Shadow Slave

He hesitated for a few moments, not sure how to answer. As seconds passed by, the silence between them grew tense, full of untold meaning.

Finally, Nephis blinked and looked away, staring at the corpse of the Crimson Terror. Her sword hand trembling slightly.

"...Killed it? Yes… I did. Got lucky, I guess…"

After a while, she added in a quiet voice:

"It was just a fake star, in the end."

Sunny smiled slightly, but his eyes remained cold.

"Lucky… I know a thing or two about being lucky, Neph. A creature like this would not have died just because of bad luck."

She remained silent for a bit, then sighed and looked down.

"It was evolving… trying to become a titan. The burden of transformation made it vulnerable. I just happened to attack while the Terror was at its weakest. That's why it died…"

'Evolving… into a titan?'

Noticing a surprised expression on his face, Changing Star grimaced and pointed to the artificial sun.

"Have you not thought about what we have done?"

Sunny looked up, at the radiant sphere of light, and frowned.

In all the chaos, he had indeed forgotten to consider the full scale of what had transpired after the battle, as well as the reasons for and consequences of it.

Come to think of it… why would the light of the artificial sun destroy the souls of every living creature it touched? It had not been like this before the fall of the ancient civilization, for many generations, at least.

But then, the Vessel had become corrupted and turned into a Nightmare Creature. The Terror. And at the same time, the seals imprisoning the curse of the all-consuming darkness had been destroyed, letting it free.

…So, in fact, the corrupted sun had never existed without the dark sea keeping it company.

Until today.

Sunny had always thought that the sun was restraining the dark sea. Could it be… that it had always been restrained by the darkness, as well?

And when he banished the ancient curse and locked it underground… the sun was finally liberated from its shackles. That's why its light suddenly changed, turning into the annihilating white radiance.

It had become free to do whatever it wanted.

But there was something else…

eyes widened,

does not just illuminate the vicinity of the Crimson Spire. It illuminates the whole of the Forgotten Shore. Its light reaches everywhere. So… as we were fighting our way through the tower… most of the living creatures on the Forgotten Shore had been wiped out. All that death, all those countless souls… guided into the Spire by the Labyrinth, like a colossal hecatomb, to

terrifying transformation. Well… that wasn't a coincidence, most likely. Sunny had not forgotten the thoughtful look on her face as Neph had peered out of the gates of the Spire before giving

few Nightmare Creatures must have survived… those who

more powerful. Not that Sunny knew anything about this matters — but if anything could cause

corrupting influence was gone, turning the artificial sun back to its

couldn't be that

his thoughts, the Spire shuddered again. Another slab of stone broke off from the floor of the

that the artificial sun looked not as bright as it had just a few minutes ago. It was as though it was slowly

There was no vessel to channel soul

his thoughts, Nephis suddenly spoke, her voice hoarse

to

down through the chasm in the chamber's

shimmering ring of the Gateway on it. Somehow, its shine seemed… weaker. The balcony, however, was empty. There were

"Everyone has escaped."

with relief. After

"What about Caster?"

and shrugged. When he spoke, his voice was

"...I killed him."

remained silent for a long time. Then,

"So that's why…"

bitter laugh

as if overwhelmed by some deep, dark emotion. After

shouldn't have killed

Sunny snarled.

"Yeah? Why, exactly?"

remained motionless for a few seconds, and then slowly lowered her hands

checked your

looked at her

a new one there. Soul

Star stared into the distance

"Yeah. Same for me."

and asked, his voice

what

did not say anything for a while, and then turned her head

not figured it

He shrugged.

preoccupied. Why? What is

and looked at the walls of the

tower is a giant soul machine. It was created to collect soul essence and funnel it into the artificial sun. However… it can't function without one small, but crucial gear. A human to serve as the fulcrum of all that power, the

then, in a much quieter