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?'

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

time would be

was a new

Steel], [Soul

He frowned.

'Huh? Grace of Shadows?'

the new

the trust and companionship of their Shadow Guide. One should be careful whom they bestow with their grace; entrusting

He tilted his head.

'Uh… what?'

an Echo. No, not quite… Echoes could be transferred only to other Awakened, while the Grace of Shadows could be bestowed upon

a random Nightmare Creature. Like the Mordant Mimic, for example. That

No! No, it wouldn't

description hinted that doing so would leave him

situation where lending the Soul Serpent

Serpent to slither off of his skin

few moments later,

did my

was at least not too terrible… no more than six meters in length, at best. But now, a stygian creature of at least twice

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

fit into the confines of the cabin, suddenly making

Sunny gulped.

Nice snake!

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

remained motionless for a few moments, shaken,

If even I am afraid of

***

Serpent to turn itself into the black odachi, and sat quietly for a while, glancing at its somber steel. Every centimeter of this weapon was familiar to him… and

was a weapon one could cut

into a spear, then a tang dao, then a tachi, and finally a battle axe. All of them

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

feasted his eyes on the somber steel for

time to check on the rest