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].

by them. However, she could not reveal the fact that she possessed a Divine Aspect and multiple soul cores - requesting more than a thousand would have 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 that Changing Star had arrived in Antarctica, though,

in the

[Dream Blade], [Starlight Legion Armor], [Dawn Shard],

long list of Memories. Some of them she had received while wandering the Dream Realm and challenging the Second Nightmare... in fact, Sunny could learn a few things about what kind of trial she

harrowing experience, he held himself back. Perhaps it was stupid, but... he did not

fragile thing trust was... it had taken a lot for him to extend his own trust toward Effie and Kai. Before that, his friends

no qualms about studying the Memories that clan Valor had provided to Neph. They were incredible Memories, indeed, no less outstanding

wanted to borrow a few to study their weaves. He

it for

about it made him

Sunny continued to study

Attribute Description: "You are born of two worlds, belonging to both, but welcomed in neither.

Description: "There once were terrible creatures born of an unholy union between the divine

Description: "Your soul is aflame with the light

Fire] Attribute Description: "You have inherited the lineage

new Attributes in the past years, but Nephis had not. Neither had she unlocked her Aspect Legacy... which

an even smaller number doing so as Masters. Otherwise, there would have been

Sunny who was

of Serpent, and turned back to the shimmering

of light that was banished and doomed to exist in the darkness. You bring radiance and

Ability Description: "You can directly absorb a portion of the soul essence

Flame] Ability Description: "Your soul burns with the purest of flames. That flame can both restore

Abilities - it had grown slightly more versatile since the

Ascended ones, respectively - were new. The Awakened Ability

Description: "You can bend all fire to your

fire, turning it into her weapon. That fire did not have to be her own

Ability, on the other hand... was a