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?

keep the emotions from showing on

mouth to say something... possibly to ask what was going on, what date it was, and what state the Southern Quadrant was in. But then her expression changed, and she turned slightly, as

"Cassie!"

Her beautiful white wings spread, and with a barely audible gasp, she pulled a massive alloy plate from under the ground. The plate itself must have weighed many tons, and with the added weight of all the soil and debris piled on top, it should have taken titanic strength to raise

that was exactly the kind of strength

slender body, she gritted her teeth and tossed the massive plate of torn alloy to the side. It landed a dozen meters away from them, making the whole crater shake and

jumped down into the ruins below. Leaving Sunny alone, for a

gasped for

Thieving Bird

mean, to have

all the countless strings of fate that bound Sunny, and tore them away. Leaving Sunny entirely free of their

However... those shackles...

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

thought that had visited him once,

tethers that connected them to others. Everyone's fates 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 the world that

he had

break fate... that he wished

his desire to set himself free from these tethers, as

mouth was suddenly terribly

a step back, Sunny swayed and

as pale

careful... of what

escaped

a price to pay... no,

To gain freedom.