Shadow Slave

1524 Bitter, Sweet

By the time Sunny woke up, it was night.

Even this place of endless dawn had a night, just like the crimson expanse of eternal dusk had one. However, nights were short and fleeting at the edges of the Great River.

Before he knew it, the sevens suns were already rising again.

The world became painted by the soft colors of the breaking dawn.

With a sigh, Sunny rubbed his eyes and sat up.

He felt… strangely great. His body was in perfect shape because of Neph's healing flames, and his mental energy had been restored with the help of the Shroud of Dusk after having a good sleep.

Nightmare had also guarded his dreams, as well as the dreams of everyone else aboard the Chain Breaker. Here in the pyramid built by the Demon of Dread, that alone was more important than one would think.

'Great…'

Nevertheless, his good mood was diminished when he remembered what had transpired in Twilight.

'I... should probably be happy, right?'

Beyond himself, even.

were in the Tomb of Ariel had been slain, so why wouldn't he? Finally, the end of this Nightmare did not seem so distant as to be impossible anymore. Salvation was within reach, already visible far in the distance

theirs had been too perilous, almost turning into defeat. In fact, it should have been a defeat,

than that… he was not

for Twilight, true — reaching the throne room of the Serpent King's palace, lifting the curse of frozen time, resisting the authority of the Dread Lord, fighting the Defiled Saint almost to a standstill while being inhabited by

Master could boast that they were not only capable of transforming themselves akin to a Saint, but were also not limited to a single static form? Turning into monstrous serpents, winged horrors, and

Sunny had done yesterday, nobody else could have accomplished. And without

And yet….

the Dread Lord, and he had been defeated by the [King's Resentment] enchantment of the Crown of Twilight. Most of all, he had been defeated by his own lack of foresight and knowledge. He was only alive

that did not

Sunny sighed.

one can't win

were a part of his power. So, their triumph was his triumph, just like his triumph would be theirs in turn. Still... Sunny couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed in himself. He had done remarkably well in this Nightmare up until yesterday. Experiencing a serious setback was a

then there was the fact that Nephis had to resort to using Shadow Bond in order to make him come back

how to

own good, after all, and brought him no harm. It might very well have saved the lives of his friends, too. In fact, if Sunny had been able to think at that moment, he would have

were

having his will violated in such a tyrannical fashion. The hopelessness he felt when his body and soul moved despite his wishes, refusing to obey him. Obeying someone else instead. The demented fury

was like a shadow

Sunny shook his head and

a pair of hateful eyes glaring at him from a

how does it feel