Even though Senrix had just fought another brutal battle against the Soul Devouring Tree inside his own mind, and despite the exhaustion gnawing at every fiber of his being, he still forced himself to move.
The mont his eyes snapped open, crimson flas erupted around him like a volcanic storm.
Heat exploded beneath the scarlet canopy of the great tree, turning the cold morning air scorching hot in an instant.
The ash-white-haired sleeper shot upward with terrifying speed, fully clad in the complete armored form of [Crimson Engine].
Dark crimson plates wrapped around his body like the shell of a demonic knight, while blazing flas burst from the vents carved into the armor.
At the sa ti, the dormant mory fused into the armor ignited as well, amplifying the inferno surrounding him.
The very air trembled.
Elysia, Nephis, and Sunny were startled awake by the sudden surge of heat. Their eyes widened as they saw Senrix streak through the sky like a falling crimson star, flas trailing behind him in violent waves.
Then they heard him shout.
"Damn you, Weaver!!"
His voice echoed across the Ashen Barrow with raw fury.
All three froze in confusion.
Sunny frowned, his instincts imdiately screaming that sothing was horribly wrong. Then, suddenly, his expression changed.
Cassie was missing.
"Cassie isn't here!" Sunny shouted, panic creeping into his voice. "Sothing happened! That's why Senrix reacted like that!"
Nephis imdiately summoned the Dream Blade, white flas flickering faintly around her hand. Elysia grabbed her bow and dashed forward without hesitation, pink hair fluttering behind her as she sprinted through the scarlet leaves.
Sunny followed closely behind.
Yet as he ran, a strange hollow feeling spread through his chest, cold and uncomfortable, as though sothing important had been stolen from him without him noticing.
After several tense minutes, they finally reached the edge of the island.
There, beneath the twisted branches of the Soul Devouring Tree, stood Senrix.
He was holding Cassie's unconscious body in his arms.
The crimson flas around him flickered wildly, unstable and furious.
Then, in a cold voice, he spoke.
"Fla Chaser of Ego."
Elysia's expression imdiately changed.
Her face paled.
That phrase…
She knew exactly what it ant.
She told Senrix that he could only say this whenever she starts to lose herself.
Before Sunny or Nephis could ask what was happening, Senrix spoke again.
"Aster. Song. Vale."
This ti, Nephis stiffened.
Her grip around the Dream Blade tightened.
The nas hit her like a hamr.
Sunny stared at them in bewildernt, completely lost as to why both of them suddenly looked so serious.
Then Senrix turned his head slightly toward Sunny.
"Rain."
Sunny froze.
For a mont, he couldn't breathe.
Confusion flashed through his eyes before a mory suddenly resurfaced in his mind.
It was from several days ago, when he and Senrix had been talking beneath the great tree while everyone else slept.
The two of them had been joking around at first before Sunny had suddenly grown quiet.
Then he had said:
"If sothing ever feels wrong with … say Rain."
Back then, Sunny himself didn't understand why he had said it.
He only knew that ever since arriving at the Ashen Barrow, he had felt as though sothing was crawling inside his mind.
Sothing unseen.
Sothing hungry.
The realization made his blood run cold.
Senrix slowly looked at all of them.
His ash-white hair danced amidst the crimson flas as he spoke in a grim voice.
"Elysia. You have the strongest ntal resistance here. Build a boat."
The pink-haired girl imdiately nodded, though fear was visible in her eyes.
Senrix continued:
"This tree is removing mories from our minds. Sunny. Nephis. Your focus is figuring out how to stop us from getting enthralled again."
A dreadful silence descended upon the group.
The Soul Devouring Tree…
It wasn't simply controlling them.
It was erasing them.
Cassie felt strange.
The last thing she rembered was consuming the mory obtained from the Great Devil.
After that…
Darkness.
Now, however, she found herself standing upon an endless web of silver threads stretching infinitely through the void.
Every strand shimred with ancient power.
The deeper she looked into the web, the more terrified she beca. It felt as though these countless threads connected all things in existence.
Past.
Present.
Future.
"Because they do."
Cassie flinched violently and turned around.
Standing behind her was a tall, nebulous figure.
THEY possessed eight nimble arms, one of which was crafted from smooth porcelain. A dark mantle concealed most of THEIR body, while a black polished wooden mask hid THEIR face completely.
"W-Who are you…?"
Then the figure spoke.
Millions of voices answered her simultaneously.
Young voices.
Old voices.
Male voices.
Female voices.
Voices belonging to things that should not have possessed voices at all.
"You may call Weaver… Daemon of Fate."
For the first ti in her entire life, Cassie experienced true fear.
Standing before her was one of the ancient Daemons themselves.
A being that even the gods had struggled against.
The web beneath her feet trembled.
"Fate truly is cruel," Weaver said softly. "I spent thousands… perhaps millions… of years preparing everything for an epigone destined to inherit the lineage of the Shadow God."
The countless voices suddenly beca colder.
"And then the Spell decided to give MY blood to a random little oracle."
Cassie's legs nearly gave out beneath her.
She could barely breathe beneath the pressure radiating from Weaver's existence alone.
Still, Weaver rely sighed.
"Whatever. Even dead, I can still alter the trajectory of fate."
Suddenly, countless threads wrapped around Cassie's body and lifted her into the air.
Only then did she notice that she had unknowingly been trapped within the web the entire ti.
Looking closer at Weaver's mask, Cassie saw twisting horns and vicious fangs carved into the lacquered black wood. The mask looked regal and monstrous at once, existing sowhere between divinity and horror.
Most terrifying of all…
It radiated endless mystery.
"Oracle," Weaver said. "Since I am feeling generous, I shall offer you a choice."
The threads tightened around Cassie's body.
"You may forget everything that happened here and give the drop of ichor to a boy nad Sunless…"
The countless voices grew softer.
"Or…"
The entire web trembled.
"You may keep your mories. But in exchange, you shall slowly beco forgotten by the world itself. Only those already close to you may rember you."
Cassie trembled violently.
Neither option felt rciful.
Still…
After a long mont, she whispered shakily:
"...The second one."
Silence.
Then Weaver laughed softly.
The sound was beautiful.
And horrifying.
Slowly, THEY removed THEIR mask.
Cassie saw a face so impossibly beautiful, divine, profane, sacred, and horrifying that her mind instinctively rejected it.
The mont she looked at Weaver's true appearance—
She forgot it.
Instantly.
Only Weaver's voice remained.
"Then so be it."
The Daemon's countless voices echoed through the endless web.
"Walk your path, Oracle."
"I shall guide you through fate itself."
Cassie's dream body slowly began to disintegrate.
Before everything vanished completely, she heard Weaver speak one final ti:
"There are thousands of reasons why one should never trust a being known as the Master of Lies… dear epigone."
Far away, within a hidden domain woven from fate itself, Weaver stood silently amidst the infinite web.
THEY already knew Sunless would never beco THEIR true successor.
No.
He was far more suited to inherit the legacy of the Shadow God.
So Weaver had prepared another path long ago.
A different heir.
A different vessel.
A different future.
The real Weaver had died ages ago, resting within eternal slumber beyond fate itself.
What remained now was rely an impossibly perfect reflection.
A false Weaver so flawless that only the Daemon of Destiny and the War God themselves could distinguish truth from imitation.
And one day…
When Cassie grew powerful enough…
Weaver would return through her.
Slowly, the Daemon smiled beneath the infinite web.
"Everything proceeds according to fate."
"Ahhh!!"
Cassie suddenly jolted awake.
Breathing heavily, she looked around in panic.
Elysia was gently brushing her pink hair away from her face while Nephis and Sunny sat nearby, silently eating the strange crimson fruits of the Soul Tree.
A short distance away, Senrix sat beneath the giant branches in his usual spot.
Silent.
Watching the distant southwest horizon.
The crimson flas around him had long vanished.
Cassie swallowed nervously before asking:
"...How long was I unconscious?"
Sunny answered first.
"For about a day."
Cassie slowly nodded.
But then…
Sothing felt wrong.
If she had only slept for one day…
Why did it feel like she had wandered through eternity?
And more importantly—
Why did she feel as though sothing precious had already begun slipping away from the world?
________
A/N: Xeleray, I know that your reading this, please read more I need soone to point out my mistakes so that in my second shadow slave or sothing fanfic I can finally fix my mistakes.
And bro I'm now feeling like a bum because of you, anyways read more.
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