Shadow Slave

His words caused a dead silence to settle over the Rhino, Luster, Kum, and Dorn froze, grave expressions appearing on their faces. Professor Obel looked down, suddenly appearing even more fragile and old. A heavy sigh escaped from his lips.

Beth's eyes widened.

"W-what... what do you mean, dead? That is impossible."

Sunny looked at her silently, and then shook his head.

"This is the era of the Nightmare Spell. Anything is possible, and terrible things are doubly possible. In fact, they are all but inevitable. We were lucky to get out in time, but the others were not. That is all there is to it."

His voice was full of grounded confidence, but in fact, Sunny felt very unsettled. He was not entirely sure if he was trying to convince Beth, or himself.

Professor Obel, who had been born during the Dark Times and lived through the horrors of the First Generation, seemed to understand what Sunny was trying to say. He must have experienced many such calamities throughout his long life, and lost a lot of friends. His young assistant, however, did not.

Looking at Sunny with a pale face, she forced out:

"B-but..."

He interrupted her.

"Don't think about it too much. Concentrate on your own survival instead. We are not out of the woods yet, and what is to come is far more important than something that is already over. And it is over."

atmosphere disappeared as if it had never existed. Sunny studied the faces of people gathered in the

feelings right now. They were all adults... actually, he was the youngest person here, so why was he

of power and authority. And with those,

'...Ugh. How irritating.'

for a few moments, and

gone is to make sure that we don't follow them. So, rest well and gather your strength. I'll keep watch

sighed and walked away, leaving

own hands. Then, he shivered, enveloped by snow. Chilling wind howled through the rusted frame of the ancient war machine, the remains of which rose from the ground like the bones of a giant beast. Even though staying outside was cold and uncomfortable, right now, he preferred it to being in the company of other humans. There was a lot for him to

surrounding area through the senses of his shadows, Sunny closed his

path ahead was dangerous and unclear. Remaining in this spot was

also hid them from the sight of the abominations. Unless a swarm stumbled directly on the rusty wreckage, it would pass by this shelter without catching the smell of human

played

thoughts wandered back to the

sixteen, even, if he counted those that had died in the weeks before.

It was... expected, actually.

was much higher than fourteen

He was still indifferent.

of a number to conceive of. It was too distant and abstract. When speaking about millions of people, people stopped being people and turned into numbers. Sunny did not

not compare to seven hundred million, to him, they were real. He had lived with them, shared bread with

than the potential evisceration of the whole quadrant. Knowing what he knew now, he couldn't help but see the First Army and its mission in a different

had an ambitious goal of evacuating the whole continent, but their plan was already bursting at the seams. Many more people were going