Shadow Slave

Slowly walking away from the edge of the chasm, Sunny stopped opposite Nephis and looked at her.

In his dark eyes, there was nothing but coldness.

"Well… it's not like we didn't know for a long time that this would be how things end. Did we?"

She stared at him for a while, then smiled bitterly.

"...We did."

Indeed, they knew.

From that terrible day when Sunny had first understood the meaning behind Cassie's vision, he suspected that one day, in order to survive, he would have to kill Nephis.

This was the truth he had chosen to hide from, even if it meant losing his mind. The final and most unbearable reason for why he had spent months alone in the Dark City, hunting monsters and slowly turning into one of them.

How does one come to terms with the knowledge that, one day, they will have to kill the person they care for the most?

…Knowledge, indeed, was the heaviest thing in the world.

Back at the beginning of it all, far away from the Dark City, before they had even known that the Crimson Spire existed, Cassie had shared with them a terrible vision.

She said:

"At first, I saw a… a boundless darkness locked behind seven seals. Something vast was churning in the darkness. I felt like if I directly saw it, I would lose my mind. As I watched, terrified, the seals broke one after another, until only one remained. And then that seal broke, too."

Artificial Sun had gone mad, and the curse of the all-consuming darkness had escaped the prison

again. Only this time, it was at night. There was a lonely star burning in the black skies, and under its light, the castle was suddenly consumed by fire, with rivers of blood flowing down its halls. I saw a corpse in a golden armor sitting on a throne; a woman with a bronze spear drowning in a tide of monsters; an archer trying to pierce the falling sky with

change, who had drowned the halls of the Bright Castle in blood

was Gunlaug, who had died

and Kai, who had almost perished fighting against the nightmare

At its base, seven severed heads were guarding seven locks. And at the top, a… a dying angel was being consumed by hungry shadows. When I saw the angel

the heads of the giant statues, who stared at the Star Sigil that Sunny

of the prophecy… it wasn't that hard

was going to be taken from Cassie, and Sunny was the hungry shadow that

It was their fate.

what little remained of my sanity seemed to disappear. That was when I

last

Sunny sighed and turned

warned you, didn't I? I told you that this story won't have a happy ending. That

the words he said on the day

they would inevitably end up as enemies

This was the word that had given him

Sunny had been preparing for this moment for a

had decided to incorporate Saint's methodical style into his technique, why he trained without rest, day and night, not sparing himself from the

Hunter's statue and spent a night alone there, steeling himself for the inevitable future. Forcing

this that he had refused Changing Star's offer to heal him. How could he allow her to endure the

as a hired mercenary.

a terrifying enemy to fight against. He knew it