Shadow Slave

For a while, Sunny silently experimented with his new power.

Shadow Manifestation was an… interesting Ability, especially when combined with the evolved Shadow Control. It was deceptively straightforward, but held so much depth that Sunny wasn't sure that he would be able to figure out all of its potential uses in a short span of time.

The fundamental function of Shadow Manifestation was rather simple — it allowed him to turn shadows tangible.

But the devil hid in the details.

Now that Sunny enjoyed authority over all shadows, and not only his own, he could manipulate their shape and even make them move according to his will. However, that facet of his Aspect had its caveats.

Not all shadows were the same. Some were young, and some were ancient. Some were deep, and some were shallow. Most importantly, some belonged to inanimate objects, and some belonged to living beings.

Although Sunny enjoyed their respect and reverence, that did not mean that all shadows were going to submit to him implicitly. They simply chose to follow his commands due to his status as the Master of Shadows, as opposed to being forced to do it.

That was not new to Sunny. He had already noticed this pattern of behavior when inviting wild shadows to enter the Shadow Lantern. Most did it of their own free will, but some obstinate ones refused his invitation.

Now that the [Child of Shadows] Attribute had evolved, only the most ancient and deep of the wild shadows seemed reluctant to answer his call. However, not all shadows were "wild" — that was a term he decided to use when speaking about those of them that were cast by inanimate objects.

If a shadow was cast by a living being and connected to a living soul, no amount of authority Sunny had could compel it to abandon or betray their source.

So, Shadow Control only allowed him to manipulate wild shadows. The deeper and older a shadow was, the more concentration it took to command it. He also experienced more strain when commanding distant shadows — now that Sunny became an Ascended Devil, the reach of his control extended to almost ten kilometers. His shadow sense, however, did not usually extend quite that far.

have been overloaded if it did. So while Sunny could potentially control

of course, or those he

the actual

The shadows would remain tangible as long as he continued to sustain them with essence, and return to their natural state if

both a blessing and a curse. For obvious reasons, Sunny would have preferred to keep his

essence, they assumed its property. In other words… all

and manifested it, the blade would be comparable to

nature, he could shape them into anything he wanted. He could create barriers, bridges, ropes, suits of armor… the

could even create a saddle for Nightmare, or

cost. The more complex and condensed a shape was, the more essence it took to sustain it. Creating a simple shadow tentacle was not too hard, but imbuing

also took a toll, although they were

able to move on their own, as long as their shape allowed it. A sword was not going to fly on its own, but a manifested shadow could move around and grab his enemies. That was not a very

which was usually not too high. Sunny was

unless he really wanted

that he could enhance the might of the manifested shadows by pouring more essence into them. The more force he wanted to exert above their natural threshold, the more essence he had to burn. That would

than almost any other Master had at their disposal. If he really wanted to, he could exert truly monstrous strength through his manifested shadows. Even though that would be grossly inefficient in terms of essence expenditure, he felt very

to lift a finger? Even if there were many easier and smarter ways to kill something… very

And as devious.

the wild shadows, Sunny could also manifest his own. In fact, doing so was much easier, allowed him much better control, and demanded much less essence to be used. For a few

a sight that would