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

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

after that, the Stone Saint

I didn't dismiss her. What the

at him

What

didn't have to twist the truth and

"I have no idea."

rusty steel that remained after the devil had been destroyed, Sunny moved it around with his

no shards left. It's

silent for a few moments,

Finally, she said:

Echo is very

***

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

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

all the other creatures Sunny had slain, just as empty as the rest of them. There was no trace of the menacing and deadly

Sunny grinned.

yourself at home. You're

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

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

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

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

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

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

stand beneath the black sun of his shadow core.

…But nothing happened.

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

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

what is going on with