SHADOW SLAVE: HEIR OF ABYSS

Effie regarded the cathedral for some time, then glanced at Sunny with doubt.

"I know for a fact that nothing comes out alive from that temple. Are you sure that this is where you live?"

With a carefree smile, Sunny shrugged. The fact that Effie knew about the danger hiding inside the ruined church did not surprise him. Even if it was situated outside of her usual hunting grounds, she had extensive knowledge of the Dark City, some from her own exploration, some from sharing information with other hunters.

Dead tired and longing to return to the peaceful silence of his home, he didn't waste any time and told her about the Black Knight who guarded the cathedral.

The unruly huntress scratched the back of her head.

"So… there's a Fallen Devil inside? He's the roommate you were talking about?"

Sunny gave her a nod.

"The bastard endlessly patrols the ground floor and kills anything that comes through the doors. However, if we enter through the roof and stay hidden, we can reach my living quarters without any problem. More than that, nothing will bother us once we're there, because the bastard never comes that way and obliterates anything that tries."

Effie was silent for a while, then grinned.

"So, you basically have a devil for a butler. Pretty smart…"

Sunny chuckled.

'Was that a compliment?'

"...for a doofus like you."

'Ah, there it is.'

Once they climbed up to the roof, there was a slight problem. Sunny failed to consider that the hole in the tiles that he used to enter the cathedral, while wide enough for his small frame, would be too tight for the tall and robust huntress to crawl through. Looking at the narrow gap between the massive plates of dark marble, Effie gave him a gloomy look.

However, before Sunny could come up with an alternative plan, she simply bent down, grabbed one of the incredibly heavy plates, and moved it aside. The words died on his lips.

'Strong. I wonder who is stronger, she or the Stone Saint.'

Honestly, he wasn't sure.

Before proceeding further, Sunny instructed Effie on how they were going to get her inside the hidden chamber and watched as the huntress reluctantly dismissed her bronze armor. With only a short white tunic covering her lovely olive skin and abundant figure, she looked very… uh… comely. For a moment, his displeasure of having someone intrude upon the secluded peacefulness of his lair evaporated.

…But only for a moment.

"Don't you get any strange ideas. Your armor is just too much of a risk. We can't allow ourselves to make any noise, that's all."

Effie grinned.

"Strange ideas? Why are you talking about having strange ideas all of a sudden, huh Sunny?"

He gritted his teeth, turned away to hide his blushing face, and crawled into the hole between tiles.

'Damn woman!'

Once they landed on the support beam of the cathedral, Sunny guided Effie's hands to rest on his shoulders. Although the sun was still high in the sky, there wasn't any sunlight around them. Only the floor of the ancient temple beneath them was bathed in it.

But even then, large areas of the grand hall were drowned in deep shadow.

Only it wasn't really shadow. It was darkness. Not one born from the absence of light, but true darkness, one which even his sight could not pierce. Sunny didn't know if it was summoned here by the Black Knight or simply obeyed him, but this was how the bastard had managed to sneak up on him unnoticed back when they first met.

In any case, he had to guide Effie across the beams of the cathedral. One wrong step, and they would plunge to their deaths.

'What a bother.'

Feeling rather awkward because of how close their bodies were to each other, Sunny quietly sighed and took a step forward. It was hard to concentrate…

'Strange ideas… who's having strange ideas? Not me!'

A few minutes later, they reached the hidden balcony behind the statue of the unknown goddess. Despite the fact that nothing out of the ordinary had happened, Sunny was rather on edge.

Something told him that this was going to be a really long week.

Once they entered his hidden chamber, Sunny informed Effie that she was free to create light and speak. Not wasting any time, the unruly huntress summoned a radiant Memory and looked around with curiosity.

The beautiful and spacious room that had once belonged to the priestess of this ancient temple was suddenly flooded with soft light. The intricate engravings on the walls created an atmosphere of sanctity and elegance. Here and there stood various pieces of furniture, most made out of opulent pale wood, with a few mismatched pieces that Sunny had scavenged from the ruins.

Effie whistled.

"Have to give it to you, Sunny. You sure know how to live in style. Who would have thought?"

He smiled.

"Jealous?"

She sighed.

"The important thing is that even if Gunlaug tracks us here, none of his people would be able to enter. So we're indeed safe."

Slightly disappointed, Sunny shrugged.

"Well, make yourself at home. I'll show you the back exit and other stuff later."

With that, he furtively glanced around and tried to quickly hide a few things from sight to make his home more presentable. If he had known that there was going to be a guest here, he would have cleaned up the mess a little in advance.

Not that Effie paid it much attention. She walked around with curiosity, studying the engravings on the walls and ancient furniture.

…But then, suddenly, Sunny heard a loud giggle coming from behind.

Turning around, he saw Effie standing in front of the wardrobe hidden behind a stone panel. The wardrobe was currently open, showcasing the garments left behind by the priestess.

The huntress looked at him with a strange smile.

'Why… why is she staring at me?'

"What?"

Effie shook her head.

"No, nothing. It's just… you know, Sunny, when I first saw you, I thought — look at this tiny boy! He's just like a toy! You just want to dress him up like a doll and play with him…"

Sunny blinked a couple of times, then scowled angrily.

"Who are you calling tiny? I'm not tiny… in any way, you beanpole!"

Not paying him any attention, the huntress glanced at the wardrobe and giggled again.

Then, suppressing laughter, she said:

"Who knew that you are into… playing another kind of dress-up, huh?"

It took Sunny a couple of seconds to realize what she was implying. When he did, he turned bright red from outrage.

The nerve! The gall! How dare she!

"What are you talking about?! Those aren't mine! The priestess who lived here before left them behind!"

Effie nodded a couple of times.

"Sure, sure. You just happened to have a wardrobe full of pretty dresses. By accident…"

"That's the truth! I never lie!"

She looked at him with a wide smile.

"But of course! It must be the truth. I totally believe you. Definitely."

Sunny stared at her with his mouth wide open, not knowing what to say.

Effie, meanwhile, looked around and innocently fluttered her eyelashes.

"But, Sunny… we have another problem."

Gritting his teeth in irritation, he snapped:

"What is it?!"

She lingered for a few moments, then said teasingly:

"There's only one bed. Ah, what a predicament! Whatever should we do?"

Sunny glared at her for a long time, then spat:

"You take the damn bed! I'll sleep on the floor!"

With that, he turned away a tried to take a deep breath.

'Why did I ever agree to this?! Women… damn women… they're the true terror!'

…Indeed, this was going to be a very long week.

***

Effie was satisfied, after not being able to make Wren flustered she had found another target for her vulgar jokes, it was doofus or Sunny. The latter was having thoughts of killing her rather than staying with her for a week.

Remembering Wren, she was curious to know more about the famous butler of Changing Star. Sh stared at Sunny, sensing her gaze he looked toward her and asked:

"What?"

Effie smirked.

"Ah it is nothing... or may be it is something. Remember what I said earlier? Tell me more about princesses's do- I mean princesses's butler."

Hearing her, Sunny sighed. Of course he would after all she was asking about the devil's incarnate.

"Hmm about Wren huh, let's see where we can start."

Effie didn't want to waste her time, so she asked a question instead, of course it was about Wren:

"How strong is he?"

Sunny stared at her, he mentally sighed.

'Even I can't really take a good guess of his strength.'

"He is strong, too strong even for me. Only Nephis or a very strong Nightmare Creature can beat him."

'Though I am not sure of Nephis too, not that you need to know right now.'

Effie was dumbfounded, of course why wouldn't she would be. The usual silent butler of the Changing Star was strong, so much that only Nephis or a Nightmare Creature of a higher rank can beat him.

'Ah, I think I should be grateful he hasn't kill me yet, maybe he was also the reason for that coldness whenever I called him Princesses dog.'

"If he is so strong then why did he became Princess's butler?"

Sunny stared at her and said:

"That I don't know, he was with her together from the moment they entered the academy."

Sunny lied and he knew it's consequences, he was feeling the strain on his body each time he lied, although he can now control it albeit.

"Is he always like this? Cold, silent and mysterious?"

Sunny answered her back this time with honesty.

"No, he wasn't. Although he was mysterious, he wasn't this cold and silent before entering the Dark City. He was cheerful, usually talked with everyone. He was also the one who taught me combat arts."

Effie listened Sunny talking about Wren, spending their first day in discussion meanwhile Wren and Nephis were...

***

"I hope you don't mind it, but I have a few things to ask you Nephis."

Changing Star looked at him, and then said:

"Sure."

Wren stared at her for a few moments, then sighed.

"Do I have to come along with you during the expedition?"

Nephis was surprised at Wren's question, she then said:

"It's your choice, although you should come to increase our chances of survival."

Wren smirked.

"Have you grown weak or something? Even Sunny is going with you all, what's there to worry?"

Nephis however didn't have the same expression as Wren.

"Sunny still hasn't given his answer."

Wren smiled.

"You don't have to worry about such trivial thing, he will surely come with you all. If not, I will beat him to accept it."

Nephis had little smile on her face.

'She barely smiles, and mostly because of Sunny. What a lovely iconic duo.'

Although Wren loved this little talk between them, this wasn't his main purpose. He mentally sighed and asked Nephis.

"Nephis I hope you don't mind it, but what is your perspective about the Valor clan?"

Nephis small smile died and her eyes turned colder.

'Oh shit, she absolutely minds it'

"Any particular reason?"

Her voice although appear normal, hidden beneath was a hideous venom. Wren sighed and said:

"No reason, actually... I wanted to know it for myself."

Nephis had a surprised expression on her face.

"You see, your clan and my clan had a special relationship before your clan had fallen. But the Valor clan didn't helped you at that time, so I just wanted to know what your opinion was about my clan."

Nephis had somber expression on her face, maybe it was due to the fall of her clan or some other reason Wren didn't know it neither he wanted to know.

"I don't harbor any negative emotions towards your clan. Although I do hate one person from your clan. The King of Swords, he was a companion of my father."

'Ah! So it was Lord Anvil. I think he is Morgan's father wasn't he? So you don't have any ill intent towards my clan but to the Lord. Hmm, I think I have decided it. Changing Star I have decided to not kill you as long as it doesn't hurt my clan I have no issues. Kill the Lord if you can, someone will replace him anyway.'

Wren loyalty lies to the Valor clan. That's why he wasn't worried about Nephis hatred toward the clan Lord because the survival and reputation of the clan mattered to him the most, new leaders always borned in every era, so there was no need to worry about the clan Lord dying as there would be always someone to direct the clan toward the beneficial path.

'Wait? Isn't this treason? Hmm, who cares anyway. If Lord Anvil dies, I am sure Morgan will take care of the clan, that old man would help also help his niece, I would be there too.'

Gathering his thoughts, Wren smiled. He looked toward Nephis who was staring him, expecting a answer.

"I have decided. From this moment.... I, the Heir of Abyss of the Valor Clan declares you, Changing Star of the Immortal Flame Clan as my sworn sister."

Nephis was stunned. Wren sudden questioning about her perspective of the Valor Clan had made her suspicious of him once again, but what Wren had said just now wasn't something she was expecting.

'Just what are you scheming, Wren?'

Wren grinned.

"Shocking isn't it? Well it doesn't matters, oh as your sworn brother I will also help you in the expedition."

Finishing his words, he turned around and left the room. 

***

Somewhere, in a place filled with darkness. A tower made up of pure darkness was floating, it was huge and tall consisting of eight floors. In it's highest flower resided a place filled with nothing but an altar and a statue possessing fierce white eyes flowing out of them was, a darkish white hue. Most part of the statue was covered with a black mist. 

However, a crack sound was heard. It could be seen that cracks were appearing on the statue face, on the part where it's most was supposed to be. Then suddenly, the cracks grew, the stone was shed revealing a daunting smile. The smile was clearly out of joy, however for some beings it was...

Dreadful.