Shadow Slave

Sunny stood at the peak of a tall coral mound, observing the battle that raged below. There was a slight frown on his face, but his eyes were calm.

The Dreamer Army was besieged from two sides. One horde of abominations was slowly devouring its front line, while another had descended on them from above, stalled for now by the vast net of sharp iron wires.

…It was like a scene from a fever nightmare.

Every second, humans were dying, torn apart by the claws and fangs of the harrowing horde of monsters. Their cries and screams fused with the roaring wails of the Nightmare Creatures into a deafening wave of dissonant noise. That wave washed over the crimson coral, sending a chill running down his spine.

Turning away from the bloodsoaked visage of the battlefield, Sunny glanced at Nephis.

Changing Star was sitting on the ground. Her face was calm, and her eyes were closed. On her forehead, the gem of the Dawn Shard burned with furious white light, feeding hundreds upon hundreds of Memories with raw power. She appeared to be in the depths of profound meditation, seemingly not affected by the horrible decimation that was happening below them at all.

Cassie was standing beside her, looking at the ground. Her hand rested on the hilt of the Quiet Dancer. The other two Echoes of the blind girl had been with the first line of the army during the initial charge; by now, they were already destroyed.

Sunny wanted to say something, but then thought better of it. The time for conversations was over.

Instead, he faced the Crimson Spire. His gaze lingered on it for a few moments, then slid back to the terrible sight of the slaughter. Straining his eyes, Sunny tried to distinguish the figures of Effie and Kai in the chaotic formation of the Dreamer Army.

'Don't die just yet, fools…'

***

Down below, surrounded by those warriors of the first line that still stubbornly clung to life, Effie had long forgotten about anything else but bloodshed and strife. The scope of the world had narrowed to the suffocating confines of the furious battle, consuming both the past and the future.

The was only the present, and the present consisted of nothing but violence and death.

…And killing, of course.

apart. Her tall, lean body had turned into a lethal battle machine, moving with ferocious speed and devastating power, deadly precision and murderous will. Both Zenith and Dusk behaved like natural extensions of her limbs, alternating between attack and defense to reap one profane life after

armor had been pierced several times, but she paid it no attention. It didn't matter. All that mattered was to kill as many Nightmare Creatures as possible, to obliterate as many of the hateful monsters as she could. Their corpses piled up, carpeting the crimson coral with an uninterrupted bleeding mass of broken flesh. After a while, Effie had to start watching

of growing smaller. It was as though the

fact, Effie was enjoying

was so

to skewer another one on her spear. With no time to

the fearsome huntress as an anchor in the sea of death. They were still holding, still breathing. Two other islands of resistance had formed around Gemma and Caster, who were also in the throes of the

whirlwind of ghostly steel, eviscerating any creature that dared to approach him. His movements were so fast that his enemies' blood could not even fall to the ground. As the result, Caster

abomination after another into the embrace of death. Whatever wounds appeared on Gemma's body were soon gone, not even leaving a trace. Numerous fearsome creatures had been slain by his hand, unable

One after another, they fell, leaving less and warriors to hold back the gluttonous

entered her mind,

That damn shield

She was growing tired.

***

had lost count of the number of monsters he killed. Because of the constant cycle of losing blood and magically getting it back, he felt slightly lightheaded. Luckily, he had yet to miss a shot… maybe?…

the people below. It was as though they were now fighting in the rain. A red,

No matter where he looked,

sick

bow once again, aimed between two dead creatures above him,

have slain an

running

running

were still circling high above,

why aren't