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.

plenty of Memories and Echoes to go

were so many, in fact, that

fateful day, the number of Awakened

In the meantime, though...

forces were stubbornly holding against the endless assaults of Nightmare Creatures under the leadership of Wake of

known as the hammer and anvil of the Evacuation Army by now. Their fame and reputation were growing with each passing day... even though each victory was made a little bitter by the casualties that the two companies

Seishan's name that was mentioned most often - the

was happening in Song's territory, so while he did not know all the details, he at least knew that the situation there

the one where

manageable

even that of the Saints... two beautiful sisters, one wisely leading the soldiers from

of Valor were strong enough to resist most attacks, it was Changing Star and her Fire Keepers that were always sent into the

since their arrival to the Southern Quadrant, but not because of casualties - instead, several cohorts of the Fire Keepers had already ventured

contingent... Cassie. While no one except for a select few knew of the importance of her role, 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

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

the situation was dire, but things

Sunny knew that it was

that facade, the bloody feud between Valor and Song was growing more and more violent, threatening to spill into utter

here in the waking world, there were more and more ambushes and attempts

Sunny had been pretty busy in the past few

to do while remaining unnoticed, but he managed with

while riding Nightmare. As such, his hunting grounds were not limited to a single siege capital... in fact, Sunny had

Song without distinction, leading both forces to