Shadow Slave

A perfect version of Cassie stood opposite her, looking at her with one remaining eye. It possessed the same powers as her, and even if the Reflection was not quite as adept as her at manipulating human memories — how could it be, when the very concept of humanity was alien to it? — it did wield the power to see a few seconds into the future. It also possessed the power to communicate what it sensed to other Reflections and Mordret himself, which allowed them to apply the power of Rivalen with a level of foresight and precision that made it many times more efficient, and therefore far more effective.

The cataclysmic barrage of the Hunger Domain continued for some time, unleashing such terrifying forces that a hurricane wind rose around the Ebony Island, tearing apart the clouds far in the sky and drowning the world in a suffocating, sweltering heat.

The Dreamspawn seemed willing to take things slowly and probe the defenses of his enemy at a leisurely pace. The man was as arrogant as he was terrifying, after all… Cassie had no doubt that he already felt like victory was in his hands.

She couldn’t blame him, really. From where she stood, Asterion’s victory seemed all but inevitable, as well.

“I wonder what he’ll try next.”

Mordret’s voice sounded almost lazy.

They received the answer soon.

The cannonade slowly died down, and the sky cleared from the dark veil of raining arrows. Instead, an eerie sensation permeated the air, as if the world itself was under assault.

Cassie inhaled deeply and poured her essence into the runic circle, activating the defensive enchantments she had put in place. At the same time, the Reflections — all except the one mirroring her own delicate figure — seemed to ripple and transform, turning into a handsome man with dark skin and beautiful, silver eyes. They had assumed the shape of Nightwalker.

Somewhere far away, aboard the Night Garden, he was attempting to bend space to deliver the great army of humanity on Mordret’s doorstep. However, Cassie’s runic array had reinforced space around the Ebony Tower, making it more static and far less malleable.

The legendary founder of the House of Night might have been able to overcome her sorcery eventually, but the Reflections were acting against him as well. They used the same Aspect to counteract his power… in fact, they went one step further and used it to launch a counteroffensive, twisting space to rip the Night Garden apart.

In a matter of seconds, it was the Nightwalker who was on the defensive, not the other way around.

The fabric of the world rippled and groaned, torn between two merciless forces.

Cassie felt her hair stand on end, while Mordret sighed deeply.

“This is a little tedious. Is he trying to make me die of sheer boredom?”

Cassie, who was straining to feed essence to the runic circle she had carved, turned to him briefly.

“Why don’t you make it more exciting, then?”

Mordret grinned.

“You are reading my thoughts.”

Of course, she wasn’t.

If anyone was reading Mordret’s mind, it was Asterion… that was the very reason why this battle felt so unwinnable. How were they supposed to defeat an opponent who knew their every move in advance?

Then again… Cassie could roughly predict what Asterion would do, as well.

“Get ready. He has simply been testing the waters before. The next attack will be the true opening blow.”

It would probably be the Crushing.

Asterion could not obliterate the Ebony Island with the Crushing — its power was proportional to how near one was to the Ivory Tower, after all, so he would have to bring the heavenly Citadel quite close to the enemy’s stronghold in order to deal substantial damage.

And at that distance, Mordret would have all kinds of ways to enter the Tower of Hope and make it his, turning the Crushing upon the army of the Hunger Domain.

Asterion could still unleash the Crushing to make his enemies fight under a tremendous burden, though, even if they were not going to be instantly destroyed.

Mordret seemed to share Cassie’s opinion of what the Dreamspawn would do next. Subject the Ebony Island to the Crushing, then send his soldiers into a direct assault… So, instead of waiting for the attack, Mordret made a move of his own.

Instead of concentrating on defending his stronghold, he attacked before the enemy could.

The Mirror Realm hidden in his soul was connected to all reflections he could reach, and he could reach any reflection on the Chained Isles. So, it wasn’t difficult for him to open pathways to several of those reflections and unleash the horde of his vessels into the world.

Suddenly, violence descended onto the emerald grass of the Ivory Island, onto the deck of the Night Garden, and on several of the islands surrounding the Ebony Tower. A tide of Nightmare Creatures escaped from the reflections, lunging at the warriors of the Human Domain.

Of course, the result of that sudden attack was not entirely devastating, because Asterion had known that it was coming in advance.

But simply because he had known about it did not mean that he could easily squash it. One needed power to act on foreknowledge, after all, and while the Hunger Domain granted its master unparalleled power — far greater power than any other Domain in existence could grant a Supreme — it was not that superior to the Mirror Domain as far as pure combat strength of its subjects went.

In fact, it could even be considered inferior in that regard. All the human Saints, Masters, and Awakened were technically incapable of resisting the tide of Great abominations Mordret had subjugated in Godgrave, let alone his seven Supreme Reflections.

But the devil hid in the details… in this case, it hid in the power of the Dreamspawn. Asterion was not only capable of controlling his thralls in a way that granted them an eerie degree of coherence and unity. He was also capable of imbuing them with his thoughts and emotions, and therefore with his Will, making all of them its conduits. Which meant that each subject of his Domain was capable of far more than their Rank usually allowed.

A chain of vicious, bloody skirmishes exploded in the vicinity of where Mordret had opened the doors to his Mirror Realm. Those skirmishes were fierce, temporarily preventing Asterion from using the Night Garden and the Ivory Island effectively in the battle…

But even as Mordret’s forces struggled for control of the two Great Citadels, the rest of the vast army of the Hunger Domain remained unperturbed.

And so, Asterion gave it the command to attack.

Before the seven great assault forces stepped onto the celestial chains, dark clouds rose from the islands neighboring the rifts. They were the winged Echoes, the Nightmare Creatures Beastmaster had enthralled, and those Asterion had mesmerized as well — a great swarm of them, terrifying enough to blot out the sun and cast a deep shadow over the Chained Isles.

Standing in front of the gates of the Ebony Tower, Mordret smiled, the darkness of the approaching swarm reflecting in his eyes.

“Well, well. Now things are getting interesting. Ah, what a day to be alive!”

He paused for a moment, and then added with a subtle hint of vicious glee in his pleasant voice:

“And to die, as well…”

***

Somewhere far away, Sunny found himself lost in a vast, cold darkness. He was deep underwater, with no idea which direction the surface was, and close to no air in his burning lungs.

Well, to be fair, this was the Great River — at least he thought that it was — so “the surface” was in every direction. It just depended on how long he would have to swim to reach it.

The last time Sunny had plunged into the depths of the Great River, he had been ready, summoning the Essence Pearl almost immediately to prevent himself from suffocating. This time, even if he had the Quintessence Pearl in his soul arsenal, there was no real need to summon it.

He was a Supreme, after all, so he simply burned a little essence to satiate his body, relaxing as he drifted in the boundless darkness.

Everything hurt.

He had not been hurt this badly in a long, long while…

No, actually, he had not been hurt this badly since a few weeks ago. The Wandering Archon had done a good number on him, as well.

‘My life has been quite eventful as of late, huh?’

Was being a king always this painful? Having spent a few moments drifting aimlessly in the dark water, Sunny let out a mental sigh and pushed out what little air was left in his lungs.

Noting in which direction the air bubbles moved, he closed his eyes for a moment, and then chased after them.

That was where the nearest surface was, it seemed.