Shadow Slave

Grasped in the Shadow's fist was a strange, beautiful, and ominous gem. It was utterly black, as though suffused with impenetrable darkness. The glossy black surface seemed to devour light, turning the vast hall of the ruined cathedral even darker than it had been before.

Deep within that black void, crimson flames burned with a menacing red glow. It was pulsating in a slow and bizarre rhythm, drowning everything around in dim red light. Painted by it, the Stone Saint seemed to be drenched in blood. The gem she held looked like a bloody, still-beating heart that she had torn out of someone's chest.

Gazing at it, Sunny felt a strange sense of foreboding.

'What the hell is this thing?'

The gem looked sort of like a soul shard, but… different. He had never seen a black shard, to begin with, or one radiating such an intense glow. It also didn't seem like a piece of a broken core. On the contrary, it appeared… whole?

'Is that what a soul core of a Nightmare Creature looks like?'

No, not a soul core.

A soul?

Stunned, Sunny counted the crimson flames burning in the depths of the black gem. One, two, three… four.

Four flames for the four cores of Fallen Devil.

The thing that his Shadow held in her hand was the Black Knight's soul… or some sort of his essence, at least. By how had it turned into a material form?

Did the Stone Saint do it? If so, how… no, why?

'What is she doing with it?!'

As Sunny and Nephis looked in stunned silence, the Shadow finally moved. Bringing the black gem close to her face, she lingered for a moment. A hint of a dark, macabre emotion appeared in her eyes.

And then, the Stone Saint… swallowed it.

Sunny blinked.

'...What?'

Shadow opened her mouth, bit into the eerie crystal, and

the Black Knight was devoured. The red glow it emanated disappeared, returning the world to its natural

that, the Stone Saint

didn't dismiss her.

him

happened? What

to twist the truth

"I have no idea."

the devil had been destroyed, Sunny

no shards left. It's

remained silent for a few moments,

Finally, she said:

is very

***

from the fight and tending to their wounds, Sunny walked to a secluded corner and

motionless shadows

as the rest of them. There was no trace of the menacing and

Sunny grinned.

Make yourself at home. You're

motionless form of his sworn enemy, Sunny had to stop himself from kicking the Black Knight with

Kicking him would have been like kicking the air. Plus, Sunny

good. But I'm still breathing while you're dead.

— no, both this world and the real one were full of creatures that were bigger, stronger, and more powerful than Sunny. Many of them had either threatened

he was still here despite all of them, neither destroyed nor subjugated. He was free, alive, and growing stronger with

him or be

walked to stand beneath the black sun of his

…But nothing happened.

again — to the same effect. Suddenly worried,

true. The Stone Saint was still listed as his

is going on with