Shadow Slave

"...Identify yourself." Sunny's smile froze. His body froze, too.

For a moment, he was utterly confused, doubting that he had heard Nephis correctly. But there was no doubt — her voice was very clear.

'Identify yourself? What is she doing, giving me the cold shoulder?'

He could understand if she was angry at him because of what had happened on the cold shores of Verge. Resentful, even. But still, wasn't it too childish, to pretend as if she did not know him?

Sunny tried to calm down, but at the same time, he knew that he was deceiving himself. Nephis was not the kind of person to lash out by treating him as a stranger... she just genuinely did not recognize him.

'H—how can it be?'

Well... to be fair... he was indeed covered in dust and dirt from head to bottom. It was easy to mistake him for someone else. No, was it? It might have been for someone else, but not for Nephis. She knew him far too well for that, not to mention that he was wearing a rather unique suit of armor. There was no mistaking the Onyx Mantle.

Sunny hesitated, not knowing what to say.

But he had to say something, because the pressure of the Flaw was building, forcing him to answer.

"It's me... Sunny."

His voice sounded strangely lost.

Neph's frown deepened slightly.

"Your affiliation?"

Petrified and feeling his hair stand on end, Sunny answered stiffly:

"...Evacuation Army, I guess. Army Command, special envoy."

What was going on?

What was happening?

balancing on the edge of mental collapse, desperately trying to keep the emotions from showing on his face,

on, what date it was, and what state the

"Cassie!"

away and plunged her hands into the slope of the crater. Her beautiful white wings spread, and with a barely audible gasp, she pulled a massive alloy plate from under the

the kind of

tossed the massive plate of torn alloy to the side. It landed a dozen meters

jumped down into the ruins below. Leaving Sunny

for air,

Bird

mean, to have

taken all the countless strings of fate that bound Sunny,

However... those shackles...

what made Sunny the person he was, and what connected him to all other living beings, as well

that had visited him once, in the

were intertwined, and everyone was tied down and bound by those numerous connections, some of them fleeting, some deep and precious. Sunny, too, was tethered to

rather, he had

proclaiming that he wanted to break fate... that he wished

not proclaimed his desire to set himself free

was suddenly

a step back, Sunny swayed and almost

pale as that

of what you wish

escaped

be a price to pay... no, he

To gain freedom.