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.

within - and stood there for a few minutes, mentally going over what he was about to

seem to be

The principle was simple.

battle art was shapelessness and formlessness - it 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 battle intent,

to shadow simpler battle styles. He had achieved that breakthrough while fighting Nephis in the Crimson

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

vast library of techniques in the Dreamscape, which culminated during his first duel with Morgan. The inspiration Sunny had received after being

hardest one yet. Sunny had started his journey toward mastery of 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 had submerged himself into their perverted,

let go of their actual self - which, of course, posed the risk of losing it forever. Sunny had made that dangerous breakthrough after being trapped in an endless procession of harrowing dreams by Nightmare and

an anchor for what made Sunny an

allowed him to actually perceive the flow of essence through their

The fourth step...

had hit the wall. Shadow Dance was his Aspect Legacy, but it was also 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, let alone how to reach the next stop

beyond battle techniques...

mastering Shadow Dance, he had achieved progress

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

to create shells of other creatures. In fact, its role was perhaps the most important - without deep comprehension of

was a limitation

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

he added another

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

Awakened Ability - Shadow Dance - was missing

was the reason for the limitations Sunny had to deal

uh... let's just try

succeeded... Sunny felt that he might just discover a direction