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..."

looked around. After a short

it

hope, he

She nodded.

body. A creature like that would have protections against someone like you bypassing its fearsome armor by teleporting directly inside. The Black Turtle is dead, but some of its defenses must still remain... perhaps if the gap in power between us wasn't so

remained silent for a

didn't I think

Nephis shook her head.

you think that blaming yourself is too much? We

was also wrong. Sunny might not have tried to enter the body of a colossal enemy through Shadow Step before, but he saw how the Azure Serpent had killed the Black Turtle.

then looked at Nephis silently. As if reading his thoughts, she guided her flames from

was the same. Shadow Step

of Neph's flame leaving him, Sunny drew in a shaky breath and belatedly realized that he was still holding her hand. ...He was in no hurry to let go, finding it

appeared on Sunny's face as he looked in the direction of the entrance of the 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

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

turned around and looked into the depths

burrowed right through, didn't it? The exit wound

rational decision

them closer to each other, Sunny and Nephis swam through the diluted

'Hurry... hurry...'

entity body of the Black Turtle spanned less than two kilometers, and the bloody path the Azure Serpent had burrowed through had to be half that. Of course, it was twisting and turning, and

going to reach the

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 to pieces and completely obliterated. Pieces of bone

it all both grotesque and

am swimming through a Great Monster. I feel

it was. A Nightmare, to be

strange. Out there, a small distance in front of them... it was as though something was softly shining in the darkness. The glow was so faint that Sunny thought that he was mistaken, but the next time his head broke the surface, he saw

moment, he suddenly pulled on the golden rope and pushed his tired body against the current once again, trying

of cartilage and looked at the wall of the tunnel. Out

a

enormous, radiant crystal

that the death of the Black