Shadow Slave

The delivery did not go smoothly. Sunny, Kai… and Mordret, of all people… remained on the stern of the ship for more or less the entire time, waiting for the results. Sunny at least had a task to keep him occupied — guiding the Chain Breaker across the black void was not very difficult, but it still required attention.

Mordret did not seem to care that much, but Kai was extremely concerned. He paced nervously, sometimes glancing down, but then hurriedly turning his gaze away.

It was a bit strange. All three of them could learn exactly what was going on — Sunny thanks to his shadows, Mordret through the reflections, and Kai due to his Awakened Ability. However, none of them made use of that opportunity, preferring to remain in the dark about what was happening below deck.

It was not like they did not receive any signs, though.

The Chain Breaker seemed to tremble from time to time, and Effie's voice eventually reached their ears, penetrating the impregnable wood the enchanted ship was built from.

Hearing the barrage of curses pouring out of her mouth, Sunny was a bit reassured. Things could not be going too terrible, considering that she had enough energy for such eloquence.

…At the same time, he felt his ears slowly turning numb. Some of those words, he did not even know. Others seemed familiar, but used in an entirely new context. Even after growing up in the outskirts, he was on the verge of blushing a little..

'Really… is there a need to be so descriptive? She has been chewed on by all kinds of Nightmare Creatures. How bad can the pain be?'

Nevertheless, the process continued for many hours. After a while, Effie's voice grew tired, and his expression grew dim.

It was taking too long.

Even without being able to precisely measure time, Sunny knew that Effie had been in labor for longer than usual. It has already been a full day, at least, and there seemed to be no end to it.

Nephis, Cassie, and Jet were with her, handling the process. They would have called upon him and Kai if they needed help, but none of them had appeared from below the deck. Sunny was growing more and more uneasy, and Kai was entirely beyond himself, by then.

"Should we… do something?"

Sunny looked at him somberly.

down.

a while, then

was hard not to feel

of the future. They were going into battle

whole Nightmare had been one disaster after another, starting with the dire necessity that had forced

situation was right here with them, yawning as he looked into

Not because doing so would lessen their chances of prevailing in Verge, even, but simply because he knew that getting

moved the

slowly passed. The intensity of Effie's labor only grew, while at the

something that

heard a

sound of a

down where he stood, looking completely exhausted. It was as if it was him who had

Sunny knew how

hear a child's cry in the black emptiness of the Tomb of Ariel. A pure sound like that did not belong in this dreadful place…

at the same time, strangely

profound sense of relief, Sunny poured his essence into the runic circle and slowly brought the Chain Breaker to a

the leaves of the

a while, then took a deep breath and left the

to think straight, he shook

"I'll go check."

of it, the air was heavy with the scent of

steps, she turned

his

how is she