Shadow Slave

Sunny looked around the destroyed theater, then found an intact seat and sat down. Relaxing on the soft velvet cushions, he crossed his legs and looked at the broken stage with a complicated expression.

The shards of glass and empty stimulant packs attracted his attention for a moment. Sunny had expected the stimulants to be of the pleasure-inducing variety, but to his surprise, they were more or less the same as the ones he had used to stay awake for an entire week after returning from the Forgotten Shore.

A slight frown appeared on his.

'Don't tell me… was this guy afraid of going to the Dream Realm?'

…Kurt might have been even more broken than he had suspected. From how Master Jet had described her former acquaintance, the man had once been a dedicated combatant, a specialist... but what kind of a specialist was scared of his specialty?

With a sign, Sunny stared into the distance and summoned the runes.

And there it was, written in the ancient symbols in the air in front of him:

Echo: [Shadow Blade Kurt].

Echo Type: Beast.

…All humans were considered to be Beasts by the Spell, since they only had one soul core, so this was not surprising.

Well, all humans except for Sunny and Nephis.

As the thought of becoming a Demon drifted into his mind, Sunny read further.

Echo Rank: Awakened.

Echo Attributes: [Swift Hand], [Shadow Sworn], [Mark of Death].

[Swift Hand] Attribute Description: "Your blade strikes fast and true."

[Shadow Sworn] Attribute Description: "You are known to shadows."

[Mark of Death] Attribute Description: "You bear a mark of Death, as just like Death, you were created to be a weapon."

Sunny tilted his head a little.

So, an Attribute that increased perception and agility, an Attribute that gifted Kurt affinity to shadows — although to a much lesser extent than his own — and a third Attribute that… actually, Sunny had no idea what the third Attribute did.

Its description, though, was very interesting. He knew that death had been created by Shadow God, and now, he learned that it had been created as a weapon… but against whom? What kind of enemy could have demanded the creation of such a terrible thing?

Someone immortal, perhaps… no, that didn't make sense. If there had been a time before death was invented, then everything back then was immortal, eternal, and endless… right?

Sunny wasn't sure that he understood the concept of a world without death. What he did know, though, was that something as harrowing as death would not have been invented without a reason.

turned his attention back to the

Manipulation], [Shadow

affect the movement of shadows and

Strike] Ability Description: "You can strike at the shadows, and your shadow can

'...As expected.'

were much less versatile and powerful than what he was capable of himself, though, even if the ability

no more than a slightly different

Shadow like Kurt could add a

also the last

"This Echo has the innate abilities of a carrier

to have. Even Saint

looked at the last string of

entrusted you with a beautiful blade,

blinked a couple of

Oh my, am I imagining things, or

funny thought that

the chair and waited for a bit,

'Let's take a look…'

of Shadow Blade Kurt standing among them motionlessly. Sparing him a glance, Sunny approached the spot between the black suns of his Shadow Cores,

to the surface of still waters and slowly dimmed, revealing a gaunt, naked man standing

his skin

looked almost like a person, but the lifeless emptiness in his eyes screamed of a profound, abhorrent wrongness. It was

Echo was very much like the Hollow victims of its original, only even more vacant and devoid of the undefinable spark that all

A ghastly effigy.

thing was

then tried to think about

Echo was more or less useless to him in its current state, but thanks to its [Awakened] Ability, it would possess the innate capacity to use Memories… which meant that Sunny could

did

creature equal

frowned, then raised a hand and poked the ghastly creature in

of runes

Echo into

He froze, thinking.

had its benefits. But having any Shadow also demanded a tremendous investment of resources. Nurturing Saint was very hard on Sunny, and especially on his pocket. Less importantly, but still somewhat pressing, was the need to spend a hundred shadow fragments to

core, and the idea of being suddenly pushed back by a

point was, he felt reluctant to turn just any Echo into a

was Kurt a worthy

would happen if one of the silent shadows was placed into a human Echo, the answer was…

wasn't sure that he