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.'

that Nephis would abuse her power over him. But 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

he had chosen to kill the Mirror Beast instead of subjugating

not help but feel a hint of

while, he shook his head and moved slightly. Then, without being noticed by anyone, Sunny

moments, and then called upon Nightmare. A vast shadow appeared near him, all around him… this was the dark destrier in

enveloped by the larger shadow, and then gave it a silent command.

and each time was as strange. It

anticipation,

Sunny found himself

cliffs far below. Some distance away, a

along the edge of the cliff. Sitting in the saddle, he rode the black steed and tried not to

did not adhere to the logic of the real world and

contained within them might not have been real, but by invading this subliminal space, the uninvited guests had

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

strong. So her nightmares were

the landscape around them changed. The dark shore and the lighthouse disappeared, and instead, the streets of a ruined city appeared from nowhere. With a bit of apprehension, Sunny recognized the familiar shapes of the

burning debris, and a luxurious PTV lay overturned some distance away, its

PTV and then jumped off Nightmare's back. After hesitating for a moment,

all wearing mundane clothes. Most disturbingly, these people lacked faces, and instead looked like

did not take him long to notice a trail of