Shadow Slave

Sunny waited for a moment, then slowly straightened and looked around. The white mist of Aletheia's Island surrounded the Chain Breaker...

'The last time. This is the last time.'

He turned around and nodded at Cassie. Without wasting a single moment, she climbed into Nightmare's saddle and disappeared into the fog. Sunny, meanwhile, faced Nephis and asked.

"Are you alright?"

She was looking in the direction where Cassie had gone to with a frown on her tired face. Hearing his question, Nephis turned.

"...I'm fine. I can still fight."

He smiled.

"That's what I wanted to hear. Before you ask where Cassie had gone, let me explain a few things."

Taking a step closer, Sunny placed his hand on Neph's shoulders and leaned forward a little.

...Her alabaster face had suddenly turned even more motionless than it usually was.

"First of all, this is not the first time we are having this conversation. You just don't remember all the previous ones. The vortex surrounding this island, you see, is not a mundane vortex. It is a whirlpool of time, and so, time moves in a circle on this island. The same day repeats itself endlessly, and we have lived it dozens of times already."

Neph's eyes widened slightly.

A different person would have been stunned into silence by such a bizarre proclamation, but not her. Only a few moments later, she asked evenly:

"How come you remember, and I don't, then?"

Sunny pointed to her sword.

"It's because of the Sin of Solace. It remembers, and so, I've come to remember as well. After a while, Cassie did, too. Which is both a blessing and a curse. Neph... believe it or not, we have severely underestimated how dreadful of a hell this island is. We've already died countless times, each death more terrible than the last. Cassie, you, me... each of us was killed over and over again."

Nephis studied his face with a hint of indignation on her pale face. Before she could retort, though, Sunny grinned.

to break the loop, save Jet and Effie, and

a

is utterly exhausted.

He smiled.

alright. Don't worry... you still

entirely motionless again, Sunny

the way, did I mention that

Neph's stoic

rattled voice resounded

"W-what?!"

the Chain Breaker. Mere minutes after the blind girl rode Nightmare into the mist, Sunny and Nephis jumped down to the beach and set out east, in the direction of the bone

walked, a vague figure appeared from the fog, almost

of Solace

would succeed this time? What a

walked past it. The apparition laughed and

die anyway! Forever,

bastard. Go die

head,

small formation, they

what

remained silent for a while, thinking. Eventually,

"I see."

the truth about the Divine Realms, from the role that the Mad Prince had played in their journey to the true motives of the Six Plagues... it had to be a lot to take in. Sunny wasn't

she thinking

silence, Nephis finally looked at him and said,

been hard on

an eyebrow, then

It

for a

hard

Sunny's smile slowly disappeared.