Shadow Slave

Sunny felt a soft breeze lightly caress his cheeks, and then something moved in the darkness of the well.

Gripping the hilt of the Midnight Shard tightly, he prepared for the worst. On the other side of the dark fissure, Shadow Saint slowly raised her shield and rested the blade of her sword on its rim.

…However, they had nothing to fear.

A few moments later, a graceful figure appeared in the air, rose above the well, and then gently landed on the stones in front of it.

The corner of Sunny's mouth twitched. The owner of the charming voice was, indeed, human. It was a young man wearing a light lamellar armor, with luscious dark auburn hair and mesmerizing green eyes. His well-fitted armor was made out of burnished brown leather, with deep blue embroidered garments beneath.

However, for a moment, he wished that Kai actually turned out to be a demon.

Because the damn guy not only possessed the most charming voice he had ever heard, but was also drop-dead gorgeous.

Honestly, it was simply unfair!

Kai was tall, slender, and incredibly handsome. His face was small, perfectly shaped and beautiful, with high cheekbones and flawless ivory skin. His green eyes were nothing short of electric, and his lips were soft and full like… uh…

'W—what am I thinking?'

What's more, he seemed to possess that special type of warm charm that made some people almost irresistibly attractive. Sunny wouldn't be surprised to find out that droves of girls simply fell to Kai's feet every time he happened to casually walk by. Perhaps a few guys, too.

Even worse still, the bastard looked like a genuinely nice person, without the smallest trace of arrogance or entitlement on his pretty face. There were playful sparks of humor hiding deep within his eyes, and one could be absolutely sure that when Kai smiled, cute dimples would appear on his cheeks.

You couldn't even hate the damn guy!

Two weeks spent in the deep dark pit did nothing to lessen his glamour, too.

In short, Kai was the most beautiful person Sunny had ever seen, even compared to other Awakened. He looked like one of those screen idols that people loved to obsess over, only somehow even more attractive in person.

Sunny glanced at himself, feeling a strong desire to grind his teeth in outrage.

'Well, this is just… a cruel injustice, simple as that.'

Meanwhile, Kai noticed the Shadow Saint's burning ruby eyes, which were the only source of light in the absolute darkness of the night, and flinched back with a paled expression on his face.

no! It's a

from his self-pity and blinked. Then,

"I'm behind you, idiot."

to notice that the young man held one of his hands out, obviously ready to summon whatever Memory he used

by darkness, Kai couldn't see him, of

this fellow know that I'm not as, uh...

perfectly composed, Sunny

had an Echo? It's her over there. Well, sort of. That is

handsome Sleeper hesitated for

really are a

them were just disembodied voices to each other. But now, while Sunny had already made sure that Kai was not some ancient horror… or at least didn't look like one… the former prisoner of the well was still in the dark, both literally and

I was still human, yes. If you have a Memory to produce light, you can summon it and

Kai lingered.

the Nightmare Creatures be attracted by the

cautious.

Sunny shook his head.

really secluded. Plus, there are not a lot of monsters in this area. I guess that's why those thugs

a sigh of relief, Kai summoned a paper lantern that glowed with soft yellow

"Argh! Damn!"

track of the young man's movements, he raised a hand and covered

course, Sunny knew that this would happen. He allowed himself to be momentarily blinded to give Kai some sense of safety and better convince him of his human

"Oh! Sorry."

young man lowered the lantern a little and looked up, trying to finally lay eyes

a bit of surprise, he slightly lowered

not humiliating at

few seconds and, after realizing that he was indeed a human, offered him

was as charming as the rest of him. Even the cute dimples that Sunny

was nothing short

be a

Sunny coughed.

did he just call me a "cutie"? How dare he! Uh, I mean… thanks?

Meanwhile, Kai frowned.

"But, Sunless…"