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].

after being adopted 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

going from one dire battle to another almost every day in the Antarctic Center, either, so her progress was

fragments she had received in the recent battle, then turned his attention

Armor], [Dawn Shard],

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 had faced from

himself

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

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

really wanted to borrow a few to study their weaves. He just did not know how to

I need it for a couple of weeks... no, no I won't wear it...

it

the dreadful image, Sunny continued to study the

[The Fire].[Dreamspawn] Attribute Description: "You are born of two worlds, belonging to both, but welcomed in neither. Your soul exists on the edge

creatures born of an unholy union between the divine and the profane. Nephilim were the

Description: "Your soul is

Attribute Description: "You have inherited the lineage of

but Nephis had not. Neither had she unlocked her Aspect Legacy... which was not very surprising. Each Aspect was unique, after

only accomplished that feat after becoming Saints, with an even smaller number doing so as Masters.

it was Sunny who was

of Serpent, and turned back

Rank: Divine.Aspect Description: [You are a creature of light that was banished and doomed to exist in the darkness.

soul essence of any Nightmare Creature destroyed by your flames, as well as of any

of flames. That flame can both restore

with the first of Neph's three Aspect Abilities - it had grown slightly more versatile since the Forgotten Shore, now augmenting the soul, as well, but otherwise

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

"You can

how Nephis was able to control fire, turning it into her weapon. That fire did not have to be her own - although she could produce flames if there were none around at the cost of feeling terrible

the other hand... was a bit