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.

way to contact the White Feather clan and find out about the fallout of

Jet. For better or worse, she was his handler and his point of contact with the government. If things turned from bad to worse with the great clans, the authorities were the only force influential enough to shield him… for a

Sunny grimaced.

yet… I need to collect my thoughts

and studied the familiar,

All four of them 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 the Seed one measly

were already famous, and this latest accomplishment was bound to stir up a real storm, both in the media and behind closed doors. Sunny would not be able to remain fully under the radar

that each of

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 could see her. It was

activated her new Ability, and had to admit that it was… powerful. Not comparable to

number of people as long as they maintained the line of sight with the huntress, without an additional cost in essence. That

did not mean that one could not build supporting teams of Awakened or even mundane soldiers around them. Sunny had seen exactly

about to get very, very popular among

similar situation,

and a little bit frightening. None of them, not even Kai himself, had the chance to explore

commands. The result and the consequence depended on how much essence he poured into the compulsion and the target's resistance,

were hard to force on people with strong willpower or high resistance to mind attacks. For example, if Kai commanded another Ascended to drop their weapon, they would be

grip might grow weaker, and their

call upon his allies to fight with more fervor or to hold their ground

government propaganda machine

Kai's Aspect had 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

evolution entailed. They only knew that their

then there