Shadow Slave

There were more interesting things said that night. Sitting on a cot in a remote tent, Sunny had silently absorbed them all. There was a somber expression on his face.

'Troublesome.'

Each clan was planning to test the other during the retreat back to the siege capitals... which had not come as a surprise. From this point forward, the hostilities between Valor and Song were only going to escalate. If anything, this first confrontation was shaping out to be rather tame.

Neither of the sides was fully committing their Saints to the ambushes, preferring to bide their time and turn the conflict into a war of attrition. There were valuable assets that both clans kept under layers of protection - in terms of the ruthless economy of war, trying to take these assets off the board was not cost-effective at this point in time.

Luckily, Nephis seemed to be one such asset, as well.

However, neither Valor nor Song could keep all their people protected. Cohorts of Awakened had to be sent out into the wilderness to scout for suitable Nightmare Gates. Scouts had to enter the Dream Realm and explore the deadly desert in search of positions that were suitable for establishing fortified expedition camps. Ascended like Knight Shtad had to lead the most important of these teams.

These were the people the great clans were going to go after first - in East Antarctica, and in the Dream Realm at the later stages of the conflict.

Which Sunny did not mind one bit. The only thing he regretted was that he would not be able to get snacks and comfortably watch the soldiers of the great clans slaughter each other... as long as they limited their feud to outside the city walls.

Sadly - and predictably - that was already not the case.

Beastmaster was not satisfied with picking off Awakened cohorts in the wilderness. So, she was planning to deliver a more damaging strike to her enemies.

of the Valor clan in the siege capital where Sunny was headed, or Saint Tyris and her White Feather clan in

She chose the former.

on her base of operations was imminent. Whether it was through some form of divination or simply through knowing her enemy and possessing a frighteningly sharp strategic

was planning to lure them into a trap and slaughter

two hidden forces would wreak in the heart of a besieged city, Sunny couldn't help but feel cold fury. Neither of the great clans cared about collateral damage. All

to care about it a little

the secret war - Madoc, Morgan, Seishan, and Beastmaster. There were small details in what they said and how they said it that did not make a lot of sense. It was as though they were under pressure... even more pressure than there was supposed to be. That pressure

attack of her own... hers, however, was going to be much more daring and

of a team of Awakened led by a few Masters. Sir Madoc, the Whispering Blade, was going to personally deliver her lethal will to

of clan Song, nor was it a large-scale destruction

Mordret.

created throughout the city... no one on the Valor side knew what the purpose of his strange actions were, but they

siege capital and either destroy or contain the Prince of Nothing with the

meant that he would not be able to provide support for the forces of Valor anywhere else for a period of time. But on this, Sunny had to agree with the daughter of Anvil... getting rid of the Prince of Nothing was a more dire need than suppressing - or even killing - one Song's

bastard was just too

by Song in the process. Once there, Madoc would send off reinforcements for Knight Shtad and depart, leaving Morgan to deal with the team of assassins Beastmaster was

about what Whispering Blade would do to Mordret... the man was too powerful and too precise, and the decision to activate him so early into the conflict was too unexpected. No matter if he achieved his goal or not, the attack

that promised to be do a lot of