Shadow Slave

The next conference room was much larger, and there were even some refreshments for the participants of the meeting. Sunny found the darkest corner of the room to settle in and tore open a packet of sweetened snacks - after making sure that there was no honey involved in their creation, of course.

Chewing on something that felt like a dried berry, he glanced around.

The most prominent figures of the First Army were arriving one after another. There were a few mundane commanders, but most of them were Ascended. Eventually, he counted no less than twenty-one Master - including the four Irregulars.

Naeve and Roan were also present, so he gave them a wave.

Master Jet, who was relaxing on a chair next to Sunny, gave him a curious look.

"What interesting friends you keep, Sunny."

He shrugged.

"What about them?"

Soul Reaper chuckled.

"No, nothing. It's just that here's a room full of government Ascended, and the two you're waving to are both connected to the great clans. If I didn't know you better, I'd think that you have a bit of a fondness for social climbing."

Sunny scoffed.

"The only climbing I'm fond of is... actually, never mind that. Weren't you the one who helped me broker a deal to get out of joining Valor, anyway? Surely you understand that a precious jewel like me doesn't need connections to earn the favor of a great clan..."

Hearing Jet laugh quietly, he added with a straight face:

the way. The mere thought that I could have been living like a prince somewhere in Bastion instead of spending quality time here

at him from behind

not know that Valor tried to recruit you.

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

do

Winter shook her head.

the clan. Either she was really ugly, or

retort, but at that moment, the door opened, and two

of them was Saint Tyris, just as striking as stem as Sunny remembered her. The second was a man with smooth ebony skin and perfectly white hair,

had only seen the man once, and from

was in charge of the naval convoy that had delivered the field army to the Antarctic Center, and the Saint Sunny had witnessed diving into the black water as a monstrous killer

He is also in

strait, so of course, Bloodwave was involved. He was most likely in charge of making sure that nothing

Sunny failed to realize that there was actually a fourth Transcendent in the Southern Quadrant right now... no, there

supposed to involve themselves with the ground operation,

proceeded to take a seat at the head of the table. Bloodwave simply leaned on the wall after exchanging a few words with Naeve, forcing a few

...Sunny felt it, too.

'What an awesome man.'

the mysterious Saint through his shadows, Sky Tide started the

what must

the First Army contingent, the scope of tasks in front of them, as well as the enemy forces arrayed against them. Her voice was calm and composed, as though they weren't facing an existential

Sky Tide losing composure in any circumstance. What would

I hope to never find

what she told them were things that he already knew to some extent, but hearing all of it listed in a structured manner was helpful to