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 brighter than it had been

as though someone had erased reality itself, leaving behind nothing but an endless white void. With each second, it was

'The sun…'

of the soul attack was not

It was sunlight itself.

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

no escape

Except for…

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

'The army!'

around, he peered across

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

had been destroyed,

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

graceful shining figure in their midst. He knew that Nephis must have figured out

didn't know that the gates of the Spire

'Think, think!'

a few seconds, and then raised

moment later, a clear ringing of a silver bell spread

the battlefield, Nephis spun and

Come on,

Silver Bell again and

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 command of

Wait… what

her soldiers. Instead, she turned

they had left at

he realized

there was nothing he could do

'Good luck…'

ground and ran

reach it, he saw something falling

'What the…'

and rolled several times before coming to a stop, then remained still. Sunny dashed toward it,

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

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

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