Shadow Slave

It was night on the Forgotten Shore.

Well, of course it was. It was always night here, with no stars and no moon in the perfectly black sky. Still, Sunny liked the idea that, at the moment, it was really nighttime — just like when he had encountered Saint for the first time.

The location was the same, as well. It was the vast square in the depths of the Dark City, not too far from the ruined cathedral... only the cathedral was not so ruined anymore.

In fact, it had been restored to flawless condition. The whole city had been over the years, with Sunny and his shades, as well as members of the Shadow Clan, working tirelessly to make it suitable for humans to live in.

Now, the Dark City stood pristine and empty. The wide streets had been cleared of rubble, the buildings either repaired or demolished and built anew. It was just that there were no citizens here, not really... at least not yet.

Now that Sunny was planning to entrust the Shadow Clan to Revel, that could change. At the moment, however, he had to make sure that the Forgotten Shore remained under human control first.

That was why he had come to the familiar square where Saint had once fought the Iron Spiders, was slain by Sunny, and became his Shadow. At the moment, the square was empty, with not a soul in sight — and not a shade, either.

Except for Sunny and his Shadows.

Saint towered above the square like a magnificent monument carved from flawlessly black jade. Nearby, Fiend stood like a hill of jagged swords. Nightmare was here as well, having risen from the shadows. Slayer stood motionlessly, her graceful figure like that of a dancer. Vile had assumed the form of Sunny, sitting on the ground with a bored, but alarmingly mischievous expression.

The shape of the Dark Castle could be seen in the distance, looming above the city. And finally, Serpent had assumed its titanic Soul Beast form and coiled around the entire square, its head resting on the stones a few dozen meters away from Sunny.

These were his Shadows, his most powerful and loyal followers. Some had been with him for many years, some had joined the Shadow Cohort only recently. All in all, Sunny had really had a blast wandering the harrowing expanse of the Dream Realm in their company. He could not have wished for better companions...

He scratched the back of his head.

‘No, what am I talking about? Of course I could have!’

Sunny looked at his Shadows with a scowl. Nightmare, Fiend, Mimic, Slayer, and Vile... those wretches had truly put him through the depths of hell before becoming his Shadows! Encountering them had been among the absolute worst times in his impossibly appalling collection of terrible experiences.

So while it was true that they were wonderful companions, there could have been Shadows just as fearsome and loyal, but who had not left him with permanent mental scars.

Like Saint and Serpent. Why couldn’t every Shadow be like these two?

“Come to think of it... you’re actually a bunch of wretched bastards!”

Sunny shook his head in dismay.

The Shadows ignored his outburst, as they usually did. Only Vile seemed to liven up and turned to him with a grin.

”Bastard!”

Sunny sighed and covered his face with a palm.

“Yeah, yeah...”

Hearing the youngest curse, Fiend shifted and looked at Vile with a hint of approval. Then, he turned to Sunny and breathed out a puff of infernal flame.

His grating voice resounded from above.

“Wretch.”

Sunny laughed.

”Well, I’ll admit it. You have all come around, eventually. Thank you all for tolerating me for these long years of excitement and adventure... I wouldn’t have made it without you, guys. Truly.”

He sighed.

“But everything must come to an end sometime. So... this is it. It’s time for all of you to graduate. Well — most of you, at least. Was I a good master or a terrible one? I am not sure. But I did my best.”

Sunny smiled wistfully, remembering the good old times.

Which, really, had been the absolute worst. But still, he missed those days a little.

All in all, his Shadows really had nothing to complain about. He had nurtured all of them, helping them walk the Path of Ascension in his wake. So, he hoped that they would remember him fondly one day, even if he wasn’t there anymore... at least not in the same way.

Sunny inhaled deeply and then looked at Saint.

His voice was quiet.

“Alright, then. It’s time to get this show on the road.”

At the end, his voice shook slightly.

‘Ah... this is going to hurt terribly, won’t it?’

As Saint walked forward at his command, her size changing to that of a human, Sunny’s shadow split into six, surrounding him like an honor guard. When Saint approached, standing before him, Sunny offered her a pale smile.

”We... have been through a lot together, haven’t we?”

Fighting Sovereigns and Titans, conquering impossible Nightmares, delving into the darkest corners of the Dream Realm...

Hell, Saint had even been his therapist for a short while.

Hearing his question, she tilted her head a little, and then nodded slowly.

Sunny chuckled.

”As taciturn as ever...”

With that, he exhaled and then raised his hand.

Then, using the same motion he used when weaving a soul shard into a Memory, he reached into his own soul and grasped one of his Shadow Cores — his very first one, which had served as Saint’s cradle for almost fifteen years.

And feeling his soul tremble, he pulled.

He tore it out.

‘Aargh!’

It hurt like hell.

But also, strangely, it wasn’t that bad — no worse than the pain of a new Shadow Core being born, at least.

Sunny had seen Mordret doing something similar to create his Reflections or purge cores that were tainted by Corruption, but had never been able to do it himself — until Shadow Weave, that was.

Of course, there was more to the process than simply tearing the Shadow Core out of his soul. Sunny possessed an instinctual understanding of how to proceed now, and the foundation of his being had become far more capable and malleable, thus allowing the whole thing.

Still, it had taken him months of torturous experimentation to figure out how to remove a Shadow Core from his soul without destroying it. His soul, meanwhile, was not damaged terribly due to being enhanced by Soul Weave.

But removing a Shadow Core was only half of the process. Now, he had to embed it into Saint’s soul — or rather, into the shadow that served her as one.

That, Sunny had never attempted before. This was the moment of truth.

Grimacing slightly, he reached forward and drew on his vast experience as a sorcerer to carefully embed the Shadow Core into Saint’s chest.

However...

He did not have to worry. Once his core entered the dark depths of her being, it was as if something within Saint responded to its presence.

And then, a wondrous transformation took place in front of his eyes.

As it did, the Spell whispered into his ear...

[You have lost a Shadow.]