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?'

her mouth, bit into the eerie crystal,

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

a moment after that, the Stone Saint fell into

didn't dismiss her. What the

him

happened? What

Sunny didn't have to twist the truth and deceive

"I have no idea."

the pile of rusty steel that remained after the devil had been destroyed, Sunny moved it around

no shards left.

for a few moments, then

Finally, she said:

is

***

fight and tending to their wounds,

water met him with familiar silence. Glancing at the rows of motionless shadows standing at the edge of

all the other creatures Sunny had slain, just as empty as the rest of them. There was

Sunny grinned.

you bastard. Make yourself at home.

feeling of deep, dark satisfaction grasped his heart. Staring at the motionless form of his sworn enemy, Sunny had to stop himself

the air.

I'm still breathing while you're dead. At the end of the day, that's all that

were full of creatures that were bigger, stronger, and more powerful than Sunny. Many of them had

them, neither destroyed nor subjugated. He was free, alive, and growing stronger with

would be the ones cowering in front of him or be destroyed by him. Just like the

turned away and walked to stand beneath the black sun of his shadow

…But nothing happened.

again — to the same effect. Suddenly worried, he willed the runes to

his worst fears did not come true. The Stone Saint was still listed as

what is going on