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.

by the smell

«Please…»

moment later, a familiar voice

you can open your eyes

at that moment was strong

opened her eyes and looked around, then froze

«N-no way…»

forest…

nothing but a barren expanse of flattened and upturned land could be seen. The trees had been reduced to mere splinters,

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

stretched as far as

landscape had been drastically changed in a matter of minutes,

the dreadful destruction…

breath and finally looked

few steps away,

something dark on his check… but other than that, he was the same pale,

perceive him

powerful being, of course… but this was the first time she really witnessed his

were the vessels

to compose

«The.., the Skinwalker?»

few moments, then silently took a step

corpses were piled on top of each other, each missing the head and with a deep wound where their

of a Great Nightmare Creature!… Rain

had just killed three Great

tiny shards of a broken mirror glistening on

«W-what… how…»

about its consequences… her teacher had revealed himself, and although they were far away from Ravenheart, such a drastic change of landscape would

had to get out of here

Huntsman was also not an option now. Rain would have to keep the fact that she was anywhere near this place a secret… It was a good

would have to return to Ravenheart and lay low for a

Her teacher sighed.

what you are thinking about. But, Rain… sadly, you

tilted her

Why? Because you defeated

moment, then shook his head

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

failed to understand what he was trying to

«…So?»

sighed and rubbed his temples in

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

House of Night and its relationship with

a problem with the Sword Domain, while trying hard to maintain a friendly relationship with the weaker

it

the underlying meaning of what her teacher had

won't tell anyone is not going to

was a little

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