Shadow Slave

The slum dweller pressed his finger against his lips and hissed in exasperation:

"Take that back! Are you crazy?"

Sunny blinked.

"What? No. Well, I was crazy for a while. But now I am not."

The young man looked at him with doubt and shook his head:

"Still, don't jinx yourself. Do you at least have a Memory to keep you safe?"

The question of arming themselves was a big problem for Neph's followers. More than half of them didn't have a Memory armor or a weapon, having to make do with mundane armaments fashioned out of anything that was at hand. It was one of the reasons why fighting against the Guards and the Hunters was so hard for them.

The other guy, the one who used to pay tribute, sighed and call out to his friend:

"Have you lost your mind? You are talking to a member of Lady Nephis's personal cohort. Of course he has Memories."

With that, both of them looked down on their own makeshift swords.

These two were among those who wielded Black Claws, blades made out of the talons of the Spire Messenger Sunny and the rest had killed. Their bases were wrapped with leather, allowing a person to use the long curved talon as a weapon.

Considering that these talons came from a Fallen Monster, as far as weapons went, they were some of the best. Wielding them efficiently was not an easy task, though.

The slum dweller grimaced.

"Right. Damn! I am proud to wield one of the Black Claws, don't get me wrong. But if each of us had a proper set of Memories… those bastards wouldn't be picking us off one by one anymore, that's for sure."

at him with a

Memory can change a lot, that's

around, the smile disappeared from

going to save your lives, though. All of you are just

that, he left the two Sleepers behind, climbed over the barricade,

The lack of Memories was a

citadel. The Bright Castle was enormous in size and had countless twisting corridors. Some were comparatively easy to navigate, while some followed no apparent logic. There were tall towers connected by aerial bridges

in their hearts prowling these corridors, as well as much more terrifying things. Disturbing sounds sometimes echoed through the stone

or the Hunters. Following in their wake, he stumbled on

was somewhere under the main keep of the Castle, moving through a dark corridor with careful steps. It was then then that he heard the sounds of a struggle coming

'...Ugh, what a bother.'

for a bit, he made the turn and witnessed a scene that was typical in the ancient

human was trying to kill

Guard that seemed vaguely familiar. The large man was pressing someone small and skinny to the wall, strangling them with gauntleted hands. A broken oil lantern was burning on the floor, making the shadows of the two

Guard's face had four deep scratches on it, which were oozing blood. It was contorted in an expression of rage and dark delight. The face of

woman with dark hair and brown

few moments before she lost consciousness, though, a hand appeared from the darkness and slid a strange transparent dagger across the Guard's throat. Hot blood shot into the air, and he fell to the ground with a

drew in a hoarse breath, rubbing her bruised neck. A few moments later, she looked up and cautiously studied her

young man with a youthful face and dark, strangely magnetic eyes. Currently, he was wiping his dagger on the sleeve of his armor and staring

human being. There was neither disgust and fear nor delight and triumph on his face,

the face of a

her, the young man

"Uh… you're Aiko, right?"

that she wasn't seriously wounded. He knew her a bit from his days in the Castle. Back then, she had been one of the few people who were able to

establishment popular among the members of