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.

roles were reversed. The War Maiden was on her knees, and

at the patch of shadows where

come out, Sunless.

'What the hell...'

then assumed his corporeal form and glanced at Solvane, his eyes burning with

the river of blood that Noctis had fed to the soil below, the cracks on the stone

Sunny on his last night in the

sorcerer, a harrowing guess

was still in the dark. As the ghastly movement under her skin grew stronger and more noticeable,

is… this… thing?

Noctis smiled.

pet is a bit hungry for soul essence, you see. I've been starving

through his mangled body. The terrible wounds covering it 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 shape. His torn cheek was

formed in his empty eye socket,

step forward, leaned forward, and looked

profane seed that eventually birthed it was created when the ashes of the

with boundless rage

then glanced at the sorcerer with a complicated

of devouring Saints, from the ashes of the Sacred Grove and Aidre's blood. He had

All this time, the sorcerer was restrained by having to suppress the creature and prevent it from devouring

smile appeared on Sunny's

a devious, patient… and ruthless

a thing or two

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

let

all this time… I am defeated… by

gritted her teeth, and then suddenly