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…

as going over all the information about the Forgotten Shore

dark water, drawing

drawing its

this was when their luck had finally run

***

disaster came unexpected, violently throwing them into a void of confusion. This time, Sunny had not felt anything approaching the boat. The danger simply appeared out of

calm and clear. The next, they were boiling with movement, grotesque tentacles rising from them and wrapping themselves

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

the approaching tentacle. However, blinded by darkness, she failed

without even a scream, she was gone, dragged into the dark depths, with no hope to return.

widened in

no... this

carapace vessel was then crushed and torn into

Sunny was stunned by the coldness. Then, wrapping the shadow around his body, he swam up, trying to reach the surface. Soon, he succeeded and spun, trying to see something… anything… to

only undulating waves

Except for…

noticed an unclear shape rising above the water. He strained his

towered above the surface of the 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 hand belonged to a living, breathing

all of this didn't matter right now. All that

dodged a twisting tentacle and swam toward the hand, moving

then, he suddenly stopped. And

and bone — all that remained of their boat — were floating on the surface of the dark sea. He had seen Neph

couldn't just leave without at least trying

'...Or can I?'