Shadow Slave

Just like that, a week had passed. Miraculously, Sunny had survived.

Even more miraculously, he had somehow managed not to kill Effie... which was a big accomplishment in and of itself. In fact, by the end of it, their forced cohabitation had turned rather pleasant.

They were both solitary hunters, after all. There was an instinctive understanding between the two of them.

His overall combat skill and particularly comprehension of both his own battle style and that of the Stone Saint had improved by leaps and bounds. He felt faster, stronger, and better prepared to face the horrors of the Dream Realm.

Although he had yet to reach the same level of physical power that he had possessed before sacrificing a hundred shadow fragments to create the Shadow Saint, Sunny felt that the current him was far deadlier of an opponent.

Which was good, considering how fast the grim future was approaching.

...Currently, Sunny and Effie were sitting on the support beam of the main hall of the cathedral, looking down from the head-spinning height. Far below and away from them, the Black Knight walked through the patches of light and darkness, continuing his neverending patrol.

Effie scowled, then whispered:

"So this is the bastard?"

Sunny gave her a gloomy nod.

"Yeah. In the flesh… or whatever he has instead of it."

The unruly huntress gave him a long look.

"How the hell did you manage to live through a fight with that fiend?"

He grimaced.

"Barely. Also, calling it a fight is giving me too much credit. I just got myself gutted and crawled outside. He never leaves the cathedral, so I got away."

She shivered.

"Are you sure that he won't hear us?"

Sunny pointed down.

"As long as he doesn't walk past that column, and as long as we're not too loud and keep our voice down, we're safe. Trust me. I've been studying that bastard for two whole months."

Effie suddenly grinned.

"So… how loud are we talking about? Because I can promise to…"

Sunny rolled his eyes.

"Can you stop? We're in a temple, for gods' sake."

He didn't need to hear the end of the phrase to know that it was going to be highly suggestive and very inappropriate.

She quietly giggled.

"Fine, fine."

light of dawn was

the final decision regarding Neph's request. Depending on his choice, he

Sunny quietly sighed.

turning to the huntress, he

Effie. Can I ask

him with a silent

"Sure. Go ahead, doofus."

hesitated, feeling the somber mood of the

on your head a lot when you were

times, then suddenly pressed both hands against her mouth to suppress

laugh out loud and get us both killed? What's up with

looked at her with a dubious

why are you so damn cheerful all the time? It's not normal. You're like a

The huntress smiled.

"Ah. That."

Then, she shrugged.

"It's simple, really."

unfamiliar air of melancholy around the vigorous young woman. Her usual infectious vitality somehow

don't think that this place is as bad as all of you seemed to believe. Everyone in this dark city

She hesitated.

me, it's a

at her and

"How so?"

Effie sighed.

for some of us, the real world was

adapt so well to the ruthless terror of the Nightmare Spell was because,

kind of a

sad smile appeared on the young woman's

we deserve, I

she looked at Sunny

outskirts, right? So you didn't receive a lot of education, I

He shook his head.

She chuckled.

not like it would have changed anything. The schools are basically propaganda camps, anyway. They teach kids some useful stuff, but also turn them

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

"The truth?"

gave him

that our world is dying. Well, not the world, really. Just the part of

before Sunny was born, a whole continent was lost because

the huntress quickly overturned his

not talking about the Nightmare Spell. I'm talking about what we, humans, have done to our planet without anyone's help. There were more than ten billion people on Earth a couple of hundred years ago, did you know? But now, there's barely three. And half of them only have food and

of the outskirts. The inhuman conditions in the underground factory where his mother had worked. The towering barriers protecting the city from the

never really thought about it that much. To him, this

Effie shrugged.

ask me… I think that one day in the

note, she stood up and stretched her whole body,