Shadow Slave

1416 Invisible Scars

As Nightmare carried him away from the graveyard of horrors, Sunny managed to regain some of his composure. By then, they were moving deeper inland, following the light of the sacred staff. Effie was supposed to be at the end of that light.

As time passed, he couldn't help but think back to the Hollow Butterfly.

The Great Monster must have landed on the hidden island a long time ago — but also only a few hours ago — to lay eggs. Then, it was caught in the time loop and somehow ended up with its soul destroyed.

Sunny had never heard about a Nightmare Creature becoming Hollow, but it was not impossible. The question was… how had it happened?

The obvious answer was that the gargantuan creature had been attacked by someone who could destroy souls. When a soul was destroyed, the body usually died with it… but on rare occasions, it survived. That was how Hollow humans appeared, so the same thing could have happened to this Great Monster.

There certainly could be a creature capable of shattering souls on this hellish island… and powerful enough to slay a Great Monster. In fact, Sunny did not even need to ponder long to think of one.

Wasn't Undying Slaughter a perfect candidate?

Killing a Great Monster was all but a hopeless endeavor for the members of the cohort, but to the mist wraith, it would be no different from what facing Carapace Centurions had been for the Sleepers of the Forgotten Shore.

Fatally dangerous, but not at all impossible.

There could be more soul breakers on Wind Flower, as well.

That said…

Somehow, Sunny did not think that that was what had happened.

Not because he didn't think that Undying Slaughter was incapable of slaying the Dark Butterfly, but because he didn't think that she was capable of doing so without leaving any trace of the battle.

The Dark Butterfly was a Great Monster, and as such, it possessed two Corruption Cores. That meant that the Defiled wraith had to deliver at least two blows to its soul in order to destroy it. Would the aerial horror have remained idle while it was being killed?

been attacked, the whole place would have been turned upside down

around the monstrous butterfly. The bones surrounding

was almost as

ceased to be, peacefully and without even

same went for

'How could it be?'

a cold shiver

no reason to make this conclusion… but he felt that

it because of the

mist, Sunny gripped the

before turning into a drooling fool. The answer was… quite a lot.

was miraculously restored every time he returned to the starting point of the loop, the mental

What about spiritual scars?

souls, but he knew that they could be damaged. They could also be healed, and possessed the

there was a limit to

a long time being killed and reborn in the loop? Would it be covered by scars and gaping

going to

it would take a year, or a few years, or a few hundred years. Or a few

would his soul reach

returning to the past. As far as he knew, no

weren't, at least not

if the Dark Butterfly had landed on Wind Flower countless years ago… maybe even the soul of

have to

Monster — a creature with a soul infinitely more vast and potent than

repeating time, but deep down inside, Sunny was consoled by the thought that his

and

all this time, he was most likely

even when it repeated itself, living beings were not meant to be

have to make each revolution