Shadow Slave

Awakened Luster was in a strange mood.

On one hand, his life and career were going better than ever. Not only had he managed to become a member of the special forces, he also received a chance to participate in the most exciting operation of the last several decades!

His status, citizenship rank, and even salary were now higher than he had ever hoped. It was hard to imagine that a guy like him managed to climb so far without being a Legacy or even possessing a combat Aspect. It was certainly better than working in a boring spelltech research facility, which he had been considering before joining the government army.

Plus, he was surrounded by tons of pretty girls every day. There were thousands of them in the port fortress, and even more in the greater encampment beyond. With his dashing uniform, reputation of a valiant elite, and irresistible personality, many of them paid Luster special attention.

Overall, things were great!

…On the other hand, the world seemed to be falling apart. The exciting operation he was so enthused about could very well become his last.

'What a bummer.'

Sitting on a broken panel of a discarded prefab building, Luster watched the swarm activity in the camp below and sipped his coffee. That was another thing… once they shipped to the Southern Quadrant, luxuries like coffee would probably become scarce. He would have to go back to synthetic substitutes, or even worse, drink something as disgusting as tea!

'The horror!'

Luster grimaced, then glanced at the plain-looking young woman sitting next to him.

"What do you think, Kimmy? Are we going to receive our assignments today?"

Awakened Kim hesitated for a bit, then said in an awkward tone:

"I, uh… I don't know?"

Luster shook his head. Kimmy was the strangest person he had ever met. This timid girl was the only Awakened he knew… who somehow managed to not look hot! As far as he was concerned, that was a bizarre accomplishment. Every Awakened was hot. That was just common knowledge.

…Every one except for Kimmy. She single-handedly destroyed Luster's whole worldview. He just did not know what to make of that fact.

Belle, who was perching on the same prefab panel, looked at them and flashed a smile.

"I think we will."

Luster felt a rush of excitement.

"Oh, do you know something?"

The blond daredevil leaned forward, then said in a hushed tone:

"I heard from my pal in logistics that Soul Reaper finalized the command structure of her unit yesterday. That means they'll start recruiting today. After that is done, the other elite units will be free to pick out the rest of us."

'Hell yeah!'

Luster grinned, remained silent for a bit, and then sighed wistfully.

"I know that the chances are slim, but wouldn't it be great to be picked by Soul Reaper's unit? Just imagine… Ascended Jet, she's such a ba…"

Before he had the chance to finish his sentence, their communicators suddenly received a notification.

The strange part of it was that all three lit up simultaneously.

Kimmy was the first to read the message. Her eyes widened.

Seeing her reaction, Luster felt his heart sinking.

"Kimmy? W—what is it?"

She lingered for a moment, and then showed him the screen.

"First… First Irregular Company! We've been assigned to Soul Reaper's unit! It's actually her!"

***

Luster, Kimmy, and Belle left their observation spot and headed toward the training facility where they had been ordered to gather by the end of the hour.

They were a strange trio. Sure, each was considered an elite, but in usual circumstances, a combat specialist like Belle would not have been keeping company with two younger support operators. Unless they were members of his cohort, of course, which neither Luster nor Kimmy were.

The Antarctica campaign, however, had changed a lot of things.

While troop movements in the waking world were happening on a massive scale, something similar, but less noticeable, was currently happening in the Dream Realm. The Awakened assigned to the First Evacuation Army were hastily relocating to larger and better protected Citadels, so that a sudden attack of Nightmare Creatures could not disrupt their deployment in Antarctica.

Some were going to government Citadels, while some were going to impregnable Legacy strongholds like Bastion or Ravenheart. All across the Dream Realm, thousands of Awakened were participating in this quiet exodus.

Luster, Kimmy, and Belle had just happened to reside in the same general area of the Dream Realm. The Awakened serving the government banded together to brave the wilderness and reach Bastion, forming a large caravan that only grew bigger as it passed various Citadels.

Eventually, a couple hundred Awakened all traveled together while their physical bodies were being relocated to various ports, locked inside the sleeping pods.

It was a weird thing. Luster had fallen asleep in one place, but woke up thousands of kilometers south of it. In any case, in the month that it had taken him to reach Bastion on foot, he and the two other elite specialists traveling with the caravan had become somewhat close. They were not really friends, but at least knew each other.

That could not be said about the other three Awakened they met after reaching the reinforced prefab building.

Luster's face grew a little dim when he realized that two of them were dudes. The third one, however…

'Wow!'

The tall, gorgeous redhead was a real bombshell! Sure, she seemed unapproachable and older than him by a good decade… but that only added to her charm…

Belle lightly tapped the young man on the shoulder.

"Get your head out of the gutter, fool."

Luster blinked a couple of times, then looked at the swordsman with a sheepish smile.

"Oh… sorry."

Kimmy glanced at the two of them with confusion and said quietly:

"I… I think I know her. That is Awakened Samara. When I trained to receive the technician certificate, she taught the spelltech introduction class to us."

She squirmed a little, then approached the tall woman and forced out a small smile.

"Instructor Samara. I—it is so nice to see you again."

The aloof beauty glanced at the meek young woman and nodded.

"...You can call me Sam. We are colleagues now."

Kimmy froze for a moment.

"Yes! I will, Instructor Samara. I mean… uh… Instructor Sam."

She blushed a little, and then gestured at his two companions.

"These are Awakened Belle and Awakened Luster. We traveled to Bastion together."

Samara looked at the two men, then said in an emotionless tone:

"These are Awakened Quentin and Awakened Dorn. We just met."

The six elites studied each other for some time.

Eventually, Belle scratched the back of his head and asked:

"Uh… does anyone know who our commanding officer is?"