With all of that in mind, Sunny understood one thing: if he had the luxury of time before, that was no longer the case at this moment. There was the question of whether or not the creation of stronger Mara-Struck was also time-based alongside siphoning the Abundance off the ones he killed. The serpent he had slain just now might have been sucked into this metaphorical furnace, as well.
Whatever the case was, he needed to head towards the coalescence of roots immediately. With only half a Shadow Core's worth of Essence being consumed, he doubted that he would be running out any time soon. He had to silently wonder if that would be enough to deal with a Transcendent Tyrant…
A spark lit up in his mind as Serpent in its miniature form slithered out from under his sleeves. When he had learned that using more Essence than the minimum to summon his Shadows would change their form and make them stronger, he had wondered what would happen if the exact opposite was done.
For Serpent, at the very least, it grew much smaller. The size of a normal snake — at least, that was what he assumed. He had kept it their for… insurance.
Either way, mini Serpent dropped to the floor before being dismissed back to Sunny's Soul Sea. Then, Sunny summoned it once more, pumping an excess amount of Shadow Essence into his Aspect. His reserves dipped greatly, leaving him with only two Cores worth of Essence. He grit his teeth, hoping that the law of diminishing returns didn't apply to this function of his Aspect…
…He wasn't disappointed.
When Serpent came out of his shadow, he had expected his pet snake to slither out — though, larger than usual. Instead, the scaled behemoth erupted into the sky, like the tentacle of an ancient beast that crawled out of the depths. Sunny had to block his face at the pressure, which threatened to throw him off his feet.
'What… what the hell?!'
By the time the entirety of Serpent's entire body escaped his shadow, there was simply nothing in front of Sunny to look at.
No… he had to look up, instead.
Looking up at the fantastical being in the sky, Sunny could only gawk.
Serpent's onyx scales shimmered under the glistening moonlight, each one large enough to cover Sunny's entire body. Sprouting from the Shadow Creature's back where six insectoid wings, reminding him greatly of the butterflies that seemed to appear whenever Seele used her Aspect, but not as withered. Rather, they were beautifully displaying countless shades of black, fluttering as huge gusts of winds crashed against Sunny. Below Serpent's body, two massive arms hung limply, scaled just like the rest of its body. Each hand ended with three fingers, each followed by a pointed claw.
And looking back up to Serpent's head, it had seemed to grow much fiercer than before. Based on the gap between its upper and lower jaws, Sunny could see plenty of additional teeth, each of them seeming to be as sharp as a blade. The deep ocean of shadows that were its eyes seemed to have grown more restless, almost swirling like a typhoon in the void.
Sunny gulped. He had only added half a Shadow Core's worth of Essence. How was anyone supposed to believe that this was an Ascended Demon?
Serpent used to be a Devil, but after Sunny had lost his Shadow Cores and Memories, the Shadow went down in Rank alongside him.
With a grin, Sunny looked deeply into the shadows. Around the Artisanship Commission were still plenty of Mara-Struck — really, he hadn't even put a dent on them.
Now, however…
"Go! Slaughter them all!"
Serpent's tongue flickered out, now much larger than before as it somehow snaked its way between the rows of teeth it now had. Then, it turned and flew away, the butterfly wings on its back fluttering with black radiance. A shadow followed after, intending to augment the moment it could — his shadow helpers couldn't fly, unfortunately.
With each Mara-Struck that Serpent killed, Sunny would recieve some Shadow Essence back. With its current scale, Serpent should be able to destroy more Mara-Struck at a faster rate than Sunny.
Which only left the Tyrant…