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.

all around them, Twilight

the figures of the stalwart defenders of Twilight were slowly coming back to life. There were no Nightmare Creatures nearby,

expression was troubled, for some

"...They're moving."

Soul Reaper's gaze. A

reached

the

seem a bit weird though, huh? I guess it's only natural for people from a different world. Well, at least they're tough. Soft people don't survive…

away, replaced by a tense silence

staring at us

the sentence, a delicate hand appeared in front of her eyes, covering them. Cassie was standing on tiptoes,

was slowly

huntress could react, Cassie spoke

Take Soul Reaper and yourself into the

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

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

Quiet Dancer, Cassie caught the locket and cautiously put it around her neck. Then, she turned to

silver half-mask, her beautiful blue

shook slightly, then moved, pointing

***

the ground and gasped when his bloody stump hit the rubble. A pained groan escaped from his lips, then a

humans and Nightmare Creature were being slowly released from the shackles of frozen time.

the cold

moment, looking upon the world

eyes

that's how it

smile twisted his cracked

struggled to stand up and grinned when he felt countless eyes — and yet, only a single

"Ah, how unfortunate."

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 than an Awakened squire

circumstances couldn't

or was it years, already?... hiding from his Defiled self in complete solitude. Any kind of excitement was better than that dull existence, no