Shadow Slave

3115 Dark and Sinister

[Your shadow is complete.]

Sunny hissed, finally feeling that the pain rending his soul apart was subsiding. His new Shadow Core was fully formed, and he was a Titan again — already. It did not take him long to reclaim his Class at all. Of course, it had also cost him countless shades, weakening his Domain somewhat. But all in all, that loss was one he could easily cope with.

With the kind of battles he was fighting these days, those of his shades that were below the Ascended Rank rarely had an opportunity to do something useful. So, he had consumed many of those, as well as some that were more powerful, but were difficult to integrate into the Shadow Legion. In fact, it felt like he was doing a long-needed cleanup of his soul... it already felt less crowded.

In the future, he would have to explore this newfound ability more. Could he consolidate the Shadow Legion, perhaps, making those of his shades that were truly powerful even more so?

Somehow, Sunny doubted it. Shades were dead, after all, and therefore static. It was against their nature to change and grow. However, he could turn some of his shades into Shadows, and fuel those with the lesser shades. He would not need to hunt for Memories to feed them anymore — at least up to the Supreme Rank.

Beyond that, even he did not know how to help his Shadows conquer Apotheosis, or if it was even possible. The Spell, at least, was either refusing or incapable of offering assistance. Regardless, at the moment, Sunny could only shelve that idea. He already had seven Shadows, after all, and could not accommodate another.

Sunny felt that he would find a way to do just that sooner or later, though.

For now, he exhaled slowly and looked at Nephis.

She seemed to have recovered somewhat, looking at him silently. Sunny did not have to explain what had happened to him, since Nephis could read his runes just fine — she would know that he had completed the Weave, that he lost a Shadow Core, and that he managed to build a new one by sacrificing thousands of his shades.

A pale smile appeared on Sunny’s lips.

”See? I’m as good as new. No need to worry.”

Then, he groaned and spat a bit of blood. Nephis gave him a long look, then sighed and shook her head.

“Your shadow is staring at me.”

Hearing that, Sunny turned his gaze to the shadow his body was casting onto the black sand. It was even darker than the obsidian dust it was lying on, motionless, gazing at Nephis intently instead of obediently copying his movements.

Sunny frowned.

He had not known what to expect from the new shadow, but hoped that it would be like the mad guy, reborn. However, the newcomer was quite different from his fallen predecessor.

The new shadow just seemed... dark. Far darker than it was supposed to be, and more than a little bit sinister as well.

In fact, Sunny felt a cold chill run down his spine when he looked at it.

He sighed.

”Welcome to the world of the living, new guy. Well, to the Realm of Death, I guess. I’ll call you... wait, we already have a creepy shadow. Huh, what then?”

Sunny pondered for a moment, then opened his mouth with a glint in his eyes.

However, before he could speak, Nephis interrupted him:

“Do not name him Creepy Number Two.”

The glint in Sunny’s eyes dimmed.

He remained silent for a moment, then scoffed.

“Whatever. Let’s go with eerie, then. That fits your sinister ambiance, too.”

The eerie shadow slowly turned its head and stared at him silently.

All shadows were silent, but this shadow’s subtle silence was strangely unsettling. Sunny coughed, took control of his new invaluable helper, and manifested him into an avatar. After doing that, he allowed his other incarnation to turn into a shadow instead.

Looking at Nephis, he sighed.

“Should we finish our expedition here?”

It was easy for him to leave the Shadow Realm. All he had to do was use one of his other incarnations to summon the Shadow Lantern, and escape the desolate land through its gate.

Nephis raised an eyebrow.

“You have a different idea?”

Sunny hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

”I think... before we go, we can visit an old friend.”

Rising from the sand, Nephis nodded.

”Let’s do that, then. I wanted to meet him for a long time, as well.”

There was a lot they had to discuss, adjusting their plans in light of this new, harrowing experience. Cassie would have to participate in that discussion, as well... even Mordret, if he was willing, not to mention Ananke.

For example, they had to determine the probability of the prisoner of the Abyss escaping the Underworld. Sunny felt that the creature would not be able to leave, at least for now — the abyssal horror that had kept it bound was not dead, after all, just wounded. It would recover from the damage it had received soon. Most of all, however, there were the white mists that shrouded the Hollow Mountain.

Nothing could keep the Void from seeping into the world. Surely, a single Unholy being —a creature merely tainted by the Void, not born from it — would not be able to break through its flowing cage easily.

But since Sunny and Nephis were already in the Shadow Realm, they could visit Eurys first.

They did not walk to their destination, of course. Instead, Sunny used Shadow Step to carry them both through the desolate wasteland. After the suffocating darkness of the Underworld, being surrounded by the endless expanse of shadows felt like a breath of fresh air — soothing and liberating.

On top of that, he was not being eaten alive by the Shadow Realm... at least not as blatantly as before. So, Sunny actually enjoyed their swift journey across the sea of obsidian dunes.

He was moving with astonishing speed, but it was still going to take them a little time to reach Eurys.

So, not wishing to waste it, Sunny summoned his runes once again.

This time, he ignored the counter showing his shadow fragments and looked directly at a different string of runes.

The ones describing his Shadows... in particular, the one describing Saint.

Saint had almost finished her evolution, after all.

This time, she achieved it much faster than ever before — perhaps because she had already been halfway to reaching a higher Class, perhaps simply because the situation had demanded it.

The runes read:

Shadow: Jade Saint.

Shadow Rank: Supreme.

Shadow Class: Tyrant.