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.

the tiny cracks in her prison, 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

immune to her power. Neither mundane humans nor Awakened... not even Saints. Those who were closed and those who

own hope? What was the Demon

Well, that was easy…

wanted to be

Sunny wanted to be

other. And from the looks of it, her curse was working all too well. Solvane was seeking out death,

One in the North… Sunny didn't know about the last Chain Lord, but from the little bits of what the sorcerer had said, she was not in her right mind,

of the time running in reverse that he had witnessed at the very start of the Nightmare. The Ivory Tower had descended from the sky, and the burned wasteland around it had turned into a beautiful

ground, and Hope's prison would then break off

the Crushing would

dire feeling grasped

'Oh, no…'

came to a harrowing realization. His eyes

the Nightmare. They had to either help this mad sorcerer

five of them were pitted

groan escaped from his

to the Spell always being fair? How

his mind. Those words Aidre had said before accepting Solvane's challenge… the gratitude she expressed… had Solvane really eradicated the blessed of Heart

what would happen if one of the Chain Lords was killed, and doomed all of the remaining immortals, including herself, to a fate worse than death — to a slow and inevitable descent into

had indeed been the bravest of them

on how one

didn't really

a somber thought, which came out

thing that he