Shadow Slave

Once again, Sunny found himself in the endless space between dream of reality. All around him, there was nothing but a boundless black void, which was illuminated by a myriad of bright stars. Between those stars, countless strings of silver light were woven into a beautiful and inconceivably complex pattern.

Once again, he felt as though he had glimpsed the inner workings of the Spell. Was it just an illusion, or was he able to see more now? It was almost as if his eyes were now able to discern a hint of meaning behind the unimaginable, titanic brilliance of the ethereal weave.

…He had the eyes of Weaver now, after all.

With a pained moan, Sunny forced himself to look away from the strings of silver light. The magnitude of the secret hidden in this cosmic pattern was so immense that just thinking about it could drive him mad. The Forgotten Shore had taught him an important lesson, and it was that one had to be careful about what they looked upon.

Some things were not meant to be seen by humans.

…Not to mention that he had other things to think about.

"Curse it! Curse it all! Curse all of you!"

His voice disappeared into the darkness, full of indescribable fury, bitterness, and sorrow. No one was there to hear it… except for the Spell, which chose to tactfully remain silent.

Breathing heavily, Sunny clenched his fists and closed his eyes.

He didn't know what brought him more rage and pain — the fact that he had lost Neph, or the fact that his secret had been revealed. Both were too bitter to swallow.

All that time, all that suffering… and for what? He had outsmarted and defeated so many powerful enemies, only for his True Name to be discovered by an ungrateful, weak, blind girl?!

After everything he had done for her...

Cassie's betrayal, perhaps, had hurt him the most.

"Curse her…"

Once again, he was a slave. He made a full circle and returned exactly to where he had started. In shackles. Only instead of nameless slavers, Nephis had become his master now.

Nephis…

Sunny gritted his teeth and groaned, a storm of conflicting emotions tearing his heart apart.

did she have

and overwhelming as the hope that she would die and disappear forever in the unforgiving hell of the Dream Realm, so that they would never

that he

his face, not knowing how to process this conflagration of feelings. For someone who had spent most of his life alone,

was a strange concept, so he had an eternity to try and come to terms with his new reality. The Spell kept silent, as though giving

— maybe hours, or maybe days, or maybe just a

he opened his mouth and

"...I won."

had survived. Who could have

a year ago, he was thrown into a region of the Dream Realm that no human had ever escaped, and now, he was not only returning to reality,

even the

…Or the second strongest.

gained experience and scars worthy of a lifetime, touched the hidden knowledge of the gods, saw

among elites, a person at the very top of society, one with access to the best food, the most wealth, the highest forms of prestige. The highest…

were going

his suffering would now be

I will not be

the other side? No. He

going

a shaky smile appeared on Sunny's face. At first, he had to force himself, but after a while,

right. Victory is supposed to be sweet. So, let's see… what should

him, the Spell finally spoke. Its voice sounded a

shadow is

is taking

begin to

'Crap…'

[Your shadow is complete.]

drowning his whole being with indescribably suffering. With

***

on my

was so shocked to discover the Divine Rank of his Aspect that his legs buckled. And