Shadow Slave

The battered ship fell from the dim red darkness of the sky and, illuminated by the eerie radiance of the crimson moon, crashed into the towering steel colossus. The armored beak of the ship's ram struck the giant's chest with such tremendous force that there was a blinding flash of light, and then a powerful shockwave rolled across the island, violently throwing Sunny off his feet.

The deafening roar of the impact came as he fell.

Rolling on the ground, Sunny was assaulted by the thundering clash of the blast, the rumbling groan of shattering wood, and the booming shriek of heavy metal being ripped apart.

Stunned and disoriented, he rose to his knees, then swayed a little and looked up.

What he saw made him pale.

The sorcerer's ship lay broken on the ground. The fluid lines of its graceful hull were broken and gaped with terrible breaches, wide cracks running through the ancient wood. Its bow was completely shattered, and the damage in the front part of the vessel was especially severe. The beautiful tree growing around its main mast seemed damaged and... dead.

Cassie was nowhere in sight.

At the very edge of the island, thrown back, Sun Prince knelt. The steel colossus was swaying dangerously, clutching at his face with his one remaining hand. At the spot where the ram of the ship had struck, his chest was caved in and ripped open, rivers of molten metal flowing from the terrible wound.

And in the depths of the wound, turned incandescent by the heat, a cage made in the form of a human figure was revealed.

…The cage was slightly broken, too, and a charred hand could be seen clawing at the edges. Under its fingers, the metal was bending like cloth, slowly being torn away.

Sunny shuddered, and then turned his gaze back to the wreck of the flying ship.

'Cassie… where's Cassie…'

He could not see the blind young woman anywhere in the wreckage.

However… Sunny saw someone else.

A bloodied figure suddenly fell from above, bounced off the ground, and crashed into the hull of the ship, causing more cracks to appear on its surface. Raven black hair, pale skin… it was Noctis.

did not look

was covered in blood, terrible wounds gaping open here and there. His beautiful face was broken and disfigured, the skin split open and white bone visible beneath, with

alive, though… of course,

the merciful embrace of death even if he wanted

air, and a graceful figure appeared for a split second in front of the sorcerer, her beautiful chestnut

exploded as Noctis was pushed through it by a vicious

ancient ship. His

he could not

not much

teeth, he looked around,

knocked out by the blast a little, but Effie was already on

grim

then slowly stood

"Effie… any... any ideas?"

hesitated for a moment, then flashed him

guess it's

He frowned.

"What time?"

girl glanced at the wreckage,

when, in the movies,

at her, not entirely

gaze slowly shifted to the kneeling colossus and, in a steady voice,

the Ruby one. I'll deal with the big bastard. You and Kai go and find Cassie, then help the lunatic… in that order. He's not going to

deep shadows veiling his eyes. Sunny had a lot to say… but in the

"Are you sure?"

The young girl laughed.

like I'm sure? Relax, doofus… it's just an immortal Transcendent. We better deal with that thing before it