Shadow Slave

Sunny swayed a little, and then looked down at his shadow.

The shadow seemed to be in pain. It was slumped, clutching at its chest with one hand and waving at him with the other. When it noticed that Sunny was staring at it, it desperately pointed to itself.

'What… what is this guy trying to say?'

Was he having a heart attack? No, of course not. That would be ridiculous. Shadows didn't have hearts…

What was it pointing at, then?

Sunny scowled.

The shadow was his reflection. So maybe it was not pointing at its own heart, but at his.

But his heart felt fine. What else was there to point at?

Suddenly, his eyes widened.

The Soul Core. The Soul Core usually overlapped over a human's heart…

With a shudder, Sunny dove into the Soul Sea.

Instead of the usual peace and quiet, he was met by ominous chaos. The dark waters that were always tranquil and still were now restless and turbulent. They rippled and surged, as though under the assault of the invisible winds.

Up above, the spheres of light that represented his Memories shimmered and blinked, as if about to be extinguished. The black sun of the Shadow Core was trembling. He could almost see tiny cracks appear on its transparent surface.

Only the silent shadows were still the same, not disturbed by the approaching disaster at all. They stood motionlessly, staring at him with no expression on their black, lifeless faces.

Sunny did not pay them any attention and stared at the Shadow Core with wide eyes, dumbfounded.

'...Soul damage. I am receiving soul damage.'

He was under the effect of a continuous soul attack.

Escaping the unquiet sea in panic, Sunny wiped the blood off his face and looked around with a grim expression. He was even paler than usual.

'What the hell is attacking me?'

After a few moments, he suddenly shivered, stunned by a chilling revelation. And then looked up, at the blinding disсus of the sun.

light was indeed much brighter than

as though someone had erased reality itself, leaving behind nothing

'The sun…'

source of the soul attack was not a

It was sunlight itself.

destroyed. And since the sun was now directly above

no escape

Except for…

at the opened gates of the Crimson Spire. Behind them, welcoming darkness promised shade and safety. This was the only place where he could

'The army!'

around, he peered

on the battlefield, the Nightmare Creatures had stopped their endless onslaught. Now, they were stumbling and swaying, as though drunk. Many had already fallen

souls had been destroyed, and they

were staring at them in bewilderment, their distant figures full of both relief and confusion. Sunny wanted to scream, warning

standing on, he could see the graceful shining figure in their midst. He knew that Nephis must have figured out what was

she didn't know that the gates of the Spire were

'Think, think!'

for a few seconds,

a silver bell spread across the Labyrinth, rolling over the remains

battlefield, Nephis spun and looked

on! Come

and waved

moment, the Dreamer Army

Wait… what is

Instead, she turned around and ran in the opposite

of coral that they had left at

realized that she was

could do to

'Good luck…'

ground and ran toward

it, he saw something falling down from the

'What the…'

to a stop, then remained still. Sunny dashed toward it,

alive, if barely conscious. A graceful rapier was worriedly zipping in the air around him, the

them must have been high up in the sky when the soul erasure had begun, much closer to its source, and so suffered more than

time, Sunny grabbed Kai by the collar and dragged him toward the opened gates of the