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. Then,

good Memory can change a lot,

turned around, the

going to save your lives, though.

two Sleepers behind, climbed

were right. The lack

into the belly of the ancient 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

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

he decided to hide to avoid being noticed by the patrols of the Guards or the Hunters. Following in their wake, he stumbled on a

hour later, Sunny 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 from beyond the next

'...Ugh, what a bother.'

for a bit, he made the turn and witnessed a scene

trying to

this case, it was a burly 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,

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

was a petite young woman with dark hair and brown

hand appeared from the darkness and slid a strange transparent dagger

a hoarse breath, rubbing her bruised neck. A few moments later,

magnetic eyes. Currently, he was

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

was the face of a

the young

"Uh… you're Aiko, right?"

young woman over, making sure that she wasn't seriously wounded. He knew her a bit from his days in the Castle. Back then, she had been one

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 many of them harbored resentment toward