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.

to an extent. Two of the most dangerous enemies there 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

of theirs had been too perilous, almost turning into defeat. In fact, it should have been a defeat, if not for a couple

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 madness, and even realizing the full potential of his current level of mastery over

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 dreadful beasts… truly, the depth of his Divine Aspect

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

And yet….

been defeated by the [King's Resentment] enchantment of the Crown of Twilight. Most of

did not feel great

Sunny sighed.

one can't win every

immature and childish. He had long realized, after all, that his allies 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

that Nephis had to resort to using Shadow Bond in order to make him come back to his

how to feel about

his friends, too. In fact, if Sunny had been able to think

humans were not

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 he had

a shadow that hung

Sunny shook his

at him from a few

how does it