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.

the devouring corruption, and it was either going to slowly consume

years with nothing to feed on except for cold stone? Did it need to feed on flesh

I am going to find

harrowing rot, Sunny tried to suppress his fear

seem like the rot was

If that thing began to grow, slowly spreading across the whole of the Obsidian Tower, and then across the whole island, Sunny was simply going to die. Probably jump down into nothingness to avoid becoming a part

Sky Below, after all. And he doubted that he

something inside the pagoda to save him.

there was a possibility that the rot would swiftly wither and die. Not that Sunny would

great hall until he reached the staircase that led higher, to the third

irrational panic at the thought of turning his back to the silver brazier, Sunny gritted his teeth, and then cautiously ascended

realized that his entire body was covered in a cold sweat. Raising a trembling hand, Sunny wiped his face, and then continued

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

into that stone head of hers. Do Shadows have the ability

In fact, behind its haughty exterior, it was rather cowardly. He was sure that the bastard would have been trembling all over

to distract himself with these thoughts, Sunny entered the third level of the Obsidian Tower… and froze, dumbfounded by what he saw

no. What the hell am

three halls he had explored — mostly because the pagoda narrowed the higher it went, but

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

pile of broken dolls in the basement of the Obsidian Tower and then brought

then walked closer. He felt as

the porcelain dolls were much more complex than he had thought. In their disassembled state, 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

boast of that level of ingenuity

why were these arms brought here and taken apart? Who had done

like it… why would he