Shadow Slave

'Argh! What an infuriating woman!'

Sunny appeared from the shadows and resumed his position in the corner. No one seemed to have noticed his absence, which was for the best.

Their short conversation with Nephis had been interrupted by the appearance of a ghastly demon with six arms and charred black holes instead of eyes. Sunny had done his best to restrain the abomination while Nightmare attacked it from the back. In the end, they managed to destroy it without sustaining any wounds.

It had not been an easy battle, though.

After that, Sunny felt too confused to continue the conversation, and instead chose to return to the waking world.

'Because I do… that doesn't even make any sense!'

It seemed that Neph's whole existence was designed to continuously stump him. From their first conversation on the Forgotten Shore until now, he just could not get how her mind worked. Protecting Cassie simply because she wanted to, caring about people simply because she did… the sheer audacity of being so unapologetically strange and irrational made him fume.

Especially so because he suspected that Nephis somehow derived strength from this bizarre attitude. Was that what Effie had meant when she talked about conviction?

Sunny did not really understand what exactly it was that she thought he lacked. Was it will or determination? If so, the huntress was terribly mistaken. He might not have been the most principled of people, but few could boast of having more determination than Sunny. Otherwise, he would not have survived all the terrible trials that life had thrown his way.

But maybe… maybe conviction was something else. Maybe having will and determination was not enough, unless they were aimed at something precise, and guided by a singular purpose. After all, having a sharp sword was useless unless it was brandished against an enemy.

Was conviction a guiding principle that shaped formless power and determination into a sharp blade? Was it an unbreakable will to achieve a certain purpose?

Sunny was not without a purpose, after all. He had his own goals — to have a good life, to be free, to make sure that those he cared about were safe. Why were

him. They were all aimed inside. He did not think that

herself to an almost demented degree in

have a purpose, but also for the nature of that purpose to be larger than oneself? For

sounded too high and mighty to Sunny. He was more inclined

a bit uncomfortable at the thought that someone with a greater purpose had an inherent advantage over someone who just wanted to be

Sunny, he was fated to compete against exactly this kind of people if he wanted to be free to live his life as he seemed fit. Only if he became

result in a very

about this? Damned Effie and her damned

any case, he had other things to

tentatively made sure that two years of lonely and, no doubt, harrowing travels through the Dream

but at least she was not a raving lunatic. In fact… Nephis seemed strangely stable for a person who had gone through something that no one should have ever

entirely, he did not know. Regardless, a lot of

all of it,

had determined Neph's general mental state,

been able to find a bit of closure in dismantling her reasons for invoking his True Name. He had expected Changing Star to hide behind a false and misguided veil of having done it for his own good. He had been prepared,

fury, and resentment. He wanted to cause her to feel at least

her actions were nothing but selfish, making all the attacks and accusations he had prepared moot. That left Sunny confused and unsatisfied. The fight he had wanted

was not only struggling against his