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.

how bad was

of it that she had not even reacted to

harrowing creatures... if they were that shaken by what had happened in the overgrown shrine, it must have been pretty bad. If so, he

Echoes were nowhere to be seen, though. Hopefully,

go... we

for a while, then rose

dead - Cassie's group had slayed it on the way to the shrine. Sunny navigated the

this one was

looked up with apprehension. Eventually, he took a step to the side and sent

"If you will..."

then walked forward and delivered a devastating blow to the wall of the cave. A net of cracks

bombarded the wall of

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

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

gently pulled Nephis away

"Follow me."

open space beyond the broken cave wall... was the chasm of the tower's

twisted time had disappeared, as well. In other words, they

of the island, which teemed with harrowing Nightmare Creatures by now. Instead of risking their lives in the misty forest, the cohort

its other side. Then, they scaled its vertical wall and climbed out of

bridge was now behind them, the terrifying abominations frozen on it still standing

back. Sunny opened the gate of Aletheia's Tower and let everyone

at the corpse of the Great Tyrant with complicated expressions. He could understand how they felt... he had been quite the same the first time he saw the dreadful corpse, after

Sunny sighed.

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

they had made it so far... the bone orchard, the caverns, the blood lake, the overgrown shrine

had experienced on this nightmarish island had not been for nothing, it seemed. Now, all that

And destroy the loop.

he nodded and walked to the 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

the tower rearranged itself, revealing a narrow staircase. Without saying anything, they descended into the basement of

the rock. Its walls were covered with sheets of polished metal,