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.

received only a single shadow fragment… or a few, at best, if the enemy was of the higher Rank than him. Which hadn't happened yet, but was inevitably going

Tessai and Gemma must have been a true feast for Changing Star. Especially when slaying those experienced members of the Host that had long saturated their cores

was always on the frontline, after all. Fighting, killing, leading her

stared into the darkness for a while, then slowly turned back to

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

not pay them a lot of attention. His sight was attracted to the Nameless Sun. What was that Memory and why hadn't he

Memory: [Nameless Sun].

Memory Rank: Ascended.

Memory Tier: VI.

Memory Type: Weapon.

[For a long time, the Nameless Sun suffered in solitude, longing for all the things that were lost. Only when she lost that longing, too,

His eyes narrowed.

Memory after killing

wished that he could see its weave and learn what enchantments that terrible Memory held. Whatever

in the ruthless hellscape of

Sunny continued to read

Echoes: —

[Dreamspawn], [Nephilim], [Flame of

but welcomed in neither. Your soul exists on the edge between nightmare

the divine and

Divinity] Attribute Description: "Your soul is aflame

"You have inherited the lineage of Sun

a

how

Attribute — the one that was at the center of all the rest, the core of her being, just like his [Fated]

But it was not.

[Dreamspawn] and tied to her nature as a child of a Hollow mother. In a sense, she was connected to the Dream Realm — and the Nightmare Spell — from

core trait was

further expressed after Nephis had conquered her First Nightmare and received her Aspect, as well as

Half deific, half… Unknown?

Star had stopped and stared at the depiction of a radiant being engraved into the

nephilim were supposed to be born? After all, the similarity between that creature and her own powers

was the last Attribute, [The

Sunny rubbed his face.

unique Attributes that, unlike the usual ones,

that what allowed them

bastards have so

and [The Fire]. While the latter was described

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

Weave was also described as a "partial" lineage,

"Questions, questions…'

sigh, Sunny turned to the

Aspect: [Light Bringer].