Shadow Slave

Before the wrathful specter had time to appear, Sunny attacked first.

Stepping through the shadows, he passed through the stone wall in front of him and entered a vast ruined hall. It was illuminated by the pale rays of moonlight that fell through the broken roof, but also full of deep darkness.

That darkness was cut by the bright radiance emanated by the incandescent blade of the Cruel Sight.

Jumping other a pile of rubble, Sunny brought his spear down on the howling wraith and then spun, sending an unexpected thrust in the direction where any enemy would have retreated.

Sadly, the apparition was suddenly somewhere else.

'Curses!'

The wraiths moved through space as if they were suspended between two worlds, as well as between the ground and the night sky. Their feet, if they had any, never touched the stone floor, and as such, Sunny couldn't observe their footwork to judge their next move.

What's worse, sometimes they simply disappeared and then appeared some distance away, as if phasing between different states of existence.

…It was a bit like fighting Sunny himself, when he used Shadow Step to zip around the battlefield.

'So annoying…'

Dashing forward, he barely avoided the ghostly claws and rolled over his shoulder on the floor. The steel of the Undying Chain scraped against the shattered stones, producing a dull sound.

Considering how narrow the slits of the featureless mask that served as the visor of his helmet were, Sunny had a surprisingly wide and unobstructed field of view, almost as if he wasn't wearing any at all. Jumping back to his feet, he was finally able to take a good look at the hall he had entered.

'Ah, so that's where she was coming from.'

It was the central chamber of the ruin, where, as he suspected, a fierce confrontation had taken place in the ancient past. The stone slabs of the floor were cracked and misshapen, the pattern of destruction suggesting that something had detonated with tremendous force in the center of the hall once.

The pillars supporting the roof were long toppled, and the walls themselves had mostly collapsed. In the center of the room lay the remains of something resembling a massive stone chalice, now broken and almost unrecognizable.

there were human bones littering

entirely, and some were still whole. A few even wore the rotten remains of red silken garments that strongly resembled those of the deadly specters. Sunny had no doubt

no idea how they had died, why their souls had turned into vengeful specters instead of dissipating into the void, and what drove them to madly attack anyone who approached the ruins… all he knew was that the

just really hated him in particular, for

armored boot on one of the skulls, crushing it into dust. That caused the damnable specter to let out another chilling shriek and lunge at him with murderous fury, as if she had lost all reason… if the creature had any reason, that is, to begin

what Sunny

and Saint, reacted almost on its own. Shifting his weight to his right foot, Sunny burst with motion and threw his

reach of this strike was truly incredible, compared to how far a tachi like the Midnight Shard could effectively cut. The incandescent blade caught the wraith in the chest, sending tongues of white

burn

would have been in trouble… luckily, the Cruel Sight was a very special weapon. Its shaft started shortening at the same speed as the wraith was

hilt of a short sword. Without wasting any time, he pulled it upward, slicing through the incorporeal body of the

suddenly tore through the darkness of the creature's eyes, and before her

that, the wraith was

her figure shimmered and started to disappear, Sunny let out a shaky breath, then summoned Saint from the shadows and threw the Cruel Sight

"Guard me."

have slain a Fallen Demon,

in her

[Your shadow grows stronger...]

Sunny gritted his teeth.

this is

more, echoing in the darkness of the ruined

shadow is overflowing

to his knees, feeling as though his very soul was on fire, as though something was

is taking

damn it all! Why does it have to

floor, tears streaming from his eyes. The fingers of his armored gauntlet left deep grooves in the stone.

"Argh!"