Shadow Slave

“Why is...”

Rain lost her ability to speak. The scene transpiring in front of her was simply too senseless. Why was she a Master? Why was the Night Garden, a Great Citadel of the Human Domain, besieging the seat of its ruler’s power? Why were the people on its deck swarming like ants, as if preparing to board an adversary vessel?

”Rain!”

It was only when Lady Cassia shouted that she regained her senses.

‘Right!’

This was the Age of the Nightmare Spell. All kinds of bizarre events were not only possible, but also bound to happen sooner or later. If one wanted to survive, they had to react first and think later.

If some unfathomable eldritch horror was trying to eat you, there was no point in trying to ponder the mysteries of its nature — you simply had to avoid being eaten. That was how soldiers had survived in Godgrave, so Rain was no stranger to situations that demanded rapid action in the absence of understanding.

In the grand scheme of things, there was no difference between an eldritch horror and a Great Citadel, so she decided to save her questions for later.

Rain turned to Lady Cassia, ready to follow her, and instantly lost the composure she had just barely managed to regain. Her eyes widened in terror.

It was only then that she noticed that the gorgeous Saint’s tunic was painted red with blood. The hilt of a dagger was protruding from just beneath her ribs, and at that moment, Lady Cassia grasped it and slowly pulled the black blade of the serpentine stiletto from her flesh with a quiet groan. ‘That dagger...’

It looked familiar.

”L—lady Cassia?”

She turned her head to Rain and pressed a hand to the bleeding wound.

”Release your Epithets, Rain.”

Rain spent a heartbeat allowing herself to feel confused. She wanted to protest the command of the older woman.

Both of the Epithets she could assign had been granted to Tamar’s sword. She had made sure to make them useful, but not powerful enough to drain her essence — that way, she could maintain them indefinitely, or at least until the day Tamar returned from the Nightmare. Releasing the Epithets would mean taking away some of her friend’s strength.

But then, Rain felt a peculiar incongruity in how reality was supposed to be and how it was. She could not sense the two Epithets she had assigned to Tamar’s sword siphoning a bit of her essence away. Instead, she felt three of them devouring her essence with astonishing speed.

And they were assigned to Lady Cassia.

‘Since when can I sustain three Epithets at the same... oh, right.’

Rain released the Epithets, and a moment later, Lady Cassie staggered a little and let out a relieved sigh.

“Good. Now... let’s go.”

She walked close to Rain and pushed the hilt of the bloodied dagger into her hands. Rain looked down slowly, studying the serpentine blade with a hollow look. Then, the dagger rippled and turned into a large black snake, which slid into her sleeve and vanished.

‘...It’s grown bigger.’

Lady Cassia pulled her toward the door. They left Rain’s quarters as the Tower of Longing shook and groaned around them. There was more smoke in the corridor. The deafening impacts of the charged cannonballs were dampened by the ancient walls, but still made Rain’s ears ring.

“Lady Cassia, your wounds...”

The gorgeous Saint guided Rain through the smoke, navigating the chaos far better than she could have, despite being blind.

“Don’t worry about me. The blade missed my heart, and I... am someone who cannot be killed unless it is done in one strike.”

And indeed, as soon as she spoke those words, a soft radiance shone from beneath her bloodied tunic, erasing the dire wound. Rain stared at the blood with a dazed look.

‘It missed the heart.’

Could she have aimed for the heart?

What about her Flaw?

No, why would she have attacked Lady Cassia, in the first place?!

‘Sunny...’

Rain perked up. Right, the Ivory Island was under attack... but there were two Supremes living here.

Why weren’t they doing anything?

“Where are Sunny and Lady Nephis?”

Lady Cassia grabbed the wall to withstand another quake, then wiped the blood off her face and continued forward with calm, confident steps.

”They are fighting a different battle, somewhere far away.”

Her voice was eerily calm despite the dire peril of their situation.

Rain wanted to say something, but at that moment, someone else appeared from the smoke. It was one of the Fire Keepers, a Master named Sid.

Before Rain could let out a sigh of relief, Sid was suddenly near them, her sword flashing as it plummeted toward Lady Cassia’s neck. It all happened so fast that Rain barely had time to react... but, in fact, it was already peculiar that she had been able to perceive the attack and move before the sword landed.

It did not land on Lady Cassia’s neck, though. She took the smallest of steps and turned her torso slightly, allowing the sword to flash harmlessly past it. With one hand, she grasped the Fire Keeper’s wrist. The other shot forward and slammed into the woman’s chest, sending her staggering toward the wall.

Before Sid could recover, Lady Cassia was only a step away. Her palm shot forward again, the force of the strike causing the back of Sid’s head to crash into the wall of the Ivory Tower.

The Fire Keeper slid to the floor, leaving a trail of blood on the white stone. She was still alive, but thoroughly unconscious. Outside, a peculiar silver flash illuminated the deck of the Night Garden.

”Come!”

Now, there was a sense of urgency in Lady Cassia’s voice.

They rushed along the corridor and reached the room where Nephis had left flowers for the mysterious woman. The woman was still there, staring into the window with a placid expression. The chaos of the calamitous siege did not seem to have affected her at all...

The vase that stood on her nightstand was overturned, and the flowers were scattered on the floor.

It was only now that Rain saw the gorgeous woman up close that he realized the eerie truth. She was not serene, placid, or calm... instead, she was Hollow.

Her resemblance to Nephis was undeniable, as well.

So, Rain suddenly got an idea of who she was.

“Rain, push the wheelchair. Once we reach the stairs, use your Aspect to keep it steady.”

Rain obediently grasped the handles of the wheelchair, then hesitated for a moment.

“But where are we going?”

The Ivory Island was under attack, and both Supremes who were meant to protect it were inexplicably gone. The Night Garden was a gigantic ship, with innumerable Awakened warriors onboard... if even the Fire Keepers could not be trusted, then how was Lady Cassia intending to repel the attack?

Unless, naturally...

Rain was suddenly as pale as a ghost.

If Lady Cassia were to take control of the Great Citadel, she would be able to command its Components. And if she invoked the Crushing...

“A—are you... are you going to destroy the Night Garden?”

The Crushing was a mystical force capable of flattening entire regions of the Dream Realm — or keeping hundreds of enormous islands floating in the air for thousands of years. It did not apply the same amount of force to everything it could reach, though. Instead, the power of the Crushing grew exponentially the closer one got to its source.

It could crush a building into rubble while the Ivory Island was flying numerous kilometres above the ground. The Night Garden was mere hundreds of meters away from the shores of the flying island, though, being pulled closer with every second as the chains connected to its boarding hooks grew taut. At this distance, the Crushing would be harrowing enough to shatter the body of a god.

Would it be able to break the Night Garden, as well, turning it into a vast cloud of splinters?

But... there were innumerable humans living aboard the living ship...

Lady Cassia smiled bitterly.

“What are you thinking about? No, naturally not. We are simply going to escape.”