Shadow Slave

Apparently, as far as accomplishing the impossible went, Nephis had outdone even Sunny. An Aspirant triumphing over an awakened tyrant was already unbelievable enough. But killing an Awakened Terror gave the word "unbelievable" a whole new meaning.

'No wonder her Aspect Ability is so versatile.'

Now, he was almost sure that Changing Star's Aspect was of the Divine Rank, just like his. That would explain why she was able to both heal and destroy with her strange and formidable powers, a combination as rare as his own Shadow Control.

'What's the probability of two Sleepers with Divine Aspects ending up so close to each other in the Dream Realm?'

Close to zero. It seemed like the unpredictable [Fated] Attribute had twisted the strings of fate once again.

Sunny felt shivers running down his spine.

His innate Attribute was capable of bringing both terrible curses and incredible blessings. At first glance, their meeting with Nephis seemed like the latter. But, if it was truly the result of [Fated] manipulating destiny, it could turn out to be the worst of calamities in the end.

After all, one of the possible meanings of her True Name was Star of Ruin.

The fear he had felt in that short moment before crossing swords with Nephis was still fresh in Sunny's mind.

And there were other things that she had revealed, too…

She apparently knew something about the [Drop of Ichor], being that she had called it a "Lineage Memory" without batting an eye. That suggested that Nephis knew much more about the Spell than Sunny and the rest of the public did. It seemed as though there were secrets in the upper echelons of Awakened that they didn't want anyone else to know.

The three mysterious names she had told him might have been another of these secrets. And that last word she used, asking which "domain" he belonged to. What were these domains?

So many questions…

them, as well as going over all the information

water, drawing closer and closer to the

was already drawing its last breaths. The light of hope ignited

this was when their luck had finally

***

This time, Sunny had not felt anything approaching the boat.

calm and clear. The next, they were boiling with movement, grotesque tentacles rising

was violently jerked to the side. Falling, he heard the moans of metal being bent and

Nephis standing at the bow of the boat, her silver sword lashing out at the approaching tentacle. However,

depths, with no hope to return. All that remained was a long blade stuck helplessly in the bulbous flesh of the

eyes widened in

no... this can't

crushed and torn into pieces, throwing him into the

he swam up, trying to reach the surface. Soon, he succeeded and spun, trying

there was nothing around, only

Except for…

He

its palm opened as though trying to embrace the sky. It was slender and delicate, carved by the unknown sculptor with almost inhuman skill. If Sunny didn't know better, he would have thought that the hand belonged to a

all of this didn't matter right now. All that mattered was that he had a

every muscle in his body, Sunny dodged a twisting tentacle and swam toward the hand,

suddenly stopped. And looked

pieces of metal and bone — all that remained of their boat — were floating on the surface of the dark sea. He had seen Neph being pulled under the water by the tentacles of the unknown creature,

at

'...Or can I?'