Shadow Slave

Eventually, the four of them were invited into the room where Nephis slept… this time on a hospital bed instead of inside of a closed coffin of a sleeping pod. The administrators of the Academy wanted to avoid any more damage, so asking the members of Changing Star's cohort for help was a logical step.

Seeing familiar faces first after waking up would probably calm her down. And if not… having four Masters at hand would be enough to deal with any unforeseen complications.

Most likely...

Sunny stood in the corner, looking at Nephis with a somber expression. Her pale face, her silver hair. For the past two years, he had often seen her through the transparent lid of the sleeping pod, bathed in its ghostly light. Now that she was out and returned to the real world, Changing Star seemed much more… material. And strangely vulnerable.

She was truly back.

He sighed.

Cassie was sitting on a chair beside the bed, while Effie and Kai were resting on a sofa. None of them knew when Neph was going to wake up, and they had already spent a couple hours waiting. Without having to discuss it, all four decided to stay quiet. So… by now, they were pretty bored.

Sunny, on the other hand, was filled with more and more tension.

The corner of his mouth twitched.

'This anticipation is killing me. It's pure torture.'

it was better to prepare for the worst. For that reason, Sunny was mentally going over all the clever ways he had thought of to undermine her absolute authority as his master. There were always ways... owning an unwilling slave was not

one of the reasons why he had chosen to kill the Mirror Beast instead of subjugating it, all that time

help but feel

and moved slightly. Then, without being

dark embrace, he hesitated for a few moments, and then called upon Nightmare. A vast shadow appeared near him, all around him… this was the dark destrier in his true,

allowed himself to be enveloped by the larger shadow, and then gave it a silent command. What happened next…

few times in the past, and each time was as strange. It was a bit like traveling to the Dream Realm, but also

anxious anticipation, anyway. He had to see

himself on a dark

the cliffs far below. Some distance away,

studied it for a while, and then nudged Nightmare to walk along the edge of the cliff. Sitting in the saddle,

a strange place. They did not adhere to the logic of the real world and were always flowing, always changing. The more powerful a dreamer was, the more solid

such as Nightmare and Sunny. The threats contained within them might not have been real, but by invading this subliminal space, the uninvited guests had to treat

as if it was real. However, not only dreadful fiends posed a threat. His opponents were empowered by the dream itself, so their strength depended on the strength of the dreamer. Their actual shape did

her nightmares were bound to be

ruined city appeared from nowhere. With a bit of apprehension, Sunny recognized the familiar shapes of the stone buildings

a luxurious PTV lay overturned some distance away, its

Nightmare's back. After hesitating

several corpses inside, all wearing mundane clothes. Most disturbingly, these people lacked faces, and instead looked like smooth-faced mannequins.

a frown, he looked away and studied the surroundings. It did not take him long to notice a trail of