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.

save Jet and Effie, and escape this hellish place once and for all. You just need to trust me... well, and fight like your life

silent for a moment,

essence is

He smiled.

Don't worry... you still look

turn entirely motionless again,

the way, did I mention

stoic

moment later, her rattled voice resounded in the

"W-what?!"

not wait for Cassie and Jet before leaving the Chain Breaker. Mere minutes after the blind girl rode Nightmare into

a vague figure appeared from the

Sin of

How pitiful. Or... wait! Did you really convince yourself that you would succeed this time? What a fool. You'll just die again...

sparing the wraith a glance, Sunny walked past it. The apparition laughed and shouted

You might actually destroy the loop, only to watch your friends die anyway! Forever, this time. Wouldn't that be a perfect ending for this tired

Go die in a

head,

small formation, they made swift progress. As they walked, Sunny explained

what we must

remained silent for a while, thinking. Eventually, Nephis

"I see."

had poured a lot of information on her, most of it utterly stunning. From the nature of Aletheia's Island to the truth about the Divine Realms, from the role that the

she thinking

Nephis finally looked at him

been hard on

eyebrow,

yes. It wasn't

away, she lingered for a

have been hard on me, as

Sunny's smile slowly disappeared.