Shadow Slave

Sunny remained silent for as long as he could, until, finally, the Flaw forced him to give an answer.

He looked grimly at Noctis, and then said — or rather, thought — hoarsely:

"...Maybe he just wanted to see you suffer."

Noctis laughed brightly, then nodded.

"Oh, indeed! Maybe you are right. Gods can be very cruel, sometimes. After all, they are much more ancient and vast than kindness and compassion. Or, maybe, it is not really our lives that keep the Demon bound, but instead our will and desire to keep her imprisoned. Or maybe it is a test of our conviction… that is what the Sun Lord believes, at least. Or maybe… maybe he actually hoped that we would free her. Who knows?"

He smiled, then sighed, and finally added:

"...If mortals like us could know the will of gods, then we'd be gods instead."

After that, a somber silence settled over the deck of the flying ship.

Sunny stared at the delicious food in front of him, realizing that he had lost all his appetite.

Hope… the Demon of Desire…

How terrifying she was.

Slowly, several things that had seemed random and meaningless fell into place.

The jubilant crowd in the bloodsoaked Red Colosseum, the perverse conviction of beautiful Solvane, the harrowing torture of the Sun Prince, the madness that burned in the eyes of the black steed… all of it was the result of her harrowing power.

and drove a whole realm utterly insane, turning it into a ghastly, hideous, demented hell. Every aspiration, every desire, every dream, every hope were twisted, set aflame, and turned into a weapon. An insidious, invisible

Saints. Those who were closed and those who

own hope? What was the Demon of Desire

Well, that was easy…

to

like Sunny wanted to be

would destroy each other. And from the looks of it, her curse was working all too well. Solvane was seeking out death, the two Transcendents of the Ivory City

about the last Chain Lord, but from the little bits of what the sorcerer had said, she was not in her right mind,

reverse that he had witnessed at the very start of the Nightmare. The Ivory Tower

to the ground, and

then, the Crushing would be

dire feeling grasped his two

'Oh, no…'

realization. His eyes widened, and he glanced at Noctis

the conflict they — he, Cassie, Effie, Kai, and Mordret — had to resolve to conquer the Nightmare. They had to either help this mad sorcerer free the terrifying Demon,

them were pitted against the

barely audible groan escaped from his

what happened to the Spell always being fair? How the hell can

challenge… the gratitude she expressed… had Solvane really eradicated the blessed of Heart God to

a fate worse than death — to a slow and inevitable descent into madness, followed by eventual destruction? All in order to

so, she had indeed been the bravest of

on how one looked at

that didn't

channeled a somber thought, which came out in

that he