Shadow Slave

Well, actually, it was black. Shrouded in the darkness of the long night, Sunny rode north through the wailing hurricane of snow. To his eyes, which could see through any shadows, the snow appeared as light-grey, bordering on white.

The way back was not long enough to deal with thoughts and emotions raging in his heart, but luckily, Sunny had too many worries about the future to drown in the regrets of the past.

'...Doesn't matter, anyway.'

Verne was dead, and everyone else was also dead. None of the people Sunny had come to know in the past weeks survived. Now, all he could do was make sure that his soldiers, Professor Obel, and Beth did not share their fate.

That was not going to be an easy task.

Soon, the wreckage of the old war machine appeared in view. Sunny dismissed Nightmare, walked into the rusted metal frame and lingered for a few moments in front of the Rhino.

Then, he opened the hatch and climbed inside.

Quentin, Samara, and Belle were keeping watch, each of them tense and ready for battle. Noticing him, the Irregulars sighed with relief.

"Captain. You're back."

Sunny nodded.

"Did anything happen in my absence?"

Quentin shook his head.

"There were no Nightmare Creatures yet. Professor Obel and Miss Beth were both exhausted, so they're sleeping. We settled the Professor in your quarters. I hope you do not mind."

He remained silent for a moment, then added with a hint of melancholy in his voice:

an eye on them. In case one or both have become carriers of the

at that moment, so he

'No Nightmare Creatures, yet..."

change at any

allowing his soldiers to sleep and leaving the Rhino, even if one of his shadows had stayed back to observe the surroundings and be a potential exit point of

in the wild expanse of the Antarctic Center, it was Nightmare Creature country now. Hordes of

transient swarm could have stumbled on the cohort's camp at any moment, so it was not

was a thing of the

choices that were dangerous. But after leaving the protection of LO49 and its thick walls, he

his [Fated] Attribute, such calculations

his face with a hand and then rubbed it. He was

nap, then. Wake me up

Obel, Sunny climbed into one of

to

his consciousness plunge into the comfortable embrace of darkness, he summoned Saint and ordered her to guard the Rhino from

all Sunny could

***

blizzard enveloped the world, obscuring the cold dark sky. He had

short straw when they were assigned the transport vehicle, since standard pods

did not smile,

that his shadows and Saint did not perceive any threat,

Samara

three Irregulars could not wait to get some long-awaited rest. Their exhaustion and desire to sleep were so overwhelming that they did not even linger to listen to the report

than they had yesterday. Even though one night of rest was not

a few hours, felt utterly broken instead of rested himself. However, that feeling would pass

"So?"