Shadow Slave

Sunny stared at the silhouette of a departing battleship, deep in thought.

October was now behind them, and November was in full bloom. Well... not that many things ever bloomed in Antarctica. It was still summer here, the day never ended, and although the weather was chilly, it could not even be called cold.

The evacuation continued at a steady pace. Hundreds of millions of refugees had already been carried across the ocean, and millions more were leaving every week.

The situation on the continent... was dire, but also strangely manageable.

The Chain of Nightmare was escalating without end. There were more Nightmare Gates, more abominations, more threats and problems that had to be solved... but, at the same time, the forces of humanity were also growing stronger.

Despite the losses they suffered and the increasing strain on logistics and supplies, they were becoming more steadfast and efficient in dealing with the endless tide of Nightmare Creatures.

Well, it was not that surprising, really.

The greatest strength of humans was their adaptability. They were masters of absorbing and utilizing information. They learned.

At the start of the Antarctica Campaign, the Evacuation Army had been thrust into a new and seemingly impossible situation. Faced with an unprecedented cataclysm, they suffered bitter defeats... and yet, they endured. Then, slowly, they learned how to deal with the enemy better.

Their tactics and strategy improved. Their well of knowledge about the types of abominations coming through the Gates grew deeper. The inexperienced soldiers became grizzled veterans.

It helped that there were countless soul shards to be harvested, as well. Although Sunny was somewhat sad that the price of the shards on the global marker was going to plummet, cutting off one of the major revenue streams for the Brilliant Emporium, he was also glad.

By now, most Awakened soldiers of the Evacuation Army had ample chances to saturate their soul cores, thus vastly elevating their power. Something like that had probably never happened in history, at least not on that scale.

were plenty of Memories and Echoes to go around,

There were so many, in fact, that

Awakened in the Evacuation Army was going to tremendously

In the meantime, though...

the three defensive sections of East Antarctica, government forces were stubbornly holding against the endless assaults of Nightmare Creatures under the leadership of

Army by now. Their fame and reputation were growing with each passing

section, Clan Song was quietly creating one miracle after another. Strangely enough, it was Seishan's name that was mentioned most often - the three

periodically updated Sunny on what was happening in Song's territory, so while he did not know all the details,

defensive section, the one where

manageable here,

crammed into the siege capitals. Their fame had outshone even that of the Saints... two beautiful sisters, one wisely leading the soldiers from the back, the other never leaving the

it was Changing Star and her Fire Keepers that were always sent into the

numbers had diminished a lot since their arrival to the Southern Quadrant, but not because of casualties - instead, several cohorts of the Fire Keepers had already ventured into the Seeds,

the quiet oracle was indispensable in building the strategy of the defending forces. Her ability to gather and swiftly analyze information from a multitude of scattered sources, keen mind, and supernatural intuition were tools that

doing its part, as well. From rare messages sent by Naeve, Sunny knew that the naval convoys traversing the oceans had faced many difficulties. There had been several tragedies, but overall, more and more refugees were reaching safety in

things seemed to be going

course, Sunny knew that it

Song was growing more and more violent, threatening to spill

the Dream Realm. Out here in the waking world, there were more and more ambushes and attempts at sabotage. Powerful Awakened warriors were killed by other humans, instead of Nightmare Creatures. Most

Sunny had been pretty busy in the

do the things he wanted to do while remaining unnoticed, but he managed with the

fact, Sunny had made an effort to limit his activity to a minimum there, as well as in any area where he showed his face by following

He assassinated the assassins. He killed members of both Valor and Song without distinction, leading both forces to believe that it was the enemy who had possessed hidden