Sunny was sitting on a simple bench, he was looking over the news articles and propaganda.
'Oh no. I am getting flash backs... flash forwards?'
His name was plastered everywhere, news articles, billboards, propaganda posters, he was even on famous reaction channels.
In other words, his cover was blown.
There was simply no way a Sleeper becoming an Ascended would go unnoticed.
He let out a sigh and began to slowly expand his senses. He had been sitting here for about an hour and twenty minutes.
The Saint of Valor was late.
Sunny's senses could reach outside of the academy, currently his range was about fifty kilometers.
He could have made them a little farther, but he was not trying to fry his brain.
As his sight encompassed the entire academy, he saw teachers teaching classes, people walking the halls, students in training rooms, he saw people in their roo-.
Sunny immediately stopped looking through the shadows, with a slightly red face he tentatively tried to avoid that room.
'Well, let's hope nobody asks me again.'
Sunny had been asked if he ever used his shadow in the academy before, he said yes but that he never used it for anything indecent. Could he say the same now?
He knew his luck, the chances were high.
'I gotta get out of here, where is Tyris, she is very tardy.'
The second he thought that, he felt like he was copying Kai. His friend was just the type to use 'tardy' in a non-comical way.
He was laughing to himself when he finally felt an incoming PTV, it was a very luxurious one and the presence of the shadows within made him frown.
There was around eight and they were of Masters and a Saint, he knew who the Saint was, but he was not happy she brought an entire retinue of Masters.
This felt wrong.
He sent two of his shadows to watch the PTV as it approached. Within a few minutes, it was sitting on the opposite side of the bridge.
He was watching through his shadows as the passengers climbed out.
The first was a woman with golden-blonde hair, piercing amber eyes, and a full set of silver plate armor.
It was light and elegant, with golden highlights around the edges. She bore no weapons, but that meant nothing for awakened, they could summon memories from thin air.
The next person out was also a woman, her hair was black and her skin white and sharp. As her head turned up, he saw her bright vermillion eyes and ruby colored lips.
'Morgan.'
His frown became entirely unpleased.
He had a feeling a big recruitment speech was incoming.
'Should I just shadow step away?'
That would obviously not work, Jet would face backlash for something like that. Not only that, if he did it would be a clear sign of hostility to Valor.
His mind was furiously trying to think of what he should do, but in the end, he waited.
He was not a normal Master after all.
He was an Ascended Titan, he had over two thousand shadow fragments augmenting his body.
It was also night outside which not only made him stronger and gave him incredible regenerative abilities, but it made him entirely silent and erased his presence.
The most important thing though was his sword.
Serpent in its [Soul Weapon] from could kill almost anything. He had not tested it against Corrupted creatures, but it passed through Fallen abominations with ease.
It was honestly way too strong.
At this moment in time, Sunny could easily kill an entire cohort of masters, and defeat a weaker Saint.
He was confident that if his sword struck true, he would win.
But he knew Tyris was anything but weak. She had single handedly held back the Winter Beast alone for months, she was a truly powerful existence.
After he watched all of them depart from the PTV and begin to enter the academy, he recalled his shadows.
While he waited, he turned to the ground.
"What do you guys think? Should I humor their recruitment speech?"
Gloomy feverishly shook his head, Creepy ran a finger across his neck.
Haughty crossed his arms and turned away while Naughty... smirked?
Lazy stretched and waved him off, Crazy seemed to agree with Creepy.
Happy looked around at his brothers, he seemed a little sullen by their attitudes, but he was not trying to be left out!
Slowly his hand rose and ran a finger across his neck.
'Oh no, they are tainting him!'
He shuddered as he imagined losing his only real supporter.
"Hey, quit teaching him things. You guys are bad influences."
It was like a parent scolding the older sibling.
Surprisingly, they all nodded as if saying 'We must maintain his purity'.
Well, Lazy just looked like he was falling asleep.
Sunny laughed and commanded six of them to wrap around his body.
His strength and presence became six times as strong, but his presence instantly vanished. All that was left was a silent and unmistakable strength.
He then rose from his seat and began to walk.
He crossed in front of the Sleeper compound and the dorms as he made his way to the front gates.
His shadow sense was keeping a close eye on the representatives of Valor. They had entered the gates and were walking towards the faculty building.
As they walked, the masters in the back talked among themselves.
"Do you think he will be any good?"
"He just Ascended, and from a Sleeper, he probably can't control essence."
"Yeah, he is right."
"Yea, he probably used his Aspect to hide while the nightmare progressed. You all read his file, it said he was a scout with affinity to shadows."
Morgan stood in the front as she listened to their idle chatter.
For some reason, she was very uneasy. Ever since she left the PTV it felt like eyes were burrowing into he back, but every time she glanced back. Nobody was there.
As she got closer and closer to her destination, the feeling only grew.
She leaned over and asked.
"Do you feel that?"
Tyris looked down at her.
"Yes, we are being watched."
Morgan was surprised, she was fully expecting to be told off, but turns out she was right.
That made her even more wary.
They continued walking and not to long after, the gaze disappeared.
She was about to let out a breath, but before she could, a figure appeared in front of them.
He was of short stature with raven black hair and eyes the color of onyx. His skin was perfectly white and appeared to glint in the light.
Overall, he looked like a marble statue.
His physical feature was not the most eye catching thing though.
His presence... did not exist. He exuded no aura, no presence, it was like he did not exist.
But Morgan could feel it, could see it in his eyes.
He was not weak, this was likely the strongest Master she had ever seen.
This was proven further by the subtle shift in Tyris's stance, she was wary of him.
As Morgan's hand slightly rose out to one side, he spoke.
"I am Sunless, well... Ascended Sunless now."
His eyes ran up and down Tyris and Morgan.
"I would not do that."
He was obviously talking about them summoning memories.
But was he that confident? Yes, Morgan was sure that he could beat the Masters behind her in a fight, but she was the Princess of Valor. Not only that but the person standing next to her was a Saint.
Unbeknownst to her, if she decided to attack him for whatever reason. An Onyx Saint would rise from the shadows and slay Tyris in a single strike.
Then it would be a blood bath.
Sunny was absolutely positive that with his current strength, he could annihilate the people in front of him.
Morgan seemed to be unwilling to die today as she put her hand down.
Tyris made no moves to begin with, she was that confident in her power.
"I understand Saint Tyris of the Chained Isles."
He turned to Morgan.
"But why is the Princess of Valor here?"
She smiled as shivers ran down her spine.
"Well, it is not every day that a Sleeper becomes and Ascended."
Sunny's eyes darkened.
'I might have to find my own way into the dream realm.'
"Well, I know you are of the highest integrity, but just to be clear, I do not wish to join you or your clan."
Her smile faltered a little, next to her Tyris smirked.
'She really does not like you guys.'
He could not help but laugh internally at the state of affairs. It was honestly too funny.
"Surely you jest, we can offer you unlimited opportunities, soul shards, memories, a cohort to lead, and much more!"
Sunny almost laughed.
'You are going to make me memories? What a coincidence that I am the best memory maker in two worlds.'
"I don't need your soul shards, memories, or a cohort. I only need a place in the Sanctuary of Noctis."
Her smile disappeared.
"You do not understand the level of power Valor wields, you could rise to the top of the world! We could prepare you for the third nightmare in the best way possible!"
Sunny was starting to get annoyed, so he decided to reveal a little.
"When I said I did not wish to join you or your clan, Ishould have said I do not wish to join you, your clan, or your domain. I do not wish to be a pawn of the King of Swords."
At his words, Morgan tensed.
'He knows of my father. Is he a part of Song, the third one?'
She was not on full alert, but before she could do something foolish Tyris barred her path.
"How do you know of the King?"
Sunny just chuckled, the sound was melodious and perfect.
"How do I know of the King? You would not believe me if I told you."
Tyris did not exactly like that answer.
Unkown to her he was feverishly thinking of his words, his flaw was already pressuring him to answer.
"I will be the judge of that."
He shot them a weird look and sighed.
"Well you see, I killed him in the future."
Tyris was entirely unimpressed, while Morgan became even more on edge.
'What does he mean, is he a seer? No, they said his abilities were related to shadows.'
Suddenly, it hit her.
'Does he have Shadow Gods legacy?'
It made sense, they had never found it after years of searching, and he knew of the Domains.
'Could there be an entire clan? A fourth sovereign?'
Sunny could easily tell her thoughts.
"I am not a part of any Domain, I simply do not wish to join one."
He looked directly into her eyes.
"That includes Song and the third one. I do not want to be a part of any Domain."
Morgan gritted her teeth.
This was a delicate situation, his death would not go unnoticed, nor would it be clean. If they fought here, the probability nobody would see was zero.
Not only that, but the aftermath of their battle would be disastrous. She was truly stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The only place his death could be hidden was the dream realm, suddenly she realized her stupidity.
'If he anchors at the Sanctuary of Noctis, we can keep an eye on him and should he do anything funny, make him disappear.'
There were very little downsides to letting him anchor there. The only problem was the proximity to a certain cage.
But there was no way he knew of Mordret, it was perhaps the biggest secret of Valor besides the existence of the Supremes.
After a thorough introspection, Morgan looked at him.
"I will allow you entry to the Sanctuary of Noctis."
Tyris nodded.
Morgan was about to speak again, but Tyris stepped forward.
"Welcome to the Chained Isles, I'm sure we will get along great."
Before Morgan could even finish her speech, Tyris rested a hand on his shoulder, and they disappeared.