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."

him with a complicated expression.

good Memory can change a lot, that's

around, the smile disappeared from

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

the two Sleepers behind,

were right. The lack of

in size and had countless twisting corridors. Some were comparatively easy to navigate, while some followed no apparent logic.

much more terrifying things. Disturbing sounds sometimes echoed through

of times, he decided to hide to avoid being noticed by the patrols of the Guards or the Hunters. Following in

corridor with careful steps. It was then then that he

'...Ugh, what a bother.'

witnessed a scene that was

human was trying to

pressing someone small and skinny to the wall, strangling

It was contorted in an expression of rage and dark delight. The

was a petite young woman with dark hair and brown eyes, which were

a few moments before she lost consciousness, though, a hand appeared from the darkness and slid a strange transparent dagger across the Guard's throat.

her bruised neck. A few moments later, she looked up

man with a youthful face and dark, strangely magnetic eyes. Currently, he was wiping his dagger

at all like someone who had just killed another human being. There was neither disgust and fear

the face of a

her, the young

"Uh… you're Aiko, right?"

days in the Castle. Back then, she had

owned the only gambling den in the Dark City, which automatically made her establishment popular among the members of the Host. But it was also the reason why