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.

the smell of wet wood and

«Please…»

a familiar voice spoke

open your

felt at that moment was

slowly opened her eyes and looked

«N-no way…»

frozen forest… was

everywhere she looked, nothing but a barren expanse of flattened and upturned land could be seen. The trees had been reduced to mere splinters, and the ground itself was broken, with

them, broken corpses of the unfortunate Nightmare Creatures who had populated

as far as the eye

landscape had been drastically changed in a matter of minutes, redrawn by

scale of the dreadful destruction… was simply

a trembling breath and finally looked at

steps away,

there was a smudge of something dark on his check… but other than that, he was the same pale, roguish scoundrel she

struggled to perceive him in the same

a powerful being, of course… but this was the first

the vessels of the

to

«The.., the Skinwalker?»

for a few moments, then silently took

him, three human corpses were piled on top of each other, each missing the head and with a

a Great Nightmare

teacher had just killed three Great

shards of a broken mirror glistening

«W-what… how…»

situation was too disturbing. So, Rain would rather think about its consequences… her teacher had revealed himself, and although they were far away from Ravenheart, such a drastic change

they had to get out of here as

have to keep the fact that she was anywhere near

one could know that a being who could 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 was what she

Her teacher sighed.

you are thinking about.

tilted her

you defeated the

a moment, then shook his head

bigger problem. This guy, Master

understand what he was

«…So?»

teacher sighed and rubbed his temples

don't know. Well… let's just say that members of the House of Night should not be anywhere near 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 we were not supposed to

the House of Night and its relationship with the Song Domain, Was there some problem between the two? It didn't

toward having a problem with the Sword Domain, while trying hard

it was

the same time, Rain understood the underlying meaning of what

not supposed to see. Got it. Promising that I won't tell anyone is not going to work, I guess? So… just how big of a secret is

was a little

Well… not any witness. But a mundane girl with no backing? They won't hesitate to silence you even for