each step it took looked like its bones would snap, yet they didn't. Its flesh sagged like wet parchment, patches missing to reveal sinew that glowed faintly like molten threads. And its face—if it could be called that—was a hollow mask of white bone, with a single, jagged grin carved where the mouth should be.

"What… the hell is that?" Lucas muttered, tightening his grip on his spear.

The figure raised its head as if it heard him.

The grin stretched wider. Too wide.

Then, in a heartbeat, it moved.

A streak of black and red tore through the air, moving faster than a bullet, its limbs twisting unnaturally as it lunged at Murphy's side.

"Hold on!" Murphy barked, veering upward sharply. The creature's claws scraped against one of his wings, a sound like glass shattering echoing through the sky.

Akame growled, her Midnight Shard already drawn, her eyes narrowing with a predatory gleam. "What is that thing?! A Nightmare?"

"No," Murphy said sharply, steadying them midair. "It's something worse. It isn't alive. It isn't dead. It's… something in between."

Elizabeth's serpent darted forward, spitting a burst of silvery venom, but the creature twisted midair like a broken marionette, dodging in a way that defied physics.

Lucas swore. "Murphy, say the word. I'll throw this spear straight through its head."

"Don't," Murphy commanded, his tone low and sharp. "This is atleast a Corrupted horror. Also look at its shadow."

The others glanced down. On the surface of the Dark Sea which didn't make sense considering it was True Darkness, directly beneath the creature, its shadow rippled—but instead of mimicking its movements, the shadow grinned. It had eyes. Watching.

"Oh, hell no," Lucas muttered, taking a step back on Murphy's shoulder. "I'm not fighting something with a smiling shadow."

The figure screeched, the sound sharp enough to cut through bone. It lunged again, this time splitting into two midair, both halves attacking from opposite sides.

The moment the creature split in two, Murphy's expression hardened.

"Get to Dark City," he commanded, voice like iron.

"What?!" Akame snapped. "You can't fight that thing alone—"

"Go!" Murphy roared, his wings blazing like molten glass, the sound echoing like a war drum. "If you stay, we'll all die. That's an order!"

There was no time to argue. The shadow-creature lunged again, its jagged grin splitting wider as its claws slashed at the air with such force that it tore reality like paper. Lucas threw one last desperate look at Murphy before leaping onto Elizabeth's serpent, while Akame's hand lingered for a second too long on Murphy's arm as something entered her before she turned, tears burning in her eyes.

As they fled, Murphy exhaled. His breath misted in the air like frost—no, like the last sigh of a man who knew what price he was about to pay.

"I Sacrifice my mid-life and old life" he whispered.

His body convulsed as his lifespan snapped like a thread. The vibrant hum of his life force plummeted, collapsing into a singular focus. Ten years. That was all that remained. Ten years of life, burned like dry kindling to forge something greater.

And power answered.

A Sacred and Violent aura surged around him, laced with faint threads of silver, as if a god had descended into the darkened world. His veins glowed, his heartbeat thundered like a storm. [Rengoku] manifested in his grip—not merely a blade, but the judge of all evil.

[Kalpata] spun behind his head, moving clockwise, amplifying the Sacredness and Violentness radiating from him.

The creature hissed, its eternal grin faltering for the first time.

"You like grinning?" Murphy growled, blood trailing from his lips. "Let's see you smile after this."

He shot forward like a meteor, wings carving through the air with a deafening boom, leaving radiant arcs of white energy in their wake. The shadow-thing met him head-on, its claws slamming into [Rengoku] with an explosion that sent ripples racing across the Dark Sea.

Blood spattered—Murphy's blood. The creature was fast, its claws raking through his arms and ribs in vicious, gaping cuts. But Murphy didn't flinch. Every wound that opened healed in an instant, his power burning furiously to keep him moving.

[Rengoku] screamed as it cleaved through two of the creature's arms, the blade leaving behind searing lines of ruptured void-flesh that hissed and oozed like tar.

"Too slow," Murphy hissed, twisting midair. His wings folded inward, then exploded outward like a shockwave, sending a violent gust that churned the Dark waters beneath.

The creature's mask cracked. Its six grins split wider in unison, releasing an unholy shriek that scraped across reality itself. It lunged again, driving its claws deep into Murphy's side. Blood sprayed from his mouth, but his grip only tightened, crushing the creature's wrist like iron.

"You're coming with me," Murphy snarled.