Shadow Slave

In the deadly silence that settled over the underground arena after the Spell had spoken its last sentence, Sunny stared motionlessly at the flakes of ash swirling in the air.

‘…An Echo?’

He was now in possession of a new Echo.

A human Echo.

Of course, it was only logical that an Awakened could leave one behind. Sunny had received his first-ever Memory after killing a human, after all, and those were not too different. However, somehow, he had never considered commanding an Echo left behind by a dead man. One that he had killed with his own two hands, no less.

Wasn’t it a little bit too ghastly?

He imagined the soulless, empty copy of Kurt staring at him with lifeless eyes, and shivered a little.

The situation was only made more morbid by the fact that a softly glowing soul shard was left in the pile of ash that the killer had turned into. Just like with Nightmare Creatures, the strange nature of Sunny’s Aspect left the crystal intact despite absorbing the shadow fragment. If an ordinary Awakened was in his place, the shard would have formed empty and cracked.

Sunny had never dug into the corpses of his human victims to retrieve one, so this was his first time seeing a soul shard left behind by one of his own kind.

…Before Master Jet could see it, too, Sunny bent down, picked up the luminescent crystal, and hid it in his sleeve. His face twitched slightly.

Just as he did, an amused voice resounded from behind him:

“Well, I’ll be damned… that was fast.”

He hesitated for a moment, and then turned around.

Master Jet was surrounded by a scene of devastation, the interior of the underground theater in her vicinity completely destroyed. She was casually leaning on her glaive, and there was an amused expression on her face. Kurt’s Echoes, of course, had disappeared after his death… however, Sunny didn’t know how many of them she had killed before that happened.

In any case, there were no wounds on her body.

Master Jet whistled.

“You actually put down the bastard all by yourself. That’s, uh… nicely done, Sunny.”

From her voice, it was clear that she was pleasantly surprised. And why wouldn’t she be? Kurt was… had been an Awakened with at least ten years of experience under his belt, with a fully saturated soul core and an insidious, deadly Aspect. While Sunny… Sunny had become an Awakened less than a year ago. He was never formally trained, and had no clan or organization supporting his growth.

Not bad for a kid from the outskirts.

He shrugged.

“He was overly reliant on the unique nature of his powers. A little knowledge of the shadows was all it took, really.”

She slowly shook her head.

“Maybe you’re right. Still, Kurt had quite a reputation back in the day. But hey, why am I surprised? They gave you the SS designation for a reason.”

With that, Master Jet sighed and looked at the pile of ash with a complicated expression.

After a few moments of silence, she added:

“…You know, he was a promising young Awakened too, once. One of the few who didn’t treat me like a walking corpse back in the Academy.”

Sunny glanced at the ashes, trying to imagine Kurt as young and promising. It wasn’t too hard… however, thinking about a person he had killed this way made him uncomfortable.

It was better to remember him as he had been at the end — a depraved, demented murderer. More of a rabid beast, really, than an actual human.

Sunny scratched the back of his head.

“So then what happened to him?”

Master jet lingered for a bit, and then shrugged.

“Life, I guess. Not everyone is cut out for the kind of life we live. In fact, very few are.”

Sunny dismissed the Cruel Sight, thought for a few moments, and then asked the question he really wanted to ask:

“So, uh… that stuff he told about having a powerful protector. What was that all about? Are you going to be in trouble? Wait… am I?”

Jet smiled.

“What, did you believe that fool? Don’t worry, he was just being delusional. Sure, he had rather powerful masters. But these people… they’re not going to make a fuss about someone like him. Kurt became of no use to them the moment he lost control. What’s more, he turned into a liability. So, if anything, we did them a favor by taking care of the mess ourselves.”

Her smile suddenly grew wider… but also darker.

“And if they decide otherwise… I’m not so easy to deal with, Sunny. And they would have to go through me first to get to you.”

He frowned a little, then nodded, accepting her reasoning. It all made sense, after all. Powerful people were also practical sort. They wouldn’t hesitate to discard a broken tool, and that was what people like Kurt were… tools to be used and discarded once they couldn’t be used anymore.

‘Good thing I didn’t join a Legacy clan. I guess that is what I would have become if I did. Master Jet warned me against it for a reason…”

Then, something else came to his mind.

The strange words Kurt had said right before launching his suicidal attack…

“Not like it matters, anyway. You know about the Obel scale, so why even bother? Nothing will change…”

What did he mean? It almost seemed as though the knowledge of this mysterious Obel scale was the real reason for why he allowed himself to lose control. Of why he had lost… hope?

Sunny lingered for a few moments, then asked cautiously:

“Oh, by the way. What was that nonsense Kurt went on about? The… Obel scale? What is that?”

Master Jet gave him a long, somewhat strange look. Then, she simply shook her head.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not some secret, anyway. You can find the information on the network… Obel was the name of a scientist who developed the spelltech system the government uses to detect signs of a manifesting Gate. The infrastructure of that thing is getting old, though, so the readings have become less reliable lately. Nothing that some thorough calibrations can’t fix.”

Sunny tilted his head a little.

“Why was he so fixated on it, though?”

She looked at him with amusement.

“How would I know what went on in that crazy head of his? The bastard massacred twenty people, and thought that I would let him go after a stern reprimand. He was obviously not all there at the end…”

He frowned, and decided to let it go. Either Jet knew, or she didn’t. Either way, it didn’t seem like she was going to tell him.

Instead, Sunny asked:

“Uh, so… what now?”

Master Jet dismissed her glaive and massaged her shoulders.

“Now? Nothing much… give me twenty minutes to settle things down with the police, and then we’ll go get you your reward.”

She looked at him and added with a smile:

“…By the way, thanks. This would have been much messier without your help.”

With that, Master Jet walked toward the exit from the arena, leaving Sunny alone.

He stood silently for a while, and then sighed heavily.

It was time to see about his new Echo… and decide whether he was going to keep the ghastly thing or not.