Shadow Slave

Nephis and the Fire Keepers followed the onyx devil across the land of shadows. Their taciturn guide walked without looking back, her beautiful armor gleaming as it reflected the white light of their lanterns. The living statue's steps were neither slow nor hurried, her measured pace full of indifferent confidence.

It was as though she was not afraid of the creatures hiding in the dark at all.

Nephis would have expected the steps of such a heavy creature to resound like thunderclaps in the dead silence, but they were entirely noiseless. She stared at the back of the mysterious stone knight, white flames dancing in her eyes.

The Fire Keepers were tense and quiet, looking into the eerie darkness with wary expressions.

'What is going on?'

Nephis was not troubled, but she did feel somewhat curious. A vast expanse of inexplicable darkness, the fearsome creature that had been sent to meet them... it was all hard to explain, and she rarely encountered things that escaped explanation.

[Cassie?]

There were a few moments of silence, and then the familiar voice resounded in the darkness, answering the question she had not asked:

[It is... strange.]

Nephis glanced at the beautiful stone demon and waited. Cassie continued after a short pause:

[She is a Transcendent Devil. Her soul is an impossible fusion of shadow, darkness, and divine flame. Her powers are those of a sword saint... however, she is not a simple Echo. I... I don't know what she is.]

Nephis nodded calmly.

is alright. I

if she had not recognized that fearsome stonelike armor, that cold presence, and those

in the depths of the Second Nightmare, drowning in despair as the darkness of the Underworld crushed and suffocated her. The prideful beings who ruled the great caverns of the Hollow Mountains while she struggled to

fact, the body she had inhabited was one of the countless flawed vessels that Nether had callously discarded before successfully creating the

sense, the onyx devil was a more perfect version of what Nephis used to

of Nether's children succumbed to Corruption and survived

her

their creator, as well. But why did this one

something to do with

them... had he somehow

mere Transcendent could do? Her curiosity grew a

must have been to chase away the deadly sunlight of Godgrave, Nephis had

'Odd.'

the bones of slain Nightmare Creatures.

of shadows the Fire Keepers ventured, the more and more skeletal

broken

nothing short of chilling. Even if all these powerful Nightmare Creatures had not been slain at the same time... what kind of person was capable of eviscerating this many dreadful abominations in the depths

of truth in the ominous rumors about the dire

had taken almost half a day for the onyx devil to lead them to their destination. The signs

to reach the heart

she would have seen the spine of the titanic skeleton far below. To her left and to her right, in the distance, its

Right ahead, though...

walls were cut from black marble, with exquisite reliefs decorating the stygian pediment and broad frieze.