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

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

happened to attack while the Terror was in the throes of that terrifying transformation. Well… that wasn't a coincidence, most likely. Sunny had not forgotten the thoughtful look on her face as Neph had peered

Dream 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

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

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

couldn't be

slab of stone broke off from the floor of

as bright as it

no vessel to channel soul essence

Nephis suddenly spoke, her voice

to

shifted and looked down through the chasm

Gateway on it. Somehow, its shine seemed… weaker. The balcony, however, was empty. There were no humans there, and even the coral golems lay unmoving, their semblance of life snuffed out when

"Everyone has escaped."

relief. After a long pause, she moved slightly and

"What about Caster?"

her and shrugged. When he

"...I killed him."

Star remained silent for a long time.

"So that's why…"

a bitter laugh escaped from her

and pressed them against her face, as if overwhelmed by some deep, dark emotion. After a

have killed him,

Sunny snarled.

"Yeah? Why, exactly?"

few seconds, and then slowly lowered her hands and put them on her knees. Her

you checked

nodded and looked at her with

new one

into the distance

"Yeah. Same for me."

asked, his voice calm and

what

did not say anything for a while, and then

you not

He shrugged.

a bit preoccupied. Why?

at the walls of the chamber. Finally, she

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

a much quieter voice,