Shadow Slave

Sunny remained motionless for a while, a pale smile appearing on his face. Beyond the window of his cabin, the sky was slowly turning black, the stars shining on its velvet surface as they welcomed the arrival of the newborn moon.

'Nightmare… so that is your name.'

What better name could there be for a Shadow that moved through human dreams, turning them into visions of horror?

He hesitated for a few moments, then looked away, turning to a different string of runes first.

There was another Shadow of his that had changed. The Soul Serpent... every time Sunny moved up a Class, so did the Serpent. And every time Sunny mastered a new step of Shadow Dance, the Serpent ascended to a new Rank.

...At least, that was how things were supposed to go.

Shadow: Soul Serpent.

Shadow Rank: Ascended.

Shadow Class: Demon.

Shadow Attributes: [Shadow Guide], [Soul Weapon], [Soul Beast].

Sunny sighed.

'Ascended...'

Now that he had mastered the third step of the Shadow Dance, the Serpent had, indeed, evolved as well. The tenebrous creature was now an Ascended Demon, just like Saint. Both of them had left Sunny in the dust.

While it hurt his pride a little that his Shadows were more powerful than him… not to mention way cooler, according to some tasteless brats… having two creatures of such formidable might under his command was going to be of tremendous help, without a doubt. Especially considering the caliber of enemies he would most likely have to face in this trial.

He glanced down, at the intricate tattoo coiling around his arms and torso. It seemed larger. Sunny could already feel the rush of the essence through his body, its rate of expenditure and speed of replenishment increased even further.

Not only was the Serpent going to be much more powerful in its Soul Beast form, but also, from now on, any Soul Weapon Sunny would want to use would be of the Ascended Rank, as well.

Basically, he now had a vast arsenal of Ascended armaments to choose from.

'...Well, isn't that neat?'

moments, then continued to read the runes. The Serpent was not supposed to gain any new Abilities from rising to a new Rank, just like Saint had not. However, that Legacy Shadow of his was a bit strange… it had come into possession of the [Soul Beast] Attribute and the [Soul Reaver] Ability the last time he mastered a step of the Aspect Legacy, after

this time would be

there was a new set of runes

Abilities: [Serpentine Steel], [Soul Reaver], [Grace of

He frowned.

'Huh? Grace of Shadows?'

on the new Ability, and

of the Soul Serpent can grace another with the trust and companionship of their Shadow Guide. One should be careful whom they bestow with their grace; entrusting others with the loyalty of Shadows is

He tilted his head.

'Uh… what?'

as if the Shadow was just an Echo. No, not quite… Echoes could

the Soul Serpent to a random Nightmare Creature. Like the Mordant Mimic, for example. That would

No! No,

away his precious Serpent? Especially considering that the description hinted that doing so would

the Soul Serpent to one of the cohort members would be beneficial, but just barely. It would be easier to just command the creature

he commanded the Serpent to slither off

later, Sunny

did my cute little

not really been a "cute little snake", but its size was at least not too terrible… no more than six meters in length, at best. But now, a stygian creature of at least twice that size sprawled through the cabin, its mighty body covered in adamantine jet-black scales and as thick as

well, at least his real, human body… and its triangular head however near the ceiling, two tenebrous eyes looking at

into the confines of the cabin, suddenly making it look

Sunny gulped.

you are. Nice snake! Uh, you... you

at him for a few more seconds, then hissed deeply and moved, its scales rustling on the floorboards. Soon, it turned back into

motionless for a few moments, shaken,

afraid of that thing… imagine how my enemies

***

the black odachi, and sat quietly for a while, glancing at its somber steel. Every

a weapon one could

axe. All of them felt the

of details… the greater the result would be. And so, while he could command it to assume any

feasted his eyes on the somber steel for a bit, and then put the

on