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].

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

with these other

on the battlefield, the Stone Saint is proficient

Description: [The Stone Saint is highly resistant to all forms of damage, as well

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

had

gaze and read the next line of

-unknown- had created them from stone to quell the fire burning in his

the Unknown again. Or rather, their children. It seemed like his theory was correct. The 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 mattered. A monster

creator, who was at least partially one

Just like mysterious Weaver.

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

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

them was situated in the place where

looked more closely. And there, behind the shining pattern of the diamond strings, he noticed another, much more primitive and crude system of adamantine threads. They pierced the stone flesh

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

sense. Wait, how

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

what? That the technique that had been used to create the Stone Saint was eerily similar to the

that the Spell itself had come from

his head. No, no. Although it was a sound theory, there was too little information to actually consider it substantiated or even 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, and his

there would be

equally