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].

However, she could not reveal the fact that she possessed a

had 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,

soul fragments she had received in the recent battle, then

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

the Second Nightmare... in fact, Sunny could learn a few things about what

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

him herself. Sunny knew 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 respected his desire to remain silent and did not push him to reveal his secrets. He

a Saint, though. He felt no qualms about studying the Memories that clan Valor had provided to Neph. They were incredible Memories, indeed, no less

a few to study their weaves. He just did not know

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

thinking about it

away the dreadful image, Sunny continued

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

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

"Your soul is

Description: "You have inherited the

Attributes in the past years, but Nephis had not. Neither had she unlocked her Aspect Legacy... which was not very surprising. Each Aspect was unique, after all, and possessed unique requirements for acquiring the

Saints, with an even smaller number doing so

it was Sunny who was

thinking of Serpent, and turned back to the shimmering

and doomed to exist in the darkness.

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

Manipulation], [Longing].[Soul Flame] Ability Description: "Your soul burns with the purest of flames. That flame can both restore and destroy, and is both

- it had grown slightly more

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

Manipulation] Ability Description: "You can bend all

turning it into her weapon. That fire did not have to be her own - although she could produce flames

the other hand...