Shadow Slave: Eternal Madness

To Raphael's surprise, there is no induction ceremony today, which is good because he wouldn't interact with Main Characters, especially Cassia.

The reason he doesn't want to meet her is because of his attributes. If Cassia saw [Fated] or [Instant Regeneration], it would give him huge headaches.

Right now, he was being taken by Academy personnel along with four other sleepers.

"Ahm! Welcome to the Awakened Academy. I'm sorry to say that the induction ceremony will be held after three days, but don't worry—you will start from tomorrow."

Not like Raphael cared about it. In the end, he planned to ditch it.

"Now please take this paper, write your information, and the course you will be studying."

After finishing, he returned the paper to the personnel.

"Your appointment with the Academy personnel will be held now. Let's go."

Reaching the place where the appointment would be held, Raphael had to wait until the other sleepers finished.

After waiting for 15 minutes, it was finally Raphael's turn.

Raphael found himself in a small office, sitting across from an administrative worker. The Academy personnel didn't waste time and started asking.

"Would you mind telling me about the type of Aspect Ability you received? Is it combat, sorcery, or utility?"

Raphael did actually mind answering.

'I don't know. I haven't understood it well.'

It was the truth—Raphael doesn't know the potential of his ability.

"That's alright. Are you able to directly deal damage with your Ability?"

"It's hard to say. It can deal damage, but at the same time, it cannot."

"Would you want to tell me your Aspect rank?"

Raphael remained silent.

"Did you receive a true name?"

"No."

"Would you like to talk about your first trial?"

"I would like not," Raphael said with a smile.

The meeting continued for five more minutes.

"Thank you for cooperating, Sleeper Raphael."

"It was my pleasure."

"Please take this. It's your key to your room, and your wilderness survival course will start tomorrow."

Reaching his room, Raphael entered. He took seconds to check it.

It was, at best, mid—just a room with a bed and a bathroom.

Raphael sat on the floor. He didn't want to get the bed dirty because he would start experimenting on his Ability.

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The next day, Raphael stood in front of the door of his class.

'Sigh… this will be the second time meeting Sunny.'

He still remembered meeting Sunny at the police station. He really wished Sunny had forgotten about him.

Raphael knocked on the door.

The door opened, and in front of him stood a man. He was a lively old man with messy grey hair, absentminded eyes, and a pair of bushy eyebrows that seemed to jump around on their own.

The man had a creepy smile on his face.

"Come in, young man, come in."

"Thank you."

Raphael looked around, only to find the class empty. Only one student was there, and it was none other than Sunny—the self-proclaimed protagonist who isn't really the protagonist.

Taking a seat two seats away from Sunny, Raphael observed.

"I'm Awakened Julius. You can call me Teacher Julius. What's your name?"

"It's Raphael. It's nice to meet you, Awakener Julius."

"Ah, Raphael, like one of the three Archangels from the old religions. If I'm right, Raphael is the one entrusted with blowing the trumpet on the Day of Judgment to announce the arrival of the Hour—the end of the world."

Raphael was stunned. He thought the history of his world, or this world's past, was lost.

"Yes… My grandfather, who named me, was a believer in the old religion."

"Your grandfather had a good naming sense. It's a very good name."

"Thank you."

"Well, let me introduce you to your senior. His name is Sunless."

"It's nice to meet you, Sunless," Raphael said with a smile.

'I now understand why Nephis fell head over heels for him.'

"Nice to meet you too, Raphael."

"Ahm! Now, as you know, Raphael, you are later than Sunless, so you will study two more hours with me alone until you catch up with Sunless."

"Yes, Teacher Julius."

Sunny looked at Raphael with a mocking look.

'He's the one who ran when he heard me saying I was infected with the Spell. He got infected too? That's karma, bitch.'

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Raphael's days continued in the Academy, and the Induction Ceremony came. He ditched it as planned.

His daily life was divided into three parts. First, he would wake up, take a shower, and go to his class with Teacher Julius. Second, he would return to his room and sleep for three hours. Finally, he would train his body and experiment with his Abilities.

Raphael woke up early today, as always, but today there was no studying—it was the day before the Winter Solstice.

Finishing his daily routine, he went to his class to meet Teacher Julius.

Entering the class, he only saw Sunless. It seemed Teacher Julius would be late today.

Raphael looked at Sunless and smiled.

"Good morning."

Sunless looked at Raphael. To Sunny, Raphael was weird. Sometimes, when he sent his shadow to {Investigate} other sleepers, he would enter Raphael's room.

What he saw was really weird. Sometimes, a red spike came out of Raphael's body, or his body would start changing, becoming taller or shorter. But the weirdest thing was that Raphael hurt himself.

Sunny thought it was his flaw—or that he was a masochist.

Sunny wasn't one to judge; in the end, everyone has their own fetishes.

Raphael sat in his place and waited for Teacher Julius to come.

Five minutes passed, and still, he didn't come. Raphael looked at Sunless.

"Sunless, can I ask you something?"

Sunless, with his flaw, quickly answered.

"No."

Raphael smiled. He knew Sunless's flaw and asked anyway.

"If you were summoned to a death area, what would you do?"

Sunless looked at Raphael with a surprised look.

'Where did that come from?'

But because of his flaw, he was forced to answer.

"I would try to survive until I either die or get out of the Dream Realm. What about you?"

"Me? Don't worry—I will live and come back to the real world. That's inevitability."

Sunless was surprised. Then he thought of something.

'Is he trying to be cool?'

Suddenly, the door opened. Entering was Teacher Julius.

"I'm sorry I'm late."

"No problem, Teacher Julius," Raphael said with a smile.

Julius looked at his students with an emotional look, but he still put a smile on his face.

"As you both know, we've finished everything about how to survive in the wilderness. Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice. You guys must survive and come back. Do you understand?!"

Raphael stood up and put his hand on his forehead in a military salute.

"Yes, sir."

"That's the spirit, Sleeper Raphael! Now you're all dismissed. Enjoy the last day in the Waking World."

Raphael looked at Sunless and smiled.

"Good luck tomorrow."

Sunless smiled back.

"You too."

Raphael returned to his room, holding a small book summarizing everything about his Ability [Self Sovereignty] and his Flaw [Masochist].

First, he can only control his blood, bones, and organs.

Second, creating a weapon for now is impossible for two reasons: one, he doesn't know how a blade looks like; two, creating a blade requires precise measurements and an understanding of the weapon's center of balance.

Third, and most importantly, he doesn't feel pain when using his Ability. This was very good, considering his Flaw.

Finally, his Flaw—it was worse than he initially thought. Still, it was better than being burned alive every time he used his Ability.

Raphael took the small book and ripped it into pieces.

He looked at the window in his room. Seeing it was already late, he decided to sleep.

But before that, Raphael sat in a prayer position and started praying—be it to the six dead gods, the Dream God, or even his firstborn son, Weaver.

"Please don't summon me to the Forgotten Shore."

He prayed for five minutes and then went to sleep.

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Raphael felt tired, as though he hadn't slept for a month. He was walking with other Sleepers to the Academy's medical center.

The center looked more like a shrine than a hospital. Its interior contained both highly advanced technology and some of the best Healers among the Awakened. For the duration of their first journey into the Dream Realm, the bodies of Sleepers would be kept safe in specially designed pods and sustained by the magical powers of those Healers if anything unfortunate were to happen on the other side of the Spell.

After entering the medical center, Instructor Rock did not take them directly to the wing containing Sleeper pods. Instead, he led them to a comparatively deserted floor and opened the doors to a spacious gallery brightly illuminated by the beautiful crimson rays of the setting sun.

There, they saw rows and rows of wheelchairs. In each wheelchair sat a person with a blank, strangely peaceful expression on their face. All of them were completely silent, motionless, and still. They showed no reaction to the appearance of guests.

Raphael knew what they were. They were hollows.

Instructor Rock looked at the empty people with solemn eyes.

"There's a reason I brought you all here. Look well and remember. Some of you may know who these people are. For those of you who don't, they are called Hollows."

He gritted his teeth.

"Each one of them was once either a Sleeper or an Awakened. Some of them were weak, some of them were strong. Some were even incredibly powerful. All of them have perished in the Dream Realm."

"So don't die out there."

Half an hour later, the Sleepers had been led to their personal rooms and were preparing to enter the pods.

Raphael looked at the pod in front of him and entered it.

Inhale.

Exhale.

"Let's do this."

Raphael closed his eyes.

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[Welcome to the Dream Realm, Raphael!]

Raphael found himself lying on sand. He stood up quickly, ready to defend himself from any monster… but there was none.

He felt something wrong—very wrong.

He turned around, and what he saw destroyed him.

In the distance, there was a pyramid. It was so large that it made The Seven Wonders of the World, both ancient and modern, seem insignificant.

Raphael knelt on the ground. He knew what that pyramid was. It was The Tomb of Ariel.

The gods are truly benevolent and merciful. Even in their deathbeds, they had heard his cries and prayers and granted him what he wanted.

Raphael knelt for ten minutes, trying to comprehend what was happening.

But then, he stood up. He needed to run.

'Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run… I need to escape this place.'

His goal? The Forgotten Shore.

Fate truly has a twisted sense of humor.

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[Volume 1: Lost] End.

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[Volume 2: Madness] Opening quote: All hail ****** the one who will Devour the World.

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Hello everyone Rzxs here as you can see Volume 1 Lost just ended. If you have any suggestions please tell.

And tell me what do you think about this Volume overall?

1800 words chapter, I need to rest..