章 1588: Unchained

The ground shook, and some parts of the crater's slope collapsed. Sunny, who was standing on the edge of its mound, lost his balance and rolled down, dirt and pieces of debris raining on him from above. 

'Ouch.'

Coming to a halt much further down the slope than he had been before, he could not see the Dream Gate and the King of Swords anymore. What he could see, however…

Was a towering pillar of white flame rising from the torn depths of the wide crater. 

It moved and twisted, as if alive. As though a giant made from pure flame was stretching its shoulders after being trapped underground for a long time. For a moment, Sunny was entranced, thinking that he could make out the shape of a winged being woven from dancing flame, hidden in the depths of the incandescent pillar. 

Then, the whirlwind of flame collapsed on itself, and slowly formed into a humanoid figure.