Shadow Slave

Chapter 1862 Puppet Master The nature of the war had changed overnight.

The Sword Domain had dominated the conflict from its very first day. Their army was stronger, their progress was faster. They suffered fewer casualties and gained more benefits. As time went on, their advantage seemed poised to inevitably snowball into an overwhelming superiority. Even though the two armies had not clashed directly yet, the warriors of Valor were already winning.

All it took was a single person to completely reverse the situation.

That person was Mordret, the firstborn of the King of Swords — who served the Queen of Worms now, ironically enough.

When Sunny first heard Naeve's proclamation, his eyes widened behind Weaver's Mask.

'The House of Night…'

After the Chain of Nightmares, the position of the third Great Clan was severely weakened. Without a Sovereign to rule it and a Dream Gate to bring countless settlers to their territory, the House of Night lost the ability to compete against Valor and Song. Its standing and resources were still immense, but nowhere near the power of the two burgeoning Domains.

Nevertheless, the House of Night had not given up without a fight. Instead, it seemed as though the threat of losing relevance had galvanized the leaders of the lesser of the three Great Clans. In recent years, they had been quite active. More than that, their actions were more decisive, daring, and successful than ever before.

In just the last two years, the House of Night had laid siege to and conquered seven new Citadels in the nebulous reaches of the Stormsea. Such a feat had been unheard of before, and did a lot to bolster their faltering renown.

Of course, now that Naeve had spoken, the true reason for these triumphs was revealed to be quite different from what people believed, and chillingly sinister.

Mordret had stolen the body of one of its leaders. And then, like

the House of Night itself had not suspected anything while their rulers were being replaced, one by one. Not even the families of those taken by the

There had been tension and a feeling of unease, a subtle

with how fast the world was changing, and how dire the situation of the Great Clan was, people simply assumed that these rare instances of incongruity were

was

suspect that something terrible was happening inside the House of Night. That the people who looked, talked, and acted as their friends and family could have

not describe what he had felt in those days, but Sunny could only imagine how eerie, chilling, and nightmarish such an experience would be. No, actually… he could not. His mind failed to imagine the

secret inquiries to make sure that there were no Nightmare Creatures among the leaders of his clan, and

him could

end, though. They tried to ascertain the scale and depths of the encroaching

had run out

managed to do was prepare a path of escape for themselves and their families. That was how they ended up in front of the Valor compound in NQSC, asking for

in a stifled

'Curse him…'

to split his soul — and that, in turn,

without ever being discovered,

be some limit to his Ability, at least — otherwise, he would have taken everyone, not just the most valued champions of the Great Clan. Awakened warriors and many Masters had been spared, as were the mundane members

had revealed himself and took control of the Stormsea once the Sword Army became entrenched in Godgrave, leading a pincer attack on his father's Domain from the south. That was what had caused the recent bloodshed — Mordret was cleaning house, eliminating those whom he had failed to