Shadow Slave

Sunny stood at the peak of a tall coral mound, observing the battle that raged below. There was a slight frown on his face, but his eyes were calm.

The Dreamer Army was besieged from two sides. One horde of abominations was slowly devouring its front line, while another had descended on them from above, stalled for now by the vast net of sharp iron wires.

…It was like a scene from a fever nightmare.

Every second, humans were dying, torn apart by the claws and fangs of the harrowing horde of monsters. Their cries and screams fused with the roaring wails of the Nightmare Creatures into a deafening wave of dissonant noise. That wave washed over the crimson coral, sending a chill running down his spine.

Turning away from the bloodsoaked visage of the battlefield, Sunny glanced at Nephis.

Changing Star was sitting on the ground. Her face was calm, and her eyes were closed. On her forehead, the gem of the Dawn Shard burned with furious white light, feeding hundreds upon hundreds of Memories with raw power. She appeared to be in the depths of profound meditation, seemingly not affected by the horrible decimation that was happening below them at all.

Cassie was standing beside her, looking at the ground. Her hand rested on the hilt of the Quiet Dancer. The other two Echoes of the blind girl had been with the first line of the army during the initial charge; by now, they were already destroyed.

Sunny wanted to say something, but then thought better of it. The time for conversations was over.

Instead, he faced the Crimson Spire. His gaze lingered on it for a few moments, then slid back to the terrible sight of the slaughter. Straining his eyes, Sunny tried to distinguish the figures of Effie and Kai in the chaotic formation of the Dreamer Army.

'Don't die just yet, fools…'

***

Down below, surrounded by those warriors of the first line that still stubbornly clung to life, Effie had long forgotten about anything else but bloodshed and strife. The scope of the world had narrowed to the suffocating confines of the furious battle, consuming both the past and the future.

The was only the present, and the present consisted of nothing but violence and death.

…And killing, of course.

With a mad grin on her bloodied face, she faced one abomination after another, crushing, breaking, and tearing them apart. Her tall, lean body had turned into a lethal battle machine, moving with ferocious speed and devastating power, deadly precision and murderous will. Both Zenith and Dusk behaved like natural extensions of her limbs, alternating between attack and defense to reap one profane life after another.

Her armor had been pierced several times, but she paid it no attention. It didn't matter. All that mattered was to kill as many Nightmare Creatures as possible, to obliterate as many of the hateful monsters as she could. Their corpses piled up, carpeting the crimson coral with an uninterrupted bleeding mass of broken flesh. After a while, Effie had to start watching her step carefully.

Despite that, the number of abominations showed no sign of growing smaller. It was as though the horde was endless and boundless. But she wasn't scared…

In fact, Effie was enjoying herself.

Oh, this was so exhilarating!

Dodging a serrated claw, she lunged forward and crushed the ribcage of an attacking monster with the rim of her shield, then used the remaining momentum to skewer another one on her spear. With no time to retrieve her weapon and turn, she used the shaft of Zenith Shard to deflect a blow from a mighty pincer of a carapace scavenger and kicked the beast viciously, shattering the adamantine shell of its armor.

Other Sleepers were fighting around her, using the fearsome huntress as an anchor in the sea of death. They were still holding, still breathing. Two other islands of resistance had formed around Gemma and Caster, who were also in the throes of the battle trance.

The proud Legacy had turned into a whirlwind of ghostly steel, eviscerating any creature that dared to approach him. His movements were so fast that his enemies' blood could not even fall to the ground. As the result, Caster was constantly surrounded by a cloud of red mist.

The experienced Hunter fought with cunning and skill, sending one abomination after another into the embrace of death. Whatever wounds appeared on Gemma's body were soon gone, not even leaving a trace. Numerous fearsome creatures had been slain by his hand, unable to do the tall man any harm.

…And yet, humans were dying. One after another, they fell, leaving less and warriors to hold back the gluttonous horde.

As Effie fought, a sudden thought entered her mind, sending a slight shiver running through her body.

'...Heavy. That damn shield is so heavy…'

She was growing tired.

***

Kai had lost count of the number of monsters he killed. Because of the constant cycle of losing blood and magically getting it back, he felt slightly lightheaded. Luckily, he had yet to miss a shot… maybe?… and was able to continue firing.

More and more corpses fell on the iron net, their blood flowing on the people below. It was as though they were now fighting in the rain. A red, fetid rain of blood…

Blood, blood, blood. No matter where he looked, he saw nothing but blood.

He was sick of it.

Gritting his teeth, Kai drew his bow once again, aimed between two dead creatures above him, and sent an arrow flying.

[You have slain an awakened…]

They were running out of arrows.

The siege engines were running out of lances, too.

And the damn Messengers were still circling high above, not even trying to descend.

'Why, why aren't they attacking?!'

Looking down, Kai tried to catch his breath and muttered:

"Curses…"

Why was it so dark? He couldn't see where his quivers were.

Something shifted in his mind, and then he blinked.

Looking up again, Kai realized that the entire net was now covered with corpses. There were so many dead Nightmare Creatures that they formed a macabre carpet that veiled the battlefield from the sun.

There wasn't a lot of daylight seeping through the net now, and it was growing darker and darker with each second.

His eyes widened.

Not because of the deep darkness, but because Kai suddenly heard the iron wires groaning under all that weight. Almost as if strained too much and on the verge of tearing apart.

The protective net was going to break soon.

His face paled.

'Oh no!'

***

On the tall mound of crimson coral, Changing Star suddenly opened her eyes and looked at Sunny.

"It's time."