Shadow Slave

Turning away from the distant wall of the Dark City, Sunny closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and let go of his anger.

He had to keep his head cool, for now. Killing a Fallen Devil was not going to be an easy task. It might even turn out to be his undoing.

...But he was determined to see it done. The debt of blood he owed that creature had to be repaid, no matter what.

Walking over to the fire, Sunny sat down and tried to remember the details of their previous stay on this old, weathered marble arch. What a fun couple of days that had been.

Rather pleasing on the eye, too...

His shadow shook its head dejectedly and turned away.

Soon, Nephis handed him his share of the food. Her culinary skills had improved a lot during these months — despite the fact that there had not been a large variety of ingredients at their disposal. Still, being able to turn the most repulsive of monsters into a delicious meal was something that not everyone was capable of.

'This should be a separate course at the Academy.'

Teacher Julius had taught him how to consume various things in the Dream Realm without ending up poisoned to death, but he had neglected to go in-depth on how to actually make them taste good.

Sinking his teeth into a juicy piece of meat, Sunny forgot about his troubles for a bit and simply enjoyed this rare moment of bliss. Disposing of the meat, he smiled in satisfaction and wiped his hands on the soft fabric of the Puppeteer's Shroud. Then, he glanced at Nephis and asked:

"We should be able to reach the city tomorrow, yes?"

She gave him a nod.

"...If nothing happens."

Sunny thought for a bit, then said in a curious tone:

"Do you think Gunlaug knows that we are coming back?"

Nephis thought for a few moments before replying. Her voice was calm and indifferent.

"Definitely."

about a certain Artisan that could track

their approach, all he had

a little and

expect a

Star shook

think so. There's no need for him to do anything. Gunlaug knows that we will come to him of our own free will… simply because there's nowhere else for us

for a while,

destroying the ideas I represent. What's the point of crushing me if no one is there to see it? Gunlaug won't do anything without an audience. He had sent Harus to stop us from escaping the stage, but now that we are back on it, there is

expressions. Sunny glanced

confident that you can

stared at the fire. After

"Yes."

that, Sunny

not. So let's finish our deal before the lot

of Neph's mouth curled

are talking about the

He nodded.

to

him with a complicated expression. Finally, not

don't you see that we only have one chance to escape this place? Not to mention

he had no desire of helping Nephis achieve her insane goal. On

his cathedral and wait until there was no one else

that

I'll join you, and maybe I won't.

and cast

least three people here knew what would happen… more

hard to

you should conclude