Shadow Slave

Sunny had to destroy the Sin of Solace before the seeds of Corruption were planted into his soul. If he managed to destroy the wraith before that happened, the scheme the Mad Prince had concocted to come back to life would be thwarted, and Sunny would get to continue existing.

If he failed, the Mad Prince would return, consuming him in the process. 'That vile bastard...'

The sword wraith laughed as he watched him.

"My, oh my. You're not going to do something terrible to me, are you?" Sunny glanced at him darkly, then at the beautiful jian in his hand.

Placing the Guiding Light on the water, he wrapped all six of his shadows around him and grabbed the jade blade, using all his inhuman strength in an attempt to break it against his knee.

The Sin of Solace was not only incredibly resilient, but also incredibly sharp. Despite the Marble Shell, Sunny could not get a good hold of it without losing his fingers... and even if he could, his strength seemed insufficient to shatter the cursed sword.

Even though his muscles felt like they were on the verge of tearing, the jian only bent, but did not break. As soon as Sunny released it, the blade sprung back to its initial, perfectly straight form.

'Maybe... I should try to escape back under the gaze of the lake guardian...'

But no, that would only end in his demise. The Sin of Solace was a part of him, and now that the Estuary Key had been destroyed, the guardian would obliterate them both.

The wraith chuckled, observing his efforts with disdain.

"Pathetic."

Sunny abandoned his attempts to break the jade blade and straightened.

Then, he smiled.

So what if he wasn't strong enough to break the damned sword?

That whole performance was just to satiate his curiosity, anyway.

Before the sword wraith could say anything else, he released his shadows and tossed the beautiful jian away.

A moment later, a hand rose from one of the shadows, catching the cursed sword. Saint stepped out of it, holding it with indifferent grace.

As an Ascended, Sunny might not have been strong enough to shatter the Sin of Solace. But luckily, he had a Transcendent Devil at hand... two of them, even.

It would have been even easier to make Fiend eat the jade blade, but he was worried that the cursed thing would give the ravenous ogre indigestion. So, the job of destroying the sinister Memory fell to Saint.

As the six shadows wrapped themselves around the graceful knight, her ruby eyes blazed with crimson light. The wraith opened his eyes widely.

"Now, wait a second..."

incapable of perceiving him —Saint silently placed the flat of the

of hurricane wind spread from the point of impact, and the

of beautiful white jade, which dissipated into a whirlwind of white sparks. Those sparks were

whispering into his ear, saying the same

has been

on his face. Losing Memories never

was the grimace on the face of the sword wraith,

"Argh! Aaah!"

convulsed, screaming, and hunched

few moments, there was

the silence was broken by the sound

sword... did nothing? I am perfectly fine. Who would have

Sin of Solace straightened and stared at Sunny with

did you really think

stared at him silently, his

wraith shook

I am a part of your mind, now. The cause of me might have been that Memory of yours, but the source of me... is you. So, what good would destroying

contemptuous smile slowly disappeared from his face, replaced by

a little

Sin of Solace

displeasure. To spend time with

if wanting to say something... some terrible truth that would drive Sunny mad and infect his soul with Corruption,

before he could, Sunny took a step forward, coming face-to-face with the startled wraith, and

he whispered

Only two words.

words he had spoken after saying farewell to Cassie at the

They were:

"Be gone."

said them,

widened slightly — this time, in

"You..."

he was

if he had

mind was gone, taking the forbidden knowledge of the

from ever

days of the Southern Campaign, Sunny closed his eyes for a moment,