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.

recognized that fearsome stonelike armor,

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 survive far below, at

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

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

some of Nether's children succumbed to Corruption and survived until

tilted her head

command true darkness, each inheriting a spark of divinity from their creator, as well. But why did this one possess an affinity to

do with

lightless expanse around them... had he

Transcendent could do? Her

Godgrave, Nephis had not expected for this shadowy region to be expansive. But to her surprise,

'Odd.'

more eerie their surroundings became. Because sunlight never reached here, there was nothing to incinerate the bones of slain Nightmare Creatures. Therefore, remains

there were few of them, but the deeper into the land of

and broken by brute force, some killed by

that had transpired in this ominous place was nothing short of chilling. Even if all these powerful Nightmare Creatures had not been slain at the same time... what kind of person

was a seed of truth in the ominous rumors about the dire power

half a day for the onyx devil to lead them to their destination. The signs of fierce battles that had transpired under the cover of darkness only grew more

fifty kilometers to reach

abruptly ended, turning into a vast chasm. If she could pierce the darkness with her gaze, 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...

very edge of the abyss. Its colossal columns and walls were cut from black