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..."

then carefully looked around. After a

hindsight... it makes

sense of hope, he

She nodded.

armor by teleporting directly inside. The Black Turtle is dead, but some of its defenses

for

think about that

Nephis shook her head.

either. Don't bl... don't you think that blaming yourself is too much? We

Shadow Step before, but he saw how the Azure Serpent had killed the Black Turtle. He could have

reading his thoughts, she guided her flames from the blade of the incandescent

was the same.

feeling the warmth of Neph's flame leaving him, Sunny drew in a shaky breath and belatedly realized that he was still holding her hand.

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

options, though? Staying here was tantamount to death, as well.'Actually... there is

into the depths of the

it? The exit wound is on the other side of the turtle's body, under its flipper. We'll

rational decision he could

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 though fighting against the current

'Hurry... hurry...'

a dire urgency and pushed himself 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

were going to reach the exit

while feeding on its flesh later on. The walls of the tunnel sometimes expanded into vast

both grotesque and

Monster.

A

as they passed the middle point of the tunnel and felt the current change, pulling them in the direction of their goal, he suddenly noticed something strange. Out there, a small distance in front of them... it was as though something was softly shining in the darkness.

golden rope and pushed his tired body against the current once again,

the wall of the tunnel. Out there, hidden in the

took a deep

an enormous, radiant crystal that

shards that the death of the Black Turtle would have