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."

a certain Artisan that could track the general location of anyone a person had ever met. This was how Caster knew how many Sleepers of their crop had been sent to

no other method to learn of their approach, all he

a

expect a

Star shook her

that we will come to him of our own free will… simply because there's nowhere else for us to

for a while,

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

Sunny glanced

that

stared at the fire. After a

"Yes."

that, Sunny smiled

good for you, but I am not. So let's finish our deal before the lot of

Neph's mouth curled

talking about the Fallen

He nodded.

promised to

a complicated expression. Finally, not able to hold back, he

going to join us? Don't… don't you see that we only have one chance to escape this place? Not to mention all the lives we

hand, he had no desire of helping Nephis achieve her insane goal. On the other

was he going to do, hide in his cathedral and wait until there was no one

fate that would

maybe I

and cast a

at least three people here knew

to escape

point though, is it? The point is that you should conclude our deal