Shadow Slave

The world quaked, and then, Rain was suddenly enveloped by absolute darkness.

It was as if an Impenetrable wall rose to surround her from all sides. The deafening cacophony of terrible sounds coming from the outside was muffled and dampened by that wall, and nothing but slight tremors reached her.

For the moment, at least, she was safe.

But those sounds…

Feeling a cold dread grasp her heart, she took a shaky breath and tried to comprehend them.

There was the sound of trees snapping. There were the screams of the air being torn. There was the roar of the ground being upturned.

These were the sounds that she could recognize.

But there were other sounds, as well.

Inhuman howls. Chilling groans that sounded like… like the world itself was weeping. Eerie and revoltingly organic rustling, as if a mountain of flesh was ripping as it expanded while consuming itself.

And many more that Rain simply could not describe, and was afraid to fathom.

The ground was shaking violently, and she was struggling to stay standing.

Her fingers turned white on the hilt of her sword.

«Teacher… be safe. Please…!»

But how could anyone stay safe when facing the Skinwalker? Countless people had fallen to its menace and were consumed, becoming vessels of the abomination's corruption. Mundane humans, Awakened, Masters… even Saints.

Not even the Sovereigns could eradicate this living curse.

Shrouded by darkness, Rain realized how painfully weak and helpless she was.

Just a few moments ago, she had been full of pride, praising herself for slaying an Awakened Demon.

But now, she remembered that in the world of the Nightmare Spell, she was nothing but an ant.

An ant who couldn't even do anything when her teacher was fighting to protect her.

«Strong… I want to be strong.»

She had not changed at all. She was still the same girl who had been powerless to protect herself, let alone anyone else, when the tide of Nightmare Creatures descended on her school.

…The world continued to scream and quake for several minutes.

Then, an eerie silence suddenly enveloped it. The tremors stopped, and the terrible sounds ceased.

Rain remained motionless, keeping her eyes closed.

She didn't dare to think about how the battle had ended. The thought of imagining her teacher… her teacher not being there anymore was too appalling. More appalling than what would happen to her if he was truly gone.

Suddenly, the wall surrounding her disappeared. She knew that it had because light suddenly shone through her eyelids, and cold wind scraped against her face.

was permeated by the

«Please…»

a familiar voice

open your eyes

felt at that moment was strong enough to make

her eyes and

«N-no way…»

frozen forest… was

upturned land could be seen. The trees had been reduced to mere splinters, and the ground itself was

were wet with blood. Buried under them, broken corpses of the unfortunate Nightmare Creatures who had populated the forest lay, their

stretched as far as the eye

changed in a matter of minutes, redrawn by the fury of the

of the dreadful

breath and finally

standing a few steps away,

his check… but

perceive him in

had known that her teacher was a powerful being, of course… but this was the first time she

the vessels

to

«The.., the Skinwalker?»

silent for a few moments, then silently took a step

were piled on top of each other, each missing the head and with a deep

vessels of a Great

three Great abominations. Just

there tiny shards of a broken mirror glistening on the ground

«W-what… how…»

Rain would rather think about its consequences… her teacher had revealed himself, and although they were

they had to get out

also not an option now. Rain would have to keep the fact that she was anywhere near

slay three vessels of the Skinwalker lived in her shadow, She would have to return to Ravenheart and lay low for a few months… luckily, that

Her teacher sighed.

you are thinking about. But, Rain… sadly,

her head

you defeated the

a moment, then shook his head and pointed

myself is not a good thing, sure. But actually, we have a bigger problem. This

failed to understand what

«…So?»

teacher sighed and rubbed his

the territory of Queen Song right now. And they must have been fairly close to Ravenheart, moving in secret, when the Skinwalker got them. So… I am afraid that you and I have seen something that

mentioned about the House of Night and its relationship with the Song Domain, Was there some problem between the

anything, the Song Domain seemed to be moving toward having a problem with the Sword Domain, while

it

the same time, Rain understood the underlying meaning of what her teacher

that I won't tell anyone is not going to work, I guess? So… just how big of a secret

was

to erase any witness from existence. Well… not any witness. But a mundane girl with no backing? They won't hesitate to silence