Shadow Slave

The runes shimmered in the tranquil darkness of the silent sea.

Name: Nephis.

True Name: Changing Star.

Just as Sunny had suspected, that True Name hid many meanings. It didn't describe a star that was always changing, but instead a star that caused change. However, there were a lot of words for change in the runic language, each hiding a unique meaning.

The one used here meant a cataclysmic change that brought ruin and disaster; sometimes bad and sometimes good, but always cruel and calamitous, wreathed in misfortune.

So, in a sense, Nephis was neither a Star of Change nor a Star of Ruin, but both; the two went hand in hand, inseparable, destined to bring both salvation and damnation to those touched by her light.

…Just like what had happened to the doomed Dreamers of the Dark City.

The Spell was really good at giving names, it seemed.

Thinking of his own True Name somberly, Sunny read further:

Rank: Dreamer.

Class: Demon.

Soul Cores: [3/7].

Soul Fragments: [2749/3000].

He stared at the last two strings, a dark expression written on his face.

'So this… this is how far ahead of me you are.'

Then, with a heavy sigh, he looked away.

Many events of the past few months made sense now. During the fight against Gunlaug, Nephis had already been a Dormant Monster — just like he was right now, a Dreamer in possession of two Cores. It was because she had known that killing the Bright Lord would push her toward the third that she asked him to prevent Caster from attacking her in that moment of weakness.

…And in the time since, Changing Star had almost reached the fourth.

'How was she so fast?'

Sunny had made a conscious choice to avoid saturating his core during the civil war in the Bright Castle. In hindsight, this decision had turned out to be a wrong one… or maybe not. If he had collected all thousand shadow fragments back then, he might have been dead already, killed by one of Tessai's Guards or a Nightmare Creature while completely incapacitated by the formation of the second Shadow Core.

Hell, he would have been crushed to death by a piece of falling granite if not for the [Soul Conduit] suppressing the process at the best possible moment.

…Just as always, terrible misfortune had come together with incredible luck.

But even if he had come to possess the Monster Core back then, he would have never managed to create a third, let alone get this close to the fourth one.

It was because Nephis had one big advantage over him in the matter of collecting essence.

shadow fragment… or a few, at best, if the enemy was of the higher Rank than him. Which

Gemma must have been a true feast for Changing Star. Especially when slaying those experienced members of the Host that

frontline, after all.

into the darkness for a while, then slowly turned

Armor], [Dawn Shard], [Dark Wing],

few utility Memories, too, including [Evertwine] — the golden rope he knew so well. But Sunny did not pay them a lot of attention. His sight was attracted to the Nameless Sun. What was that Memory and why hadn't he seen

Memory: [Nameless Sun].

Memory Rank: Ascended.

Memory Tier: VI.

Memory Type: Weapon.

longing for all the things that were lost. Only when she lost that longing, too, was the Crimson Terror of the Forgotten

His eyes narrowed.

received a Memory after killing

Ascended weapon of the sixth tier… Sunny wished that he could see its weave and learn what enchantments that

enough to help Nephis survive in the ruthless hellscape of the Dream Realm? He

continued to read the

Echoes: —

[Flame of

both, but welcomed in neither.

once were terrible creatures born of an unholy union between the divine and the profane. Nephilim were the most beautiful, and the most

soul is

have inherited the lineage

a bit, studying

how it

the core of her being, just like his [Fated] trait. He often thought that it was

But it was not.

mother. In a sense, she was connected to the Dream Realm —

core trait

conquered her First Nightmare and received her Aspect, as well as a new Attribute — [Nephilim]. Once again, it described a half-blood creature:

Half deific, half… Unknown?

remembered how Changing Star had stopped and stared at the depiction of a radiant being engraved into the walls of the ancient mine below the

fallen angel, from whom nephilim were supposed to be born?

then there was the last Attribute,

Sunny rubbed his face.

behind that word became clear: Lineage Memories akin to the [Drop of Ichor] were able to impart Awakened with unique Attributes that, unlike the usual ones, seemed to be hereditary. They could be passed down

Was that what allowed them to rise to the very top of humanity

bastards have so

Fire]. While the latter was described simply

deity like Sun God, but from mysterious Weaver, who was a daemon? Had no one except for gods been

was also described as a

"Questions, questions…'

a sigh, Sunny turned to

Aspect: [Light Bringer].