Shadow Slave

The next conference room was much larger, and there were even some refreshments for the participants of the meeting. Sunny found the darkest corner of the room to settle in and tore open a packet of sweetened snacks - after making sure that there was no honey involved in their creation, of course.

Chewing on something that felt like a dried berry, he glanced around.

The most prominent figures of the First Army were arriving one after another. There were a few mundane commanders, but most of them were Ascended. Eventually, he counted no less than twenty-one Master - including the four Irregulars.

Naeve and Roan were also present, so he gave them a wave.

Master Jet, who was relaxing on a chair next to Sunny, gave him a curious look.

"What interesting friends you keep, Sunny."

He shrugged.

"What about them?"

Soul Reaper chuckled.

"No, nothing. It's just that here's a room full of government Ascended, and the two you're waving to are both connected to the great clans. If I didn't know you better, I'd think that you have a bit of a fondness for social climbing."

Sunny scoffed.

"The only climbing I'm fond of is... actually, never mind that. Weren't you the one who helped me broker a deal to get out of joining Valor, anyway? Surely you understand that a precious jewel like me doesn't need connections to earn the favor of a great clan..."

Hearing Jet laugh quietly, he added with a straight face:

"Oh... thanks for that, by the way. The mere thought that I could have been living like a prince somewhere in Bastion instead of spending quality time here in Antarctica makes me feel slightly nauseous. Who needs luxury when you can have unlimited military rations, right?"

Winter stared at him from behind her sunglasses and grinned.

"I did not know that Valor tried to recruit you. And you refused, huh... was she really ugly?"

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

"No? What do you mean?"

Winter shook her head.

"I mean the bride they offered, of course, to marry you into the clan. Either she was really ugly, or you are really stupid... huh, I guess I have my answer?"

He opened his mouth to retort, but at that moment, the door opened, and two people entered the room. The atmosphere inside instantly changed.

The first of them was Saint Tyris, just as striking as stem as Sunny remembered her. The second was a man with smooth ebony skin and perfectly white hair, his eyes glinting with shades of indigo and deep blue.

Sunny had only seen the man once, and from afar, but he knew who the stranger was.

Bloodwave, a Transcendent of the House of Night. He was in charge of the naval convoy that had delivered the field army to the Antarctic Center, and the Saint Sunny had witnessed diving into the black water as a monstrous killer whale once.

'Oh! He is also in Falcon Scott?'

It made sense, in retrospect. The naval convoy was assigned to ferry the refugees across the strait, so of course, Bloodwave was involved. He was most likely in charge of making sure that nothing destroyed the ships during the relocation.

The emissaries of the House of Night were not a part of the First Army, which was why Sunny failed to realize that there was actually a fourth Transcendent in the Southern Quadrant right now... no, there had to be even more, since the other three convoys also required a mighty guardian to protect them.

Initially, they were not supposed to involve themselves with the ground operation, but the situation seemed to have changed somehow.

Sky Tide greeted everyone gathered in the room, then proceeded to take a seat at the head of the table. Bloodwave simply leaned on the wall after exchanging a few words with Naeve, forcing a few Masters to shift uncomfortably as his presence brushed against them.

...Sunny felt it, too.

'What an awesome man.'

As he studied the mysterious Saint through his shadows, Sky Tide started the briefing.

"You all know what must be done..."

Without wasting any time, Saint Tyris briefly described the overall state of the First Army contingent, the scope of tasks in front of them, as well as the enemy forces arrayed against them. Her voice was calm and composed, as though they weren't facing an existential threat of dreadful proportions.

To be honest, Sunny struggled to imagine Sky Tide losing composure in any circumstance. What would that even look like?

'...Actually, I hope to never find out.'

Most of what she told them were things that he already knew to some extent, but hearing all of it listed in a structured manner was helpful to get a solid glimpse of the big picture.

The big picture... did not look too good.

Pointing to the projected map of the city and its surroundings, Saint Tyris continued:

"...now that Falcon Scott is the only target in the region, the infighting between Nightmare Creatures will increase drastically. The terrain limits their approach, which means that various swarms and tribes of abominations will have to compete with each other for the right to attack the wall. Many will be slaughtered long before they reach us."

Her gaze was cold and heavy.

"So, we should not worry too much about being overwhelmed with pure numbers. What we do need to worry about, however, is that only the most brutal, lethal, and powerful creatures are going to make it through. The main purpose of this meeting is to identify priority targets among these creatures and come up with a way to deal with them."

Saint Tyris gestured to the projections, where several images replaced the city map.

"The preliminary analysis shows that these Nightmare Creatures represent the most acute threat to this city"

Sunny looked at the images, feeling a grim weight settle on his heart.

He was already familiar with most of them.

A cloud of flying vermin devouring the landscape. An unclear image of a river of darkness flowing through a deep gorge. A still image of the LO49 facility. A hazy drawing of a grotesque beast hiding behind a veil of snow.

And a walking mountain with a single inhuman eye, emerging from a sea of incandescent lava to attack a vast city.

Sunny sighed.

'...Three weeks, huh?'