Shadow Slave

Everyone seemed stunned into a grave silence by these words... even Noctis, who must have heard and seen a lot during his long life. Frozen, Sunny stared at Cassie, his lightless pupils narrowing into two vertical slits. Everyone… was dead?

Everyone?

Had Mordret... slaughtered an entire region? Thousands of people, or even tens of thousands? Mundane humans, Awakened, Ascended… even the Transcendent Lady of the North herself?

Suddenly, a cold shiver ran down his spine.

Sunny knew, of course, that the Prince of Nothing — the owner of the friendly voice he had heard once, in the darkness of a bottomless abyss — was formidable, and would have grown more formidable still after being sent into the body of a Terror. He also knew that Mordret was not completely of sound mind, and that the influence of Hope would have only exacerbated that subtle fissure.

But a slaughter on such scale… he had never even thought that Mordret would be capable of committing something like that… and why? What goal was the banished prince pursuing? He was never cruel without a cold and calculated reason… or at least he had not been, in the past. Every monstrous act that Mordret had perpetrated before was full of perverse, but deliberate practicality.

How could something like that be practical? Even forming a seventh core would not have demanded a hecatomb of that magnitude...

Sunny really did not know how to feel. On one hand, the news of a Chain Lord's demise was beneficial for his plans… in that sense, the Prince of Nothing had already accomplished more to conquer the Nightmare than the four of them combined. But on the other hand, Sunny just couldn't help but feel uneasy about it… about Mordret.

What was the son of Valor planning?

His thoughts were interrupted by Noctis, who let out a deep sigh.

"Everyone is dead… ah, I barely remember the last time something like that happened. But when I was young, at the dawn of the Age of Heroes, things like that were rather common… you wouldn't remember, I guess. That is what happens when human champions grow unfit for their duty."

He looked away with a dark expression, and then added in a grim tone:

quite a while now… if the Lords can even be called champions, still. Come to think of it, I am surprised that this had not

shrugged and turned to Cassie, seemingly

the north is dead… that makes you the

woman lingered for a moment, then

Noctis pursed his lips.

For what it is worth, you are welcomed to stay here, in my Sanctuary. This is a place for those who are lost, lonesome, and have

if losing any interest in the

indeed

looked at her with a slight frown

Oh… then tell me! I am sure I'll

woman placed a hand on the hilt of her rapier, and then said, her voice

looking for my friends. I wonder if you

a couple of times, then glanced at Sunny, Kai, and Effie with a strange expression on his face. Finally, he answered in a

Gladly. But... uh... do you, perhaps… not know how your friends look, where they are, and what they are called? If so, finding

for a few moments, and

know? I am looking for a four-armed demon, a cripple with a grating voice, and a little girl. Their names are Sunless, Nightingale, and Raised by Wolves. They should be here in your Sanctuary, my lord, or

Noctis smiled radiantly.

Not knowing something like that would be very strange! Gods, finally, someone normal... a four-armed

off, and then he slowly

to speak again, however, there was a sound of little feet pattering on soft grass,

"Cassie! You're alive!"

could perceive several seconds into the future and had to have known that Effie was going to tackle her, a bewildered expression still appeared on her

I am. I am happy to see you