Shadow Slave

Some time later, Sunny left the house and sat on the porch by himself.

His thoughts were in disarray.

So much had changed, so much had happened. So much was going to happen in the next few days, as well. His life was inevitably going to transform… hopefully, for the best.

However, there were many obstacles he was going to have to overcome and many decisions he was going to have to make in order to avoid being destroyed by the changes instead. Although Sunny had grown considerably stronger, and obliterating him was not as easy anymore, there were still threats out there that he did not dare to face.

He sighed, and looked down.

'I am a Master.'

The knowledge rested in his mind, but he was yet to truly comprehend it. Ascended had seemed so distant and glorious to him, once. Not quite demigods, but also not mere mortals anymore. But now, he was one of these venerated beings himself. He could feel inhuman power coursing through his veins.

That was something he couldn't process that fast.

And yet, time waited for no one. Sunny knew that there would be no opportunity to properly get used to his swiftly shifting circumstances. He had a lot to do, and he had to do it now.

'Just take it one step at a time.'

What did he have to do immediately?

Call Aiko, for one. He had to let his business partner know that he was back and get an update on how Rain was doing.

clan and find out about the

point of contact with the government. If things turned from bad to worse with the great clans, the

Sunny grimaced.

to collect my thoughts

and studied the familiar, peaceful

were Masters now, and exceptional ones at that… not only had they conquered the Second Nightmare, but they had also done it at an abnormally young age and after entering

real storm, both in the media and behind closed doors. Sunny would not be

of them received extremely powerful

perhaps, the most remarkable in how useful it was. Sunny had expected the huntress to receive another combat Ability, but instead, her new power appeared to bolster her allies as long as they

had experienced that enhancement himself when Effie enthusiastically activated her new Ability, and had to admit that it was… powerful. Not comparable to what the young woman herself

could be effortlessly shared with any number of people as long as they maintained the line of sight with the huntress, without an additional cost in essence. That basically meant that any cohort, any

Masters usually acted alone. There were simply not enough Masters and too much for them to do to form full cohorts of Ascended. However, that did not mean that one could not build supporting teams of Awakened or even mundane soldiers

Effie was about to get very, very popular

a similar situation, although for different

Ability was… strange, and a little bit frightening. None of them, not even Kai himself, had the chance to explore the full range of its capabilities. However, the potential of

his commands. The result and the consequence depended on how much essence he poured into the compulsion and the target's resistance, as well as some other factors

force on people with strong willpower or high resistance to mind attacks. For example, if Kai commanded another Ascended to drop

might grow weaker, and their attacks might grow

Kai could call upon his allies to fight with more fervor or to hold their ground no matter what. He could invoke any feeling he wanted in large groups of

those who held power, as well. The government propaganda machine especially was going to lose its collective mind over Nightingale and his

evolved after he had faced and slain the Ivory Dragon. Instances like that were known to happen, but were also incredibly rare. His Awakened Aspect was now Ascended, which made his previous Abilities more potent, and maybe even introduced new

no time to explore these changes yet, so his friends had no idea what the evolution

then there was