Shadow Slave

The members of the cohort remained silent for a few long moments, staring at the chunk of black rock with complicated expressions. Perhaps for most of them, what had just happened in the small spherical chamber did not hold a lot of meaning... but for Sunny and Cassie, it did. Especially for him.

Letting out a shaky breath, Sunny suddenly felt like his legs were about to give out. Taking a step back, he swayed slightly and lowered himself to the first step of the narrow stairs. His eyes were still glued to the fallen black stone, but his gaze had become distant.

Cassie leaned on the Guiding Light, her face motionless.

Nephis, Jet, and Effie watched them silently.

After a while, the huntress finally spoke:

"So... it's done? Just like that?"

Sunny looked up at her, struggling to answer.

'Just like that?'

She made it sound as if it had been easy. Well, of course... she had just learned about the existence of the loop this morning, and it was gone before dusk.

For him, however...

The memories of the countless harrowing deaths he had experienced and witnessed on Aletheia's Island flooded Sunny's mind. That first time being cruelly executed by Undying Slaughter... the hopeless despair of watching Devouring Beast's giant hand descend from the mist... and so much more.

All of it was behind him now, but not gone. Sunny wished he could have forgotten all this torment, like he had forgotten most of the nightmares about the Kingdom of Hope. But he couldn't. These memories were going to haunt him forever.

'They can stand in line and wait their turn.'

There was a vast museum of heartbreak and horror in his memory, already. What could a few more nightmares do?

He sighed, then nodded.

loop is destroyed. I can

lingered for a

then. What's

these words, Sunny felt something move in his soul, and a flood of essence poured into his cores. Somewhere outside the island, the seven suns were plunging

He relaxed a little.

However, it also meant that the future was once again unknown and unpredictable - Sunny felt much

kept quiet, so he answered Effie's question

will hide in this tower and wait out the immediate aftermath of our actions. In the next few days, Aletheia's Island is going to be a battlefield... Undying Slaughter and Devouring Beast are going to

a moment, then

continue, uninterrupted. They will either eradicate most of the Nightmare Creatures on the island, or be eradicated by them. In any case, we must

and the bestial giantess many times. He died when he fought alone... he watched his companions die before being killed himself when fighting side-by-side with his allies. The Plagues were simply too

that the loop was broken, the Flaws of the Defiled Saints could finally be exploited. Devouring Beast's hunger and Undying Slaughter's need to

In theory.

to eat. Undying Slaughter was going to have plenty of things to kill, as well, but she could potentially expend a lot of

this was a problem

Sunny wanted

couldn't even

mind makes

doubt he had made many mistakes already. Luckily, none of them had been serious enough to doom them - for now. Cassie

of them had done remarkably well, considering the

then stood up and looked

floor of the tower. We'll be spending the next few days, maybe even weeks there. We should clean

from the broken ceiling, the terrible wounds dealt to it by the Serpent King in the distant past still as fresh as if they had been delivered

stared at the terrible corpse

that