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

"...It wasn't easy."

then sighed heavily and turned around to face him. At

Prince of Nothing stared at the battered shadow devil for a

one reason why

times, then answered with a dark

didn't notice, people who try to kill me tend to end up dead

Mordret grinned dangerously.

sure I can

I'm a bit sure

his head, then

Memory you want to get your hands

took a step forward,

now… to be honest, Sunless, I am starting

lingered for a bit, then

"...Pretty please?"

of

"Not good enough."

His Shadows were damaged and restoring themselves in the nurturing black flames of his soul… his strength was depleted… his allies were far away and in even worse shape than

Things were looking bleak.

said in a neutral

me. But make no mistake, I won't make it easy for you. More

Mordret smiled politely.

am liking everything that

Sunny grinned.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

of Nothing lingered

might

let out a relieved sigh. Then, he pointed

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

at him with

is suddenly free, anyway. What else is there to

Sunny shook his head.

forgotten about the Demon of Destiny? There is a whole Ebony

old man's

flames are much more intense and plentiful during this time. The rift in them can't be traversed by the likes of us. Not that there's enough time

His expression suddenly changed.