Shadow Slave

1173 Red Herring

Sunny was watching the battleship move across the tumultuous surface of the ocean.

But, of course, he was watching other things at the same time as well.

His shadows were spread throughout the port fortress, absorbing all kinds of information.

One was hidden in the barrel of an overheated rail gun, watching Nightmare Creatures laying siege to the walls of the stronghold. A deathly downpour of projectiles, both mundane and magical, was falling on the surging mass of attacking abominations. Figures of Knights could be seen within the horde, moving to eliminate the most dangerous targets. Saint Gilead was also there, clad in a suit of lustrous armor, facing the Nightmare Creatures like a bastion of immovable courage and steel. It was a familiar scene.

Another shadow was with the refugees who were nervously waiting for their turn to board the ships. The sounds of the battle were too oppressive to talk freely, but they couldn't help but whisper, sharing their fears and hopes. Sunny listened carefully, assessing the changes in the mood of the civilians, as well as how they perceived the conflict.

From time to time, he managed to learn something interesting from the rumors spreading among the refugees.

A third shadow was with Nephis, who had entered the field hospital beneath the fortress wall some time ago. She was kneeling in front of a bloodied stretcher, holding her hands above the terrible wounds covering the body of a mundane soldier. A soft radiance emanated from beneath her skin, and the wounds of the young man were swiftly closing. Her face was motionless and pale.

There were many people behind her who had been in the throes of suffering not too long ago, but were now healthy and whole. They were looking at her with eyes in which indescribable relief mixed with awe and reverence in equal measure.

The fourth shadow was with Sunny himself.

so minutes ago. Usually, Sunny would not risk getting that close

was a special

was not because the main force of Clan Valor had left their designated siege capitals and assembled in this pot fortress to give battle to a large horde of migrating Nightmare Creatures — things like that happened from time to time, when it was

because today, Saint Madoc had returned from his clandestine mission in the

sure whether Ascended Bast was truly the current vessel of Mordret, one of his reflections, or simply a diversion meant to sow confusion among his enemies. At times, Sunny had felt certain that the

dispel

about its presence — but it did manage to slither into a service duct running above it, and peek inside through

watched the ocean, noticing a

was a trap from the very beginning. Which would not have been too inconvenient if Ascended Bast was, indeed, the abomination. However,

back and sighed. "Still. It couldn't

a few moments, then

glance at the young woman, he chuckled. "You don't have to worry about this old man, Morgan. Silent Stalker and Dire Fang were there… I could not leave without saying a proper goodbye, though, so

kilometers away, Sunny tilted his head a

was it really arrogance if Madoc was powerful enough to back up his words, and lethal enough to make each

nothing to do

Ki was generous enough to bestow that person with a truly powerful obscuring Memory, or he has some means of avoiding our gaze of his own. It is strange, though. How could a mere Master achieve

to confirm his Ascended Ability. Maybe it has something to do with that… you can't

dark expression on his niece's face, Whispering Blade added: "He might be closer than we think, too. These strange attacks we suffered recently — weren't