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.

was just behind, accompanied by the members of Sunny's cohort. Bloodwave and his Echo flanked the Awakened, protecting them from the frenzied

dragging his tired body along and preventing the abominations from

abominations. Blood,

damn it,

vast. Countless Nightmare Creatures were throwing themselves at the exhausted humans in a rabid frenzy, every moment, from every direction. Slowing down

only chance was to cut through the mass of abominations faster than the abominations

fight with his teeth gritted. The rearguard position was the most awkward, because he had to move backwards at considerable speed while slaughtering the mass of Nightmare

of Solace was, no creature could resist its blade. Sunny was managing somehow, for now, but his battered body was hurting all over. Even though the Marble Shell had yet to succumb to an attack,

as hard as stone, after all, not his entire body. A sufficiently powerful strike would send a concussive shock through his

it just never ends, does

he had killed a titan and faced a creature that might have

whole place into an inferno of immolating flame, both mundane and magical, did not make Sunny

causing the Saint to dismiss it — Master Jet took its place with a resigned expression, her wounds starting to bleed again. The somber glaive

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

cut through the horde unimpeded, the ground

the party finally reached the melted ruin

what was left of it, at least. A grim

the line of Awakened soldiers gave them a moment of respite, and