Shadow Slave

Sunny was at a loss for words.

Had he even heard it right?

"You are going to… repair… the ancient, broken, monster-infected ship?"

Well… it made a lot of sense, actually.

Cassie nodded.

"Yes. We are going to cleanse, repair, and make it fly again."

Oh, so it was a flying ship, too!

'Perfect!'

Honestly, Sunny shouldn't have been surprised. All the clues had been there for a long time.

He had already known that the ship depicted on the miraculous coins was, most likely, the very same that lay broken on the Shipwreck Island. The connection was pretty easy to make, considering that they looked alike, and that the coins had come from its treasury in the first place.

Sunny had also asked himself the question of what a sailing ship was doing in the middle of Chained Isles, which had no sea and no rivers for it to sail on. The thought that it had actually been designed to fly through the skies had crossed his mind, among other things.

And finally, on the coins, the ancient ship was shown as having a beautiful tree wrapped around its mast. It had also belonged to the enigmatic person called Noctis. Wasn't it too much of a coincidence, then, that Cassie had come to the Sanctuary of Noctis and ventured on a long expedition to a Desecrated Grove?

The word "desecrated" implied that the burned grove had been sacred once. After all, only sacred things could be desecrated. And a sacred tree sounded exactly like something capable of making a massive ship fly.

…Right?

Sunny stared at the large wooden box with a ponderous expression. After a while, he asked:

"So what's in the box?"

Cassie walked over and gently put a hand on its lid.

we found the only one that remained. The wondrous

and then turned to

back in the Bright Castle. Shakti is gifted with an Aspect that helps plants thrive, and was Kido's apprentice. Kaor is an Awakened carpenter. We have more people on the way to the Chained

remained silent for

had been planning to commandeer the ancient wreck for a long time. From before he had come to invite her to challenge the Second Nightmare with him… was it a coincidence? They

much did she

his thoughts, Cassie turned to him.

we might be able to cross the Hollow Mountains. At least… at least that is our

Fire Keepers grew quiet. After a while, the familiar girl — Shakti — said

try, no matter what. Going there on foot is suicide. Maybe flying will be

resolute in their desire to find Nephis, it

what about Sunny

Well… things were complicated.

He sighed.

repair it. But how are we going to defeat its current tenant without using fire? No offense, guys, but I really don't think that you can handle that fight. Maybe you can hold

each other again. Finally, their mood turned

few moments, and then

Use someone

Sunny rubbed his face.

guess… I

smiled, then shook

the blade that will pierce the creature's heart from

and sort of grand, but she immediately ruined the moment by

mean… uh… if it has a heart. If it doesn't, then…

the icon

Sunny frowned.

made sense. He already knew that he could survive in the poisonous miasma inside the ship, and that with enough augmentations, the Cruel Sight

divine flame. Yes, Sunny couldn't burn the ship itself, but that didn't mean that he couldn't

keep the monster preoccupied long enough for Sunny to achieve

them gravely, and

are you all so sure that I can kill that

of the Fire Keepers