Shadow Slave

Sunny waited for a moment... then waited some more. He was back on the deck of the Chain Breaker, surrounded by flowing mist. A slight tremor ran through his body.

'I'm tired.'

He straightened slowly and stared into the fog. It was time for him to take a break, but... Sunny wasn't even sure what he was supposed to do. His companions were just as useless as far as resting was concerned - none of them had given him a single good idea.

Well... except for Jet. She had looked at him for a few moments, chuckled, and told him to take a good nap.

Which was not a bad piece of advice. As a government officer who had always looked overworked and suffering from sleep deprivation, she would know best.

That said...

Even though this revolution was supposed to be his day off, Sunny still had to rescue Jet. Relaxing while she was being killed by Undying Slaughter did not sound restful at all. He couldn't bring himself to even think about skipping this step.

'Ah...'

Glancing at Nephis and Cassie, Sunny walked over to Nightmare and climbed into the saddle. Neph looked at him questioningly.

"Sunny? What are you doing?"

He couldn't be bothered to explain things properly.

"Leaving. Don't worry, I'll be back soon. Until then... just stay here."

Leaving the two bewildered young women behind, Nightmare leaped into the mist.

As the familiar scenes flew past him, Sunny summoned the Mirror of Truth and studied the reflection of Nephis on its mercurial surface. After hesitating for a few moments, he activated the [Searching Reflection] enchantment.

At the same time, he imagined a pure white flame and thought:

'Soul Flame.'

crack appeared

been still and silent, was in

of flames. That flame can both restore and destroy, and is both a blessing and a

'How peculiar.'

- possessing something and being in control of it were two

on the surface of the Mirror of Truth. Judging by the rate at which the Memory deteriorated, he could borrow a

last for more than one. A Transcendent Ability might shatter the Mirror of Truth in mere minutes, while anything greater... perhaps just a few moments

it was sort

small black flame appeared on his palm.

'...It's black?'

expected to see the pure white flame, just

sense. Soulflame was just that... flame produced from one's soul. Nephis's

that his black flame was much, much weaker than hers. It was reasonable, too - although the [Flame of Divinity] and the potency of his Ascended soul fueled it,

resistance to fire it

"Ouch!"

the black flame when the skin on his palm started to blister.

up there with the absolute worst

deep frown

Ability. Eventually, he managed to summon soulflame again, this time channeling it into his body instead of manifesting it outside of himself. This time, it did

was suddenly suffused with a strange dark radiance. Concentrating it on his hands, he watched

had just

'Wow.'

to be able to

He shook his head.

the audacity to call me a cockroach,

she was

experimenting with soulflame and eventually managed to get it to empower his body. Augmented both by both the dark flames and the shadows, Sunny felt dire strength coursing through his veins... it was not quite as

augmentation was that it did not divide itself into five distinct parts, akin to his five shadows. Instead, it was a

'Huh...'

shadows, all of the authentic soulflame, all of the mirrored soulflame, Effie's Ascended Ability, and the Crown of Dawn on top