Shadow Slave

Looking around the vast hall, the Corrupted Titan that wore a human face — the Mad Prince — inhaled deeply, a distant hint of lucidity finding its way into his dark, frightening eyes.

Then, his dreadful gaze fell on Cassie, and his cracked lips twisted into a dark, demented smile.

“Torment…”

The Mad Prince let out a small, grating laugh.

“So you were the one who made it out, in the end. Ah… it seems I lost, then. The little game we played. How vexing.”

He groaned and clawed at his face, blood spilling from the deep cuts — only to reverse its flow and crawl back under his skin a moment later.

“How vile…”

His hoarse voice hid the undertones of a rabid growl within it, making Cassie take another step back.

Asterion, meanwhile, was studying the Mad Prince with a somber expression. His easy smile was gone, and his golden eyes were cold and ruthless, void of the usual glint of amusement.

He frowned.

“What kind of demon is this?”

The Mad Prince turned his head slowly, meeting Asterion’s gaze with an utter lack of emotion.

Then, he grinned brightly.

“The best kind!”

He laughed again and then took a step, circling Asterion while staring at him with a friendly curiosity.

The tip of his jian dragged on the floor behind him, filling the dark hall with a loud, grinding, unnerving screech.

“What kind of ghoul is this? Ah, the worst kind.”

The Mad Prince stopped abruptly and stared at Asterion, his grin widening.

“You dare peer into my mind? Brave man! Oh, but I wouldn’t advise it… I wouldn’t advise it all…”

Asterion’s frown deepened.

He didn’t seem particularly threatened by the Mad Prince. However, his gaze turned wary when he glanced at the abomination’s jade sword.

It was no surprise. That sword was the Sin of Solace, after all — the cursed blade that infected everyone it cut with insidious madness. The Dreamspawn was a creature of the mind, so a weapon that destroyed the mind was a unique threat to him.

Still staring at Asterion, the Mad Prince asked in a cold tone:

“Nephis?”

Cassie finally spoke, barely preventing her voice from shaking:

“She is alive.”

The Mad Prince exhaled slowly.

“Good. That is good. That is wonderful… I haven’t failed completely then, after all.”

He laughed.

“I guess the little wretch escaped becoming me, somehow. How truly unexpected… well, no surprise. He is me, after all.”

With that, the Mad Prince shifted his gaze to Cassie and smiled.

“So to what do I owe the pleasure of meeting you again, dear Torment? You have summoned me here with your powers. That means that you want something from me, doesn’t it? Do you want me to play a game with the ghoul?”

His smile widened, and his lightless eyes shone with boundless madness.

“Ah, but what if I don’t want to? What if I want to have a bit of fun with you, instead? I haven’t heard you scream in so long, dear Torment… you had grown so quiet back then, near the end. Won’t you sing for me again?”

Cassie pursed her lips, struggling to prevent herself from shuddering.

“You might not want to help me…”

She paused for a moment, looking at him with a grim expression.

Then, she smiled chillingly and pointed at Asterion.

“But that man… he is trying to kill Nephis. In fact, he has harmed her horribly already. He’s trying to ruin everything you achieved.”

The Mad Prince shifted his dreadful gaze back to Asterion.

When he spoke, his voice sounded languid:

“Is that so?”

He remained silent for a short while, his smile growing slowly.

A boundless, harrowing madness igniting in his eyes.

“That won’t do… that won’t do at all.”

The Mad Prince grinned and said, his voice brimming with a dark, deadly, ugly obsession.

“Because she is mine.”

His words carried with them the weight of a demented, dire conviction.

As the echo of his hoarse, unpleasant voice resounded in the darkness, the darkness seemed to resonate and shroud him like a harrowing mantle.

His subtle presence suddenly grew, filling the vast hall — it was so overwhelming, in fact, that its pressure felt like a physical force, pushing Cassie back and making the ancient stones groan.

A cold wind swept the dark expanse, making her hair dance.

The runes inscribed on the ancient walls of the Ebony Tower were obscured by shadows, and the shadows danced as well, moving in demented frenzy, flowing like a dark whirlpool to celebrate the wrath of their lord.

The Mad Prince smiled.

“Be gone, ghoul.”

A moment later, he was already upon Asterion, the white blade of his graceful sword moving with the speed of lightning, with the weight of a mountain.

Cassie lowered her stance, but was still thrown back by the shockwave of their clash.

‘I… must hurry…’

By then, her Aspect had already reached every soldier of the great army of humanity — most of the Awakened alive today in the world, and therefore the core of Asterion’s power.

But not all of it.

Out there in the wide expanse of the Dream Realm and the desolate reaches of the waking world, billions of mundane people carried the idea of him in their minds. They were the true strength of the Hunger Domain, and if Cassie were to have hope of defeating Asterion, she had to reach them all, as well.

So, she extended her Will far away, to the few people who had been with her from the very beginning.

She also reached above, to the last floor of the Ebony Tower.

And below, where something peculiar was happening to the soldiers she had already marked.

Something was happening underground… There, the scent of blood overwhelmed Cassie’s senses.

The Mad Prince and the Dreamspawn had clashed in the hall of forbidden runes, where a Supreme had just been born.

And at the same time, another Supreme was being born at the lowest point of the Ebony Tower.

Regaining her balance with the help of the Quiet Dancer, Cassie froze for a moment.

‘Mordret…’