Shadow Slave: Shadow of Blood

Nephis was trying to rest, it was extremely difficult.

Sleeping was out of the question, she slept enough for a hundred lifetimes, a hundred, painful lifetimes.

She merely laid in her bed, laying on her side since her newfound wings made it too much of a bother to lay on her back.

Her thoughts wandered, there was just too much to think about. A part of her still feared she was trapped in yet another simulation, that the warden was merely playing with her a little longer, just a second away from once again being stabbed in the back.

But it never came, she was free of the nightmares, of the pain, she could move and see clearly, use her essence, and most importantly, the images of the ones she loved killing her would finally go away… Eventually.

"Sunny?"

The Prince of Song was beside her bed, sitting on a dark chair that looked strangely comfortable, apparently made by Cassie, reading one of the books that she had brought in her storage Memory. Said Memory was beside him, a chest she received after killing a mimic in the Chained Isles.

He raised his head and looked at her, immediately putting the book aside and grabbing the green gem.

"Yes Neph? Do you need anything?"

Nephis stared at him for some seconds, and shook her head. It had been some hours since they had been here, only waiting for the return of the rest of the cohort.

"No… Can we… talk about something…?"

He nodded immediately.

"Sure, what do you want to talk about?"

"How… How is it to have siblings?"

Nephis wanted to think about anything else except the Nightmare, she wanted her thoughts away from everything. So she asked something she could never understand herself, something she never experienced, something she knew Sunny enjoyed.

He seemed to understand, so he looked up and seemingly sighed.

"It is the most hellish thing in existence."

Nephis mind went into reboot, she did not expect that answer, she expected: "somewhat annoying", or "wonderful, but tiring", like Seishan's.

"Revel is lazy and a shut-in, she insists on putting her workload on me, never thanked me for getting her a boyfriend, and somehow is able to get annoyed by me simply stating facts."

Nephis raised an eyebrow, she thought Sunny was really close to Lightslayer.

"Seishan acts like she is my mother and is constantly nagging me, for the Gods, is like she doesn't know we had the same damn training?!"

Nephis looked aside, Seishan was really worried about him in the Forgotten Shore…

"Eunbin is way too worried about getting a boyfriend, and doesn't miss a beat to tease me anytime I look at a girl! Even the damn maids…"

… Nephis was pretty sure she was on the list of girls that he was teased about.

"Caera is way too overprotective, did you know she stalked me for two months after we returned from the Forgotten Shore? Well me neither! Apparently it was to protect me… But she didn't need to look at me sleeping!"

Why did Nephis feel like Sunny would do the exact same thing if he could?

"Terra is a fighting maniac that just wants to feel the biggest thrill possible. She insists that I have to fight her when I become a Saint, ignoring the fact I'll be stronger than her… And how she is probably the second weakest of my Saint sisters."

Nephis didn't know how to feel about that statement, normally the characters obsessed with fighting were one of if not among the strongest.

"Hel is… Hel."

Somehow Nephis understood everything.

"And Moon is just way too dense! She doesn't get subtext!"

Like… Him?

"Rain… Well, I can't complain about her… Yet."

"Rain…?"

"Oh, right, I have a little sister, forgot to tell you."

Nephis just stared at Sunless with an unreadable expression, but inside, multiple questions were bombarding her mind. Many were individual questions about the sisters, but one was the most important.

'Having a family is really that bad?'

Fortunately, she wasn't able to ask that question, because Sunny wasn't done talking.

"But having siblings is also one of the greatest blessings of my life…"

Nephis' mouth opened slightly, gaping in surprise.

"I would do anything for any of them, they helped me so many times, taught me so many things…"

He leaned closer, resting his elbows on his knees.

"I never told you, but after being adopted, I was taken to the Dream Realm to live in the Jade Palace on Ravenheart and I… Well, I wasn't the most caring person, refusing to get close to anyone, kept thinking that, if I started considering my family, I would be replacing my blood family…"

His ebony face of shadows rippled, as if a deep emotion passed through it.

"Yet they never judged me for it, maybe they also passed through the same thing, they were always there, patiently and slowly waiting for me to open up."

"Did you?"

"Of course, I eventually embraced each of them as my dear sisters, I could finally consider them my family, even say to my mother what I should have said so long ago…"

He looked directly at Nephis.

"I love my family… Having siblings is great."

"I see…"

Nephis' face didn't change, but strangely, she felt happy, speaking to him felt right for some reason.

She bets that if he could, he would speak of his family for hours, that he was happy just being with them…

He spoke plenty about Song, was always honest and didn't hesitate to tell her secrets, and even promised to inform her of everything that happened with their parents. Always honest…

It was time she stopped hiding as well.

"Sunny, I want to destroy the Nightmare Spell."

The Prince was taken back by the sudden statement, his gaze slowly turning to her, staring as if pondering what she said.

"The Spell itself…"

"Killing the Sovereigns was only one of my objectives, I want to destroy the root of everything… I want to reach beyond Supremacy, beyond the Sacred Rank, even the Divine."

She gripped her own hands so hard they turned white.

"I used to be willing to sacrifice anything, the people of the Forgotten Shore, the Dreamer Army, the Firekeepers… I would use anyone and anything to kill the Sovereigns and destroy the Spell…"

Nephis raised herself, sitting on the bed and letting her beautiful wings fold close to her. Her lips unconsciously curved into a small, incredible smile…

"But then you came and changed everything."

Sunny had long let go of the green gem, letting her speak.

"The Prince of Song, the one who was supposed to be one of my greatest obstacles in my quest, became my companion. You and Cassie showed me something I refused to see: the other perspective, you made me question why the Sovereigns betrayed my father, questioning who they really were. You helped me every step of the way…"

She hugged her own legs, twitching her head sideways to look at Sunny.

"And even opened my eyes that I couldn't disregard everything just for revenge. If I did, I would just become what I hated. If I didn't consider the lives that I could destroy while searching for my own objective, I would be just like the Spell…"

Sunny grabbed the gem just to ask a simple question, letting go right after.

"What did I do to open them?"

Nephis smiled permeated as her dark eye softened.

"The Bright Castle… The plan to make the Sleepers turn to our side…"

Sunny lowered his gaze.

"You knew we needed everyone, every help we could get, you did what was necessary, but you did not just for you, but for them as well… And you still carry every single one of their deaths. What we did was wrong, vile even, we are not good people."

She shifted closer to Sunny and grabbed his hand, making Sunny raise his gaze to her.

"If it was the past me, I would probably see it just as a worthy sacrifice… But you made me realize that it was much more than that when I saw your reaction, when I got to know you. When you wanted to stay in the Forgotten Shore."

Sunny froze upon being remembered about that moment.

"Life is precious Sunny, we can't save every one that follows us, but we can remember their story, save the most we can. But even then, we can never hesitate against our enemies, they have to die as a consequence of their actions or choices they made in life, just like with the guards of the Night Temple, or with the phantoms of the Nightmare. The best we can do is understand them."

[Shadow]: "So you will save who you can and burn who stands in your way?"

"Pretty much."

She chuckled a little, humorlessly, as her face darkened.

"I still remember one of the simulations that I had to pass through… One where I said the same thing to my father… He killed me right after."

Sunny stared at her for a moment, then got up and sat next to her, wrapping his arm around her back, she didn't go away, rather, she leaned closer, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I sometimes wonder how they would react to being with you, what they would say about Ki Song… About you."

Sunny reached for the gem and held it, expressing his thoughts.

"Mother told me some stories about Broken Sword and Smile of Heaven… Do you want to hear about it…?"

Nephis stared at the ground, thinking, before she raised her head to look at him.

"Please… At least a little."

If Sunny could, he would smile. He began recalling the stories about Broken Sword's cohort.

"We'll… Long story short: Broken Sword was a maniac that always faces his problems head on, blowing them away instead of strategizing. All the while trying to flirt with your mother."

Nephis smile went away as she turned stoic all of a sudden.

"And Smile of Heaven was a fool that cracked a joke even in the most desperate scenario."

"... On the eyes of your Ki Song, right?"

"Of course, but she is unbiased."

"Sure, I totally believe you."

She didn't.

Even then, Nephis enjoyed hearing the countless stories about the cohort's adventures, including the endless frustrations Ki Song went through, especially being the only one single between them. The Dreamspawn didn't count, in fact, he was absent from most of the stories.

— —

After a few more hours, the rest of the cohort had returned, the battle against the War Maidens had been harrowing, you could tell merely by their wounds and how tired they were, but those could be healed by Nephis' flames, and they were successful.

Carrying both Glass and Ruby knives and even their last remaining companion, Effie had been incarnated into the body of one of the War Maidens. However, her form was a little… Surprising.

Sunny looked down to see a little girl with white hair, her height not even reaching his torso, wearing a bronze armor that was awkwardly wrapping around her body, bearing an angry expression as she looked up at him.

"This is so not fair! How come you all get cool new bodies and I am stuck in a child! You are all higher than me! Mr. Handsome became a handsome soldier, the Witch became a hot supermodel, Cassie became a beautiful priestess, the weird guy can switch bodies, the Princess became an angel, and Mr. Royalty became a freaking mist?! And you just turned into yourself? That 's cheating!"

Sunny stared at the little girl that was Effie, he really wanted to laugh. At the same time, he wanted to chastise her for calling Seishan a witch.

Interesting enough, Mordret didn't seem to care about being called a weird guy.

After another round of getting people up to speed, all of the cohort were on the same page about facing the Transcendents, now with all the knives in their possession, they had a chance.

Just in time too, Noctis suddenly barged in the room, looking a little exasperated.

"Hello my nephew, niece, and their friends! Oh, hello little one, sorry for the haste, I'm Noctis, the Beast of Twilight, nice to meet you. All to my ship, we need to go!"

Seishan glared at Noctis, his unusual demeanor set alarms in her head.

"What did you do?"

The Transcendent seemed to swallow with a weak smile, despite being her superior in almost every way, Seishan seemed in control for whatever reason.

"W-Well, the Ivory Prince came over and I kind of declared war."

Everyone stared at him humorlessly.

Mordret meanwhile, smiled widely.

"Oh my, we can finally face the Transcendents! This will be fun!"

— —

The flying ship traveled through the Chained Isles at night, with the full moon shining above. The whole cohort of the Second Nightmare along with the Beast of Twilight and multiple creations of Noctis were in it.

From the dolls that took care of the Temple taking care of the ship, to a dozen monstrous statues that looked like gargoyles flying around it like sentinels.

Even with all of this, they were severely outnumbered, it was a few dozen against over three thousand enemies.

Thousands of Awakened, dozens of Ascended and three immortal Transcendents.

The good news was that it was night with a full moon, and Noctis' flaw made it so he was stronger when the moon was shining, and severely weaker in the day. Serverax was ironically the complete opposite, weaker at night, stronger in the day.

So their strongest Transcendent was out of commission for the time.

They slowly came upon all of the flying ships, dozens of them rose through the flying islands and progressed to meet Noctis' ship. None of them came close to the quality of the Beast of Twilight, but they were so many, each carrying many, many soldiers.

And to top it all off, a gigantic stone being was standing on the islands, right next to the Ivory City, almost dwarfing the whole thing. It was the Ivory Prince, the one whose fate was tied to the Ruby knife.

The Ivory Prince took one step forward in his gigantic form, his fist was big enough to crush one of his own ships. Exuding enough power to make the army of Awakened seem like ants.

And they would have to face all of that…

Noctis, who was at the helm, smiled widely and walked forward, letting go of the control of the ship and having Cassie on the runic circle, letting her navigate.

"Very well then! Let–"

Suddenly, the world became even darker, all of the cohort looked up as a shadow gradually enveloped all the islands.

Dread came upon Noctis as he felt his power weakening, the light of the moon was being covered by a power way above them all.

"Sevras got his hands on a Fragment of the Shadow Realm?!"

That immediately took all their plans of letting Noctis deal with the Transcendents out of the window, on the other hand, Sunless could feel himself growing stronger…

He was now in his natural territory.

But that didn't matter too much as Noctis simply jumped out of the ship.

The cohort looked at each other.

"Well? What now?!"

Effie's question was valid, fortunately, they had an answer.

Nephis summoned two Memories, two swords, one in each hand, one was a silver, elegant blade, the other, was white and pristine, seemingly looking like it was made of marble.

Her wings opened wide, prepared to take flight.

"We fight, and win, if this is our will, who dares to stop us?"

Effie's face dropped.

"The damn army in front of us!"

— — —

The siege of the Ivory City was long and harrowing.

They were facing an entire army…

But they also had an army.

Earlier, after leaving the Temple of the Moon to scout the location of the Glass knife, Sunny had summoned the Soul-Devouring tree and let it enthrall the little number of nightmare creatures present on the Chained Isles.

As such, when the battle started, he ordered the tree to unleash all of the thralls against the army of the Ivory City, their function was merely to serve as a distraction, as they wouldn't do much.

It was enough, with all his Shadows unleashed, Sunless passed through each ship, moving himself and his Shadows in the shadows and letting them loose on the ships. Saint and Igris challenged ships all on their own, Dreadwing terrorized any ship that dared to stop him, and Serpent constantly changed forms to keep the enemy off guard.

Along with him, Nephis flew through the air with her wings, finally being able to control herself, she unleashed her flames against all of the Awakened, her flames burned the ships quickly, and left little survivors that could face her.

Mordret was even more insidious, invading the bodies of the crew and destroying the ship from the inside, hijacking the bodies of the Ascended and using their own powers to kill the crew. His reflections did even more, turning into abominations that devastated all in their path.

Divine Aspect users were unstoppable.

Kai supported all of them, flying and using his bow and arrow to surgically eliminate targets at range.

While Seishan, Cassie, and Effie stayed on Noctis' ship, protecting it from harm against the various ships that passed through the myriad of Terror created by the Heirs of the Gods.

Cassie was on the helm, so she summoned her Echoes to support her, the Carapace Scavenger and the Carapace Demon protected her against the invading Awakened, but they were slowly being destroyed.

Seishan had long entered her monstrous form and started her slaughter. While Effie did her best to protect both of them.

Remnant was also there, using the [Chain Sword] to kill all with his shadow attack.

Against the odds, they were winning, it made the grand Transcendent in his iron body surprised, so he entered the fight, seeing enough of his soldiers dead.

Sunny was finishing one of the ships, having just killed the Ascended captain by piercing his shadow with his [Moonlight Shard], he looked up to go to the next ship, but then he saw the Ivory Prince moving.

He was about to act, planning to empower Serpent with all his shadows and make him fight the giant, but he was too late.

Because Noctis' flying ship was going directly at him.

'What is she doing?!'

Cassie had put the ship in a crash course to the iron giant, but the Transcendent wasn't going to let the ship hit him, raising an arm to catch it.

If he did, he could crush it in an instant, he wouldn't let that happen.

Sunny ordered all his shadows to augment Saint, who was the closest to him and had a better angle to attack the Transcendent.

She had just killed the Ascended captain of the ship she was in. As he materialized in front of her, he immediately summoned his Transcendent lance and gave it to her.

The shadows had already reached her, the other Shadows would be vulnerable, but they were strong enough to face their enemies alone for a while, and so, half empowered Saint, half empowered the [Promise of Mercy].

By then, the flying ship was about to be crushed by the Transcendent giant.

And at the same time, a dark lance pierced his arm, mangling it and taking the Transcendent off his feet. It wasn't enough to cut his arm, but it was enough for the ship to crash into the body of the giant.

—

Sunny entered the crashed ship, scattering his shadows once again and leaving them to face the army. He was searching for Noctis, who had somehow crashed into it

Effie had already left the ship with the other two, she was currently on her way to kill the Ivory Prince, and the others were joining the battle above while Remnant returned to his soul sea temporarily.

Sunny sensed the shadows of Noctis, and another Transcendent.

That Transcendent was Solvane, the Priestess of War. One of the most beautiful women Sunny had ever seen, with long chestnut hair and soft skin, wearing a simple red dress that let her arms bare. She had humiliated Noctis, beating him severely.

"I'm disappointed Noctis."

Sunny decided to stay in the shadows, merely looking at the exchange, unseen by neither Transcendent.

Noctis had lost, or at least that was what he wanted her to think. A sorcerer has many tricks.

He swiftly activated a runic circle and implanted something inside the body of the Pristress.

Sunny merely observed, as Noctis revealed the Wormvine he implanted inside Solvane, as he denied her the death she wanted to feel by launching the Wooden knife on the other side of the ship.

And then he understood, Solvane was the Transcendent that Nephis killed when she found the flying ship, she had been stuck as the host of a nightmare creature for thousands of years, suffering for eternity…

Sunless manifested himself and grabbed the Wooden knife.

Noctis looked at him and smiled.

"Ah! Sunless, let us go, there's still a lot to be done."

Noctis calmly walked to get out of the ship, but Sunny didn't follow him.

It was Solvane's Fate to stay here, suffering for eternity, a fate worse than death…

He was sure the Priestess more than deserved that, based on everything he heard about her.

But… Sunny won't let Fate have its way.

Let Solvane pay for her actions by dying and becoming just another shadow in his vast Soul.

Sunny pierced Solvane's skull with the Wooden knife, killing her.

[You have slain a Transcendent human, Solvane.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

[You have received an Echo.]

Sunny breathed a breath of–

[Your Echo has been destroyed.]

'What?!'

The bewilderment couldn't be contained, even his form distorted, the reason was kind of obvious.

'Remnant!'

But he couldn't think of that right now, Noctis was staring at him, a hint of displeasure on his face.

"My dear Nephew, what did you do?!"

Grabbed the green gem in his pocket and spoke.

"I'm doing what my mother did, denying Fate."

— —

The sun rose from the horizon as the siege had entered its final stage, with the army of the Ivory City slain, two Transcendents eliminated, the only one left was the Ivory Lord, who was now just a beast after the loss of all that he protected.

Now, Noctis and Sevras were in a harrowing battle in the skies, a Twilight wolf facing the Ivory Dragon.

And in the end, Noctis was able to bring the Dragon down, leaving him defenseless on the ground as a charming archer approached the Dragon in tremendous speed, a Glass knife in his hand.

Noctis was on the ground as well, looking to the sky as his body laid uncomfortably.

A beautiful lady with ivory hair and wearing a red dress approached and sat on the rubble beside him.

"Seems like this is the end."

Noctis sideways, seeing his 'niece' with her legs crossed, looking at the beautiful sky.

"Oh my, is my dear relative here to say goodbye? What a honor!"

Seishan looked down at him, a gentle smile on her face as she revealed a sharp Obsidian knife in her hand.

"For all that was worth, you were enjoyable to be around."

Noctis smiled back.

"I'm glad… Seems like death is finally here! I wonder if Shadow will have a ceremony for me, I am the great Noctis after all!"

Seishan chuckled, kneeling slowly, she pierced the knife on his body, killing Noctis swiftly. He felt no pain.

Away from them, four Awakened joined together, looking at the Ivory Tower, where the Demon of Desire would soon appear before them.

Effie was resting with Sunny's Shadows, so Sunny, Nephis, Mordret and Cassie were there, on a platform close to the entrance. Entering the Tower to make sure everything went to plan.

The second he entered the great hall, every passion, every desire, every emotion dwelling in his heart suddenly surged forward and ignited, breaking out of control.

In the center of the great hall, surrounded by a swirling hurricane of light and darkness, a vague and graceful silhouette towered above the broken chains. He couldn't quite tell where the light ended, and where her numinous body began… Perhaps Hope had no body at all, and was instead made of pure radiance, pure darkness.

He felt as if her nebulous visage was almost human-like, but also inexplicably alien. The shapes and contours were both correct and wrong… both familiar and strange… both pleasing and revolting.

And beautiful… so beautiful…

She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

She was the most terrifying thing he had ever seen.

A Daemon. Hope, the Daemon of Desire.

Mordret, who planned on killing the Daemon as soon as he saw her, immediately froze, understanding that he had no chance.

Nephis felt all her conflicting emotions rocket out of control, hate, love, happiness, sadness, all were the same.

Cassie felt her blood boil as the strings of Fate began to weave themselves.

And Sunny… He couldn't help but wonder…

"Why did the Gods trap you?"

The Daemon heard him, she looked up, the myriad of light and darkness looked up, and a voice came out, it sounded like a rustle of countless leaves, like a myriad of prayers, like the wind that blew between the stars. Her radiant eyes can peer into the deepest, most hidden parts of the soul.

"The Heir of Shadow, the Heir of Sun, the Heir of War, and the Heir of…"

A sudden laugh came out of her.

"Seems my brother failed, yet succeeded at the same time… I wonder if he had any other plans… Then again, Shadow seemed to have expected as such."

The chains had fallen, she was free, slowly, she approached the three Heirs of the Divine and the Heir of her brother.

"We are the flaw of the Gods, little Shadow, the only thing that makes their existence possible. I cannot wait to witness what you become, for a God to care so deeply about an Heir… You must be the very thing they need, or wanted."

She turned to Nephis.

"To a Nephilim to receive the blessing of the Sun, I wonder what he was thinking, if he was thinking at all… But you have such passion…"

Mordret met her gaze. Amusement suddenly appeared.

"You… You will never succeed, incomplete like this. Your soul needs them all, together, but now, you can only be one."

And finally, as the Nightmare began to break down, the gaze of the Daemon fell on Cassie.

"You are not the one they wanted, you will never reach the heights that he will. And yet, you may have led him into a better path."

She turned to look at Sunless once again.

"Those that walk the path of Death are inevitably going to deliver it, whether they wish for it or not. It is up to you to decide who shall receive it… You are Death after all… Shadow."

Upon the last few words, the Nightmare had been dissolved.