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

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

was, at least up until a few moments ago. Now, however… huh… did he imagine the whole thing? There really was no reason

that's

"Are you alright, Sunny?"

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

What agreement?

knowing how to answer, he just stood there with a frown

this is embarrassing. Did I completely space out while she was talking

his rescue. She always knew

you angry because we

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

'So hungry…'

"Uh… I guess?"

to the ground, where another fruit was placed on the pile

brought three of them,

'How nice of her…'

fruit, looked at it, and took a

mouth was filled with delightful, cool sweetness. The succulent, juicy fruit was probably the most delicious thing he had ever tasted. It was both nourishing and refreshing, with

'Wow!'

for some reason. Something was very wrong about the whole

to think about anything except for how heavenly

Since when... wait, don't

to pinpoint the source of the strangeness. It was his shadow. When he reached out to pick up the fruit, the shadow did not

refusing to mimic

is it with

looked at the shadow, lost in

eccentric temper, but it rarely did something without a reason. If it didn't like the fruit, there had to be something wrong with…

a sense of

something… something wrong with

so hard to think about

was something wrong with the fruit? Why

why I screamed at Nephis? She broke an agreement…

something very important. He felt as though he just needed to

was going to happen if

Sunny

that required

all about the problem with the Soul Tree's

moment, the Spell was talking into

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

'Wh—what?'

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

he raised his head and

her fruit with a strange expression on her face. Feeling his gaze, she looked

Sunny licked his lips.

"Did you…"