Shadow Slave

Sunny and Effie approached them quietly.

"Hey! Long time no see!" Effie's energetic voice echoed across the canyon, prompting a weak response from the three Masters. Cassie flinched slightly, while Nephis and Jet turned to look at them with dim expressions. After a moment of silence, Soul Reaper forced out a smile.

"Ah. It's you, glutton... yeah, it's good to see you too."

The three were clearly shaken by their experience in the overgrown shrine. Sunny only knew that the creature that dwelled there was powerful and ancient - even Wind Flower did not know much about it, except for the fact that it did not possess a physical body. Therefore, Jet's glaive and Neph's purifying flames were their best bet to destroy it.

With Cassie's supernatural intuition and affinity to revelations, as well as Saint's dark blade, they stood a good chance of, if not prevailing against the shrine horror, then at least getting the enchantment key and escaping alive.

Walking over to the three Masters, Sunny studied their conditions for a few moments, then turned to Cassie:

"Did you get it?"

She nodded slowly and raised a hand. On it lay a strange gemstone engraved with countless runes. Unlike the soul crystal of the Guiding Light, this gemstone seemed to absorb light, not produce it.

The enchantment key.

Sunny let out a long sigh.

"...Good."

Then, fascinated, he asked in a curious tone:

"What was the creature inside the shrine like?"

Cassie shivered slightly and lowered her head.

"I... don't really want to talk about that thing. Right now."

Judging by the heavy expressions of Neph's and Jet's faces, they felt the same.

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

bad was

was so out of it that she

did not press the topic. The three of them had experienced all kinds of terrible things and faced all sorts of harrowing creatures... if they were that shaken by what had happened in the overgrown shrine, it must have been pretty bad. If so, he should

seen, though. Hopefully, they were just

Let's go...

for a while, then

slayed it on the way to the shrine. Sunny navigated the system of caves, following his memory. After a long time, they stopped near the wall of a cave that did not seem different

this one

for a few moments, then looked up with apprehension. Eventually, he took

"If you will..."

and delivered a devastating blow to the wall of the cave. A net

though. Without wasting any time, she bombarded the wall of the cave with crushing blows, each sending a

winced. By his side, the other members of the cohort did the same. Only Fiend just stood there and stared, dim flames burning in

empty space beyond. White mist streamed into the cave through the opening, as well as a few thin streams

pulled Nephis away

"Follow me."

broken cave wall... was

gone, it was empty. The deadly field of twisted time had disappeared, as well. In other words, they did not have to cross the enchanted bridge anymore - instead, they could cross the moat wherever

which teemed with harrowing Nightmare Creatures by now. Instead of risking their lives in the misty forest, the cohort had come to the black cliff

the caverns through the breach made by Saint, descended to the bottom of the moat, and made their way to its other side. Then, they scaled its vertical wall and climbed out of the chasm near the stone steps leading to the

behind them, the terrifying abominations frozen on it still standing motionless. The runes carved into the sides of the cliff were still

Sunny opened the gate of

he saw that Nephis, Jet, and Effie had frozen, looking at the corpse of the Great Tyrant with complicated expressions. He could understand how they felt... he had

Sunny sighed.

"It's dead. Don't worry..."

agitated himself. Sunny was almost surprised that they had made it so far... the bone orchard,

somehow, the plan he and Cassie had concocted went without a hitch. All the deaths they had experienced on this nightmarish island had not

And destroy the loop.

center of the hall. She followed, holding the enchantment key in her small

found themselves directly below the corpse of the Great Tyrant hanging from the ceiling, there was a strange sound, and the stones beneath their feet suddenly moved. That had never happened before... because they had never had the runic gemstone

other members of the cohort approached, the floor of the tower rearranged itself, revealing a narrow staircase. Without

a small spherical chamber was carved into the rock. Its walls were covered with sheets of polished metal, its