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.

out a croaking laugh and slowly stood up. Just like that, their roles were reversed. The War Maiden was on her knees, and Noctis was

of shadows

come out, Sunless. It's

'What the hell...'

few seconds, then assumed his corporeal form

circle in the sorcerer's residence, the river of blood that Noctis had fed to the soil

scream that had awoken Sunny on

stared at the sorcerer, a harrowing guess appearing in his

still in the dark. As the ghastly movement under

thing?

Noctis smiled.

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

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

his empty eye socket, slowly turning into a

forward, and looked at Solvane. Then, he

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 Aidre, don't you Solvane? Well… allow me to return

with boundless rage and

then glanced at the sorcerer

Noctis 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

he took it into himself, making his body 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

smile appeared on

devious, patient… and ruthless

thing or two from

for a few moments, then bent in a violent convulsion, letting out a terrible shriek. The skin on her face broke, and a

groaned, then let out

after all this time… I am

her teeth, and then suddenly smiled through the