Shadow Slave

1040 The Fall of Falcon Scott (58)

'Right… now, we just have to get to the secondary defense line. Once we're within the city instead of on a plain, evading the abominations should be much easier, so the last stretch of the way won't be as hard.'

Sunny glanced at his companions, evaluating their state. Everyone was exhausted, dirty, and covered in blood — both their own and that of Nightmare Creatures — but alive.

The only problem now was to somehow extricate themselves, and the two hundred surviving Awakened, from the attacking horde.

At that moment, as if to answer his thoughts, Bloodwave turned to look at the mass of abominations. Then, the enigmatic Saint glanced at Master Jet.

"Take your soldiers and go, Soul Reaper. I will hold the beasts back for a bit… tell your commanders to activate the explosives as soon as you're past the defense line."

Sunny stared at him in shock, feeling that these words sounded a bit like... a farewell.

"You… you…"

Bloodwave gave him a strange look.

"Ah… I think you might have misunderstood, Sunless. I am not trying to sacrifice myself. It's just that an explosion like that won't harm a Transcendent too much. The Awakened, however, or even someone like you… better not risk it."

Sunny slowly nodded. Indeed… Corrupted Nightmare Creatures could survive a nuclear explosion without too much trouble, some Fallen as well. Rampart Protocol was not going to kill a Transcendent like Bloodwave, or even seriously inconvenience him.

Master Jet nodded.

"We'll be going, then."

breath and started summoning several Memories. Sunny did not know what exactly the Memories were, but judging by the fact that Bloodwave had promised

him, then said

make sure that everyone who is still alive gets safely out of the blast zone before Army Command begins the

out a

loud, isn't it? Damn. My

last glance and turned to his

"Come on! Go!"

in the wall, Master Jet's voice boomed once again, spreading across the whole

"...Retreat!"

Awakened of the First Army did not make her ask twice. Delivering one last attack,

no order or strategy to it, just a desperate wish to survive. The defense line instantly

saving grace of the whole thing was Bloodwave, who somehow managed to fulfill his promise and stall the enormous horde of

He thought that he heard the roar of a rushing tide of water, but at that point, there was no time to turn

staging area and escaped

darkness. Many buildings had collapsed, creating a complicated labyrinth of snow and broken concrete. Others still stood, but were charred black by the flames. Some streets were strangely untouched and eerily empty, and of course,

the lack of illumination was not a problem. Their running speed was not much lower than that of a moving PTV, but

to lose the

a different section of the staging area, near where they had started their shift. Sadly, the battle had taken them

place blew up, the

'Damn it! Damn it!'

Sunny continued to run. He had to lead his people to safety… that took priority over

and each soldier was making their own path to the secondary defense line. Sunny suspected that most would try to reach the maintained roads, but on this one, there was

the darkness, moving as fast as they could, their stamina long spent and their lungs burning. The dark, empty