Cassie's Act of Defiance

In the aftermath of the war between Hunger Domain and Mirror Domain, the Ebony Tower was devastated as its ancient gates were violently torn from their hinges and white mist flooded the great hall while Asterion and the army of the Hunger Domain emerged from the mist after braving the sea of nothingness to conquer the tower and end the final war, bringing with them indescribable dread, a suffocating presence, and overwhelming insatiable hunger as battered Saints and rattled Awakened soldiers poured into the ruined hall, signifying that the final conflict between the Hunger Domain and the Mirror Domain had effectively been decided within the Ebony Tower.^[1]

Cassie attempted to flee toward the portal arch at the top of the tower, hoping to restore and rewrite the runic circle connected to the ancient network of archways created by the Demon of Desire, and although escape remained very, very improbable, it was still not out of the question; however, while she initially believed Asterion and the Dreamspawn would prioritize hunting Mordret, Asterion instead fixed her with the chilling gaze of his golden eyes and followed her up the tower with unhurried steps and a faint smile as she fled past the second floor where divine flames blazed in a great brazier, desperately urging herself to move faster, though in the end, she was not fast enough.^[1]

As Cassie reached Nether's former workshop in Ebony Tower, a violent swarm of crows burst through the windows, wounded and cornered her, and ignored her desperate warning as she prepared to fight her way to the fourth floor.^[2] Cassie fought desperately against Wake of Ruin's endless swarm of crows in Ebony Tower, she abandoned her restraint and used her powers to erase Saint Cor's memories and identity entirely, reducing him to a mindless husk despite the agony it caused her. Before she could kill him, however, Asterion arrived in the workshop, effortlessly halting her with a calm but terrifying presence and demanding that they talk instead.^[3]

Asterion confronted Cassie in the Ebony Tower while she backed away holding a dagger, realizing she could not escape him. He explained that he had already defeated Mordret countless times and considered him a known variable, while viewing Cassie as important because she might still hold clues about other wielders of Divine Aspects despite erasing her memories.^[4]

Cassie accused Asterion of causing Mordret's failed Apotheosis and corruption, but he denied it, stating the failure was already preordained and inevitable. He explained Apotheosis as the process of becoming a Spirit, where a Spirit was a being whose soul encompassed an entire realm, fusing with the laws that govern it.^[4]

Asterion further stated that those from the War Realm could not achieve natural Apotheosis there because their realm denies their existence, forcing them to attempt it in the Dream Realm, where they risked merging with the laws of the Realm of Corruption. He said Mordret failed because he was unprepared to become a god and unable to withstand the realm's darkness. He claimed he was different because he had been born in the Dream Realm. He saw its darkness, and emerged unscathed on the other side due to being a Dreamspawn. When he tried to have Cassie restrained, one soldier unexpectedly resisted, revealing that his control was not absolute, but the moment offered little comfort. He demonstrated his overwhelming power by effortlessly killing a Saint, reinforcing his dominance. Overwhelmed and terrified, Cassie fled through the Ebony Tower, realizing escape was hopeless yet refusing to surrender, ultimately choosing to stand and face him with a dagger rather than give in.^[4]

After Sunny got his fate back^[5], Cassie suddenly swayed as the great empty gaps in her ruined mind were no longer empty, and as the fog within her mind cleared, the Spell whispered into her ear.^[6]

Despite being battered, bruised, bloodied, and exhausted, while the pain in her empty eye socket burned intensely. With both the Longing Domain and the Mirror Domain lost, and with nowhere left to run as her back was against the wall, Asterion urged Cassie to stop struggling and simply give up. Although she recognized that surrender might have been easier, she resisted against all reason and raised her dagger for one last, hopeless act of resistance. She answered Asterion with the statement, "What to do? Struggling is the point", reflecting her belief that life is defined by constant struggle against forces that seek to end it. This defiance became more significant when her lost memories of Sunny, the Lord of Shadows, Lost from Light, suddenly returned. Through these restored memories, Cassie realized that she and Sunny had broken fate, with Sunny as the blade that cut it and Cassie as the hand that had aimed the blade. This recognition of their role in shattering fate directly led to the Spell's proclamation that she performed an act of defiance by defying fate, she became Supreme.^[7]

Even though fate is described as something beyond ordinary universal laws, it was not an absolute law. It was something that existed above even the universal rules that governed existence. Breaking fate is presented as quite an astonishing act of defiance, and Natural Supremacy is tied to this act because there was nothing more defiant than breaking an absolute law.^[8]

Breaking fate alone was insufficient to attain Supremacy, imposing one's Will upon the world did not matter if the source of that Will was destroyed in the process. Cassie initially failed because after the Tomb of Ariel, she became broken and destroyed, walking the earth as a ghost of a person. However, after Sunny reclaimed his True Name and weaved himself back into the tapestry of fate, Cassie's mind was restored. This restoration proved that her will prevailed against the tyranny of fate, and she emerged on the other side triumphant.^[8]

Cassie's transition to Supremacy began while she stood at the center of a ferocious, roaring maelstrom of memories, rebuilding her shattered mind and reclaiming her identity. As she absorbed the vast ocean of memories inherited from the Nightmare Spell, her Will continuously strengthened, allowing her to assimilate the memories faster and faster. At that point, two things were happening at the same time: she was absorbing her dire Aspect Legacy while also attaining Supremacy. Although her body had not yet been reforged into a higher Rank, her spirit was already infused with the power of a Supreme, because only that level of Will allowed her to survive the crushing burden of the inherited memories instead of crumbling and ceasing to exist as a person.^[8]

After remembering herself completely — especially remembering Sunny — Cassie finally understood the reason for her Supremacy. Natural Supremacy demanded one to commit an act of supreme defiance, and Cassie had committed perhaps the greatest defiance possible by breaking fate itself. Fate was described as existing above even the universal rules that governed existence, something before which even gods and creatures of the Void had to bow. However, breaking fate alone had not been enough to become Supreme, because her earlier defiance had seemingly ended in ruin after the Tomb of Ariel, leaving her broken and destroyed, merely a ghost of a person and a shadow of her former self. Only after Sunny reclaimed his True Name and restored her broken mind did her defiance become complete. Her Will had ultimately prevailed against the tyranny of fate, allowing her to emerge triumphant.^[8]

Even after grasping Supremacy and rebuilding herself from the memory shards, Cassie faced another danger. During the recovery of her memories, she remembered being Torment, causing the forbidden knowledge of the Defilement to take root in her mind and give birth to Corruption. Darkness began spreading through the radiant nebula of memories, and it seemed inevitable that she would succumb just as Mordret had. Yet while Transcendent Cassie could do nothing, Supreme Cassie possibly could. Her Domain was incomplete, her soul remained between Transcendence and Supremacy, and her flesh was still that of a Saint, but the fifth seal of her Aspect had already been broken, granting her Supreme Ability. That ability allowed her to manifest anything she remembered into reality. Using it, Cassie called upon her Aspect and destroyed herself, then recreated herself as a version untouched by the vile secrets of the Defilement and therefore free from Corruption. After absorbing the last memory shards and regaining control over herself, she opened her eye and faced Asterion with a cold, detached expression, having completed her transition into a newborn Supreme.^[8]

Cassie manifested the Quiet Dancer and confronted Asterion after becoming a newborn Supreme, revealing that her Domain drew power from every memory she possessed. While stalling for time to erase humanity's memory of Asterion and weaken his Domain, she secretly marked countless soldiers with her Will, even as Asterion read her thoughts and exposed the limits of her abilities. He realized that Cassie could not summon another Supreme being because she was already using her power to sustain her own existence, leaving her able to call only lesser entities. Despite this, Cassie summoned a terrifying horror known as the Mad Prince, whose sinister presence immediately unsettled even Asterion.^[9]

• The Nightmare Spell granted Cassie a harrowing boon, her Aspect Legacy—an overwhelming flood of memories spanning countless beings and eons, from the Age of Gods to the present moment, and even events unfolding elsewhere in real time. The sheer influx of this calamitous boon proved unbearable, a burden no human or even Transcendent mind could endure, causing her mind to shatter. Her last memory before losing herself was awakening in an ocean of broken memories, where she began trying to reassemble herself from countless shattered fragments.^[7] (Refer to Cassie's Fragmented Memories)