Shadow Slave

Sunny and Nephis scrambled in an attempt to find a hiding spot... but there was no need.

Their first thought was that the dreadful butterfly had won the battle against the Azure Serpent. If that was the case, then their fates would be sealed. However, a moment later, a deafening roar shook the world, pushing them to the ground.

Turning to the stormy waters of the Great River, they saw a familiar creature rising to the surface.

The serpent was looking the worse for wear, with countless deep lacerations covering its mighty body. Streams of scarlet blood were flowing down its azure scales, and its giant eyes seemed even more deranged than usual. Flames of indescribable, murderous malice were burning in their cloudy depths - but, for once, that malice was not directed at the two humans.

Instead, it was aimed at the battered butterfly.

Now that Sunny and Nephis had a few moments to observe the Great Monster in detail, they noticed that it was in a sorry state, too. One of its six legs was missing, and there was an ugly tear on one of its beautiful wings. Its body looked strangely disheveled, and although none of the white scales covering it were missing, many of them were covered with thin cracks.

The Great Monster was retreating.

Sunny froze, momentarily stunned. Even though he had hoped that the Azure Serpent would win the battle against the much stronger Nightmare Creature, he could not quite believe that it actually happened.

'Old snake... just what damned kind of abomination are you?'

It was already miraculous for a Great Beast to defeat a Great Monster. Two of them, though? While not impossible, it was certainly abnormal. Even if the monstrous butterfly was an aerial creature, and was thus at a disadvantage while fighting underwater, the tenacity of the Azure Serpent was confounding.

Sunny stared at the bloodied leviathan somberly. As if sensing his gaze, the serpent lowered its snout and glared back at him.

Crimson water was flowing out of its slightly opened maw.

He shivered.

'...It's no mere Beast.'

Indeed, he should have known. His luck wasn't good enough to stumble on just any Great Beast. No, it surely had to be some kind of unique and singular existence... a damn monarch among all Beasts. [Fated] wouldn't have it any other way.

Maybe it was no coincidence that the Azure Serpent had come from much further upstream than the other two abominations.

'Ah, curse it.'

Sunny felt conflicted. On the one hand, he should be ecstatic about the fact that the harrowing butterfly was retreating. On the other hand, the ancient river serpent seemed much more dangerous now.

The butterfly, meanwhile, was swiftly rising higher and higher.

...However, it didn't leave.

Instead of disappearing into the distance, the Great Monster turned into a black dot once again and started to slowly circle the island from above. It looked like the creature was not giving up on the carcass of the Black Turtle, just recovering its strength and biding its time to make another attempt.

into the water with an angry hiss. Soon, the island shook slightly, hinting

water slowly

vast expanse of the

guess... it

She nodded slowly.

I'll... I'll go find a

blinked a couple of

'Huh?'

was she

"A pond? Why?"

looked at her in confusion,

you think? We just took a bath in a river of blood. I want to wash

only now

was

his lips. Suddenly feeling

"Can I join?"

was already turning

own pond...

He laughed.

What if I drown? Those fissures are

Nephis scoffed.

do drown, maybe take the meat out of that storage Memory first. It will be sad

The silver anklets were singing a quiet

he shook his head in

about the meat? How

and Nephis were back

pit assembled from the black rocks. The Shadow Chair and the Covetous Coffer, back to its usual size, were standing nearby. Neph's sleeping bag was laying on one side of the pit,

he had devoured. Saint

was preparing a late supper over the coals. Not only that, but she had also gone all out, for some reason, using an inventive mix of spices to thoroughly marinate the meat

bodies, and were now preparing for sleep, feeling refreshed.

moment, the lethally dangerous trip into the carcass of the

generous chunk of meat on a plate and handed it to Sunny. In the last moment,

you wait

and relaxed, so

"Sure."

the glowing embers with peaceful idleness. Nephis seemed to be looking for something. A few moments later, she found a splinter of the synthetic firebrick they had used to light the fire, and thrust it into the meat. Then, she touched it with the tip of her finger, and a wisp of

the strange dish