Shadow Slave novel Chapter 2977

Sunny drove the sharp blade of his slaying Will through the Vile Thieving Bird's eye, piercing its brain.

If Weaver could see it... they'd probably feel darkly amused by the morbid justice of that lethal blow. Sunny did not care about justice, though — and neither did he care about Weaver. All he cared about was making sure that the loathsome Terror died and regaining his fate.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, the Thieving Bird's towering body shuddered, and its frenzied, demented gaze slowly grew cold. The burning madness was finally gone from its eyes, replaced by glassy emptiness.

It was dead.

Sunny swayed heavily, the last of his essence being consumed by the burden of sustaining the powerful enchantment of Weaver's Mask. The boundless tapestry of broken fate disappeared, and the crushing pressure that had been tormenting his tired mind lifted. But he was still holding it in his grasp...

His fate.

He exhaled slowly, feeling something penetrating the very foundation of his being...

Something too vast to be perceived, too deep to be fathomed.

Something that came from outside, yet felt natural and familiar...

As if it was meant to be.

Sunny shuddered.

Before now, he had not even known... he could not even grasp how much he missed it.

Being himself.

Weaver's Mask crumbled into a whirlwind of sparks, and he offered his face to the wind. A sigh that was full of quiet, indescribable relief escaped from his bloodied lips.

At the very core of his being, a familiar weight was taking root once again. It connected all of him into an unbroken whole, holding the distant parts of his vast self together like an anchor... or perhaps like a radiant beacon that shone in the boundless darkness.

‘Don't... don't relax just yet.’

Sunny tried to remind himself to stay vigilant, looking around with a somber expression.

It was only now that the battle was over that he noticed the details of where he was. It was the Estuary, yes — the outer shell of the Stone Titan's heart. However, it looked very different from how it had been.

The ancient stone was weathered and worn down. Everywhere Sunny looked, deep fissures that had not been there before broke its black surface, nestling with deep darkness. It was as if the heart of the Estuary was broken and dead, shattered by the weight of eternity.

It felt... old.

Sunny knew where he was, but he did not know when he was. Something told him that he had ended up far, far in the future of the Tomb of Ariel... eons after the day they had fought the Thieving Bird on the surface of the Estuary Lake.

It occurred to him then that he would not be able to summon his Shadows. Dismissing a Shadow and calling it back could be done from virtually any distance... but what if what separated them was not space, but an endless amount of time? That... that was a different matter entirely. Sunny was completely alone, hopelessly lost in time, and on the threshold of death.

And he did not know what perils lurked in the vast abyss surrounding him. His immediate worry was the Vile Spawn... but there could be other threats, as well.

He inhaled deeply.

‘So, then, the first thing is..’

However, before he could finish the thought, a voice whispered into his ear.

A voice that made his hair stand on end.

[You have slain the Vile Thieving Bird.]

Sunny froze.

He shivered.

He gasped quietly...

Because the voice did not belong to him. The voice was vaguely familiar and soothing... but also chilling and terrifying. It was the voice of the Nightmare Spell. The Spell...

Sounded darkly amused.

It sounded pleased.

...Which was deeply disturbing.

[Welcome back to the Nightmare Spell, Lost from Light.]

[Your treachery truly knows no bounds.]

Sunny hesitated for a few moments, then cleared his throat.

"Well... thank you? It's good to be back, I guess. I, uh... I missed you, too."

There was a long stretch of silence, which made Sunny quite nervous.

The Spell did not know how to hold grudges, did it? It wasn't like he had abandoned it on purpose.

It had all happened against his will, really! But even as Sunny was tense and unsure of what would happen next, he could not help but feel triumphant.

Because the Spell... it had called him by his name.

His True Name.

'I am... a really am back, aren't I?’

As Sunny staggered and sank to his knees, completely spent, the Nightmare Spell whispered into his ear once again.

[You have received a Memory.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

Sunny smiled weakly.

‘My shadow...'

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