Shadow Slave

The seven suns were shining in the azure sky.

Sunny was sitting close to the slope of the island, staring fixedly at the flowing water. His eyes were dark and tired. With the temporary camp destroyed, he felt strangely homeless. Much worse, neither he nor Nephis had managed to come up with a viable solution for their fatal problem.

They had considered many things.

Every Memory in their possession had been studied and examined, but none of them, nor any combination of them, revealed a way out of the perilous situation. The best they could hope for was prolonging their stay on the carapace of the Black Turtle, somewhat.

They could use the Dark Shaper to try and repair the cracks in the stone shell. There were other unreliable measures, as well… but that would just buy them a few more days, at most.

There were other Memories that they could use to try to escape. But attempting escape was tantamount to suicide. The Great Nightmare Creatures guarding both the water and the sky were not something they could outrun.

…Then, there were Sunny's Shadows.

He had once thought that Saint was their best hope of slaying the Azure Serpent. However, after witnessing the mad beast in battle, he didn't think that the taciturn knight could achieve such a feat anymore. Not only because she could not enter the water, but also because his plan to augment her with both the shadows and the white flames had been crushed.

Saint… could not receive the blessing of the fire. Or rather, she could not reap its full benefits.

The augmentation had worked perfectly fine in his basement before could not reap its full benefits.

The augmentation had worked perfectly fine in his basement before the Southern Campaign, but Saint underwent a fundamental transformation after that. She was now a Devil whose body and soul were infused with elemental darkness. And while true darkness somehow worked in tandem with Sunny's shadows, it refused to accept Neph's light.

Saint could either use one or the other. In any case, the result was not nearly as powerful as Sunny had imagined it to be.

They could bestow the power of shadow flame on his other Transcendent Devil, though. Sadly, Imp was not nearly as formidable of a warrior as Saint. On top of that… the little bastard was in a coma.

Or a food coma, at least.

devouring the tarnished silver and fell into a deep slumber. Sunny had a hunch that after the great mass of mystical metal was fully digested, his gluttonous fiend would grow much stronger. But there was no telling how long it would take, so he sent Imp into the nurturing black flames of his soul to complete the evolution

Imp was of

went for Nightmare. The tenebrous steed had loyally guarded their dreams and subjugated a good number of them, but he was still an Awakened Terror. Even

that could help them escape from the shell of the

why Sunny was sitting on the

red color had receded, turning pale pink. The Black Turtle only had so much blood, after all, and by now, most of

rose from its depths. A familiar gaze pierced him,

not look too good. Just like the carcass of the Black Turtle, which had once seemed grand and indestructible, was

its cloudy eyes was gone, replaced by a bloody hole. Half of the terrifying fangs in its obliterating maw were either cracked or broken. Whole chunks of

yet… the Azure Serpent was undeterred. It was just the same. Its fury was the same, its hunger was the same, and

Beast stared at Sunny, and Sunny stared

a

sounded

a while, then suddenly

you even know? Do you think you're so special? I know fury, too. I know hunger, too. I know madness, too! Oh… and I've

appeared on

who was born from the shadows. I am the rightful heir of death and the bastard son of fate. Wherever I go, ruin follows. If you had any sense, you would

shivered slightly, then

late now. What

behind him, the Sin of Solace laughed

What a speech! What

looked

the island. He had known it for a

Now, it was the

Sunny found Nephis. Despite everything, she was still practicing with her sword… the lethal blade, and its master,