Shadow Slave

Sunny remained motionless for a while, then shifted his gaze, moving it to the very end of the field of shimmering runes. Soon, Neph's description appeared before him. He lingered for a few moments, and then read:

…Soul Fragments: [2478/4000].

The corner of his mouth twitched.

'Of course. She is in a hell of her own, after all…'

The gap between them had diminished, but barely. He was still behind… still lacking…

But she was alive, at least. And fighting with all her strength to return.

If Neph refused to give up, then he would have to persevere, too.

With a sigh, Sunny turned away and looked back to his runes, finding the list of his Memories and Echoes. His eyes suddenly gleamed, but then grew dark and slightly despondent.

'What the hell… how is this even possible…'

Among the names of his Memories, dozens of new ones shimmered in the darkness. It seemed that the Spell continued to reward him even while their connection was obstructed by the sorceries of Hope. It sort of made sense… the fact that Sunny had not been able to communicate with the Spell did not mean that it had not continued to watch his every step.

He was inside one of its Nightmares, after all. Which created a swarm of questions on its own…

to consider them, Sunny

there were thirty-nine

a single Echo he had received after slaughtering nearly a thousand Nightmare Creatures. Not even a hint

any sense… none at all. What is this,

his luck when it came to Echoes had been beyond terrible. He should have received four of five,

darkness for a

It's a pity that I did not receive an Echo of the Red Priest, though. I would have made him into a Shadow... just to get a chance to kill

and a couple was splendid. The rest,

did not hurry to give them away as sustenance for the taciturn demon. Instead, Sunny hesitated for a long time, and then dismissed

unique weave, one that he would be able to study and experiment with while not fearing to damage or destroy an actually valuable instrument. He would be able to use Weaver's needle now, too, instead of cutting

he had taken out of the Covetous Coffer, indifferently dropped them into the dark abyss of the Sky Below,

toward the horizon, and the night was swiftly

that he would have to

***

of the floating island during the day. He was still weak

the course of these days, Sunny

first one was rather pleasant and beneficial to him. As it turned out, there were far fewer Nightmare Creatures populating the Kingdom of Hope in this era than there were in the future. That included the harrowing abominations that dwelled on the

the task of remaining below the isles far easier for him. Of course, there were still some monstrosities hiding in the darkness, but not nearly enough to make it too hard to avoid

that made sense. These lands were not completely devastated yet, and there were plenty of humans living on the levitating islands. It was because of them and their efforts that the population of Nightmare Creatures was so low. It was also the reason why it took Solvane and her zealots

made was far less fortuitous, and also had to do with the human inhabitants of the Kingdom of Hope. He was still in the territory of