Shadow Slave

Sunny hesitated.

The tale Asterion had told sounded compelling. The knowledge of how the civilization of the Sun Realm had fallen was both poignant and darkly fascinating. The information about the uniqueness of the Fifth Nightmare was fascinating and believable.

It conformed to what Sunny had learned from Eurys, after all. He had already known that a profound transformation of one’s consciousness was a necessary requirement of achieving Apotheosis... it only made sense that Weaver would have designed a special trial to let the Spell push its carriers to godhood.

It also made sense that such a transformation would threaten the challenger’s humanity and sense of self — Sunny himself had been wary of that aspect of becoming a deity, let alone of becoming one in a rushed and forceful way. However...

Asterion was also personally biased against the prospect of his enemies attaining godhood, not to mention being a highly manipulative, masterful liar. So, how much could his words be trusted?

Trusting him implicitly would be impossibly foolish. At the same time, simply assuming that everything he said was a lie was a sure way to end up fooled, since accomplished liars always hid their deceit between truths. In fact, those who were truly good at deception could be completely honest at times — specifically because they expected their words to be seen as lies, thus blinding others to the truth.

Sunny would know, since he had mastered that particular manner of deceit all the way back at the Awakened Academy.

‘Ah, I don’t know...’

Why couldn’t people just be honest?

There was no telling which parts of what Asterion had said about the Fifth Nightmare were true. If Sunny were to guess, though... he would assume that most of it was. Asterion had definitely omitted some information and exaggerated the rest to make the act of challenging the Fifth Nightmare seem even more dangerous than it was. However, the core of it should have been true.

Which did not mean that his conclusions were correct.

Sunny smiled.

“Well, why not? After hearing you out... actually, I want to challenge the Fifth Nightmare even more.”

Asterion was striving to attain godhood without the assistance of the Spell for two simple reasons. Firstly, it was because he could. He had no moral compass whatsoever, and neither did he harbor any emotional attachments to humanity. So why wouldn’t a appalling creature like him choose an easier and safer path?

Secondly, Asterion’s grasp on his sense of self had to be tentative at best. A person driven only by hunger and ambition, unmoored from everything and everyone else, could hardly rely on something external to anchor his personhood in the storm of Apotheosis. That was why he was wary of the dire trial of the Spell.

Sunny and Nephis were different, though. Sunny was a master of maintaining his self intact — more so than anyone else, perhaps. That was because his very nature as a shadow was formless and shapeless. As such, he had trained relentlessly to never forget himself through Shadow Dance, so much so that even the mists of the Hollow Mountains failed to erode him into nothingness.

Nephis, meanwhile, was connected to billions of humans and their most ardent wishes through the Longing Domain. That connection itself would most likely be enough to preserve the core of her being... but even if she entered the Fifth Nightmare entirely stripped of her Domain, she would possess an overwhelming advantage in tethering herself to her sense of self.

It was her own ardent desire, her own longing — an absolute and uncompromising resolve to not only conquer the Nightmare Spell and destroy it, but also do it in a way she deemed worthy.

It was no coincidence that she possessed the [Longing] Ability, after all, which made her soul incorruptible.

So, even while choosing to believe Asterion in the matter of the Fifth Nightmare, Sunny did not think that it would be impossible for them to both conquer it and remain if not the same, then at least faithful to the core of what made them who they were.

They did not have a lot of choices, anyway. Nephis smiled darkly.

“Whether we challenge the Fifth Nightmare or not is not for you to decide, ghoul. However... I do have a question of my own for you.”

She regarded Asterion with cold contempt and then asked in a dispassionate tone:

“What for? What are you doing this for? Is it really for no other reason than to satiate your hunger?”

She shook her head.

“What happens after you satiate it by devouring humanity and become a minor deity, then? Are you going to rule over a pile of corpses, all alone in an empty world? Or are you intending to surrender yourself to Corruption and become one of the profane gods of the Nightmare?”

Nephis pursed her lips.

“You know about the Forgotten God, it seems. That means that you must know that he will wake from slumber one day, destroying all of existence. Do you truly not intend to challenge the trials of the Nightmare Spell to stop him?”

Asterion studied her with a wry smile for a while, keeping silent.

Eventually, he chuckled.

”That was more than one question, I would say. Still... allow me to answer. Why not?”

Walking up to them, he faced Nephis and looked down at her.

“You questions... ah. I’d say that they betray a lack of imagination. Who says that my hunger will be satiated by devouring humanity?”

A faint smile twisted his lips.

”No... no, far from it. I do not intend to stop at consuming all of humanity. I’ll feast on all the fallen gods of the Dream Realm, too — and every Nightmare Creature there is. Destroying only humans would be somewhat unfair, don’t you think? So, I’ll swallow all nightmare creatures as well, so that no one’s feelings are hurt.”

His smile widened.

“After all, why leave it for Forgotten God to destroy all of existence when I can consume it all myself? Then, by the time the Dream Realm is truly empty and only bones remain — when I am Divine — I will challenge the Seventh Nightmare and face the Forgotten God...”

Asterion’s charming smile turned into a grin, a hint of a strange, eerie light igniting in his golden eyes.

”...And I will devour him, as well”

The Dreamspawn laughed.

”I’ll feast on his Flame, rise above Divinity, and swallow the world. I’ll bask in the endless darkness of the Void. Then, I will devour the Void, too — I’ll try, at least. Wouldn’t it be thrilling, to see what lies beyond? And feast on the beyond, of course.”

Shaking his head, Asterion looked at Nephis and Sunny affably.

“Ah, I see. Judging by your expressions, my plans sound... overly ambitious. But wouldn’t you agree? To live is to aspire. One has to have at least this much ambition to live a satisfying life in this dull, dying world...”