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, and

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

a moment after that, the Stone Saint fell

her. What

looked at him

happened? What did she

once, Sunny didn't have to twist the truth and deceive anyone. Opening his mouth, he

"I have no idea."

devil had been destroyed, Sunny moved it around with his

shards

Star remained silent for a few moments,

Finally, she said:

is very

***

their wounds, Sunny

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

them. There was no trace of

Sunny grinned.

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

form of his sworn enemy, Sunny had to stop himself

was just a shadow now, after all. Kicking him would have been like kicking the air. Plus, Sunny wasn't vindictive to that degree. Killing the bastard once was enough for

good. But I'm still breathing while you're dead. At the end of the day,

were bigger, stronger, and more powerful than Sunny. Many of them had either threatened his existence or felt compelled

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

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

a dark expression, Sunny turned away and walked to stand beneath the black sun of his shadow core. Then, he summoned the

…But nothing happened.

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

did not come true. The

is going