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.

us to break the loop, save Jet and Effie, and escape this hellish

silent for a moment, then nodded

tell, my essence is utterly

He smiled.

alright. Don't worry... you still look

her face turn entirely motionless again, Sunny

way, did I mention that Effie

Neph's stoic expression

her rattled voice resounded in

"W-what?!"

leaving 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 orchard.

appeared from the fog, almost scaring

of Solace looked

wait! Did you really convince yourself that you would succeed this time? What a fool. You'll just die again... your friends will die again... it's hopeless. There is no

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

friends die anyway! Forever, this time.

Go

head, Sunny continued

guarding the rear of their small formation, they made swift progress.

what we must

for a while,

"I see."

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 Mad

she

in silence, Nephis finally

been

eyebrow, then smiled

It wasn't

away, she lingered for a

been hard

Sunny's smile slowly disappeared.