[A shadow finds solace within you.]
---
Sunny dove into his soul sea, waiting. Wondering.
Slayer had always been defiant. Last time, he'd had to bleed for her—beat her into submission.
This time, though… maybe taking her to the Shadow Realm was enough. If she resisted again, well, he'd deal with it.
Sunny huffed. 'I am her god. How dare she defy me!'
Totally not copying what the divine shadows had said. Never.
In his soul sea, far off in the distance, he spotted the shade of Slayer.
Surrounded by the silhouettes of several hundred other shades, all kneeling in the depths of his soul. Bowing to their god.
'Finally. Some recognition.'
Even if the shades were only a flicker of their former selves—the true shadows now sealed in his cores as fragments—they still recognized divinity. And they bowed.
Sunny was sure he could command them… but they'd probably shatter the moment he tried.
He reached out and pulled the shadow of Slayer toward him. She wasn't a mere remnant. She was waiting. Dormant. Ready to be born.
Sunny turned to his cores.
'I wonder…'
He exited his soul sea and walked over to a large protrusion jutting from the ground.
"You guys," he said, pointing at the shadows clustered there, "want a spot in my soul? Might not be as comfy as the Shadow Realm, but… hey, we get more visitors."
The shadows stirred—reverent, almost… happy?
"Oh! But only the first hundred to reach me get in!"
They froze.
Then surged forward—moving at speeds Sunny couldn't even track.
[A shadow seeks your finality. x100]
The surrounding shadows trembled. Jealous?
'Surely not…'
He wouldn't have thought it—if it wasn't painfully obvious.
'Well now I feel bad…'
Sunny sighed and welcomed the waiting shadows.
They would've all rushed in at once, but Sunny knew better than to overload his cores with a hundred ancient shadows in a single breath.
"Patience. Take turns."
[A shadow finds solace within you.]
[A shadow finds solace within you.]
One after another, the shadows flowed into him.
[A shadow finds solace within you.]
Eventually, the last found its place.
Sunny jumped back into his soul sea, anticipation practically oozing off him.
First, he glanced toward the distant shades.
Nothing.
'A shame.'
Not unexpected, though. The shadows he'd just taken in didn't come from living beings. They had the properties of animate shadows only because they were ancient—strengthened by the Shadow Realm.
But that was enough, wasn't it?
Powerful. Ancient. Loyal.
He turned to his soul cores.
Most were unchanged. Except the central one.
Fuller. Darker.
Sunny smiled.
That solved one problem. He no longer needed to worry about sourcing shadow fragments.
The only regret? Most weren't from living things.
'That would've been too unfair,' he mused. 'For my enemies, of course.'
He reached for Slayer again, and this time—without the spell's help—willed a hundred fragments from his soul core into her.
Dark motes flowed out of the central core, tracing invisible paths like they'd done it before.
Each one sank into the nebulous archer, and she slowly grew more… complete. If that was the right word.
Eventually, all hundred were absorbed.
Sunny waited.
Slayer stirred. Her gaze met his.
He stayed still. Ready.
She'd already caught him off guard once. If not for the other shadows, he'd have lost an incarnation.
But this time…
She knelt.
Not in fear. Not in surrender.
In reverence.
Like a knight before her king.
'This could be fun…'
"Ari—" cough "Rise."
(Almost had a Solo Leveling moment there…)
The shadow rose, but didn't meet his eyes.
'Huh. Scared?'
Not quite.
He understood. She wanted to be defiant. But she couldn't—not anymore. A Shadow's very nature was obedience. And her god was Sunny.
He briefly wondered if this was a master-slave dynamic.
No.
It wasn't that.
It was a God and his Subject.
"Don't worry," Sunny said softly. "I won't hold your earlier defiance against you."
He hadn't expected it to matter.
But Slayer looked up. Met his eyes.
Then nodded.
In affirmation.
'Thanks. I don't feel as guilty now.' Sunny smiled.
He exited his soul sea.
He'd have loved to collect millions of fragments. But his main soul core could only hold so much.
Fifty thousand, maybe.
A lot—but not enough to birth a Divine Shadow out of ancient fragments alone.
'Guess I'll have to settle for weaker ones for the rest…'
He turned to the gathered shadows.
"Alright, guys! Form a line—and no cutting!" He grinned.
'It's hiring season.'
---
It had taken hours for the shadows to settle in his soul.
But hey—could've been longer if they weren't so damn efficient.
Ascending the steps of the Nameless Temple, Sunny called out to Eurys, still seated near the throne of the Citadel.
The skeleton grumbled, "You know, you could have taken me with you. It's mind-numbingly dull being left here alone."
Sunny scoffed. "You should be thankful boredom's the worst I gave you. If it weren't for Jet, I'd be out there embarrassing myself on a stage somewhere." He shook his head. "No wonder you went from prince to slave."
That one landed.
"Listen here, brat," Eurys snapped. "I didn't lose my royalty from lack of intellect. I lost because my enemies were stronger, far more stronger."
Sunny didn't dignify the whining with a response. He just opened a dream gate, left Crazy behind, and stepped through.
'I need to check if my presence affects the nightmare gates…'
And what better place to find out than the epicenter—Antarctica.
Becoming a shadow, Sunny glided across NQSC, shadow-stepping when necessary.
He passed slums, high-rises, the shattered bones of suburbia.
Then, a tree.
Just a tree—except for the three marks carved deep into its bark.
One for his mother.
One for his father.
One for himself.
A grave no one visited. A lie no one believed.
Sunny stared at the tree, quiet. The wind passed through its leaves like a whispered memory.
"I thought I'd die in my first Nightmare," he murmured. "Guess fate had other plans."
He already knew where it would go—he had specifically made space for it in the Nameless Temple.
A gate opened behind the tree with a soft hum. Shadows slipped forth, coiling like smoke.
He didn't have to say a word.
The shadows began to dig, careful and reverent.
Sunny turned away before they finished.
He passed the task off to Crazy and moved on.
Eventually, land gave way to sea.
The water looked calm—too calm. But Sunny knew better. The ocean was a deathtrap. Nightmare gates could open on any static ground… the seabed included.
With a sigh, he glided forward.
The ocean might have been a cradle for horrors, but it was also his domain.
The shadows here weren't as potent as those in the Shadow Realm. Not as ancient.
But they were shadows.
And as long as something cast a shadow, Sunny ruled beneath the waves.
He moved unchallenged—any Nightmare creature foolish enough to approach was torn apart by reverent darkness.
---
There wasn't much for him to do until the cohort regrouped on the Forgotten Shore.
For them, anyway.
Sunny had to make sure everything stayed on course.
Kai and Effie were under Gloomy's watchful eye. Their days were… as good as could be expected in the Forgotten Shore.
Effie hunted—naturally. What else would she do?
Kai… was Kai. Practicing archery, performing for fans who somehow paid to watch him in a death zone.
Naughty was crawling toward Bastion, leaving a path of ruined creatures in his wake.
Creepy did the same, only his destination was Ravenheart.
Crazy held down the Citadel, weaving memory into armor for Nephis and Cassie. Though… part of him hesitated, and Sunny couldn't quite place why.
Haughty kept an eye on Rain. Her life was simple: go to school, sit through soul-killing lectures.
'No really—how's the Pythagorean Theorem gonna help her survive the Dream Realm? Measure the fastest route to a creature's maw?'
Some days she saw friends. The rest, she spent glued to her communicator.
Happy was en route to Antarctica. His job? Confirm whether Sunny's regression was accelerating the appearance of Nightmare Gates.
Lazy stayed at the Academy.
Watching over and occasionally talking to Cassie—who, thankfully, had started taking wilderness survival.
In the evenings he sparred with Nephis, who divided her time between training and physics—the latter, not for education, but for improving swordsmanship.
After Lazy finished watching over Nephis and Cassie for the day, he'd return to the Nameless Temple.
There, beneath its silent halls and ageless stone, he would slip into the Shadow Realm.
A familiar plunge into nothingness.
Thanks to his growing resilience—likely a product of [Shadowborne] and [Shadowforged]—Sunny's perception had stretched far beyond its former limits. Now, both in the shadow realm, and under its Fragment in the Dream realm, when fully focused, he could sense everything at once across hundreds of kilometers.
His awareness radiated like a pulse of intent, rippling through the shadows. Especially here—within the pure essence of the Shadow Realm and its fractured twin in the Dream Realm—his reach was absolute.
Together—Sunny, Slayer, and Serpent—they became a trinity of judgment.
Moving as one, they hunted.
Through ancient dunes carved in shadows, beneath ghostly skies devoid of stars—only a storm that consumed essence with indignation, they hunted defiant shadows that refused to kneel.
And one by one, they delivered death's quiet mercy. Again and again.
Not with hatred. Not even with wrath.
Just inevitability.