Shadow Slave

Sunny stared at the wooden knife, suffocating pain still radiating from the spot where Solvane had hit him. The Transcendent was so fast that he had not even seen or sensed her strike… not that it mattered anymore.

As he studied the familiar blade, different pieces of knowledge suddenly clicked together, revealing a chilling truth. Stunned by the grim revelation, Sunny shuddered.

'Of course…'

Finally, the purpose of the Red Colosseum made sense to him. The cruelty of the Trials, the perverse faith of the zealous warriors, their worship of struggle, battle, and death… the tale of a wooden blade that granted the champion a chance to win their freedom.

When he looked back, it all seemed so obvious.

The strange cult of War that had blossomed on the ruins of the Kingdom of Hope was built around the tenet of glory. Glory was both the highest virtue and the highest of honors, and it could only be won by prevailing against overwhelming odds, through mortal struggle — which was the essence of life, and war, as far as these zealots were concerned.

So, they enslaved a horde of abominations and threw themselves against it, fighting to the death against their slaves in the arena. With each battle, the weak were slaughtered, and the strong got to live and fight against more powerful enemies the next day. All under the beaming gazes of the jubilant crowd.

Those who died perished in the pursuit of glory, and those who lived came closer and closer to earning it… that was the sacrificial ritual the followers of War performed every decade or so, spilling blood in the name of their glorious dream.

…However, there was one problem with this demented arrangement. A glaring flaw that made the Trials of the Red Colosseum seem futile, hollow, and senseless.

the end of all

in the battle destined to die? Would there be no victor? What happened to the person, or creature, left standing at the very end, devoid of enemies to struggle against? Where

that contained Solvane's death, freely offered to them by the immortal Transcendent herself, Sunny

would indeed be gifted a wooden blade, and a chance to fight for their freedom — just like Elyas had learned from the fairy tales in the Ivory City. They

against

murderous glory she had built — existed for one single purpose. To find, or rather create, a warrior

was born out of the thousand years of immortality the beautiful priestess had endured, out of the desire to be free of her eternal duty

War. Or rather, she simply could not allow herself to give up. Giving up without struggle was a

Transcendent could only allow herself to die if she was

was Solvane's most ardent hope.

that his reasoning and insight were correct... but at the same time,

there was no time

to save their lives. All

But he wasn't fooled.

a death… Solvane's death… and would be able to slay her with one strike. At this point,

taking it was only going to

a thousand years of battle experience, an ancient warrior who had fought and triumphed in battles too many to count. And despite her desire to be defeated, she would not throw this fight. Giving in without struggling

against her