Shadow Slave

It seemed as if the world was ending. Even more than during the battle against the titanic horde or in Falcon Scott, it seemed like the world was breaking apart.

There had been clashes of similar scale in Antarctica, but at least there was some logic and structure to them. The thunderous roars of the railguns, the orderly formations of mundane soldiers, the power of the Awakened, the demented fury of the Nightmare Creatures - no matter how frenzied a battle was, there was a distinction between the clashing sides, at least.

Today, it was just chaos.

Thousands of Aspects tearing the ground and the sky apart. Awakened, Masters, Echoes, and enthralled Nightmare Creatures intertwined in murderous violence. Even the Saints were fighting each other, making the world shake with each strike.

Somewhere not too far away, Silent Stalker was entangled with Sir Gilead. The monstrous black panther had long ago ripped Summer Knight's mount apart with her claws and was now trying to extinguish the valiant Saint himself. It was not that easy to do because he had transformed as well.

Where a handsome knight in resplendent armor had been, there was now an ethereal figure that seemed to be made of pure sunlight. The figure was human-like and of the same height as Sir Gilead, but every time Silent Stalker struck at it, her claws simply passed through the light, not leaving any wounds on Summer Knight's shining body.

When he lashed out with his sword, however, deep wounds were left on the panther's sable hide. Silent Stalker did not seem to pay them any attention.

As they continued to fight, the radiance of the luminous figure was slowly growing bleaker.

On another spot of the battlefield, the ground trembled as a giant thunderbird fell from the skies. Sky Tide had withstood the rain of arrows and slaughtered the swarm of winged thralls, but then, a wall of invisible force crashed into her.

Saint Tyris rolled on the ground, unable to sustain her Transformation anymore, and knelt while grabbing her head. Her beautiful face was pale, and there was a dazed look in her eyes. She glanced at the distant formation of Clan Song, where Beastmaster was hidden, concentrating her incredible power to deliver a terrible mental attack.

Then, still kneeling, Sky Tide outstretched her hand and summoned her sword. As she slowly rose to her feet, swaying, a rush of Nightmare Creatures and enemy Ascended was already closing in on her.

Somewhere else, four Reflections were entangled in a strange fight with the wind. The lightning-wreathed thunderbird, a creature that looked like a towering hybrid between a wolf and a human, and a devilishly beautiful woman were launching one attack after another against an invisible opponent. There was a fourth mirror creature, as well, but it was as unseen as their adversary.

Whispering Blade alone was pushing back the Reflections of Sky Tide, Dire Fang, Beastmaster, and himself. It was impossible to say which side was winning, since the mirror creatures did not express any emotions, and Madoc himself could not be seen. However, their clash was far from reaching a conclusion.

Some distance away, Saint was fighting against the Reflection of Summer Knight. She had sent Nightmare away and stood alone against the radiant warrior made of sunlight, her black sword clashing against his shining blade with murderous intent. Two knights - one ominous and wreathed in darkness, the other resplendent and suffused with warm radiance - were like night and day, and their furious clash instilled fear into the hearts of anyone who witnessed it.

Nightmare, meanwhile, had attacked the Awakened warriors of Song, but was thwarted by the Reflection of Silent Stalker. The black steed was almost caught in the maw of the giant panther, but then, a scrawny figure of dark metal suddenly leaped on the mirror creature's back, grabbing onto it with sharp claws and sinking his irresistible teeth into the beast's hide. The three of them turned into a whirlwind of darkness, demolishing anything that got in their way.

The battle formation of Clan Valor had cut through the horde of thralls and collided with the Awakened of Song. Despite their unnatural unity, it was impossible to maintain the phalanx after that - soon, the battle inevitably descended into utter mayhem.

Awakened fought against Awakened, and Masters fought against Masters. Here and there, some managed to stay close to their cohort, while others were completely isolated and faced the enemy alone. Humans and Echoes were thrown together into a disorderly mess of dreadful violence and chilling cruelty.

Despite the fact that the warriors of Valor wielded swords forged by Anvil, which made them far more dangerous than they would have ordinarily been, they were still severely outnumbered. There were plenty of enthralled abominations left on the battlefield, after all.

Clan Valor was holding well, for now... But Sunny couldn't see how they could win.

In fact, the only reason for the strained equilibrium on the battlefield was Sky Tide. There was no effective counter against her powers among the high-ranking warriors of Clan Song, and so, Beastmaster had to concentrate her fearsome mental attacks on only one person.

Now that Saint Tyris had been brought down, however, the enchantress would be free to wreak havoc among the rest of Clan Valor's forces soon. Once that happened, the situation would very likely cascade into a disaster with terrible speed.

Apart from Saint, who was immune to mental attacks and mind manipulation, every other combatant on the battlefield would be at risk. Perhaps even Beastmaster was not powerful enough to break the will of a Transcendent instantly, but she did not need to, either.

Considering how dire the clashes between the Transcendents were already, a moment of distraction would be enough to give the enemy a crucial opportunity to deal a fatal strike.

She could turn her diabolical powers against the mass of Awakened, as well, ensuring that the spine of Valor's army was broken. Which meant... that Beastmaster had to be stopped.

But who could stop her?

Every powerful combatant on the side of Valor was tied down. Only the Masters were relatively free, or at least could extricate themselves from the melee with relative ease.

However, among them, Sunny alone possessed the ability to bypass the mass of Song warriors and attack the alluring Saint.

Problem was... he was not sure that he would be able to withstand her power.

More than that, he simply did not know where she was. Beastmaster was not very strong in a physical clash, so she did not show herself freely.

Cutting down an enemy Ascended, Sunny jumped back and sucked in a hoarse breath. 'Damnation...'

Something had to change.