Shadow Slave

Sunny stumbled and looked at his companions in utter shock.

Nephis and Cassie were each holding a large, round, glistening fruit. The skin of these fruits was smooth and black as onyx, while the succulent insides were red as ruby. Their hands, chins and lips were smeared with red juice, making it look as though they were feasting on blood.

The air was filled with an alluring, sweet aroma.

Sunny recoiled...

But his stomach involuntarily growled, reminding him how hungry he was.

Nephis looked at Sunny and offered him a relaxed smile.

"Hey."

He stared at her, lost for words. Finally, after a few seconds had passed, Sunny collected himself and screamed:

"What do you mean "hey"?! What the hell are you doing?!"

His voice was loud, full of disbelief and anger.

Both Neph and Cassie turned to face him. They were visibly confused.

"Why are you shouting?"

Sunny gaped at them, feeling like he had lost his mind. Why were they so nonchalant about this? What was going on here?!

Trying to find some sense in the situation, he took a cautious step forward and looked at Nephis. Did she… wait… what was he thinking about?

He was so hungry. It was hard to concentrate on anything except for food…

Shaking off the unexpected memory lapse, Sunny remembered what he was about to say and pressed:

"Why did you change your mind?"

Changing Star frowned.

"Changed my mind? About what?"

He clenched his teeth, thinking that she was trying to fool him.

"About the fruits! I thought we had agreed to avoid eating them!"

Nephis blinked, a confused expression appearing on her face.

"Did we? ...Why?"

Sunny opened his mouth to answer, but then froze.

Actually, why did they make that agreement?

can't quite

reason, but his memory was completely blank. There definitely was an agreement… wasn't

up until a few moments ago. Now, however… huh… did he imagine the whole thing? There really was no reason not to eat the alluring fruits. Especially when the three of them were

wait… that's not

"Are you alright, Sunny?"

Nephis, who was looking at him with concern. Suddenly, Sunny felt lost and confused. What were they talking about? Something… something about some sort

What agreement?

just stood there with

I completely space out while she was

She always

we started eating without

her and noticed the big, delicious fruit in her hands.

'So hungry…'

"Uh… I guess?"

ground, where another fruit was placed on the pile of fallen leaves. Her teeth were smeared

three of

'How nice of her…'

picked up the fruit, looked at

The succulent, juicy fruit was probably the most delicious thing he had ever tasted. It was both nourishing and refreshing, with rich texture and soft, lingering aftertaste. The ruby flesh practically melted on his tongue, making his whole body tingle. It

'Wow!'

delight, Sunny felt disturbed for some reason. Something was very

bite, he frowned and tried to understand the source of this anxious feeling. It was hard to think about anything except for how heavenly the fruit of the Soul Tree tasted,

Tree? Since when...

able to pinpoint the source of the strangeness. It was his shadow. When he reached out

refusing

it

looked at the shadow, lost

reason. If it didn't like the fruit, there had to be something wrong with…

suddenly feeling a sense

something wrong with

why is it so hard

with the fruit? Why would

at Nephis? She

important. He felt as though he just needed to pull on the thread, and the whole truth would reveal

terrible was going to happen if

then, Sunny

happened, something that required his

all about the problem with

the Spell was talking

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

'Wh—what?'

blinked, then looked at the delicious fruit in his hands. The Spell announced the increase in his power right after Sunny swallowed his

he raised his head and looked at

at her fruit with a strange expression on her face.

Sunny licked his lips.

"Did you…"