Shadow Slave

Eventually, Jet put away her communicator and stared into the distance for a few moments, thinking. Then, she turned to Sunny. He asked: "...So, what's the word?"

Soul Reaper had a contemplative look on her face. "The good news is that we're getting reinforcements. Both Valor and Song are sending strong contingents. Two Saints each, a handful of Masters, and a supporting retinue of hundreds of Awakened. All of them the absolute elites of the Legacy clans, of course - some direct descendants, some loyal retainers. You can imagine how powerful of a force that is."

Sunny nodded. Despite his animosity toward the Great Clans, and those Legacies that served them, even he had to admit that these people had not ended up in the position of highest power by accident. Legacies were born and bred to be perfect warriors, and in that pursuit, they were ruthless both to their enemies and to themselves.

An Awakened from a Legacy clan was worth their weight in soul shards on the battlefield... it was only when compared to the survivors of the Forgotten Shore that they did not seem that exceptional. But the former Dreamers of the Dark City were an abnormality themselves. Hundreds of Legacy Awakened could achieve a lot in East Antarctica.

But whatever they could do paled in comparison to the arrival of four more Saints. That was the real game-changer, more than doubling the number of Transcendents present in the Southern Quadrant in one swoop.

With seven Saints leading the charge, the position of the Evacuation Army would be tremendously bolstered.

...That was if the newcomers had any intention of helping the evacuation effort along, and not just thwarting it.

He looked at Jet with a gloomy expression. "What's the bad news, then?"

She shrugged. "Well... you know. The great clans have their own plans. They are going to have to keep up appearances, at least, but who knows what they really have in mind?"

Sunny remained silent for a while, then nodded slowly. "And what is the government going to do about it?"

Jet laughed. "You really think they would send such information in a message? I mean... the military network is supposed to be protected, but come on."

He thought about it, then shook his head. Soul Reaper chuckled. "In any case, we'll know more soon. I've been informed that the Legacy forces will be arriving in two batches. The second one is already sailing across the ocean, carrying most of them... two separate naval convoys, of course. Otherwise, gods know what would happen."

She lingered for a moment. "The second, smaller batch will be arriving much earlier, though. They'll be here in no more than a couple of days, coming through the Dream Realm. The vanguard consists of two Saints and four Masters, from what I've been told. And... what a coincidence, they'll be coming directly to the siege capital we're heading for."

Sunny smiled slightly. "Is it really a coincidence?"

Jet shook her head. "Of course not. Cor is actually already there, assembling a welcoming party. He kindly requested for me to participate... oh, and he asked me to bring you along."

Sunny looked at her with surprise, a frown appearing on his face. 'What? Wake of Ruin singled me out directly?' He raised an eyebrow.

"Me? Why does he want me, of all people, to be there? I don't even work for the government, really. There are certainly better candidates."

Soul Reaper smiled and shook her head. "Because you're one of the deadliest Masters on the planet, Sunny. And, more importantly, you are not affiliated to any of the Legacy clans. At this point, Cor would have to be crazy not to try and use you as an asset."

Sunny felt pleased to receive her praise, but not at all happy with the contents of that praise. He leaned back and crossed his arms.

"And what if I don't want to be used?"

Jet laughed. "Well... you can always go away and live as a hermit in the Dream Realm. Other than that, my advice is to get comfortable being used."

She thought for a bit, and then added: "...But not too comfortable. Make sure to use the people using you in response, at least."

Sunny blinked a couple of times. 'What the hell kind of perverse wisdom is that?' He scoffed.

"That's either a very profound or an entirely shameless statement."

Soul Reaper grinned. "Ah, it's probably both. But, anyway, that's for the future... we have to get to the siege capital first. And with how things are going, that might be a bit of a problem."

Sunny grew serious. Jet was right... for the past two days, things went more or less well for the expedition force. But the last day was bound to be the most difficult, because they were leaving the wilderness and approaching the area surrounding a human settlement.

By nature of the Chain of Nightmares, these areas were the most dangerous on the continent. A constant stream of abominations was flowing toward the siege capitals to lay assault their walls, and the closer one got to a city, the higher the concentration of Nightmare Creatures was. Fighting a pitched battle was inevitable if the expedition force wanted to reach the gates of the human stronghold.

"Yeah. Let's make sure that everything goes smoothly first. We can worry about Legacies later."

The immediate task might now have been as grandiose, but it was a priority right now.

Jet had given up on sleep, and Sunny felt sufficiently rested. They left their corner of the APC and joined Kai on its roof. The archer was alone, quietly studying a bow made of dark, ashen wood. The weapon radiated an eerie aura of nebulous power, alienation, and lethality.

"What a dreadful thing..."

Sunny waved at him. "New Memory?"

Kai looked away from the bow and forced out a smile. "Yeah. I received it for slaying the Malignant Grave Root. It's a... a daunting bow to use, to be honest."

Sunny wanted to ask to take a look at the ashen bow, but at that moment, a loud roar resounded from somewhere up ahead, and Effie's voice came in through their comms: "Ah, damn it... that swarm Sunny scouted an hour ago? They're coming sooner than we expected! Get ready!"

Sunny, Jet, and Kai glanced at each other, then sighed, summoning their best Memories.

The last day, indeed, was promising to be really troublesome.