Shadow Slave

1508 Unleashed

"Sunny? What is it?"

Kai must have read something from his expression. But Sunny did not know how to answer — he was suddenly in a state of mild panic, feeling like there had been a mistake in their plan. They must have misunderstood the situation, somehow.

But what was there to misunderstand? Twilight was besieged by the forces of the Defilement. In the middle of the battle, the Mad Prince had activated the defensive array, trapping Soul Stealer and the Dread Lord in frozen time… and, therefore, escaping from the clutches of his master.

The madman had also manipulated the events of this cycle to make sure that Sunny arrived at Twilight wearing the Serpent King's crown. He must have wanted the battle to resume… so that his future self, free of being enslaved to the Dread Lord, could turn its tide and destroy the tyrant of Verge.

…Right?

"I… don't know. Something is wrong."

Sunny gritted his teeth and pulled Kai to follow him, aiming to leave the throne room as soon as possible. They had to traverse the battlefield and find the other members of the cohort, first. Together, they would stand a much better chance of surviving the clash with the Defiled legion.

But before he could take another step, the palace shuddered, throwing both of them to the ground. There was a deafening rumble behind them, and the great hall was suddenly much brighter than it had been before.

A whole section of the dome shattered and collapsed, revealing the beautiful twilight sky above…

And the giant head of the harrowing dragon that had broken it.

Enormous chunks of stone fell down, burying the black throne beneath debris. Luckily, Sunny and Kai had already distanced themselves from the dais — otherwise, they would have been buried with it.

'Damnation…'

The Dread Lord's head passed through the breach, hovering in the air on his long neck. His eyes shone with starlight, full of sinister madness and malevolence. Then, the harrowing dragon pushed his enormous body inside, causing more of the dome to collapse.

A moment later, he landed in the throne room with a loud thud, and the palace shook once more.

if the Dread Lord was chasing them. Instead,

Sunny and Kai, the dragon gazed at them and opened

Shadows, at the same time summoning the

However, before he could…

suddenly resounded in his mind, causing him enormous

[STOP.]

following the

frozen in place. It was as if the dragon's words were the law, and

but, but

frozen still, as well. It was only then that Sunny realized that the Dread Lord had not used

was simply the authority of his voice. It was Kai's Ascended Ability, amplified and made more terrible by the dragon's

had always been more than a little bit sinister. The charming archer was a good and honest person by nature, so he only ever used it to inspire his allies and influence Nightmare Creatures. However, in the hands of someone less decent, it had the

of lesser Ranks than you — was very much like

Kai who had become the dreadful lord of Verge… with Kai's upright character destroyed by the curse of the Defilement, the insidious side of his Aspect would have had nothing to keep

and experiencing it himself

'Curse it!'

command, Sunny kneeled in

***

on the devastated streets of Twilight, Nephis was released from the inescapable trap of frozen time. Disoriented, she fell and rolled, jumping to her

life. Their chests were beginning to rise and fall as they breathed for the first time in countless years. Their weapons

defensive array had been deactivated, he must have reached the palace already. Mordret of Valor was nowhere to be seen — he had returned to his physical body, which was lost somewhere

can still

cohort had been separated when escaping Soul Stealer's mirror realm, their primary goal was achieved. Time had been unfrozen, and the warriors of Twilight

the defenders of the city, and overcome the invading legion of abominations. The battle would not be easy… it would be cruel and harrowing. Maybe even

it

hesitated for a moment, looking at the

she had an ominous premonition. Something felt