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.

Its light was indeed much brighter than it

It looked as

'The sun…'

attack

It was sunlight itself.

eroded and destroyed. And since the sun was now directly above them, at high noon, there was

was no escape

Except for…

the opened gates of the Crimson Spire. Behind them, welcoming darkness promised shade and safety. This

'The army!'

peered

their endless onslaught. Now, they were stumbling and swaying, as though drunk. Many had already fallen to the ground, blood

destroyed,

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

shining figure in their midst. He knew that Nephis must have figured out what was going

the gates

'Think, think!'

for a few seconds, and then raised

later, a clear ringing of a silver bell spread across the Labyrinth, rolling over the remains of

away on the battlefield, Nephis spun and looked

Come on,

and

moved, thrusting her sword toward the Spire. In the next moment, the Dreamer Army lunged

Wait… what is she

herself did not follow her soldiers. Instead, she turned around and ran in

coral that they had left at the start of

heart skipped a bit when he realized that she was going back for

he could

'Good luck…'

the mound, he rolled on the ground and ran toward the darkness of the Spire's

Sunny could reach it, he

'What the…'

times before coming to a stop, then remained still. Sunny dashed toward it, quickly recognizing the bright

his relief, the charming young man was still alive, if barely conscious. A graceful rapier was worriedly zipping in the air around

the soul erasure had begun, much closer to its source,

dragged him