Shadow Slave

[Soul Conduit].

The Attribute had no description, nor was its acquisition announced by the Spell. Staring at the runes for a few more seconds, Sunny cast one last glance at the white void of his Soul Sea and left it.

He had no answers for this mysterious sequence of events, but his intuition was ringing the alarm bell.

He was almost sure that the strange and painful process that began after he had absorbed the last shadow fragment was somehow interrupted. The white light permeating the Soul Sea felt unnatural and wrong, like something external to it rather than natural. The mysterious new Attribute was most likely connected to this external influence instead of to the saturation of the Shadow Core.

In fact, [Soul Conduit] was most likely the manifestation of the radiant force that was currently suppressing the core. In that sense, this Attribute was more akin to the mind hex of the Soul Devourer than to the Blood Weave. It wasn't something that Sunny had achieved or acquired. It was forced upon him, for reasons yet unknown.

Gritting his teeth, Sunny shifted and changed his grip on the handle of the Moonlight Shard. Then, he summoned the Ordinary Rock and immediately dismissed it. Finally, he ordered the shadow to wrap itself around his body, then shift to the ghostly stiletto and back.

...At least the new Attribute did not seem to be directly harmful. Sunny was still in control of his body and mind, as well as having full access to his Memories and Shadow Control. All it seemed to be affecting was the Shadow Core itself, preventing it from… from achieving whatever it was that had failed to happen.

At least for now. But how long would that safety last?

Raising his head, Sunny stared at the pinnacle of the Crimson Spire. Something unexplainable had transpired there, causing this strange turn of events.

Why was he trying to guess if all the answers were most likely waiting for him up above?

To his side, a massive slab of stone had lodged itself between stumps of broken coral roots. More debris piled on top of it at steep angles, forming a twisting path to the distant sunlight.

Pushing himself off the wall of the tower, Sunny glided forward and landed on the inclined stone surface. Then, he lingered for a few moments and began climbing up.

whole tower was filled with nothing but stark beams of light and deep, dark shadows.

approached the broken dome of the Crimson

hidden in the darkness, both its floor and roof now shattered, letting in the brightness

into the hall.

the lair of the

***

was once a vast and beautiful chamber. It seemed as though it had a large circular opening in

overgrown by crimson coral. And now

that had happened during Changing Star's battle against the Terror, the floor of the chamber partially collapsed, bringing the coral down with it. The ceiling was damaged too,

Spire's roof, Sunny could see the boundless white skies and the burning orb of the artificial

for a moment, he then lowered his gaze and looked at the chamber

he saw was Nephis, who was sitting on

as terrifying as on that terrible night when a dweller of the depths had pulled her

Armir was practically destroyed, revealing gruesome burns and cuts on her ivory

though on the verge of being extinguished. They were also failing to mend her mangled flesh. Neph's wounds appeared to be

furious power that had always burned deep within her soul seemed

her gaze, Sunny shuddered when he saw the

looked as a human once, but

the nameless goddess, whose statue was created in the likeness of the girl that had been made into the vessel of the

creature whose body was made out of a perverse fusion of crimson coral and mutilated human flesh. In a sense, it was similar to the crimson golems he

of a human face, the Terror had hundreds of them, all contorted in expressions of blind agony and suffering.

was alive, they must have shone with blinding, annihilating

was, unmistakably,