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.

wrong. Its light was

white, full of merciless heat and radiance. It looked as though someone had erased reality itself, leaving behind nothing but an endless white void. With each

'The sun…'

soul attack was not

It was sunlight itself.

the sun was now directly above them, at high noon, there was almost nowhere where it couldn't

no escape from

Except for…

Crimson Spire. Behind them, welcoming darkness promised

'The army!'

around, he peered

they were stumbling and swaying, as though drunk. Many had already fallen to the ground, blood streaming from their

souls had been destroyed, and they were

Army were staring at them in bewilderment, their distant figures full of both relief and confusion. Sunny wanted to scream, warning them of the terrible danger they were in, but knew that he was too far

of coral he was standing on, he could see the graceful shining figure in

the

'Think, think!'

few seconds, and

silver bell spread across the

away on the battlefield, Nephis spun

Come

Bell again and waved his hand

need. Changing Star had already moved, thrusting her sword toward the Spire. In the next moment, the Dreamer Army lunged forward. Sleepers were running with all the speed they could muster, following the

what is

Instead, she turned

the distant pillar of coral that they had left at the start of this

realized that she

could

'Good luck…'

on the ground and ran toward the darkness of the Spire's doorway without looking

Sunny could reach it, he saw something falling down

'What the…'

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

alive, if barely conscious. A graceful rapier was worriedly

been high up in the sky when the soul erasure had begun, much

by the collar and dragged him toward