Shadow Slave

With Saint standing guard, Nightmare keeping her company, and Imp happily munching on the tarnished silver of the Great Monster's battle armor, Sunny was once again left with nothing much to do.

The seven suns were shining in the three-colored sky. The clear waters of the Great River were flowing as they sparkled in the sunlight. The azure serpent was hungrily circling the dark island, ramming it from time to time to make its wrathful madness known. The Sin of Solace was brooding silently.

A gentle breeze was playing with Sunny's hair.

With a sigh, he swept it back and rose, planning to go find Nephis.

'This is too weird.'

He had expected many situations to arise at the start of the Third Nightmare, but one thing he had not expected was being left with nothing urgent to do.

Walking across the weathered surface of the black rock, Sunny went around a torn band of dull silver, traversed a few patches of moss, and finally laid his eye on Nephis.

She was training.

Holding an unfamiliar longsword, Nephis was practicing a complicated chain of moves, her silver hair dancing in the air. There were beads of sweat on her face, and the hem of the airy tunic was flaring, revealing smooth porcelain skin.

Her movements were limber and flowing, gracefully cascading into each other.

The sight of it was... beautiful.

Neph's swordsmanship was beautiful. And she was beautiful, too.

Illuminated by the dreamlike radiance of the seven suns and dancing with a silvery sword on a carpet of green moss, with her white tunic and alabaster skin, she was like a fairy.

Sunny found himself standing motionlessly in the shadow of a rock outcropping, watching. He had been planning to call out to Nephis, but now... forgetting about it, he silently remained where he was.

Some time passed. Sunny wasn't sure how much exactly.

The island trembled once more.

Eventually, he shifted slightly, as though escaping a reverie, and took a step forward to escape the shadows.

"Hey."

Nephis stopped and leaned on her sword, breathing heavily. Her chest was rising and falling, and her face was slightly flushed. Walking over, Sunny summoned the Endless Spring and offered it to her with a friendly smile.

Accepting the beautiful glass bottle, she sat down and wiped the sweat off her face, then threw her head back and drank greedily.

the beads of sweat glistening above the collar of her tunic, which was slightly damp and sticking

"Thank you."

hesitated for a moment, then drank some of the cool, refreshing water himself and sat down

what he was going to

of peaceful silence, Sunny

most powerful combatant among us is the Onyx Saint... my Shadow. You must know that she is a Transcendent Devil now. Should something happen, she would be our best bet against the

share her flames with his Shadows. But the last time they had attempted it was a lifetime ago, in the basement of his home in

Now, she was a Transcendent Devil, and he was a

great number of soul shards during the Battle of the Black Skull, and gained the last few in the Nightmare Desert. The situation back then had been too desperate

care about competing with

would be able to scratch against the level of strength of a Supreme creature. Of course, there was a big problem... as a being whose flesh was akin to stone, she could not swim, and would immediately sink if pushed

was worth

Nephis nodded.

that sounds like a good

leaned back a little and closed her eyes, enjoying

watched her silently for

Eventually, he said:

"Your swordsmanship has changed."

always flowing and unpredictable, but

first met. His skill now was incomparable with that of four years ago... he had grown

Nephis had

she did not have the benefit of having an Aspect

then. Now, she had fully come into her power as a Master, and was able to push her skill to entirely new limits...

eyes,

"I guess it did."

leaned forward and looked into the distance

me... my understanding of swordsmanship went through

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

"Sounds serious."

with a distant

because of learning to control my essence. Awakened possess a rudimentary form of essence control - they broadly enhance their entire bodies with essence, sometimes narrowing the scope down to a particular limb. After learning to do it as easily as breathing, they can become Masters, and naturally transition to a much more targeted, intricate, and

Her eyes glinted.

to control essence was very hard for me... I had to

suppressed a smile. He vividly remembered helping her pass these

Nephis, meanwhile, continued:

the cut in the most efficient and effective way? My hand, my shoulder, my back, my core, my thighs, my calves... everything had to work in harmony to produce the best result. It took a while to become proficient enough in controlling essence to do it right without thinking. And, in the process, I became much more aware of my body. I also got submerged in studying the basics, on a much deeper level than before. Going deeper and