Shadow Slave

[Your Echo has been destroyed.]

Sunny stumbled and almost fell. Cassie gripped his shoulders tightly and leaned back a little, trying to help him keep balance. With fallen leaves flying from under his feet, Sunny somehow managed to catch himself in time.

'No!'

Anger and regret clouded his mind, but it was too late to do anything. His trusty scavenger was dead, sliced and torn apart by the giant creature. The ease and brutality with which the Carapace Demon had decimated the poor, brave beast would have been insulting... if it wasn't so terrifying.

It only took him a split second.

The Echo was gone. Not only had Sunny seen its tragic end through the eyes of his shadow, he also felt the subtle connection between them disappear. In his Soul Sea, one of the spheres of light shimmered and vanished, leaving the silent surface of the water a little bit darker. He had lost his most valuable possession.

But the bitterness Sunny felt was not only because of how useful the Echo had been, or how much money it could have brought him in the real world. He had actually grown to like the mindless scavenger quite a bit. It was big, loyal and reliable.

It even seemed to possess a strange sort of stubborn, offputting personality.

And now it was dead.

Gritting his teeth, Sunny ran like a madman. There would be time to mourn the loss of the loyal Echo later.

Right now, they had bigger problems.

"Sunny? What happened?"

Cassie's whisper sounded worried and tense. She must have felt the change in his mood through his posture and body language.

To be completely honest, Sunny was in no shape to talk. Running up the hill at top speed, with the blind girl on his back — no matter how delicate and light she was — had been a tall task for him without the support of the shadow. He was struggling to breathe, and there was still a considerable distance to the great tree. However, Sunny had to answer, his voice hoarse and rugged:

"He killed the Echo."

Then, there was no time for words anymore.

Because things were turning from bad to worse.

Down at the bottom of the hill, the Carapace Demon was standing above the mutilated remains of the scavenger, looking at them with contempt. Heavy drops of azure blood were falling from each of his four upper limbs.

Suddenly, the corpse of the Echo began to shine with soft light. Then, it shimmered and dissolved into a river of tiny sparks, which then fell to the ground and disappeared, leaving no trace of the hulking scavenger behind. Even its blood on the demon's scythes and pincers was gone.

After all, the Echo was just a manifestation of a slain Nightmare Creature and not the real thing. It came from nothing and was now returned to the state of nothingness.

not looking at the unexpected light show. Instead, he was staring at one particular spot on the

in confusion, uncertain what to do. With the body of the Echo — and consequently, its spacious shadow — gone, it was instantly revealed and had nowhere else

'Crap!'

the speed of lightning and pierced the

flinched, ready to experience

which had raised its hands in fright, looked down at the massive blade protruding from its chest and scratched its

It was completely fine.

course… it was just a shadow, after all. One had to have a body

did

the nonchalant shadow. The menacing scarlet light in his eyes

closer to the trunk of the tree, temporarily fueled by adrenalin. Otherwise, he might

'Just… a little… more!'

just had

However, instead of attacking the human shadow again, it suddenly

was

'Curse it all!'

up the tall hill's

screamed to his shadow as

picked up the rucksack that Nephis had left behind and handed it to the blind

"Be gentle with that."

the rucksack,

Changing Star had already reached the lowest branches of the great tree. Not wasting any time, she moved to a spot above her companions, summoned the golden rope and threw one

Sunny quickly tied a loop

"You go up first."

Just as she was

"Wait! Summon your staff."

to walk was actually a magical item capable of summoning strong winds. In their travels, they rarely had a cause to use it.

he had asked, summoning the

guiding the hand holding the staff in the necessary

"Now summon the wind."

and ashen sand

sand was revealed

massive creature was already halfway up the hill, moving with the speed of a rushing train. The nimble shadow, however, was even faster. It had already overtaken the behemoth and was now flying forward,

"Good, now go!"

into the loop and stepped back, watching as Nephis pulled the rope up. She was going as fast as

was it fast

life now depended on whether or not the