Shadow Slave

Sunny was riled and angry. Once again, talking to Nephis made him lose his sense of balance.

…However, the decision he made was not an emotional one.

He had enough composure to keep a clear head even while being affected by seething feelings. Years of battles and dire conflicts had taught him how to keep a cool head.

So, his choice was cold and calculated.

Two things had become clear during the conversation.

The first one was very simple — Nephis intended to join the great clan Valor, while Sunny didn't want to have anything to do with it.

It was one thing to become a retainer of a powerful and prosperous clan in order to make use of its vast knowledge, arsenal, and resources. Despite his strong desire to remain independent, Sunny had entertained the idea himself.

However, it was a completely different thing to join an embattled clan that was on the verge of entering a destructive and bloody war against a similarly fearsome adversary. To add insult to injury, Valor was on the losing end of the equation. Their enemy, the great clan Song, held all the advantages.

And even worse than that was the idea of joining a warring faction with conscious plans of betraying it further down the line. Nephis was more than willing to eventually face not one, but both great clans in battle.

She had her goals and conviction, but Sunny just wanted to be left alone. He saw no reason to follow her into the dragon's maw. More than that, with her joining Valor, the initial condition that had forced him into the damned negotiations in the first place was resolved.

Since Valor was willing to settle for recruiting just one member of the cohort, and Changing Star was willing to play the role of the recruit, then why the hell would he follow suit?

compelling reason for him to enter into service of the great clan, but there was a convenient

reality, things were a bit

angered him, but she was not wrong. Their fates did,

Academy to being sent to the same small patch of the Forgotten Shore… whether by coincidence or not, their connection went far beyond

to do with placing Nephis in his path. And as much as

already see how, no matter what he did, he would not be able to escape colliding against Changing Star again. She had been right when she said that escaping the notice of the great clans entirely was impossible for them — more so for

mention Shadow God and Weaver — coming into contact with the Sovereigns and their Domains was just a

the nature of their

to shape it into something that had a semblance of corresponding to

important revelation that had resulted from their conversation was the nature of Neph's intentions toward Sunny and her power

perhaps some of the nicest in his life. However, his actions had also caused everything to blow up in his face in the

issuing another order to

she planned to have people follow her of their own free will. Instead of enslaving anyone, she preferred to have people enslave and bind themselves by their desire to serve

had told him that she would never force him to do anything. But she

Sunny, was the core problem of

that Nephis valued him. She even respected him. But despite all that, she still saw him as a

a follower could

'Damn it.'

of all, her

with Effie. The huntress had told him once that he would never be stronger than Changing Star, because Changing Star had something that he

Conviction.