Shadow Slave

There was some rustling inside the tent, and then Kai emerged from it, looking as handsome and dazzling as ever. No... even more so.

Sunny’s face became a little dull. His friend had reached borderline criminal levels of attractiveness after becoming a Master, mesmerizing most mundane humans by simply appearing in front of them, but Sunny had thought that a couple of months in the mud and muck of Antarctica would rub some of that glamour off.

However, he had been sorely mistaken.

If anything, Kai only became more captivating. His natural charm had acquired a hint of reserved military valiance, becoming more subdued, but also much more arresting. His green eyes were still as electric as ever, but now, there was a quiet, almost melancholic depth to them that made one deeply desire to comfort and console the young man. Those eyes were nothing short of compelling.

Kai smiled, making all three of them - Sunny, Effie, and Jet - hold their breaths for a moment. ”Sunny! Ascended Jet. It is so good to see you.”

Even his voice was like a soothing melody.

’That bastard...’ Sunny wasn’t even angry about how stunning his friend was. What really disheartened him was what Kai was wearing.

The archer was clad in a beautiful suit of ivory armor that seemed to be made out of impregnable scales, with a few insets of burnished bronze blazing between them with reflected sunlight. It was tied at the waist by a sash of burnt umber color, which emphasized the rich auburn splendor of his hair.

The armor was made of dragon scales, and was a Transcendent Memory Kai had received after slaying the Ivory Dragon Sevirax.

Both Effie and Kai had come into possession of a Transcendent Armor in the Second Nightmare.

...Sunny used to have an armor like that, too, which he had gotten for killing Solvane for the first time. But, of course, it had been destroyed by Goliath.

And now he was the only person of the three without one!

’Ah, that really grinds my gears...’ Sunny winced, but was then distracted from his resigned self-pity by Jet, who smiled and stretched her hand out for a handshake. ”Ascended Nightingale. I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of meeting you before.

Indeed, this was the first time the two of them met. Sunny glanced at Soul Reaper bleakly. ’At least she is not a fangirl. Like someone I know...’

Still... Jet had not even tried to shake Effie’s hand. What was up with that?

The four of them exchanged a few words and headed for a larger tent that stood nearby, serving as the improvised strategy room for the small army. As they walked, Sunny briefly clasped forearm with Kai. ”How are you doing?”

After the... the things he had experienced in Falcon Scott, Sunny held a somewhat different view of the charming archer, and of what his friend had shared with him in the Sanctuary of Noctis.

Back then, he knew that Kai was deeply hurt by what had transpired in the Ivory City, both physically and mentally. He had been a centurion who led soldiers into a war against Solvane’s zealots, only to watch his soldiers die and disappear in the flames of the dragon... and then be crippled by those flames himself.

Sunny had thought that the pain of defeat and becoming a cripple was what haunted his friend the most. But after experiencing the burden... and privilege... of being in command, and learning how it felt to watch his people die...

Now, he thought differently.

Kai smiled softly. ”I am doing well. Thank you for asking, Sunny... but I really am. I... feel like I’m in the right place.”

Sunny nodded, thinking that he understood. Kai had always had these naive notions of what was right and wrong, and what a good person was meant to do with the power all Awakened possessed. For someone like him, coming to Antarctica was, perhaps, a very sincere endeavor.

He glanced at Effie. Come to think of it, the merry huntress had lost people in the Nightmare, too. She watched all the other girls perish under the ruthless training methods of the War Maidens, powerless to save any of them.

Even Cassie had experienced powerlessness and loss, with all the other priestesses and people of the Night Temple - including her cherished mentor, the One in the North - ending up slaughtered by Mordret.

All of them had felt it.

...Did Nephis feel the same? Probably not. But then again, no one knew what she had lived through in the Second Nightmare. Changing Star was strangely reticent about that particular ordeal.

They entered the tent, gathering around a fold-out table that had a small holographic projector placed on it. A topographical map of the area was projected into the air, with their location and the last known whereabouts of the Skull Centipede marked on it in red.

Sunny, however, paid it no attention, still lost in his thoughts. After a while, he shook them off and honed in on the conversation.

Kai was speaking. ”...there is simply no other path. The creature will definitely try to cross the river near the ford, and so, that is where we will ambush it.”

Jet shook her head. ”You are mistaken. It is large enough to ford the river anywhere. Its minions don’t breathe, so they can simply walk along the bottom and crawl out of the water on the other side. The current is nowhere near strong enough to be an obstacle for them.”

The charming archer sighed, then nodded. ”That is correct. Which was why I said near the ford, not directly using the ford... the landscape is going to push the Tyrant into this general area, but we have no way of knowing where exactly it will enter the river.”

Sunny frowned, already sensing where this was going. ”So... what is the plan, then?”

Effie chuckled. ”Well, what else? Since we don’t know where it’s going, we’ll just have to make sure that it comes to where we want it to come.”

Sunny let out a resigned sigh. ”...So, who is going to be the bait?”

Effie awkwardly scratched the back of her head. ”I mean... you don’t have to, if you don’t want to...”

He remained silent for a moment, then scoffed.

Kai smiled a little. ”Honestly, it can be any of us. Oh... I’m sorry, Master Jet, I’m afraid I’m not entirely familiar with your capabilities. What I meant to say was that Effie, Sunny, and I all have ways of making sure that we survive leading the creature to the ambush. So, any of us three can go.”

Sunny slowly shook his head. ”No... I’ll go. I have to contribute at an earlier stage of the battle. Because I might not be of much use at the later stage.”

It was true. With how close Sunny was to forming the fifth core, chances were that he would pass the threshold right in the middle of a furious melee. If that happened, he would have to struggle to simply stay alive... as for being useful, he was not sure if he’d be able to do anything at all.