Shadow Slave

On the second to last day before the departure of the First Evacuation Army, Sunny and his cohort had nothing much to do. The gymnasium they used had actually been dismantled the previous night, so it was impossible for them to continue training.

Of course, Sunny could have come up with an inventive way to put his soldiers through more grief, but he eventually decided against it. Instead, he gathered them on the wall of the port fortress for an improvised picnic.

Leaving the Northern Quadrant was a big occasion, especially considering that they were going to war. This was probably going to be their last chance to relax and enjoy themselves in complete safety, so it would have been a shame to miss it.

The cohort enjoyed a lavish meal consisting of various tasty dishes Sunny had commandeered from the officer's mess hall. There were even beverages that were technically prohibited by army regulations, even though they had very limited effect on Awakened.

The seven of them watched as heavy containers were being loaded on the massive ships in wistful silence. Well… at least six of them did. Luster, meanwhile, was secretly ogling Samara.

After a few moments of silence, the tall woman suddenly said in an even tone:

"What are you staring at?"

The young man flinched and awkwardly looked away.

"That… uh… that's a wicked scar you have! How did you get it, Sam?"

Samara, indeed, had a prominent scar that stretched all the way from her shoulder to her forearm. Since the sleeves of her bodysuit were currently rolled up, a part of it was on display.

She briefly glanced down at her arm, then shrugged.

"When I was around your age, there was a Gate that opened on top of an unfinished city barrier. As one of the closest Awakened to the site, I was among the first responders. We held the Nightmare Creatures off while the construction crews were evacuating. Anyway… there was an explosion, and I was thrown over the edge. Luckily, my arm got caught on some scaffolds. It hurt like hell, but at least I didn't fall all the way down to the ground and turned into a puddle."

couple of times, then

my entire right arm bitten off once. A giant stone worm somehow tunneled under the Citadel I was anchored in, and then emerged from underground, swallowing the Gateway in one go. Those of us who survived had to fight it off, but then got stuck on the pieces of rabble, surrounded

He paled a little.

could only move through soil, so we were safe as long as we remained on top of big

his limb in the Dream Realm. Although it must have caused a lot of damage to his

man looked around and gave Belle

the

thought

out there in the wilderness. We had a Gate open nearby, and the entire facility ended up being overrun. I

smile appeared

it to say, by the end of it, I was constantly coughing out chunks of my lungs. That was the worst I have been hurt. Luckily, a kind Ascended healer lent

settled over the cohort. A few moments

crush both of my legs. I had to drag myself through the mud for two entire weeks of slow, painful crawling to get to the nearest Citadel. That was

battle scars, Quentin hesitated for

into an easily consumable slushy… as spiders do. The problem was, I was able to heal myself a little bit faster than the acid was dissolving

looked at him in

how did you

The gallant man smiled.

before I did, fortunately. However, I failed to

looked down, and

and it quickly spread to the entire Citadel. Many people died in agony. Eventually, we found out that the plague was a manifestation of a bizarre Terror. Once we did, a Saint of the great clan Song arrived, and somehow managed to destroy it. I, as well

patted the young woman on the