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…

his eyes widened, Nephis

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 fuel the evolution of

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 the Dreamer Army the command to

Realm was now almost completely empty of life. Only a few Nightmare Creatures must have survived… those who were lucky enough to hide from the deadly sunlight

souls would indeed be enough to push the Crimson Terror to the next step of its evolution… devolution? Whatever it was that happened to Nightmare Creatures as they grew more powerful. Not that Sunny knew anything about this matters — but if anything could cause something like that,

influence was gone, turning the artificial sun back

couldn't be that

again. Another slab of stone broke off from the floor of the chamber and plunged down. Suddenly,

as bright as it had just a few minutes ago. It was as though it was

There was no vessel to channel soul essence into its furnace

thoughts, Nephis suddenly spoke, her

to the

down through the chasm

Somehow, its shine seemed… weaker. The balcony, however, was empty. There were no humans there, and even the coral golems lay unmoving,

"Everyone has escaped."

After a long pause, she moved

"What about Caster?"

at her and shrugged. When he spoke, his voice was

"...I killed him."

time.

"So that's why…"

bitter laugh escaped

as if overwhelmed by some

have killed him,

Sunny snarled.

"Yeah? Why, exactly?"

slowly lowered her hands and put them on her knees. Her face

you checked

at her with a

a new one there. Soul

into

"Yeah. Same for me."

eyebrow and asked, his

idea what

and then turned

not figured

He shrugged.

a bit preoccupied. Why? What

looked at the walls of

soul essence and funnel it into the artificial sun. However… it can't function without one small, but crucial gear. A

in a much quieter