Shadow Slave

In a heavily guarded underground room, a young woman with silver hair was sleeping in a transparent machine that kept her body alive. Her face was pale and thin, painted by the ghostly glow of machine lights and deep, angular shadows.

The room was peaceful and silent, the hum of machinery creating low background noise. From time to time, a piece of medical equipment produced a sound and grew quiet again.

A blind girl with piercing blue eyes stood quietly near the sleeping pod, an empty expression written in the delicate lines of her beautiful face. If it wasn't for the fact that her hand rested on the hilt of an elegant rapier, a person would easily mistake her for one of the Hollows that were cared for on another level of the hospital complex.

The door of the room did not open, however, there was suddenly another presence inside. A young man with pale skin and dark, cruel eyes appeared out of the shadows and walked over to stand on the opposite side of the sleeping pod. His steps were soft and quiet.

He lingered for a while, then looked down, at the young woman sleeping beneath the glass lid of the mechanical coffin.

For a second, his face became contorted by a terrible grimace. Grief, anger, fear, and longing mixed in his eyes, then disappeared, hidden behind a mask of cold indifference.

Sunny stared at Nephis for a long time, trying to get his emotions under control. He knew that seeing her like this, weak and helpless, would affect him. But he didn't know just how much it was going hurt him.

…He also had not anticipated how dark the thoughts entering his mind would be.

'...I can kill her right now. One strike of the Moonlight Shard, and I'll be free again.'

But no, he couldn't.

Firstly, because there was no guarantee that Nephis would die if her body was destroyed. Just like there were Hollows, people whose souls had been destroyed while leaving an empty body behind, there were Lost — people whose bodies in the real world had died, leaving their souls wandering the Dream Realm.

He suspected that this was the reason why the people who wanted Changing Star dead had sent Caster to kill her in the Dream Realm instead of infiltrating the Academy.

And secondly, and maybe more importantly… he simply could not bring himself to harm Nephis. Not again, not anymore, and not… not like this.

'Cassie, on the other hand…'

With a dark grimace, Sunny slowly moved his gaze to the blind girl.

As if noticing it, she turned slightly and said:

"Hello, Sunny."

He stared at her, his eyes burning with fury.

"What, you can see now?"

Cassie lingered for a moment, then shook her head.

"No. But… something like that."

A wild grin appeared on his face.

You won't

were going to hurt her, and

and distant. But he wasn't fooled. He knew her well enough to recognize

You

mouth, wishing to accuse her, but then forced himself to stop.

his angry words, Sunny gritted his teeth

How did you

for a

you killed that spy from the Castle. You said it out loud then. I saw it… in a vision. After that,

His eyes widened.

a long time, trying to deal with the shock that

when I killed

a shudder through his soul. He remembered it so vividly… the blood streaming down his hands as

in a

Light! I am…

in the underground room of the hospital complex, Sunny wanted to

this was what did me in… one mistake, I only made one mistake, and it was

Well… he had never gotten a grave, really. Sunny just dumped his body in the ruins, for the

it did him,

burning look, he

me back then, why you gave me the Eternal Spring? You were… you were ready to say goodbye.

faced him, then said in a

"Yes. I did."

looked down, clenching his

knew... if you knew… then why didn't you try to

face, and with a voice so hurt that it almost sounded as if she was bleeding,

saw change! But no matter how much I tried, it never did. It always remained

and remained silent

vision of the Crimson Spire meant. Shadows devouring a

for a moment, then spoke again, her voice

promise to always protect her. And what did you

at her, remembering. Yes, at the very start,

"...No. I said no."

appeared on

You said no. And on that day, I knew that I had to make a choice.

hugged herself, as

And I did. I chose to sacrifice you to save Neph. Of course, I fooled myself for a while, telling myself that nothing bad would happen. That if I help Neph, maybe

small, bitter laugh

changed. I sacrificed you, but couldn't save anyone. Despite

her for a while,