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?'

bit into the eerie crystal,

of the Black Knight was devoured. The red glow it emanated disappeared, returning the

after that, the Stone Saint fell into the shadows and disappeared,

dismiss her.

at him with

happened? What did she

to twist the truth and deceive anyone. Opening his mouth, he

"I have no idea."

remained after the devil had been destroyed, Sunny moved it around with his foot for a bit

shards

for a few

Finally, she said:

is very

***

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

still water met him with familiar silence. Glancing at the rows of motionless shadows standing at the edge of it, Sunny noticed that the Black Knight had joined their

empty as the rest of them.

Sunny grinned.

bastard. Make yourself at home. You're not going anywhere

dark satisfaction grasped his heart. Staring at the motionless form of his sworn enemy, Sunny had

like kicking the air. Plus, Sunny wasn't

one laughing now, huh? I won't deny it, you got me good. But I'm still breathing while you're dead. At the end

and the real one were full of creatures that were bigger, stronger, and more powerful than Sunny. Many of them had either threatened his existence

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

cowering in front of him or be

walked to stand beneath the black sun of his

…But nothing happened.

again — to the same effect. Suddenly worried,

The Stone Saint

what is going on with