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."

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

of blood flowing down its halls. I saw a corpse in a golden armor sitting on a

the black skies was Nephis, the herald of ruinous change, who had drowned the halls of the Bright Castle in blood to become its ruler, and then watched as it burned to

who had died on his white throne, killed by her

archer were Effie and Kai, who had almost perished fighting against the nightmare horde during

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

who

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

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

It was their fate.

little remained of my sanity

the last

Nephis, Sunny

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

day Neph had asked

up as enemies had already grown, becoming almost a

that had given him hope, no matter how small. Hope that he was

preparing for

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

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

him. How could he allow her to endure the terrible pain of the white flames, knowing that

tried to learn all of her secret plans, remaining comfortable in his role as a hired mercenary. An outsider. He had known that, no matter what, they would

terrifying enemy to fight