Shadow slave: The Prince of Death

As the ceremony concluded, sunny looked at the three hundred or so dreamers.

'I wonder if any of the new ones would be in the Forgotten Shore…'

Deep down, he already knew that they would be.

After saying goodbye to Nephis and Cassie, who went to their assigned rooms, Sunny retreated to his own—not to sleep, but to test his new attribute.

He lacked a victim to experiment with his Will-weakening property, nor did he have the means to simulate the right conditions for Shadow Step's next evolution.

So instead, he simply sat in the darkness and familiarized himself with the flow of the new mystical energy within him. His attribute [The Solace] was still quite foreign to him, he needed to make it inseparable from his own blood by growing familiar to it.

If he failed...then he knew what was coming for him in the forgotten shore.

---

The next day, after completing his interview, Sunny made his way to the ranking board.

Cassie was still dead last.

'Just wait. When she returns with a True Name, they'll all see.'

He turned his gaze to the top rankings.

'Let's see… Mark...Liam…Ahh! Caster!…so that Aegis Rose guy surpasses him yeah?'

He then looked at the top three ranks.

Rank 3:

Name: Dinadan.

And above him...

Rank 2:

Name: Nephis.

True Name: Undying Starlight.

And finally, shining at the top was...

Rank 1:

Name: Sunless.

True Name: Prince of Death.

A hum of whispers rippled through the crowd.

The existence of not one, but two people in the same year who had earned their true names in their first Nightmare wasn't just extraordinary— no, it was the first time in history for such an event to occur for the academy.

And that made the crowd gossip amongst themselves like they were little fanboys and fangirls.

Sunny, however, maintained an aloof, bored expression, as if entirely unaffected by the commotion his and Nephis's True Names had caused.

'So only one of the new Sleepers managed to surpass Caster, huh? That's to be expected. He's strong.'

Deep down, he was enjoying the awed expressions alot.

'If only these weirdos didn't stare too. It's creeping me out!'

Nephis and Cassie were sitting nearby with cups of coffee in hand. Cassie, though she was still unable to fight on her own, she had regained her independence in moving around. With the Guardian's Creed memory enhancing her, she no longer needed help getting around.

'She'll be fine. In six months, she'll be back on her feet completely. But they could have brought me coffee too, those jerks.'

His thoughts were interrupted by Caster's approach.

"I thought my trial had gone well," Caster spoke. "But now I see I was just a frog in a well. May I ask what rank of aspect you recieved?

Sunny didn't even bother turning to look at him, instead he turned to look at the list again— searching for someone.

"You may not."

Caster blinked in surprise. "Ah… I see."

He was visibly confused by Sunny's blunt reply, but before he could press any further— Sunny sighed. "It's above Transcendent, if you must know. But don't waste your time worrying about others. Focus on yourself."

His eyes averted from the list, slightly satisfied. 'Thank God he isn't here.'

With that, he turned and walked toward Nephis and Cassie.

Before he could reach them, however, Caster hurried ahead in an awkward jog and stopped in front of Nephis.

He bowed slightly. "Lady Nephis. I am Caster from the Han Li clan. I see that your trial went well?"

Nephis tilted her head, appearing mildly confused. Then, after a moment, she smiled gently and shrugged.

"It is what it is."

Caster smiled back awkwardly. "I see. I'm glad you returned unharmed. Uh...not that I ever doubted your abilities."

Nephis simply nodded. "Thank you."

And just like that, she turned back to her coffee, indicating that the conversation was over or... maybe she was simply oblivious to everyone's attention.

Sunny sighed. 'How annoying.'

Walking over to them, sunny put his hand on caster's shoulder and leaned in just a little bit so only the two of them could hear.

"She's busy, little bro."

Caster looked at sunny and coughed. "Uhh I wasn't trying to bother her... I just."

"Whatever, man. Just get going."

With that, sunny sat down next to the girls and Caster stared at him for a moment, then walked away, looking thoroughly confused.

Cassie couldn't help but remark. "Cold."

Her lack of sight had improved her other senses naturally, and with guardian's creed, she could hear the conversation sunny and caster had.

Sunny scoffed. "Oh, shut up. Also, why didn't you guys get me a coffee?"

Nephis smiled in amusement. "Go get one yourself. And bring us some chocolate while you're at it."

Before the two idiots could start bickering again, Cassie decided to shift the topic.

"What classes are you both registering for?"

Nephis hummed, considering. "I'll take as many combat lectures as possible, then decide from there."

"That's dumb," Sunny remarked with a smug expression.

Nephis shot him an exasperated look. "And pray tell, why's that?"

Sunny leaned back lazily. "Because the kids in those combat classes won't improve you anymore. You should take one combat class at most, then focus on wilderness survival and a bit of creature anatomy. Also, keep a free period every day to practice your own skills."

Cassie raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you're doing?"

Sunny smirked. "Nope. I already completed those courses and their advanced versions in previous years—perks of having family in the government." He stretched. "I'll just take one combat class for the drama. And then I'll spend the rest freely, training as I wish by myself."

Nephis sighed. "You're taking a class… just for the drama?"

"Yep," Sunny confirmed shamelessly.

Cassie tilted her head. "What's an advanced version class?"

"It's for Awakened who stick around before picking an affiliation," Sunny explained. "I got access to them early because of my dad's connections."

Nephis thought for a moment, then turned to him for advice. "So I should take a combat and an anatomy class, fill the rest with wilderness survival, and keep one period free?"

Sunny nodded. "Yeah, that'd work. We could spar at night for extra training."

Nephis pretended to look impressed and patted his head. "That's actually a good plan. Well done."

"What are you doing?" Sunny swatted her hand away, looking confused.

Cassie smirked. "Get a room, you two. But before you do—Sunny, what should I take? I mean… I can't exactly fight."

Sunny considered. "Honestly? Don't take any courses yet. Apply for the special help program and focus on dealing with your flaw for a few months. With your past training and that Ascended charm, you should adapt in three or four months. After that, learn to defend yourself with a weapon."

Cassie hesitated. "I… don't have a weapon."

"Oh! I have a dormant shortsword lying around. You can take it later." Sunny gave her a warning look. "And don't try offering me anything in return again— it's just collecting dust in my soul sea."

After thinking for a while silently, sunny finished. "And definitely practice with your Aspect. In any way you can."

After registering for their respective courses, the three of them finally went to bed.

The next six months would be long and uneventful. But they had to work hard—because next year, their survival would depend on it.

---

Then eventually the first combat class started, this time with quite a few more people entering it, due to the higher number of sleepers. Including them were sunny and dinadan too.

They were testing their physical strength by striking a wide metal plate, their force converted into numerical values.

The average student scored between 10 and 14.

Then finally, caster stepped up, his expression composed as he struck. The display flashed—21.

Producing such a result with an unsaturated soul core spoke volumes of caster— or at least his aspect.

Murmurs spread through the crowd, impressed, but not shocked. Caster was a legacy, after all.

Next, it was Dinadan's turn.

His aspect was Transcendent. That much sunny knew from overhearing the legacies. But he had not revealed his aspect itself.

Not that it mattered much in this moment, Dinadan's aspect allowed him to unconsciously replicate the fighting techniques of people he had seen fighting long enough.

It was like a shallower version of shadow dance, except it worked automatically.

He also had an attribute that boosted his intuition— making him a far more skilled warrior.

As Dinadan stepped in front of the metal plate, he clenched his fist— and threw his best punch.

A fist from a dormant body with a completely saturated soul core hit the plate.

30.

The whispers in the crowd grew more and more. Some were contemplating that dinadan had a physical augmentation aspect.

But sunny knew better.

Dinadan's strike had hit just as hard as sunny could have hit at the end of the forgotten shore, without augmentation.

Thus, he had a fully saturated core— and not an augmentation aspect. Afterall a Transcendent augmentation aspect would be similar to effie, who could hit much harder.

The fact that Aegis Rose clan had managed to give dinadan both memories and full saturation spoke of their riches too.

The boy simply looked at the score and went back to his place. As if unbothered by everything around him.

Sunny was scoffing from his place, he had hoped to figure out anything about his aspect or better yet — his flaw, but the kid didn't show anything.

He looked at dinadan with a glint of disdain in his eyes. The boy hadn't done anything to him personally — but he was about to, if he had been sent here for the same reason as caster.

Dinadan...looked like a 19 year old young man, slightly taller than sunny and nephis. His body was rather lean, similar to kai or sunny. Built for agility instead of brute strength.

He had a completely relaxed and aloof attitude to himself.

His dark brown hair was messy, as if he had not cared enough to fix it. His golden eyes had a glint of amusement, as if he was on a joke no one else knew.

That annoyed sunny even more, was that handsome legacy trying to flex his clan's resources? Or was he simply feeling superior to everyone else?

In either case, he was going to be humbled soon.

'Maybe that annoying behaviour is what got him that scar...' Sunny thought, looking at a scar that seemed to be from a sharp cut on Dinadan's neck...given its size and shape, sunny postulated that it ran from his left shoulder to the top of his neck.

Then, finally it was Nephis' turn.

She was a monster through and through, with her beast core fully saturated and her monster core nearly half-saturated, she took her stance and struck without hesitation.

70.

The entire hall fell silent.

Everyone except Sunny was still processing the absurdity of the number. Then, as realization settled, whispers erupted—voices filled with awe, respect, and disbelief. The Once Changing Star had lived up to her name once again.

Sunny knew why she had gotten that number, so he wasn't at all fascinated. Her monster core made her twice as strong as a person with a fully saturated core like dinadan.

And then she has some more fragments boosting her on top.

She had achieved this feat without using her aspect, if she had...sunny believed she would have gotten a total score of 210.

"Silence!" Rock's voice boomed over the crowd. His eyes gleamed with approval as he looked at Nephis. "Beautifully performed. Good job."

Then, his gaze shifted to Sunny, and his smile transformed from polite encouragement to something far more smug.

He looked like a man who had already seen the ending of a movie, watching his students approach the big twist.

Rock had trained Sunny before he entered the academy, and he took pride in that.

Now, it was finally Sunny's turn.

He approached the machine, rolling his shoulders in thought.

An Ascended aspect like Caster's was rare. A Transcendent like Effie or Dinadan? Even rarer. High-tier talents were difficult to find, especially in the academy.

'If Effie did this, she'd probably score more than 900—not just because of her fully saturated core, but because her raw strength is higher than my Tyrant self, fully augmented by all six shadows.'

The main reason sunny assumed effie could do that was because sunny was comparing the sleepers to effie's fully saturated core self.

But Sunny had Shadow Cradle now— and his cores were saturated...two of them.

He ran a quick calculation.

'An unsaturated Beast Core gave Nephis 16. At saturation, it was at 30. Then it doubled because of her Monster Core. The extra fragments boosted her further…'

'So, if I follow that logic... Base Demon form should give me 90, augmented four times by the three shadows—360. Then doubled again by Shadow Cradle…'

Sunny exhaled and punched.

The machine remained at 0 for a second. Then a shockwave rippled through the air.

A light breeze touched everyone present, sending their hair in waves.

Caster was looking at the display with anticipation, Dinadan's unbothered self had somehow found itself awaiting the results.

Even nephis wanted to see the score of the strongest sleeper ever.

The numbers began climbing.

1... 2... 5... 10... 20... 50... 100… 300…500

And finally—

718.

Silence.

Nephis stared at the number. So did Caster.

So did everyone.

There was no gasping, no whispering. The students were simply too overwhelmed to react.

The only one disappointed was sunny.

'Why couldn't it just hit 720?' He sighed.

Nephis had not used her aspect, to hide her abilities...but sunny subscribed to no such niceties.

Rock stepped forward, his voice steady. He had thoroughly enjoyed the reaction of the crowd, but he had to make them hopeful, not depressed.

"What you saw is the result of a fully saturated core and a physical augmentation aspect. None of you may have an aspect as strong as Sunless, but this is proof of what's possible with proper saturation. So come back alive from the dream realm if you want to attain that level."

He let that thought settle in before adding with a satisfied smirk, "Of course, Sunless here is still an outlier."

Rock turned to him. "You may go now, boy."

"Yessir."

Sunny nodded respectfully and walked back to stand beside Nephis.

His little flex had worked marvelously.

If he wanted to do what Nephis had done in the past, he needed the world to look up to him with admiration, to make up for the lack of history.

This was the first step of that long staircase.

The second step?

Beating everyone up!

---

When the duels began, Sunny was called as the first fighter. One by one, challengers stepped forward—some arrogant, some hesitant.

One by one, they all fell.

But strangely, each duel looked close.

Whether it was a talentless numbskull or an elite legacy, every fight seemed evenly matched.

Ofcourse, it was an illusion.

Sunny's Shadow Dance let him exploit every weak point his opponents had, subtly guiding them into attacks that exposed their flaws. He wasn't just defeating them—he was making them better.

'After all, I need them alive. If humanity is to stand a chance, they need to grow stronger.'

Eventually, it was Sunny vs. Caster.

This fight actually pushed him.

He finally decided to augment himself with a shadow, but even while augmented by a shadow, Sunny had to put in real effort to hold Caster down. His opponent's Ascended aspect made him a formidable fighter, and while Sunny had the upper hand, it wasn't effortless.

Still, he never reached a point where he could've actually lost.

Then came dinadan. And sunny finally realised the power his aspect truly held.

Dinadan moved with more precision and strength than any other sleeper had yet, courtesy of his training perhaps. But the biggest strength he had was his speed.

It wasn't an enchanted speed like caster's, but he was faster than he was stronger.

Sunny realised what his aspect was related to when it came to actually clashing blades with him.

Sunny tried to replicate his movements, only to realise that they were taken from caster and a few other legacies.

He also found another fighting style...one much more used by dinadan than any other— it was the style Ascended Tristan has used in his duel with sunny in the original timeline.

Tristan must have learnt that style from the clan's elders...but he was a master at the time, the fact that dinadan could replicate it so easily meant only one thing.

Dinadan was copying the skills of others in some way— with his aspect.

Nonetheless, it wasn't enough to overwhelm sunny and— interestingly, sunny found it harder to defeat caster than dinadan.

Though, because his fight with caster was quick— due to caster's aspect. Most observers must have concluded that dinadan was the better fighter among the two.

Soon sunny landed a jab to his face, one he couldn't dream of landing at caster, and sent him flying away.

The winner was declared, and dinadan got up and left without a single comment.

'Odd behaviour for a legacy...' before sunny could think about his opponent...

The final match had arrived.

Sunny vs. Nephis.

This was different.

Both of them had multiple cores. Both had far stronger base stats than in their past lives. More importantly—they were far, far more skilled.

If he had to put a level on it, they were both skilled enough to fight their counterparts from the end of Forgotten Shore, with equalized stats—

And win, mid-difficulty.

That level of mastery didn't fully show in their duel, but it didn't need to either. The way they moved, countered, and adapted fascinated everyone watching.

---

Nephis moved first.

Taking a swift step forward, her blade flashed in a clean, precise arc toward his ribs.

Sunny barely twisted in time, parrying with a sharp clang. She pressed the attack, forcing him onto the back foot, each strike faster than the last.

There was no wasted movement. No unnecessary flourishes. Just efficiency.

Their blades met again, sparks flying. Sunny shifted his weight and pivoted, angling his sword upward in an attempt to break her guard—only for Nephis to twist her wrist and redirect his momentum, sending him stumbling half a step back.

He smirked.

She wasn't holding back.

Good.

Because he wasn't either.

With a sudden burst, he lunged. A thrust aimed at her shoulder.

Nephis dodged, barely, but Sunny followed up with a fluid overhead slash. This time, she had to block, the force pushing her back slightly.

Nephis lunged, her blade a streak of silver. Sunny sidestepped, deflecting, but she was already pivoting, bringing her sword around in a lightning-fast horizontal slash.

He ducked under it, countering with a sharp jab toward her chest.

Nephis twisted, avoiding the point by a hair, and immediately retaliated with a downward strike.

Sunny blocked.

The impact sent a jolt through his arms. She was strong.

Not just raw power, but control. She knew exactly how much force to use, exactly how to manipulate angles.

Her mastery of physics was already in its infancy.

He countered with a feint—dropping his guard for a split second, baiting her into an opening.

It worked....if only slightly.

Nephis stepped in, slashing low, but Sunny was already moving. His blade snapped forward in a thrust—straight at her throat.

At the last second, she twisted sideways, the tip of his sword grazing her collarbone.

A near hit.

She smirked.

Not wasting time, he surged forward, sword blurring as he unleashed a series of rapid cuts.

Left. Right. Feint. Overhead. Thrust. Right. Right. Left. Overhead. Feint. Right. Left.

Nephis dodged and deflected with perfect defenses, but Sunny didn't let up. He pressed on.

Their footwork became a dance, neither gaining ground, neither making mistakes.

Then, Nephis did something unexpected.

She abandoned her guard completely.

Instead of blocking his next strike, she slipped inside his reach, too close for him to swing properly—and slammed her shoulder into his chest.

Sunny staggered.

The next second, her sword was at his heart.

He blinked.

Nephis tilted her head slightly, a silent question in her eyes. 'Checkmate?'

He exhaled through his nose.

Then, before she could react, he dropped his weight, twisting at an impossible angle. His sword flicked upward from below—fast, sharp, and deadly.

It stopped just before her neck.

Their blades hovered at each other's vital points.

Ofcourse, neither of them were afraid. Both because the weapons were dull and also because they trusted each other completely.

And in the end…

They finished in a draw.

Sunny's sword was resting on neph's neck while her sword was touching his chest— exactly where his heart was.

His heart was beating vigorously just like her's, out of exhaustion. And the heartbeats flowed through her sword and reached her skin.

Making her feel the vibrations.

They had not gone all out, nor had they revealed their true techniques. But they had fought each other with much better skills than they had fought anyone else.

Nephis lowered her sword first.

Sunny let out a breath and did the same.

A beat of silence.

Then, Nephis offered him a small nod.

Sunny smirked. "Not bad."

Nephis replied with the same amusement. "Not bad yourself."

The crowd, which had been holding its breath, finally erupted. Some cheered, others simply sat in stunned silence, processing what they had just witnessed.

But Sunny and Nephis didn't care about them.

This fight wasn't for the audience.

It was for them.