Shadow Slave

Sunny gritted his teeth and groaned, feeling his whole body being slowly crushed by the monstrous chieftain of the Barrow Wraiths. One of his arms was pressed against his body, and the other one was, too… but just barely.

If only he could free it…

But no matter how hard he tried, the tyrant's hold was just too strong.

…Back in the gymnasium, the terrifying beast was lunging at the defenseless children. Its maw was wide open, the red shine of the ghostly flames burning in its eyes reflecting from the jagged, sharp fangs.

It was flying directly at Rain, moments away from closing its jaw on her throat.

She felt paralyzed by fear, desperately wishing to run, but unable to move.

Was this how she was going to die? No, no… it couldn't be!

But it was...

Suddenly, a spark of a strange, dark emotion ignited in Rain's heart.

'Die? No… not like this… I refuse!'

She was holding a sword, was she not?

Even if that thing was going to devour her, Rain was determined to die fighting, just like she had been taught to. She was going to remain human, not a cowering animal only good enough to be the stronger beast's prey.

She owed that much to her parents, at least.

Knowing full well that her dull training sword was not going to stop a Nightmare Creature, Rain stubbornly made a motion to raise it. Even though her mind was panicked and her thoughts scattered, the body remembered countless hours of practice…

Not that it was going to do her any good.

see every harrowing detail of its hideous

'Unfair! This is unfair…'

her mind, as it had undoubtedly appeared in

then, something strange

in the darkness to the side of the

a dark blade of a strange, stonelike sword flashed out of the shadows and easily

appeared and swatted the headless body away from Rain, not allowing even a drop

she froze in shock, a graceful woman wearing menacing black armor stepped out of the darkness,

never seen someone

turned around to easily pierce another hound with her stonelike sword, then sever one more in half with a swift, vicious

she just killed three Nightmare

she also killed them in the span of a second, with a

'Who… who is she?'

she heard

"Who are you?"

children and the advancing monsters, her back straight and solid

feeling as if nothing was going to get past this frightening,

burning desire suddenly

menacing black knight was a human, a spirit, or a strange Nightmare Creature. But she knew one

I want to be

***

closer and closer to the three burning red eyes, and as he did, it felt as if life itself was being sucked out of him, his mind balancing

'What… the hell…'

that he could do… some trick he could employ to wrestle free. A Memory he could summon, an enchantment he

no matter how hard he tried,

was slowly starting to grow

I… I need

turned the Mantle of the Underworld too heavy for the tyrant to lift, but it was already as heavy as the [Feather of Truth] allowed, weighing as much

was almost ready to panic, and then… a subtle change suddenly happened