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

had looked into the wooden knife before it was destroyed, would he have

tentative hint of understanding

also suspected that the String of Fate would not have been just a

would have been Solvane's

tapestry of Fate and tied in an endless circle… would something like that

the shackles

done such a terrifying

destroyed Hope's kingdom and imprisoned her in the Ivory

rotting and turning to dust in his hand, Sunny

then he was holding

to kill an

the first time since Sunny had learned about the divinities of the Dream Realm,

***

the breach created by the Wormvine and climbed onto the ancient ship's hull. Hissing from pain, Sunny staggered a

ship was laying on its side, the wooden surface beneath his feet was inclined down and uneven. Almost inevitably, he lost his

"...Ouch."

Standing up, he studied the desolate valley, and then headed to where

Island 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 of dead vines that protruded from the soil like rotting serpents. The air was filled with dust, ash,

to support his weight, Sunny limped forward and soon found the ring of

smile appeared on his

would you know…

to be all there. Granted, they looked incredibly exhausted, battered,

covered in blood, dirt, and soot, their armor torn. Some were sitting with tired expressions on their faces, others lay on the ground, with only the movement of their chests betraying that they were alive. Only the steadfast young man who had wielded a

between two of the bonfires

eyes darted around, lingered on the delicate figure of a young

"...Sunny?"

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

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 bandage near the