Shadow Slave

'What a day…'

Sunny tiredly dragged his body back to the Rhino, wincing in disgust at all the bodies littering the ground. Why did Nightmare Creatures have to be so ugly?

'Why, do you prefer to be surrounded by pretty corpses? That would probably be even worse.'

War was ugly, and maybe… just maybe… it was actually a redeeming quality.

His soldiers followed him, just as exhausted. No one was seriously wounded, which was the best result Sunny could have hoped for. However, they were in no mood to speak.

Other fighters of the First Army, however, felt differently.

A buzz of voices surrounded them. The division was in the process of regrouping after the unexpectedly strenuous confrontation with not one, but two entire hordes of abominations. The logistics of the whole process were pure hell, which was only made worse by the strong interference produced by the Gates.

The Gates… in the immediate area around the human force, separated merely by a few kilometers each, there were now fifteen of them. Seven had opened at some point in the past, and eight more opened simultaneously just a few hours ago.

The idea of something like that happening would have seemed preposterous before, but with the Chain of Nightmares descending upon the Southern Quadrant, nothing was impossible anymore.

Sunny shook his head. At least he collected plenty of fragments today, as well as earning himself some reputation. Anyone who had seen him fight had to be impressed.

And why wouldn't they be? Sunny had personally slain three Gate Guardians today.

There was one problem, though…

As he walked through the battlefield, he couldn't help but overhear bits and pieces of various conversations.

"Damn… these Irregualrs are no joke. Have you seen their captain? The man is a demon! I heard… no, I saw him tear the head off a Fallen Devil's body with his bare hands!"

"Wait, really? Although, now that I look at him... it's easy to believe. That giant guy with a sledgehammer, right?"

idiot. The pale kid… you know, the one who looks like a

some captain?! Haven't you

"...Heard what?"

do you know who cleared it? It was Mongrel! Lord

way! He's

Sunny blinked.

'...What?'

the soldiers were talking about, the

Mongrel, Mongrel, Mongrel…

'Are they all insane?!'

most importantly, she was clearly a woman while he was obviously a man. Secondly, his Shadow wore her closed helmet instead of Weaver's

mistake one for

for a bit, however, Sunny came to a disturbing

did not. To them, the fearsome mask was just another Memory, so it was perfectly natural that Mongrel

fast while galloping to the rear of the human

be of terrible quality, considering

And speaking of recordings…

they reached the Rhino, Sunny connected his communicator to the vehicle's powerful communications suite

the sensational titles of several recent

the allure of fame and avoiding the limelight for almost two years, renowned swordsman Mongrel appears in Antarctica to save

Long Mongrel, who once proclaimed that he was

Lord Mongrel vanquishing a Fallen

to be…

silently covered his face

'Gods… that was fast.'

government propaganda machine must have decided that Lord Mongrel, whoever he might be, was a good tool to prop up the current recruitment efforts. A somewhat hot celebrity appearing on the battlefield

face turned a little