Shadow Slave

Some of his warriors were going to use flight Memories to follow, others would rappel down. But Amiran himself had no need for these measures - he simply plummeted through the breach, falling into the darkness like a meteor of steel.

Reaching the main production hall, he thrust his sword forward. Invisible force flowed off the blade, forming a brittle field below him - a series of them, actually, each as thin as a sheet of paper.

Breaking through these invisible panes of force allowed Amiran to slow his fall. He landed on the floor in a roll and jumped to his feet a split second later, ready to attack and carve out a path for his men to follow.

If everything went right, the enemy would have been surprised by the collapsing ceiling and the sudden arrival of a Valor Knight. Even if their shock did not last long, a few seconds would be enough...

But he was not given a few seconds. Nothing went right from the start.

As soon as Amiran and the first of his warriors landed, they were greeted by a devastating sonic boom. He felt a powerful shockwave travel through his body, almost strong enough to cause his organs to burst. Luckily, he was resilient enough to withstand it...

The same couldn't be said for the Awakened behind him. With pained screams, they dropped down, blood flowing from every orifice on their bodies.

Dead.

It was as though the enemy had been waiting in a battle formation, ready to defend themselves.

"How dare you!"

As more and more armored Awakened poured through the breach, Amiran roared and dashed forward. There was something strange, though... at the last moment before his lunge, it was as if a drop of blood fell on his helmet from somewhere above. He did not pay it any attention.

In front of him was a loose circle of Awakened protecting something that resembled a large alloy crate. There was some kind of abominable monster inside, no doubt - bringing a Nightmare Creature inside a human city was just what the witch, Beastmaster, would do.

...And allowing the crate to be smuggled into the city despite knowing about its contents was exactly what Valor would do, if it meant leaving the assassins no chance to escape.

Amiran's gaze quickly found the leader of the Song infiltration team - a striking woman whose beauty could neither be hidden by unassuming civilian clothes nor blemished by an ugly scar running across her face.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

'Morrow...'

There were not that many Masters in the world, and even fewer served the great clans directly. Of course, Amiran knew her - the scarred woman was a powerful opponent.

Not as powerful as he was, of course.

Their eyes met, and before she could click her fingers, Amiran struck with both his sword and his hammer, sending two horizontal waves of force flying forward - one cutting, the other crushing.

The waves collided with a sonic shockwave in the middle of the hall, producing a roaring explosion. Bits of concrete shot outward like shrapnel.

It was then that his mind registered a few incongruities in the scene before him.

First of all, the entrance to the tunnel had already been revealed - however, the enemy did not appear to be in a hurry to enter it, as if wary of the darkness beyond.

Secondly, the main production hall was in a sorry state even before the explosion, seemingly ravaged by Morrow's powers.

There were also too few Awakened in her formation... no more than twenty. Four full cohorts of Song infiltrators had crossed the city gate checkpoint, so what happened to the rest of them?

...And lastly, there was a gruesomely beheaded body on the floor in front of Song's warriors. One of their own.

Just what the hell was going on?

There was something else, too...

For a moment, just before the waves of force collided and a cloud of dust obscured the view, Amiran thought that he had noticed something. A vague silhouette that moved on top of the massive cage, dissolving into darkness.

'An archer?'

Lowering his head to protect the slit of his helmet's visor, he burst through the cloud of dust and raised his sword.

No matter what tricks the enemy had in store, he was going to cut them all down. Especially now that he knew that the numbers were even more on their side than expected, Knight Amiran had no doubt.

'The main priorities are Morrow and the caged creature...'

Morrow silently cursed.

'So it was Valor all along...'

It seemed that they had walked into a trap. The servants of the King of Swords had turned out to be more cunning than expected.

Someone had been waiting in the tunnel all along, and now, the cavalry had arrived to finish the job.

Who had been compromised? It had to be the thrall responsible for clearing the path to the inner city... ah, but it did not matter now.

The enemy blundered in their attack, maybe because she had decided to accelerate the plan. The invisible assassin had revealed their presence too early, and instead of being surprised by the sudden breach of the production hall, the messengers of Song were ready for it.

Which was why Morrow managed to slay several of Valor Awakened the moment they landed on the floor.

Not their leader, though... a giant of a man wearing heavy armor and wielding both a sword and a war hammer.

Her heart grew slightly cold.

'Knight Amiran...'

Even among the Knights of Valor, this zealot was known for his power and ruthlessness.

He was a bit too straight of a tool, though. A man blessed with incredible strength, but very little imagination.

A vicious smile appeared on Morrow's face.

'I'll have a chance to bring back a fine trophy, then...'

She sent a sonic shockwave to prevent the Knight from decimating the formation of Song's Awakened, then swiftly looked at the breach. Just how many soldiers had Amiran brought to kill them?

...It was strange.

There were not nearly as many as she would have expected. One cohort, two, three, four... and that was it.

If Valor knew in advance about the infiltration team, why would they only send that many?

And there was something else.

Instead of more cohorts of Awakened... streams of blood flowed from the breach, crimson drops falling like rain. The soldiers of Valor who had already landed seemed shaken because of that.

Morrow hesitated.

'What is the meaning of this?'

Her hesitation only lasted a split second, however.

Then, there was no more time to think.