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].

could not reveal the fact

another almost every day in the Antarctic Center, either, so her progress was slow as of late.

many soul fragments she had received in the recent battle, then turned his attention back to

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

them she had received while wandering the Dream Realm and challenging the Second Nightmare... in fact,

want to talk about her harrowing experience, he held himself back. Perhaps it was stupid,

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

provided to Neph. They were incredible Memories, indeed, no less outstanding than Morgan's Warbow - each crafted for the specific purpose of slaughtering Nightmare Creatures and tailored to

wanted to borrow a few to study their weaves. He just

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

it made

dreadful image, Sunny continued to study the

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

were terrible creatures born of an unholy union between the divine and the profane. Nephilim were the most beautiful,

Divinity] Attribute Description: "Your soul is aflame with the light of

have inherited the lineage of

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

only accomplished that feat after becoming Saints, with an even smaller number doing

Sunny who was

of Serpent, and turned

exist in the darkness. You bring radiance and warmth to wherever you go, but with

Ability Description: "You can directly absorb a portion of the soul essence of any Nightmare Creature destroyed by your flames, as

with the purest of flames. That flame can both restore

familiar 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

other two Abilities - her Awakened and Ascended ones, respectively -

Description: "You can bend all fire

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

other