SHADOW SLAVE: CROWN OF HOLLOW SCORN

Sunny was expecting to first look at the place where his arrival to the Dream Realm was going to take place from above, just like it had happened at the beginning of the First Nightmare. Back then, time had magically moved in reverse, giving him an opportunity to see hints of what he was going to face.

Instead, immediately after hearing the greetings of the Spell, Sunny found himself blind and drowning. As he instinctively tried to open his mouth to scream, salty water rushed inside, making him choke and twitch.

Worse, he couldn't see. Not in the way darkness usually cloaked the world. There was no light, no source of illumination to make sense of his surroundings. His affinity to shadows should have compensated, but even that had faltered.

Through sheer will, Sunny fought down panic. Teacher Julius had taught them how to swim. If nothing else, he had to trust in that. Letting go of his fear, he focused—listened. Shadows still pulsed around him. Through them, he could sense which direction was up.

Kicking off the unseen depths, he swam toward salvation.

Seconds stretched endlessly, but at last, his head broke through the surface. He inhaled sharply, a desperate, hoarse gasp, filling his lungs with the cold bite of air.

'Breathe, breathe. You're still alive!'

After sucking in enough air to soothe his burning lungs and compose himself to a certain degree, Sunny carefully spun in the water, trying to take in his surroundings.

What met him was nothing but a jet-black expanse of waves. No land. No stars. Just an endless, oppressive void.

A chill ran through his spine—one unrelated to the freezing water.

'This is… a sea? An ocean? Am I in the middle of the ocean?!'

As he was gripped by a momentary panic, a remote sound suddenly drew his attention. Sunny turned around and saw a triangular dorsal fin moving in his direction. Luckily, it was still hundreds and hundreds of meters away.

'Wait… if it's so far away… then how come I can see it so clearly?'

Despite being submerged in water, Sunny still felt like there was suddenly cold sweat all other his body. By his estimation, that dorsal fin was at least five meters tall. It was rapidly approaching, growing visibly larger with each second.

'Damn you, Spell!'

With eyes full of horror, Sunny spun again, desperately trying to find something — anything! — to save him. And there, a short distance away, he finally noticed a black mass protruding slightly above the water.

Not wasting even a second on thinking, he started to swing his arms and legs, swimming in the direction of the black mass with a considerable speed. However, no matter how fast he swam, the giant shadow of the unknown creature was closing the distance between them much faster.

'Faster!'

A final burst of effort, and he reached the platform—rough, uneven stone. He clawed onto it, heaving himself up, rolling away from the edge just as the sea exploded beneath him.

A maw emerged. Rows upon rows of jagged teeth, each as long as his entire body. Sunny stared in frozen horror.

'Why is it even trying to eat me?! I'm not even a snack for something that big!'

… However, before the monster had a chance to attack, a colossal tentacle suddenly broke through the water and rose into the air like some strange, black tower. Before too long, it fell down, entangling the owner of the giant maw and pulling it back under the water.

A few seconds later, the dark sea was calm again, as though nothing has happened. The indifferent waves continued to move silently under the lightless sky.

The silence that followed was even worse than the noise.

Sunny collapsed onto the stone, trembling.

'So… it wasn't trying to eat me…'

A dreadful realization settled in his mind.

'It was trying to run.'

Minutes passed before he gathered enough courage to explore his surroundings.

The black mass he clung to was no ordinary rock—it was a platform. Man-made… or, at the very least, shaped by some unknown force. It was about twelve meters in diameter, its surface dry and carved with unfamiliar grooves.

It was an island in a sea of nightmares.

He shivered. That was when he finally noticed something.

He was completely naked.

"Huh."

To be fair, that had been the last thing on his mind while escaping abyssal horrors. But now that he was aware of it… it was cold.

Summoning the Puppeteer's Shroud, he felt the warmth of dark-grey fabric wrap around his body, complete with high, soft-soled leather boots.

Much better.

Letting out a sigh, he sat in the middle of the platform, as far from the water as possible. There was nothing else to do but wait. Perhaps something would change.

Looking for his shadow, he saw nothing—it was too dark. But he could still feel it.

"This must be paradise for you, huh? All this gloom and not a star in sight."

Silence.

"Anyway… good job earlier."

With a nod, Sunny lay down, closing his eyes, listening. He waited and then, at long last, the sea changed.

… Suddenly, Sunny caught a slight change in the sound of the sea. It was as though something was shifting. He opened his eyes and noticed that one corner of the sky was slowly turning grey. Soon, a glimpse of a pale sun could be seen rising above the horizon.

With the dawn, the sea receded.

And as the waves pulled back, a new landscape revealed itself.

A labyrinth.

***

Far from Sunny, atop a crumbling hill, Valen watched the waters retreat.

The sun rose, weak and pale, over a sea of darkness.

With it, the waters receded.

Valen sat at the edge of a massive hill, watching as the last traces of the black tide slithered away into unseen depths. What remained in its wake was a sprawling labyrinth, half-buried in shadows. The paths twisted and curled, a suffocating maze of crumbling stone and rusted iron.

It felt like a graveyard.

Valen exhaled. His breath came out in a faint mist.

Then, with a flick of his wrist a huge-ass sword shimmered into existence, the [ Bloodforged Fang ], It was long, jagged and cruelly curved—less like a sword and more like a severed fang. The edge gleamed with a dull, bloody sheen, as if it had been forcefully torn from a nightmare creature and reforged into something else.

Valen grimaced as he stared below. His body felt heavy. Was it exhaustion, or something else?

He looked down at the labyrinth once more.

Maybe he shouldn't go down.

But what else should he do? Stay up here like a sitting duck and wait for a Nightmare creature to crawl up on him?

Maybe he would find a better place to stay if he explored a bit. Tightening his grip on the Fang, Valen took a step forward and jumped.

He landed lightly, rolling to absorb the impact. As he straightened, his eyes swept the area. The stone beneath him was rough. Above, the ruined statue of a warrior loomed, its headless helm staring down at him in silent judgment. Seven stars were carved into his breastplate.

Valen's lips curled. A legacy of the past.

Then, the sound of something clicking echoed through the labyrinth.

Valen turned—

Just in time to see the thing crawl out from the shadows.

It was grotesque. Towering over him at nearly three meters, its body was wrapped in thick, segmented carapace. Eight scythe-like legs carried it forward, with an eerie movement, and where its arms should have been, two massive pincers twitched.

The Carapace Scavenger lunged.

Valen dodged, jumping back just as a pincer came crashing down, slamming into the stone floor. It cracked the ground where he had been standing.

Fast.

"If that thing hits me, I'll be paste."

He didn't wait for it to try again. Instead, he sprang forwards, dashing before the beast could recover. In a blur of motion, he leapt onto its back, driving the Bloodforged Fang into one of its grotesque, clustered eyes. The blade sank in with a wet, sickening crunch.

The monster screamed in pain and agony, trying to grab our handsome boy, Valen, who nimbly moved away and back into range cutting three of its legs in half, destroying its balance. The Scavenger collapsed, thrashing.

Valen raised his sword. Then, with a single, precise thrust, he drove it down—piercing through the carapace and deep into the creature's skull.

For a moment, the monster twitched.

Then, it grew still.

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

[....Your burden grows heavier.]

Valen's breathing slowed. His hands remained firm around his weapon, even as he took a step back.

An Awakened Beast?

His eyes darkened. This was supposed to be here. He shouldn't meet a Awakened creatures right at the start, should he?

Something was wrong.

As he exhaled, he felt something else. It was like his Crown grew heavier.

For a moment, he hesitated. Then, slowly, a strange warmth spread through his limbs. Strength. Faint, but undeniable.

[ Crown Fragments: 54/1000 ]

The more he fought, the more he killed, the more the crown would grow. Valen knew this, but what could he do?

The burden had only begun.

He gutted the Nightmare creature and pulled out a shining orb, A soul shard. A physical manifestation of a broken Soul Core that contains remnant Soul Essence.

Then, He absorbed it.

[Crown fragments: 55/ 1000] 

There had been only one soul shard in this ugly thing, (Not like our pretty boy)

Where was he?

He looked at his runes again, with regret and dejection filling his face.

[Flaw: Crown of hollow scorn]

[ Flaw description: The cr...]

He swiped the runes away,

'Ah what the hell. Why look at something that would make this situation worse.'

Shaking his head Valen headed back to his hill.