Shadow Slave

In a dark underground chamber, a metal sarcophagus stood shrouded in silence. Nothing had disturbed the silence and no light had penetrated the darkness in a long, long time.

Until now.

Suddenly, the sarcophagus came to life, and a scattering of lights ignited on its surface. A crack appeared on the smooth alloy surface, revealing where the edges of a heavy lid were. The lid smoothly slid away, and a flood of radiant light chased away the darkness of the underground chamber.

Cold vapor shined as it rose from inside the sarcophagus. Then, a pale hand rose from within it and forcefully grabbed the metal lip, easily bending its armored alloy.

Sunny struggled to climb out of the sleeping pod for a few moments, then lowered his feet to the cool plates of the dojo's floor. A moment later, he swayed and fell down with a yelp.

"Damnation!"

Sunny remained sprawled on the floor for a few seconds, trying to understand what had happened and why he suddenly lost balance. Then, his eyes gleamed.

"Wait… I can speak again? I can speak again!"

A happy smile slowly appeared on his lips.

Of course… he was back to being a human! He had returned to his own body. Trying to move like a towering demon was not going to do his sense of balance any good…

With a mad grin, Sunny nimbly jumped to his feet and looked down, enjoying the sight of his slender, pale body. Then, he suddenly spun and performed several lightning-fast strikes and kicks.

"Ah, it is good to be home!"

so swift, so agile… but most of all, so himself. It was as though a giant weight fell from his shoulders, quite literally — the shadowspawn must have weighed three times what Sunny weighed. Being a tall, powerful devil had its own advantages, but he

smaller target for the enemies to stick their blades in. And although having only two hands seemed rather inconvenient and silly,

punch than the shadowspawn could ever hope to muster. Not to mention how in tune it

height. Only after being forcefully turned into a lumbering monstrosity did he learn to appreciate all the

glanced at the crumpled metal of the lip of the sleeping pod. He had inadvertently damaged the armored

moment, Sunny felt very disheartened about the damage he had done to the expensive machine. Replacing the bent panel was not going to be cheap. It was well within his

he tilted

do I even

worry about the luxurious sleeping

need

was a Master now… a true Ascended. If Sunny wished to enter the Dream Realm, he would travel there physically. His body would not be left empty and defenseless in

If he wanted to, he could never go back to that hell. He could just remain in the comfort and safety of the real world, enjoying all that

it. He had won

For now…

just like he had wanted. With his accumulated arsenal and knowledge of sorcery, creating a thriving enterprise would not be a problem. Sunny would be able to grow filthy rich and

in an

not be a beautifully happy ending for a

into the distance. Slowly, a

that

he learned how to manage the unpredictable nature of his [Fated] Attribute, there were other factors to

of the forces that governed humanity. Neither the government nor the Great Clans would leave him

simply a promising Awakened. Now that he proved his mettle and elevated himself to the venerated status of

to become a Saint without pledging allegiance to one of them