Shadow Slave: The Blessing of Fate

The shadow, the star and the oracle descended from the enormous stone statue and set foot into the Labyrinth. As they were making their way through the colossal bloody coral maze, Nephis and Sunny managed to slay more Carapace Scavengers - the Awakened Beasts inhabiting the Forgotten Shore's Labyrinth.

And just like many years ago, Sunny obtained his very first Echo during their crab-slaughtering session. The very first Echo after his regression that is.

[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Carapace Scavenger.]

[Your shadows grow stronger.]

[You have obtained an Echo: Carapace Scavenger.]

This time around, Nephis' seaweed coverings did not fall apart. At least not entirely… Sunny made sure to stand by the slender girl's side at all times, protecting her from potential 'danger', but unfortunately he was not able to completely guard her against this supposed 'danger'.

"T-Turn around!" Nephis exclaimed in a raised voice. It was not an authoritative tone, it was more akin to an embarrassed one, which was understandable.

At first, Sunny suddenly froze due to a simple reason: it was an order from Nephis. 

He did not have Shadow Bond anymore, but there was still a speck of doubt and fear in his mind. Even if Nephis used their bond extremely rarely when it was important or just a mistake, he could not stop himself from having these thoughts.

However, after just a moment he collected himself and turned around, now slightly amused by her sudden change in behaviour.

'There's no need to be scared anymore…'

A wide, joyful smile spread across the ex-slave's face. He was free and there was nothing that was going to stop him from keeping this freedom.

An awkward silence followed. After some time, Sunny spoke.

"Is… is it alright now?"

The girl took a few seconds to answer.

"Yes."

"Great. Well… I'll go fetch Cassie, I got some exciting news for us."

"Mhm…"

***

When Sunny returned with Cassie, he took a step to the side and turned to stand in front of the two beautiful girls.

"Close your eyes!" Sunny said with a cheeky grin on his pale face.

Cassie's face twitched after she heard his words and Nephis' eyebrow raised, but she did as he told them. A myriad of sparks appeared seemingly out of nowhere and a tall shape formed, towering up to around two and a half meters in height. With four pairs of long, scythe-like legs and a human-like torso clad in thick chitinous armor, this harrowing creature would now serve as an invaluable helper.

They have obtained a mount for Cassie.

"Ta-da! Look at this unsightly thing!" Sunny shouted proudly.

The two stared at Sunny, both with absolutely different thoughts in their heads.

"To be blunt, I cannot see anything." Cassie said unexcitedly.

Nephis simply stared at the Echo standing before her.

…

"Sorry, Cass. I got an Echo, we can use it as a ride for you. Our speed will increase a whole lot now."

Her eyes widened with astonishment.

"An Echo? You actually got an Echo?!"

"Yeah."

"W-what… What was that about a ride?" She asked with a confused tone.

***

Storm clouds gathered in the sky and heavy drops of rain were starting to fall on the ground. The winds howled violently, sending bits of seaweed and mud flying all throughout the giant, soon-to-be underwater maze.

Fortunately, Sunny convinced the other two girls that they should rush to the cliffs immediately because he already knew about the approaching storm.

Bolts of lightning arced through the skies, drowning everything in blinding light. Other than that, the cliff that they were lying side by side on was completely dark.

They were surrounded by eight dead Carapace Scavengers, all of them had gaping holes protruding from their backs that were previously covered by a thick chitinous shell.

And the killer was well known to Sunny.

It was one of the two Awakened Monsters that had been retrieving the transcendent soul shards from the giant shark's carcass, offering them to the Carapace Demon as a tribute of sorts - the Carapace Centurion.

Sunny turned his head to look at Nephis and called out to her.

"Neph."

The tall girl looked at the pale boy with an expressionless face.

"Yes?"

He sighed and continued.

"One of the two awakened monsters is right close by, beneath a stone ridge not far from here. The big ones grabbing the soul shards out of the carcass, remember?"

Changing Star nodded, not uttering any other word. Instead, she summoned her sword and looked into his onyx eyes with a determined look. Sunny scoffed slightly, because he knew what they had to do.

"We're intelligent, and the monster is not. Let's kill it." He proclaimed.

***

When Nephis was done absorbing the rest of the gathered soul shards, she looked at Sunny with a silent question in mind, he simply nodded and their plan could finally begin.

A silver bell appeared in his hand and he lightly shook it. Following that, he used Shadow Gate to encompass the surrounding area in a vast shadow, masking their presence and mainly movements.

The monstrosity hiding beneath them moved, turning its massive torso around and looking for the source of the melodic ringing enveloping the dark cliff. It was not able to spot them, so it simply moved towards the sound.

As the monster was approaching the source of the melody, it suddenly tripped on an unassuming golden rope. Subsequently, a massive creature appeared seemingly out of thin air next to the centurion that was lying on the ground and crashed into it. The Echo jumped onto the Awakened Monster's back, pinning it into the stone cliff with all of its eight legs. Immediately after that, a pair of humans appeared - each on one side of the Carapace Centurion - and with their blades, which were now augmented by their Aspects, they slashed away at the giant Nightmare Creature's joints that were holding up two terrifying bone scythes. Nephis was biting her lower lip throughout that whole ordeal, pushing through the suffering of her Flaw. Fortunately, she did not have to heal anyone, so this amount of pain was tolerable in a way.

Before the abominable monster was able to shake off the Echo, Sunny and Nephis both managed to rid it of its harrowing scythe-like arms. Both of them dashed away, Sunny ordered his Echo to grab the two bone scythes and get away from the Carapace Centurion as quickly as it was able to.

The livid monster screeched in agony, flapping its enormous body covered in spikes as it stood up to face its foes, however, it was not able to spot them. The assailants had already hidden deep in the lightless field made up of shadows, masking their presence yet again.

Suddenly, the melody resounded from the opposite direction. The centurion swiftly turned around and faced the source of the sound.

The source was a pale young man clad in dark-grey garments, grasped in his left hand was a small bell that was still slightly shaking - producing the clear ringing that resounded throughout the cliff. The horrifying monster lunged forward and just as it did, a scythe covered in a cold aura was thrown out of the shadows and pierced the monstrosity's back. The monster stopped and turned around.

The Echo of the Carapace Scavenger was standing before it with a massive bone scythe hiding in one of its sharp pincers. The Echo stabbed the enemy with terrifying strength, piercing the monstrosity's chest with the other bone scythe, effectively dealing the killing blow.

The Carapace Centurion stood absolutely still, not moving a single muscle until it collapsed entirely, with the Nightmare Spell then whispering into Sunny's ear.

[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Carapace Centurion.]

[You have received a Memory: Starlight Legion Armor.]

[Your shadows grow stronger.]

Their plan was executed perfectly, the monster was confused by the disappearing foes and they managed to use its own limbs against it. If it was not for Sunny's new Innate Ability, they would never be able to slay it that easily. It was a miracle, truth be told. Thanks to the raging storm around them, their presence was already concealed by the howling winds and the heavy raindrops that were knocking loudly on the ground beneath them.

Sunny fell on the ground - not from pain, but from exhaustion - and stretched his limbs tiredly. He caught his breath and sat down for a while, laying against one of the carcasses and simply closed his eyes to rest for a while.

After around ten minutes, he suddenly stood up and went to give a present to his beloved star. He lightly patted her on the shoulder and as she was turning around to face him, she heard the Spell whisper into her ear.

Grinning cheerfully, Sunny winked and said.

"Got you a nice dress to wear, I've heard that girls like receiving gifts like these."

Nephis' face did not move even a little bit, there was absolutely no reaction to his joke and she simply summoned her new Memory.

The armor that matched her beauty perfectly and would soon become a sight known to every man and woman surviving in these accursed lands.

"Thank you." Nephis thanked Sunny with a gentle smile. It seemed like she had learned how to do one properly by now.

Sunny nodded and summoned his runes to check his Shadow Fragment count.

[Shadow Fragments: 122/1000]