Shadow Slave

So... this is it, then.

The Tomb of Ariel had been built from the remains of the Stone Titan, while the Great River created from its blood was contained within it, illuminated by the seven suns made from its broken soul cores.

The secret hidden at the Estuary was the truth that Ariel had wished to forget. The Nightmare Desert was the result of the battle between him and the unholy creature.

Looking at the blue sky above them, Sunny couldn't help but wonder...

So the daemons were capable of creating artificial worlds?

Then, a sudden thought made him shiver.

What is the difference between a real world and an artificial one, though?

Was there even a difference? And if there was not... had the rest of the worlds been created by someone, as well? The daemons? The gods? The unknown?

He sighed, then shook his head.

Do I really have time to ponder the cosmic origins of the world?

Right now, they had more practical questions to answer. Many of the mysteries of the Third Nightmare had been revealed to them, but many more remained. At least they now knew where they were, and what their next step had to be.

Travel downstream, find the syblis, and learn how to conquer this Seed.

Well... that is easier said than done, though.

sharp blades of the azure serpent's

expression appeared

bit of silence, he said: "Neph... do you think

some kind of a crazy answer, like always,

is... not impossible. This Beast is two whole Ranks above us, which would usually mean that there is no hope. But then again, we did eventually kill a few Fallen abominations as

are. The difference between a Corrupted creature and a Fallen one is much greater than the difference between a Fallen creature and an Awakened one... while the gap between a Great abomination and a Corrupted one is even greater still. Worse yet, this Great Beast is in its natural

the serpent intensely, Sunny slowly nodded.

I can still kill it,

his unexpected words, Nephis

confident, but he also did not think that their chances were close to zero. Both of them were strong, and they were even stronger together. There were his Shadows, and the powerful Memories they possessed. Most importantly, the azure serpent was a mere Beast... no matter how harrowing its

all kinds of devious schemes, with Nephis trailing not

odds were perilous,

we won't need to gamble with our lives. There might not be a need to fight it

for a while,

find those humans who had escaped the

meanwhile, was being slowly dragged in that same direction by the

like a ship that could very well take them all the way to their destination. Since that was the case, there was no reason to battle the azure serpent, or anything

any moment. The future was

be

"What do we do, then? What is our next

the Great River, and the dawn of the eastern horizon was slowly fading into the

Nephis lowered her gaze.

look at the situation in the morning, with fresh eyes. I don't know about you, but I am thoroughly exhausted. I haven't slept in a long while, and the battle between the turtle and the snake took a lot out

Sunny smiled crookedly.

not done anything in the last couple of days except drift through the sky, but as it turned out, doing nothing was very exhausting. Especially when one was suspended between the surface of a mystical river and the sky, having to