Shadow Slave

The ground shook, and some parts of the crater's slope collapsed. Sunny, who was standing on the edge of its mound, lost his balance and rolled down, dirt and pieces of debris raining on him from above.

'Ouch.'

Coming to a halt much further down the slope than he had been before, he could not see the Dream Gate and the King of Swords anymore. What he could see, however...

Was a towering pillar of white flame rising from the torn depths of the wide crater.

It moved and twisted, as if alive. As though a giant made from pure flame was stretching its shoulders after being trapped underground for a long time. For a moment, Sunny was entranced, thinking that he could make out the shape of a winged being woven from dancing flame, hidden in the depths of the incandescent pillar.

Then, the whirlwind of flame collapsed on itself, and slowly formed into a humanoid figure.

The radiant being looked like a beautiful, pure spirit of immaculate light, her graceful body contrasted against the dark soil of the deep crater. With wide wings spread behind her like a blinding mantle, she slowly glided down. The moment her feet touched the ground, it started to melt.

Slowly, the brilliance of her skin grew dimmer, and was then extinguished. Without the blinding light, Sunny could finally see who had just escaped the ruins.

Of course, he had already guessed who it was.

It was Nephis.

She looked just like the last time he had seen her... but also different.

Not only because the white metal of the Starlight Legion armor was torn and scorched, breached in half a dozen places...

And not only because her presence seemed to illuminate the world, so much stronger and tantalizing than it had been before.

And not even because she had grown even more beautiful after undergoing the rebirth of Transcendence.

No... it was because Nephis had wings.

A pair of white wings extended from her back, looking too majestic and pure to be a part of this mortal world.

Sunny stared, enthralled.

'...Partial transformation?'

light whose radiant body seemed to contain an ocean of furious flame, and the vast mass of unleashed fire that could seemingly assume any form, or no form

least that was what Sunny surmised after catching a

that a Divine Aspect would be

few more moments,

I can ask

For now...

to do something very

Namely, explain himself.

supposed to say after leaving his partner to face the last challenge of

had to step out to break

winced, not looking forward to that

and spent a moment evaluating his appearance through

moment. Becoming Transcendent had improved his body once again, after all. So... he was certain that he was now reasonably attractive. Even though it was a

it did not really

what he looked like right now. Because Sunny was completely covered in dirt, dust, and soot. His face was

'Ah... curses...'

but only

'Goddammit.'

too late, however, because

turned her head and looked at him, her eyes shining with

then hesitated and

had more than one reason to

were the complicated intricacies of his relationship with Nephis and the consequences of the choice

also the reason he

Nightmare Spell was gone, and his [Fated] Attribute was also

What about Shadow Bond?

what he would say, Nephis spoke in

"Stop."

a couple more steps and froze,

her promise once again and given

second, because he had not felt compelled to follow

'It's... it's...'