Shadow Slave

Summoning the Covetous Coffer, he commanded the toothy box to climb inside the… bigger, toothier box and open its lid. Then, he started whistling a lighthearted melody while throwing the heavy coins inside.

'One, two, three, four… ah, what a day to be alive… five, six…'

One after another, the miraculous golden discs disappeared into the Coffer. After a while, Sunny shifted his weight slightly, got more comfortable, and continued gathering his spoils.

In the end, he had recovered almost fourteen hundred coins from inside the dead devil. Just as Sunny had expected, the entire top layer of the treasure pile had turned out to be real.

That was an incredible, astonishing boon! Suddenly, everything that had happened seemed worth it…

Almost.

Glancing at the lightless void around him, Sunny sighed.

'Who knows if I will even be able to return to the Sanctuary? Without the altar, these coins are just dead weight.'

Somewhat disheartened, he lingered for a few moments, then turned his gaze back to the opened treasure chest.

The top layer of the treasure pile that he had successfully plundered was indeed real, but beneath it…

Sunny struggled to keep the contents of his stomach inside. Beneath the treasure, the limbs and organs of the Mimic were tightly packed together, taking up most of the chest's volume. The whole thing was soaked in black blood and producing a sickening stench, not to mention looking like a butcher's nightmare.

'Disgusting… so disgusting…'

Thinking about how repulsive the sight in front of him was, Sunny used the Moonlight Shard to cut through the terrible sludge and fished out four large soul shards with a wide smile on his face. After cleaning them up a little, he placed the alluring crystals inside the Covetous Coffer and dismissed the Memory with a feeling of great satisfaction.

After that, Sunny stared inside the treasure chest with a dubious expression on his face.

The thing was… he only had around three days worth of provisions left, stored neatly inside the Covetous Coffer. If he rationed his food, it would probably last him for about a week. After that…

Sunny scratched the back of his head, then shuddered and closed the lid of the chest with a loud thud.

'...I'll think about it when the time comes. But, hopefully, it never does!'

With that, he climbed back onto the dead devil and rested for a while, looking into the darkness.

As time slowly passed, Sunny grew more and more solemn. Finally, he came to a frightening realization.

…He had nothing else left to do.

***

"This is going to be a problem."

— Sunny was

course, what else would

to summon the sunlight the somber spear had absorbed and project it into the darkness of the Sky Below. Thanks to that light, the shapes of his two shadows could be clearly seen, one resting on the surface of the chest to

shook his head, then

dying of boredom here. I have never been this bored. How are we going to survive

raised a fist encouragingly.

"You got this!"

grimly, then simply

"Just give up already…"

a couple of times, then

a vacation. Yeah. When was the last time I could just relax and do nothing? That's right… never! If you think about it, guys, this is a godsend opportunity. An opportunity to

remained silent for

have no choice but to do nothing. Lucky

glanced at him, then covered its face with

a bit before giving him a timid

Sunny frowned.

so done with being crazy. Been there, done that, as they say. There

didn't answer,

I even speaking to you two? It's not like you even have enough decency to pull

Cruel Sight, letting the darkness shroud

a while, Sunny said

it's not like I don't have better alternatives

put the Ordinary

***

how long his shadow essence usually took to fully recover

boredom that was the worst, it

or disappeared, or was there at

And falling.

been worried that he would encounter evil, colossal, inconceivably horrifying creatures in the abyss. That was what one would expect from an abyss, right? But there

almost hoped to

going insane in isolation, but never expected to be in such

and that, remembering his experiences and trying to learn

wondered about the Mirror Beast and the Cruel Sight. Why was the silver spear even called that?

Cruel Sight because its polished blade showed a person their own

wondered about the shipwreck, the coins, the Mimic, and the person called Noctis. How were all

the ancient ship, the master of the Mimic, and the person whose face was

why they could only be used

about what Kai, Effie,

He wondered about Nephis.

become a devil. Sunny stared at the counter that showed [2/4000] with a deadpan expression, then sighed and

had studied all of his Memories and