Chapter 2280: Hidden Dagger |
Now that his original body was gone, Sunny's existence was divided between seven incarnations. He could maintain all seven avatars endlessly or give up control of some, returning authority to his shadows.
One incarnation stayed in Bastion, remaining with Nephis and keeping watch on Rain. It also worked as a point of contact between Sunny and the Ivory Tower, helping both the public and the secret forces of the Human Domain to better coordinate their efforts.
Human Domain...
As far as Sunny cared, it was a name that lacked the needed weight, and he was definitely someone who knew how to give things powerful names. No one had listened to him on this matter, though, for whatever reason.
At first, people used to call Neph's Domain all kinds of names, like the Star Domain, the Light Domain, the Immortal Flame Domain. However, Nephis had clearly chosen to let go of those names and instead went with a more general title, separating the identity of the new human empire from her own.
Names carried strength, after all.
More importantly, she was thinking ahead. In the future, more human Sovereigns would rise, while Nephis herself might reach a greater Rank or possibly die trying. The human unity that she and Sunny had earned in Godgrave needed to survive even in their absence.
In any case, while one of Sunny's incarnations was hiding in the middle of the Human Domain, the rest of them were far away, on the Forgotten Shore.
His main avatar was playing the part of the Dark Lord, staying in the shadowy throne room of the Marvellous Mimic. He commanded the shades rebuilding the city and handled matters involving the Shadow Clan.
For instance, there was Corsair, their latest member. His record of service could make most people faint, a good reminder that while Sunny and his team had been going through their terrifying trials, countless remarkable people all across the world had been living their own wild stories inside the awful reality of the Nightmare Spell too.
Even though Corsair was amazing, he was not unusual among the members of the Shadow Clan. Most of them had files just as thick and incredible as his.
Sunny had picked every single one of them himself, after all.
Still, the total strength of the Shadow Clan was not that high, not when compared to famous Awakened groups like the Fire Keepers, the Wolf Army, the Nightsingers, and others. Most of its members were simply Awakened, with just a few Masters leading them.
There were a few reasons for that. The most important was that it was simpler to stay hidden when recruiting Awakened. There were more Masters in the world nowadays, but they still attracted attention. So Sunny wanted to create a strong base of gifted Awakened, train them as much as he could, and later help those who were ready to rise along the Path of Ascension.
If things went well, in a few years, he would have many Masters on his side, all trained and raised by the Shadow Clan. And maybe, just maybe, he would even manage to bring in a couple of Transcendent allies before that happened.
For now, though, the power of the Shadow Clan was enough. His fighters were not meant to take part in long fights anyway. They were meant to strike from the shadows, destroy the target in a single hit, and vanish without a trace.
The Mark of Shadows gave them extra benefits, and Sunny could even strengthen them himself if they were ever in trouble.
Fighting skill was not the main thing that made the members of the Shadow Clan precious. In truth, Sunny needed them for another reason. Just like his shade warriors, people with the Mark of Shadows acted as carriers of his Supreme shadow sense. Wherever they traveled, Sunny's awareness followed.
And since it was very hard for him to enter the real world these days, the Shadow Clan agents worked as his sight and hearing there.
They were spread out across all three remaining Quadrants, finishing missions and collecting data. Even better, the Mark of Shadows let Sunny access their Soul Seas, which meant that the Shadow Clan was a group untouched by Mordret's sneaky powers.
The Princes of Nothing had completely vanished, and there was no trace of him anywhere. Still, Sunny could not rest easy, knowing the enemy was out there, likely planning another nightmare. Even if not, it was safer to be ready for the worst.
There was another threat that the Shadow Clan was meant to guard against. Maybe not like a sword, but like a finely hidden and deadly dagger.
It was the third Sovereign of humanity, Asterion.
The Dreamspawn.
Very little was understood about him, and even now that Nephis and her group had become rulers of the world, they had not uncovered much about this mysterious Supreme. Anvil and Ki Song had done a very good job removing all traces of him and his followers.
There was still some knowledge of him in printed books, though those were already quite rare today, and even those had very little detail. Cassie was searching hard for any hints of Asterion, but even with her impressive data skills, she was turning up empty.
All they knew was that the Third Sovereign had been cut off and locked away on the moon. Maybe he had died there, but none of them truly believed that.
Which meant he could still return.
The lack of knowledge about such a serious threat was very frustrating, and the only person who knew Asterion best, Mordret, was missing. Without him, they had hit a wall.
In fact, they could not even say for sure that Asterion was a danger. He might hold no hate toward Nephis and her Domain, even though he had played a role in her father’s death.
But just like none of them thought he was dead, none of them thought he was harmless either.
From all that Sunny had heard about the Dreamspawn, he was a strange and dangerous being. So...
The Shadow Clan was preparing to handle whatever might happen if Asterion came back. Even Sunny himself did not know what those plans should be. All he knew was that Asterion’s Domain seemed to be tied to the idea of others knowing about him, meaning it needed followers to grow.
Asterion himself was not someone the Shadow Clan could battle, but his followers were.
That was why the Dark Lord sat on the throne, his mind stretched through countless shades and many members of the Shadow Clan, soaking in knowledge and scanning for signs of trouble.
Of course, he was very busy while looking totally lazy.
At this moment, Sunny was just about to send Kim and Corsair on their way...
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