Shadow Slave

There had been a time when Sunny studied Changing Star's runes like a man obsessed. His whole life had been built around the desire to overtake her on the path to power.

He might have even done a few careless things in that pursuit.

At some point, however, Sunny had lost the desire to compare himself to Nephis, at least in this way. The first change had happened because of her return from the Dream Realm. The second... sometime in the Antarctic Center, he had lost the habit of summoning her runes every day.

Shadow fragments, soul fragments - those were not a true measure of strength, anyway. Sunny had seen countless mundane soldiers stand and fight against the Nightmare Creatures, never surrendering despite the dire disparity of power between them. If those people were weak, then he did not know whom to call strong.

And so, at some point, he had stopped paying constant attention to Neph's runes without even noticing it.

Now, however, Sunny had the Mirror of Truth. So, he decided that it was worth taking another look.

The familiar symbols shimmered, forming into strings:

Name: Nephis.True Name: Changing Star.Rank: Ascended.Class: Tyrant.Soul Cores: [5/7].

He stared at that number for a few moments.

After years of lagging behind, Sunny had finally caught up to her... wasn't it so very funny that he had only been able to do so after stopping caring about the race?

A light smile appeared on his face.

'Whatever... she still has more fragments than I do. She'll be a Terror sooner than me.'

But did it really matter? In the end, they would both be Titans. That day was not as far away as it had once seemed, now.

Sunny continued to read:

Soul Fragments: [2719/5000].

the fact that she possessed a Divine Aspect and multiple soul cores - requesting more than a thousand would have been strange

not been hunting down many Nightmare Creatures while Sunny had been going from one dire battle to another almost every day in the Antarctic Center, either, so her progress was slow as of late. Now

had received in the recent battle, then turned his attention back to

Blade], [Starlight Legion Armor], [Dawn Shard], [Dark Wing],

Dream Realm and challenging the Second Nightmare... in fact, Sunny could learn a few things about what kind of trial

himself back. Perhaps it

trust toward Effie and Kai. Before that, his friends had respected his desire to remain silent and did

felt no qualms about studying the Memories that clan Valor had provided to Neph. They were incredible Memories, indeed, no less outstanding than Morgan's Warbow - each crafted for the specific purpose

few to study their weaves. He just

Neph, could you please take off your armor? I need it for a couple of weeks... no, no I won't

it made him

the dreadful image, Sunny

"You are born of two worlds, belonging to both, but welcomed in neither. Your soul exists on the

divine and the profane. Nephilim were the most beautiful, and

Attribute Description: "Your soul is aflame with the light

Attribute Description: "You have inherited the lineage of Sun

but Nephis had not. Neither had she unlocked her Aspect Legacy... which was not very surprising.

who received their Legacies were rare, and most only accomplished that feat after becoming Saints, with an even smaller number doing so as Masters. Otherwise, there would have

was Sunny who was an

and turned

and doomed to exist in the darkness. You bring radiance and warmth to wherever

the soul essence

of flames. That flame

the first of Neph's three Aspect Abilities - it had grown slightly more versatile since

Abilities - her Awakened and Ascended ones, respectively - were new. The Awakened Ability

can bend all fire to your

it into her weapon. That fire did not have to be her own - although she could produce flames if there were none around at

Ascended Ability, on the other