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?

I can't quite

memory was completely blank. There definitely

at least 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 so

that's not

"Are you alright, Sunny?"

Nephis, who was looking at him with concern. Suddenly, Sunny felt lost

What agreement?

answer, he just stood there with a frown on his face and

is embarrassing. Did I completely space out while she was

always knew how

angry because we started eating

at her and noticed the big, delicious fruit in her hands. His stomach

'So hungry…'

"Uh… I guess?"

where another fruit was placed on the pile

worry! Neph brought three of them, one

'How nice of her…'

looked at it, and took a bite without

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 was pure joy

'Wow!'

reason. Something was

source of this anxious feeling. It was hard to think about anything except for how heavenly the fruit of the Soul Tree tasted, but he forced himself

Since when... wait,

finally able to pinpoint the source of the strangeness. It was his shadow. When he reached out to pick up the fruit,

motionless, refusing to mimic him eating the

What is it with this

looked at

eccentric temper, but it rarely did something without a reason. If it didn't like the fruit, there

feeling a sense of dread grip his

something… something wrong with

why is it so hard to think about this

was something wrong with the fruit? Why would

screamed at Nephis? She broke an

of remembering something very important. He felt as though he just

was going to

Sunny

happened, something that

about the problem with the Soul Tree's

the Spell was

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

'Wh—what?'

delicious fruit in his hands. The Spell announced the increase in his power right after

his head and

her fruit with a strange expression on her

Sunny licked his lips.

"Did you…"