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.

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,

perilous, almost turning

he was not

feats during the battle 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 madness, and even

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

the things Sunny had done yesterday, nobody else could have accomplished. And without him there,

And yet….

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

not

Sunny sighed.

one can't win

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

using Shadow Bond in order to make him

did not know how

had been done for his 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 asked Nephis to use her

humans were not

The hopelessness he felt when his body and soul moved despite his wishes, refusing to obey

memory was like a shadow

shook his head and looked

of hateful eyes glaring at him from a few meters away… the Sin of Solace was back, looking at

you? So, how does it