Shadow Slave

Asterion’s smile did not vanish despite the savage words he had spoken. However, it did change. The difference was both subtle and chilling — it was as if all warmth drained from his eyes, revealing the cold, ruthless void beneath.

In the stark absence of pretense, his stunning golden eyes did not seem human at all.

Then, finally, his smile disappeared as well. ”Actually, I lied.”

With his hands still clasped behind his back, Asterion did not look too threatening. His stance was wide open, and he neither wore armor nor wielded a weapon — and yet, the sound of his voice forced Sunny to move slightly, shifting his weight to his dominant leg.

Asterion walked toward Nephis slowly. ”Earlier, when I said that you grew up well, Nephis... that was a lie. In truth, you are a disappointment.”

Stopping a few steps away, he looked at her with displeasure.

”Well, I will not deny the fact that you are remarkable in your own way. In truth, I never expected you to take out Anvil and Ki Song... natural Supremacy, huh? How ambitious! You gave me quite a start. To be honest, it forced me to alter some of my plans.”

Sunny had been meaning to explain which parts of Asterion’s body he was going to slowly saw off with a dull blade if the bastard dared to touch Cassie again, but held himself back.

After all, if his enemy was in the mood to ramble about his past plans, Sunny would be a fool to interrupt him.

Asterion, meanwhile, sighed.

”Initially, I meant to begin slowly preparing for my eventual return sometime after the Chain of Nightmares. But your antics in Godgrave made me change the timetable... you have a habit of ruining things, don’t you, Nephis? Ah, but of course. You are Changing Star, after all... the Star of Ruin.”

Sunny tilted his head slightly.

’Interesting.’

If he were to believe Asterion’s words, it seemed like the Dreamspawn had been planning to escape the Moon for a long time. Curiously enough, these plans had been in place before the Sovereigns fell — meaning that the measures they had put in place to prevent his return had not been as effective as everyone believed.

It was also unnerving to see just how well-informed Asterion was about everything that had happened in his absence.

Even if Sunny expected no less from the Dreamspawn.

’Why did he accelerate his plans when Nephis usurped the throne?’

Sunny was not sure yet... but one thing had already become painfully apparent.

Asterion was somewhat fixated on Nephis, maybe because of their old connection. He did not pay the same amount of attention to the role Sunny had played in the fall of the original Domains at all.

”My, oh my.”

Sunny felt something that he used to experience often, but had not had the pleasure of enjoying for quite some time — to the point that it was difficult to remember the feeling.

It was the wonderful feeling of being underestimated.

Asterion gave Nephis a look that was full of contempt.

”Still, despite your many achievements, everything about you is distasteful. Aren’t you tired of maintaining the charade, pretending to be human? Or have you actually deluded yourself into believing that you are one of them?”

He shook his head.

”What a shame.”

Turning away, Asterion regarded the chains of Hope once more. He remained silent for a few moments, then spoke, his voice echoing in the bright expanse of the great hall. ”There were seven gods. There were seven daemons, as well. Plenty of Terrors and Titans... countless Chaos Creatures hiding in the Void...”

His tone turned sharp.

”But there are only three Dreamspawns in the world. You, me, and that Transcendent brat — the rest are all dead. In the wake of the Chain of Nightmares, meanwhile, countless children have been born in the Dream Realm... but none of them are like us. That is because they never belonged to both worlds — from the second of their inception, they had already belonged to the Dream Realm. The waking world will be gone soon, too. Do you understand what that means?”

Asterion’s gaze grew heavy.

”It means that there will never be a fourth Dreamspawn. We three are all there is, and all there’ll ever be. And since the youngest is still a child, you are the only other member of our kind to have reached adulthood. And yet... you have denied your own nature, discarding it in favor of pretense and self-deception.”

He smiled coldly.

”Do you understand my disappointment now? You have limited your own potential. You have crippled yourself, burying half of yourself in the ground. All this time, you have been fighting with one hand tied behind your back — incomplete, imbalanced... mutilated. All that of your own accord — and for what? To be a human? One of those pitiful, constrained creatures?”

Asterion shook his head.

”I guess I should not be complaining, since that only plays into my hand. Still, I can’t help but feel... offended. It is offensive, to see the only other member of my tribe debase herself so thoroughly”

He grimaced.

”And yet, you and your lover deem yourselves my enemies?”

Suddenly, Asterion let out a laugh.

”Make no mistake... I have no enemies. I have no rivals, either. All you are is an obstacle, at best.”

Sunny regarded Asterion with a dark expression.

’He has no enemies...’

Asterion did not mean that he was a friend to everyone, of course. Instead, he meant that no one — not even the two of them — was qualified to be his enemy.

Because he was that much more fearsome than anyone else.

’Arrogant bastard...’

And what was with that whole speech about how Nephis failed to behave like a proper Dreamspawn? It sounded completely unhinged, but also strangely... sincere.

Well, of course it did. If Asterion did not consider them worthy of being his enemies, he would have no reason to go out of his way to lie to them about every little thing, either. He could have expressed his earnest distaste.

’I guess Mordret was right.’

Mordret had told Sunny once that Asterion did not consider himself to be a human. It had sounded like an insult back then, but now, Sunny saw that it was simply a dispassionate truth.

Asterion did not think of himself as a member of the human race. However, he did not consider himself a Nightmare Creature, either. Rather, he believed himself to be a member of an entirely different tribe — a unique being that belonged to both worlds.

A Dreamspawn.

A being who was neither a human nor an abomination, but inherited some traits of both.

Nephis smiled darkly.

”Sorry to disappoint. If it makes you feel any better, though, please know that no matter how much I disgust you... you disgust me more.”

She frowned then.

”This is the third time I am asking you, Astrerion. What do you want?”

But Sunny...

Sunny did not hear her.

Because at that moment, something clicked in his mind, and a hint of a dreadful understanding made his eyes widen slightly.