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:

really… never,

she would never, ever trust Seishan? Maybe it was because Seishan belonged to one of the clans responsible for the undoing

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

Song, and Anvil

a lot before her father died. Neither Broken Sword himself nor his daughter would have been addressing them by their full

Uncle Aster? Auntie Song?

a dark expression

these were really the people that had later sent numerous assassins to hunt down the little girl who trusted them… then the hatred Nephis had for them would

easy to explain how a Saint of Broken Sword's talent and might had died. Maybe... maybe he had been stabbed in

made too much sense. Sunny felt that he was

Asterion, Ki Song, and Anvil of clan Valor connected to the mysterious Sovereigns? Did

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

A certainty.

them. They

the key

he miss

in a deserted alley of the outer settlement, Neph

can stop me? Those three ghouls can stop me? No, Sunny. Nothing

the order of magnitude. First Gunlaug, then the

Three ghouls.

Aster, Song, and Vale.

as he was trying to cope with that idea, another frightening realization appeared in Sunny's mind.

that Nephis had said, he then mumbled

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

be the first one to beat the Fourth Nightmare, as well as all the rest. But

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

human nature. A creature of the same Rank was called Fallen. This step

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

meant to consolidate their power and exert it upon the world. The fifth step of the Class hierarchy was much the same,

creatures were called