Shadow Slave

Soon, Sunny and Jet continued their journey. The landscape of East Antarctica remained the same, and so did the dangers they faced. The two of them traveled across the desolate plain, sometimes avoiding the Nightmare Creatures, sometimes engaging in short and furious battles. Sunny felt a little bit numb, and was glad to have a task to focus on. With all his attention concentrated on keeping them alive, he had no time for unnecessary thoughts, which suited him just fine.

Jet, meanwhile, was slowly recovering her powers. The more abominations she killed, the less like a corpse she looked. At some point, she allowed herself to summon a few Memories, and was now wearing a light suit of armor that was made of black, lusterless leather. Now that she wielded a weapon, her lethality had soared, too.

For Sunny, it was fascinating to watch Jet slowly come back to life. Her eyes were once again the familiar icy blue, her movements becoming as swift, murderous, and purposeful as they had been before. This was the fearsome Soul Reaper he knew - she might not have reached her peak condition yet, but she did not resemble a shambling corpse anymore, either.

Most interesting of all, her lifeless shadow had regained its vitality. By now, he would have never suspected that the person in front of him was not actually alive.

A few days passed, and then a few more. Two whole weeks had passed since the destruction of Falcon Scott. They had spent half of that time crossing the strait, and half traversing the snowy plain. The plain was as inhospitable and vast as ever.

Sunny made Nightmare stop, waiting for his shadows to assess the size of a distant horde of Nightmare Creatures. These past few days, there had been more and more abominations around, all moving in the same direction. Weaving between them was growing harder.

Somewhat bored, he shifted in the saddle and asked: "Hey... do you think the government considers us dead?"

Jet, who was sitting in front of him, turned her head and gave him an amused look. Sunny sighed. "No pun intended."

He knew that his friends had to be aware that he was fine - Nephis could see his runes, after all, and she would have informed the rest. However, being pronounced dead by the government was a bothersome affair. His merchant license would have been revoked, for example, which would put Aiko and the Brilliant Emporium in a tight spot. His home could be auctioned off, too.

Jet chuckled. "I don't think so. They have ways to know such things - the diviners, for example. We were probably marked as missing in action. If anyone even had time to do the paperwork."

a slight frown appearing on his face. Soul

shook his

sounded like a rainstorm was raging somewhere far away, but

two of them exchanged a meaningful glance.

the thunderous sound could only be produced by

Sunny sent his steed in the direction where the thunder had come from. The black stallion flew across the

covering the lake had long been broken, with many gargantuan carcasses floating in the cold

unleashing a devastating barrage of tungsten rounds on the encroaching mass of abominations. Sunny could even

escaped from his

Sunny closed his eyes for

lake, surrounded

out to be much more chaotic than Sunny expected... and fighting through the horde of

intense. At first, the commander of the city defenses seemed polite, but unfriendly - after all,

have to sortie to protect the unexpected

that the two Ascended had come from the Antarctic Center, his demeanor completely

"Falcon Scott? B-but..."

stared at them with wide eyes for a moment. Then, something akin to joyous pride

know what the Master was feeling

is great! I need to inform the... no, wait. Are you guys wounded? Do you need medical attention? Crap, what am I saying... wait, Antarctic Center? Then you

two Ascended survivors had an explosive effect. The soldiers, who had been depressed and despondent about the