Shadow Slave

Slowly walking away from the edge of the chasm, Sunny stopped opposite Nephis and looked at her.

In his dark eyes, there was nothing but coldness.

"Well… it's not like we didn't know for a long time that this would be how things end. Did we?"

She stared at him for a while, then smiled bitterly.

"...We did."

Indeed, they knew.

From that terrible day when Sunny had first understood the meaning behind Cassie's vision, he suspected that one day, in order to survive, he would have to kill Nephis.

This was the truth he had chosen to hide from, even if it meant losing his mind. The final and most unbearable reason for why he had spent months alone in the Dark City, hunting monsters and slowly turning into one of them.

How does one come to terms with the knowledge that, one day, they will have to kill the person they care for the most?

…Knowledge, indeed, was the heaviest thing in the world.

Back at the beginning of it all, far away from the Dark City, before they had even known that the Crimson Spire existed, Cassie had shared with them a terrible vision.

She said:

"At first, I saw a… a boundless darkness locked behind seven seals. Something vast was churning in the darkness. I felt like if I directly saw it, I would lose my mind. As I watched, terrified, the seals broke one after another, until only one remained. And then that seal broke, too."

The first part of her vision described the day when the Vessel of the Artificial Sun had gone mad, and the curse of the all-consuming darkness had escaped the prison created for it by the seven ancient heroes.

"I saw the human castle again. Only this time, it was at night. There was a lonely star burning in the black skies, and under its light, the castle was suddenly consumed by fire, with rivers of blood flowing down its halls. I saw a corpse in a golden armor sitting on a throne; a woman with a bronze spear drowning in a tide of monsters; an archer trying to pierce the falling sky with his arrows."

The lonely star shining in the black skies was Nephis, the herald of ruinous change, who had drowned the halls of the Bright Castle in blood to become its ruler, and then watched as it burned to the ground.

The corpse in the golden armor was Gunlaug, who had died on his white throne, killed by her hand.

The woman with a bronze spear and the desperate archer were Effie and Kai, who had almost perished fighting against the nightmare horde during the siege of the Crimson Spire.

"In the end, I saw a colossal, terrifying crimson spire. At its base, seven severed heads were guarding seven locks. And at the top, a… a dying angel was being consumed by hungry shadows. When I saw the angel bleed, I suddenly felt as though… as though something so precious that it can't be described with words was taken from me."

Seven severed heads guarding seven locks were the heads of the giant statues, who stared at the Star Sigil that Sunny had used to banish the dark sea.

And the last part of the prophecy… it wasn't that hard to understand, too.

Nephis was the dying angel, the precious thing that was going to be taken from Cassie, and Sunny was the hungry shadow that consumed her.

It was their fate.

"Then, I felt so much sorrow, pain and rage that what little remained of my sanity seemed to disappear. That was when I woke up… I think."

This was the last thing Cassie had said.

…Looking at Nephis, Sunny sighed and turned away.

"I warned you, didn't I? I told you that this story won't have a happy ending. That there will be only sorrow, pain, and rage. Do you remember what you answered me?"

These were the words he said on the day Neph had asked him to join her expedition.

Back then, his suspicion that they would inevitably end up as enemies had already grown, becoming almost a certainty.

Almost… that cursed word. This was the word that had given him hope, no matter how small. Hope that he was wrong.

But despite that hope, Sunny had been preparing for this moment for a long, long time.

It was because he had known that he would have to face Nephis in combat that he had decided to incorporate Saint's methodical style into his technique, why he trained without rest, day and night, not sparing himself from the pain and hardship. If his only skill was one that she herself had taught him, what chance did he have of defeating her?

It was for that reason that he had climbed to the highest point of the Hunter's statue and spent a night alone there, steeling himself for the inevitable future. Forcing himself to accept the terrible truth that, soon, he would have to kill Nephis.

It was because of this that he had refused Changing Star's offer to heal him. How could he allow her to endure the terrible pain of the white flames, knowing that she would be suffering for the sake of her future killer?

And it was because of this that he had not tried to learn all of her secret plans, remaining comfortable in his role as a hired mercenary. An outsider. He had known that, no matter what, they would end up here, in this moment, forced to fight each other.

Fate… fate was a terrifying enemy to fight against. He knew it better than most.

Fate always won, in the end.

Defeating it was almost impossible.

…Shifting slightly, Nephis looked at him and answered, her voice strangely wistful:

"...Life is not a story. It only ends when you die."

Sunny smiled.

"So… are you ready to die?"

As white sparks ignited in the depths of Changing Star's eyes, she answered with another question:

"What about you?"

Instead of answering, Sunny summoned the Midnight Shard and raised it, assuming a battle stance.

Opposite of him, Nephis did the same, her silver sword weaving itself from blinding light.

…Of course, neither of them planned to kill the other. They needed the other to remain alive, at least until the victor passed through the Gateway. How long would the loser survive after that, though? Especially if they were beaten terribly enough to lose the ability to resist further.

Staying behind meant death.

…As the ancient, gargantuan tower quaked around them, balancing on the edge of collapse, Lost from Light and Changing Star prepared to cross their blades.