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.'

was better to prepare for the worst. For that reason, Sunny was mentally going over all the clever ways he had thought of

been one of the reasons why he had chosen to

but

head and moved slightly. Then,

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

by the larger shadow, and then gave it a silent command. What happened next… was hard

this a few times in the past, and each time was as strange. It was a bit like

his anxious anticipation, anyway. He had to see if

found himself on

Some distance away,

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

logic of the real world and were always flowing, always changing. The more powerful a dreamer was, the more solid they sometimes

threats contained within them might not have been real, but by invading this

powerful abomination, the dark destrier had to battle the abomination 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

her nightmares were bound to

appeared from nowhere. With a bit of apprehension, Sunny recognized the familiar shapes of the stone buildings of the Dark City. However, they were simultaneously the alloy towers of the Siege Capital. Their facades were broken, with smoke and fire escaping

its armored frame bent and riddled with

approached the PTV and then jumped off Nightmare's back. After hesitating for a moment, he bent down and looked inside

mundane clothes. Most disturbingly, these people lacked faces, and instead looked like smooth-faced mannequins. Their flesh, however, was quite real… and terribly

studied the surroundings. It did not take him long to notice a trail of blood leading away from the