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?!"

and stared at the vague shape with fury

around playing with their great conviction, while little people like us suffer and lose our little lives. But what's wrong with having small dreams? All I ever wanted was to live a good life, and keep people I care about safe. What's wrong about that? Why do I have to have a great goal and soaring ambition to be allowed to

remained motionless for a moment, then returned to

because those bastards made it so… that's the world they have built. They can pursue their convictions and trample on millions in the process, because there's no one to hold them responsible. They can have

then let out

the outside, it might really look like Neph draws power from conviction. And she does,

ago, Sunny had asked Nephis why she wanted to destroy the Spell. And her answer was

"Because I hate it."

Because she hated it…

wanted to, and she wanted

That was all.

laughed again, then shook

I'm such a

vague shape sitting on the edge of

we

past months. He… he

I want. It might not be much, but it's enough. I am who I am, and who

looked at the vague shape, and made

climbed out of the grave and looked

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

to the four corpses that lay on the

he had returned to collect the bodies

to the Academy. She had been there when he returned from

away, he had found the body

Jet… Sunny couldn't quite comprehend the fact that she was dead. She had always been there for him. She had been the first person to meet him after the First Nightmare, and the one to

even helped him purchase

mentor, comrade, and friend. For him, she was synonymous with competence and power. And perseverance. If a girl from

now, she was

was right there in front of him, unmoving and still. Her beautiful

Reaper Jet was

Sunny's heart was empty.

'Right…'

walked over to Belle and carried him to the first grave. Then, silently, he repeated

couldn't bring himself to approach her

himself, Sunny approached Jet's corpse, then

him with glassy

"Kindly unhand me."

Sunny sighed.

Creatures around, yet, but they will come eventually. You

silent for a few

lost your mind, Sunny? Put

He nodded.

my