Shadow Slave

Seven new Gates. A flood of Nightmare Creatures. Thousands of tired soldiers who had hoped for a well-deserved reprieve after the long and furious battle, only to have that hope snuffed out in an instant.

Sunny could feel the resolve of humans surrounding him falter… but in the end, they quickly collected themselves. The officers barked orders, the soldiers hurriedly gathered in proper formations, the lumbering mobile war platforms repositioned to open fire on the new threat.

Truth be told, the new development was well within the division's ability to handle. Luckily, none of the Gates showed signs of reaching Category Three, so they did not pose more threat than the previous six. The human force had barely suffered any casualties, if any at all, in the recent battle, and they had a theoretical chance of repeating that success.

If there was one problem, though, it was that the division — just like Sunny and his soldiers — had overexerted itself in the previous engagement. Logistical vehicles hastily moved forward to give the fighters an opportunity to reload their empty magazines and recharge their armor suits. Artillery needed new batches of explosive shells, infantry needed energy cells and ammunition, MWP companies needed to cool down to avoid a forced shutdown...

All that demanded time, which caused humans to blunder the immensely important opening act of the second offensive. Additionally, they had lost the precious terrain advantage and strategic control due to the fact that one of the Gates opened behind them.

…That just meant that the warriors of the Awakened detachment had to pick up the slack and buy their mundane comrades a chance to regroup and properly enter the battle.

That included Sunny and his soldiers, too.

"Damnation."

Sunny remained motionless for a few moments, studying the approaching flood of Nightmare Creatures as his mind went into an overdrive. He had no doubt that hundreds of Awakened accompanying the division would be able to stall and destroy the threat… eventually. However, this time, the human force was not going to achieve victory with minimal losses. Many people were going to die.

time to unleash his trump

is just day

come to Antarctica in search of greater strength. Saving the lives of his fellow soldiers sounded very much like something that a

were going to suffer a crushing defeat. Victory was all but guaranteed, with only its cost remaining in doubt. Showing his aces, on the

he and his cohort were acting alone, but here in the middle of a massive battlefield... the thought left a bad taste in his mouth.

grim feeling slowly rising in his heart,

If Sunny did not go all out and his division lost

tomorrow, too, and then the day after that, and the day after that? Pretty soon, there would

a simple and chilling realization struck his mind. Sunny's eyes widened

had come to understand was so straightforward that it

hold back. Even though the Chain of Nightmares was far away from reaching its full magnitude,

that

Sunny gritted his teeth.

had known that this cataclysm was going to be a dreadful trial, of course, but now it became starkly clear that even Sunny had underestimated the true scope of

the corpse of a mighty Gate Guardian, he sighed, and then glanced

be bringing our old eyeless friends to the real world. Since we already know