Shadow Slave alternate paths: The sun of song

Cassie froze, noting the tense silence, and asked:

"Uh… what's wrong?"

Sunny sighed.

"No, nothing is wrong. It's just that that direction is the one we wanted to avoid, that's where the scavenger hoard is."

The blind girl's face fell.

"Oh."

Nephis, who was quietly listening to them, gave him an indecipherable look and finally spoke:

"Tell us more about the castle."

A shadow of the previous excitement returned to Cassie's eyes. With a serious nod, she began describing her vision.

She described a ruined stone city filled with monsters, and at its center, a grand castle untouched by danger. Inside were people: Awakened, laughing, eating, and living in safety.

Cassie seemed undeterred and insisted they would make it, even saying she saw Sunny leading her through the castle gates.

Sunny smiled, but inwardly, he noted something strange — Cassie only mentioned him in the vision, not Nephis.

He glanced her way, wondering if she noticed. If she did, she didn't show it.

After a quiet moment, Nephis simply said, "Then we go west."

While preparing to leave camp, Sunny had a startling realization about Nephis.

He'd always seen her as aloof, mysterious — the classic cold, confident protagonist. But after spending more time with her, he noticed something surprising: she wasn't aloof… she was just painfully awkward.

Nephis didn't know how to talk to people. Her tone never matched her words, she stumbled mid-sentence, and her emotionless face made her seem distant.

In reality, she was just shy and terrible at communicating.

Sunny stared at her in disbelief, realizing she wasn't some flawless heroine — just a socially inept, weird girl who still managed to be terrifyingly capable.

Nephis noticed his stare.

"…What?" she asked flatly.

He coughed, recovering. "Uh… nothing. Just wondering when we're setting off."

After a pause, she answered. "Soon."

Sunny just smiled, baffled.

***

In the grey light of the day, the party of three set out towards the headless statue.

Nephis was walking in front, her sword arm ready to strike at any moment. A bit behind her was Sunny. This time, the responsibility of holding the golden rope and guiding Cassie along was entrusted to him.

And of course, Gloomy was scouting ahead, looking out for danger and possible creatures.

They had already discussed a plan for the sake of getting there faster. It was impossible to avoid all the scavengers, so they would kill isolated ones.

They both had sufficient information of where to strike and had made a strategy.

It consisted of Cassie hiding, Nephis acting as bait, and Sunny striking when the time was right.

***

By the time they reached the headless statue, they managed to kill a total of six scavengers.

[Shadow Fragments: 41/1000].

'Twelve fragments today. Pretty excellent.'

There was a close call where a scavenger had grabbed Nephis by the cape, luckily with a quick dismissal, disaster was prevented.

He couldn't help but think how right Master Jet and his sisters about how valuable companions were.

Almost each one of those kills felt easier than his first scavenger kill.

Which was saying something, considering his companion then was an Awakened monster.

But alas, no memories.

The trio prepared to scale the massive statue. Climbing it was hard enough, but lifting Cassie along made it worse. Sunny and Nephis took turns pulling her up with a rope, twenty meters at a time. By the end, Sunny's muscles burned—but they made it to safety before the dark tide returned.

Night fell. Huddled on the stone platform, they shared dried meat and water. Eventually, Nephis gestured for Sunny to reveal the day's spoils. He laid out seven soul shards.

Six from today and one from the one he killed.

Without saying anything, Nephis grabbed four shards and slid him three shards. She then handed two shards to Cassie.

By the time they finished absorbing theirs, he hadn't even touched his.

The silver-haired girl looked at him with surprise.

"Don't you want... to grow stronger?"

Sunny grinned.

"Of course, I do. But these won't do me much good right now. It's no secret that you are the main fighting force of our group."

He sighed.

"The stronger you are, the better our chances of survival will get. Plus, it's not a gift. It's a trade."

Nephis raised an eyebrow.

"A… trade? What do you want?"

Sunny deliberated for a few seconds before answering.

"It's rather simple. I will give you these soul shards, and all other soul shards I earn on the way to that castle…"

Then, he looked her in the eyes and said:

"In return, you will teach me that sword style."

Nephis looked at him and contemplated. He couldn't help but notice a peculiar look in her eyes. This time, she remained silent longer than usual.

"Why?" she asked.

Sunny shrugged, "It would make a great foundation for my own style, since your style seems to lean more towards adaptability."

She stared into the distance for a while, then grabbed the shards that were in front of Sunny.

"Agreed."

Sunny smiled, satisfied. He had traded a few soul shards for something far more valuable — a teacher. And maybe, even earned some trust.

"So, when do we start?"

"Now," Nephis said simply.

Sunny glanced at the fading sun, surprised.

"We'll begin with words," she clarified. "Cassie, you listen too."

The two turned toward her like attentive students. Despite their age, they both knew that, in battle, Nephis stood far above them.

"Combat mastery has two parts," she began. "Body and mind. The body learns through repetition and experience. Technique must become instinct. You repeat until it sticks, and battle cements it. A real fight teaches more than a thousand drills."

Sunny nodded, though a part of him questioned her words. If that were true, all the Legacies were just children playing with swords. Then again… she had defeated them all.

"But the mind is harder to train," she continued. "At a high level, fights are won before the first strike. To master the mind, you must understand the essence of combat."

She paused, then asked, "What do you think it is?"

Sunny hesitated. Cassie finally said, "Victory." Sunny, almost simultaneously: "Survival."

Nephis shook her head. "No."

Her gaze turned cold.

"The essence of combat is murder."

Cassie flinched. Sunny frowned.

"At the core, it's this: you're trying to kill them, and they're trying to kill you. One dies. One lives. Everything else is noise."

Her voice remained calm.

"Style, weapons, motives — none of it matters. What matters is being the last one standing. Every move in battle must either kill your enemy or keep you alive."

She looked down.

"Understand that… and you'll begin to master the mind."

Sunny lay awake, staring into the dark.

Repetition. Experience. Clarity.

Those were the keys to strength. But clarity — that last one — unsettled him most.

Was combat truly just murder?

For someone like him, it rang true. His whole life had been survival. Winners lived. Losers vanished.

Had he really escaped that life by becoming Awakened? Or had he simply traded one battlefield for another?

And if that was the case… didn't it mean he had always been preparing for this?

With that thought, Sunny drifted to sleep.

In the early morning, a scream tore him awake.

***

welcome to day 6 (7?) of the tomato chapter Thon

This is more of a bunch of chapters condensed into one.

Interesting stuff happens next chapter i promise

no goal, this is basically almost the same as in the original

'why did they kill six scavengers this time instead of four?'

well because the discussed it the night before, just thought I'd point that out.

for once i curse G3 for amount of damn chapters.