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

figures of the stalwart defenders of Twilight were slowly coming back to

was troubled,

"...They're moving."

followed Soul Reaper's gaze. A small smile appeared on

reached the throne

looked at the human figures

seem a bit weird though, huh? I guess it's only natural for people from a different world. Well, at least

by a tense silence

are they staring

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

slowly backing

react, Cassie spoke in a grave and urgent

and yourself into the locket.

moment, but did not ask any questions. A moment later, her figure disappeared. So did Jet's. They were gone, safely

ground. Before it touched the cracked floor, however, the cord

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

half-mask, her beautiful blue eyes were cold and

slightly, then

***

the rubble. A pained groan escaped from his lips,

him, humans and Nightmare Creature were being slowly released from the

onto the

looking upon

eyes widened

that's how

twisted his cracked

on his sword, Mordret struggled to stand up and grinned when he felt countless eyes — and

"Ah, how unfortunate."

Reflections had been destroyed. He only 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

couldn't

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