Sunny stood motionlessly, gathering whatever strength he had left… which was far too little. Cassie was silent, too, a tense expression on her pale face.
With his vision compromised and his shadow sense limited to the circle of runes glowing around the cage, all Sunny could see was a blurry silhouette. He was almost sure that it was a human… however, something about the dark figure was wrong.
Utterly, terribly wrong.
…A strong smell of blood assaulted his nostrils.
The silhouette swayed, and then took a step forward. The scraping sound resounded once again, coming from it. Sunny strained his eyes, and thought that he had noticed a slender sword being dragged behind the person. A hint of recognition appeared in his clouded mind, but in the next moment, a sudden burst of creaky, gurgling laughter threw his thoughts into a spin.
Sunny shivered.
‘That… voice…’
The silhouette took another step forward, coming to the point where the flat surface of the floor gave place to the downward slope of the dome. Coincidentally, that was the moment when the dim glow of the runes finally reached it.
Sunny flinched.
‘C—curses…’
A familiar face was looming in the darkness above him. Even through the haze clouding his sight, Sunny managed to recognize the arrogant sentinel who had locked them in this cage a long, long time ago.
Only now, that cold and handsome man was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, he looked broken and gaunt, his face contorted in a demented grin.
But much worse than that…
In the place where the sentinel’s eyes used to be, two bloody pits were gaping, crimson streams flowing down his cheeks like tears. His fingers were marred with blood, too.
As Sunny recoiled, the Lost laughed again, and then suddenly clawed at his face, his laughter turning into a stifled groan, and then into a whisper:
“…can’t get me anymore… can’t, can’t… get me… I tricked him…”
Then, the lunatic abruptly froze. Slowly, his head turned, and the bloody pits of his eyes stared directly at the cage. A moment later, a grimace of hatred appeared on his face.
“You! You! It is all your fault, yours! You let him free!”
Sunny felt weak and barely able to stand, and he was suffering too much to have any energy for fear. So, although it was obvious that the sentinel had returned to exact revenge and kill them, he didn’t mind.
Instead, he welcomed it.
‘Good… good! Come… come here then. Just come here and open the door. You can try to kill me all you want. Just open the damned door, you wretch!’
As long as the door was open, they could escape.
The Lost swayed again, then made a move to step forward… and stopped. His sword fell to the floor with a clang.
‘Damn you!’
…Instead, a whirlpool of sparks swirled around his hands, and a curved bow appeared in them.
Sunny’s heart grew cold.
‘No, no, no…’
The sentinel whispered:
“Die, vermin…”
With that, he drew the string of the bow. As soon as he did, a ghostly arrow appeared on it, its tip long and sharp as a razor.
Sunny held his breath and stared at the tip of the arrow, then slowly turned his head and looked at Cassie, who stood motionlessly beside him. His face grew solemn.
‘Don’t make a sound… please, don’t make a sound…’
A moment later, he heard the sound of the string, and saw the arrow streak above the blind girl’s shoulder, the wind throwing a few strands of her hair into the air, and shatter against the stones.
Cassie flinched, but remained absolutely silent.
The sentinel frowned.
“Alive? I know that you are still alive… but not for long, now…”
He drew the bow again, and sent another ghostly arrow flying.
This time, it flew mere centimeters above Sunny’s head. For the first time in his life, he felt actually thankful for his short stature…
But the crazed Lost wasn’t done.
Sunny turned his head and stared directly at him. A ghastly smile suddenly appeared on the sentinel’s face.
“…got you now.”
He drew the bow again, and then lowered it, aiming directly at Sunny’s heart.
Sunny did not move a muscle.
A moment before the Lost released the string, something small and swift suddenly dashed toward him from behind, and bit his leg ferociously.
…It was the Covetous Coffer.
Back when everything started, Sunny had left it in the interrogation room on purpose. He couldn’t control a Memory like he would an Echo, but the Coffer was still able to follow simple commands. The command it had received from Sunny in those moments was to hide, and then find him.
And then wait.
The poor thing had loitered near the locked door of the cell for several weeks, hiding every time anyone approached. And now, it was finally able to receive a new command.
‘Attack!’
The box scurried from its hiding place, reach the cell, and ran through the door on its eight short iron legs, just in time to sink its sharp triangular teeth into the sentinel’s heel. They easily pierced the steel of his armored boot. Blood spurted into the air, and with a surprised shriek, the man stumbled forward, fell, and rolled down the slope of the dome, crashing into the bars of the cage.
The arrow flashed past Sunny, missing him by a hair’s breadth.
But he did not care, already moving.
As soon as the damage was done, Sunny dismissed the Covetous Coffer, and before the runes could devour the tiny amount of shadow essence returned to him by that act, sent all of it into his hurting muscles.
And now, he was dashing up the slope toward where the Lost was trying to get back to his feet.
Before he could, however, Sunny was already upon him.
He thrust his hands through the bars, wrapped one arm around the man’s neck, pressed him against the cage, and used the other hand to lock him into a stranglehold.
Sunny was weakened by the runes, the hunger, and the thirst… but he still had three cores, and three shadows wrapped around his body. His strength was fueled by fury, desperation, and cold, murderous will.
All of it was barely enough to hold the struggling sentinel in place.
The two men struggled furiously, one trying to break free, the other trying to squeeze the very life out of his enemy. Sunny used everything he had, and then a bit more, strangling the Lost with all the strength he had left in his gaunt, starved body. He knew that there was not going to be another chance. He had to kill this man in order to survive.
…And even more important than that, he simply wanted to.
So, he bit his lip, feeling drops of blood flowing into his dry mouth, and pulled, pulled, pulled.
After what felt like an eternity, when his vision had gone almost entirely black and his muscles were on the verge of collapsing, he felt something snap under his grip, and then the body of his enemy suddenly grew limp.
The sentinel was dead…
Probably…
Sunny let out a shaky breath, let go of the man’s corpse, and fell back, sliding down to the center of the dome.
He couldn’t stand up anymore.
In truth, he couldn’t even open his eyes. Not that he would be able to see anything. The fight had taken the last of his strength.
His chest rose and fell, every breath sending a wave of agony through his body. He didn’t think that he could move.
‘…I’m done.’
Through the haze, Sunny heard someone walk unsteadily past him, and some time later, a loud click. Then, two small, weak hands grabbed him by the shoulders, and Sunny felt himself being dragged across the cold stones.
He didn’t quite understand what was happening.
However… soon, his whole body shuddered, and a dark grin slowly appeared on his face.
A raging, revitalizing flood of shadow essence was flowing into his three cores.
…He was free!
