Shadow Slave

Sitting on the floor of the cargo hold, with his back against the soft and spongy layer of rotting brown moss, Sunny bent down and spat a mouthful of blood. Breathing hoarsely, he stared at it for a moment, and then tiredly leaned back.

He did not feel too well.

[...Your shadow grows stronger.]

A bitter smile appeared on his face.

'What? Is that all?'

After all that had just happened, Sunny felt that he really deserved more.

This time, his hopes were not for naught.

The Spell remained silent for a bit, as though to torture him, and then added:

[You have received a Memory.]

'...Better.'

After that, he groaned and coughed some more blood.

All around Sunny, the brown moss was rotting, withering, and turning into dust. The same thing was happening to the vile mass of vines, albeit at a slower rate. Now that both the Corrupted Monster and its host were dead, the ancient wreck seemed to be cleansing itself.

He couldn't be bothered to pay attention to these changes, though, and was fully concentrated on his own miserable state.

Even though the whole battle took less than a minute, Sunny had sustained a lot of damage. His body was pierced and torn by the black thorns, and he had too much poison running through his veins. One of his ligaments seemed to be seriously torn, too, which brought him a lot of pain now that the adrenalin was starting to dissipate.

all, but Sunny had to reluctantly admit that with the caliber of enemies he was facing these days, its protective qualities left a lot to be desired. Sadly, even such a powerful Memory could not keep up with the progress of its

was one good thing about his condition, though, it was that the effects of the poison did not seem to be growing stronger. Blood Weave had the situation under control, and he was bound to feel

killing the Wormvine had turned out to be much more

were still alive… were going to have to clean up the remaining Sailor Dolls should the beasts regain their courage after the Corrupted Monster's death, but he couldn't muster enough energy to care, at

person who had once been called Solvane for a bit,

summoning the runes to take a look at his new Memory. Slowly,

that happened, numerous questions inevitably assaulted

had happened in the cargo hold of the ancient ship was

the host of the Wormvine? How had they survived for thousands of years? Why

why was it so similar to the obsidian one that lay on the altar in the Sanctuary of

considered all these questions and found no answers, one thought gradually encompassed all

Saint… I killed a

a Transcendent human, which was what Saints were really

ever considered being able to kill a Saint… at

one more soul core… but there was no comparison. Due to their Aspects and nature, Transcendent humans were much more of a force to be reckoned with than any beast or monster could ever hope to be. Only a devil of the same Rank, or maybe

yet, Sunny had

also killed a Corrupted Monster, with

Saint who had delivered the strike… but it didn't matter. The

no one is going to believe,

chuckled, then grimaced from pain, and finally

was check his fragments. The number was just

Shadow Fragments: [1958/2000].

Ranks above him gave twelve more fragments — four from the Saint,

appeared at the end of the list. He held his breath

Memory: [Undying Chain.]