Shadow Slave

Since the city was illuminated by myriad divine flames, there was no purpose in hiding anymore. After a long time of clinging to Saint, Sunny and Nephis finally assumed their human forms once again.

It felt nice to feel the wind on his own face and solid ground under his own feet. Sunny spent a few moments enjoying the feeling of being a corporeal creature, then rotated his shoulders and stretched, letting out a satisfied groan.

“I guess we made it, after all.”

During their harrowing journey, there had been a lot of moments when he thought that they wouldn’t.

Of course, they had not achieved their goal yet.

Now using his own eyes, Sunny looked at the distant city once more. The city was vast, and apart from the eerie adversary that waited for them there, the last fragment of Weaver’s Lineage was somewhere ahead as well. Finding it would not be too difficult... but to do that, they had to conquer the city first.

Sunny’s gaze turned to Nether’s stronghold that hovered at the far end of the city.

That magnificent palace... laboratory, workshop?... had his keen interest, as well. The Jade Palace, the Mirror Castle, the Night Garden, the Ivory Tower — every stronghold left behind by the daemons, with the exception of the Tomb of Ariel, had turned out to be a Great Citadel.

Would this one be the same?

If so, there was no telling what its Components were — but they were certain to be immensely potent. The Crushing could flatten entire regions of the Dream Realm, after all, while the Jade Palace could reshape entire realms, and was currently holding back the lethal cold of the Frozen Wastelands.

Bastion contained an entire imaginary world, and was itself an imagined realm — its true version, meanwhile, was hidden in reflections and could only be accessed by its master. The Night Garden could travel anywhere and granted Nephis the ability to connect two points in the same realm with her Dream Gate.

So, conquering the city could become an astonishing boon for the Human Domain. Even if the Components of the Great Citadel at its heart proved to be of little use, ruling the Citadel itself would greatly enhance the power of any Supreme.

Of course, they needed to conquer it first to find out.

A deep frown appeared on Sunny’s face.

He could feel the stifling power of someone else’s malevolent Will covering the world ahead. That Will was vast, ancient, and uncompromising. He hesitated for a moment, unsure how to evaluate it... its tyrannical force felt more oppressive than the Will of an ordinary Great Nightmare Creature, but less absolute than the divine Will of a Cursed one.

It felt like the Will of a Titan.

That was already bad enough, since Great Titans were among the most unfathomable and terrifying foes Sunny had ever encountered — more so even than Cursed abominations of lesser Classes.

However, there was something worse. Sunny was not sure how to describe it, but he felt that there was something else hiding behind the oppressive ocean of malevolent Will — some other, far more subtle presence.

That presence was almost imperceptible and hard to define, utterly alien and unknowable.

And that made it far more threatening than any Great Titan could be.

Sunny hesitated for a long while, then looked at Nephis.

”What do you think?”

She was observing the distant city, as well. Nephis lingered, then answered in a reserved tone:

“It’s going to be a grueling battle.”

She sounded aloof, but Sunny sensed a hint of inner turmoil in her voice. He studied her silently before asking.

”Are you nervous?”

Nephis smiled faintly and looked at him.

”Because of the battle? No... not really.”

Then, she turned to the city once more. Her smile turned wistful.

”My father’s corpse is somewhere out there. If we win... when we win... we’ll find him.”

She fell silent, and then said quietly:

”A part of me hopes against all hope that, somehow, he is still alive.”

Neph’s smile disappeared, replaced by a distant expression.

“...But most of me hopes that he is dead.”

She looked at Sunny and smiled again. This time, her faint smile was bitter.

”Because death is the only excuse I can accept. I can’t accept the thought that he is still alive, having abandoned me in that hell. Does that make me a terrible daughter?”

Sunny shook his head slowly.

”That just makes you human.”

Nephis sighed and turned to the distant light of the radiant city.

“I barely remember him, by now. I was only four when he disappeared, after all. The most prominent feature of my father — the one that shaped me the most — was his absence. And yet, his crushing shadow has always loomed over me. That’s a bit... ironic, don’t you think? The crushing weight of absence.”

Sunny remained silent for a few moments, then smiled.

“Maybe? I guess it is, but what do I know? I didn’t have a father, either. Of course, my father wasn’t the greatest hero of humanity — he was just a maintenance worker from the outskirts.”

He paused for a moment, and then added quietly.

“His absence was just as crushing, though. Still, I think we’ve done quite well for ourselves — despite everything. They’d both be proud... I’d be.”

After that, Sunny shook his head.

“And hey — at least neither of us is Mordret, right? Now, that guy’s father... when I think about that damn lunatic, I feel like I have no right to complain.”

Nephis suddenly laughed, then raised her hand to cover her mouth, mortified.

She gave Sunny a rueful look.

”Why are you making me laugh before an important battle? We have to go and slay that horror — whatever it is. It’s no time to joke around, you know?”

Sunny looked at her with a smile.

”Because I can?”

Then, he sighed and turned to the city.

The three of them — Sunny, Nephis, and Saint — steeled themselves, preparing to storm the heart of the Underworld.

A few moments later, Sunny sighed.

“Well. Let’s go and slay that horror... whatever it is...”