Shadow Slave

As the Ivory Dragon died, an invisible ripple spread through the world. The whole city trembled slightly, and then, one of the two remaining chains that bound the Ivory Island to the rest of Hope's shattered kingdom broke with a deafening ring.

The broken chain fell into the darkness of the Sky Below, leaving only a single tether holding the island in place. The island's position shifted… not by much, but enough to cause the arching stone bridge to crack, shudder, and then slowly crumble.

A cloud of stone dust rose into the air as the massive structure collapsed, enveloping the patch of grass where Sunny and Mordret lay, still reeling from the deadly soul attack.

Sunny coughed and waved his hand in front of his face, weakly trying to chase the dust away.

'Damnation…'

The Prince of Nothing, meanwhile, was slowly rising to his feet. With a stagger, he regained his footing and looked in the direction of the Ivory Tower, his old face growing dim.

Mordret remained silent for a while, and then said evenly:

"Well, that… is a bit unfortunate."

Sunny let out a hoarse laugh, causing the old man to turn around and glance at him darkly. Then, he tried to sit up, but failed.

The Prince of Nothing scoffed.

"Drop the act, Sunless. I know you are not that weakened."

Sunny cursed, then stopped pretending and sat up with a groan. He was indeed in a very bad shape, drained of essence, and barely alive because of how severely damaged his soul was. However, he was indeed not as weak as he had wanted to mislead Mordret into believing.

The old man shook his head, then smiled.

"Using my own Reflections against me… how clever. I expected something like that from you."

Then, his face abruptly grew dark, and he gazed in the direction of the Ivory Tower once again. His voice sounded quiet and uncertain:

"That, however… that I did not expect at all. It should not have been possible! I don't understand… giving one of the knives away is not in your nature. With how cynical and distrustful you are, you should have clung to them to the end… how did I make this mistake?"

Sunny grinned.

"I guess I've changed."

Mordret frowned, then slowly shook his head.

"People don't change that easily."

face became a

"...It wasn't easy."

old man remained motionless for a while, then sighed heavily and turned around to face him. At the same time,

Prince of Nothing stared at the battered shadow devil for a few moments, then said

my fried… please give me one

couple of times, then

who try to kill me tend to end

Mordret grinned dangerously.

sure

a bit sure

his head,

Memory

forward, causing the Reflection to do the

be honest, Sunless, I am starting to wonder if

bit, then raised

"...Pretty please?"

of Nothing

"Not good enough."

and restoring themselves in the nurturing black flames of his soul… his strength was depleted… his allies were far away

Things were looking bleak.

then said in a neutral

can probably kill me. But make no mistake, I won't make it easy for you. More importantly, I'll make sure to resist

Mordret smiled politely.

liking everything

Sunny grinned.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

Nothing lingered for a

might that

and let out a relieved sigh.

end. There's not much time left until we are returned to the real world. Precious time that you are going to

at him

schedule is suddenly free, anyway.

Sunny shook his head.

the Demon of Desire. But have you forgotten about the Demon of

old man's frown

this time. The rift in them can't be traversed by the

His expression suddenly changed.