Shadow Slave

Sunny summoned the Graceless Dusk back and remained motionless for a while, looking at the dark expanse of the ocean. The sunrise in Antarctica was a long affair... by now, the sky was on the precipice of falling into a long period of twilight, but the cold waters still seemed black. After a month or two of dawn, it would be day for about four months, followed by a couple of months of dusk.

There would be much fewer shadows around for close to half a year, which meant that Sunny was going to have a much harder time fighting. Many of his advantages would disappear.

...Provided that the forces of humanity would even be able to last that long, of course.

There was a good chance that they wouldn't, but there was also a good chance that they would.

The situation in East Antarctica was much better than it had been in the Antarctic Center. In fact, it was more or less exactly what the government had hoped for - after the tumultuous first phase of the operation, all the population had been relocated to a number of siege capitals, the soldiers had hunkered down, and people were being slowly carried across the ocean to the other Quadrants.

That process would last until the end of the year, at least.

There were three field armies of the First Evacuation Army currently operating in East Antarctica - which was exactly three times more than the single one that had been sent to the Antarctic Center. There were also two Saints there, one of the government's own and the emissary of the great clan Song. Once Saint Tyris recovered from her wounds, there would be three.

The Second Army was on its way, as well. They would be making landfall in just a few days, and once that happened, the human forces on the continent would be incredibly bolstered. The Second Army was supposed to be composed of twice as many mundane soldiers, Awakened, and Masters as the First Army had been.

Close to five thousand Awakened had died in the Antarctic Center... but by the end of August, there would be sixty thousand of them defending East Antarctica. Best of all, there was no Winter Beast to suppress all forms of long-range communications there, allowing the army to operate as the well-oiled machine it was supposed to be.

That had to be enough to withstand the onslaught of the Chain of Nightmares for five more months. By then, most of the population would hopefully be evacuated... and if not, there was the winter solstice.

With how rampantly the Spell had been spreading in the Southern Quadrant, the number of Awakened was bound to double, or even triple after the solstice. All the Sleepers created by the Chain of Nightmares would receive the chance to come into their full power.

So, although the forces arrayed against the evacuation effort would continue to grow more dire as time went on, the forces of humanity would swiftly increase, too.

There was a chance.

However... Sunny knew that there was one unpredictable part of the equation that could ruin everything.

The great clans.

Nephis had told him that the Southern Campaign was a perfect battlefield for them to wage their war... and so, there was a large possibility that Song and Valor would clash in East Antarctica, complicating the already dreadful situation.

There was no sense or reason in their insane feud, at least none that Sunny and Neph could see. And yet, the threat posed by the war of great clans was very real.

the ocean, his eyes glinted with cold, wrathful

'Those bastards...'

when his hands turned

"Penny for your thoughts."

the Nightmare Creature's blood off her face, looking slightly less corpsely... but only slightly. She was still a far cry

lingered for a

about the

studied him

dive back into the water, this time to butcher a few abominations just

sighed, then said

one off the raft, anyway? We didn't even retrieve the

Sunny scoffed.

That thing, meanwhile, was flooding the whole place with its rotten blood. We don't even have a

be received by slaying enemies of equal or higher Rank, while Soul Reaper could only replenish her essence and

single soul shard was worth a hefty sum of credits, but here on the raft, Sunny would have given a hundred of

not

to his

was growing

stood up, shakily walked out of the puddle of blood, and lowered herself to the alloy surface of the raft. Her eyes had regained a hint of their usual

for a

a dismal mood this whole

at

to pay attention to his moods, with all that crawling around and trying to kill him, but the

happened in Falcon Scott? Millions of people had died. The members of his cohort had died. And even before that... the First Irregular Company had been all but wiped out. Considering everything, Sunny thought

He smiled darkly.

why do you think

then looked

might just understand it better than you. But, Sunny, do you want me

stared at her silently, then

"I guess."

were followed

at the dark waves