Shadow Slave

"What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?"

Two identical questions sounded at the same time, but they couldn't be more different. Neph's voice was tinged with a hint of sincere concern, while the voice of the sword wraith was full of biting mockery.

Sunny was motionless for a few moments, still holding Nephis by her hand. He shivered slightly after his second attempt to use Shadow Step failed, and she must have felt it.

He looked up at her and hesitated. When he spoke, his voice sounded hollow:

"My Ability... doesn't seem to work anymore."

An insidious fear suddenly drowned his heart, and at the same time, the dark island quaked again... the source of the tremor much closer than it had been before.

The fear was irrational and animalistic. It had little to do with their perilous situation, and more with that fact that his powers had abandoned him without a warning. It was as though he had suddenly found himself missing a limb. There was disbelief, confusion, dread... and, finally, terror.

It took all his willpower to push that terror down.

The Sin of Solace laughed.

Ignoring it, Sunny forced himself to speak:

"Just... just give me a moment."

He had no idea why Shadow Step, which had never failed him before, was suddenly ineffective. Perhaps something was wrong with the shadows populating the insides of the Black Turtle... if so, there was an easy way to check.

A few moments later, the Shadow Lantern appeared in his hand, and a flood of shadows flowed out of its open gate. However, the result was the same - it was not the shadows that were wrong, but Sunny himself.

"Ah... ah, really... such an idiot!"

The damned sword wraith was having the time of his life.

Sunny clenched his fists, then uttered through gritted teeth:

"I don't seem to be able to bring us away, at the moment. S-sorry..."

carefully looked around. After a short pause, she suddenly

hindsight... it

hope, he raised

She nodded.

all, and we are inside its body. A creature like that would have protections against someone like you bypassing its fearsome armor by teleporting directly inside.

for a few

I think about that

Nephis shook her head.

that blaming yourself is too much? We

of a colossal enemy through Shadow Step before, but he saw how the Azure Serpent had killed the Black Turtle.

As if reading his thoughts, she guided her flames from

was the same. Shadow Step was refusing to

and belatedly realized that he was still holding her hand. ...He was in

tunnel. Right now, the Azure Serpent and the Great Monster it was fighting were exceedingly close to the gaping wound, making the prospect of leaving the way they had

Staying here was tantamount to death, as well.'Actually... there is a third

turned around and looked into the depths of the tunnel, then

burrowed right through, didn't it? The exit wound is on the other side of the turtle's body, under its flipper. We'll escape through there and climb

rational

of them hesitated for a moment, and then dove back into the seething water. Shortening the length of the golden rope to keep them closer to each other, Sunny and Nephis swam through the diluted blood of the slain behemoth. Even

'Hurry... hurry...'

forward with as much strength as he could muster. The tunnel was not that long... the entity body of the Black Turtle spanned less than two kilometers, and the bloody path the Azure Serpent had burrowed through

going to reach

great river beast had wrecked, both when killing the Black Turtle and while feeding on its flesh later on. The walls of the tunnel sometimes expanded into vast caverns where the turtle's organs had been, now torn

both grotesque and

a Great Monster. I feel like

was. A Nightmare, to

noticed something strange. Out there, a small distance in front of them... it was as though something was

tired body against the current once again, trying to make his way to the

and Sunny climbed onto a frayed piece of cartilage and looked at the wall of the tunnel.

took a deep

enormous, radiant crystal that

was one of the two Supreme soul shards that the death of the Black Turtle would