Shadow Slave

Eventually, Sunny climbed out of the sleeping niche and went about the business of managing the caravan. They had made it far into the mountains and were already moving north, toward their true goal.

The blizzard was still raging, reducing visibility to almost zero. The landscape was as grim and foreboding as ever.

Surrounding areas needed to be scouted, maps needed to be updated, reports needed to be received, and a hundred other things demanded his attention.

Before getting down to it, Sunny spared a few moments to stare at the grey fabric and lusterless black leather of the Puppeteer's Shroud.

Who could have thought that he would be reduced to seriously using it again, after all that time?

'It sure is much more comfortable than walking around in a full plate of steel armor. Ah, the old me had it good...'

Actually, not really.

Sunny was ready to climb to the roof of the Rhino when he noticed Beth staring at him with a strange expression. He lingered for a moment.

"What?"

She blinked a couple of times, then pulled her gaze away.

"No, no... nothing..."

Sunny frowned.

"Just say it, will you?"

Beth remained silent for a second, then asked hesitantly:

"Are you... uh... are you wearing makeup?"

was his

Why would you

a dubious look and shook

just look a little different, that's

Sunny grinned.

have the complexion of a marble statue, no makeup involved. Didn't you

sigh and

Awakened... how is

and appeared on top of the Rhino, sighing as the bone-chilling wind smashed

passive resistance to the elements was already making

for better stability, summoned the Memory of Ice, and wrapped the

no way bothersome. Additionally, the winds were powerless against him. It

Huh.

Warbow, he sat down on the roof

get used to

Antarctic Center was still hard and dangerous, but with Naeve assisting Sunny in defending

other, communicating mostly over the chain of relays in the military vehicles. Sunny was stationed at the head of the column, while Naeve stayed in the rear to

dire threat demanded both of them to fight side

'Ah. Finally, a professional...'

a net woven

be under severe restriction, though, so the scion of the House of Night

was more than

notice the difference between the two of them. It was understandable... after all, the Nightwalker had a family to come back to. He carried more than one life on his

new to Sunny, and made him think

caravan continued to grow, several more groups of Erebus Field survivors joining it. By then, Sunny was secretly starting to thank the gods that Naeve's ship had

and arm

the only other person other than Beth who