Shadow Slave

There was not much time to prepare and make plans, since the abominations were going to reach LO49 in mere minutes. The Shrill alarms blasted throughout the facility, and poweriul spotlights ignited on its walls, flooding the snow-covered plain with light. Civilians rushed to shelters, while soldiers ran to man the defensive fortifications.

Sunny and his cohort followed, summoning their Memories as they calmly prepared for battle. As they walked through bitter cold, he spoke:

"After we deal with the Nightmare Creatures, everyone is to remain awake until we board the ship. You know the drill. We won't be sleeping for a week, at least. Maybe two. Get the stimulants from Quentin and keep each other in check."

The Devils grumbled. They had already completed a few long missions in areas where sleep was deadly. A week was unpleasant, but doable... two weeks, however, was going to be a hellish challenge.

'I just hope that Ariadne arrives on time.'

It was not like they had any acceptable choice other than sit and wait...

At that moment, someone called out to Sunny.

"Hey, you... uh, Master Sunless, or whatever... what is going on?"

He looked to the side and saw Beth -- Professor Obel's assistant -- shivering in the cold in her civilian clothes and flimsy lab coat. The young woman's hair was gathered in a bun, like always, but a few stubborn locks had wrestled free and were now dancing in the wind.

Her pale face wore an irritated scowl, but he could see fear and alarm hiding behind that temperamental mask.

had spoken with the old man a lot, learning all kinds of things about the tumultuous times of the First Generation, the world before that, and the scientific understanding -- or rather, the lack of it -- of

That was why he knew

even more petty

appeared from nothingness and embraced his body, Sunny looked at the

do you think is going on? There's a big Gate and a lot of nasty Nightmare Creatures coming this way. We'll go deal with them real quick. You head back, gather the

for a moment, then

"Yeah... alright."

and ran back into the door of the research center. Sunny shook his head and continued forward. Soon, they reached the top of

but it was just a matter of time. As turret towers whined, ramping up

plate armor, holding a shield and a

"What do you think?"

still following the swarm of Nightmare Creatures, so he

surprisingly weak. He was even confused by the fact that it affected the strength of the Call so much. The power

strongest of them was merely a Demon. Of course, the word "merely" could hardly be applied to a

Finally, Sunny spoke:

you deal

not an easy request. However, asking an average Master to face a Corrupted one was less so, because all Masters were elites by definition. There was a fundamental distinction between Awakened and Ascended, since most

would

Master hesitated for a

"I'll handle it."