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."

gone mad, and the curse of the all-consuming darkness had escaped the prison created for it by the

the castle was suddenly consumed by fire, with rivers of blood flowing down

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

had died on his white

spear and the desperate archer were Effie and Kai, who

crimson spire. 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 bleed, I suddenly felt

locks were the heads of the giant statues, who

part of the prophecy… it wasn't that hard to

to be taken from Cassie,

It was their fate.

rage that what little remained of my

was the last

Sunny sighed

a happy ending. That there will be only sorrow, pain, and rage. Do you remember what

on the day Neph had asked him to

suspicion that they would inevitably end up as enemies had

the word that had given him hope,

despite that hope, Sunny had been preparing for this moment for a

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

a night alone there, steeling himself for the inevitable future.

Star's offer to heal him. How could he allow her to endure

all of her secret plans, remaining comfortable in his role as a hired mercenary. An outsider. He had known that, no

fate was a terrifying enemy to fight against. He knew