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

and more Sleepers who had survived their First Nightmares. There were so many, in fact, that the approaching winter solstice would most likely become a breaking point in

matter of weeks after that fateful day, the number of Awakened in the Evacuation Army was going to tremendously swell,

In the meantime, though...

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

for themselves. The Wolves and the Nightsingers, as well as their commanders, were known as the hammer and anvil of the Evacuation Army by now.

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

while he did not know all the details, he at least knew that the situation there was mostly

the third defensive section, the one where the great clan Valor - and Sunny himself

were manageable

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 frontlines. It was a compelling

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

Quadrant, but not because of casualties -

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 allowed Morgan to drastically increase the

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,

the situation was dire, but things seemed to be going fine

knew that it was only

Valor and Song was growing more and more violent,

Dream Realm. Out here in the waking world, there were more and more ambushes and attempts at sabotage. Powerful Awakened warriors were killed

been pretty busy

was hard to do the things he wanted to do while remaining unnoticed, but he managed with the help of

Sunny had made an effort

and Song without distinction, leading both forces to believe that it was the enemy who had possessed hidden