Shadow Slave

"...My Shadow?"

Sunny unlocked his eyes wide.

'Saint!'

It seemed that Saint had finished her evolution into a Devil ahead of schedule. All things considered, her timing was nothing short of impeccable.

Even in his disoriented state, Sunny knew that he could not ignore such luck.

As the first of the Nightmare Creatures emerged from the Gate, he abandoned his attempts to crawl forward and called upon his Shadow, instead.

The coldness of the polar night seemed to grow slightly darker. Then, an intricate sabaton forged out of black, stonelike metal stepped on the ground beside him.

Sunny weakly turned his head to look up at Saint, who was as aloof as ever.

His taciturn knight... had changed.

Initially, she had been roughly the same height as him, becoming taller after evolving into a Demon. Now, Saint towered above Sunny. Obscured by the beautiful onyx armor, the lines of her stone body were still slender and graceful... but at more than two meters of height, the fearsome Shadow seemed extremely imposing.

Her oppressive presence was worthy of a Devil.

The black armor itself had not changed much - it had always been a product of magnificent craftsmanship, and seemed even more superb and menacing now. However, Saint's skin, which had been grey like stone before, then white as alabaster, was now as smooth and black as polished onyx - at least what little of it could be seen through the slits of her visor.

The ruby jewels of her eyes burned with ominous crimson flames.

glanced at Sunny. It almost seemed... as though she had a

forced out a weak

happened. I'm glad to see

and pointed at the emerging

them, if you don't mind. I'll

of monstrous

hand drop

it's good to have her

essence to send the Broken Oath to the taciturn

tall figure shone with a dark radiance. The shadows around the demonic knight swelled, becoming deeper and darker, surrounding her like a tenebrous

was that there was a hint of true, elemental darkness in that lightless glow. It

being born from the revolting nothingness of the Gate. A flood of them rushed forward, chasing after the

wielded weapons made of sharpened chitin, moving with astonishing speed and possessing dreadful might. As Sunny watched,

as if trying to embrace the broken, burning world. Darkness flowed from under her vambraces, over her palms, and into

feeling of dark, nebulous power radiated from its stygian blade. On her other hand, a round shield of stonelike

enemy,

its

'D-damn...'

sat on

the mass of enemies as soon as the last of the soldiers ran past her. She collided against the arachnid warriors with her shield, sending a dozen of them stumbling to the ground, and then twisted into a whirlwind of annihilating darkness, her sword slicing through carapace armor,

blood, severed limbs, and broken bodies

by all four of Sunny's shadows. The Broken Oath received the same augmentation, seeping strength and vitality from her enemies. The graceful knight fought with stunning clarity and sublime skill... and yet, that was not enough to

were not weak... it was she who was too strong, too fast, and too tyrannical.