Shadow Slave

Sunny left the cafe and caught a train to go visit Aiko. After that, he traveled to the Academy and said his goodbyes to Teacher Julius. The old man was a bit emotional to let him go, but did not try to dissuade his unruly pupil. Instead, he tried to offer encouragement.

"The Second Nightmare! Ptui! No student of mine can be killed by a mere Second Nightmare. Don't you dare put a stain on my reputation, Sunny my boy… you hear me?"

Finally, Sunny left the Sleeper compound and stood outside for a while, watching the setting sun. Then, he turned around and headed deeper into the Academy complex.

The room where Nephis slept did not change much. He replaced the flowers on one of the tables and sat down, looking at her pale and motionless face.

No matter how many times Sunny came here, seeing her… seeing her like this… brought a dull pain to his chest. The cauldron of emotions burning in his heart was too deep and seethed too furiously for him to understand it. Sunny was never good with emotions, after all.

There was resentment, longing, guilt, affection, fear… and hope.

Looking at the transparent lid of the sleeping pod, he sighed.

"Hey, Neph."

Just like before, this was the only thing he said out loud. He lingered for a bit, and then thought:

'You are still alive, out there somewhere. That is good. That… makes me happy. It really does. You know, right after everything happened, I wasn't sure if I wanted you to live. I thought that maybe it would be better for you to die. Sometimes, I did.'

Sunny lowered his head and closed his eyes tiredly.

'But after a while, as time passed, I... I started to miss you more than I wanted to be free of you. Maybe what Master Jet said is true… maybe no one is really ever free in this world. Maybe the only freedom there is is the freedom to choose your own chains.'

A dark smile appeared on his lips.

had anything, and then, I had even less than that. Wouldn't you be angry to be dealt a hand like that? Because I am. I am so, so angry. And that is why... I am never

slightly, and stared at the sleeping young woman with

strong enough to rip them apart. You want to destroy the Spell?

suddenly laughed, his voice full

if Weaver created it, why can't you break it? If that is our will… who dares to stop

then grew quiet

while, he rubbed his

going to challenge the Second Nightmare soon. We might not be able to visit you again for a long time. So you… you take care of yourself, Neph. Don't disappoint me. I

stood

was finally time for

***

his luxurious sleeping pod, Sunny had a conversation with Effie. He moved her pod into the underground dojo and installed it near his own. The two of them were most likely going to spend a long time in the Nightmare, so the house had to be put on lockdown for

himself after coming back through the Gateway in Night Temple, but if things went wrong with the representatives of Valor, Effie was in charge of making the final preparations. He

made sure that it was functioning

he would either die or become a Master. If the former happened, the well-being of his physical body was a moot point. If the latter happened…

spirit body… however, even if the physical body was completely destroyed, the process would create a new one. So, maybe, it was more

why Effie wanted to become a Master so badly, knowing that it would make her as strong and healthy as she was in

physical body instead of

was very attached to his mortal shell. He didn't want

sigh, he undressed, took one last glance at his spacious

from her wheelchair, strained

"Sweet dreams!"

wanted to snarl at her and remind the gluttonous huntress to not leave dirty dishes all over the

metal sarcophagus started to move, his eyes closed,