Shadow Slave

1039 The Fall of Falcon Scott (57)

Bloodwave reached them just a moment later. The mighty Saint looked… spent. Sunny shivered when he noticed that his armor was torn, and there were ugly injuries covering his body. Out of the three Echoes, only the monstrous crab remained… the other two had either been destroyed or dismissed to save them from perishing.

'Even the Transcendent Echo is gone… gods. What could have destroyed one of those and severely injured a Saint? The Heart of Darkness… just what kind of creature was it?'

He felt a bit of dread, and a bit of curiosity. However, now was not the time to ask questions.

Their small party had to hurry and fight their way back through the boundless horde of Nightmare Creatures. Five Awakened, two Masters, one Saint… as well as two powerful Shadows and an Echo. They were an exceedingly formidable group.

Granted, all of them were wounded, tired, and low on essence. Still, cutting through the horde while keeping everyone alive would not pose a problem.

In theory.

Bloodwave studied the rest for a moment, then sent his Echo forward and growled, his voice husky, low, and domineering:

"Move!"

Saint spared the mighty Saint an indifferent glance, then mounted Nightmare and sent the dark destrier into a gallop, the spearhead of the Cruel Sight igniting with the incandescent white glow in her hand, a shield made of pure darkness weighing on the other. They moved ahead of the party, cutting into the horde as a fierce vanguard.

Sunny's cohort. Bloodwave and his Echo

his tired body along and

dove into the mass of abominations. Blood, severed flesh, and fragments of

it, damn it,

simply too vast. Countless Nightmare Creatures

cut through the mass of

slaughtering the mass of Nightmare Creatures pursuing the party. By now, they were

and swift the Sin of Solace was, no creature could resist its blade. Sunny was managing somehow, for now, but his battered body was hurting all

strike would send a concussive shock through his insides, potentially causing internal organs to rupture. That hadn't happened yet… but being hit still

the hell… it just

and faced a creature that might have been

around him could blow at any moment, plunging the whole place into an inferno of

with a resigned expression, her wounds starting to bleed again. The somber glaive was nowhere to be seen,

increasing. By now, he was forced to support himself with Shadow Manifestation from time to time — his already pitiful reserve of essence was diminishing even further with each

horde unimpeded, the ground sleek with blood under their

of slaughter, the party finally reached the melted ruin of

the Awakened force in charge of the southern section was holding back the ocean of Nightmare Creatures… what was left of it, at least. A grim expression

a moment of respite, and gave