Shadow Slave novel Chapter 2797

“Why is..."

Rain lost her ability to speak. The scene transpiring in front of her was simply too senseless. Why was she a Master? Why was the Night Garden, a Great Citadel of the Human Domain, besieging the seat of its ruler's power? Why were the people on its deck swarming like ants, as if preparing to board an adversary vessel?

"Rain!"

It was only when Lady Cassia shouted that she regained her senses.

‘Right!'

This was the Age of the Nightmare Spell. All kinds of bizarre events were not only possible, but also bound to happen sooner or later. If one wanted to survive, they had to react first and think later.

If some unfathomable eldritch horror was trying to eat you, there was no point in trying to ponder the mysteries of its nature — you simply had to avoid being eaten. That was how soldiers had survived in Godgrave, so Rain was no stranger to situations that demanded rapid action in the absence of understanding.

In the grand scheme of things, there was no difference between an eldritch horror and a Great Citadel, so she decided to save her questions for later.

Rain turned to Lady Cassia, ready to follow her, and instantly lost the composure she had just barely managed to regain. Her eyes widened in terror.

It was only then that she noticed that the gorgeous Saint's tunic was painted red with blood. The hilt of a dagger was protruding from just beneath her ribs, and at that moment, Lady Cassia grasped it and slowly pulled the black blade of the serpentine stiletto from her flesh with a quiet groan. ‘That dagger...’

It looked familiar.

"L—lady Cassia?"

She turned her head to Rain and pressed a hand to the bleeding wound.

"Release your Epithets, Rain."

Rain spent a heartbeat allowing herself to feel confused. She wanted to protest the command of the older woman.

Both of the Epithets she could assign had been granted to Tamar's sword. She had made sure to make them useful, but not powerful enough to drain her essence — that way, she could maintain them indefinitely, or at least until the day Tamar returned from the Nightmare. Releasing the Epithets would mean taking away some of her friend's strength.

But then, Rain felt a peculiar incongruity in how reality was supposed to be and how it was. She could not sense the two Epithets she had assigned to Tamar's sword siphoning a bit of her essence away. Instead, she felt three of them devouring her essence with astonishing speed.

And they were assigned to Lady Cassia.

‘Since when can I sustain three Epithets at the same... oh, right.'

Rain released the Epithets, and a moment later, Lady Cassie staggered a little and let out a relieved sigh.

“Good. Now... let's go."

She walked close to Rain and pushed the hilt of the bloodied dagger into her hands. Rain looked down slowly, studying the serpentine blade with a hollow look. Then, the dagger rippled and turned into a large black snake, which slid into her sleeve and vanished.

‘...It's grown bigger.' 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Lady Cassia pulled her toward the door. They left Rain's quarters as the Tower of Longing shook and groaned around them. There was more smoke in the corridor. The deafening impacts of the charged cannonballs were dampened by the ancient walls, but still made Rain's ears ring.

“Lady Cassia, your wounds..."

The gorgeous Saint guided Rain through the smoke, navigating the chaos far better than she could have, despite being blind.

“Don't worry about me. The blade missed my heart, and I... am someone who cannot be killed unless it is done in one strike."

And indeed, as soon as she spoke those words, a soft radiance shone from beneath her bloodied tunic, erasing the dire wound. Rain stared at the blood with a dazed look.

‘It missed the heart.’

Could she have aimed for the heart?

What about her Flaw?

No, why would she have attacked Lady Cassia, in the first place?!

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