In her palisade, hoisted by the less grotesque Corrupted puppets she had access to, something changed.
She was simultaneously in New Yharnam, of course, controlling the mass of puppets who served as the bulwark for the siege. However, the resistance they put up was far beyond her expectations. Moreover, their Ascended even managed to work together to slow down the Saints, keeping their momentum from mounting.
Of course, they still moved forward, breaching the city's walls and climbing higher and higher through the maze of strange architecture. Many of her puppets were being picked off by Awakened. Each was exceedingly capable, and she was reminded that they had all been under Gehrman's tutelage. If not directly, then by an instructor that he had personally trained.
Still, blood was spilled. She killed a few dozen, which was a lot less than she had expected. However, no Masters fell. The majority of the ones who went into the frey inexplicably had the same regeneration ability. She initially thought that it was from a Memory, but there was no Essence expenditure, so that couldn't be it.
Gehrman had done something else absurd, it seemed. The fact they could manipulate blood and heal – even if it was to a much, much lesser degree – was uncanny. If she did not know any better, she would think that he had become Supreme, and was augmenting them with the power of his Domain.
Because of their tenacity, she was unaware of the real battle happening closer to the castle. That boy who had somehow marked the Saints had revealed Silent Stalker's location, so instead of sneaking in to take the Citadel, she had to fight for it.
Of course, that meant fighting the strongest the New Workshop had to offer, and with the resources of what had essentially become a powerful Legacy Clan, he had access to enough materials to use his Aspect to its absolute best.
A Master could not beat a Saint though, no matter how prepared they were. Even with the Masters of the New Workshop holding off her new Transcendents, that was all they were managing. They could stall them, but not kill them. The gap in physicality was too much.
So they persisted, waiting until Stalker grabbed the Citadel and Ki Song could utilize the power of her Domain to easily crush the resisting forces.
However, something odd happened.
Ki Song felt the blood she lent Stalker be used, and soon after everything went quiet. There was no new Citadel added to her Domain.
Then, soon after, a roar exploded through the entire Citadel. Before Ki Song could pull her puppets into a proper formation, the split up units started to get utterly butchered.
Her main body gritted her teeth.
Honor Fell…
That boy had become extremely powerful. It was a blessing that he had cut ties with Valor in the end, having him under Vale would have been troublesome. However, they still ended up enemies.
She corralled the puppets of Great abominations that she had held in reserve, they were the only ones that could put a stop to his rampage.
Since her corpses were outside her Domain, once they were dealt extreme damage, she lost the ability to use them as a conduit for her power. In an instant, Honor Fell was managing to do just that.
An increasing number of corpses were decimated, leaving her view of the battle to become lesser and lesser.
She met Honor Fell with her Great creatures, but he proved to be more formidable than she could have imagined. He had the same healing and blood manipulation as some of the other Masters. He also possessed armor of a high tier, one that could even shape to his Transcendent Form.
He fought with skill that perhaps surpassed even her.
Damn you Gehrman, just what did you teach this boy?
In the end, she was totally and completely defeated. Though her Saints still lived, Ki Song was removed totally from New Yharnam.
That was why she was frowning. Her corpses were destroyed, but her Saints did not meet the same fate. As time went on, there were still no new developments.
What is happening over there?
…
The Vassals of Song awkwardly stood in what appeared to be an office. The office for the boss of New Yharnam no less…who they were just trying to kill.
Apparently, they weren't anymore.
In an instant, Caster appeared, slowing the air around him so his arrival didn't cause an explosion. He looked at the new Saints with appraising eyes. Despite him acting haughty, he was actually a good bit on edge.
Silent Stalker had ordered them to stand down, but that could have been a ploy. If she did turn on them, Caster was fairly certain he wouldn't be able to beat all six. He could probably take 3 or 4 down with him, but eventually his Essence supply would drain and he would be in trouble. Though his base acceleration didn't cost Essence, it would be much slower than his peak state. Enough so that they could likely adapt.
Though they were newly Transcended, they were not new warriors. Each had undergone the same horrendous trials that Caster had. (Though he seriously doubted they had to go through anything as horrific as the Tomb of Ariel).
"Now then, you said you could take us to Shan?" Silent Stalker asked. Her voice was clipped, and it was clear she was just as on edge as she was. Fortunately, it seemed that the combination of mentioning Seishan and name dropping the Dreamspawn was enough to get her out of combat-mode.
A clear, low voice answered.
"Now that mother can't see us, it's fine for me to come to you."
Both Seishan and Oskar returned from the Waking World. He had gone to fetch her in place of Caster since there was no way he could even flee if these six turned on them.
A bewildered look appeared on the vassals' faces.
A much more complex one was plastered on Silent Stalkers. Caster had never seen her look anything other than cold and indifferent. He supposed it made sense that the first time she displayed emotion it was involving her sister.
"You…where have you been? How could you just–" Stalker's question abruptly halted. She cut herself off, her jaw suddenly tensing.
It was clear how unsettled she was, and Caster couldn't blame her. He experienced shivers just from witnessing the look in Seishan's eyes.
It was simultaneously numb and overwhelming all at the same time. Of course, how could she not have been the most affected out of everyone. The one who she married betrayed her. Even if she was able to logically figure out that there was more to it than that, emotions weren't beholden to logic.
She felt what she felt, and it was clear that she was crushed under the weight of those emotions. Still, her gaze was strong.
"I am sorry," she said. "I should have talked to you all, I shouldn't have been so abrupt, but I trusted my instincts, and they were right."
Silent Stalker's eyes darkened.
"...You're serious, he's back?"
The mood in the room was filled with curbed anxiety and panic from that statement. At least, it was for most of them.
"Excuse me," one of the vassals raised his hand. It was a bit funny to see someone from his station act so shyly, but Caster didn't let the humor get to him. "Who are we referring to?"
Before one of the Princesses could respond, Caster stepped in.
"An extremely dangerous abomination. Only those closest to the Sovereigns, or those who were around for decades know of him." Caster crossed his arms, a serious look on his face. "He is a Sovereign, and was within the same cohort as Ki Song and Anvil."
That, naturally, got quite a reaction out of the Saints.
"Th-there is a third Supreme?"
"There always has been," Caster continued. "The other two came together one last time before retreating to Ravenheart and Bastion respectively. They did this to seal away that creature. His very nature is akin to a virus. Those who know his name can become conduits of his power, and his power is the domination of the mind and heart."
The dread in the room finally caught up to everyone, as the gravity of the threat became clear.
"I don't understand, if he was sealed…if he broke free from the seal, where is he now?" another vassal asked.
"Godgrave," Seishan replied. "He's been there for months. This entire time, he has been fighting Gehrman nonstop. That is why we haven't heard from him at all. It is a stalemate, as the Dreamspawn has a powerful immortality. However, since he has no Domain, Gehrman is able to keep up with him, so he has not succumbed either."
This news once again shook those of Song, more than anyone, Silent Stalker was astounded.
"I knew he was a monster, but taking on a Supreme as a Saint? And the Dreamspawn at that…" she shook her head. Then, in the next moment something finally clicked in her head. "Wait, you said you had to wait till mother was gone. You can't be implying he has control over her. It's impossible, he would need to have a Domain several times more powerful and be in direct contact. Even then, circumventing her Will would be extremely difficult."
"Thats why he hasn't taken over and made himself known, he doesn't have control over her. However, it's become clear to me that he does have a small amount of influence. At the very least he can bring a thought or urge to the surface, if only briefly," Seishan explained.
"When I left, I went searching for Gehrman, but when I found out what he was dealing with. I realized what was actually happening. Mother was…stressed, sure. However, threatening to take over his body was not just cruel, but also idiotic. There was never a need to do such a thing. Mother knew that, which is why she agreed to the initial contract. Her own desires and anxieties were twisted, that's the only logical explanation for what transpired."
Silent Stalker's face looked ashen. She looked down, trying to process everything.
"That…makes sense. It is a better reason than Gehrman abruptly going fully mad. Still, it does not change anything. Victory in the Domain War is even more pivotal now. If she holds humanity, then she should be able to cast off the Dreamspawn's influence, and perhaps erase him entirely."
"There is a problem with that though," Oskar interrupted. "She won't have all of humanity. If ol' Anvil kicks the bucket, the Dreamspawn will be the one to inherit Valor. He's already working with him, so it makes sense that if the King of Swords dies, the creep will show up to take his place."
"And at that point, he may very well be able to fully take over mother," Seishan added.
Silent Stalker let out a bestial growl and massaged her head.
"Gods damn it. As if this shitty war wasn't enough." She looked up at her sister. There were still words that needed to be said between them, but that would come later. "So, what's the plan of action then?"
Oskar took this time to level a glare at Caster.
"Yeah, Honor Fell, what was that brilliant fucking plan you came up with?" he said with derision.
All eyes turned to him, it took a lot to shake his conviction. However even he knew that this was absurd. He doubted even Gehrman would have come up with it.
"We have our backs up against the wall and the fight hasn't even started yet. Our odds are terrible."
"Great motivational speech," Oskar muttered, earning a glare from Caster.
"So I propose we make a gamble. One that is only possible if the people of New Yharnam are as crazy as I think they are."
Silent Stalker frowned. "You want to convince them to support my mother's Domain? It would definitely bolster her mental defenses; I'm not sure that would be enough, unless you could get the rest of the Government and the general populace on your side. "
"If your mother can hold off for a year, then yes we will push them into the Song Domain. We need to give them time to do what they need to do though."
"What the hell do they need to do to take a whole year?"
"Something crazy," Oskar sneered.
"It has high risk, but it is logical. This way, they won't be at risk of falling into the Dreamspawn's hands, and it will also make their Sovereign significantly more powerful."
The true nature of the plan became apparent to Silent Stalker then. Caster had to admit, she did enjoy seeing the utter shock and horror on her face.
"We are going to have everyone in New Yharnam evacuate to the Waking World. 300,000 mundane people will be forced into their First Nightmare, and in three months, during the solstice, they will become Awakened."
Each of the vassals looked at him like he was deranged, and Caster idly wondered if this was how Gehrman felt all the time.
"The 10,000 Awakened we have will also flee, but for them, it will be into their 2nd Nightmares."
Oskar crossed his arms, and the true reason for his displeasure became clear.
"And half of us Masters will go to the 2nd Nightmare. If all goes well, we will have about 500 Saints ready to dramatically enhance whoever is unlucky enough to fight the Dreamspawn."
...
Authors Notes (In chapter because it's long/important)
I looked on Reddit for how many Awakened/Ascended there are at this point in the story. I swear it was said somewhere, but I can't quite recall. I just keep getting Antarctica which is a few hundred thousand Awakened and roughly 1000 Ascended in the world. After the Chain of Nightmares, these numbers naturally exploded.
However, in the original Domain War, there was a solid 4 to 5 years for those numbers to skyrocket. In this timeline, it was only 2 to 3 years. For that reason, I came up with my own numbers just based on guesstimations.
Awakened: 1.5 million. Roughly four hundred thousand for Valor and Song respectively.
Ascended: 7 thousand. Roughly 3.2 thousand for each side (higher up in the Ranks they are pretty much guaranteed to be snatched up by a great clan. The leftovers are for the Government and the House of Night.
Saints: 90 (this is pretty close to the 100 number I believe they had in the original Domain War. The reason is I believe that both Sovereigns would have a bunch of 3rd Nightmare Seeds and cohorts ready to go, and started pushing them into becoming Saints very quickly after things started to heat up). Around 35 Saints on each side. The remaining 20 are Government or House of Night.
So, (IF THINGS GO PERFECTLY) (which they won't because it's impossible that everyone's gonna survive) the number of total Awakened is going to be increased by about 20%, the number of total Ascended will freaking double, and there will be an over 500% increase in the number of Saints.
Just wanted to give some perspective on why this gamble is fucking crazy.