Shadow Slave

Summoning Saint to stand side by side with him once again, Sunny glanced at the gates of the Spire, grimaced, and jumped down from the mound of coral.

'I don't like this at all…'

Out there on the island, it was quiet. Too quiet.

Even though all the Nightmare Creatures were now behind him, slowly devouring the Dreamer Army, the open space pierced by the gazes of the severed heads of stone colossus was too ominous and foreboding to not spell trouble.

But Sunny was done being afraid a long time ago.

'You fear me, instead.'

Walking forward, he passed between the giant heads and entered the empty space in front of the cyclopean gates. Feeling as though someone was staring at his back, Sunny shivered and approached the seven locks.

Halfway to the gates, he stopped, hesitated for a moment and then looked back, at stone heads.

This was the first time he saw the faces of the seven heroes.

The face of the Lord was noble and dignified, the face of the Priestess — beautiful and gentle. The Slayer was arrogant and cold, her lips twisted in a crooked grin. The Stranger wore a helmet, darkness nesting in the crack of its visor.

'...People. They were just people.'

Turning away, Sunny sighed, then shook his head in dejection.

'I won't judge you for what you have done. But I hope… I really that we will be able to do better.'

With that, he took another step forward… and froze.

Something had changed on the stretch of land between him and the gates of the Crimson Spire. A cold wind suddenly howled, throwing bits of coral into the air.

Instead, more and more of the crimson shards flew up, slowly forming into seven twisted

hand, summoning the Midnight Shard into

golems of crimson coral stood in front of him

The slender figure

of the seven heroes slowly moved, raising their weapons to point at him. Their movements were crude and inhuman, but radiated a sense of terrible, profane power. Despite their outward appearance, he felt that these creatures were desecrating

and walked toward the coral golems, the blade of his sword pointed

you really think this will

eyes gleamed, turning

then, fools, come and get

forward and

of him as though out of nowhere and put his round shield in the

Sunny's eyes widened.

'Fast…'

hammer flying toward his temple with terrible speed. Gritting his teeth, Sunny shifted and blocked

shockwave rolled through his body, he was thrown backward and slid on the red coral, then groaned and spat a mouthful

it! How are

figures approaching him with steady, inevitable malice. Each of the golems was powerful enough to rip an entire cohort of Sleepers to

hit its rim twice with the blade of her

'Whatever. Let's do this!'

***

the Dreamer Army was still furiously resisting the horde of Nightmare Creatures. By now, all of the monsters had left the coral bridge and descended

line now. All those still alive were engulfed by the bloody chaos of the slaughter, desperately trying to survive in the

the center of the terrible bloodshed, shining like a radiant sun. She fought alone, because no one else could survive the devastating pressure that the horde exerted in the zealous attempts to extinguish that light. Any human that tried to approach and help her was immediately torn to

moved like a furious deity, eviscerating one abomination after another. All around her, burning corpses littered the ground, their cursed blood boiling and evaporating into the air. Not only was her presence relieving the pressure from the rest of the Sleepers, but they

As long as her light was there to banish the darkness, how could they

the remnants of the first two lines and

the slippery surface of the crimson coral, Kai gazed at the terrible scene of the massacre below him, and then raised his face to the