Shadow Slave

Chapter 880: Cause and Effect

The old man chuckled and looked at his subordinates, who were packing things up in a hurry. After a while, he signed.

"Whether Nightmare Gates are produced by the Spell or not, there is definitely a connection between the two. Or rather, the three... since Awakened are also part of this equation."

He grew silent after that, and then added in a more serious tone:

"What interests me the most, however, is which of the three came first."

Sunny looked at him with surprise.

"Forgive me, Professor, but isn't that common knowledge? The Spell came first, bringing with it the Nightmares. Then, we Awakened appeared as the result."

He frowned slightly.

"... Of course, common knowledge is not always trustworthy. But in this case, it seems to follow logic."

Professor Obel shook his head.

"Who can really say? The beginnings of the Spell are not documented well. Back then... the world was not in the best shape, and by the time we knew that something was happening, it was already out of our ability to prevent, contain, or control. We tried, of course, but... even then, some truths never get to become widely known, or even be put on paper at all. It is very likely that what you said is true. There are other possibilities, though, ones that would demand entirely different solutions."

Sunny looked at him with a perplexed expression.

"What do you mean?"

The elderly scientist hesitated.

forgive me. This is still too broad. Here is another question - do the Nightmares produce the Awakened, or

Sunny blinked.

"What?"

The old man smiled.

becomes an Awakened through surviving the First Nightmare. However, after that, things become more interesting... you are too young to remember, but at the beginning of it all, the disasters of the Spell descended on the waking world in

distant, as if he was remembering

However, there were also Nightmare Gates of the Second Category, and with them, more powerful creatures came into our world. Eventually, there were more Sleepers, more Awakened... there

He paused.

now, we have

not like the sound

he trying to

"...Wonder about what?"

let out a

between the number and power of Awakened in our world and the number and power of the Nightmare Gates that manifest here.

for a bit, then simply shook his

there really was a correlation and we, Awakened, were somehow responsible for attracting bigger and better Nightmare Gates, then there would not have been a Category Five Gate in North America before a bunch of Supremes ran around the world. I think you are just

not been any when that Gate swallowed an entire continent. In any case, Sunny was

nodded

have a healthy amount of skepticism.

Sunny frowned.

"Yes? What detail?"

looked at the scientist surrounding

of a powerful Awakened emerging only flows down the river of time as we, mortals, do. However... if it spreads like a ripple through time, just like the aftershock of a Gate manifesting itself into reality,

suddenly shone with

the harrowing Gate that destroyed North America... who knows? Maybe it is just an echo of a god emerging