Shadow Slave

1034 The Fall of Falcon Scott (52)

The special shutes built into the wall had mostly been destroyed or damaged, so the Awakened had to use other means to sortie into the killing field. Some rappelled down, some summoned Memories capable of slowing one's fall, some simply used the exposed framework of the great barrier to swiftly climb to the ground.

The few surviving Masters stationed on the southern wall went first to clear the landing.

Saint mounted Nightmare, who leaped from one protruding sheet of deformed alloy to another, reaching the swarming abominations in mere seconds. Wielding the Cruel Sight, she quickly slaughtered the nearest enemies.

Sunny was not far behind. He glided through the air using the Dark Wing, then dismissed it a couple dozen meters above the ground and plummeted down, landing among the Nightmare Creatures like a cannonball. The Sin of Solace danced, effortlessly slicing through flesh and bone.

It took Sunny only a few seconds to carve out a small island of safety. The members of his cohort joined him, forming a beachhead. More Awakened followed behind them, grim determination shining in their eyes.

Everyone knew that for many, if not most of them, this was going to be the last fight. Nevertheless, no one tried to flee or turn back.

‘It is strange:

Cutting down a lunging beast, Sunny glanced at the descending Awakened. Surely, all of them valued their lives... maybe if left alone, most would listen to their fear and their desire to survive, and choose to save themselves instead. However, they had all been swept up in the moment and lost their reason.

They were all individuals, but more than that, they were also parts of something much larger right now. A crowd, a mob... a collective had no fear of death, because the destruction of one of its small parts did not mean the destruction of the whole. Maybe that was how these people suppressed their utterly natural and reasonable desire to live, knowing that even without them, the larger entity they belonged to would continue to exist.

meant when he said that humanity needed a

most of his life being refused and rejected by the

yet, here he was, charging into the horde of Nightmare Creatures with the rest of the Awakened of the First Army. Of course, his situation was vastly different — Sunny was pretty sure of his ability to at least escape alive, no matter what happened. But he was still taking a great risk for no apparent

Or had he actually become infatuated by the same

Sunny. After all, his self was all

through one abomination after another like a ruthless, eerily graceful butcher. At some point, his three shadows joined him, wrapping themselves around his body — the fourth one he had sent to help Nightmare. Sunny was surrounded by a fine haze of blood, but whenever drops of it fell on his black tunic, they rolled off the

Dusk

into the horde, leading his cohort

to reach, because the dark river was flowing forward to meet them,

Heart of Darkness, though, Bloodwave finally arrived

a falling star, causing the earth to split and a shockwave to spread outward

to spread outward in all directions. Away

Transcendent was still

a whirlwind of steel, moving with such speed and force as to resemble

champion of the House of Night was perfectly aware of his vulnerability on land. For that reason, his soul arsenal included many powerful Memories to account for that weakness...

house, one resembled a towering golem of wet clay, and the last one was ethereal and elusive, like

have been powerless underwater, but

something into his ear. A moment later, the Saint and his Echoes changed direction, heading for one of

actually pull this

on carving a path toward the tide of beetles. Somewhere