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.'

appeared on

was as if his soul, which had always been still and silent, was in

Flame] Ability Description: "Your soul burns with the purest of flames. That flame can

'How peculiar.'

an important detail - possessing something and being in control of it were two different things.

of the way, Sunny kept trying to manifest Soul Flame. As he did, more tiny cracks appeared on the surface of the Mirror of Truth. Judging

Awakened one would destroy the Memory in a few hours, while an Ascended one would not 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 would be

was sort

appeared on his palm. Sunny

'...It's black?'

the pure white flame, just

flame produced from one's soul. Nephis's soul was pure

- although the [Flame of Divinity] and the potency of his Ascended soul fueled it, he

resistance to fire it granted

"Ouch!"

dismissed the black flame when the skin on his palm started

the

deep frown contorted his

his newfound Ability. Eventually, he managed to summon soulflame again,

with a strange dark radiance. Concentrating it on his hands, he watched as the blisters

just

'Wow.'

nice would it be, to be able to mend his own

He shook his head.

get the audacity to

was

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 daunting as when

five distinct parts, akin to his five shadows. Instead, it was a single mass of flame

'Huh...'

of the mirrored