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?"

the one who looks like a

cares about some captain?! Haven't

"...Heard what?"

who cleared it? It was Mongrel! Lord

way! He's in

Sunny blinked.

'...What?'

listened to what the soldiers were talking about, the more he heard the damned

Mongrel, Mongrel, Mongrel…

'Are they all insane?!'

similar to the Mantle of the Underworld, but everything else was different! Firstly, and most importantly, she was clearly a woman while he was obviously a man. Secondly, his

mistake one for

thinking about it for a bit, however, Sunny

Mask could do and why he wore it. People, however, did not. To them, the fearsome mask was just another Memory, so it was perfectly natural that Mongrel would don a

had gotten a good look at Saint. She was moving incredibly fast while galloping to the rear of

recording remained had to be of terrible

And speaking of recordings…

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

of several recent articles

almost two years, renowned swordsman Mongrel appears

true to his word, Long Mongrel, who once proclaimed that he was just a human, courageously puts his life at risk

footage of Lord Mongrel

to be… a

silently covered his face

'Gods… that was fast.'

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 was a good tool to inspire more people

turned