Shadow Slave novel Chapter 727

Suddenly, Noctis seemed… different.

He was still beaten, mangled, and covered in blood, but the sorcerer's presence subtly changed. If before it was faint and weakening, now, it became brimming with power, potency, and free-flowing energy.

Vast, furious… unrestrained.

And suffused with madness.

Despite the fact that Noctis was on his knees and crippled, he suddenly seemed terrifying. The morbid grin on his torn and disfigured face seemed more menacing than pitiful now. His one remaining eye glistened, reflecting the distant light of the crimson moon.

It was as though something that had been suppressing the sorcerer's true power all this time finally set him free.

Noctis inhaled deeply, and at the same, Solvane suddenly swayed. The hand she had used to crush his ribcage was still pressed against her body, blood streaming down on the red tunic.

Her beautiful eyes widened.

And then…

Something moved under her skin, making the War Maiden let out a pained scream.

She staggered back and looked at the kneeling sorcerer with a pale face.

"What… what have you done to me?"

Noctis smiled. His voice sounded hoarse and full of unfathomable emotion when he spoke:

"What else? I have fulfilled your most ardent wish, Solvane. I… have defeated you."

She stared at him in shock, then suddenly shuddered and let out another tortured scream. As drops of blood flew out of her mouth, the beautiful Transcendent stumbled and fell to her knees. Her sublime face was deathly pale and contorted by a grimace of terrible pain.

The sorcerer let out a croaking laugh and slowly stood up. Just like that, their roles were reversed. The War Maiden was on her knees, and Noctis was looming above her.

He lingered for a moment, and then looked at the patch of shadows where Sunny was hiding, his mind full of vague suspicion.

"You can come out, Sunless. It's safe now."

'What the hell...'

Sunny hesitated for a few seconds, then assumed his corporeal form and glanced at Solvane, his eyes burning with hatred.

Slowly, a few things were clicking in place and starting to make sense. The magical circle in the sorcerer's residence, the river of blood that Noctis had fed to the soil below, the cracks on the stone floor, the tremors that had been running through it from time to time…

Even the faint scream that had awoken Sunny on his last night in the Sanctuary.

He turned and stared at the sorcerer, a harrowing guess appearing in his mind.

Solvane, however, was still in the dark. As the ghastly movement under her skin grew stronger and more noticeable, she groaned:

"What… is… this… thing? My… my Aspect…"

Noctis smiled.

"Ah, you've noticed? Yes, there is no point in trying to summon your Abilities. My little pet is a bit hungry for soul essence, you see. I've been starving it for a few hundred years, after all."

As he spoke, his own essence flowed freely, coursing through his mangled body. The terrible wounds covering it started to heal at an incredible pace. As Sunny watched, the bloody hole in the sorcerer's chest closed, his shattered ribs coalescing back into proper shape. His torn cheek was already growing back together.