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].

Divinity? That was the same as his original Attribute! What business did a Nightmare Creature have walking

with

[Born on the battlefield, the Stone Saint

forms of damage, as well as being fully immune to mind and soul

his head. No wonder these silent stone warriors were so deadly. They were literally a bunch of killing machines created to last as

who had created

the Attributes alone, he lowered his gaze and

his dark domain, the last child of the -unknown- had created them from stone to quell the fire burning in his resentful heart. However, that fire only grew hotter.

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 cursed

it mattered. A

fact that the traces of divinity that the stone warrior bore had to have come from their original creator, who was at least partially one of

Just like mysterious Weaver.

Echo with his altered eyes. What he

essence of the Echo was weaved from the countless diamond strings that formed an infinitely complex

embers were burning inside the Stone Saint's body, serving as anchors for the endless strings. One of them was

there, behind the shining pattern of the diamond strings, he noticed another, much more primitive

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

that makes sense. Wait, how does

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 by the

the Stone Saint was eerily similar to the technique that the Spell used, although it did look extremely primitive in

that the Spell itself had come

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

be time for it

equally as interesting