Shadow Slave

Previously, Sunny had considered the living statues to be just that, monuments brought to life by evil spirits. There were a lot of revenants like that walking the streets of the cursed city.

Take the Black Knight, for example — Sunny was almost sure that the bastard was actually just a suit of armor with a vengeful wraith imprisoned within it. He had no proof that there was an actual body in that moving steel fortress, at least.

However, after watching the Stone Saint die right before his eyes, he wasn't so sure that she and the Black Knight were the same anymore. There certainly were similarities… even the design of their armors was somewhat similar, as though one had originated from the other. But the stone warrior's armor seemed much more… ancient.

And then there was the ruby dust that flowed from the stone creature's wounds instead of blood. Since when did statues have blood? It was almost like these strange creatures were designed to possess their own weird form of life. Come think about it, the stone warriors resembled artificial beings brought to life by some dark magic much more than they resembled undead creatures.

'Mysteries, mysteries, mysteries all around!'

Perhaps the runes describing the Stone Saint would provide him with some answers.

The Echo, meanwhile, was coming to life. Two magenta flames ignited in her gemstone eyes. The stone of her armor suddenly gleamed with subtle metal shine, the smooth surface of her granite skin turned slightly less rigid. Silently turning her head, the Saint gazed at Sunny through the narrow split of her helmet's visor.

"Let's see…"

He concentrated on the runes.

Echo: Stone Saint.

Echo Rank: Awakened.

Echo Class: Monster.

Echo Attributes: [Battle Master], [Stalwart], [Mark of Divinity].

That was the same as his original Attribute! What business did a Nightmare Creature have walking around with the traces of

with these other

[Born on the battlefield, the Stone Saint is

Stone Saint is highly resistant to all forms of damage, as well as being fully

Sunny shook his head. No wonder these silent stone warriors were so deadly. They were literally a bunch of killing machines created to last as long and deal as much damage

had

Attributes alone, he lowered his gaze and read the next line

them from stone to quell the fire burning in his resentful heart. However, that fire only grew hotter. Designed to bring peace, they were instead

Stone Saint was either an artificial being or a descendant of one. In any case, that was before she was corrupted by… well. Whatever it was that had corrupted all the Nightmare Creatures, and especially those in the

A

had to have come from their original creator, who was at least partially one of

Just like mysterious Weaver.

the runes, Sunny studied the motionless Echo with his altered eyes. What he saw made

strings that formed an infinitely complex pattern. Only in its case, the pattern was even more elaborate, dwarfing

anchors for the endless strings. One of them was situated in the place where her heart should have been, the

another, much more primitive and crude system of adamantine threads. They pierced the stone

from diamond, but they were much less ethereal. In fact, they

that makes sense. Wait, how

and the Echoes were created by the Spell. They were artificial. The Stone Saint, too, was artificial, but in a much more mundane sense. She was made by a child of the Unknown, just like her Echo was made

had been used to create the Stone Saint was eerily

that mean that the Spell itself

remotely believable. He needed to find out more, learn more, uncover more before even beginning to understand the true story that connected the Spell, the gods, the Unknown,

there would be time

equally