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…

well as going over all the information about

carapace boat flew over the dark water, drawing closer and closer to the western

felt that the night was already drawing its last breaths. The light of hope

this was when their

***

confusion. This time, Sunny had not felt anything approaching the boat. The danger simply appeared out of nowhere, leaving him no time to

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

his feet, but at that moment, the whole vessel was violently jerked to the side. Falling, he heard the moans of metal being

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

she was gone, dragged into the dark depths, with no hope to return. All that remained was a long blade stuck helplessly

eyes widened in

this

then crushed and torn into

the shadow around his body, he swam up, trying to reach the surface. Soon, he succeeded and spun, trying

there was nothing around, only undulating

Except for…

distance, Sunny noticed an unclear shape rising above the water. He strained his eyes, trying to discern its nature. Then, his heart skipped a

sea, 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

that mattered

his body, Sunny dodged a twisting tentacle and swam toward

then, he suddenly stopped. And looked

surface of the dark sea. He had seen Neph being pulled under the water by the tentacles of the unknown creature,

without at least

'...Or can I?'