Shadow Slave

In the hall of forbidden runes at the height of the Ebony Tower, something that had not happened for thousands of years — had never happened, possibly — was taking place.

Sunlight was pouring inside, illuminating the intricate weave of runes carved into the black stone.

That was because one of its walls was shattered, fragments of obsidian falling down like hail. The Mad Prince and Asterion had shattered it as they fought, reshaping the interior of Nether’s tower with the unbridled fury of their bloody clash.

The azure sky outside was vast and radiant. Below, wisps of white fog drifted eerily above ground. There was one thing missing from that picturesque scene, though — the Night Garden. Soon after Mordret boarded it, the titanic ship dove into the darkness of the Sky Below and disappeared from view. Not that Cassie had time to appreciate scenery.

The floor beneath her feet was cracked, and the ceiling looked like it could collapse at any moment, as well. She had kept herself safe in the carnage of the battle between a Supreme and a Corrupted Titan, but just barely.

Her consciousness had expanded to encompass the perspectives of countless humans — here on the Chained Isles, in Bastion, in Ravenheart, and in other places as well.

And now, she was swiftly erasing the memories of Asterion from their minds. As she did, the Hunger Domain dwindled. It grew weaker, and in turn, the Dreamspawn grew weaker as well.

He was about to be dealt more blows, though…

Far away, in Bastion, Effie was locked in a vicious fight against the homunculus of Clan Valor. The throne room of Mirage Castle was echoing with the low hum of vibrating metal — that was because the air was filled with razor-sharp metal strings that the Supreme Demon wielded as a weapon, aiming to entangle Effie and cut her body apart.

Her armor was holding, for now, but it was already breached and shredded in a dozen places, crimson blood flowing freely down the polished steel surface.

“Damn it…”

The strings were so thin as to be invisible and moved in a way that defied all logic, making it almost impossible to evade them. Anyone else would have long been sliced open and dismembered by the storm of razor-sharp wire, crumbling to the ground as a morbid pile of cleanly severed flesh — but Effie was different.

Her Awakened Ability made her skin as durable as steel, so she was in one piece, for now…

Well, in two pieces, technically. Her missing hand was out there, somewhere, left in a dark cell in the dungeon beneath the ancient castle.

Regardless, that was why the homunculus was having trouble killing her immediately. He had myriad other ways to deal with her, though — his preferred method seemed to be strangulation, so Effie was forced to constantly struggle against razor-sharp strings that aimed to cut into her neck.

She was losing a lot of blood…

But the homunculus was not unscathed, either.

He evaded her attacks with eerie speed, instantly creating distance between them the moment she got close. The most disturbing part of it all, however, was that he did not even need to flee — after all, the thing possessed terrifying physical strength, far more than any Saint could ever wield. Any Saint except for Effie, that was. She judged that this Supreme Demon was as strong as she was… or rather, as she had been.

Now, her emaciated body was weak and frail, overcome by exhaustion. Effie was a pale shadow of her former self, so much so that her muscles and bones were struggling to endure the daunting strain of her Aspect Abilities.

She had to push herself to the limit to contend against the homunculus, and while the power granted to her by her Aspect remained the same, the flesh that was meant to sustain it had become much weaker.

As a result, with every blow she dealt, with every movement she made to evade the enemy attacks, with every step, every leap, and every lunge…

Her body was slowly destroying itself.

Tiny cracks appeared on her bones. The muscle fiber tore. The ligaments did, as well, making her feel like a walking vessel of pain…

‘A limping vessel of pain, more like.’

If this continued, the thing that had pretended to be the old butler of Clan Valor would not even have to kill her. Her body would simply destroy itself, collapsing in a gruesome act of self-inflicted devastation. But it hadn’t yet.

Effie grinned as she pushed through the pain and dashed toward the homunculus. The razor-sharp strings could only be seen when they glistened in the light, so she used her hearing to evade them instead, listening to the sound of air being cut in order not to be cut herself.

In this moment of dire pressure, her body reduced to a walking ruin, facing a superior opponent, Effie fell back on bestial instincts and allowed them both to shape her mind and guide her body.

People loved to talk about mindless beasts… but only those people who had never faced a predator. There was nothing mindless about beasts of prey — they were strong and ferocious, yes, but they were also cunning, patient, and discerning.

One had to be to survive the hunt.

And Effie was an accomplished predator. In fact, she was a predator who hunted predators… which made her a monster, perhaps. Her instincts had not been simply passed down to her; they had been honed and tempered by years upon years of hunting and killing powerful Nightmare Creatures.

So, even if her enemy was faster and stronger than her, even if her body was slowly failing, even if blood flowed like a river from the countless cuts littering it… Even if the King of Swords, that madman, had not only imbued the homunculus with an infinite length of razor-sharp string that could cut the flesh of Saint like butter, but also with a small fragment of his Will…

Effie was intending to win.

In truth, she wasn’t simply chasing the homunculus. There was a pattern to her movement, a hidden intention.

She was leading him away from the throne. And when the thing disengaged once more, instead of chasing it, Effie dashed back. Several strings instantly wrapped around her neck, screeching against her armor as they cut it and bit into her skin. A sharp pain pulsed in her head, and her fingers, with which she tried to pry the razor wire off, were suddenly slick with blood.

But Effie did not stop. Instead, she tensed the muscles of her neck to keep her head on her shoulders and pushed harder, throwing the homunculus off balance and dragging him with her.

A moment later, she let go of the sharp wires and grasped the golden spear lying on the steps of the throne.

Effie’s bloodied lips twisted into a smile, illuminating her gaunt face.

“Hey, old man. I warned you, didn’t I?”

She raised her maimed arm and rested the shaft of the spear on it, aiming the spearhead at the homunculus.

She couldn’t really wield a spear effectively with one hand — not without a shield, at least, and not in a fight against a Supreme Devil.

But that was not going to be a problem.

“I told you to hand it over voluntarily…”

With that, she changed her grip and drew the spear back.

Wielding a spear was a problem.

Throwing a spear, though?

That could be done with one hand.

In fact, it couldn’t be done any other way. She would have liked to see a person who held a spear with both hands when throwing it.

The issue, of course, was that once the spear was thrown, there was no going back. So she had to destroy her enemy with that single throw.

Inhaling deeply, Effie focused all of herself — all of her that remained — and took a step forward.

Her whole body moved in graceful unison, turning into a dreadfully powerful Transcendent slingshot — more than powerful, really.

Utterly devastating.

The throne of Mirage Castle was in the way of her throw, so the spear shattered it first. There was a deafening boom as it broke the sound barrier, as well.

And then, there was a flash of light.

The spear Effie had thrown seemed to teleport from one place to another in the blink of an eye, causing a small hurricane to explode in the vast throne room. It breached the distance between her and the homunculus…

And struck it right in the middle of his chest, throwing the creature back a great distance and impaling it on the wall.

Effie, meanwhile, let out a pained cry and collapsed to the floor. She had put all her remaining strength into that one throw, and the rebound was simply vicious.

She was pretty sure that her wrist was broken. Her shoulder was dislocated. Her muscles were a thing of the past, and the floor beneath her feet was covered by a net of cracks.

But the homunculus…

‘Is that thing dead?’

Effie groaned and picked herself off the floor.

In the Jade Palace, Jet assumed her human form and entered the great hall, looking up at the immense circle of the shattered window with a lost expression.

However, her shock only lasted a few moments.

She sighed deeply.

The dragon was gone… and Kai was gone, as well.

That meant that her friend and companion had just sacrificed himself. Perhaps he would be able to survive, but it was highly unlikely… at best, he would be able to lead the Cursed Devil far away.

At worst, he would only be able to buy her a few moments.

So, she could not waste these precious moments. They had been bought at too high a cost to be squandered because of emotions.

Gritting her teeth, Jet turned and rushed toward the Gateway. Behind her, Fiend cautiously glanced inside the hall, turned his head this way and that, then finally followed her.

‘Look at me, usurping the Jade Palace…’

Jet had been the government envoy to Clan Song once. Who could have thought that she would be claiming their Great Citadel as her own one day? Life was truly unpredictable.

Death was unpredictable, too, so Jet’s existence was bound to be full of surprises. Reaching the Gateway, she concentrated on tethering herself to it. The process of anchoring yourself to a Citadel was instinctual to all Saints, and only slightly different from placing a tether — which all of them learned as Masters. However, it was a bit more complicated if there was already a Transcendent ruling the Citadel.

In that case, one had to destroy their tether first and overwrite it. That took time and concentration, not to mention power.

So, Jet was full of cold apprehension as she concentrated on destroying the tether of whoever it was that had taken the Jade Palace from Kai… by the feel of their tether, it was probably Seishan, but Jet wasn’t sure. All she was sure of was that if the dragon came back before she finished, she would be immediately and irrevocably destroyed.

But the dragon did not come back.

In fact, there was no sign of it by the time Jet finished connecting herself to the Jade Palace.

The Spell whispered into her ear, and she felt a latent connection to the Citadel take hold in her soul.

The Jade Palace was hers.

Jet remained motionless for a few moments, then turned to Fiend.

“Guard this place well. Alright? Guard it with your life, if need be — for as long as you can.”

He stared at her from below, then clacked his metal fangs and breathed out a plume of flame.

“Wretched!”

Jet blinked.

Was that ear-piercing metallic screech the little devil’s voice?

Since when could he talk?

She smiled faintly.

“Yes, indeed. It’s quite wretched… all of it.”

As the smile drained from her face, Jet threw one last look at the broken window, at the vast sky beyond it.

Then, she pulled on her tether.

Conquering Ravenheart was not the only thing Cassie had asked of her. In fact, the complicated part was only about to begin. As Fiend hid himself in the shadow of the Gateway, Jet crossed the realm boundary and appeared in the waking world.

She appeared in NQSC.

And when she did, Cassie’s powers reached the great city, as well.

In the sky above the sprawling cityscape of Ravenheart, a breathtakingly radiant white dragon was chasing one with scales the color of midnight sky. As it did, the flakes of ash swirling in the air froze and fell down like hail.

People below pointed at the sky and shuddered as a terrifying cold permeated their bodies.

Kai was flying faster than ever before, pouring all of his willpower and determination into only one thing — speed. The Cursed Devil was immeasurably stronger than him, larger than him, fiercer than him. But it was not faster than him, and that was what Kai had bet his life on. But even if he was wrong, he would have still made the same choice.

It wasn’t even worth thinking about. The scope of the threat Asterion posed was not only dire… it was absolute. It was utter destruction of humanity — of everyone Kai knew and loved, and everyone he had never met.

But even worse than that was the fate they would all have to endure before being destroyed.

Kai had gotten front row seats to what Asterion’s power did to people. How it twisted them and made them into something that they were not. It was an ugly and repulsive atrocity, one that might have been even worse than what the Dreamspawn had in store for the world, in the end.

No one deserved to live like that before they died.

So, Kai had done what he had to do. He lured the Cursed Devil away, giving Jet a chance to take the Jade Palace.

And now, he was being chased by that ancient, fallen god.

Kai felt like he was suffocating.

The fierce Will of the white dragon tore at the world, shrinking the distance between the two of them. It made the winds assault Kai while supporting his enemy, weighed down his wings, and made him dazed.

But even if the white dragon grew closer, the air around Kai gradually growing unbearably cold, he pushed himself forward.

Faster, and faster, and faster still… as fast as was humanly possible, and then beyond that.

The Bridge flashed below them. Then, the vast sprawl of streets that had grown on the slopes of the volcano.

And then, the volcano itself.

Until Kai dove into the clouds of ash rising from its smoking caldera.

The white dragon had almost caught him by then…

But Kai did not try to leave the volcano behind or continue to flee.

Instead, he let out a quiet roar, folded his wings…

And plummeted down.

Kai fell like a black spear, piercing the billowing pillar of smoke as he plunged into the incandescent lava. The heat immediately assaulted him, making him feel like he was going to melt despite the protection granted to him by the [Dragonslayer] Attribute.

It was no ordinary lava, after all. The volcanoes of the mountain chain that protected the world from the cold encroaching from the west were mysterious and mystical, having been created by the former ruler of the Jade Palace — the Jade Queen — with the help of the Great Citadel. Still, even if he was suffering from the heat, Kai dove deeper into the lava.

Past the ruins of the ancient city carved into the interior walls of the volcano and through the roof of the magma chamber, shattering it. And deeper still.

Deeper, deeper, and deeper…

Into the molten depths of earth.

Into the unknown and terrifying realm of heat and fire, where the horrors from whom the inhabitants of the ancient city had been desperate to protect themselves dwelled. By then, Kai was not simply suffering from the heat…

He was burning. He was burning alive.

But that was not important.

Because the white dragon had followed him into the fiery depths.

Up above, the lava froze solid from the cold that emanated from the Cursed Devil. But the deeper they dove, the hotter their surroundings were.

And at some point, the white dragon did not sap warmth out of the lava anymore. Instead, it was lava that was sapping the cold out of the dragon.

And so…

Suffering unimaginable pain, Kai dove even deeper.