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 a frustrated

explain what is going on, damn

him an amused

just getting to it… ah, but I've been waiting for this

them with

First… as you might have noticed, there was a terrible battle here, in Twilight, countless years ago. The forces of Defilement… that is what it's called, right?... wanted to destroy the city, while the warriors of Twilight naturally wanted to prevent

He sighed theatrically.

terrible losses, the abominations broke through the outer barrier and breached the walls of the city. From what I gathered, that was possible because the Defiled Legion was led by the Dread Lord, as well as my own Corrupted self. Mind you, everything

remained silent

from the looks of it, the 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 the abominations and their terrible master, while some seem to be turning into abominations themselves.

something strange about what

tilted her head

Not

Prince of Nothing nodded with

battle, you see… someone activated the enchantment array of the city. A

Sunny groaned inwardly.

it, didn't she? That the defensive array of Twilight was similar to the vast enchantment of

He sighed.

tell me. Does the same day keep

gave him

such an

'Huh?'

back

the activation of the defensive array

Prince of Nothing lingered for a

simply put… it froze

members of the cohort

"Froze… time?"

a bit exasperated, as if she was tired of time behaving

could blame her? Sunny felt the

her tone, Mordret

seems like you have experienced more than your fair share of strangeness here in the Tomb of Ariel. But, answering your question — yes, it froze time. The moment the defensive array

He shook his head.

The Nightmare Creatures are the same. Even the Dread Lord, despite all his power and authority, was caught in the trap. Now, he's more of a monument to the ruler of Verge, as opposed

Mordret's face grew somber.

Lord will awaken. Don't think that you can kill him while he's vulnerable, too — the moment you step inside Twilight,