Shadow Slave

Blood Weave was slowly devouring the toxin, but Sunny still felt weak and feverish. Dismissing Saint, he walked around the cargo hold, getting used to the feel of the Undying Chain and looking around to see if there was something interesting laying around.

Like another chest full of Noctis coins, for example.

Sadly, he didn't find anything. Even if the cargo hold had once stored ancient curios and treasures, everything was destroyed by the vines and the brown moss over thousands of years.

However, he was pleasantly surprised to realize that the lusterless steel armor was not constricting his movements at all. It was really like a second layer of skin… perhaps if Sunny wasn't augmented by the shadow, the Undying Chain would have been cumbersome. But he was, and on top of that, there were almost two thousand shadow fragments stored in his two cores.

Even if an Awakened wasn't supposed to be able to wear the Transcendent armor effortlessly, Sunny had no such problem.

'Sweet…'

Finally, he limped over to the pile of dust that remained of Solvane and knelt beside it, then reached inside the ashes and retrieved the wooden knife.

Of course, Sunny had not forgotten about it.

To his disappointment, though, what he was holding in his hand was just the handle. The blade had splintered and broken off, and the wood seemed lifeless and dead.

It was already starting to rot, and even when Sunny looked beneath the surface of the strange knife, he didn't see anything… no spellweave, no brilliant radiance of a sea of soul essence, and no String of Fate folding endlessly on itself in a perfect circle.

The wooden knife was truly and utterly broken.

Almost as if it was created for a singular purpose, and had no reason to exist after fulfilling it.

Sunny looked at the knife with a thoughtful frown.

'Interesting…'

Was the wooden knife created specifically to bring death to the immortal Solvane? If so, were the obsidian knife in the Sanctuary of Noctis and the ivory knife in the Night Temple meant to end the lives of two other immortals?

Suddenly, he shivered.

of Fate, folded on itself and

into the wooden knife before it was destroyed,

of understanding appeared in his

Sunny felt that he would. He also suspected that the String of Fate would not have been just

it would have been Solvane's

torn out of the tapestry of Fate and tied in an endless circle…

so the shackles were

have done such a terrifying

answer was rather obvious. The Lord of Light, Sun God, who had destroyed Hope's kingdom and imprisoned her in the Ivory Tower, certainly could. After all, he was not only the deity of flame and light, but

the remains of the wooden knife that were rotting and turning to dust in his hand, Sunny couldn't help but

was holding a weapon created

he had used that weapon to kill an immortal

of the Dream Realm, he suddenly felt really glad that

***

the Wormvine and climbed onto the ancient ship's hull. Hissing from pain, Sunny staggered a little, then limped toward where the wreck

on its side, the wooden surface beneath his feet was inclined down and uneven. Almost inevitably, he lost his balance and rolled the last stretch

"...Ouch."

sighed and picked himself off the ground. Standing up, he studied the desolate valley, and then headed to where he had seen the

was changed. The ground was overturned and scarred by deep trenches, looking like a battlefield of an ancient war. Some of the trenches were empty, some were filled with massive stems

his weight, Sunny limped forward and

appeared on his

what would you know… they

be all there. Granted, they looked incredibly

faces, others lay on the ground, with only the movement of their chests betraying that they were alive. Only the steadfast

of the bonfires and stopped, leaning on

of a young woman with pale blond hair for

"...Sunny?"

Shakti, the Artisan girl, who was resting on the ground a few steps away from

young woman looked more or less like a corpse. Her armor was almost destroyed, revealing deep lacerations on her tanned skin, and her face was dirty and pale from blood loss. What's worse, her right arm was torn away, ending in a bloodied