Shadow Slave

As soon as Sunny shut the gate behind them, the terrifying roar that had been approaching was cut off. A few moments later, the tower seemed to shake a little, as if something had crashed into its walls.

However, apart from a little dust that fell from the ceiling, nothing happened. They seemed to be safe.

...From the threats outside, at least.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Sunny took a step back and looked around.

His eyes narrowed a little.

"Well, that... is unexpected."

He had wondered about what the interior of Aletheia's Tower would look like a lot. In his mind, there were two possibilities... either it would be perfectly preserved and full of tantalizing knowledge, or serve as the lair for the most harrowing abomination yet.

The truth was that it was both and neither at the same time.

From what Sunny could tell, the interior of the tower had once been austere, but elegant. None of that elegance remained, however - at some point, a dreadful Nightmare Creature had made its way inside.

He was currently staring at that Nightmare Creature.

Its torso was hanging from the ceiling, terribly mutilated and seeping with black blood. The creature's revolting skull was crushed, and one of its arms was severed at the elbow. A vast and utterly disgusting puddle of blood, viscera, and brain matter covered most of the floor.

Looking at the corpse of the gargantuan, vaguely humanoid creature, Sunny couldn't help but feel a sense of deep, primal terror.

Aletheia's Tower had indeed become the lair of a dreadful abomination...

However, the abomination was dead.

Cassie was observing the corpse, too. She seemed unnerved.

After hesitating for a few moments, the blind girl said quietly:

it was a

Sunny gulped.

a Great Tyrant in our Third Nightmare, even? That has to be against

a Great Tyrant to

that

their surroundings. Now that he had some time, he noticed signs of a terrible battle. Everything inside the tower had been obliterated, turning into piles of splinters and rubble. Here and there, the corpses of

inside? It had to be, considering the nature

gates of the tower locked? Why was

was it even

the Tyrant's blood, Sunny knelt and touched it. His expression was

"It's cold."

not been killed recently. Had it been dead for

He glanced at Cassie.

your

She frowned.

"...To flee."

girl sighed

is danger,

to his feet. He considered summoning Nightmare back, but then decided against it. The black steed would not be able to move freely in the narrow confines of

him and Cassie to find

going to flee after dying so many damned times

She nodded.

"I agree."

to stay away from the dreadful corpse, they found the stairs and cautiously ascended to the

the clash between the Tyrant and whatever it was that had killed it had mostly taken place on the higher floors. Sunny could tell just by looking up - starting from the second floor, there were no ceilings anymore. Tall piles of stone

finally ending up hanging dead from

Cassie, then sighed and started climbing. The blind girl followed by holding the hilt of

the second-to-last level. Here, a chunk of the floor still remained, leading to a narrow staircase. The

was above them... but he knew only the highest window of the tower was emanating light. So,