Shadow Slave

Asterion regarded the citizens of Bastion with a benevolent smile and fell silent. His bold proclamation had caused a great shock among the people, who were only now learning about the existence of another Supreme. As they discussed the stunning news excitedly, he lingered for a moment and then looked up.

Up there, above the Mirror Lake... the chains of the Ivory Island rattled as it began to descend.

The people noticed that the celestial island was moving soon. Their excited voices fell silent, and they watched breathlessly as it glided down from the sky.

Eventually, the flying Citadel landed on the water and plunged into it, raising a wave as it became no different from a mundane island. The Ivory Tower now stood between Asterion and the Castle, as if shielding one from the other... or perhaps welcoming him to the Human Domain.

That was how the people saw it, at least, since Changing Star had never brought her heavenly court down to the ground before. Asterion remained standing on the turbulent surface of the lake with a calm expression, observing the Tower of Hope curiously. Then, his gaze traveled to the shore of the island, where a woman of sublime and holy radiance was standing at the edge of the water, her silver hair moving faintly in the wind.

Nephis and Asterion regarded each other silently for a while.

Then, she willed the water to support her weight and stepped off the emerald grass, walking across the lake to meet him. The people held their breaths, watching their goddess and the golden-eyed Supreme meet.

Nephis stopped a few meters away from Asterion, regarding him coldly.

He studied her for a few moments, as well, then glanced briefly at her shadow.

Then, he cast an amused gaze at her reflection on the surface of the lake. Finally, Asterion looked up and smiled warmly.

”My dear Nephis. How well you have grown up.”

She did not answer, continuing to watch him with an expressionless face.

He chuckled.

”It warms my heart to see that even if my friends are gone, their daughter is alive and well. You took up the torch that had fallen from their cold hands and raised the banner of Immortal Flame high... higher than ever before, shining a radiant light to guide humanity through the darkness. They say that humanity will not be extinguished as long as Immortal Flame still burns, after all.”

His golden eyes suddenly glinted with amusement.

”As long as the last daughter of Immortal Flame still stands unbroken.”

The people on the walls of the Castle and on the shores of the lake exploded with cheers.

For Sunny and Nephis, though, that last remark carried quite a sinister undertone. Nephis lowered her chin a little.

She was most likely searching for a way out of the appalling situation they had found themselves in — and discovering none. Sunny knew because he could not find a solution, either.

Asterion had them exactly where he wanted them. He had no hope of defeating them in battle, so he took the population of Bastion hostage to prevent them from attacking him — just like he had taken the lives of people infected by the knowledge of his name hostage to stop them from preventing its propagation.

Not only could they not engage Asterion in battle despite finally confronting him face-to-face, but they could not even stop him from announcing his name to the entirety of Bastion.

Modern Bastion was an enormous city. By the end of the day, every human living here would be exposed to Asterion’s name — and it would not stop there. Merchants would carry it to other cities in the East, while ships would bring it to the Stormsea — from there, it would enter the basin of the River of Tears and travel north to Ravenheart.

It would also travel by the Road of Shadows to traverse Gograve in the north. But even that was not the worst part... there were countless Awakened in Bastion, and while some of them had come here through a Dream Gate, others were still traveling to the Dream Realm from the waking world every night.

Once these people returned to Earth, Asterion’s name would become unstoppable. No matter how tightly the government controlled the network, even the mighty propaganda machine could not suppress news as explosive as the emergence of a new Supreme.

Soon enough, every human in existence would know the name of Asterion.

Despite how much effort Sunny and Nephis had put into containing it, it had all been for naught.

It had all been useless.

And the most disturbing part of it all was that they had never even stood a chance. No matter how much Sunny thought about it, he could not imagine how they could have prevented this disaster...

Short of obliterating all of Bastion, that was.

He felt it again, then — the ghastly feeling of powerlessness.

’He got us good.’

Of course, the war was not lost yet.

With the number of infected people increasing exponentially, the number of exposed people who were especially susceptible to the disease would increase, as well. Far more of them would end up enthralled. Cassie had already been barely handling their numbers, so even if she recovered from her wounds, the quarantine facility in NQSC would prove woefully insufficient.

Therefore, they would have to invent more drastic measures of removing the thralls from the board.

In this situation, the resistance of the population to the plague of Asterion would become even more important...

Which meant that Sunny and Nephis would have to do anything in their power to make sure that belief in the Human Domain remained as strong as ever, while Asterion would, without a doubt, attempt to undermine it.

As Nephis and Asterion looked at each other — one expressionless, the other smiling warmly — they both were probably thinking about just that.

It was why Nephis had not allowed herself to express her hatred, knowing that he would turn any display of hostility against her.

Asterion raised an eyebrow.

”Are you not going to welcome me home, dear Nephis? I’ve been away for so long.” Met with silence, he chuckled and shook his head.

”Then again, you were shy even as a little girl. There’s nothing wrong with being a little emotional when reuniting with someone precious, though... that’s just human nature.”

With that, he took a step forward and walked the remaining distance separating them.

Stopping a hair’s breadth away from Nephis, Asterion looked down at her and slowly raised his arms.

Then, as countless people watched, he reached forward and pulled her into a tight embrace.

Lowering his head to her ear, he whispered: ”Of course, we’ve never been humans to begin with, you and . Right, Nephis?”