Shadow Slave

Chapter 1827: Cleansing Chapter 1827: Cleansing

Hidden in the shadows, Sunny let out a secretive sight of relief.

The past week had been a terrible ordeal for Rain... but it had not been easy for him, either.

A long time ago, Sunny had told Rain that he could teach her how to wield a sword, how to traverse the Dream Realm, and how to kill her enemies... but he could not teach her how to be strong. The world was a cold and ruthless place, and his little sister was much too soft to endure its cruelty.

Even now, all these years later, she retained that softness. She had learned how to wield weapons, survive in the wild, and hunt down abominations, but her nature was still the same. Rain had never suffered heartbreaking loss, had never felt the lightless depths of true despair, and had never faced the darkest sides of humanity.

Despite her cool appearance and tough reputation, at her core, she was still the same kind and sweet girl.

Which was a solace to Sunny. He never wanted her to lose that part of herself.

And yet, he couldn't coddle her too much, either. It would only do Rain harm if she learned to rely on him too much.

So, he had laboriously created the persona of Shadow, her mercurial teacher — who was both friendly and caring, but also a little sinister and not completely reliable.

That way, she could still feel a false sense of danger while being protected by him from the shadows, and grow stronger for it.

It would have been fine to let Rain Awakened at her own pace, but the war was too close. So, Sunny had used the chance encounter with the Awakened Tyrant to design a trial for her.

His own version of the First Nightmare.

The irony of how similar it was to his personal Fist Nightmare had not escaped him. A punishing escape through the wild reaches of the Dream Realm, in the company of an Awakened swordsman, pursued by a blind Tyrant...

Of course, there were differences, as well.

And although Rain had never been in real danger due to him observing her from the shadows, she definitely had not felt that way.

suffering had

abominations that could have stumbled onto the two escaping girls and keep an eye on the survey team to make sure

he

for him. He wouldn't go as far as to say that it had been harder than it had been for

his heart was

how difficult it was for

pride at being able to Awakened, his heart was full of

he

was because he could see

deep connection to her soul, for a mundane person, and could control her essence well. But Sunny perceived it on a

Corruption... the Nightmare Seed. Every mundane person who had entered the Dream Realm carried one within them, just like those infected by the Nightmare

not entirely sure which came first — the Seed of Nightmare or the infection. Perhaps it was precisely because some people carried hideous darkness within

not bloom into a Category One Nightmare Gate unless certain conditions were met. That was because it was small and miniscule enough to be suppressed by the authority of

remained in the Song

a Domain unless she

the final stage of her Awakening, Sunny

numerous sparks of light — the crystals of solidified essence — fused under the pressure. A luminous sea ignited at the depths

heat of that sea, her soul core slowly came

at the same

of darkness dissolved in the light, destroyed by

had seen a Seed of Corruption bloom in the soul of a Sleeper once. Watching the opposite process take place was both poignant

First Nightmare? To push the infected into Awakening, and thus destroy the Seed, preventing Corruption from blooming?

was the first step toward divinity, after all, and divinity was in direct opposition to Corruption. So, it

was the second way Sunny knew of for a soul to

was known to everyone, but very few ever considered it

It was death.