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.

that is the thing, isn't it? Even that choice was taken away from me. By you, by Cassie. By fate. I never 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 going to stop trying to break free. Screw truth, and screw fate. Who said that its chains can't

the

have to get strong enough to rip them apart. You want to destroy the Spell? Well, I want to destroy fate itself. Which one of us

his voice full

if Weaver created it, why can't you break it? If that

widely, and then grew quiet again,

he rubbed his

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 am counting on you to stay alive... to keep

heavily, stood up, and left without

for him to

***

Effie. He moved her pod into the underground dojo and installed it near his own. The two of them were most likely going

to do it 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 gave her the passwords from the security system

the diagnostic on the pod, made sure that it was functioning perfectly and could sustain his body for months,

become a Master. If the former happened, the well-being of his

the physical body was completely destroyed, the process would create a new one. So, maybe, it was more appropriate to say that Ascension allowed the spirit body to

Effie wanted to become a Master so badly, knowing that it would make her as strong and healthy as she was in the Dream Realm. Why many of the

and thoroughly roasted Sunny's physical body instead of preserving it. If the Nightmare didn't

shell. He didn't want

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

was watching him silently from her wheelchair, strained to

"Sweet dreams!"

to snarl at her and remind the gluttonous huntress to not leave dirty dishes all over the house, but he was

metal sarcophagus started to move, his eyes closed, and he fell into the deep, dark embrace