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.

the six Awakened and stopped with his back to them, closer

himself standing at the head of the small group

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

fearsome

with them was already a good thing, but this one, in particular, looked especially imposing. His onyx armor and fearsome blade were obviously a cut above the Memories

then, someone recognized

"Wait… isn't that M—mongrel?!"

others looked at the girl who spoke with

"Who?"

them with

Lord Mongrel! Haven't you heard of

the eyes of the Awakened gathered in front of the opening Gate. One of them glanced at Sunny, lingered

to have heard of you. If I may ask, are you an Awakened

move a muscle, and lied almost

am not an Awakened. I have

man raised an

not an Awakened? Then who

Sunny cursed inwardly.

'My damned tongue…'

a second,

just a

and turned his head slightly, staring at

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

Disheartened, he asked:

"Combat Aspects?"

then the girl who had recognized him

agility and allows me to strike with deadly precision. Two guys have Dormant Aspects centered around endurance and strength, and the other two can perform

three weak Combat Aspects, two supporting fighters, and no

lowered his head

his feet, and bits of dust and small pieces of gravel were slowly rising into the air, levitating on the invisible currents of energy coursing through

I am going

of the Soul Serpent tighter,