Shadow Slave

Sunny had already done most of the work, but he was tired. His Will was exhausted. As it turned out, undoing a severing performed by the Demon of Repose was far more difficult than breaking the void chamber. Maybe it was because this time, it was the ancient daemon who had destroyed the bond between a living being and their shadow, while Sunny was responsible for recreating it.

Breaking things was always easier than making them.

”Damn it...”

Mustering his strength, Sunny forced the world to submit, reshaping it according to his will... one stitch at a time.

His other four incarnations joined, hastening the process. The needles they manifested from shadows were no different from Supreme implements, and yet they were far inferior to the Weaver’s Needle — a tool that had been created by Nether and bathed in Weaver’s blood, imbued with no enchantments but possessing mystical power.

So, things were still going slower than Sunny would have preferred.

The Eternal City was in its death throes all around them.

Nightwalker studied the five identical avatars of Sunny for a bit, then looked around.

”Crazy bastard. You really did it... you destroyed the Eternal City.”

The wall of dark water was already encroaching upon the lake. The southern expanse of the Palace Island had been erased from existence, and more and more of the dome was blinking out of existence. The deafening roar of plummeting water and the thunderous impacts of descending pillars made the world quake.

Sunny spared him a brief glance and smiled. “Of course I did. I said I would, after all. And Iam the most honest person in the world... seven most honest people in two worlds, actually. Haven’t I told you?”

Nightwalker let out a forced chuckle, grimacing from pain.

Then, he looked up.

”That flying ship is leaving”

Sunny nodded.

”Good. I told them to leave.”

There was a loud, rumbling noise behind them. The foundation of the island continued to crumble, and the impossible heavy sphere of jagged metal fell down into one of the chasms. Sunny watched it roll with regret, then cursed quietly and sent one of his incarnations after it.

Soon enough, it ended up in his Soul Sea — granted, transporting it there almost drained his nearly boundless reserves of essence. He could get his essence back, though... missing out on this odd trophy, meanwhile, would have gnawed at him forever.

Nightwalker showed no signs of anxiety as he watched the Chain Breaker fly away. In fact, his youthful face returned to its usual distant expression. He even stopped pretending to be bothered by the pain — after decades spent fighting and dying in the Eternal City, there was probably no kind of pain that could impress him.

”The flying island is moving”

Sunny threw a swift glance at the Ivory Island, then concentrated on his work again.

”Good. They’re not wasting any time” Nightwalker remained silent for a few moments, studying him with a dark and detached kind of amusement.

Eventually, he asked with a hint of curiosity in his calm voice:

”Why are you trying so hard?”

Sunny halted for a brief moment, then continued to stitch.

”Haven’t I told you? It’s because I am desperate.”

His voice was hoarse and somber.

”You might not know it because you’ve been stuck here for decades, but the world is coming undone. The Dream Realm is in the process of consuming Earth, and the fallen deities of that cursed world are stirring. Cursed Nightmare Creatures, Unholy Nightmare Creatures... and countless nightmare creatures of lesser Rank, as well. All of them are going to wash over the human enclaves like a tide before too long” Sunny made another stitch.

”So even if we manage to resettle humanity before the world ends, it will still end up being wiped out sooner rather than later... unless it gives birth to new gods. Which means that some of us will have to challenge the Fifth Nightmare. The Sixth Nightmare, as well. Which means the strongest champions of humanity will either die inside the Seeds or be gone for a long time. Including me.”

’Oh.’

Sunny almost froze.

‘So what’s how it is? I... see’

While saying those words, he suddenly realized something.

It was the fact that he had not hesitated to include himself among those who would challenge the Nightmares.

He had been struggling with the decision to return to the cruel embrace of the Nightmare Spell for the longest time...

But somewhere along the way — perhaps in the frigid expanse of Ariel’s Game, maybe on the grimy streets of Mirage City, or possibly even here, in the sunken hell of Repose — he seemed to have already made that decision without even realizing it.

Sunny had already decided to reclaim his fate... to be bound by fate once again.

Only, this time, nobody was putting him in chains. Instead, he was making a choice to accept them — which, maybe, made all the difference.

He was choosing duty over freedom, trust over independence, responsibility over self-interest.

He did not want to be forgotten anymore. He did not want to be an orphaned shadow anymore.

It was a terrible thing, after all, for a shadow to walk around with nothing to cast it.

‘Well. Something like that...’

Sunny smiled bitterly, remained silent for a few moments, and then looked at the dome above them.

”The world is not that different from the Eternal City... it’s falling apart.”

He pointed to one of the remaining hexagons.

”That’s me.”

His finger moved slightly.

“That’s Nephis. Cassie. Jet. Effie. Kai... Morgan, Seishan and her sisters, the House of Night, Saint Tyris and Saint Roan, Wake of Ruin... and countless more. But not that many, in the end”

Sunny looked at Nightwalker solemnly.

”So if I can get one more hexagon, and a stellar one at that, you can be damn sure that I’ll get it. Now shut up and let me work!” The hexagon he had pointed to vanished just then, unleashing another pillar of water that landed on the Palace Island and making its shores crumble. A few more disappeared, as well, and the wall of dark water swallowed the outer reaches of the lake. Nightwalker coughed.

”Alright... I think I get it. But aren’t we cutting it a little bit too close?”

Sunny grinned.

”What seems to be the problem? You can fold space, and I can outright walk between shadows. Oh, I can also fly. 1am sure we’ll make it.

Just then, the radiant rift of the Dream Gate split the dark sky in front of the Ivory Island. And at the same moment, Sunny made the last stitch.

Sunny lowered his hands slowly and saw the shadow of Nightwalker remaining in place, flawlessly attached to his figure.

Looking at the former immortal, Sunny smiled.

”Look! I’ve granted you death, Nightwalker. So... now would be a great time to run...”