Shadow Slave

A Cursed Tyrant…

Nephis felt an unfamiliar emotion that she couldn't quite describe. Awe, perhaps? Or maybe hatred.

The pure flames of her soul roared, surging restlessly in the presence of the harrowing adversary.

Cursed Nightmare Creatures were… the epitome of terror. Each of them was equal to what a Sacred being would have been — not that there were any of those around. Nevertheless, Sacred beings held a special meaning for humanity.

That was because of what the steps of the Path of Ascension meant, at least as far as humans theorized.

If the Path of Ascension was the road to divinity, then each step brought those treading it closer to godhood. Transcendence was the step of breaking away from the limits of the mundane. Supremacy was the act of asserting one's power over the world, thus establishing the foundation of their future apotheosis.

But it was the next step, which no Awakened of their world had taken before, that signified truly attaining the qualities of the divine. A Sacred being was already a deity, albeit a lesser one.

The same could be said about a Cursed being. The Cursed Tyrant, Condemnation, could very well be called a deity, A profane deity of abyssal Corruption.

And so, in a sense…

Today was the first time Nephis would face a god In battle.

But not the last.

—— —— ——

Time seemed to slow down as Condemnation rose from beneath the ruins. The gargantuan shape of the ancient fiend was still hidden behind the layers of collapsing soil and crumbling buildings, but it was already like a towering mountain. The quaking earth, the scale of it all… seemed more like a natural process than the movements of a living being.

Or rather, unnatural.

slumber, Nephis could finally guess how this ancient city had been destroyed, and why it had fallen despite the dire might of its defenders. The warriors that wielded the dreadful power of the sorcerous exosuits and the sublime diamond weapons, the asuras… had perished when the Cursed Tyrant

this land, which was now a forgotten ruin.

caliber of enemies the civilization of Godgrave had faced

made one

same fate awalted the civilization of the waking world — the

were migrating to the Dream Realm now… but what would happen if a Cursed Tyrant was attracted by the smell of human souls and attacked

if the true horrors of the Dream Realm

Safety… was an illusion.

waking world was dying, but the Dream Realm was a death trap as well. Of

the Sovereigns had to be

and turned her childhood into a cruel nightmare. Not because they had brought

not even because of the countless

not up to the task. They were incompetent, strangling humanity's power in pursuit of misguided reasons. Ki Song, Anvil, Asterion — none of the three was wise enough,

for the greater good. But

said, to have a chance to defeat them and

the meeting

She gritted her teeth.

«There is no escape…»

exert great power upon the world. The ruins of

and the Lord of

option

Corrupted Tyrant in battle was not something either of them was capable of… even surviving a single attack by the profane being

was too

glanced at the Lord of Shadows and asked, her clear voice resounding in the roar

of