Shadow Slave

Sunny stared at the severed arm of an unknown deity, then at the harrowing, profane rot spreading from it. Then, he tiredly rubbed his face.

'...Why can't anything ever be easy?'

He was sure that his fate was somehow connected to that arm, which meant that he was going to have to get to it somehow. But Sunny was also sure that there weren't enough rewards in all of the universe to make him go anywhere near that rot, let alone touch something infected by it.

He had the feeling that this thing was way, way out of his league.

In fact, he suspected that a divine being had ruthlessly severed their own arm because even someone as powerful as that had no means to resist that spreading corruption.

What was Sunny supposed to do, then?

Well…

Trying to remain as far from the rot as possible, he studied it for a while before coming to a strange conclusion… or rather, a strange question.

If the corruption was so terrible, then why had it not spread through the entire tower? Why had it only managed to crawl a few meters out of the silver brazier, turning a small portion of the second level of the pagoda into its flesh?

'Scratch that. Why didn't the whole island become one giant chunk of rotten black... whatever the hell that thing is?'

The answer was not hard to guess. It was because the rot, just like everything else inside the tower, had been sealed away from time for thousands of years.

And now that Sunny had broken that seal…

His frown deepened as he glanced at the silver hearth that was overgrown and had become a part of the spreading rot.

only two possibilities. Time was going to catch up to the devouring corruption, and it was either going to slowly consume everything… or starve and

on except for cold stone?

I am going to find

of harrowing rot, Sunny tried to suppress

like the rot was spreading. At least

no tool at his disposal that would save him. If that thing began to grow, slowly spreading across the whole of the Obsidian Tower, and then across the whole island, Sunny was

doubted that he would be able to find a second secret island out there in

the pagoda

that the rot would swiftly wither and

against the cold obsidian, Sunny dismissed Saint and skirted around the outer wall of the great hall until he reached the staircase that led higher, to the third level. There, he summoned the taciturn demon again, hesitated for a bit, and then left one of his shadows to keep an

the thought of turning his back to the silver brazier, Sunny

entire body was covered in a cold sweat. Raising a trembling hand, Sunny wiped his face,

by his side gave him a little confidence, at least. The Shadow seemed absolutely unperturbed by the horrific visage they had left

bet fear can't even fit into that stone head of hers. Do Shadows have the ability

could feel fear, but the gloomy shadow certainly could. In fact, behind its haughty exterior, it was rather cowardly. He was sure

thoughts, Sunny entered the third level of the Obsidian Tower… and froze, dumbfounded by

Wait, no. What the hell

three halls he had explored — mostly because the

in that chamber in particular, dozens of porcelains arms floated in the air, each at a different level of being

the pile of broken dolls in the basement of the

walked closer. He felt as though he was in

their limbs showed how intricate the design was, and how many moving parts went into making each one as functional and articulated as that of a human. The joints, in particular, seemed like a marvel of engineering… not to mention the incredibly delicate weave of the diamond string

could not boast of

apart?

it… why would he need to study his abandoned