Shadow Slave

'...Finally.'

How long had it been since he created Saint and saw the dreadful [0/200] written in her runes? A year, no less. That was how long it had taken Sunny to gather enough Memories to saturate the dark embers that burned in the black depths of his Shadow.

…What was going to happen now?

The last time Saint had evolved, her transformation took a very long time. Was she going to retreat into the chrysalis of his Shadow Core again? Or was reaching two hundred fragments completely different from what had happened to her after the killing of the Black Knight?

A few moments later, Sunny received the answer.

Bathed in the lightlessness of his Soul Sea, Saint suddenly shuddered. The darkness hiding in her body surged, and the three embers hidden within it — one in her chest, one in her abdomen, and the last one in her head — shined with black radiance.

It was very different, but also very similar to the process he himself had gone through twice, once after the First Nightmare, and once after going through the gateway in the Crimson Spire.

'Is she… is he ascending to a new Rank?'

The thought filled Sunny with a jubilant thrill.

Meanwhile, Saint was in the throes of her transformation. The still waters around her were now restless, as though assaulted by invisible winds. Wisps of dancing black flame suddenly appeared around her body, and it rose above the surface of the water, becoming partially obscured.

Sunny took a step back and silently watched the strange and beautiful process, his heart beating wildly.

After a few minutes, it was over.

The invisible winds disappeared, and so did the black flames. The water turned tranquil and still once again. Saint landed on her feet and straightened, her graceful figure brimming with new power. The glow of her ruby eyes seemed to have become brighter.

Unlike the previous time, the taciturn demon had not changed outwardly. Her onyx armor was still composed of polished, stonelike metal. Sunny knew that beneath it, her skin was still smooth and white as alabaster.

…On the inside, though, the changes were nothing short of profound.

The darkness hiding in the body of the living statue now seemed much, much deeper, and the three embers seemed to have become substantially larger. More than that, they appeared to be… more complete, somehow. Not yet whole, but also not as broken and fragmented as they had been before.

hesitated, then

Shadow: [Marble Saint.]

string of runes,

Shadow Rank: Ascended.

He froze.

'I'll… I'll be damned!'

she had achieved a new rank… the same Rank, in fact, as that

was called a Master, while Nightmare Creatures of the same Rank were called Fallen. Saint was now somewhere in between — a creature possessing multiple cores, but following the path of ascension as

Like Sunny himself.

course, she was much more powerful than him

slightly bitter. Back when he had created Saint, she was stronger than him for a long, long time. After becoming

then looked at his demon with a wide

Who's going to stop

and

hand, made a fist, and lightly

not accustomed to his Shadow being so

"...Uh, yeah. Exactly."

a moment, and

At the very end of the plane of runes, however, he was met with an

'What?!'

last string

[Shadow Fragments: 39/200].

number for a few moments, then rubbed his eyes. No, he wasn't mistaken. It was

confused, Sunny

does

runes showed [179/200]. How many fragments exactly had

and looked

of

she consumed

in possession of a fully saturated core. By absorbing his shadow, Saint must have inherited a portion of all the soul fragments he had accumulated over his life — just like a human would after