Shadow Slave

1500 Perfect Trap

'What?!'

The members of the cohort all stared at Mordret, their expressions grim. Noticing their reaction, he smiled.

"I was rather surprised to learn about the identities of these Six Plagues, but it seems that you are already familiar with them. Good. It will spare me the explanations."

At that moment, Jet, who had been keeping quiet until then, finally spoke:

"Soul Stealer is here, in Twilight?"

Mordret remained silent for a few moments. Eventually, he sighed.

"He is. I've been playing hide and seek with him for... gods, I don't even know how long. Time is a funny concept here in Twilight, really. And let me tell you, there is no worse company than a demented Nightmare Creature version of yourself."

He remained silent for a moment, then added matter-of-factly:

"He's not the only one, either. The Dread Lord is here, too."

Sunny flinched, experienced a visceral reaction to those words.

'Damnation!'

Suddenly, he felt vulnerable and exposed, surrounded by terrible danger. None of them had felt safe while approaching Twilight, but still... the sense of pure dread he felt at the mention of the ruler of Verge was almost palpable.

It was not that Sunny was afraid of the Dread Lord — he knew that the cohort would have to clash with the leader of the Plagues eventually. But facing him already was simply too unexpected, too sudden...

'What the hell is happening?!'

Twilight was supposed to be their last stop before the final battle… not the final battle itself! How could the tyrant of Verge already be here, within reach?

How could they already be in his grasp?

Nephis gripped the hilt of her sword, clearly thinking the same.

Mordret, meanwhile, shook his head.

"Oh, please forgive me. I should have mentioned first that you don't have to worry about the Dread Lord. He can't harm us. In fact, Soul Stealer can't harm us either, unless we enter his territory. They are just as trapped as I am. And your friend, Nightingale, is."

let out

just explain what is going

him an

to it… ah, but I've been waiting for

of them with

was a terrible battle here, in Twilight, countless years ago. The forces of Defilement… that is what it's called, right?... wanted to destroy

He sighed theatrically.

Defiled Legion was led by the Dread Lord, as well as my own Corrupted self. Mind you, everything I know was observed while exploring the mirrored version of Twilight. I haven't spoken to a soul since entering

silent for a

walls were breached, and the Dread Lord entered the city with the remaining Nightmare Creatures. The streets of Twilight are a battlefield… countless humans desperately fighting against

strange about what he

tilted her head a

Not

Prince of Nothing nodded

you see… someone activated the enchantment array of the

Sunny groaned inwardly.

to the vast enchantment of Aletheia's Island. Both even used a fragment of the Estuary as

He sighed.

me. Does the same

him a strange

an odd

'Huh?'

back

what did the activation

Prince of Nothing lingered for a

simply put…

members of the cohort stared

"Froze… time?"

of time behaving in all the wrong ways here, on the Great

her? Sunny felt

tone, Mordret

Tomb of Ariel. But, answering your question — yes, it froze time. The moment the defensive array was activated, time

He shook his head.

are standing there like statues, frozen in strange poses. The Nightmare Creatures are the same. Even the Dread Lord, despite all his power and authority, was caught

Mordret's face grew somber.

defensive array is deactivated, the battle will resume, and the Dread Lord will awaken. Don't think that you can kill him while he's vulnerable, too — the moment you step inside Twilight, the time will stop for you, as well. Even inanimate objects will be