Shadow Slave

1060 The Fall of Falcon Scott (78)

The Winter Beast came.

And then, it left.

The last citadel of humanity in the Antarctic Center, Falcon Scott, had fallen to the Chain of Nightmares. The harrowing blizzard had swept through it, freezing the whole city solid and killing everyone inside.

Sunny had heard that a long time ago, during the Dark Times — or maybe even before that — the whole of Antarctica was covered by ice. It had been a land of perpetual winter, cold, and snow.

After the Corrupted Titan wiped out the last human settlement and retreated back into the mountains, as if satisfied to be the sole sovereign of the region, the landscape looked just like that, again.

The city was drowning in snow. The buildings emerged from it, encased in ice. Below the cliffs, a large swath of the ocean was frozen, as well. A gargantuan battleship was stuck in the ice, still anchored, the people aboard it all dead.

Everyone was dead.

Except for Sunny.

His soldiers were dead. Millions of civilians were dead. Professor Obel was dead, too. But he was alive, and not even wounded. Sunny had remained in the shadows for a long time, only emerging from them after his essence almost ran dry.

And now, he was digging a grave.

The earth itself was frozen solid, so his task was not an easy one. He had to summon the Sin of Solace, and use the beautiful jade blade to dig. Sunny was standing in a shallow pit, deepening it. His movements were fast and purposeful. Angry tears were streaming down his face, turning into ice before falling to the ground.

…He was not alone, either.

A vague shape that looked a lot like him was sitting on the edge of the pit, staring at him somberly. It had his voice, too.

"Look at you go."

Sunny gritted his teeth, ignoring the Sin of Solace. The cursed sword remained silent for a while, observing him.

Eventually, it asked:

"So, did you find it? Conviction? Or whatever it was you've been searching for?"

Sunny spared the vague shape a glance, then continued digging.

"No… no, I didn't find crap."

He wiped his face with an elbow.

"Actually, that's not true. I did find something. I found out that I was right all along!"

Sunny plunged the sword into the frozen soil and laughed.

"Faith, calling, conviction… all those lofty words. It's all rubbish! It's all… meaningless. People like Anvil of Valor and Ki Song have conviction, and that conviction helps them achieve greatness. Well, where are they? What good did it do? Where the hell were they, huh?!"

sword and stared at the vague shape with fury in his

ever wanted was to live a good life, and keep people I care about safe. What's wrong about that? Why do I have

a moment, then returned

process, because there's no one to hold them responsible. They can have their little wars while ignoring the death toll, no matter how much

and then let out a

she was wrong. Well, I can't blame her… she doesn't know Nephis as well as I do. From the outside, it might really look like Neph draws power from conviction. And she does,

had asked Nephis why she wanted to

"Because I hate it."

Because she hated it…

she wanted to, and she wanted to destroy

That was all.

then

I'm such a

the

we agree

He… he had not found conviction. But in a sense, he

not

at the vague shape, and made it

Sunny climbed out of the grave

were three graves beside that one. They all stared at Sunny like monuments

to the four corpses that lay on the ground a small distance away from

Winter Beast left, he had returned to

there when he

then, not too far away, he had found the body of Master Jet,

had been the first person to meet him after the First Nightmare, and the one to guide him to the Academy. She had been there when

had even helped him

and power. And

she was

couldn't believe it, but there was no denying it. Her lifeless body was right there in front of him, unmoving and still. Her beautiful

Reaper Jet was

Sunny's heart was empty.

'Right…'

and carried him to the first grave. Then, silently,

but he couldn't bring himself to approach her body for a long time. Eventually, though, it

Sunny approached Jet's corpse, then

at him with glassy eyes, and said

"Kindly unhand me."

Sunny sighed.

am going to bury you well… there are no Nightmare Creatures around, yet, but they will come eventually. You wouldn't want to be eaten, would you? I

corpse remained silent for a few

your mind, Sunny? Put me

He nodded.

my mind, a little. That's