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

that, the soul of the Black Knight was devoured. The red glow

Stone Saint fell into the shadows and

dismiss her.

him with a

What did she

truth and deceive anyone. Opening

"I have no idea."

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

no shards left.

remained silent for a few

Finally, she said:

is

***

recovering from the fight and tending to their wounds,

tranquil expanse of still water met him with familiar silence. Glancing at the rows of motionless shadows standing at the edge of it, Sunny

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

Sunny grinned.

bastard. Make yourself at home.

at the motionless form of his sworn

the air. Plus, Sunny wasn't

got me good. But I'm still breathing while you're dead. At the end

and more powerful than Sunny. Many of them had either threatened his existence or felt compelled to

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

cowering in front of him or be destroyed by

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

…But nothing happened.

worried, he willed the runes to appear in the air

worst fears did not come true. The Stone Saint was

what is going