Shadow Slave

A tenebrous stallion was galloping across the vast expanse of white sand.

On his back, leaning tiredly in the saddle, sat a beautiful young woman in black garments. The steed and the rider were like a wave of darkness that absorbed the incandescent sunlight, and only the young woman's striking silver hair reflected the light back as it danced in the air.

Nephis was following a swift shadow that glided across the dunes in front of them, guiding the two back to the group.

Cresting a tall dune, she saw a scene out of a nightmare. The immaculate whiteness of the sand had been painted red by blood, and grotesque corpses were strewn about, torn asunder and gaping with terrible wounds.

Her expression turned grim.

At the same time, down below, Sunny turned his head slightly and glanced at the black silhouette of the rider, which was outlined against the azure sky at the top of the dune. Wiping the sweat off his brow, he sighed tiredly and leaned his back against the scaly limb of a dead abomination, hidden in its shadow.

'She's back.'

Nephis had survived her mission... the rest of them had survived, as well, albeit barely. This swarm of Nightmare Creatures had been too tough even for Sir Gilead to handle - the Saint had dealt with the leader of the pack, a Great Beast, and the rest of them had faced off against the pack of Corrupted abominations.

Now, Summer Knight was severely wounded, and they were similarly battered and drained of strength. In any other situation, a Transcendent vanquishing a Great Nightmare Creature would have been a legendary feat worthy of a triumphant celebration, but now, they were just tired and afraid.

This was the first Great abomination - aside from the Skinwalker - they had stumbled on in the Nightmare Desert, but would it be the last? Certainly not.

They had not even reached the inner regions of this cursed land yet, and the situation was already so hopeless.

Nightmare descended from the dune, and the members of the group crawled out from the shaded spots beneath the gigantic corpses to meet Nephis.

She jumped from the saddle and looked at Morgan with a composed expression. The princess of Valor raised an eyebrow.

"How did it go?"

Nephis lingered for a moment.

"I lured that titan toward the Skinwalker's vessel. They fought, but more vessels showed up. The titan should be dead by now... there is still the sea of quicksand between us and the pursuers, with the thing that dwells below, but it won't delay them for long. We have several hours, at most."

Morgan let out a heavy sigh.

"Damn it. It was a desperate gambit, but I really hoped to achieve more."

She grimaced, then turned west and stared at the distant silhouette of the black pyramid with a grim expression.

By now, everyone knew that her desperate desire to reach the Tomb of Ariel, or at least get closer to it, was futile. Perhaps even Morgan knew, even if she refused to admit it.

Sunny was sure that she was not trying to conquer the black pyramid for their benefit, but still, he was almost touched. The rest of them had pretty much already surrendered... only Morgan continued to stubbornly cling to the impossible goal.

Sir Gilead shook his head.

"Lady Morgan... this is the fourth day. I promised to give you time, but we've made no progress. You need to accept reality."

The princess remained silent for a while, then winced.

sun sets. If nothing changes until then, I'll follow you

Knight looked away, then

any case, there was still the issue of finding a suitable

I will have

simply nodded, expressing her consent to help Sir Gilead and Morgan escape the Nightmare

black pyramid that loomed

Ariel... how

had an idea. They had been moving into the depths of the sea of dunes for

was the reason that they had made no progress... traveling during the

gnawing suspicion that one could only get closer to the

was true... then it was really impossible for them to approach it.

land of

from the

'It's so damn hot...'

***

the verge of wishing that they hadn't. There had been

falling behind the dark silhouette of the black pyramid, as if being pierced by its sharp tip. The Tomb of Ariel was just as it

served as a gateway to a buried

Summer Knight and

chamber hidden beneath the ruin, the members of

everyone, nursing a broken arm. Her resilient body was littered with wounds, and she was too low on soul essence to heal them. There was

agreed to give

who

Valor, he lowered himself to

looked up, momentarily

disappointed in me. Sorry... it seems

remained silent for a while,

don't care

She smiled bleakly.

to chastise me, then what

at her

try challenging the Third Nightmare. That is the only way left for us, so... I just wanted to

- that the appearance of Gates was innately tied to the advancements of humans on the path of Ascension. It might have been just because the Sovereigns were unwilling to let anyone

case, Sunny wanted to get some assurances that he was not going to be hunted down by the great clans, on

at him, Morgan suddenly let out a low

don't have to

He frowned.

have lowered her perfectly maintained facade. If that was the case... he suddenly felt a compulsion to

I have

her gaze and asked with

that has been gnawing at me for a while. The great clans have been suppressing the Transcendence of independent Awakened for decades. An old man once told me that you might have been pursuing noble goals... like limiting the number of powerful Nightmare Gates that open across the world. Someone else told me that all you think about is whose Domain controls the most Citadels, though. So... what is the real reason? And why does it seem

and then

each other for a long time, but you only decided to start a real