Shadow Slave

A towering golem made from crumbling stone, its cracked body overgrown with red moss, raised a hand. There was a corpse.entombed within it. The soldier of an annihilated civilization had perished.thousands of years ago, but their sorcerous armor still lived, infected by an abhorrent.corruption.

The creature, an Asura of Condemnation, was holding a diamond cleaver in its hand. When the cleaver rose, the world seemed to tremble in fear. When the cleaver fell, reality itself seemed to split apart.

A giant tree, its adamantine bark hard enough to resist the end of days, was cut down in one slash and toppled slowly. The wind raised by its fall fanned the flames that had been spreading through the jungle, and bitter smoke permeated the air.

The tree had been dead for countless years, and its heart had long rotted away. There was a cave-like hollow between its roots, which was now revealed.

Two terrified Sleepers had been hiding in that hollow, and were now hugging each other as they looked at the sinister abominations in horror..

The diamond cleaver rose again, spelling their doom.

…Before it could fall down to reap their lives, however, an equally menacing fiend appeared from the darkness, crashing into the great golem with a ferocious growl. It had sharp claws, twisting horns, and a long tale, its bestial body encased in a fearsome onyx carapace. The darkness itself moved, shrouding it like a mantle.

And a moment later…

The eyes of the two Sleepers widened.

A beautiful young woman wearing a fluttering white tunic fell from above, surrounded by pure light. Her skin was fair and flawless, like polished alabaster, and her silver hair shone brilliantly in the dim twilight of the jungle. Her figure was slender and graceful, and her beauty… was breathtaking.

She held an incandescent sword in her hands.

Landing on the shoulder of the ghastly golem, she delivered a terrible blow and severed its damaged neck.

The headless abomination continued to.resist furiously even after being decapitated, but the strange pair — the fearsome demon of darkness and the beautiful spirit of light — cooperated seamlessly, swiftly bringing it down.

The diamond cleaver shattered and fell apart. The stone carapace crumbled. The mummified corpse that had been entombed within it turned to ash.

The creature was dead before the falling tree collapsed to the ground, making the ancient ruin quake.

Nephis jumped off its corpse and inhaled slowly.

The Lord of Shadows had been wounded in that last clash, but his towering body was already repairing itself. She was unscathed… for now.

made it to the two Sleepers in

remains of the giant tree and looked into the hollow space between its roots, where two ashen- faced teenagers were staring up at her with wide

faces smeared with ash and dirt. One of them seemed to maintain a shred of composure, holding the other tightly. The other girl… didn't look too

first Sleeper opened her

«You're… y-you're… Changing Star?»

all, she was both a leader and a public figure now… knowing how to make the right impression was one of the skills she had to master, and had

the Immortal Flame clan. This is Saint Shadow…

a few moments, looking

expression was not what Nephis

she… wary of

tone that was meant to be steady, but

Tamar of the Sorrow

«Ah…»

lingered for

of Song.

was indeed a bit

Shadows stared at her, as if curious to see what she would do. His demonic

pit, put her sword down, and looked at the second teenager. Then,

wrong

her black sword, then

of infection. She scraped her hand

eyes trembled

you,

kneeled near the unconscious Sleeper, looking at her with

sound. You don't

time in Godgrave. Before that, they had probably spent a lot of time together at the Academy. It wasn't strange for them to care about each other… in fact, Nephis was the strange one, having formed

had been a reason for that, of course. She did not know which of the fellow Sleepers had been sent to kill her, at the time…

member to their small cohort

her head

furnace, and her pulse was weak… she wasn't just infected… she was dying. Nephis lingered for a moment, and then glanced at Tamar. She

is almost over. Fear not, for we are here. And we will get you and your friend out, no

Then, she suddenly slumped, as if finally allowing