“Hold the line!” Kendrick ordered. The army was in dire straits. With hundreds of nightmare creatures squeezing in on all sides. The massive column of soldiers was flanked and spread thin.

“Squad 14, patch the breech.” The man ordered the men around. The number of awakened squads was monumental for a single operation, but so was the size of the army. Mundane weapons did little against the hordes.

Kendrick summoned a long sword and led his personal squad into the battle. It was only the first couple of days, yet they had encountered such an enormous amount of nightmare creatures. Kendrick didn’t even want to think about how the rest of Antarctica was. A four legged abomination jumped and he sliced the creature in half, head to tail.

The line of the First Evacuation Army stretched farther than the eye could see, the sounds of battle stretched further still.

Kendrick pondered what to do. As the commanding officer of the forces, he had to ensure the greatest possible outcome in this situation. He could call back the Irregulars from the front. Their shadowy captain was spoken highly of by Colonel Jet.

‘No. if I pull them back, then the monsters they are fighting will attack the front of the line.’ Kendrick was running out of time. The winter night begane, shrouding the battle in darkness. The guns sang, ripping into flesh, but more flesh replaced it.

Even for an Ascended like him, no one could hold against an endless wave of monsters. Kendrick punched one back with his gauntlets and shoved the sword down the throat of another. His cohort fought efficiently, but numbers were against them.

A truck exploded, sending burning shrapnel into the backs of the soldiers. Kendricks moved fast and activated his aspect. The metal condensed and compressed into a human form. A second after birth it moved, joining the ranks of the fighters. Kendrick strained from controlling his dolls. He had several spread out to give him a clear view of the situation.

‘This isn’t going well,’ Kendrick smiled somberly. The glorious evacuation army meant to save the citizens of Antarctica, can’t save themselves.

The blood spill increased. Kendrick heard the panicked screams of mundane as the line of awakened was breached. Monsters poured through the line of people, killing everything in sight.

“Pull the line, Surround the beasts!” It wasn’t ideal to split the division, but Kendrick had no other choice. Three more dolls formed from the strong alloys and they filled the line, helping the awakened.

Kendrick looked at his essence and wished he hadn’t. His reserve was going to run out soon, leaving holes in the soldiers. A cascade of breeches would spell the doom of the convoy.

‘What would he do?’ Kendrick found himself thinking about his brother, making him laugh inside. Even now, he was looking up to him.

A sudden cold fell upon Kendrick. Not only him, but everything around him. Antarctica froze the body, but this cold clenched the mind, even the soul. The nightmare creatures halted looking for the source of this unpleasant feeling.

Kendrick had his dolls transfer the situation to him, and it was the same throughout the line. The whole battle just stopped.

A lone person rode upon a snow white Elk. Its antlers glistened from the artificial lights. The man riding the mount rode indifferently, like he wasn’t interrupting a raging battle.

‘A saint?’ Kendrick entertained the thought. He’d been told of three Saints being sent in the First Evacuation Army. But he didn’t recognize the man. His shoulder was exposed with green white, and blue black fabric covering him. It was like he took the ocean and clothed himself in it. The peace resulting from his presence then broke. Waves of fire erupted from in front of the soldiers, razing the ground, sending steam into the air.

The entire line was protected and the monsters were burned.

Kendrick fell back, horrified. The memories of the disaster playing back in his mind. With this show of force he knew who this was. A master of Song.

‘Anathema.’

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Rio watched the abominations burn. Orange light outlined the column of soldiers, moving outwards to find new flesh to burn. No man cheered. No nightmare creature attack. The strength of his aspect kept them frozen.

The fires then turned and closed in on the army. Rio stopped the manifestation and the flames vanished. The only evidence of their existence was the damage they left behind.

‘Now for the show.’ He fired a glowing blue arrow. It flew hundreds of feet into the sky, then fell down like a drop in the ocean. The middle of the horde exploded with water, and the steam in the air condensed, showering the monsters. They broke out of their trance, the biting cold forcing them to move. Rio smiled and raised his hand. His goal was to be as flamboyant as possible.

He found a suitable mind and manifested the fear. Streaks of lightning poured out of nothingness, and eradicated the front of the horde, spraying ash and ice hundreds of feet into the air.

The Master dismounted the Elk and two other echoes appeared. One was a large serpent that embodied the sea. The other was a man with a coral crown atop seaweed hair, holding a trident. The three echoes exuded a powerful pressure that even made the monsters kneel.

‘Protect the other side.” Rio ordered. The three echos turned and jumped over the convoy engaging the hordes on the other side. They tore through the monsters.

Rio faced his own horde, which stood still despite the damage he’d inflicted. There was one instant stronger than hunger in a monster, fear. They feared Rio more than they wanted to eat. Rio skimmed the souls of the awakened behind him, looking for a suitable weapon. Then he found it. An Ascended no less. He raised his arms for a theatrical display and the air around him trembled. Long limbs resembling vines appeared, originating from a hidden core. The creature was larger than the titan Rio faced, but obviously weaker. He unleashed the Manifestation upon the nightmare horde.

Nature attacked. That’s the only way to describe what it did. The nightmare creatures lashed out with its limbs, smashing the horde. Roots shot out of the ground piercing the creatures and holding them to meet their fate. Rio commanded the creature like it was an extension of himself, waving his arms and targeting the many fallen nightmare creatures.

Rio wasn’t going to be out shone by his own echos. He lightened the effect of his aspect and the creatures found the will to move again. The creatures in front of him howled and charged, driven insane by fear. Rio cut the rapid beasts, activating crushing tide. A line of corpses and blood was drawn on the ice, and the army could only gawk at the master’s carnage.

A Master was by no means weak, but the sight that the army was witnessing was on a whole other level, one would ask if this man was secretly a saint.

None of the weak abominations could hurt Rio, so he moved without worry, painting the land with bones and blood. He peered into the soul of another awakened and pulled on the fear.

The dark. The world vanished. Those who couldn’t withstand high mental attacks were blinded. Rio could easily see the nightmare creatures and cut the beast’s with his spear, letting them howl before finishing them off. For those who could not see, it was like the world was crying in pain.

He scanned the horde and found the fallen creatures. He smiled and bolted through. The first one met his blade, and Rio shifted Ocean’s wrath into a sword, slipping past the monster’s claws.

Rio gritted his teeth and bashed the monster in the head with the butt of the sword before stabbing it. The small fry were all but gone, now Rio needed to actually fight.

‘And do it in the most flashy way possible.’ Rio moved like water through the horde, being in one place killing, then killing in another. The creatures were scared, and confused, leaving them unable to effectively defend against the phantom.

Rio checked his essence and stopped his aspect, letting the manifestations disappear. Keeping two active and under control was mentally and physically draining for the master, so he settled for that performance. He summoned Oath of the Watcher and held it high. He had gathered most of the problematic creatures in one area and now it was time for the finally. The air crackled. The hot air had mixed with the cold, creating the perfect conditions.

Rio threw the javelin and activated it. It was like it froze, but in reality it was just moving too fast. The horde blew up, struck by thousands of volts of electricity. The once massive horde was now reduced to a few groups of stiff creatures.

Rio smiled and turned around to the army. By the way his body was covered in blood, and how he was smiling, they’d probably categorize him as a monster too.

He sent the Merking out with the shell to collect the vast amounts of blood in the field. He needed to recover fast. ‘Now my alibi is secured'

With great mirth, Rio summoned his echoes and memories back and walked to the head of the convoy, leaving red footprints in his wake.

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Kendrick could only watch as the master and his echos tore the nightmare horde apart. ‘Master Kendrick?’ He couldn’t help but laugh at his title. He might as well be mundane in front of this man. A vast disparity existed between the two Masters. Even if you knew that the monsters came from lower grade gates, the fact that the master is doing what his army couldn’t was shameful.

‘What kind of nightmare bred this beast?.’ Kendrick stiffened when the man skipped over. He was a head shorter than Kendrick, younger too.

“Major Rio of the Howling Tide Clan.” The Master introduced himself. Kendrick hastily bowed to the Master.

“Lieutenant Kendrick of the First evacuation Army. It is an honor, Major Rio.” He started commanding his dolls and soldiers, reforming the ranks. Rio found a spot on top of a Rhino and sat there. Kentrick didn’t complain since this man saved them, and was apparently staying.

One of the men in Kendrick’s cohort started to address the man, but Kendrick stopped him. Even words of gratitude are beneath this man. Kendrick wanted to limit his interaction with the Great Clans.

‘The journey to Erebus Field will be smoother now.’