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].

many soul shards from the treasury of clan Valor after being adopted by them. However, she could not reveal the fact

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 that Changing Star had arrived in Antarctica, though, that

had received in the recent battle, then

[Starlight Legion Armor], [Dawn

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

to talk about her harrowing experience, he held himself back.

his own trust toward Effie and Kai. Before that, his friends had respected his desire to remain silent and did not push him

that clan Valor had provided to Neph. They were incredible Memories, indeed, no less

few to study their weaves. He just did not know how to phrase that

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

thinking about it made him

away the dreadful image, Sunny continued to

Attribute Description: "You are born of two worlds, belonging

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

soul

Fire] Attribute Description: "You have inherited the lineage of Sun

not changed. Sunny himself had received a couple new Attributes in the past years, but Nephis had not. Neither had she unlocked her Aspect Legacy... which was not very surprising. Each

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

Sunny who was

sighed wistfully, thinking of Serpent, and turned back to the

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

essence of any Nightmare Creature destroyed

of flames.

was perfectly familiar with the first of Neph's three Aspect Abilities - it had grown slightly more versatile since the Forgotten Shore, now augmenting

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

can bend all fire to

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

on the other hand... was