Chapter 2980: Good Old Runes

Shadow Slave

Chapter 2982: Lost in Time

Sunny had finished resting. He still had not recovered from his injuries, but that did not matter... what mattered was finding his way back to Nephis and Ananke, who were somewhere out there right now, lost and alone.

How could he rest without knowing where they were, or what was happening to them? And there was also the world beyond Ariel’s Tomb. Cassie, Rain, Effie, Jet, Kai, Aiko, and everyone else—he needed to return to them as well.

So even though Sunny’s battered body protested, he fought against the crushing exhaustion weighing him down and slowly pushed himself to his feet, grimacing from the terrible pain.

He was still in bad shape, but he had healed enough to move freely... somewhat freely, at least.

It was not going to be pleasant, though. In fact, it was going to be torture...

Just as he was thinking that, however, a soft radiance ignited beneath his skin, and his wounds began healing much faster. A comforting warmth enveloped his shattered soul.

Sunny drew a trembling breath.

Meanwhile, Fiend flinched at the sudden outpouring of light and jumped backward, pointing a finger at Sunny.

“Damnation!”

Sunny could not help but chuckle.

It seemed Nephis had also discovered the Shadow Bond. And indeed, she could heal him from afar as though he were a member of her Domain.

How nice.

Supremes were naturally incapable of being subordinate to another Supreme. Sunny was an exception to that rule thanks to the Shadow Bond, however, which allowed him to reap the benefits of two Domains.

As his body and soul were slowly repaired by the miraculous flames, Sunny stared at the distant crack, wondering how he was supposed to find its origin... how he was supposed to find Nephis.

He could summon Weaver’s Mask and activate [Where Is My Eye?] once again, tracing the Thread of Fate connecting them back to herPart-2 ( chapter 2982 )

However, that enchantment consumed a terrible amount of essence, and in his current state, Sunny could only sustain it for a brief moment.

A moment was nowhere near enough to navigate eternity, so...

It was another dead end.

What the hell am I supposed to do?

He remained still for a while, trying to come up with a solution. No matter how hard he tried, however, nothing came to mind—nothing that offered a reliable result, at least.

Sunny truly wanted certainty before entering the crack. The price of failure was simply too high this time. It was not even the threat of death... but the threat of something far worse than death. Spending eons lost in time, slowly losing his mind and turning into something neither he nor Nephis would recognize.

d*mn everything...

He grimaced.

Just as Sunny was considering whether he should throw himself into the crack anyway and spend eternity trying to find his way back to his beloved—much like that damned Odysseus, whose stories had followed him like a stalker throughout the years—he suddenly felt something.

“Huh?”

The sensation was faint, but persistent.

It felt as though something were gently tugging at his wrist.

Looking down, Sunny raised his hand and tried to determine the source of the subtle feeling.

And there, within the soft glow of Nephis’s healing flames...

He saw a strand of silver silk wrapped around his wrist, shimmering in the light.

The thread was so thin that it cast no shadow and was practically invisible to the naked eye. There was also an ethereal quality to it, as though it were not entirely real.

But it was.

It extended from his wrist into the darkness, climbing toward the black abyss above and stretching in the direction where the distant crack loomed.

Sunny stared at the thread in confusion for a moment.

Then, his eyes widened slightly.

“Ananke?”

Sunny let out a deep sigh, then laughed quietly.

“Wow... I can’t believe it.”3 (chapter-2982)

It seemed Ananke had tied a thread of her mystical essence silk to him back on the surface of the Estuary Lake.

And now, that thread was there to guide him through the labyrinth of eternity, back to the beginning of everything.

Just like Ariadne’s thread had guided Theseus out of the Labyrinth.

Suddenly, Sunny no longer felt tired. Instead, he felt invigorated. Looking at Fiend, he smiled.

“Pack your things, brat. We’re going home.”

The spawn of the Thieving Bird stared at him in confusion for a few moments, then grinned from ear to ear.

“Damnation!”

Sunny’s eye twitched.

He let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his face.

“Why does he only repeat curse words? What kind of... ah, never mind. I should start watching my language around the brat.”

A young and impressionable Demon like that could easily develop bad habits, after all.

Luckily, with a role model like me around, the thing is bound to grow up well.

Nodding to himself, Sunny gave Fiend a benevolent smile.

For some reason, the brat shuddered and took a step back.

...Soon enough, they were ready to leave behind the heart of the Stone Titan and enter the labyrinth of eternity... to return to the heart of the Stone Titan far in the past.

And while Sunny was absorbed in thoughts of returning to Nephis, and of Nephis remembering him...

Unknown to him, someone else remembered him as well.

Fate was a force far greater than time, after all. So when its tapestry changed, the change could be felt throughout all existence—even beyond the great walls of Ariel’s Tomb.

At least by those who were sensitive to fate.

Far away, on the Chained Isles, Cassie staggered, her remaining eye opening wide.

Within her ruined mind, the great voids that had remained empty for many years...

Suddenly were no longer empty.

And as the mist that had clouded her mind dissipated, the Spell whispered into her ear

Chapter 2981: A Different Meaning

Shadow Slave

Sunny stared at the final set of runes, expecting to feel something.

The sight of them...

He still remembered the deep pit of complicated and irreconcilable emotions that seeing them had once provoked in him. Anger and indignation mixed with love and longing... pain, resentment, fear, hope, comfort. And many other things he could not quite name.

They had been intense enough to make him feel as though he were suffocating at times, so he expected to feel that familiar ache.

But no matter how long Sunny waited, it never came.

He felt nothing special. Looking at the runes did not stir his heart, and he remained at peace.

It was because he had made peace with the truth they represented some time ago... and also because that truth now meant something entirely different from what the runes had once represented.

Before, those runes had symbolized something forced upon him against his will—something he had never chosen for himself, and therefore resented with all his heart.

But although the runes themselves remained exactly the same, the hidden meaning behind their shimmering glow was now completely different.

Now they were an expression of his own free will. They represented a choice Sunny had made freely, and because of that...

Looking at them no longer evoked any negative emotions. In fact, Sunny was mostly preoccupied with thinking about the practical implications of what it meant to share the Shadow Bond with Nephis once again.

He focused briefly on his True Name, and its runes flared into existence.

That was one of the minor benefits of being Nephis’s shadow—he could check on her condition whenever he wished.

The runes told him that she was still alive, at least. Though he was not entirely sure whether the Spell was telling him that Nephis remained alive in the period of time where he had ended up, or showing him her current state somewhere within the labyrinth of broken time.

He believed it was the latter.Nephis’s runes looked just as he remembered them. Of course, the last time Sunny had seen them, they had both been Masters, so there was much new information written within the radiant symbols now as well.

Seeing Nephis’s name glowing in the darkness made him feel an urgent need to find her.

Somewhere out there... Nephis probably remembered him. Remembered the past they had shared, and what they had once felt for each other.

Most likely, she also remembered how he had abandoned her in the depths of a Nightmare.

Were the memories returning all at once? Or had they simply always been there, only surfacing when she thought about those times, the way memories usually do?

Sunny sighed and looked away from her runes, turning back to his own.

They read:

Aspect Abilities: [Shadow Control], [Shadow Step], [Shadow Manifestation], [Shadow Incarnation], [Shadow Legion].

Aspect Legacy: [Shadow Dance].

Flaw: [Clear Conscience].

Citadels: [Nameless Temple].

And that was all. His life, summarized in a handful of shimmering runes.

Sunny remained motionless for a short while, trying to distract himself from his anxious thoughts by focusing on something else.

Well...

Being able to check Nephis’s runes was only a minor benefit of the Shadow Bond. After all, the Shadow Bond was not a Flaw, even if Sunny had always thought of it that way. In truth, it was the Innate Ability at the core of his Aspect, a power he had been meant to use for both his own benefit and that of his supposed master throughout his life.

The advantages of the Shadow Bond depended entirely on whom Sunny chose to entrust as his master. And setting aside all the emotional baggage... it would have been difficult to find a better master than Changing Star of the Immortal Flame clan.

Her ability to heal mortal wounds alone was worth more than words could describe. And Nephis was no ordinary healer—hers was a Divine Aspect, after all. Needless to say, Divine Aspect holders were exceedingly rare, and if Sunny had to choose between Nephis and Mordret, he would choose Nephis instantly—because their powers complemented one another perfectly.

In the past, Sunny and Nephis had been able to amplify each other, the combination of their powers becoming greater than the sum of their parts. There had been other benefits as well... but everything Sunny knew about the effects of the Shadow Bond came from the time when they had both been Masters.

Now that they were Supremes, the fusion of their powers must have grown tremendously as well.

The problem was that Awakened powers became broader in scope and more difficult to define in simple terms as they rose in Rank. The days when Sunny and Nephis existed within the narrow confines of the Abilities and Attributes described by the Spell were long gone.

Nowadays, each of their Abilities and every one of their Attributes could be expressed in dozens of ways, often resulting in secondary powers derived from combinations of several core abilities, made possible through ingenuity, experience, and skill.

So Sunny could not immediately predict just how much the scope of the Shadow Bond had expanded.

Would Nephis be able to heal and empower his shadows from afar, just as she could heal and empower members of her own Domain? Would the soldiers of the Domain of Longing end up in his Soul Sea instead of traveling to the Shadow Realm? Would the power of his Domain add itself to Nephis’s, since he was her shadow? Would her [Longing] Ability protect him as well?

And what about his Will? Would it merge with hers too, becoming greater than the sum of what either of them wielded individually? Would Nephis’s Will gain an innate affinity with death, just like his?

There were too many questions and not enough answers. It was obvious that there was much they would need to discover, one step at a time...Sunny knew one thing, however—the Shadow Bond made them dramatically stronger.

If the two of them had faced the Vile Thieving Bird while bound by the Shadow Bond, the battle would have ended very differently. The same applied to Azarax, the Flesh of Kanakht, the Wandering Archon...

Which was a good thing, considering the kind of enemies they would have to face in the future.

Sunny inhaled deeply, then let out a sigh.

“It’s time to go.”

Chapter 2982: Lost in Time

Sunny had finished resting. He still had not recovered from his injuries, but that did not matter... what mattered was finding his way back to Nephis and Ananke, who were somewhere out there right now, lost and alone.

How could he rest without knowing where they were, or what was happening to them? And there was also the world beyond Ariel’s Tomb. Cassie, Rain, Effie, Jet, Kai, Aiko, and everyone else—he needed to return to them as well.

So even though Sunny’s battered body protested, he fought against the crushing exhaustion weighing him down and slowly pushed himself to his feet, grimacing from the terrible pain.

He was still in bad shape, but he had healed enough to move freely... somewhat freely, at least.

It was not going to be pleasant, though. In fact, it was going to be torture...

Just as he was thinking that, however, a soft radiance ignited beneath his skin, and his wounds began healing much faster. A comforting warmth enveloped his shattered soul.

Sunny drew a trembling breath.

Meanwhile, Fiend flinched at the sudden outpouring of light and jumped backward, pointing a finger at Sunny.

“Damnation!”

Sunny could not help but chuckle.

It seemed Nephis had also discovered the Shadow Bond. And indeed, she could heal him from afar as though he were a member of her Domain.

How nice.

Supremes were naturally incapable of being subordinate to another Supreme. Sunny was an exception to that rule thanks to the Shadow Bond, however, which allowed him to reap the benefits of two Domains.

As his body and soul were slowly repaired by the miraculous flames, Sunny stared at the distant crack, wondering how he was supposed to find its origin... how he was supposed to find Nephis.

He could summon Weaver’s Mask and activate [Where Is My Eye?] once again, tracing the Thread of Fate connecting them back to her. However, that enchantment consumed a terrible amount of essence, and in his current state, Sunny could only sustain it for a brief moment.

A moment was nowhere near enough to navigate eternity, so...

It was another dead end.

What the hell am I supposed to do?

He remained still for a while, trying to come up with a solution. No matter how hard he tried, however, nothing came to mind—nothing that offered a reliable result, at least.

Sunny truly wanted certainty before entering the crack. The price of failure was simply too high this time. It was not even the threat of death... but the threat of something far worse than death. Spending eons lost in time, slowly losing his mind and turning into something neither he nor Nephis would recognize.

d*mn everything...

He grimaced.

Just as Sunny was considering whether he should throw himself into the crack anyway and spend eternity trying to find his way back to his beloved—much like that damned Odysseus, whose stories had followed him like a stalker throughout the years—he suddenly felt something.

“Huh?”

The sensation was faint, but persistent.

It felt as though something were gently tugging at his wrist.

Looking down, Sunny raised his hand and tried to determine the source of the subtle feeling.

And there, within the soft glow of Nephis’s healing flames...

He saw a strand of silver silk wrapped around his wrist, shimmering in the light.

The thread was so thin that it cast no shadow and was practically invisible to the naked eye. There was also an ethereal quality to it, as though it were not entirely real.

But it was.

It extended from his wrist into the darkness, climbing toward the black abyss above and stretching in the direction where the distant crack loomed.

Sunny stared at the thread in confusion for a moment.

Then, his eyes widened slightly.

“Ananke?”

Sunny let out a deep sigh, then laughed quietly.

“Wow... I can’t believe it.”It seemed Ananke had tied a thread of her mystical essence silk to him back on the surface of the Estuary Lake.

And now, that thread was there to guide him through the labyrinth of eternity, back to the beginning of everything.

Just like Ariadne’s thread had guided Theseus out of the Labyrinth.

Suddenly, Sunny no longer felt tired. Instead, he felt invigorated. Looking at Fiend, he smiled.

“Pack your things, brat. We’re going home.”

The spawn of the Thieving Bird stared at him in confusion for a few moments, then grinned from ear to ear.

“Damnation!”

Sunny’s eye twitched.

He let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his face.

“Why does he only repeat curse words? What kind of... ah, never mind. I should start watching my language around the brat.”

A young and impressionable Demon like that could easily develop bad habits, after all.

Luckily, with a role model like me around, the thing is bound to grow up well.

Nodding to himself, Sunny gave Fiend a benevolent smile.

For some reason, the brat shuddered and took a step back.

...Soon enough, they were ready to leave behind the heart of the Stone Titan and enter the labyrinth of eternity... to return to the heart of the Stone Titan far in the past.

And while Sunny was absorbed in thoughts of returning to Nephis, and of Nephis remembering him...

Unknown to him, someone else remembered him as well.

Fate was a force far greater than time, after all. So when its tapestry changed, the change could be felt throughout all existence—even beyond the great walls of Ariel’s Tomb.

At least by those who were sensitive to fate.

Far away, on the Chained Isles, Cassie staggered, her remaining eye opening wide.

Within her ruined mind, the great voids that had remained empty for many years...

Suddenly were no longer empty.

And as the mist that had clouded her mind dissipated, the Spell whispered into her ear...

Ребят может я читал жопой, но я вообще не понял как Птица Воровка ушла с его души, как бы да она украла много вещей, но как она смогла уйти с его море души. Расскажите пожалуйста

The good old exploration report

Also I wonder how the world will react when they all will remember sunny… will they break free from asterion mind hax
Alsoo Im really excited to witness the reaction of public and all of Sunny's friend.

Chapter 2981: Different Meaning
Chapter 2982: Lost in Time

just got awake from the dream realm to walking world and excitedly opened my phone for new chapter but there's nothing

It might sound stupid to think this, but for a while now, I've genuinely been wondering about Nephis's first nightmare. Since we only have one reference point to go by—Sunny—I can't really explain it. But I find Nephis's achievements too ordinary. Let me elaborate.

In Sunny's first nightmare, he took the place of a temple slave—that was his initial aspect, though it was later changed to Shadow Slave. During that nightmare, he killed a Mountain King larva, a sleeping slaver, and caused or killed the Mountain King himself, and especially Auro of the Nine. He provoked the blessing of a dead god, offered himself as a sacrifice to all the gods, and even dead, they heard him. That's why he got a 'Glorious' rating from the Nightmare Spell. Because he was able to change fate in his nightmare, killing Auro, who—like him—was predestined to accomplish great things, like the Great War of Fate.

With all of that, I can't figure out how Nephis ended up with a true name and a divine aspect. Maybe she had them from the start, due to her heritage from the Sun God, etc., but the Glorious achievement—I really question it. Who was she in the nightmare? What was that 'Awakened Terror' that wielded the power of dreams? Besides, I find that power quite mysterious; very few beings possess it—it's as rare as true darkness abilities. As far as I know, you can count on your fingers the number of beings with that power (including Nightmare, the Saint who created the Dreamscape, etc.).

Anyway, that's roughly my current thoughts on Nephis. What do you think?

So, can we agree that the divine realms are the bodies of the gods? And now, their corpses. If that's really the case, and since the Dream Realm is devouring the other divine realms, does that mean the god of dreams, the Forgotten God, is currently devouring the corpses of the other gods in his sleep?

Also, here's another rather troubling detail, but completely unrelated to the god of dreams. What was the first form of the Spell before it was completed? Because it was specified that it was made and needed to be 'propagated.' Did it have, or does it still have, a physical form?

The only way I see Sunny replacing or improving his domain from all the shades he lost in this fight is by killing the Dark Sea. Now he has fated again, he can just stumble headfirst in finding the answer of releasing it from the seal.

The Dark Sea would just have countless abominations in it which would swell up the power of his domain. It will be the first Great Titan he kills also. Though I reckon he is only going to fight it when he gets the full set of Weaver's lineage because I reckon G3 wants to show of the full power of the lineage like he did with Mind Weave in the Burned Forest.

Okay, that was fun, G3. Now we want to hear the other characters' perspectives, especially regarding Cassie becoming whole and achieving supremacyyyyyy