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Chapter 2250: Flames of Hope
Shadow Slave

The nightmare creature was about to finish off Felise, whose dress was soaked with blood by then, and Sid was not swift enough anymore to stop it…

It was then that a soft radiance suddenly illuminated the darkness, chasing it away.

Sid's heart raced.

'...Lady Nephis?'

Was she close? No… the last she had caught a glimpse of her, Changing Star was disappearing into the black sky, too far away to heal the dying soldiers with her soothing flames.

But there was no mistaking it. Sid knew this feeling well, having relied on it to stay alive for many years, across numerous battlefields.

Granted, the warmth spreading through her body, washing away the pain, was far more potent than usual. Her wounds were healing much faster than they usually did when bathed in the gentle white flame.

That was not all, either…

There was a soft radiance glowing beneath Sid's skin, and she felt… powerful, invigorated. She was brimming with power, her exhaustion gone. It was as if her body, which had already been at the pinnacle of what an Ascended could achieve, grew twice as strong. Even her soul felt empowered by the white radiance.

'Thank the gods!'

Activating her Aspect Abilities one after another, Sid rammed the abomination with her shoulder and sent it flying back.

'Felise…'

Turning to look at the Handmaiden, Sid could not help but grin.

Felise was emanating the same soft radiance, and her wounds were healing as well.

No…

It was not just Felise. It was everyone.

All around them, hundreds of soldiers — both of the Song and the Sword Domain, not that there was a difference anymore — were being nurtured by the pure white flames. Their wounds were healing, and their power grew.

And further away, it was the same.

Sid's eyes widened.

'How…'

Before, Lady Nephis could only bestow the gift of her flames to her most loyal followers, and only if they were close to her. She had developed that ability over the years,increasing its range and potency — until she could heal entire swathes of the battlefield, thousands of soldiers at the same time.

But now, it was not just thousands… it was hundreds of thousands.

The entire vast mass of the two great armies was being healed and empowered, while Lady Nephis was nowhere in sight.

But even without seeing her, people knew who had saved them.

Voices rose here and there, full of gratitude, relief… and hope.

"Changing Star!'

"It's Lady Changing Star!

"Immortal Flame is with us!"

***

Sitting among the wounded soldiers that the petite fairy had rescued with the help of her terrifying cottage, Ray suddenly flinched.

'What the?!'

The interior of the cottage was suddenly much brighter than it had been before.

All around him, people were glowing…

He was glowing, too.

A familiar warmth filled his body, and the scrapes he had received during the battle disappeared without a trace. The same thing was happening to Fleur, and the two Sword Army Masters that had helped them survive.

In fact, the only person who wasn't shining with a soft radiance was their fairy hostess, who floated in the air with a confused expression on her impishly pretty face.

Ray recognized this feeling…

It was the same warmth he had felt while being healed by Lady Nephis.

Outside the window, the soldiers of the two great armies were all being mended by the white flames, descending upon the sea of Nightmare Creatures with renewed vigor.

One of the two Sword Army Masters was the first one to stand up, summoning his sword and pointing to the door with a determined expression.

"My fair lady, the benevolent mistress of the cottage… I, Tristan of Aegis Rose, am eternally grateful for your kindness. However, my honor compels me to rejoin the battle now that my wounds have been healed. Please, command your cottage to open its door!"

Ray and Fleur exchanged glances.

Rani and Tamar were still out there, somewhere, fighting for their lives.Master Tristan must not have recovered from the blow to his head yet, considering his bizarre manner of speech, but the gist of what he had said was right...

They could not hide away while their comrades were fighting and dying out there on the bloody battlefield.

When Fleur nodded subtly, Ray sighed and rose to his feet.

The rest of the soldiers slowly stood up, as well. They turned to the hostess of the monstrous cottage and waited, their eyes were full of somber resolve.

The petite fairy looked at them strangely.

There was a pause, and then, she said:

"The door has a handle, you know. You can just open it yourself…"

***

Rain stumbled and looked at Tamar with wide eyes.

It was not every day that she saw her friend… glowing softly with a beautiful white radiance, as if she was a celestial being.

'No, wait…'

Why was the Feather Knight glowing, as well?

Why was everyone?

…Everyone except for Rain herself and the towering steel fiend, that was.

Their wounds were healing in front of her eyes, and their movements had turned swifter, the bite of their blades deeper.

For a few moments, the Nightmare Creatures were actually pushed back.

Rain remained still for a moment.

'...It has to be Nephis, right?'

Her head turned, and she stared into the distance.

At the grotesque, harrowing, beautiful creature that towered above the shattered battlefield like a mountain.

Queen Song…

Just as Rain looked at her, a fiery white meteor suddenly pierced the darkness of the black sky and crashed into the towering figure of the Queen, causing a titanic explosion to shake the entire world.

That was Changing Star, returning from the heavens.

But there was something different about her now.

Rain could not see from the distance, however, she knew one thing — the Queen actually staggered from the blow despite not having been bothered by any attack before.

'W—wait…'

A moment later, Rain forgot all about Queen Song.

And about Changing Star, as well.It was because she sensed something… something that made her hair stand on end.

She sensed the shadows all across the battlefield growing deeper, darker, and infinitely colder than before.

As the great armies bathed in the warmth of the white flames, a sudden chill spread across the battlefield, as if death itself had let out a frigid breath.

And then, the shadows moved.

Shadow Slave
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Comments 193

  1. Online Offline
    Bastard Son of Fate
    Bastard Son of Fate
    + 0 ⋅ 0 -
    Now it’s time for Sunny to aura farm

    Peak, feel bad for G3 since I’m pirating
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  2. Offline
    LadyMongrel
    LadyMongrel
    + 1 ⋅ 0 -
    Sunny and Nephis domains working beautifully… almost like a song of light and darkness (or shadows, I guess)
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  3. Offline
    VanZakkart
    VanZakkart
    + 4 ⋅ 0 -
    HYPE!! I AM SMILING LIKE A GOD DAMN MANIAC WHILE LAUGHING MANICALLY!!
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  4. Online Offline
    Alfametadol
    Alfametadol
    + 0 ⋅ 0 -
    пока все Смотрят на Нефис, одна только Рейн смотрит на Санни, а ведь он прикладывает не меньше усилий для защиты этих людей, ну и что, что он не такой яркий и эфыектный...
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  5. Offline
    ratty_islandr
    ratty_islandr
    + 1 ⋅ 0 -
    This shi got me, a grown as man, giggling 🤭
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  6. Offline
    Kenneth
    Kenneth
    + 3 ⋅ 0 -
    I'm getting goosebumps reading this chapter yeah
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  7. Offline
    Magnumbest
    Magnumbest
    + 4 ⋅ 0 -
    2251 Supreme Shadow
    A sudden chill spread across the battlefield, and a moment later, the darkness that had been pushed back by the sea of soft radiance seemed to grow deeper and darker, consuming the pure white light.
    Far away from where Rain was shivering in the cold, the King of Swords stood above a fearsome black mask that lay on the ground. The merciless sunlight was pouring from the torn veil of clouds, and so, he remained motionless, his sword still reaching toward the enemy who had turned to ash.
    His face was expressionless, but there was a hint of unease in his steely grey eyes.
    The Lord of Shadows was gone, killed not by an enemy's blade, but by his own blade…
    And yet, his shadow remained.
    A disembodied shadow was a strange sight to behold, but it was the mask that made the King wary.
    Laying atop the forlorn shadow, the fearsome maks stared back at him, impenetrable darkness nestling in its eyes…
    And then, it trembled.
    Almost at the same time, the blinding radiance of the incandescent white abyss dimmed. The veil of clouds repaired itself, and the space he had severed was mended, as well.
    Anvil was suddenly surrounded by cold darkness.
    The fearsome black mask rose into the air, the shadow of his slain enemy rising with it, taking shape… until it turned into a familiar figure.
    The Lord of Shadows looked at the King of Swords coldly, as good as new.
    Anvil seemed rattled for the first time in many, many years.
    "...Impossible."
    It was not that his enemy seemed to have come back to life after being burned to ash by the merciless sky of Godgrave... it was that his subtle, but chilling presence had somehow grown vastly more powerful, now dwarfing even Anvil's own.
    The mask dissolved into shadows, revealing a handsome, pаle face. There was a sinister smile on the young man's lips, but his black eyes remained bitingly cold.
    Smiling darkly, Sunny looked at Anvin.
    "Oh, but it is… it is possible, King of Swords."
    He raised a hand,commanding Serpent to аssume the form of a black odachi, and inhaled the sweet air of the world of the living with a full chest.
    …He felt incredible.
    His body brimmed with ferocious power — more power than he had ever felt before. The difference between a Supreme physique and a Transcendent physique was not as vast as one between a Saint and a Master, but it was still substantial. The other changes that he had undergone were profound enough to make up for the relative modesty of his physical evolution.
    He was still making sense of some of them, but other differences were quite apparent.
    First of all, there was the quality of his essence. It had become far more potent, overflowing with an unfathomable amount of cold, fearsome power.
    Second, there was the quantity of his essence. In short, it felt... endless.
    Sunny possessed seven cores and Soul Weave, so the rate at which he replenished essence had always been abnormally swift. That rate had further improved now that he was Supreme, but it was not the main reason why his reserves of essence seemed inexhaustible.
    Rather, it was because of the way he absorbed spirit essence. Before, Sunny could passively absorb small quantities of it when suгrounded by his source element. But now, he was receiving a constant flow of it from his Domain — from every silent shadow resting in his soul.
    His connection to the silent shadows had deepened and evolved, and since there were tens of thousands of them, the influx of essence from the shadows made it almost impossible for him to exhaust it.
    In other words, a Sovereign had access to a nearly limitless amount of soul essence for as long as they were in their Domain. That explained a lot about how Anvil and Ki Song were able to wield their incredible powers, as well as some of theiг actions during the war…
    But Sunny was not like them.
    He was quite special. In fact, he was unique.
    Because, unlike other Supremes, he carried his Domain within his soul. Therefore,his Domain was self-contained, and would be with him wherever he went. He did not need Citadels to make it stronger… he did not need loyal followers and the faith of the people, either.
    All he needed was to collect the shadows of living beings by slaying them.
    'What a frightening proposition.'
    Sunny was scared to even imagine such power in the hands of someone who was not as reliably sane and mentally stable as he was…
    The most drastic change, of course, was his Will. It had become a far more tangible force, now, as well as far more forceful. Sunny had known how to wield it before, but it was only after he clashed with Anvil and observed him using the Will as a weapon that he truly understood how to control it.
    How to bend the world to his will.
    It would take him some time to truly master that skill, of course, as well as incorporate it into his combat technique… but he already knew enough to make use of it in a battle.
    There were quite a few changes of a lesser scale, too.
    The Onyx Mantle, for example… was not Onyx anymore. His armor was still black, but the texture of its polished surface had changed, becoming even darker, even smoother… almost flawless. It had assumed a noble, somewhat eerie quality, as if carved from black jade.
    The Onyx Mantle had evolved, as well, becoming the Jade Mantle.
    Oh, and of course…
    The very nature of his soul had changed.
    The soul of an Ascended was contained within their body. The soul of a Transcended expanded beyond the body, partially fusing with thе world. The vast soul of a Supreme, meanwhile… could be freely unleashed upon the world via the medium of a Domain, subjugating it.
    That was the fundamental principle of what a Domain was, to begin with.
    And so…
    Looking at Anvil, Sunny unleashed his soul.
    He manifested his Domain.
    And as he did, the shadows across the fractured battlefield moved.
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    1. Offline
      Magnumbest
      Magnumbest
      + 3 ⋅ 0 -
      2252 Sovereign of Death
      Far away, a incandescent star fell from the dark sky, and a colossal explosion of white flame enveloped the dreadful figure of the Queen. The two unified great armies shone with beautiful light, pushing the flood of Nightmare Creatures back for a few short moments.
      The wounded were healed, and the morale of those who had almost lost hope was bolstered.
      Sunny smiled.
      Nephis had succeeded, as well.
      A profound relief flooded his heart. As much as Sunny had steeled it to accept the possibility that numerous people would die as a result of their rebellion, consumed by the Nightmare Spell, he was incredibly relieved to know that the worst had not come to pass.
      Their plan had worked. Both Sunny and Nephis had become Supreme.
      In fact, the two of them seemed to have attained Supremacy at the same time.
      Nephis was already helping the two unified armies.
      So…
      It was only proper for him to lend a hand, as well.
      Sunny allowed one of his shadows to separate itself from his body and dart away. Now that he was supreme, each of his shadows was deep and vast likе an ocean…
      A few seconds later, the shadow reached its destination.
      And opened like a gate that led to the tranquil depths of his lightless soul.
      'Come forth, my shadows…'
      Sunny laughed.
      "Look closely, King of Swords. Look and see why war can never triumph over death!"
      As his words echoed in the darkness, a cold wind blew across the battlefield, as though death itself had let out a frigid breath. The shadows moved, and dark figures slowly rose from them like an inky-black sea.
      There were a myriad of them… some were small, some were enormous. Some were weak, some were immensely powerful. Some were human, while most were monstrous.
      The army of shadows had left the peaceful stillness of his soul and entered the real world, flowing across the surface of the ancient bone in eerie silence.
      The shadow of Mountain King was among them. There was a legion of Nightmare Creatures of the Forgotten Shore, led by the appalling Spire Messenger and the Forsaken Knight of the ruined cathedral, and a few Sleepers of the Bright Castle as well, led by the shadows of Harus, Caster, and the lost companions of the first Bright Lord.
      The shadow of the Soul Devouring Tree towered above the battlefield, its enormous branches swaying in the wind.
      There was a legion of abominations from the Chained Isles, too, led by the shadows of the War Maidens and the twin shadows of Solvane. The Barrow Wraiths Sunny had once slain while defending Rain's school from a Nightmare Gate were there, as well.
      The largest legion by far was the Nightmare Creatures Sunny had slain in Antarctica — Fallen Titan Goliath was among them, as well as Wintеr Beast. There was also the Defiled Seeker of Truth, the Remnant of the Jade Queen, Sybil of the Fallen Grace… the shadows of Knight Amiran and Saint Dire Fang were there, too.
      There were dreadful abominations of the Tomb of Ariel there, as well. The shadows of King Daeron and Wind Flower led them, standing side by side under the sky of the Dream Realm once again.
      There were the shadows of various Nightmare Creatures he had killed while wandering the Dream Realm, forgotten by everyone.
      Lastly, there was a vast legion of powerful Nightmare Creatures whom Sunny had slain here, in Godgrave. The six Saints of the Song Army he had killed were among them, too, led by the giant with the head of a jackal.
      And at the head of the shadow army, serving as its general…
      A taciturn knight in an intricate onyx armor sat atop a tenebrous steed, her graceful figure shrouded by a mantle of dread and darkness.
      The only shadow that refused to answer Sunny's call was the shadow of Condemnation, which remained quietly in his soul. The rest of them, however, stirred as Saint raised her black sword.
      Sunny smiled viciously and looked at Anvil.
      "Kill them all."
      Saint pointed her sword forward, and the sea of silent shadows surged. As it flowed forward in eerie silence,it separated into three forces.
      One of the three forces came to the rescue of the human armies. Nephis had already bestowed the power of her radiant Domain upon the desperate soldiers, but now, countless shadows joined the fight, obliterating the Nightmare Creatures of the abominable jungle…
      And with each creature they killed, a new shadow appeared on the surface of the dark lake within Sunny's soul, escaping it moments later to join the battle on his side.
      The second force descended upon the puppets of the Queen, aiming to annihilate them all.
      The third force clashed with the remnants of the storm of flying swords, destroying them one after another.
      Looking at it, Sunny could not help but shiver.
      Even he was a little afraid of his newfound power.
      His power… just seemed exponentially terrifying. It was like Death itself.
      But maybe that was what it meant, to be a Sovereign. Especially a Sovereign carrying the power of a Divine Aspect.
      …And he had no doubt that the Dream Realm hid many horrors that could put even his terrible power to shame. Horrors that could break him, let alone stop him.
      As his shadow legions were reaping lives and destroying the forces of the King and the Queen, Sunny turned to Anvil with a pleased smile.
      "Not bad for a rookie Sovereign, don't you think?"
      Anvil just stared at him coldly, a hint of unease in his grey eyes.
      "Natural Supremacy? That is impossible. How did you…"
      Sunny chuckled.
      "Well, if you wish to know…"
      He took a step forward.
      "I traveled to the very edge of the Dream Realm, scaled the jagged peaks of the Hollow Mountains, descended to a land below the Underworld to seek counsel from the cоrpse of a forgotten godslayer, killed the shadow of a corrupted god, forged a blessed sword for an incorruptible soul, cheated Death by taking my own life, and survived."
      Then, he looked at Anvil with dark fury and added in a low voice:
      "But mostly… I just really, really wanted to kill you. I guess you just pissed me off that badly,Anvil."
      Grasping the hilt of his odachi, Sunny pointed it at the King of Sword.
      "So, prepare to die, bastard."
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  8. Offline
    DeathGun AS
    DeathGun AS
    + 3 ⋅ 7 -
    2251 – The Whisper of Shadows

    Rain felt his breath falter. The world around him seemed to freeze, as if time itself hesitated before what was about to unfold. The warm glow of the white flames could no longer keep the spreading darkness at bay on the battlefield.

    The soldiers, once engaged in fierce combat, began to waver. Some staggered, clutching their chests as if feeling an icy chill deep within their bones. Others simply stopped, wide-eyed, staring into nothingness.

    The shadows moved.

    They were not just the absence of light—they were something alive. Something aware.

    Rain took a step back, his instincts screaming. Something was wrong, terribly wrong.

    — What’s happening?! — A warrior’s voice rang out nearby, yet it sounded distant, muffled by the sudden silence that had fallen over the battlefield.
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    1. Offline
      Drlord
      Drlord
      + 0 ⋅ 0 -
      Só aumentou minha ansiedade
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  9. Offline
    redsky2009
    redsky2009
    + 3 ⋅ 0 -
    i can feel the new chapter call my name
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  10. Offline
    Muabeensley
    Muabeensley
    + 3 ⋅ 0 -
    Sunny is too op all I will say
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