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 the

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 that these were the remains

to madly attack anyone who approached the ruins… all

really hated him in particular,

it into dust. That caused the damnable specter to let out another chilling shriek and

precisely what Sunny

hours of practice with Effie and Saint, reacted almost on its own. Shifting his weight to his right foot, Sunny burst with motion and threw his hand up. The polished shaft of the Cruel Sight slid between his fingers, suddenly extending forward to its full length. He only caught it near the

like the Midnight Shard could effectively

could burn even

flames, the creature continued its attack. Since it was impossible to recover from performing such a strike quickly, Sunny would have been in trouble… luckily, the Cruel Sight was a very special weapon. Its shaft started shortening at the same

face to face with the hateful apparition, gripping the hilt of a short sword. Without wasting any time, he pulled it

creature's eyes, and before her ghostly claw could reach

like that, the

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."

slain a

caught the sword, weighted it in her hand, and then assumed

[Your shadow grows stronger...]

Sunny gritted his teeth.

this is

resounded once more, echoing

shadow is overflowing with

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

is

all! Why does

floor, tears streaming from his eyes. The fingers of his armored gauntlet left deep grooves in the stone. The pain he was experiencing was not

"Argh!"