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,

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

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

shivered, only now realizing that this whole region of the Dream Realm was now almost completely empty of life. Only a few Nightmare Creatures must have survived… those who were lucky

they grew more powerful. Not that Sunny knew anything about this matters — but if anything could cause something like that, then the evisceration of an entire region of the Dream Realm would certainly

its corrupting influence was gone, turning the artificial

couldn't be that easy,

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

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

was no vessel to channel soul essence into its furnace

spoke, her voice

happened to

through the chasm in the chamber's

below, he could see the vast balcony and the shimmering ring of the Gateway on it. Somehow, its shine seemed… weaker. The balcony, however, was empty. There were no humans

"Everyone has escaped."

sighed slowly, as if with relief. After a long

"What about Caster?"

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

"...I killed him."

remained silent for a long time. Then, she whispered,

"So that's why…"

bitter laugh escaped from her

against her face, as if overwhelmed by some deep, dark emotion. After a few seconds, her muffled voice

shouldn't have killed him,

Sunny snarled.

"Yeah? Why, exactly?"

hands and put them on her knees. Her

you checked your

looked at her with a

There's a new one there. Soul

into the distance

"Yeah. Same for me."

asked, his voice

what it

and then turned her head

not

He shrugged.

preoccupied. Why?

at the walls of the chamber.

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

much quieter voice, she