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Chapter 2986: A Memory Most Dreadful
Shadow Slave

Looking around the vast hall, the Corrupted Titan that wore a human face — the Mad Prince — inhaled deeply, a distant hint of lucidity finding its way into his dark, frightening eyes.

Then, his dreadful gaze fell on Cassie, and his cracked lips twisted into a dark, demented smile.

"Torment..."

The Mad Prince let out a small, grating laugh.

"So you were the one who made it out, in the end. Ah... it seems I lost, then. The little game we played. How vexing.”

He groaned and clawed at his face, blood spilling from the deep cuts — only to reverse its flow and crawl back under his skin a moment later.

“How vile..."

His hoarse voice hid the undertones of a rabid growl within it, making Cassie take another step back.

Asterion, meanwhile, was studying the Mad Prince with a somber expression. His easy smile was gone, and his golden eyes were cold and ruthless, void of the usual glint of amusement.

He frowned.

"What kind of demon is this?"

The Mad Prince turned his head slowly, meeting Asterion's gaze with an utter lack of emotion.

Then, he grinned brightly.

"The best kind!"

He laughed again and then took a step, circling Asterion while staring at him with a friendly curiosity.

The tip of his jian dragged on the floor behind him, filling the dark hall with a loud, grinding, unnerving screech.

"What kind of ghoul is this? Ah, the worst kind."

The Mad Prince stopped abruptly and stared at Asterion, his grin widening.

“You dare peer into my mind? Brave man! Oh, but I wouldn't advise it... I wouldn't advise it all..."

Asterion's frown deepened.

He didn't seem particularly threatened by the Mad Prince. However, his gaze turned wary when he glanced at the abomination's jade sword.

It was no surprise. That sword was the Sin of Solace, after all — the cursed blade that infected everyone it cut with insidious madness. The Dreamspawn was a creature of the mind, so a weapon that destroyed the mind was a unique threat to him.

Still staring at Asterion, the Mad Prince asked in a cold tone:

"Nephis?"

Cassie finally spoke, barely preventing her voice from shaking:

"She is alive."

The Mad Prince exhaled slowly.

“Good. That is good. That is wonderful... I haven't failed completely then, after all.”

He laughed.

“I guess the little wretch escaped becoming me, somehow. How truly unexpected... well, no surprise. He is me, after all."

With that, the Mad Prince shifted his gaze to Cassie and smiled.

"So to what do I owe the pleasure of meeting you again, dear Torment? You have summoned me here with your powers. That means that you want something from me, doesn't it? Do you want me to play a game with the ghoul?"

His smile widened, and his lightless eyes shone with boundless madness.

"Ah, but what if I don't want to? What if I want to have a bit of fun with you, instead? I haven't heard you scream in so long, dear Torment... you had grown so quiet back then, near the end. Won't you sing for me again?"

Cassie pursed her lips, struggling to prevent herself from shuddering.

“You might not want to help me..."

She paused for a moment, looking at him with a grim expression.

Then, she smiled chillingly and pointed at Asterion.

"But that man... he is trying to kill Nephis. In fact, he has harmed her horribly already. He's trying to ruin everything you achieved."

The Mad Prince shifted his dreadful gaze back to Asterion.

When he spoke, his voice sounded languid:

"Is that so?"

He remained silent for a short while, his smile growing slowly.

A boundless, harrowing madness igniting in his eyes.

"That won't do... that won't do at all."

The Mad Prince grinned and said, his voice brimming with a dark, deadly, ugly obsession.

"Because she is mine.”

His words carried with them the weight of a demented, dire conviction.

As the echo of his hoarse, unpleasant voice resounded in the darkness, the darkness seemed to resonate and shroud him like a harrowing mantle.

His subtle presence suddenly grew, filling the vast hall — it was so overwhelming, in fact, that its pressure felt like a physical force, pushing Cassie back and making the ancient stones groan.

A cold wind swept the dark expanse, making her hair dance.

The runes inscribed on the ancient walls of the Ebony Tower were obscured by shadows, and the shadows danced as well, moving in demented frenzy, flowing like a dark whirlpool to celebrate the wrath of their lord.

The Mad Prince smiled.

“Be gone, ghoul.”

A moment later, he was already upon Asterion, the white blade of his graceful sword moving with the speed of lightning, with the weight of a mountain.

Cassie lowered her stance, but was still thrown back by the shockwave of their clash.

‘I... must hurry...'

By then, her Aspect had already reached every soldier of the great army of humanity — most of the Awakened alive today in the world, and therefore the core of Asterion's power.

But not all of it.

Out there in the wide expanse of the Dream Realm and the desolate reaches of the waking world, billions of mundane people carried the idea of him in their minds. They were the true strength of the Hunger Domain, and if Cassie were to have hope of defeating Asterion, she had to reach them all, as well.

So, she extended her Will far away, to the few people who had been with her from the very beginning.

She also reached above, to the last floor of the Ebony Tower.

And below, where something peculiar was happening to the soldiers she had already marked.

Something was happening underground... There, the scent of blood overwhelmed Cassie's senses.

The Mad Prince and the Dreamspawn had clashed in the hall of forbidden runes, where a Supreme had just been born.

And at the same time, another Supreme was being born at the lowest point of the Ebony Tower.

Regaining her balance with the help of the Quiet Dancer, Cassie froze for a moment.

‘Mordret...'

Shadow Slave
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  1. Offline
    Atlas
    + 1 ⋅ 0 -
    oh boy what mordret doin
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    Ohshitimsorry
    + 2 ⋅ 0 -
    FINALLY
    Its on tchanel, so chaps gonna be here in five minutes
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    1. Offline
      Lemarais
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      You lied to me how dare you
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    JR3
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    . 2987 The King is Dead

    On the penultimate floor of the Ebony Tower, the Prince of Madness had clashed with Asterion, the Dreamspawn... the Demon of Hunger.

    The obsidian walls of the ancient tower groaned and shook from the dire ferocity of their confrontation. The forces unleashed by each blow were fearsome enough to obliterate both Awakened and Masters, and very few Saints would withstand them without being grievously wounded.

    A net of cracks was slowly spreading across the floor of the great hall, and across its distant ceiling as well.

    Cassie could barely endure the burden of being caught in the violent storm of their battle, her body still in the process of being transformed into that of a Supreme.

    'Unfair...'

    The transformation had happened almost instantly for Sunny and Nephis. But those two were unique, each in their own way. Sunny was a shadow who could take the form of a human, while Nephis was a being woven out of pure light and flame. For both of them, mortal flesh was merely a shell that contained their true essence — it was a form they took, not the natural foundation of their existence.

    The rest, like Cassie, had to endure the wondrous process of being reforged and reborn as a more perfect being before truly becoming Supreme.

    Luckily, the Mad Prince was fully occupying Asterion — for now, at least — so the eldest Supreme had no time to squash the newest one before she was fully reborn.

    Despite that, Cassie doubted that the unhinged horror she had manifested into existence was going to defeat the Dreamspawn... in fact, she was confident that he would not. Asterion was Supreme, after all, and could therefore freely express his Will. More than that, all of humanity belonged to his Domain, making the weight of his Will so much more terrifying.

    However...

    There was a reason why Cassie had summoned the Mad Prince, and it was not only the fact that he was the most terrifying Corrupted creaturе she could think of.

    It was also because of the fact that the Mad Prince flawlessly countered Asterion's most fearsome powers.

    Asterion's greatest weapon was his ability to manipulate minds by twisting them, but the Mad Prince's mind was already twisted beyond description. He was completely and utterly deranged, so there was no manipulating him — not predictably, at least, because one needed to know how the victim would react in order to control them. On top of that, his mind contained chilling horrors that even Asterion had to be wary of, making reading his thoughts a difficult and perilous task.

    More than that, the Mad Prince was wielding the Sin of Solace — a cursed sword created to poison minds. And since Asterion's true form was that of an idea, he was uniquely susceptible to being destroyed by the gorgeous jade blade.

    So, he could not simply ignore the adversary attacks, knowing that his physical manifestation would be simply rebuilt anew — like he had done in the battle against Mordret. Instead, he had to be wary of being cut by the pristine white blade of the Sin of Solace, and avoid it at all costs. Therefore, Asterion could not express most of his power as a Sovereign in the battle against the Mad Prince. He was denied his Aspect and forced to fight the berserk Corrupted Titan as no more than an immensely strong Supreme Beast.

    And the Corrupted Titan in question... was ancient beyond belief, was powerful beyond measure, and wielded his cursed blade with the profane skill of a sword saint.

    So, Cassie believed that the Mad Prince would buy her plenty of time, at least.

    And using that time...

    She was going to destroy the Hunger Domain.

    ...The white blade of the Sin of Solace sliced the fabric of reality apart, falling down with impossible spеed to bite into Asterion's neck. The Mad Prince was not aiming to behead the Dreamspawn, though — he was cunning enough to know that trying to kill Asterion was meaningless. All he wanted to do was leave a small cut on his adversary. Because for the Sin of Solace, it did not matter how deep the wounds delivered by its gorgeous blade was. A small cut was just as lethal as a fatal wound, because it poisoned the mind of the victim all the same...

    And it was far easier to deliver a small cut than to deal a killing blow.

    The white blade of the Sin of Solace was stopped by the vibrant scarlet steel of the sword Asterion wielded, though — the sword that was Morgan of Valor, the Princess of War.

    Morgan had the Ability to store powerful enchantments within her body, and that held true even now that she had assumed the form of a sword. Asterion had neglected using this aspect of his living weapon before, but now he called upon it. He called upon his Will, as well, making the world itself turn against the Mad Prince. The Sin of Solace was pushed aside, and Asterion's sword rushed toward the Mad Prince's heart, leaving him no chance to deflect the blow and no opportunity to evade it.

    The Mad Prince didn't try. Instead, he crumbled into a torrent of shadows, and a moment later...

    Seven abominable Titans assaulted Asterion from all sides.

    Only one of them wielded the graceful white blade, though.

    Asterion evaded most of the blows, deflected a few, and pushed forward toward one of the Mad Prince's incarnations. His hand shot forward, his fingers piercing the abominable avatar's neck — in the next moment, he tore out the creature's throat, sending a torrent of blood raining down.

    The Mad Prince laughed.

    The loss of an incarnation and the pain of one of his avatars being destroyed did not seem to faze him at all. In fact, his voice was full of demented glee, as if he was enjoying the agony a great deal.

    He attacked Asterion again...

    A moment later, the Ebony Tower quaked again.

    And deep underground, in the basement, Mordret opened his eyes.
    2988 Long Live the King

    Silence and darkness reigned in the empty underground hall. The mirror that had stood at its center was broken now, its shards scatterеd across the floor.

    The mirror was gone...

    The man who used to be the King of Nothing was gone, as well.

    There was no body left in his wake, and no trace of his existence remained.

    As if he had never existed at all.

    There was only the bloodied mirror shard that the man who had become the King of Nothing was still holding in his hand.

    It was hard to tell whose blood was smeared across the cold glass.

    He was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed, breathing evenly. His eyes were closed, and his face was emotionless. Behind the expressionless mask, however, raged a dark and dire storm.

    After decades spent shattered and incomplete, Mordret had killed and absorbed the last shard of himself, finally becoming whole once again. Becoming who he used to be... a human.

    But what kind of human was he?

    The Mordret who had roamed the perilous expanse of the Dream Realm, dreaming of vengeance as he committed all kinds of vile and unforgivable acts, was gone now.

    The meek and compassionate Mordret, who had spent most of his life in a beautiful mirage conjured for him by the Great Mirror... was gone, as well.

    In their place, a man who was neither compassionate nor entirely heartless remained, slowly coming to terms with his newfound ability to feel all the things that a person was supposed to feel.

    The burden of that ability was like a curse. Mordret remembered both of his lives, and was tormented by the memories of both.

    Because now, he could feel the guilt and regret for the things he had done. He could feel the pain and sorrow of what had been done to him, as well.

    It was funny...

    Mordret's Flaw was to be shattered, and now, he was not shattered anymore. However, that did not mean that he was free of his Flaw.

    If one took a porcelain vase and broke it, then glued the pieces together... was the vase flawless? No. The marks of having been broken remained on its surface, marring it forever.

    The same went for Mordret. Even if he had assembled the shards of himself into a complete person once more, the scars of having beеn shattered remained — would always remain, shaping him and dictating the terms of his existence.

    He could never escape his Flaw. His entire life had been shaped by it, and all he could do now was learn how to live as a flawed vessel.

    Mordret had to contend with the heavy burden of his past, which he was able to experience in all its bitter vibrancy for the first time, and with his the dark expanse of his future as well.

    On top of that, he had to contend with becoming Supreme.

    It was strange — Mordret was a mere Awakened only a year ago, but at the same time, he remembered being a Sovereign. His memories of ruling the Mirror Domain were fragmented and woefully incomplete, but he did remember it. The dire authority of bending the world to his Will, the inhuman state of being torn about millions of vessels...

    Granted, he was not much of a Supreme at the moment.

    All his vessels were gone. His Reflections were gone, as well. He only had one soul core left... his Domain was destroyed, and all that remained of his kingdom was its king.

    A king who ruled nobody and had nothing. Hearing the sound of footsteps rushing down the stairs, Mordret sighed and opened his eyes.

    His eyes, which had reflected the world back on itself once, were now tired, dull, and somber.

    The soldiers of the Hunger Domain were coming to kill him.

    And unlike the previous King of Nothing, Mordret was not immortal.

    ‘How hateful.'

    A moment later, the warriors burst into the underground chamber. There were dozens of them — some of them were powerful, and some of them weren't. Mordret wasn't clear what their purpose here was.

    Were they pursuing his brother, hoping to kill the Great Beast he had become? Or were they searching for Mordret himself, hoping to kill him and end the profane life of the King of Nothing that way?

    “It doesn't matter, I suppose."

    His voice was quiet and aloof.

    The soldiers of the Hunger Domain were led by a familiar face — an old and hateful face that had played a vile role in the memories Mordret inherited from his brother, thanks to the dire grace of Song of the Fallen. It was Saint Jest, the man who had done the dirty work for the Valor clan once.

    Seeing his expression told Mordret all he needed to know about their purpose.

    It seemed that they had not expected to meet him here at all.

    As soon as Old Jest noticed Mordret, his face contorted. He froze for a split second, and then barked:

    “Everyone, close yоur eyes!"

    But it was too late.

    By the time Jest shut his eyes, he was already surrounded by nothing except screams and the sound of blood spilling to the floor.

    ...Only a few moments later, however, did the screams stop.

    Because there was no one left to scream anymore.

    A dead silence enveloped him like a cloak and made him shiver.

    In that silence, he heard a calm vоice:

    “Open your eyes, old man."

    Jest gritted his teeth, knowing that he was not going to escape this time.

    He lingered for a few moments, then sighed and opened his eyes, looking at the man standing in front of him with a crooked smile.

    “I thought you were on your way to the grave, kid. But you seem quite well."

    Mordret smiled faintly.

    “This is my grave."

    He studied the old man standing in front of him for a short while, then said evenly:

    “Jest of Clan Dagonet... if memory serves, you were in charge of the ambush that destroyed my original body. It happened right here on the Chained Isles, all those years ago. And yet here we are. Funny how life is sometimes, isn't it?"

    Jest stared at him for a moment, then chuckled.

    “Life is the funniest thing, indeed. It's all one big, horrible joke... the worst joke ever."

    He remained silent for a bit before asking in a calm tone:

    “I am not making it out of here alive, am I?"

    Mordret studied him for a while.

    Eventually, he said:

    "You've been very loyal to my family, haven't you? Surely, such loyalty should be rewarded. Ah, but what about blind loyalty... blind loyalty is quite different. While loyalty is a virtue, blind loyalty is simply vile."

    Jest stared at him for a while, then raised his chin slightly.

    He inhaled deeply and looked Mordret in the eye.

    “It wasn't blind."

    Mordret met his gaze, his expression growing cold and ruthless.

    Then, he took a step forward, patted Jest on the shoulder, and walked past him.

    “Live a little longer, old man."

    As Mordret took a few steps away, Jest blinked, and then asked in a bewildered tone:

    “You're... not going to kill me? But why?"

    Mordret shrugged.

    “Maybe I simply don't have a reason to kill you."

    He stopped, looked back, and smiled.

    “Perhaps I want to pay a visit to your family and make you watch them die first. Who knows?"

    Jest gritted his teeth.

    "Curse you!"

    Mordret shrugged, then looked up and spoke into the air, as if addressing someone.

    “Cassia? Is that you?"

    He paused for a moment, and then asked in a quiet, mournful tone:

    “You knew, didn't you? About what was going to happen to us."

    Mordret chuckled and shook his head.

    "Somehow, I find it hard to believe. But it doesn't really matter, I suppose. What is it that you want me to do?"

    He remained motionless for a moment, then sighed.

    "Oh, that? Well... sure. That can be arranged."

    The corpses of the soldiers of the Hunger Domain littered the floor around him, surrounded by a pool of blood.

    Mordret disappeared into the reflections glistening on the surface of that pool.

    ..A moment later, he appeared on the deck of the Night Garden. The living hull of the titanic ship tried to swallow him, but he simply bent and brought his fist on the ancient wood, shattering it.

    The defenders of the Great Citadel — the Saints of Night, their patriarch, and the rest — were already surrounding him by then.

    Fаcing them, Mordret smiled pleasantly.

    “Good day, gentlemen. I feel like I must warn you — there are two ways to settle this situation. A pleasant one, and a gruesome one. The choice is yours. I will settle for the former... ah, but I do hope that you'll choose the latter..."
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      Ohshitimsorry
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      Holy shit, so fast
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  4. Offline
    Lil_paranoid
    + 1 ⋅ 0 -
    any kind hearted, altrustic person with love for humanity, who would be kind enough to drop the chaps here? 🥲
    I can't sleep cause my mind's stuck here 😭😭
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    1. Offline
      JR3
      + 2 ⋅ 1 -
      You ask and you shall receive
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    Ohshitimsorry
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    Who is your favorite pony?
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    1. Offline
      JR3
      + 1 ⋅ 1 -
      Applejack.
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      1. Online Offline
        Ohshitimsorry
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        Cool
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      Kai_the_Son_of_G3
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      what is pony? constraint
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        Ohshitimsorry
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        I think he ment ponies from my little pony
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  6. Offline
    Earthly Desert Fox
    + 2 ⋅ 0 -
    If Cassie continues to leveling up and becomes a "new god," I can assume that her world (like the worlds of the Seven Gods) will be made with her summons (memories). We can argue about the philosophy of whether the inhabitants of her world are real creatures or just an illusion, but let's remember that the dream world is the dream god's world, which makes all creatures live in his dream (another kind of illusion), and when he wakes up, they will simply vanish.

    On the other hand, what if Cassie is Weaver's real bet for survival? I mean, she can summon/revive everyone theoretically, given that truly powerful beings can escape being merely a memory illusion (just as VTB escaped being merely an illusion created by the spell).
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      Ohshitimsorry
      + 0 ⋅ 0 -
      Honestly, Weaver doesn't suit the role of a villain. The guy did nothing wrong. Sunny only hates him because Weaver manipulated him. It would be much more unexpected if Weaver turns out to be a kind and selfless guy who sacrifices himself at the very end. Although that ending also seems unsatisfactory.
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        Earthly Desert Fox
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        Here's where I found myself thinking, in my mind, Weaver is a very cunning person. For a long time, I found it difficult to think of him as someone who would sacrifice everything for a glimmer of hope to survive (unless it was out of spite, like Sunny in his first nightmare where he decided to survive just to annoy the one who wanted him to die), but seeing Cassie's ability to bring back the long-dead made me think that this was his plan from the beginning, betting on it.

        Thinking about it, Cassie might be able to bring Smile of heaven back to life (although the fate of the original one is doubtful), unfortunately she cannot bring back the broken sword because he is of the same rank as hers, and G3 has blocked that path.
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    73timur16
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    Всех с окончанием Великой отечественной войны.
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  8. Offline
    Eclipsey
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    Sobs I need the chapters
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    Redist_King
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    Foolish pirates I got new chapters but I'm gonna happily gatekeep them✌️😹
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    1. Offline
      Destined Death
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      Nice
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      _Merlin Hermes_
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      Dude, change your name from Redist king to Sadist king
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    3. Offline
      Harsh Handore
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      O kind sir, i beg you to drop the chapter butwhy
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      SAILOR
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      No balls
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    Ohshitimsorry
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    Some note from the latest chapter. It is not a big spoiler, but anyway.



    Its from tchanel
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