Shadow Slave: Prince of Darkness

***

The Next day

Raizel was walking in the long white hallways, he was going towards the cafeteria.

Soon his footsteps stops as he saw that he has reached the Cafeteria.

He enter the cafeteria and saw that it was mostly empty, since he got here early, he looked around saw that the only some sleepers were present.

Raizel gaze then landed at the food counter as he made his way towards it.

In the food section their were verity of choices from sweets dishes to spicy foods.

Raizel fill his plate with a simple butter bread and a glass of hot chocolate milk.

He was about to sit on the empty table when he suddenly his gaze landed at the figure of a blond girl sitting in the corner table.

'Cassie' thought Raizel as he identify the identity of the girl.

The girl has pale blond hair, that seems to reach her back, big blue eyes, that looks like rare ocean and a beautiful face. She looks like a beautiful porcelain doll.

Raizel then slowly started making his way in her direction, as he reach the table he sit in front of her.

Cassie shifted her gaze as she look at front, although she has lost her sight but she could feel a presence of someone in front of her, even after using her aspect she couldn't really see who it is.

"Umm.." she heisted if she should started a conversation or not, after all because of her flaw she is basically consider dead among the sleepers, and she also doesn't know if the other party is a friend or foe.

"You have to say something ?" asked Raizel while eating his food he seems to have notice her discomfort, anyone would have been able to tell since it was written all over her face.

Cassie was a bit taken back by the sweet and refreshing voice of the girl, but at the same time her voice also sounded emotionless and empty.

As if hearing his question she quickly come out of her trace.

"Umm you are....??" said Cassie trying to find out the name of the girl sitting in front of her.

"Raizel... you can call me Raizel." said Raizel as he introduce himself, then he said.

"And you are...?" even thought he know the answer to his own question he still decided to ask.

"M-My name is Cassie." she said with a bit of nervousness in her tone, after all it's been quit some time since she has talked to someone.

"Nice to meet you, Cassie~." said Raizel.

"N-nice to meet you too, R-Raizel!" she said shyly.

After a while their was silence which was broken by Cassie.

"Uhmmm....." she has look of nervousness on her face as she doesn't know how to speak her words, then gathering her courage she asked.

"Why did you..... d-decided to sit... h-here ?" her voice sounded timed and low.

Hearing this Raizel did not show a single expression on his face, he finish his food before replaying.

"You don't like my presence." said Raizel as he didn't answer her question, but asked her another question in return.

Cassie flinch as she quickly replied.

"No! no! no!, i didn't mean like that!!" she said hurriedly, afraid as if other party has misunderstand her words.

"What is it then ?" said Raizel while drinking his hot chocolate.

"Umm.... well.... you see..." Cassie doesn't know how to explain the situation to Raizel sitting in front of her, a part of her was happy that she was finally able to talk to someone, while another part was sad knowing that if Raizel found out about her, she will too abandon her like the rest of the sleepers present in the room.

"I seems to have notice that everyone here are ignoring your presence, can i ask why is that ?" said Raizel as took a sip of the chocolate milk and looked at her. He already knows the answer to his own question but still decided to asked.

Cassie come out of her thoughts, and when she heard the Raizel words, she smile bitterly at as she knows that the time has come to tell the truth, and even if she didn't tell her others would probably tell her. It would be good if she is one to tell her.

"Well it is because.... i am... blind." She said in bitter tone, her head was hung low, she has a very depressing vibe around around her. 

The movement she finish her first nightmare her life turned upside down, and it's all because of her flaw, that she got after her first nightmare. Her flaw has taken her eye sigh, and because of this no one in the academy tried to approach her, those that did left after a brief conversation, after all to them she is basically consider dead.

Raizel was silence for a while, before saying.

"Well that is indeed the worst flaw, i have heard so far..." said Raizel as he look at Cassie who just weakly nodded her head, then he continued.

"....the spell might be cruel, but it is not unfair,..... it might have taken yours eyes, and in return you must have gotten a very powerful aspect."

Cassie lifted her head as she look at the direction of Raizel, she has an expression of shocked and disbelief on her face as she heard her words.

"B-But in the end... i-it's n-nothing special..." she said as she herself knows about her aspect.

'Nothing special, huh...'

Raizel look at her as if looking at an idiot, then he asked.

"If you don't mind me asking what can your aspect do ?"

Cassie was bit taken back, she didn't know that someone would be interested in her aspect, after all even the interviewer didn't asked for her aspect after he come to know about her flaw.

Cassie was a bit blissful by this as she quickly replied.

"My aspect allows me to see the attribute of others people but only when i am close to them and sometimes i even had some visions from future or past." She was rather energetic talking about her aspect almost like a child getting some candy.

'Just as i expected.' Thought Raizel as he look at her. He remembered from the book he read and from that red note book, he has come to know that Cassie might actually be a good tool, if used right.

How so ?

Well from that book Raizel has read he have come to know that only information she can see is the attributes of a person, and in future she might be able to see more then that, but that is for the future.

What made Cassie so fearful in the future was not her ability to see the future, it was the fact that she could see through anyone eyes, they won't even know and she can even hear their conversations without being discovered, their was also one more thing about her and that was her ability to look into the memories of any person.

'Just like mother.' Amaris also has the same ability like Cassie but slightly overpowered.

As he was thinking about these thoughts, he didn't notice Cassie expression, her face look as if she has lost something really precious.

'She must be thinking that i am useless...' thought Cassie somberly it was not the first time when someone has gone silent after hearing her aspect, at most other people would try to end the conversation by saying somethings like.

{Ohh would you look at the time, sorry i need to go.}

{Well i need to go now, sorry but we can have this conversation later.}

{I think i need to go now, my friends are calling me.}

{We can have this conversation later, i need to feed my pigeons.}

As she thoughts about that, her eyes were now filling up with tears, as she said slowly.

"y-you..... m-must b-be .... th-thinking t-that i-i ...am... u-useless r-right!!" 

Tears were now streaming down her cute face and her voice was now starting to sound dejected, she was stuttering between her sentences.

Her beautiful doll like face now looks really pitiful. If anyone were to saw her face like now they would surely feel very sympathic towards her.

And would do anything to stop her from crying but unluckily for her the world she is born in is cold and cruel for people like her with a flaw that made her disable.

Raizel come out of his thoughts as he look at the crying girl.

'Hmm... is she thinking that i will abandonment her like others.' He was able to quickly come into the conclusion, after all he was very familiar with what type of personality Cassie have in the starting.

'I think this is the perfect situation for me to intervene.' thought Raizel as he took his first step towards making Cassie his tool.

"You really are an idiot, aren't you." said Raizel trying to sound as if he was disappointed with her right now.

"H-huh??" Cassie stop crying as she couldn't understand the words said by the girl in front of her.

'Why is she calling me an idiot ???' thought Cassie confused, she couldn't understand the meaning behind her words.

"That's one of the most powerful aspect i have come to known, so instead of crying you should be proud of yourselves." said Raizel as if he is speaking the fact.

Cassie blinked, now all of her tears have gone as she looked in the direction of Raizel with a confused look.

"M-My..... A-Aspect.... p-powerful.... y-you a-are joking Right!!!" said Cassie incredulously, she doesn't believe what Raizel has said or she refused to believe it, after all she herself know her situation better.

"Cassie i am not lying, your aspect is indeed powerful, if you looked closely." said Raizel, he looked at Cassie who seems to be going thought different type of emotions.

"W-what do you mean ???" said Cassie confused by his words, trying to understand the meaning of words said By Raizel.

"You can see the information of other attributes, and you can even see the future which gives you an advantage over others, if that not powerful, then i don't know what is." said Raizel as he put his cup down, he looked at the blind girl who seems to be taken back by his response.

Cassie was silent for a while, before a sad smile appear on her face.

"Your are wrong about the second one Raizel, i can only see some glimpse of future and past, but this is the ability i have no control over, the visions can come at any time...." she said sadly.

"But still you can see the future is already a blessing itself." said Raizel as he himself know about this.

'After all knowing the future is one of the best power to have.' thought Raizel himself knows that it gives him an advantage over others, made him prepare for rough situations that are coming at future in advance.

Cassie was silent for a while as if thinking about Raizel words, she didn't really thought about this, how could see when her mind was preoccupied with her flaw, she was so fixated on her flaw that she forget that her aspect ability is indeed powerful, if looked closely.

"...but what the point of having this power when i can't even defend myself." she said as sadly and knowing full well, that she would be defenseless against the nightmare creatures and other beings.

After her words their was a silence in the table, as non of them said anything.

"Cassie, would you like to be my friend." said Raizel suddenly making Cassie looked up at him.

She has a look of shock plastid on her face as she couldn't believe what she just heard.

"F-Friend!! M-me!!!, you must be J-Joking right!!" said Cassie still not believing what Raizel just said, after all why would someone would be friends with her, when she is practically useless.

"I am not joking, Cassie." said Raizel with a bit of serious in his voice.

"So would you like to be my first friend ?" said Raizel, as he looked at the girl who has a look of shocked plastid on her face.

She then smiled and she said with a delightful tone.

"I would love to." she quickly agree, after all this what she has wanted, and she can't live alone in this academy.

'Well that was easy.' thought Raizel as he looked at the blind girl, who seems to be in a happy mood, way too different from the crying face she has a movement ago.

Cassie and Raizel talked for a whole while, After that Cassie left with her caretaker since she has classes to attend.

Now Raizel sat alone, thinking about new way to make Cassie fully dependent on him.

'Now i have grained her trust, how should i make her do that-' his thoughts were interrupted by the sudden commotion, which drew his attention.

He looked up and saw a lot of sleepers gathered around looking at a what seems to be a large screen hanging on the wall of the cafeteria.

Their faces were filled with nervousness, excitement and awe. A list of names was displayed on the screen, with their photo, they were ranked from weakest to strongest, mostly likely deduced from the result of the interview.

'Right this...' thought Raizel as he remember that academy likes to showcase the ranking of the sleepers, by the information they has gather from them.

'Hm.. it seems like i got the first place.' thought Raizel as he notice his name written at top of the board in bold letters

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Sunny (pov) 

'What's going on?'

Thought Sunny as he looked up and noticed that a lot of Sleepers were gathered around the large screen hanging on the wall of the cafeteria, their faces filled with excitement and awe. On the screen, a list of names was displayed, ranking the new batch of Sleepers from weakest to strongest, most likely deduced from the results of the interviews.

Not particularly interested, he quickly found his own name near the bottom of the list. The only Sleeper who the Academy judged to be less likely to survive, and at the last bottom below his name their was a girl name Cassie.

But the commotion was a bit too loud to be just the result of the ranking. Curious, he moved his gaze up. The Sleepers were restless.

"How... how can this be?!"

"I'm not seeing things, right?"

"What kind of a monsters are they?!"

Caster was placed in third place. And right above him, the portrait of the silver-haired girl could be clearly seen.

To the right of it, two simple lines of text were displayed:

"Name: Nephis"

"True Name: Changing Star"

Sunny was surprise to see other person with a true name, it's not like he didn't consider the possibility of someone getting a true name but still it leave a sore taste in his mouth.

'Wait if she is at second then who is at the top'

Curiously, he look up at the top list and saw a portrait of a white hair girl with her named right on the side. 

"Name: Raizel" 

"True name: Prince of Darkness"

'Wait!?, it's her!!'

Sunny has a dark look on his face as he remember the event that happen yesterday when she broke his arm. The feeling of that pain was still fresh in his mind and the cause of that pain was the girl who is now ranked top on the sleepers ranking list.

Even his shadow is trembling whenever he is near her.

So, the silver-haired girl, Nephis, and the white-haired girl, Raizel also received their True Name in their First Nightmare. To get his own, Sunny had to deal with Hero and Mountain King while possessing a completely useless Aspect — an impossible feat that seemed to have pleased the Spell very much. 

'I wonder how they had gotten theirs.'

Sunny gaze around the cafeteria and saw a lot of sleepers were dumb struck by the revelation of this achievement. They were staring at the screen with astonishment, fear and admiration. It is the first time in the history when two sleepers had gotten a true name in their first nightmare Listening to their excited whispers, Sunny felt a childish desire to scream "Me too! I have one too!".

But, of course, he kept quiet.

Suddenly his gaze landed on the proud legacy, he saw Caster whose gaze was fixed on the screen. There was a strange, somber expression on the humorous young man's face. But the weird thing about it was that.

 Sunny could tell, Caster wasn't looking at the line of text containing the True Name nor he was looking at the number one rank.

Instead, he was staring at the line of text that read "Nephis", as though the girl's actual name held more meaning to him than the one given by the Spell. 

'Interesting. Do they know each other?' 

His though were interrupted by a some sleeper.

"Hey did you both notice that Raizel true name is Prince of Darkness not Princesses of Darkness"

"Yeah now that you said that it is weird"

"Do you think the spell made any mistake"

"It's impossible"

Sunny heard some sleeper talking about, he has also notice this as he looked at the name.

'Now that you say that, It is indeed weird that Raizel got Prince not Princesses, so did the spell really made a mistake in the naming process or....... is it something else ?'

Sunny still doesn't know the mistry of spell so it was hard for him to decided it.

'Well speaking of Raizel where is she'

Sunny glanced around the cafeteria and quickly noticed the white-haired girl sitting alone, she was staring at cup in front of her lost in her own thoughts and wasn't paying any attention to commotion that she has unknowingly created.

As Sunny looked at her, he could still feel the pressure and that killing intent that she release at him yesterday.

'She is dangerous...' thought Sunny, as he could see a lot of sleeper seems to be nerves while looking at her.

He then shifted his gaze from her, not wanting to attract her attention.

'But where is Nephis?' thought Sunny as he looked around the Room and saw the silver haired girl, she was also sitting quietly in the conner, drinking her coffee lost in her own world.

Finally as if sensing something the silver haired girl, Nephis raised her head and looked around her with surprise look. 

''Um..What!?''

None answer her, as they all didn't know how to talked to her. 

After a couple of moments, a boy walked in her direction, the boy was ofcource Caster, the proud legacy, as he reached in front of her he made a small bow.

"Lady Nephis, I am caster from Han Li clan, I see that your trials went well" said Caster still maintaining the bow.

'Wait... Why is Caster calling her with such respect.' Sunny couldn't help but think as he looked in their directions, he saw Nephis seemed to be a little bit perplexed by the question asked by Caster.

Suddenly she smiled brightly and shrugged and said.

"It is what it is."

Caster awkwardly smiled hearing the answer from her, he then nodded his head.

"Well then i guess i should leave." said Caster as he saw that Nephis was drinking her coffee, which indicated that the conversation was over or simply oblivious to everyone's attention.

'Hmm so she the silent type... huh.' thought Sunny as he got some new information about the girl.

His gaze shifted to Caster who was looking around the cafeteria as if looking for someone.

'Is he looking for Raizel ?' thought Sunny, after all it wasn't hard to guess since he first approach the girl who is second at Ranking and then his objective must be Raizel.

Sunny then shifted his gaze as he looked at table where Raizel was, but was surprised to found that she wasn't their.

'Did she left... but when???' thought Sunny shocked at her sudden disappearance.