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."

out a frustrated

you just explain what is going on,

gave him an amused

waiting for this moment for

looked at each of them with a

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 it from

He sighed theatrically.

led by the Dread Lord, as

remained silent for

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

something strange about

her

Not were a

Prince of Nothing nodded with a dark

the enchantment array of the city. A truly powerful sorcery was

Sunny groaned inwardly.

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

He sighed.

Does the same

gave him a

No… what gave you such an odd

'Huh?'

back at him,

what did the activation of

Prince of Nothing lingered for a

simply put… it

of the cohort stared at him

"Froze… time?"

as if she was tired of time behaving in all the wrong ways

who could blame her? Sunny felt the

tone,

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 was activated, time

He shook his head.

all his power and authority, was caught in the trap. Now, he's more of a monument to the ruler of Verge, as opposed to

Mordret's face grew somber.

Lord will awaken. Don't think that