Shadow Slave

The location of the Nightmare Gate that led to the vicinity of the Black Skull was of paramount importance. Currently, no one except for Mordret was anchored to the Gateway of the Citadel, so that Nightmare Gate was still the only feasible way to reach it.

If it was located in the wilderness of East Antarctica, the battle between the two great clans was going to happen far away from the siege capitals and the civilian population.

If it was inside a city, though...

'Think rationally.'

Sunny walked through the corridors of the fortress as he analyzed the situation.

If the Nightmare Gate was located inside a siege capital, then there wasn't much he could do. The lives of countless civilians would be put in mortal danger, or maybe even snuffed out directly. The best Sunny could manage was to try mitigating the damage, somehow.

If it was somewhere in the wilderness, however... then he did not have to do anything.

His problems would just solve themselves. Valor and Song were welcome to slaughter each other as much as they wanted.

'Wrong.'

Thinking that way was shortsighted. Sure, the great clans were a bunch of hateful jerks, but they were also responsible for defending a vast portion of East Antarctica, albeit simply to keep up appearances. Their power was especially important when dealing with high-value targets like titans, since six out of the seven Saints present on the continent belonged to the Domains.

What would happen if all of them just went and killed each other?

'Nothing good...'

Countless refugees had already been evacuated, but millions more remained. If only the Evacuation Army had been given a few more months - enough for the legion of Sleepers to undergo Awakening - things would have been different.

But Mordret, the damned lunatic, had made that impossible. So, the power of the great clans was still too important.

stomach. He was deeply unhappy about the fact that, while the great clans were odious,

him feel dirty. It felt

how Wake of Ruin and the rest of the government

about it. So what the

both close and inevitable. They could entirely obliterate each other, which would be the worst outcome, since there would be no one left to continue defending the refugees from the myriads of Nightmare Creatures roaming the

for him to

achieve victory... and not any kind of victory, at that. A pyrrhic one would be no different

'Wait... wait...'

growing even more pale than

His eyes widened.

His hands trembled.

more than a little mad appeared

sealed strategy room, he looked at someone who stood there, silently listening to what

cold grey eyes, clad in

He looked at Nephis.

Sunny slowly exhaled.

that what you

a lifetime ago, during the opulent ball of

not because she had ordered him to, but because he wanted to...

their fates

the embrace of Clan Valor. Instead, he enlisted in the First Evacuation Army and left

much had happened since

with her under the banner of the great clan

of his

neck, as if checking to see if there was a

this

hollow laugh escaped