Shadow Slave

Sunny crawled onto the shore and lay on the cold stones of the pebble beach for a bit, breathing heavily. It was incredibly nice to lie on solid ground again, but at the same time, his body felt heavy and cumbersome. A part of it had to do with spending some time in the depths of the ocean, and a part of it was simply because he was still tired and low on essence.

'Curse it...'

He had enough sense left, at least, to let one shadow slide off his body and take a look around to make sure that there were no enemies in his immediate vicinity.

There were none, at least not close by. There was only Naeve, who seemed to be doing a little bit better than Sunny. The Nightwalker took a few deep breaths, then slowly sat up.

"We... we actually made it. Gods, I really did not expect to live through this one."

He glanced at Sunny, receiving a vague gesture of confirmation. Sunny shared the feeling.

Naeve grasped his shoulder for a moment, then asked with a hint of morbid curiosity in his voice:

"I low did you manage to kill that horror, anyway? Such a devastating mental attack... even Uncle failed to resist it."

Sunny remained motionless for a few seconds, pushed himself off the ground with a tired groan, and glanced at the scion of Night somberly.

Spitting out the Essence Pearl, he then grimaced and said: " I guess it was just fate... that fiend was fated to die by my hand, and so, fate helped me kill it."

Naeve smiled weakly, then looked away.

"Never took you for a fatalist."

That was when a third figure rose from the water. Bloodwave walked onto the shore, his eyes glinting with shades of deep blue and indigo. Drops of water were rolling down his smooth ebony skin, contours of steel muscles clearly visible under it.

disappeared. A strong gale threw a scattering of pebbles into the air, making Sunny cover his face with his

is

looked in the direction where

"No..."

Naeve's voice sounded defeated.

dead Nightmare Creatures lay on the ground, their blood steaming in the cold. Snowflakes were dancing in the air as they fell from the empty sky. There were. no brood beasts in sight, and the roar

All good signs.

the illusion of peace was destroyed when one saw the

and most of the lights that had illuminated the battlements were. now dark. There was movement in the breach, silhouettes who looked like people walking between the rubble with unsteady steps. Beyond that, Sunny could see nothing else. lіghtnоvеlwоrld․соm ѕhоuld nоt bе іgnоrеd ․․․ Remembering

over, at least. Otherwise, Bloodwave would have already been rampaging among the remaining abominations. The ships anchored near the fortress were intact, as well. Whatever damage had been done to the port did not reach

the Essence Pearl and the Nimble Catch. Black threads surrounded his

the crestfallen Nightwalker,

"Lets go."

slowly made their

they approached, more

of the thralls littered the ground, mangled and torn apart. There were much more of them here than there had been protecting the Terror — thousands of them, all slain despite their dreadful power. it

among them, as well — the former residents of LO49, who had finally found their final resting place thousands of kilometers away from the distant research base. Perhaps they would have been glad to lay on solid ground again, as well, instead of floating endlessly in the

Sunny and Naeve walked closer to the breached wall of the fortress, they saw the bodies of the First Army soldiers among the dead thralls, too. Mundane humans, Awakened... there

felt a bitter feeling grasp his

part of his victory,

killing the hateful Corrupted Terror, happy to receive a powerful Memory. However, his victory was made possible because most of the creature's drowned guard had been drawn away by the defenders of the port. While Sunny was fighting the

his accomplishment... however, it

him once, years ago,

one can survive in the Dream Realm