Shadow Slave

Suddenly, Noctis seemed… different.

He was still beaten, mangled, and covered in blood, but the sorcerer's presence subtly changed. If before it was faint and weakening, now, it became brimming with power, potency, and free-flowing energy.

Vast, furious… unrestrained.

And suffused with madness.

Despite the fact that Noctis was on his knees and crippled, he suddenly seemed terrifying. The morbid grin on his torn and disfigured face seemed more menacing than pitiful now. His one remaining eye glistened, reflecting the distant light of the crimson moon.

It was as though something that had been suppressing the sorcerer's true power all this time finally set him free.

Noctis inhaled deeply, and at the same, Solvane suddenly swayed. The hand she had used to crush his ribcage was still pressed against her body, blood streaming down on the red tunic.

Her beautiful eyes widened.

And then…

Something moved under her skin, making the War Maiden let out a pained scream.

She staggered back and looked at the kneeling sorcerer with a pale face.

"What… what have you done to me?"

Noctis smiled. His voice sounded hoarse and full of unfathomable emotion when he spoke:

"What else? I have fulfilled your most ardent wish, Solvane. I… have defeated you."

She stared at him in shock, then suddenly shuddered and let out another tortured scream. As drops of blood flew out of her mouth, the beautiful Transcendent stumbled and fell to her knees. Her sublime face was deathly pale and contorted by a grimace of terrible pain.

that, their roles

moment, and then looked at the patch of shadows where Sunny was hiding, his mind

can come out,

'What the hell...'

for a few seconds, then assumed his corporeal form and glanced at Solvane, his eyes

and starting to make sense. The magical circle in the sorcerer's residence, the river of blood that Noctis had fed to the soil below, the cracks on the stone floor, the tremors that had been

had awoken Sunny on his last night

stared at the sorcerer,

however, was still in the dark. As the ghastly movement under her skin grew

is… this… thing? My… my

Noctis smiled.

noticed? Yes, there is no point in trying to summon your Abilities. My little pet is a bit hungry for soul essence, you see. I've been starving it for a few hundred years, after

started to heal at an incredible pace. As Sunny watched, the bloody hole in the sorcerer's chest closed, his shattered ribs

formed in his empty eye socket, slowly turning into a

a step forward, leaned forward,

pet of mine is a very special creature… it is a vine that feeds on powerful souls. The profane seed that eventually birthed it was created when the ashes of the Heart Grove mixed with Aidre's blood. You remember

with boundless rage and

then glanced at the

had created Wormvine, a Corrupted Monster capable of devouring Saints, from the ashes of the Sacred Grove and Aidre's blood. He had kept it in the ground beneath his residence for hundreds of years, nurturing the abomination by feeding it his essence and

both the bait and the trap for the person who had desecrated the Grove and killed its Lady. All this time, the sorcerer was restrained by having to suppress the creature and prevent it from devouring him from the inside. And when the monster finally found a new host... he was

pale smile appeared on Sunny's

and ruthless

learn a thing or two from

War Maiden looked at Noctis for a few moments, then bent in a violent convulsion, letting out a terrible shriek. The skin on her face broke, and a thin, worm-like vine appeared from beneath it,

then let

this time… I am defeated…

and then