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

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

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

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

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

influence was gone, turning the artificial sun back to its

be

the floor of the chamber and plunged down. Suddenly, the light of the sun grew a little

as it had just a few minutes

vessel to channel soul essence into

his thoughts, Nephis suddenly spoke, her voice

happened to the

shifted and looked down through the chasm in the

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 the

"Everyone has escaped."

with relief. After a long pause, she

"What about Caster?"

When he spoke, his voice was cold

"...I killed him."

a long time. Then,

"So that's why…"

bitter laugh escaped from

if overwhelmed by some deep, dark

have

Sunny snarled.

"Yeah? Why, exactly?"

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

you checked your

and looked at her with a

There's a new one there.

stared into the distance

"Yeah. Same for me."

raised his eyebrow and asked, his voice calm

what it

and

you not figured it

He shrugged.

a bit preoccupied.

the walls of the chamber. Finally, she

the artificial sun. However… it can't function without

then, in a much quieter