Shadow Slave

She wasn't wrong.

As the members of the cohort left the room to give Nephis time to rest, Sunny was deep in thought. Changing Star was an Ascended Tyrant now. Killing her was much harder than assassinating a mundane child that was protected only by the dwindling forces of a fallen clan, especially due to the nature of her powers.

In fact, short of sending a Saint to do the job, nothing the great clans could throw at her would work. Saints were a precious resource, however, and more than that, rare enough to make their movements almost impossible to hide. Unless the Sovereigns were ready to abandon all pretenses of civility, there was no easy way to get rid of Nephis anymore. She had ensured that by becoming a Master directly.

The situation had fundamentally changed.

And that was not even accounting for the tremendous public outcry that would result from something like that ever coming to light. Whether the great clans wanted to admit it or not, they were still tied to the rest of humanity. All Awakened came from mundane humans, after all. Losing the support of the masses would threaten the very base of the power that the Sovereigns enjoyed.

Come to think of it, getting rid of Sunny was almost equally as hard. He doubted that any Master, with the exception of maybe direct children of Anvil of Valor, would be able to pose a serious threat to him. There were two more great clans to consider, of course. But he doubted that any scion of Song or Night was more dangerous than the Princess of War, Morgan.

So… what did it all mean?

It meant that their position in the negotiations had vastly improved. They could exert much more pressure on Valor, and achieve much better results.

…That was if Nephis did not do anything extreme, of course. Which she was more than capable of doing, considering her searing hatred for the three Sovereigns.

After hesitating for a bit, Sunny walked over to Cassie, leaned on the wall near her, and asked quietly:

"What do you think she will do?"

The blind girl understood his meaning without having to specify what exactly the question was about. Perhaps she was considering the same issue.

for a moment, then said

"Negotiate."

barely suppressed a

talking about the same Nephis? Do you know how much she despises the great clans? What her insane ambitions are? Somehow, I feel that two years of barely clinging to life in the Dream Realm did nothing to blunt

silent for a while, then

weak to face the… the enemy directly. It is because her resolve remains the same that she will

appeared

have you ever known Neph

him. Her expression was

can be whatever she needs to be to achieve her goals.

was that

then looked away. After a while, he asked in

where does it leave

wanted it or not, he was tied to Nephis. That bond was strong, but not unbreakable… if he really wanted to, he could attempt to destroy it. He could kill

not know if he was willing to pay the price of destroying their bond. At least not until he saw a sign that Changing Star was willing

such an arrangement. Having a master that was unwilling to exercise her power was even beneficial to him, since it protected him

That Sunny was certain of. He wouldn't hold anything back to make sure that he was the

that moment had not yet come.

future was doomed to be influenced

The blind girl sighed.

us? Even I don't know. Everything is changing, Sunny, and all we can do is try to change as fast as it does. That is