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Chapter 2968: Insurgency

On the other side of the Hunger Domain, Jet watched as Kai leaned on a wall, breathing heavily. They were in one of the endless corridors of the Jade Palace, hidden in an alcove. Some distance away, the sound of footsteps could be heard, moving further away.

They had just made it out of the runic cell where Kai had been left when Seishan and her sisters departed to fight Asterion's war. Someone had appeared at the end of the corridor as soon as they did, so they had to hide.

Jet had a feeling that the day would end in bloodshed, but she wasn't ready to clash with the thralls of the Dreamspawn just yet. Not before figuring out her next steps, at least.

She leaned out of the alcove carefully and looked around, making sure that there was no one else around.

The situation was... complicated.

The world seemed to be coming to an end. The Longing Domain had fallen, and Asterion was apparently on the verge of wiping out Mordret — the last obstacle standing between him and a harrowing feast of human souls — on the Chained Isles. Nephis and the Lord of Shadows were nowhere to be found, while Cassie had disappeared without a trace...

She was either dead or hiding somewhere. Jet doubted that Cassie had become enthralled, because if she had, things would have been far more dire for everyone still resisting Asterion's control. After all, what was worse than a Supreme capable of brainwashing people?

A Supreme capable of brainwashing people getting his hands on a Saint who could website into your ear from any distance, serving as a conduit of his vile power — that was worse.

As for Jet's own situation... she had found Kai, but he was in a bad state. Not only was he missing his tongue, rendering his most fearsome Ability useless, but he was also extremely weak. It looked like he was suffering from severe blood loss, even though there were no visible wounds on his body. His essence was almost entirely depleted, as well, and only starting to be replenished.

"What do you think we should do?"

She glanced at Kai's pale face. He met her gaze, remained motionless for a few seconds, and then pointed in the direction of where the heart of the Jade Palace lay. Jet smiled darkly.

“An insurgency, huh? Take the Jade Palace while the Dreamspawn is away... well, I suppose it's an option. We are one and a half Saint strong, after all — and let's not forget the little gremlin. I'd say it's more than enough to defeat whatever guards that man left behind."

The little devil hiding in the alcove with them stuck out his chest proudly. Jet glanced at him, the corner of her mouth rising faintly.

Then, her expression turned grim.

"However, what then?"

Nephis and Sunny were bound to return one day, but there was no telling when that would be. Until then... Jet's mind raced, trying to come up with an actionable strategy.

Eventually, she said:

“We might as well escape into the waking world instead, make our way to Antarctica, and use one of the Category Four gates there to challenge the Fourth Nightmare. Naturally, chances that just the two of us can conquer one of those are slim, but... it's better than simply hoping that we'll be saved by some miracle."

Kai looked at her for a long while, a slight frown creasing his brow. In the end, he simply pointed into the depths of the Jade Palace once more.

Jet studied him, then looked in the direction where he was pointing coldly.

A few seconds passed in tense silence.

In the end, she chuckled.

"Well... who says that we can't do both? Let's take this Citadel first, and run away to the waking world later. No matter how strong the Dreamspawn is, losing a Great Citadel is bound to mess with his power at least a little. And a little mess can go a long way in the middle of a fierce battle."

Extending a hand, she summoned the Mist Blade and gave Kai a somber look.

“I must warn you, though. If you are hoping that I will take Ravenheart like you did, Nightingale — without spilling a single drop of blood — I will have to disappoint you. That is not my style."

She paused for a moment and then added in a dark tone:

“There might not be a single drop of blood, but there will be a lot of corpses."

Seeing his frown deepen, Jet pursed her lips.

‘Curse that face...'

She looked away and added with a sigh:

“Alright... the best I can promise is to make sure that there are as few corpses as possible."

Her specialty was destroying souls. That was how she defeated her enemies, and that was how she ensured her own survival as well. Jet was quite a fearsome presence on the battlefield, but one thing she wasn't really good at was achieving victory through non-lethal means.

The people Asterion had left behind to guard one of his most important strongholds were innocent, though. In fact, they were probably someone Jet knew and had been on friendly terms with during her stint as the government envoy to the Song Domain.

So it wasn't like she wanted to kill them, either. The Awakened and the Ascended would be easy enough to keep alive, but the Saints — there had to be at least a few guarding the Jade Palace — were a different matter. Depending on who it was, Jet could not promise that she would be able to defeat them cleanly.

And there was no telling what other things the Dreamspawn had left behind. He was more than capable of enthralling Nightmare Creatures as well, after all. So, Jet had a feeling that gaining control of the Great Citadel was not going to be as easy as she had made it sound.

She remained silent for a second, then looked at the Ravenous Fiend.

“I'll make sure to kill as few people as possible. You make sure that the Jade Palace does not burn to the ground. Alright?"

The infernal thing just stared at her with its glowing, fiery eyes, and then shrugged.

His meaning was quite clear...

"No promises."

Comments 203

  1. Offline
    + 140 -
    Chapter 2969: Broken Eternity
    Shadow Slave

    The frigid waters of Estuary Lake engulfed Sunny as he plummeted into its depths, clinging tightly to the neck of the Thief Bird.

    A moment later, the water was no longer cold. The detestable Terror was enveloped in a scorching blanket of blinding white flames that devoured his feathers and seared his impenetrable skin. The instant the flames made contact with the cold depths of time, an inconceivable amount of water was instantly vaporized, causing a titanic column of boiling foam to explode into the sky somewhere far above.

    Here in the depths, however…

    Sunny was blinded by the flash. Sunny was deafened by the indescribable roar of countless tons of water being violently displaced. Even its sense of shadow was temporarily rendered useless, for there were no shadows in the immaculate abyss of pure white light.

    It barely withstood the devastating heat and pressure of the underwater explosion… The Estuary Lake, however, did not.

    What surrounded them was not mere water, after all. It was the material embodiment of time—the river heart that the Terror Demon had created from the blood of a Profane Titan. It had endured an eternity of timelessness, the death of the Great River, and the burden of becoming the nest of a Cursed Terror.

    Yet, when the Thief Bird plummeted from the sky and crashed into the cold depths of time, locked in a furious battle with two Supreme Titans… time finally reached its breaking point.

    Time shattered, and space shattered as well. Sunny, Nephis, and the Thief Bird were lost among the fragments, in the dark space between now and before, between here and somewhere far away.

    That space was not something the human mind could comprehend, much less describe. It was alien and unsettling, existing beyond all preconceived notions of what reality should be—the universal laws of existence were strangely twisted here, and nothing Sunny had ever known made sense anymore.

    However… that didn't mean the battle was over. In fact, it meant the opposite. The Thief Bird seemed less confused by the bizarre reality of fragmented time, so Sunny and Nephis had to keep up—they had to adapt and keep fighting if they wanted to survive.

    Fortunately, adapting to supernatural oddities was a necessary skill that all humans living in the Age of Nightmare Spell had had to master. And both Sunny and Nephis excelled at adaptability above all else.

    So, even though Sunny couldn't fully describe what she was doing, she continued fighting.

    As the detestable Terror hurtled through the dark expanse of broken time, Sunny released her human form and manifested as a vast, shapeless shadow. Her nebulous body enveloped the gigantic form of the cursed deity like a billowing shroud, and countless maws opened within its dark expanse, sinking razor-sharp fangs into the flesh of the Thief Bird.

    At the same time, Nephis also abandoned the suffocating limitations of a human body, unleashing her true form—a boundless mass of living flame, her pure white expanse emanating heat so intense that the very fabric of the world began to melt around her.

    The fire she had unleashed by detonating her soul had been extinguished by the waters of Estuary Lake, but now, a roaring ocean of her engulfed the Vile Thief Bird once more, scorching it.

    Together, Sunny and Nephis—a formless mass of darkness and a radiant expanse of blinding light—enveloped the Cursed Terror, ravaging its grotesque body and slowly destroying the very foundations of its unholy existence.

    The Vile Thief Bird shrieked. Its hideous voice echoed across the expanse of timelessness, sending a destructive wave of vibrations rippling through shattered eternity.

    And then, fissures appeared in the darkness around them.

    The world shattered, and enveloped in shadows and flames, the Vile Thief Bird flew through one of the fissures.

    Suddenly, time flowed normally again. And they were no longer underwater.

    Sunny then felt a different kind of warmth… the comforting warmth of the sun.

    A myriad of onyx eyes opened in the vast darkness of her nebulous form, and he gazed upon the world that was both familiar and strange.

    All around them was a clear blue sky. Above them, the seven suns drifted lazily across its blue expanse. Below them, the Great River flowed endlessly, as if Cronos of Fallen Grace had never dissolved the sorcery that sustained it.

    There was a city resting on the currents far below. Sunny recognized it, though
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    1. Online Offline
      + 20 -
      ts beautiful gng clap
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      1. Offline
        + 00 -
        Whats gng
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        1. Offline
          + 00 -
          Shadow Slave telegram
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    2. Offline
      + 00 -
      Where did you read these at all the sites I use havent updated
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    3. Offline
      + 10 -
      Doesn't look genuine, i'm Smelling ai here
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      1. Offline
        + 00 -
        No, he just lost the last part
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      2. Offline
        + 20 -
        Yes there's a lot of AI, using she to refer sunny, thief bird, terror demon, profane titan, and so on
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  2. Offline
    Bha
    + 70 -
    Some say that Sunny can ascend in the Shadow Realm because it's separate from the Dreamworld, or even in the Dreamworld because he's Weaver's heir, the son of the forgotten god. But neither of these scenarios works. The Shadow Realm is corrupt and part of the Dreamworld. Being Weaver's heir means nothing. Weaver himself was corrupted and lost his hand. The only person who can ascend in the Dreamworld is Nefes because she's a Dreamborn and has immunity against corruption. This immunity might be transferred to Sunny if he bonds with her and becomes her slave. This is the only possible explanation, and even this can't be confirmed.
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    1. Offline
      + 00 -
      Mordret también lo era, y fue corrupto
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    2. Offline
      + 00 -
      you explained better then me welldone
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  3. Offline
    + 24 -
    The reason why mordret couldn't ascend was that he was trying to merge with the corrupted dream realm. But isnt sunny the heir to weaver , who is the firstborn of the forgotten God. So by technicality isnt dream realm also his realm and would help him in the ascension???
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    1. Offline
      + 13 -
      It makes sense
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    2. Offline
      + 10 -
      Of course. What could be better then help of corrupted god?
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    3. Offline
      + 00 -
      I get your point, yes Sunny is technically the grandson of the FG, however that doesn't mean he is immune to his corruption. He can't go in Nightmare seeds for of being corrupted and he can't even look at the 7th seed which is imprisoning his evil Eldritch grandpa. It wouldn't be that different if he did his apotheosis in the Dream realm. Just because he shares relation to the gods doesn't mean he is completely immune to their powers. Even Shadow's realm is still dangerous for Sunny as he gets his essence siphoned out of him slowly while he's there
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      1. Offline
        + 00 -
        Perhaps he should attempt apotheosis either in the realm of shadows or in the TOA. TOA is disconnected from time and is practically a world of its own, not to mention that the corruption that existed within it has been cleansed.Well, maybe Sunny should have his apotheosis in a place isolated from the world where he merges with this space instead of the dream realm. And perhaps, as mentioned, the Weaver lineage helps; the Daemons were born when the god of dreams was sealed, and they lived long enough for the god of dreams to be corrupted. Since the Daemons were born already as Sacred (spirits), they would have already been born merged with the realm of dreams.And despite the corruption that was contaminating the world, they were not corrupted.Rime (daemon of repose) even helped purify the corruption in an avatar of the god of life, if I remember correctly. And there's Asterion who doesn't care about attempting apotheosis despite the risks; I can only assume that, as someone from the realm of dreams (the realm of corruption), he will either not be affected. Or if he is corrupted, as a native he will somehow be able to retain his mind despite the transformation. I think it doesn't matter to him as long as he can eat.
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          + 00 -
          Daemons were born when Forgotten falled into Void and separeted from theirs father for a long time. Weaver was the first who even saw Forgotten after it got corrupted. So no, Darmons have no conection to corrution, Void or even Dream Realm in its actual state. In fact, Daemon are the most pure and uncorrupted pieces of Forgotten
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          1. Offline
            + 00 -
            Please note that any spelling errors were unintentional; the translator I use is terrible. For example, "we gods" was not written that way.

            maybe you're right, but I won't say that they couldn't be connected. In Weaver's conversation with Noctis, he speaks of the lies of the gods; the gods said they created life, but that's a lie, they can only reshape it, and This is possible because the gods use their own flame (life, vital force) to reshape life (the flame of existence for other lives). This is how the stone saints were created; the Nether used its own flame to give life to the statues, and thus their race was born (they are a reshaping of the Nether flame). Returning to the point, Weaver says that as he came to be born from the flame of the forgotten god, his own flame comes from a greater flame, and He says that we gods don't kill them because, as they come from the forgotten god, it's natural that upon being killed they return to him; it's also very likely that this is why when Rime (Daemon of Repose) died, and the god of shadows clung to her (He?) so tightly to prevent it from happening. Therefore, it cannot be stated that there is no connection, after all they (Daemons) and the forgotten god were once one being.
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          2. Offline
            + 00 -
            That just creates a flaw in the story. Every divine being has its own realm , then what is the realm of the daemons . If it is not dream realm then there should be 7 other realms of each daemon but there are none
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            1. Offline
              + 00 -
              I said they could, not that they did, and it's a theory, a theory based on the gods being planets, being seven kingdoms, but as far as I remember, when Sunny saw the story in the TOA estuary It depicted the gods as humanoids (I might be remembering wrong), of course they could just be their avatars, and that's not illogical. If in the Sacred stage their souls encompass an entire world (kingdom), in the Divine stage they could have or be worlds unto themselves.
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      2. Offline
        + 00 -
        The whole point that aster made was that he was a dreamspawn so he could do it. The only way that makes sense is that he has a connection to it so he can do it. That can be said about sunny too , as he has a connection of his own with the dream realm.
        Also it is very bizzare that a sacred being merges with the world . Then what does nightmare spell merge challengers to who conquer the 5th nm . I think this could be a potential link for a corruption free ascension
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        1. Offline
          + 00 -
          I find it kind of complicated because I don't see how the spell could help (of course I have theories), I say I can't think of anything, not because I can't, but because... The nightmare spell did not create the path to ascension. ; it is something natural, just as it is natural for a sovereign to have dominion, even if only for himself. It is natural that upon becoming a Sacred (spirit) his soul encompasses the world I find that somewhat misleading because I have theories that this occurs because it's something necessary to become a Deity. I think that encompassing the world is also about containing a world; a spirit must have a soul that encompasses the world and also a sea of the soul that is a world unto itself. In my view, the only way the spell can help is by eliminating the merging process with the laws and the world where the ascendant is located. I believe that at the Divine level, one can bring their own world (the sea of the soul) into reality. At the beginning of the ascent, nothing can be brought into the sea of the soul that is not connected to it. As a transcendent entity, one can bring forth objects of small or medium size (depending on the strength of the transcendent entity). At the supreme level, great things are possible, and I think small, unintelligent life forms (I may be wrong about that last part). At the Sacred level, intelligent life forms likely become possible, and the sea of the soul should be no different from a world of its own with its own laws. On a Divine level, I imagine it's possible to bring this world into reality. Almost like a Domain Expansion, from Jujutsu Kaisen.
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        2. Offline
          + 02 -
          Just like nephis aster cannot be corrupted, sunny is not immune to it...

          I assume that the nightmares are a separate realm completely, so they merge with that when they become sacred in a nightmare
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          1. Offline
            + 10 -
            No it is never stated that aster can't be corrupted . He just says he has seen more nightmares of the dream realm than anyone else has , as he is a dreamspawn
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          2. Offline
            + 10 -
            No. Only Nephis possesses the [longing] aspect ability with its only function being to make Nephis immune to corruption. The Dreamspawn attribute only states that she's of two worlds and not embraced by either or something similar. For now the aspect ability is unique to her but we'll need to know more about the nephilim and their powers to know for sure. Besides Asterion is not a nephilim as far as I know. The nephilim seem to be the product of the shenanigans done by Sun God and one of the Void beings suspected to be the Giant Skeleton of God grave. If Nephis apotheosises she'll probably gain 3rd eye too like all the nephilim.
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            1. Offline
              + 10 -
              Hmm you are right, my mistake
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    4. Offline
      + 00 -
      Sunny is not immune to corruption and therefore not immune to law of corruption. Heir of weaver or not it won't work.
      Weaver was not immune to corruption nor was forgotten god god of corruption. Bro got corrupted too so there's no way sunny will not be corrupted by natural apotheosis
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      1. Offline
        + 00 -
        Wouldn't the same apply to asterion
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        1. Offline
          + 00 -
          He's dreamspawn already a born of world with law of corruption.
          He's not immune to corruption or anything he's already accepted by dreamrealm as one of it's own by being born in it so yes it's quite plausible dreamrealm wouldn't affect him or corrupt him
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          1. Offline
            + 00 -
            But as corruption takes hold of the dream realm , wouldnt merging with it induce corruption in him ???
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            1. Offline
              + 00 -
              Not merging, that's the thing modret wasn't merging he was introducing himself to laws of dreamrealm which got him corrupted. Asterion doesn't need to introduce anything as he's already part of dreamrealm. When he's already a part of it there's no introducing or merging with it hence apotheosis just go naturally without laws of dreamrealm interfering with his apotheosis.
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                + 00 -
                Yeah ok that makes sense
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    5. Offline
      + 00 -
      If only the Forgotten God wasn't corrupted perhaps it would be possible given time, but no, apotheosizing anywhere besides in a category 5 nightmare post Nightmare Spell is a bad idea. If you notice the only remnants of sacred entities are from pre-Nightmare spell before the end of the Doom war. The only other one was from the Sun Realm lineage living in Godgrave who would later become Condemnation and they had to go through the Nightmare Spell to apotheosise.

      I think everyone forgot that Asterion is a lying bastard that likes to manipulate people. What he said is probably true but lets not forget that being a Dreamspawn it explicitly says in the attribute description that they are not welcomed in both worlds. The laws don't favor them in both worlds. Besides logically with all the realms in the past that has been consumed there must've been quiet a lot of Dreamspawn but none of them became gods that we know of.
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  4. Offline
    + 10 -
    See you tomorrow, folks!
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  5. Offline
    + 40 -
    WHERE IS THE CHAPTERS crying_kitten
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    1. Offline
      + 11 -
      Rei is with as, so we gat it as soon as possible
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  6. Offline
    + 21 -
    Peop are talking sunny advancing on the shadow realm or in the tomb of Ariel... but everyone is overlooking what the people in the tomb did to survive, if you consider that then you'll see another option
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    1. Offline
      + 10 -
      I just realized that Ananke is able to attempt apotheosis in TOA well maybe not anymore now that the River is broken but still.
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  7. Offline
    + 140 -
    would a kind soul comment the two chapters
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  8. Offline
    + 05 -
    Sanni can pass apopheosis only inside the pyramid, especially if he is now in the nightmare spell. 2 option - to pass arropheosis in the nightmare, without the help of the spell.
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    1. Offline
      + 01 -
      It's my hypothesis and prognosis the best place sunny should genesis a genosis of apotheosis is the shadow death realm where he's got protection from myositis of corruption and the entire realm matches the psychosis of his spirit element
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  9. Offline
    + 20 -
    After 2 and a half month of stocking chapters, I finally caught up and they're till haven't left the tomb
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    1. Offline
      + 00 -
      We are stuck in POV switch (Ariel’s) hell rn. I’m thinking we either get another Cassie POV chapter or we switch back into the Tomb and finish the VTB fight so we can do another round of POV switches with Cassie achieving Supremacy while narrowly avoiding letting killed by Asterion and everyone remembering Sunny as his Fate is restored. I believe him being inside when his fate and connection to the spell is restored will affect outside TOA immediately. Especially with Sunny, Neph, and VTB “breaking” the Time River at the end of their last POV chapter.
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      1. Offline
        + 00 -
        yeah, i dont mind the switch but aint time meant to be paused or summin
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        1. Offline
          + 00 -
          Time outside TOA works completely differently than inside TOA but I imagine that Fate works more like a universal law like gravity is still present in every realm. I think the moment sunny reclaims his fate it will be instantaneous across all realms that Sunny is remembered.

          This must be the case because it seems like Cassie is being setting up to achieve Supremacy so she can be in the state we find her at the start of this volume.
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  10. Offline
    + 130 -
    there are few people in the comments who are mistaken about something here. They are saying sunny will be able to attend spirituality if he apotheosis in shadow realm because it exists in his shadow lantern so it shouldn't be corrupted. You are completely wrong if you are thinking this because shadow lantern is just a gate to shadow realm like a shortcut, it doesn't hold realm in it. shadow realm is a part of dream realm because it also got consumed just like other realms. beside shadow lantern, you can go there through underworld like how eury's went
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    1. Offline
      + 00 -
      Has the realm of dreams swallowed up the realm of shadows?

      I just don't remember it.
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      1. Offline
        + 10 -
        Yes, the only Realm remaining is War realm
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      2. Offline
        + 11 -
        It is, didn't you read eury's talk with sunny that if he didn't die sooner then he will also get curropted and become a mindless beast
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        1. Offline
          + 10 -
          Being Deathless is not the same as being corrupted..it was mentioned before the first time they crossed the desert…Sunny would be way more OP if he could turn any nightmare creature into a memory.
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        2. Offline
          + 10 -
          The deathless are not corrupted. Not even sure that can be corrupted. Sunny would be too OP if he could turn any nightmare creature into a memory. Come to think Eurys would make a good memory. It’s the least they deserve.
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      + 00 -
      Sunny has a lot to do before he attains divinity. He has yet to find the last piece of weaver's lineage, and not forgetting travelling to the depths of the shadow realm were all shadows of the dead converge.
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        + 13 -
        I have a feeling that the last piece of weaver's lineage will be in the tomb of oblivion
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          + 20 -
          It's in underworld bro where broken sword dies
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            + 00 -
            ohh my bad I forget
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