Shadow Slave

1509 Stolen Bodies

The frozen battle they had witnessed was not a battle between the Defiled legion of Verge and the defenders of Twilight.

Instead, it was a battle between the Dread Lord and Soul Stealer.

The two Defiled Saints must have clashed as soon as the last true bastion of humanity in the Tomb of Ariel had fallen. Perhaps it was because they had needed each other's power before that. Perhaps it was because Soul Stealer had finally become capable of resisting the authority of the Dread Lord after devouring the souls and stealing the bodies of millions of humans in Twilight.

'Can it be his Transformation Ability?'

To split his soul into countless shards, all beholden to one sinister will. That would be a terrifying power in the hands of someone as devious as the forsaken Prince of War. He had already been insidiously dangerous due to his ability to slither into human souls and wear their bodies like costumes… what if Mordret of Valor could possess not one, but several stolen bodies at the same time?

Or millions of them, after becoming the Soul Stealer?

…Surrounded from all sides, with countless hollow eyes looking at her with an eerie lack of human emotions, Nephis took an involuntary step back. However,there were countless taken warriors standing behind her, as well.

There was nowhere to retreat. No path to salvation.

Except for the impossible one she could try and cut for herself.

She gritted her teeth.

'At least... Sunny... is not here.'

As numerous humans moved toward her, Nephis looked at them with cold resentment and unsheathed her sword.

***

Not too far away, Effie, Jet, and Cassie found themselves inside a half-collapsed building. The blind girl was the first one to regain her senses, catching the tall huntress before she could fall.

Pieces of rubble rolled on the cracked floor, the noise of their fall sounding thunderous in the eerie silence of the frozen city.

Although, by then, the city was not frozen anymore.

there, all around them, Twilight was beginning to

on a narrow street, the figures of the stalwart defenders of Twilight were slowly coming back to

her expression was troubled, for some

"...They're moving."

followed Soul Reaper's

must have reached the throne

looked at the human

guess it's only natural for people from

faded away, replaced by a tense silence for

they staring at

covering them. Cassie was

was slowly

huntress could react, Cassie spoke in a grave

Soul Reaper and yourself into the locket.

A moment later, her figure disappeared. So did Jet's.

iron locket on a black cord, which fell to the ground. Before it touched the cracked floor, however, the cord was caught

locket and cautiously put it around her neck. Then, she turned

the silver half-mask, her beautiful

her rapier shook slightly, then moved, pointing

***

bloody stump hit the rubble. A pained groan escaped from his lips, then a stifled chuckle. Looking up, he observed the

were being slowly released from the

flowed onto the cold stones once

motionless for a moment, looking upon the

eyes widened

how

amused smile twisted

Mordret struggled to stand up and grinned when he felt countless eyes — and

"Ah, how unfortunate."

had a single soul core left, reducing his power to that of a mere Beast. His own Ascended body was missing a hand, while his best spare was nothing more

the circumstances couldn't

at least things wouldn't be boring. He had spent so many months… or was it years, already?... hiding from his Defiled self in complete solitude. Any kind of excitement was better than that dull existence, no matter how fatal it would turn