Shadow Slave

When Sunny heard what Nephis had to say, he almost stepped on her foot. His rhythm was broken, making it difficult to remain in the flow of the dance. He narrowly avoided stumbling, regained his composure, and threw a burning gaze at her.

"What?"

Her expression did not change.

"You heard me."

Sunny opened his mouth, lingered for a moment, then simply turned around and pulled her by the hand. Despite the fact that many people stared at this sudden turn of events, he cut through the dancing guests, forcing Neph to follow. They left the middle of the great hall, then disappeared from the central chamber entirely.

Finding himself in a corridor that ran along the length of the dancing hall, Sunny walked swiftly, searching for an empty room. Eventually, he had to settle for a kitchen of sorts. Several chefs and their assistants were busy preparing more refreshments for the guests of the ball… or rather, they had been.

Even before Sunny entered the room, the shadows inside suddenly moved and grew darker, startling the kitchen staff. Throwing a heavy glance at them, he said in an even voice:

"Leave."

The chefs stared at the two Masters in confusion for a couple of moments, then silently backed away and left through a different door, their faces pale.

Sunny and Nephis were left alone.

He waited for a bit, then let go of her hand and outstretched his own. A strange flute carved of emerald bone appeared in it from a swirl of sparks. Sunny brought it to his lips and blew into the hole.

Surprisingly, no sound came out of the flute. Instead, it seemed to have absorbed all sounds, enveloping them in a cone of silence. Now, no one would have been able to listen in on their conversations.

Sunny's shadows also kept watch outside the kitchen, just to make sure.

Finally, he turned to Nephis and snarled:

What… what

and leaned on the wall. Then,

are you

stunned silence. Then, he

you pulled, after all that talk about wishing to bring the three ghouls to their knees and destroy them…

Neph's eyes grew somber.

did not

He frowned.

Valor, but you are also going to become one of their own. Don't

at him intensely, then said with

the contrary, this is the only way I can advance my

a step forward and pierced him with

too fearsome. And I am truly too weak to contend with them… for now. However, they will fall by my hand, in the end. Did you hope that two years of being lost in the Dream Realm would have dulled my resolve? Did you think that I would give

his head

Changing Star smiled.

resolve was only made sharper. I spent so many days, so many nights thinking about how to move forward and bring these old monsters down. It was not too hard to realize that if my own strength is not enough, I have to borrow it from someone else. Whose strength

Sunny blinked slowly.

conquer? This is your

Nephis shrugged.

long time, the sudden appearance of the Dreamer Army made it worse. But most of all, the death of Saint Cormac and the return of the banished Prince of War was

He scowled.

does Mordret have to do

Changing Star smiled darkly.

means that he will do the same thing as me. He would have sought out a way to use

Sunny's eyes widened.

one who had spawned him and the one who had raised him. That left