Shadow Slave

By the time Sunny and Nephis escaped from the noxious cloud, the situation on the battlefield had changed.

The Wolves, the Nightsingers, and the Fire Keepers were cut off from the Nightmare Creatures by the deathly miasma, so they received a few moments of respite. The poison itself, meanwhile, was blown into the depths of the horde by Sky Tide’s winds, wreaking havoc among the abominations.

Suddenly, the pressure on the center of the army formation lessened.

The fighting on the flanks, however, only grew more furious.

Sunny reached the line of soldiers, passed between the forward fighters, and plopped down on the ground, breathing heavily. Nephis was in no better state than him - worse, actually. The pain of having to use her Abilities for so long had taken a toll on her.

She lowered herself to the ground near him, staring at the mud with distant eyes. The Awakened met their return with wide smiles, faces shining with relief and triumph. Seeing that the two Masters were exhausted and needed to catch their breaths, they closed ranks around them and prepared their weapons, watching the hazy wall of swirling miasma with cold focus.

If something suddenly lunged at the formation from the poisonous haze, the soldiers were prepared to meet it with sharp blades.

Sunny slowly exhaled, returning from the rampant state of battle frenzy. Then, he looked up.

The fall of one of the titans was a great victory in and of itself. However, it had meaning far beyond the death of a powerful abomination...

Much more important was the fact that the death of the winged horror would inevitably cause a cascade of meaningful consequences. In fact, the chain reaction was already beginning.

Now that Wake of Ruin and Sky Tide were free, each of them moved to provide support in other spots on the battlefield. The steel-winged bird of prey fell like a sword of heavens, obliterating a vast swath of crawling vines that Summer Knight, Dire Fang, and Silent Stalker were fighting against.

The vast murder of crows, meanwhile, descended on the horde itself. Saint Cor’s strongest suit had never been facing a single, overwhelmingly powerful adversary - in the battle against the winged titan, he could only provide support to Tyris.

Now that he was unleashed on a large number of weaker targets, however, Wake of Ruin was finally able to showcase his full, dreadful might.

A myriad of crows lunged at the abominations from the dark skies, tearing into them with sharp talons and even sharper beaks. If those were ordinary carrion birds, they would not have been able to do much damage to the monstrous creatures... however, they were not. Each of the crows was a manifestation of a Transcendent, and so, they easily slaughtered Awakened and Fallen monstrosities.

They assaulted the Corrupted abominations, too. If one crow was not enough, ten would gather to riddle the creature with ghastly wounds. If ten was not enough, a hundred would descend on the monster like a hungry cloud.

The furious massacre that had taken place was grisly and spectacular.

And, just like that, the scales of the battle started to shift.

With Wake of Ruin helping lessen the burden of the Awakened soldiers, the army formation regained its vigor, and even started pushing the horde back. Soon after, a second titan was slain, the forest of vines growing still and brittle.

Once the vine creature died, the fate of the remaining two titans was sealed. The appalling mountain of flesh and the ghostly apparition were felled in short succession, letting every Saint turn their attention to the horde.

Even then, the outcome of the battle was not yet decided. The advantage was on the side of the humans, but even with the Transcendents joining the fight against the sea of Nightmare Creatures...

The Saints were all tired and spent after their clash with the titans, and the number of abominations was simply too great. There remained truly powerful creatures among them, as well... tyrants, devils, and demons of all kinds.

Additionally, Nightmare Creatures were not humans, or even sane in any definition of the word. An ordinary enemy would have had their morale broken and fled after sustaining terrible losses and watching four mighty titans, the driving force of the horde, fall. But abominations knew no retreat. Even while dying, they only wanted to rip the humans apart.

Only total annihilation would lead to their defeat.

...And so, that was what humans did.

Guided by Morgan, the army stood its ground and slaughtered the Nightmare Creatures until there were none left.

A sea of abominations turned into a sea of corpses. The ghastly carpet of monstrous bodies covered the plain, stretching far into the distance. Countless crows filled the sky, and the ground had turned into wet sludge after absorbing rivers of blood. The stench of it all was almost unbearable.

And yet, it was the most glorious thing Sunny had ever seen.

Staring at the grand battlefield, he couldn’t quite believe what he saw. The scale of the battle they had just won was simply too unbelievable. Even after witnessing massive sieges in the Antarctica Center, Sunny was unprepared to witness something like this.

This time, the humans were not defending, stalling for time while the civilians evacuated. This time, they had gone on the offensive, venturing into the wilderness to slay the titans and the horde the four creatures had caused to assemble.

They even succeeded.

Despite the fact that the Evacuation Army had achieved many of its goals in the Southern Quadrant and continued following the plan... this felt like the first true victory Sunny had witnessed since the start of the Chain of Nightmares.

And he played a substantial role in achieving it.

Sunny studied the changed landscape of the plain with a slightly startled expression. Then, a frown slowly appeared on his face.

’What happens next, then?’

Right now, all seven Saints were gathered in one spot. Soon, they would depart for their siege capitals.

Wouldn’t that be a perfect opportunity for the great clans to show their fangs?

Suddenly grim, Sunny shook his head and turned around, throwing a glance at the tired soldiers around him.

’...One step at a time.’