Nephis

When Sunny saw Nephis again after three months of separation, she changed a lot compared to the last time he had seen her. Outwardly, she looked almost the same — tall, firm, and strangely distant, as though existing slightly apart from the rest of the world. She was wearing the Starlight Legion Armor, which accentuated the graceful lines of her slender, lithe body.^[23] She has ivory skin.^[24]

Her silver hair was much longer, almost reaching her shoulders. Without the short tomboyish cut, she looked strangely mature and feminine, making Sunny's heart beat a little faster. Her calm grey eyes were as striking as ever. It shined with resolve and determination, radiating an almost infectious feeling of temperate confidence.^[23]

During the Beach Episode, her figure seemed especially slender and lithe next to Effie. However, she was also extremely athletic in appearance. Her ivory skin was pleasantly contrasted against the olive skin of Effie, making it a sight to behold.^[24]

After staying behind the Dream Realm, somewhere far away, a young woman with striking grey eyes, was battered by the heat. Her skin was covered in terrible burns, her silver hair dirty with blood, and surrounded by a radiant halo of reflected light. She wore charred remains of shattered armor and wielded a broken sword, its silver blade fractured and ending in a jagged edge close to the hilt.^[25]

Later, she was seen wearing a simple government-issued tracksuit. Her silver hair, however, was now long and lustrous, framing her face and making her look strangely feminine. Her beauty was stunning. When she appeared, it seemed as though the whole hallway became a little brighter.^[27] According to Rain, she was a slender and graceful young woman, with flawless ivory skin, striking grey eyes, and strange silver-white hair color. Her face was calm, aloof, and strangely mesmerizing.^[28]

When Effie arranged an outing, she used Autumn Leaf lent by Sunny to change the color of her distinct silver hair. Her hair was now black and lustrous, falling to the middle of her back like a waterfall of the finest silk. Her calm grey eyes contrasted against it which seemed even more striking. Her ivory skin seemed to glow despite not channeling her white flames. She looked stunning wearing a vibrant red dress that barely reached the middle of her thigh and left her shoulders bare. These clothes were picked by Effie.^[29]

For the Valor clan ball, Nephis chose to wear a more practical attire, but nevertheless splendid. Her knightly suit consisted of black trousers, a black doublet with silver embroidery, and a pristine white cape. Her hands were clad in white gloves. The simple band of the Crown of Dawn accentuated the steely grey of her striking eyes.^[30]

When dressed in house Valor's colors, Nephis appeared differently. The black armor created a striking contrast against her ivory skin, silver hair, and cool grey eyes. She looked like a beautiful dark spirit that took the form of a deadly knight to sow the seeds of discord and ruin in the mortal world.^[31]

According to Cassie, Nephis' true essence is a being woven out of pure light and flame. Her human body is not presented as her true self, but rather a form she takes instead of the natural foundation of her existence. Unlike ordinary beings, whose mortal flesh serves as the natural foundation of their existence, and therefore must endure the gradual and painful process of being reforged and reborn as a more perfect being in order to truly become Supreme. Nephis transformed almost instantly because she was unique in her very nature.^[36]

However, that impression turned out to be completely wrong, as Sunny realized, Nephis was simply an incredibly awkward person. She was not in a habit of openly showing her emotions. As a result, she was so bad at emoting them that her face always looked cold and neutral. That's why, most of the time, she simply chose to talk as little as possible or not to talk at all.^[38]

She seemed like a noble person, seeing that she saved Cassie without asking for anything in return, just because she wanted to, and provided the dwellers of the slum in the Dark City with free food.^[39][2] Although she seemed noble, she was shown to be cynical and pragmatic as well when she told Sunny to take Cassie in the castle because it was the best choice and they need information on what to do next using Sunny's shadow.^[40] Another example was letting Caster close to her because she needed him in the future. It doesn't matter that he intends to betray her.^[41]

She also has this maniacal obsession and conviction to accomplish her goal of destroying the Spell that Sunny thought she was insane.^[42]

Sunny noted that she seemed strangely stable for a person who had gone through something that no one should have ever been forced to endure.^[44]

While she was lost and wandering the Dream Realm, slowly forgetting what it felt like to be human, there was one thing she clung to that reminded her that all her prior life had not been just a dream and that was Sunny or to be exact, his runes.^[45]

She didn't need an unwilling slave. She despised the idea of forcing anyone to obey her. Instead, she intended for people to follow her of their own free will. She preferred for people to bind themselves by their desire to serve her. She also valued Sunny and even respected him. But despite all that, she still saw him as a follower and a follower could never be an equal.^[46]

She can be an incredibly resourceful individual when necessary, similar to Sunny. This was exhibited when she gained fifteen new Memories in the span of two days to respond to Sunny's question via their bond.^[47]

From the outside, she looked like she drew power from conviction but the truth was simpler. She had told Sunny why she wanted to destroy the Spell and that was because she hated it.^[48]

Nephis may looked like an emotionless, aloof, and deadpan figure but it was not that she did not have feelings. She had just spent her formative years in solitude, unable to express her emotions in the company of others. Although she now knows how to communicate due to being a public figure, her default state remains unchanged, reverting to her childhood.^[53]

In Chapter 1676, Nephis is willing to die for a couple of Sleepers, as she believes it is worth it because her principles are more important than material possessions.

Nephis also described the battle as a failure despite its apparent outcome. She stated that if she had succeeded there would have been far more survivors and she would not have been trapped in the Dream Realm for two years. Reflecting on the battle against the Crimson Terror, she explained that the fight had been too taxing, that she had realized the mechanics of the Spire too late, and that Caster had already died, leaving no one else to serve as the conduit. She ultimately rejected the idea that the event was a victory, stating that she had only ever tasted defeat for the longest time.^[63]

Nephis reflected on her past experiences with a bittersweet perspective, describing her life as one defined by repeated defeat and loss, and stating that her only true virtue was perseverance, not valor. Upon arriving at the Forgotten Shore, she recalled being young, naive, and driven by anger, and later facing the Dark City, where trusted allies lost confidence in her, leading to a senseless civil war that reduced the number of Sleepers from over a thousand to approximately one hundred survivors, while she remained behind. She noted that her confidence was later shattered during her Second Nightmare, describing it as an utter, crushing defeat, and she endured further humiliation by submitting to tyrants and witnessing widespread devastation caused by the Chain of Nightmares until she regained her resolve in the Third Nightmare in Twilight. Despite attaining Supremacy, slaying the Sovereigns, and becoming ruler of humanity, she acknowledged that these achievements were largely the result of desperate gambles and luck. Even as Supreme, she was effortlessly defeated by Asterion, which forced her to abandon her people and flee, but she emphasized that she would always rise back up.^[64]

Despite not possessing the unnatural ability to peer into a being's essence through Shadow Dance, Nephis can study the enemy and discern their battle techniques. Her insight was not supernatural but valuable, as Nephis was a genius of combat, born and bred for battle, and had a chilling affinity to bloodshed and destruction.^[69]

Her favored style was always flowing and unpredictable, but in the Third Nightmare, it had assumed a strange, almost mystical quality. Delivering force is the basis of swordsmanship or spearmanship, or any other kind of weapon skill. The amount of force is dependent on mass and acceleration. The body is the source of that force, and the weapon is a force multiplier. It concentrates it into a narrow tip, thus making it easier to deliver lethal damage.^[70]

Nephis' swordsmanship, which had always been somewhat ineffable due to her control over the battlefield and enemy, now possesses a bizarre quality. Her steps, cadence, offensive and defensive moves seem familiar but dangerous. Her light steps allow her to position herself optimally for attacks, while her defense is nearly impenetrable, alternating between immovable hardness and inviting softness, which dissipated the force of attacks.^[71]

Nephis could control the flow of combat and manipulate the actions of her enemies which had always been the basis of her skill. As her combat mastery grew rapidly, this ability grew even more frightening.^[72]

In Chapter 2296, Nephis' talent was described as indomitable. Once she learned a True Name, that Name could never escape her. She could invoke any Name without hesitation or failure.

In Chapter 2695, during her battle with the Madness of Kanakht, Nephis invoked several Names to channel and enhance her power through the Blessing: Name of Destruction, Name of Passion, Name of Hatred, Name of Love, Name of Despair, Name of Courage, and Name of Wrath. By calling upon every passion and its every shade, she subjected herself to unbearable, overwhelming emotions and allowed herself to be consumed by madness.

The Name of Divinity was described as one of the first Names Nephis had taught Rain, since it was the foundation of countless other Names. It was also described as the opposite of the Void, and therefore of Corruption. Although all Shapers had to know it, they almost never invoked it, and were incapable of invoking it, since mortals were not meant to command Divinity.^[75]

The True Name of Divinity carried immense burden and power, described as a primordial Name whose weight was almost crushing. Nephis was able to channel it because of the Flame of Divinity burning in her soul and because of her Divine Lineage.^[75]

Nature

In Chapter 2849, it was mentioned that the true extent of Nephis' vitality was unknown, and although the Deathless launched a vast cloud of arrows, javelins, and makeshift projectiles—each carrying enough force and murderous will to kill a Supreme—these weapons could not truly kill Nephis. Even if they inflicted dreadful wounds, those injuries would be washed away by the white flames. However, being caught in the air by the swarm could cause her to fall and be surrounded and restrained by the Deathless, since near-immortality was a sword that cut both ways—making beings like Sunny and Nephis difficult to kill but making defeat far more dangerous than death. During the attack, her body was pierced and her radiant wings were torn, yet she still managed to escape the cloud of projectiles and continue fighting.

The Immortal Flame clan was already gone, and Nephis was the only one remaining from their clan. Nephis' father, Broken Sword, was the first human to conquer the Third Nightmare and become a Saint. Her grandfather, Immortal Flame was the first one to conquer the Second Nightmare and become a Master.^[21] And her mother, Smile of Heaven received her True Name in her First Nightmare.^[82] She became hollow while pregnant with Nephis. Making her a hollowborn.^[83]

She was four when her father died.^[84] There is a manor which is the only property her clan has left and everything else was liquidated and sold a long time ago.^[85] That is why she doesn't have any Memories even in her First Nightmare.^[39] She sealed the manor before leaving for the First Nightmare. She has a bit of money left. Most of their retainers fled over the years, and the rest left after her grandmother passed away.^[85]

• She was the first place in the Academy ranking.^[1]
• Nephis is a big fan of Night from Nightingale.^[86]
• When Nephis provided the dwellers of the slum with free food, some people even started jokingly calling her "Saint Nephis", as though she was some sort of an angel.^[2]
• Her nanny tried to kill her for the first time when she was six years old. She led her to an empty room and tried to strangle her. Nephis thought it was a game for the first few seconds and her teacher who happened to pass by saved her by killing the nanny using his Aspect Ability.^[87]
• There are only two people Nephis trust in this world: Cassie and Sunny. She only trusts Sunny to have her back.^[88]
• According to Sunny, when Nephis laugh, it was melodic, pure, and very pleasant to the ear. To the point, he wished that their lives were different so that people could hear Nephis laugh more often.^[83] She also has a beautiful smile that make her look much softer and younger than she usually seemed. To which Sunny think was a shame to seldom see.^[89]
• Nephis' original hair color was black but after her First Nightmare, it became silver.^[83]
• She was the one and only graduate of Sunny's school of deception and lies.^[90]
• She wants to visit her mom once she's back in the real world.^[91]
• The battle technique she taught Sunny was from her inheritance.^[92]
• When she enrolled in the Academy, she knew someone among her classmates has received orders to make sure she never return from the Dream Realm. At first, she thought it was Sunny due to many things that doesn't make sense about him:^[41]
  • He claimed to be an orphan from the outskirts, but somehow managed to survive both the First Nightmare and the arrival on Forgotten Shore.
  • He didn't consume any soul shards but kept going growing more powerful.
  • He said that he had never held a sword before but absorbed her lessons with astonishing speed.
  • Every other word he said was a lie, especially when it came to his origins, his past, his strength, and his Aspect. (Note: These are all based on Nephis' understanding.)
• She told Sunny a joke for the second time before they clashed with the Bright Lord and the first time that it was actually funny.^[41]
• As Sunny's Master:
  • In Chapter 350, her first order as Sunny's master is to let him go to the gateway to save himself and meet his sister in the waking world.
  • In Chapter 1280, she ordered Sunny not to die after slaying the Azure Serpent in the Tomb of Ariel.
  • In Chapter 1522, she ordered Sunny to dismiss his Crown of Twilight due to him drowning in the sea of madness via its enchantment [King's Resentment].
• Sunny noticed the similarity between her and the depiction of a radiant being engraved into the walls of the ancient mine below Hollow Mountains.^[93]
• The survivors of Forgotten Shore made an altar for her in front of the Academy gates due to being under the impression that she had become trapped in the Dream Realm in order to give them a chance to escape. They were her zealot followers.^[94]
• Azarax said that she has the stench of a daemon, one of the Weaver's.^[95]
• She was portrayed by the government as the symbol of the noble and unbreakable spirit of humanity.^[96]
• She came back to the waking world after Cassie had a premonition of fire during Valor Negotiation.^[97]
• Nephis had long established her penchant for accomplishing the impossible:^[26]
  • She had escaped alive from a battle with a Corrupted horror of the depths as a Sleeper before.^[98][26]
  • She had slain a Fallen Terror as a Sleeper before.^[99][26]
  • She was the first human in history to conquer the Second Nightmare as a Sleeper, thus jumping Ranks, and returned to the waking world unscathed.^[26]
• Her entire existence was designed to continually baffle Sunny.^[44]
• Her first question after having a run-through of events when she was gone was why Night&Gale disbanded^[85]
• Sunny told her that with the help of the Weaver's Mask, she would most likely be burning without reprieve, forever, unless she was using her power.^[84]
• When she first saw Rain, she wore nothing but one of Sunny's black shirts, leaving her long legs mostly bare.^[28]
• It seemed that Nephis knew Rain is Sunny's sister based on her question to her about her house having a big window and a lawn.^[28]
• She made Sunny's projector explode while watching the movie "A Song of Light and Darkness" together with Rain. During the movie, talking about Sunny suddenly made her a little more lively.^[100] She also lied to Sunny about what happened to his home projector.^[101]
• She became interested in watching the fights of Mongrel.^[100][101]
• Inside her soul burns a brilliant radiance of five flaming, incandescent suns.^[45]
• Back on the Forgotten Shore, she had always been the one in charge of feeding the cohort.^[45]
• She is the first one to try Sunny's home-cooked ramen.^[102]
• During her solo journey in Dream Realm, Sunny, or rather his runes, reminded her of her prior life was not just a dream.^[102]
• When Sunny made her coffee, it was left without sugar.^[103]
• She might also have a formidable defense mechanism in her soul that was strengthened by the lineage of the Sun God.^[104]
• She was adopted by the brother-in-arms of her late father and joined Valor Clan.^[19]
• She concealed the fact that she had multiple cores from Valor Clan.^[47]
• When the news of what happened in Falcon Scott reached them, Nephis seemed shaken and Effie almost saw her having a facial expression.^[105]
• She feels more connection with Hope than the Sun God despite being the inheritor of the fire who obliterated the Kingdom of Hope. In a sense, she was the last descendant of the Sun God who brought ruin to the land.^[106]
• Right before they reach their Dream Realm anchors, Nephis told the truth to Sunny about the explosion of his projector.^[107]
• As a child, Nephis wondered how Heracles could be both a god and a lost shadow in the land of the dead. She learned from their grandmother that one part of Heracles was divine and the other was human. It was the divine part of Heracles that ascended to godhood, while the human part was cast down into the underworld, doomed to wander its dark halls forever. As she grew older, she realized that these two versions of the myth were colliding, with the older stories of Odysseus having Heracles' tragic death, and the newer versions of his stories having a happier ending with the added lesson of valiant heroism.^[37]
• She cooked a birthday dinner for Sunny on Black Turtle Island in the Third Nightmare.^[81]
• According to Sunny, Nephis always give away the Echoes she earned to someone else.^[108][109]
• In Chapter 1431, she had made Sunny a dessert.
• In Chapter 1472, she kept a habit of checking Sunny's runes that she knew immediately after he became a Terror. She also hugged Sunny to comfort him.
• In Chapter 1514, she had unleashed the true horror of her Aspect.
• In Chapter 1662, it was mentioned that Nephis used Memories to create fire and light after her Second Nightmare, but now it seems that this is no longer the case.
• In Chapter 1665, her flames would burn vessels of Skinwalker instead of healing them as her soul is immune to corruption and therefore the flames of her soul do not tolerate it.
• In Chapter 1667, she felt embarrassed because Lord of Shadows wanted to prevent her adopted father from knowing their actions.
• "[Your soul shines brighter]" was what the Spell whispers to Nephis after she killed creatures.^[110][111]
• Nephis had earned a large number of Memories in the past four years (after Third Nightmare), but most were not worth her essence.^[112]
  • Some went to the Fire Keepers and some were sold off to fund them. Even with the nominal support of Clan Valor, maintaining a Citadel and private army was expensive. The more clandestine affairs that the Great Clan could not be allowed to learn were handled by Cassie, which also demanded a lot of funding. So Nephis kept only a few Memories, relying on her skill and strength in battles.^[112]
• As Nephis is a leader and public figure, she diligently practiced her communication skills to make the right impression, despite not possessing an innate talent for it.^[113]
• Nephis had not formed connections at the Academy due to her uncertainty about which fellow Sleepers were being sent to kill her at that time.^[113]

• Nephis, as a saint, could carry seven other Saints or over a hundred mundane people across realms.^[114]
• Nephis had never really had a sweet tooth.^[17]
  • In Chapter 1689, she was unable to stop eating the cake Sunny prepared for her.
  • In Chapter 1694, she also seemed to enjoy the waffles Sunny made.
• Nephis' acting skills have improved over the past four years (after the Third Nightmare).^[17]
• In Chapter 1738-1740, Nephis encountered an attempted assassination.
• In Chapter 1743, Nephis revealed that she along with Cassie, Effie, Jet and Kai are going to destroy the Sovereigns.
• Nephis carried the lineage of Sun God, but her Aspect was connected to the mythical Nephilim.^[115]
• During the beach date with Sunny, she received a beautiful soul shard from Sunny as a gift. It was perfectly round and polished, glimmering with beautiful nacre color. It came from a stealthy Nightmare Creature that looked like a massive boulder, a monstrous abalone of Awakened rank.^[116]
• When Master Sunless confessed that he is the Lord of Shadows, Nephis felt conflicted with the contrasting persona but also couldn't deny the possibility as they both able to stir her emotions.^[117]
• Nephis and Sunny had kissed four times in the novel:
  • In Chapter 1840, Sunny and Nephis shared their passionate first kiss.
  • In Chapter 1909, Nephis initiated to kiss Sunny to feel alive.
  • In Chapter 1964, Nephis had to judge how tasty Sunny is, so they kissed.
  • In Chapter 1967, they kissed again and was implied that Sunny had done it with Nephis. It was verified by the reactions of Sunny's shadows (Haughty, Naughty, Crazy, and Creepy shadows) in Chapter 1968.
• Beings like Mordret and Nephis fear being caught by enemies more than most people, and their strength can be exploited to become a weakness.^[118]
• According to Gilead, similar to her father, Nephis make impossible things possible.^[119]
• In Chapter 1892, Nephis had been forced to fight against Moonveil without her flames.
• Nephis was able to heal from a distance, but it did not apply to Jest.^[120]
• In Chapter 1900, Moonveil nearly killed Nephis despite her Aspect which made her nearly immortal.
• Nephis inherits her mother's rare ability to bring people together, acting as a unifying force despite her starkly different personality.^[60]
• In Chapter 2245, Nephis, on the brink of destruction, grasped the path to Supremacy same time as Sunny. She had to survive. (Refer to Nephis' Process to Natural Supremacy)
• She detonated her soul cores a couple of times in the story:
  • During the Third Nightmare, when she destroyed Twilight in Chapter 1517 and mentioned in Chapter 2243 she destroyed the First Seeker using this method.
  • In Chapter 2243, she destroyed 6 of her cores to fight Ki Song.
• Due to the nature of her Domain and source element, she was able to tell what someone was feeling about her and inspire them.^{[113][33][121][122][123][34][35]}
• White Flame is the name of the cocktail themed after Nephis. It is especially notable, crafted with the finest Beast Farm cream and strong spirits, described as both "smooth and fiery, warming the body and soothing the heart".^[124]
• Nephis' goal remained unchanged even after learning the truth about the Nightmare Spell in Chapter 2443-2444.
• The Madness of Kanakht sensed abnormalities in her mind, remarking that "there is so much of you missing". It describes her mind as "a ruin already", claiming that "there are holes everywhere", and that "someone tore out half of your heart and replaced it with fog". These missing pieces are connected to the gaps left in her memory after the Tomb of Ariel (Third Nightmare), which she recognized.^[125]
  • The meaning of it was cleared in Chapter 2993, her POV, after Sunny got his fate back in Chapter 2977.
• Nephis had a decisive advantage in the Fifth Nightmare because she was deeply anchored to her sense of self through multiple means: she was connected to billions of humans and their most ardent wishes through the Longing Domain, a connection that would most likely be enough to preserve the core of her being even during the profound transformation of Apotheosis, and even if she were stripped of that Domain, she would still possess an overwhelming tether in the form of her own ardent desire and absolute, uncompromising resolve to conquer and destroy the Nightmare Spell in a way she deemed worthy; furthermore, it was emphasized that this was no coincidence, as she possessed the [Longing] Ability, which made her soul incorruptible, allowing her to withstand the threat of losing her humanity and sense of self that defined the Fifth Nightmare.^[126]
• In Chapter 2843, it was mentioned that after the Red Hill fell, Nephis was consumed by wrath, and when the investigation revealed the treachery of Saint Thane, she responded with brutal fury. She turned the enthralled Saint into a screaming bonfire, though the screams did not last long because the immolating white flames stole his voice. Nephis burned him until there was nothing left but a shriveled, blackened stick figure, yet she did not kill him. Instead, she restored him to flawless health with the same flames and then burned him again — and again, again, and again, repeating the torment until the name Asterion became synonymous with harrowing pain in his mind. The relentless cycle of agony and horror ultimately proved terrifying enough to overpower Asterion's hex and erase it.
• In Chapters 1677, 2239, 2893-2894, she assumed the form of the Spirit of Light — of a being whose body was woven out of pure radiance and flame, not mortal flesh.
• Nephis implicitly admitted her love for Sunny during their time in the Tomb of Ariel, acknowledging that he had made his way into her heart despite their earlier agreement, and affirming that she trusted him deeply even without knowing his past.^[127]
• In Chapter 3111, Nephis, who has always had a distant relationship with fear, was overwhelmed by terror in the presence of a fallen and corrupted god. An inevitable reaction of a mortal standing before an Unholy being, making it one of the rare moments where Nephis is truly terrified.