Shadow Slave

Sunny was a bit thoughtful for the rest of the long strategy meeting.

Indeed... it wasn’t going to be easy to survive the mad maelstrom that was brewing in Antarctica. He was strong and cunning, but in front of monsters like Whispering Blade and Beastmaster, all that strength could end up meaning nothing.

In fact, even the two tyrannical Saints were not guaranteed safety. When people like that had to be careful not to lose their lives, someone like Sunny or Nephis could only pray to the cold skies.

Sadly, the gods were dead, so their prayers were doomed to remain unanswered. So, they had to ensure their own survival.

Luckily, if there was one thing Sunny excelled at, it was staying alive.’And biding my time.’

A legion of Nightmare Creatures on one side, two murderous armies of the Great Clans on the other... with Mordret hiding somewhere in the reflections, waiting to strike.

It was really time for Sunny to show what he was made of, and hope that it was enough. No... he had to make it so that what he could do was enough. And if it wasn’t, he had to change himself in a way that would.’But my task is not as ambitious as what these Legacies have to accomplish.’

That was perhaps the only saving grace in this grim situation.

Valor and Song wanted to crush the enemy and conquer the Black Pyramid. Nephis simply wanted to survive and earn the trust of her enemies by being a good soldier... and maybe a little more than that.

As for Sunny, he simply wanted to make sure that their war did not spill out into the streets of the siege capitals, and that as few soldiers and civilians as possible were hurt by the clash of the great clans. And if he managed to hurt the bastards in the process, that would be even better.

...Still, it was not an easy thing to accomplish.

He listened to the discussion of strategy, thinking.

The whole meeting was both fruitful and ridiculous. The representatives of the great clans knew very well that they were going to be killing each other soon. However, they maintained an illusion of camaraderie, pretending to take the issues of the evacuation campaign seriously.

They had to keep up appearances, after all. That was possibly the most important advantage Sunny had.

Other than that, the broad strokes of what the near future would look like had been decided quickly.

Officially, everyone would work together to resist the Chain of Nightmares and make sure that the evacuation proceeded smoothly, with every human in the Southern Quadrant leaving the cursed continent eventually.

The territory of East Antarctica would be divided into three regions. The first one was going to remain in the purview of the government, with the two Legacy Saints that had been participating in the campaign from the start continuing to assist Wake of Ruin in resisting the tide of abominations.

Reading between the lines, that meant that Sky Tide and Dire Fang were going to remain on the sidelines for most of the clash. The main job of these two - at least for now - was to keep an eye on each other and make sure that the opponent could not be of assistance to the enemy side.

The other two regions would still be protected by the Evacuation Army, but for all intents and purposes, the expedition forces of the great clans would be in charge. They were supposed to keep the siege capitals safe and hunt down especially powerful Nightmare Creatures. If one of the titans moved toward a human city, all Saints were supposed to join forces and eradicate it.

Of course, Wake of Ruin would not stop Whispering Blade and Beastmaster from trying to take down the titans in the wilderness before that even happened.

What it really meant was that the government was washing its hands and giving the great clans carte blanche to kill each other as much as they wanted, as long as it was done outside the walls of the siege capitals.

The true goal of Valor and Song was out there somewhere, in the wild reaches of Antarctica, after all. What they wanted was to find a Nightmare Gate that would allow them to safely ferry their forces into the Dream Realm, and eventually establish a stronghold that would serve as a staging ground for the conquest of the Tomb of Ariel.

But it wasn’t that simple. They also needed to make sure that the enemy wouldn’t get to the Citadel first, and the easiest way to accomplish that was to destroy the enemy.

There were more complications, as well...

For example, both Valor and Song announced a startling intention to permanently close as many Gates that had appeared within the limits of the siege capitals as they could. The hundreds of Awakened that each great clan had sent to Antarctica... were almost all meant to challenge the Seeds of Nightmare.

Certainly, their true purpose was to send as many soldiers into the hellish desert as possible, to scout it out and find a good entry point for the main force... but nevertheless, even if the scouts having to enter their Second Nightmares was just a side effect, that decision could forever change the balance of power among the Awakened.

There were not that many Masters in the world, and their number was already starting to swell because of the Chain of Nightmares. The Awakened Song and Valor had sent were all absolute elites. If dozens, or maybe even a hundred or two of them Ascended, it would have an explosive effect on... everything.

But that was not what Sunny was concerned about. What worried him was the prospect of these scouts actually finding a great entry point behind one of the Nightmare Gates located inside the siege capitals, and not in the wilderness. If that happened... all hell could break loose.

And if they found not just an entry point, but a crossing to a spot that would serve as the key to reaching the Black Pyramid, nothing would stop the other party from making sure that the siege capital in question changed hands.

They would much rather see it destroyed, even, than remain under the control of the enemy.

’There will be three stages to this disaster. First, the clans will scout for a good entrance to the desert. Second, they will enter the Dream Realm through that entrance, and launch an expedition toward the Tomb of Ariel. Lastly, they will build strongholds in the vicinity of the pyramid, gather their forces, and launch their final attacks.’

The first stage would probably mostly consist of covert ambushes and small-scale skirmishes between the forces of Valor and Song. The second stage would be where the true bloodshed started. And the last... the last would be pure hell.

Sunny was now clear on the overall shape of the clan war, but he still had a lot of questions. He lacked information on what exactly they were going to do, when, and how.

So, just as Nephis had said, he was going to take it one step at a time.

The first step he had to take was to gather information.

Sitting silently at the back of the meeting room, Sunny glanced at the people who were gathered there - the high and mighty Saints of legendary renown - and smiled a little.

’Would you look at that. After all these years, it seems that I am finally going to get a chance to act as a proper spy...’