Shadow Slave novel Chapter 999

"...My Shadow?"

Sunny unlocked his eyes wide.

'Saint!'

It seemed that Saint had finished her evolution into a Devil ahead of schedule. All things considered, her timing was nothing short of impeccable.

Even in his disoriented state, Sunny knew that he could not ignore such luck.

As the first of the Nightmare Creatures emerged from the Gate, he abandoned his attempts to crawl forward and called upon his Shadow, instead.

The coldness of the polar night seemed to grow slightly darker. Then, an intricate sabaton forged out of black, stonelike metal stepped on the ground beside him.

Sunny weakly turned his head to look up at Saint, who was as aloof as ever.

His taciturn knight... had changed.

Initially, she had been roughly the same height as him, becoming taller after evolving into a Demon. Now, Saint towered above Sunny. Obscured by the beautiful onyx armor, the lines of her stone body were still slender and graceful... but at more than two meters of height, the fearsome Shadow seemed extremely imposing.

Her oppressive presence was worthy of a Devil.

The black armor itself had not changed much - it had always been a product of magnificent craftsmanship, and seemed even more superb and menacing now. However, Saint's skin, which had been grey like stone before, then white as alabaster, was now as smooth and black as polished onyx - at least what little of it could be seen through the slits of her visor.

The ruby jewels of her eyes burned with ominous crimson flames.

Saint studied the vast rift of the Nightmare Gate indifferently, then glanced at Sunny. It almost seemed... as though she had a lot of questions.

He forced out a weak smile.

"Yeah... stuff happened. I'm glad to see you, too."

Then, he raised a trembling hand and pointed at the emerging Nightmare Creatures.

"Go... argh... go deal with them, if you don't mind. I'll stay here for a bit."

Saint lingered for a moment, then silently turned to the flood of monstrous creatures and strolled forward. Her steps were calm and steady.

Sunny let his hand drop back to the ground.

'Ah, it's good to have her back.'

Hoisting himself up to sit, his back leaning against a piece of rubble, Sunny used some of his last essence to send the Broken Oath to the taciturn Devil. Then, he commanded all four of his shadows to abandon him and embrace Saint, instead.

Her tall figure shone with a dark radiance. The shadows around the demonic knight swelled, becoming deeper and darker, surrounding her like a tenebrous mantle... which was all expected.

What Sunny had not expected, however, was that there was a hint of true, elemental darkness in that lightless glow. It made him shiver.