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..."

around. After a short pause,

it makes

sudden sense of hope, he raised an

She nodded.

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

silent for

I think

Nephis shook her head.

blaming yourself is too much? We couldn't have

wrong. Sunny might not have tried to enter the body of a colossal enemy through Shadow Step before, but he saw how the Azure

in hindsight. He winced, then looked at Nephis silently. As if reading his thoughts, she guided her flames from the blade of the incandescent dagger, through

was the same. Shadow Step

shaky breath and belatedly realized that he was still holding her hand. ...He was in no hurry to let go, finding it

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 way they had

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

depths of the tunnel,

wound is on the other side of the turtle's body, under

rational decision he

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 was incredibly hard, they moved further away from the harrowing battle with

'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,

were going

that the great river beast had wrecked, both when killing the Black Turtle and while feeding on its flesh later on. The

found it all both grotesque and strangely, darkly

Monster.

it was. A Nightmare, to be

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. The glow was so faint that Sunny thought that he was mistaken, but the next time his

pulled on the golden rope and pushed his tired body against the current once again, trying to make his way

piece of cartilage and looked at the wall of the tunnel. Out there, hidden in the folds of torn

a deep

an enormous, radiant crystal that shone

shards that the death of the Black Turtle