Shadow Slave

Sunny remained motionless for a while, then chuckled.

"No... that's crazy! It would never work."

Then, he stared at the wall some more.

...Would it?

'No way.'

The thought that had crept into his mind while he was thinking about the limitations of the Shadow Shell was so out there that it seemed utterly ridiculous. But the more he thought about it... the fewer reasons to discard it he saw.

'No, that's... that's a bit too strange, even for me.'

And yet, he could not find a logical reason for why it wouldn't be true.

Sunny hesitated for a while longer, then furtively looked around.

Then, he cleared his throat, stood up, and left the office.

If he wanted to test this bizarre theory, he needed to do it somewhere more private.

He left the Valor compound and made his way to the nearby dormitory, where most of the government staff still remaining within the siege capital lived. There, he entered his living quarters - which were a bit more spacious and had better amenities than that of both mundane and Awakened government workers - and locked the door behind him.

Being an Ascended had its perks.

the apartment, two within - and stood there for a few

seem to be dangerous, just... really

The principle was simple.

to shadow an enemy, copying the very essence of their combat technique. After doing so, he could predict their movements, the flow of their battle intent, and

step allowed him to shadow simpler battle styles. He had achieved that breakthrough while fighting Nephis in

his comprehension of the fundamental principles that governed all battle techniques, allowing him to shadow much more sophisticated styles, and do it much faster. It also gave him a glimpse of an intuitive understanding of the more esoteric components of the truly advanced battle arts - those created and used by the Awakened, thus incorporating

of techniques in the Dreamscape, which culminated during his first duel with Morgan. The

it by expanding his horizons and starting to shadow not only humans, but also Nightmare Creatures. In the bloody arena of the Red Colosseum, he

of their actual self - which, of course, posed

had pulled the dissipating pieces of his true self back together by using his True Name. It served as an anchor for

and combat intelligence of those beings he shadowed even further, allowed him to actually perceive the flow of essence through their

The fourth step...

but it was also something he had to invent all on his own, with

of Shadow Dance went far beyond battle techniques...

he had achieved progress in other aspects of his

Shell - a powerful tool he had created by bringing together various facets of his skills, Attributes, and

without deep comprehension of the desired form, Sunny would never be able to construct it from

was a limitation to Shadow

truly shapeless and formless, while Sunny was not. Even if he had managed to make his mind supremely malleable, he still possessed a human body. No matter how much training he had put into making it as flexible and adaptable

if... he added

Shadow Control, his Ascended Ability, Shadow Manifestation, and

- Shadow Dance -

that, perhaps, was the reason for the

uh... let's just try

that he might just discover a direction that would eventually lead him to the next step