Shadow Slave

"Uh… sure."

One day Kai would inevitably learn that Sunny was not as honest of a person as he considered him to be, but until then, having the naive archer believe in this ridiculous notion was rather... beneficial.

Turning away with a bit of awkwardness, Sunny glanced at Caster and called:

"Next!"

The proud Legacy was looking at Nightingale with a heavy expression. Hearing Sunny's voice, he lingered for a moment and then shook his head.

It seemed that Caster did not want to play his game.

Sunny was also suddenly painfully aware that between the six of them, four people had openly shared their Flaws with the rest, be it out of necessity or because of trust. Only two had not.

One of the two was Sunny, and the other one was Caster.

Sunny knew why he was hiding his Flaw from everyone, but what was the proud scion's reason? It sort of went against his whole honorable and dependable persona. With how devoted he acted toward Nephis and the cohort, it was strange to see him keeping secrets.

Was his reason the same as Sunny's, a dire vulnerability that the Flaw would uncover? Or was there some other reason? Maybe he didn't trust the members of the cohort as much as he tried to make them think he did.

And if so… why?

With a shrug, Sunny left Caster alone. There was no point in lingering on these thoughts now. Until he had more information, any conclusion he could make would be useless, anyway.

Looking at Cassie, he smiled and said:

"Hey, Cas. Wanna give it a try?"

The blind girl hesitated for a bit, and then slowly approached him.

While she was walking over, Sunny couldn't help but think back to a conversation he had with her in the distant past. Back then, Cassie had told him that knowledge could be the heaviest thing in the world. The burden of her Flaw, while completely different from Kai's, was at the same time eerily similar.

They both longed for the bliss of ignorance, but were doomed to always bear the crushing weight of unwanted knowledge.

found that all members of the cohort were connected with each other by invisible strings. Many things

could not be lied to. Or the fact that Nephis was like sunlight, while he was made of shadows. Cassie could not see, while he had basically

And so on.

these the strings of fate? Or was he just making empty connections because that

only Caster didn't seem to be connected to any of them in any kind of a meaningful way. What was

pulling him out

out a

said, the roles might have switched. So, what is

smiled and gestured to

were to ask Sunny which one of you has the treasure, what would he

a mental command to speak one of the answers that he had whispered

voice, the shadow seemed to

"...The shadow has it."

with subtle

have the

that, she expectantly

a disappointed sigh, Sunny put the ascended soul shard in her palm and

You've won.

the

forward with a

"What?! That's it?!"

blind girl in astonishment,

did

in her small fist, absorbing the soul essence.

the correct one. That's because the Awakened would

thought for a moment, then shook

seem to be familiar, but I

Cassie laughed.

think about it in your free time. Or, you know… just beat Sunny up

that, she went away,

with his mouth wide

really just say