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.

to stand watch - two outside the apartment, two within - and stood there

be dangerous, just...

The principle was simple.

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

step allowed him to shadow simpler battle styles. He had achieved that breakthrough

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 special ways of guiding soul essence through one's

achieved that step after collecting a vast library of techniques in the Dreamscape, which culminated during his first duel with Morgan. The

shadow not only humans, but also Nightmare Creatures. In the bloody arena of the Red Colosseum, he had submerged himself into their perverted, demented, rabid minds... which allowed him to

actual self - which, of

the end, he had pulled the dissipating pieces of his true self back together by using his True Name. It served as an anchor for what made Sunny an

him to actually perceive the flow of essence through their bodies as

The fourth step...

something he had to invent all on his own, with no one guiding him... as such, he wasn't even sure what the correct path was,

of Shadow Dance went far beyond battle

he had achieved progress in other aspects of his

had created by bringing together various facets of his skills, Attributes, and Aspect

in him being able to create shells of other creatures. In fact, its role was perhaps the most important - without deep comprehension of the desired form, Sunny would never be able to construct it from the shadows, and that was what his Aspect Legacy allowed

there was a limitation to Shadow

managed to make his mind supremely malleable, he still possessed a human body. No matter how much training he had

he added another ingredient

Shadow Shell existed as a combination of his Dormant Ability, Shadow Control,

Dance - was missing

for the limitations

uh... let's just try

just discover a direction that would eventually lead him