Shadow Slave

Sunny spent several hours reading the book about the history of the Immortal Clan book, and now, finally, he was starting to feel sleepy. Not to the point of needing to use the stimulants provided to him by Master Jet, but enough to make it harder for him to concentrate.

Rubbing his face, he mentally repeated the names of Broken Sword's companions — the brilliant warriors who had become the first Saints of the human race.

'Asterion, Ki Song, Anvil of the Valor clan.'

Were they the Aster, Song, and Vale?

While not exactly the same, the names of the members of the legendary cohort were too similar to the three words that Nephis had once told him to never say out loud — among a couple of others — to be merely a coincidence.

'Let's see. What do I really know about all that stuff?'

Sunny knew that the three words held enough meaning to free Neph from the haze of the Soul Devourer's mind hex, at least partially. She had reacted to them very strongly… so much so that Sunne had actually been afraid for his life for a bit there.

She had also asked him a strange question…

He repeated it mentally, careful to not say anything out loud:

'Which Domain do you belong to?!'

Sunny had had no idea what a capital letter Domain was back then, and he didn't know now. But he was, indeed, sure that there was a capital letter there. He also suspected that people who had been trying to kill Nephis for most of her life were connected to these mysterious Domains.

Which meant that Caster had been, too. From that, it wasn't hard to conclude that Domains and Sovereigns — who apparently willed the destruction of the Immortal Flame clan — were tied together, or more likely the same.

And all of it had something to do with Lineage Memories and the Attributes they bestowed, like [The Fire] Attribute that was described as the lineage of the Sun God.

Or his own [Blood Weave], which was apparently both incomplete and forbidden.

Sunny massaged his temples and sighed.

For a long time, he had no clue about what Aster, Song, and Vale meant. But after meeting Seishan, an adopted daughter of the great clan Song, he began to suspect that they were the names of the three Legacy Clans responsible for the numerous attempts on Neph's life… and maybe even the deaths of her parents and the downfall of the Immortal Flame clan.

Not only because of his inherent dislike of Legacies, but also because of how peculiar Changing Star had described her relationship with the Handmaiden:

Not really… never,

belonged to one of the clans responsible for the undoing of

Sunny saw that, maybe, he was wrong. Maybe Aster, Song, and Vale weren't the names

Song, and

were Broken Sword's companions, and as such, Nephis had to have met them a lot before her father died. Neither Broken Sword himself nor his daughter would have been addressing them

Uncle Aster? Auntie Song?

dark expression appearing

later sent numerous assassins to hunt down the little girl who

to explain how a Saint of Broken Sword's talent and might had died. Maybe...

there was no proof, it all made too much sense. Sunny felt that he was on the right

Ki Song, and Anvil of clan Valor connected to the

eyes widened. A terrible suspicion entered his mind... not,

A certainty.

them. They

comprehend all at once. And the key to it was a simple sentence that Nephis had once told him while overwhelmed by

did he miss

their falling out in a deserted alley of the outer settlement,

think a Fallen Terror can stop me? Those three ghouls can stop me? No, Sunny. Nothing

enemies! She listed them in the order of magnitude.

Three ghouls.

Aster, Song, and Vale.

to cope with that idea, another frightening realization appeared

another thing that Nephis had said, he

one to conquer the Fourth Nightmare. I will be the first one to

had understood her as wishing to be the first one to beat the Fourth Nightmare, as well as all the rest. But her words could

the Awakened, there was a general agreement that the names of the Ranks were not coincidental. Many people thought that the words used by the Spell described the ascent toward godhood… or the descent into profanity, as far as Nightmare Creatures were concerned. In many ways, these two paths were

rising above their human nature. A creature of the same Rank

transcended the mundane and assumed some qualities of the divine. A creature of the same Rank was called Corrupted. This step had to do with

level were meant to consolidate their power and exert it upon the world. The fifth step of the Class hierarchy was much the same, allowing Nightmare Creatures to create and control armies

creatures were