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."

her vision described the day when the Vessel of the Artificial Sun had gone mad, and the curse of the all-consuming darkness had escaped the prison created for

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

skies was Nephis, the herald of ruinous change, who had drowned the halls of the Bright Castle in blood to become its ruler,

the golden armor was Gunlaug, who had died on his white throne, killed by her

a bronze spear and the desperate archer were Effie and Kai, who had almost perished fighting against the nightmare horde during the siege of

being consumed by hungry shadows. When I saw the angel bleed, I suddenly

locks were the heads of the giant statues, who stared at the Star Sigil that Sunny had used to

part of the prophecy… it wasn't

thing that was going to be taken from Cassie, and Sunny was

It was their fate.

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

last thing Cassie had

at Nephis, Sunny

happy ending. That there will be only sorrow, pain,

the words he said on the day Neph had

then, his suspicion that they would inevitably end up as enemies had already grown, becoming almost a

the word that had given him hope, no matter how small. Hope that

Sunny had been preparing for this moment for

was because he had known that he would have to face Nephis in combat that he had decided to incorporate Saint's methodical style into his technique, why he trained without rest, day and night, not sparing himself from the pain and hardship. If his only skill was one that she herself had taught him, what chance did

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

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

remaining comfortable in his role as a hired mercenary. An outsider. He

to fight against. He knew