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..."

After a

it

a sudden sense of hope, he raised an eyebrow."It

She nodded.

creature like that would have protections against someone like you bypassing its fearsome armor by teleporting directly inside. The

silent for a

I think about that

Nephis shook her head.

think that blaming yourself is too much? We couldn't have known. We've never faced an enemy

have tried to enter the body of a colossal enemy through Shadow Step before, but he saw

simple in hindsight. He winced, then looked at Nephis silently. As if reading his thoughts,

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

Right now, the Azure Serpent and the Great Monster it was fighting were exceedingly close to the gaping wound, making the prospect of

were their options, though? Staying here was tantamount to

around and looked into the depths of the

blocked, but there's still the exit. The old snake 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 back onto

was the most rational

closer to each other, Sunny and Nephis swam through the diluted blood of the slain behemoth. Even though fighting against the current was incredibly hard, they moved

'Hurry... hurry...'

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 had to be half that. Of course, it was twisting and turning, and the chaotic movement of the

They were going to reach

that the 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

all both grotesque and strangely,

through a Great Monster. I feel like it's a

it was. A

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

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

and looked at the

took a

an enormous, radiant crystal that shone with

was one of the two Supreme soul shards that the death of the