Shadow Slave

Sunny slumped on the ground, summoned the Endless Spring, and greedily drank some water. Since his injuries were light... well, at least compared to those received by the Fire Keepers... it was some time before the healer got to them. But, eventually, it was his turn to receive treatment.

The healer — a young man named Shim — was pale and exhausted, his soul essence clearly almost entirely depleted. Still, he managed to repair the ligament Sunny had torn while dodging the vines to a large extent. It hurt like hell, though.

Of course, this healing Ability couldn't compare to Neph's purifying white flames. But then, it was hard for anyone to compare to Neph. Sunny knew it better than anyone.

With a dark expression, he summoned the runes and glanced at the painfully familiar string of them:

Shadow Fragments: [1958/2000].

He was only forty-two fragments away from evolving into a demon. This transformation was not only going to allow him to reinforce his body and reserves of shadow essence even further, but also reward Sunny with a third shadow. Having another invaluable helper would increase his power tremendously, making him capable of stacking three augmentations on top of each other, or spreading them over between his body, his Memories, and Saint.

He was almost to two thousand fragments.

To accumulate so many in only seven months… that was an achievement worth celebrating. Very few Awakened ever fully saturated their cores, and those who did usually spent long years slowly collecting soul shards of the Nightmare Creatures they killed. Decades, even... and that was for only one core. Sunny could be proud of himself.

And yet, he didn't feel happy.

Looking lower, he concentrated on another, much shorter cluster of runes.

Master: Changing Star.

As soon as he did, new runes ignited in the air.

…Rank: Dreamer.

Class: Devil.

Soul Cores: [4/7].

Soul Fragments: [399/4000].

Seven months ago, the gap between them had nearly reached five thousand fragments. Today, it was much smaller… but that was only thanks to the Noctis coins he had sacrificed to the altar. The truth of the matter was that Sunny had been slowly shortening the gap for a long time, but now, it had started growing once more.

Not too long ago, something had happened to Neph in the Dream Realm, and as the result, the speed with which she gained soul fragments began increasing with each day. Sunny didn't know what Changing Star was doing, why she had suddenly become so much stronger, and even how she was still alive… but he knew that he was being slowly left in the dust once again.

Dismissing the runes, he gritted his teeth and looked darkly at the desolate, hellish landscape of the Shipwreck Island.

have to get to that Seed… that

a monster. But Neph… Neph was not even human. She was the devil himself.

To become stronger.

by the light sound of approaching steps. Looking

what I

couple of steps away and lowered her head

"Are you alright?"

grimaced, then looked

'What do you care?'

"I'll live."

scowled, and then added in

way. That

tilted her head

you kill it

Sunny smiled crookedly.

piece

remained silent for a while, prompting

"So… now what?"

and turned toward

Crushing approaching. We will return to the Sanctuary to rest and regroup, and then come back to establish two camps — one here, and another one on a neighboring

He nodded.

guess. Do you really think that you can make

Eventually, she said without

to try, at

full of breaches, its bow shattered and broken, the tree growing around its mast dead and

you think it

Cassie hesitated.

autumn is over, if that is

He chuckled.

our deal, then.

She frowned.

"Of course, I remember."

the ground, then asked her

for the