Shadow Slave

The road ahead of Sunny was almost empty. Only several people could still be seen, running away from the vertical line where the air was rippling strangely, a hundred or so meters behind their backs. When they saw his menacing figure, the stragglers recoiled. Someone let out a frightened yelp.

Not paying them any attention, Sunny calmly walked forward.

The Soul Serpent rested on his shoulder.

'Strange… I have never seen an opening Gate up close before.'

The deserted street in front of him did, indeed, look very eerie. Not only because it was almost entirely empty, both of pedestrians and of rushing PTVs, but also because light and shadows were behaving very strangely, the hue of the light slightly wrong, the movement of the shadows slightly erratic.

The sound was strange, too. It was deadly quiet, but at the same time, Sunny couldn't get rid of the feeling that there were barely audible noises coming from all directions, assaulting his ears like an inaudible cacophony of muffled, distant, demented screams.

There was a strange pressure rising in the air, getting stronger the closer he got to the nascent Nightmare Gate.

The Gate itself was easy to recognize. It looked like a tall vertical depression in the fabric of the world, a place where light refracted in unnatural ways and the inaudible screams were the loudest… not a rift in reality yet, but a hint of one.

In front of the Gate, half a dozen people stood, staring at it in tense silence. The Awakened who, just like Sunny, decided to answer the call.

'Only six of them…'

While that fact didn't promise him anything good, it was to be expected. Two hundred seconds was just not enough for a lot of willing defenders to arrive. Even those who were ready to risk their lives in an attempt to protect the civilians needed time to get to the Gate, after all… this bunch were those who had already been in the immediate impact zone when the alert was sent to their communicators, just like Sunny.

Maybe they were overly confident in their abilities, or maybe, just like he, they had people they cared about in the surrounding area, perhaps even in the very same school where Rain was, a few hundred meters behind their backs.

In any case, he couldn't help but feel a bit of respect toward these people. Coming to a Gate already required a lot of courage… remaining even after it became clear that there were going to be less than ten Awakened fighting side by side to stall the tide of monsters was beyond that.

These people were ready to die to fulfill their duty.

'...Fools. Brave, brave fools.'

What about Sunny himself, then?

'I am a fool, too. But a cowardly one.'

Sunny had no plans of dying today. He knew what he was doing, and had ways to escape if things got too dire.

and stopped with his back to

standing at the head of the

The others were staring at the Gate with pale faces, their bodies tense, their eyes full of unease and dark resentment.

in the eyes of the fearsome mask, there was nothing

looked especially imposing. His onyx armor and fearsome blade were obviously a cut above the Memories they themselves had in their possession, and his calm demeanor suggested either an experienced

someone recognized

"Wait… isn't that M—mongrel?!"

at the

"Who?"

stared at them with wide

Mongrel! Haven't

gathered in front of the opening

seems to have heard of you. If I may ask,

move a muscle, and

not an Awakened. I have no

man raised

not an Awakened? Then who are

Sunny cursed inwardly.

'My damned tongue…'

a second, and then answered in

am just a

head slightly,

how they held themselves, they weren't elites. Several seemed to know how to hold a sword, but that was all.

Disheartened, he asked:

"Combat Aspects?"

and then the girl who had recognized him

strike with deadly precision. Two guys have Dormant Aspects centered

and no one capable

head

seconds left before the Gate opened. Slight tremors were running through the ground beneath his feet, and bits of dust and small pieces of gravel were slowly rising into the air, levitating on

I am going

gripped the hilt of the Soul Serpent tighter, then said