Shadow Slave

[Your nightmare is over.]

[Prepare for appraisal…]

Once again, Sunny found himself in the space between dream and reality. The boundless black void was illuminated by a myriad of stars, with countless strings of silver light connecting them together to form an infinite, beautiful pattern.

Now that he had a nascent understanding of sorcery, Sunny saw the pattern differently. His old suspicions grew stronger, slowly turning into a certainty.

This was the inner sanctum of the Spell. And if the Spell had been created by Weaver… then what he was looking at was its weave.

The myriad of stars were the nexuses. The strings of light, however, were not the same as the threads of essence he could create himself.

…Instead, the Spell was weaved from the Strings of Fate itself.

As that realization took root in his heart, Sunny shuddered. The scale of the cosmic weave of silver light and numerous stars that surrounded him had already been too vast to comprehend. Now that he glimpsed its true nature, it suddenly seemed even more inconceivable.

Yes, Weaver was called the Demon of Fate… but harvesting its very fabric to create a titanic enchantment was too incredible, even for the firstborn of the Unknown.

For a daemon…

Sunny shivered once again.

"We are their Flaw… what did she mean?"

Hope's answer had shaken him to the very core. The implications were too… unthinkable. He did not truly understand what she had meant, but felt as though he was at the precipice of a vast and terrible truth.

Sunny was still far away from grasping that truth, however.

Were the daemons personifications of the Flaws that the gods had shed? Is that how the gods had become flawless? Or had the gods been flawless before the daemons appeared, instead?

None of it made any sense. How did the Unknown, from whom the daemons had come, fit into this? Was there a hint at who or what the Unknown had been… or was?

As always, there were too many questions, and almost no answers!

If there was one thing that became clear, however, it was that the relationship between the gods and the daemons was even more complicated than he had thought.

"How infuriating…"

had learned a remarkable secret, but had no way to understand it. He stared into

too small and weak to concern myself

not as small and weak

He was a Master!

rather, was about to

if answering his thoughts, the

trial is

continued to resonate

by weaving sorceries from its own soul. The shadow beheaded itself to take the slave collar off its neck, and lost its heart to win its

died a hundred deaths within a dreadful nightmare, forgetting what it was and where it came

again, the shadow befriended a mad sorcerer, a feral child, a crippled archer, and a blind prophet. Together, they collected the deaths of the

killed, the city

chains of Hope,

have slain

Sunny felt that something strange was happening to time inside the black void, because it did not take too long for the Spell

count at some point, but the number of his victims had to be

them stood out from the

officers of the flying fleet, Solvane herself... that was the tally of his deeds. The Spell was not shy about showering him

course, his most dangerous battle had

while, the Spell was ready to pass

free a demoness chained

[Your achievements are remarkable!]

[Final appraisal: excellent.]

that, it

remained motionless for a few moments,

"Wait… what?"

Excellent? Just excellent?

"What the hell, Spell?!"

to add a remark after the appraisal. He had killed hundreds upon hundreds of Awakened humans and Nightmare Creatures, including plenty

the deaths of several immortals, and set free a daemon against a god's will! He had his

had a True Name and an Aspect Legacy. All he was going to receive was the Ascension, which was