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.

was indeed much

had always been grey, were now almost white, full of merciless heat and radiance. It looked as though someone had erased reality itself, leaving behind

'The sun…'

source of the soul attack was not

It was sunlight itself.

living creatures were being slowly eroded and destroyed. And since the sun was now directly above them, at

was no escape

Except for…

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

'The army!'

around, he peered

the battlefield, the Nightmare Creatures had stopped their endless onslaught. Now, they were stumbling

souls had been destroyed,

of both relief and confusion. Sunny wanted to scream, warning them of the terrible

standing on, he could see the graceful shining figure in their midst.

the gates of the Spire were

'Think, think!'

lingered for a few seconds, and then

ringing of a silver bell spread across the

away on the battlefield, Nephis spun and

Come

again and waved his hand

moved, thrusting her sword toward the Spire. In the next moment, the Dreamer Army lunged forward. Sleepers were running

what

did not follow her soldiers. Instead, she turned around

distant pillar of coral that they had left at the

when he realized that she was going back for

could do to

'Good luck…'

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

he

'What the…'

ragged human figure slammed into the crimson coral and rolled several times before coming to a stop, then remained still. Sunny dashed toward it, quickly recognizing

was worriedly zipping in the air around him, the steel of its blade bleak and

have been high up in the sky when the soul erasure had

Kai by the collar and dragged him toward the opened gates of the