Shadow Slave

Throughout the rest of the loop, Cassie continued to be a little off. The changes were subtle, but Sunny could easily spot them. After all, he had been going through these tribulations for a long time now... anything that was different from how things were supposed to go drew his attention.

Cassie was clearly in a slightly dazed state - not unlike how he had been the first time around. Otherwise, she would have realized that having a persistent sense of déjà vu on an island where time endlessly repeated itself had to mean something.

Then again, she might have simply attributed it to the time loop and moved on. It was only Sunny who knew that the blind girl was acting differently from how she had in the previous revolutions.

"Why is this happening?"

Cassie was distracted because of her strange mental state, while Sunny was distracted because of Cassie. The cohort had slain the Cavern Terror, traversed the system of caves, and obliterated the swarm of black millipedes.

Finally, they climbed out of the chasm and ventured into the misty forest.

Now that it was submerged in darkness, Sunny found it much easier to move forward. He was in his element. He could also track the movements of the Nightmare Creatures populating this part of the island, not to mention the fact that he already knew what they were capable of.

Some abominations had to be avoided at all costs, some could be challenged. It was easier to avoid the former, and not as hard to slay the latter. Armed with knowledge and the element of surprise, the cohort made swift progress.

Eventually, there came a moment when Sunny told everyone to slow down and took the lead. Banishing the mist from a small area in front of them, he called:

"Effie! Do not..."

As soon as he spoke, a grey spear flashed toward him with tremendous speed, as if shot from a devastating siege engine.

Holding back a sigh, Sunny moved to the side and effortlessly caught the spear with his bare hand. The power of Effie's throw was scary enough to drag him back a few steps, but he easily kept his balance.

"...throw that damned spear at me!"

Nephis and Jet had barely had any time to react. They both stared at the deadly weapon held in his hand with astonishment.

lips moved,

already revealed,

"D-doofus?"

Sunny scoffed.

Come, take your spear back.

was in no mood to try anything dangerous, anyway - he was busy recalculating

time, he

he was not reacting to her teasing. But after Jet explained the nature of the loop to her,

behind her ear, Effie looked at

jokes already? Dozens of times? Uh... crap... I

to be flustered in his place. Watching the huntress explain what had happened to her, Sunny couldn't help but think about

was... an incredibly stupid thing, what she had done. Getting pregnant in the middle of a war was not exactly smart. Even if it had not been intentional, the result was

when they were not thinking straight. Gods knew he had made his own share of stupid decisions. Plus, modern medicine was often unreliable when it

not know if Effie had taken steps to prevent this exact situation from happening, but even

was not

how the hell had she ended up being pregnant

An avalanche of misfortune that

sigh escaped

challenging the Third Nightmare. She was only here because of a series of tragic events that no one could have

to have started not long after she found out about her condition. Back then, the government forces escorting Wake of Ruin were never meant to participate in a large-scale battle. They were simply there as observers... and yet, when the Great Gates

Their goal was to reach the Black Pyramid... Effie must have thought

rest of them, Effie had already lost one cohort. Her original companions had all perished in the catacombs below the Dark City. The

chose to remain with

to follow Mordret into a Nightmare was made. At that point, the only choice Effie had was to challenge the Seed with them... or remain

had chosen the latter, the members of the cohort would have definitely not allowed her to commit suicide out of misguided consideration for their

And here they were.