Shadow Slave

Looking at the colossus, Sunny understood why Kai had called him terrifying. Sun Prince stood at nearly ninety meters tall, towering above the island like a mountain of steel. He was cast in the shape of a noble warrior wearing light armor. The surface of the armor was polished and shone blindingly in the sun, while the rest of the giant was dull and grey.

The colossal statues of the seven heroes of the Forgotten Shore, including the walking one Sunny and the cohort had ridden once, were more than twice as tall, but it was hard not to get shocked by the sheer mass and crushing presence of the Transcendent Chain Lord… or rather, of the steel shell he was entombed within.

A sickening feeling of fear grasped Sunny's heart, which he then strangled and banished, looking at the towering Lord with a grim expression.

He had a reason to feel fear, however.

A half-forgotten image of a nightmarish scene flashed before his eyes — a fragment of a nightmare where he stood petrified on a blood-soaked battlefield, watching in horror as a giant steel sole descended from above to turn him, and his fellow soldiers, into puddles of crushed bones and bloody sludge.

And another, a memory of endless, harrowing torture that he had endured at the hands of his brother, of a human-shaped cage and a pit filled with molten metal.

And finally, the last one — the vision of a giant steel corpse swinging forlornly in torn chains, upside down, its chest shattered by some devastating strike.

…So, this was Sun Prince.

Sunny had never met him, and yet, it felt as though they were old acquaintances. For better or worse...

As the giant stared at the flying ship with a motionless face of a statue, Sunny turned to Noctis and scowled.

"...Now what?"

The sorcerer sighed, then moved one of the oars, sending the vessel into a descent. His carefree smile was starting to look a little forced.

"Now, well… we go and talk to him, I guess? Have a civilized discussion..."

Sunny turned back and looked at Sun Prince for a bit, then said somberly:

you who erased his memory of hiding the Ivory Knife, causing him to experience a hundred years of torture, and then end up in this state? And that you actually

causing the ship to careen sideways,

louder,

Sunny froze.

"Oh… sorry…"

righter the vessel, then said

how was I supposed to know what will

paused, and then added in a darker

really knows anything, anymore. He is still alive, somewhere inside, but I don't think he is fully…

stopping just outside the first ring of pillars, and hovered in place. Noctis lingered for a few moments, and then let go of the

straightened his garments, and

he has to

There was a high chance that they were going to

into the Sky Below. Sunny and Cassie had only survived that terrifying clash by promptly running away, and

today? And was Noctis strong enough to

plan. His madness was of an insidious kind, after all. He would not have risked his

of them disembarked the flying ship, landed on the soil of the Iron Hand Island, and walked between the tall pillars. They approached

they did, Sun Prince finally moved, walking toward them with a measured gait. With each of his steps, the island trembled, causing the heavenly chains

situation. All his Shadows were yet to recover, and so, he was left with nothing but his own

own strength, and

do against

and stopped outside the outward circle, looking at them from high above.

expression, he

feel like

also craning her neck to stare at the colossus, glanced at him,

ant, Sunny. You are a

couple of