Shadow Slave

1507 Twilight Throne

Sunny stared at the black throne. The grand hall of the Serpent King's palace was empty and dim, stone debris littering the floor and hanging in the air, dust particles frozen in the stark rays of light. Despite the cataclysmic battle happening outside, it was perfectly silent — except for the hoarse sounds of his breathing.

'Right. Let's do this…'

He felt a complicated mix of relief, anticipation, and dread. Relief and anticipation because he had made it in time, dread because the battle against the horde of the Defilement would resume the moment he accomplished his task.

The monstrous Soul Stealer, the harrowing Dread Lord… they were going to have to fight these beings. Sunny still remembered the terror of facing a Corrupted Titan in battle. The Winter Beast alone had been enough to wipe out the remains of the First Evacuation Army and the millions of refugees in Falcon Scott. The deathly frost of that dark day had seeped into his bones.

But today was going to be different.

All the members of the cohort were here. Mordret was here, too… and a vast army of warriors from a distant realm, all seasoned veterans of the Nightmare Spell.

Sunny had grown much stronger, as well.

'We'll kill them both.'

Shaking off the momentary hesitation, he walked toward the black throne.

As he did, Sunny noticed something behind the dais. The throne room was not entirely empty, after all… someone was standing there, frozen in the middle of looking up at the crumbling dome. A tall and elegant figure wearing ivory armor, which was tied at the waist with a burnt umber sash. Auburn hair, green eyes…

Sunny froze for a moment.

'Kai!'

So, this was where the Spell had sent his friend. Kai had been in the throne room all along, frozen in time and not even aware of what was happening around him. All the long months that had passed were like a moment to him.

Sunny did not even know whether to feel jealous or sad for his friend.

Looking away, he put his foot on the first step of the dais.

'Hang in there, buddy. I'll release you really soon…'

essence was getting

unsure what to do. The first idea that came to his mind was to sit

a king of anything, let alone of a city whose former king he had killed. Magnificent thrones were not really his thing… he was already plenty happy with his handy Shadow

'Ah, whatever.'

of urgency, Sunny took a step closer and suddenly noticed a circular groove carved into the back of the throne. Its size and

enchantment of Aletheia's island by inserting the key into a slot carved into the Estuary fragment. Following an impulse, Sunny took off

force pulled the band of dark metal out of his hand. The Crown fitted the groove perfectly, merging with the black stone of the throne. Luckily,

also felt… a different, much vaster connection being established between his

looked up at the cracked

on that connection, giving a mental

name of Wind Flower of the Twilight Sea…

a few moments, nothing happened. The grand hall of the palace was

tore the silence apart. It was the sound of a shard of stone falling on

saw pieces of debris scattering across the marble tiles. His eyes widened when he realized the significance of what just

it was as though an invisible ripple spread through the world. The dust that had been hanging in the air, motionless, moved and danced in the rays of light. The shard of

of the disastrous battle seeped through the

I actually did

a deafening noise, making the whole

it… and now, it was time to face the consequences

dragon right above his head right now, hellbent on slaughtering

the streets of the city, a dreadful Mirror Titan, and an army of eerie warriors

But first…

from the groove cut into the black throne, Sunny put it on his head and hurriedly dashed toward the lone figure standing beneath

starting to move. He swayed a little and took a step back, stumbling over the first step of the dais. Before he could fall, however, Sunny caught him

archer

happening? Are

again around them,

destroyed world to help us kill you… him… the dragon! The rest of the cohort is

at Kai and

And also, Effie is