Shadow Slave

Sunny stood naked on the rocky surface of the dark island. He grimaced and looked at his body, which was a map of burns — some more severe than others — then summoned the Puppeteer's Shroud.

Not wishing for the soft fabric to touch the worst of his wounds, he left it the way it had been during the latter stages of his journey through the Sky Below, with the leather elements gone and the upper garment undone and tied around his waist.

This time, his body was wrapped in shadows and appeared black, as if cut from the same obsidian that the dark island consisted of. The coils of the Soul Serpent seemed to shimmer as the essence flowed through them.

A moment later, Saint stepped from behind him and moved forward, summoning the Midnight Shard as she walked. Knowing how badly his soul was damaged, Sunny decided to keep the Broken Oath locked away for a while, so the Shadow was not surrounded by the destructive aura anymore.

He was also not in any shape to fight himself, at least not very effectively, and that was why the austere tachi was currently in the hands of the taciturn demon. If push came to shove, Sunny would either use the Moonlight Shard or command the Soul Serpent to assume the odachi form.

With a heavy sigh, he summoned the Endless Spring and greedily drank the cold water from it, then leaned forward and poured some on his head. After that, he finally felt like a human once again.

…All in all, things weren't that bad. He was alive and in one piece, suffering from neither thirst nor hunger.

Here on the dark island, the air was pleasantly warm. Bright stars burned in the empty void high above, making for a beautiful view. Right in front of them, the graceful silhouette of the Obsidian Tower rose from the ground like a black rift in reality.

It turned out to be much larger than Sunny had thought, but nowhere near the scale of the Crimson Spire. That cursed thing seemed to be too gargantuan to even exist, while the ancient pagoda was more or less fit to have been built for humans. Well… maybe for extremely tall humans. Or... tiny giants?

As Sunny studied the Obsidian Tower, Saint tilted her head and stared at the black pagoda, too, her ruby eyes reflecting some strange emotion. Was it… recognition?

Why would his Shadow recognize a tower hidden in the depths of the abyss below the Chained Islands?

'Strange…'

Sunny frowned, then dismissed the Endless Spring. He remained motionless for a few moments, then slowly headed toward the tall pagoda. Saint followed.

As they walked across the island, Sunny had time to look at the various ruins left on its surface.

It was hard to determine what they had been once, but Sunny got the feeling that he wasn't looking at the remains of buildings. More like… structures? Devices? Their purpose was now impossible to determine, but whatever it had been, he doubted that anyone could have ever lived inside.

the underground factory his mom had worked in when he was little. Even though the factory was much larger and

what was the purpose of this island? Who lived

graceful beauty. Even though the pagoda was hidden in the depths of the

have been breathtaking if it wasn't

and silence, the Obsidian

not… not scared

was thinking about one

replica, and which one was

white pagoda that flowed high above the Chained Isles, or the menacing black one that hid in the

was going to find

sound came from inside, announcing that something that

was that Sunny could not feel any shadows on the other side of the massive door. Not because there weren't any,

shiver ran down his

encountered anything like this before.

hesitated, then approached the black door, summoned the Moonlight Shard, and scratched its surface. A layer of black dust fell down, revealing a much harder,

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

'...Soot?'

stood motionlessly for a bit, trying to understand what meaning was there

the gate didn't have a handle to open. Neither

I supposed to

to simply appear inside. So, for the moment, Sunny

only to find out that

embarrassed, he looked

"Any ideas?"

the taciturn demon, but to his surprise,

raised one hand and pointed to her

all of that in complete bewilderment, then blinked a couple of