They defeated the swarm. However, the smell of the blood attracted a migrating horde, so the expedition force had to fight their way through the flood of Nightmare Creatures, as well.

Eventually, the column broke free and escaped into the vast plain, but the peace was short-lived. Very soon, they had to fight another skirmish, which grew into another battle, which grew into an unending onslaught of enemies that threw themselves on the speeding vehicles without reprieve.

The mundane soldiers fought admirably. Although not as experienced as the veterans of the First Army, these men and women had also tasted their fair share of bloodshed and strife. Everyone was calm and collected, performing their duties with deadly efficiency and poise. Their performance was immaculate, and their morale seemed unshakable.

Was it because the Second Army had not lived through the same hopelessness as the soldiers in the Antarctic Center, or was it because Effie and Kai were able to inspire them better than Sunny had been able to inspire his soldiers? He was not sure. Regardless, the Wolves and the Nightsingers were a spirited bunch.

The Awakened were as resolute as the mundanes. Although fewer in number, the impact they had on the battlefield was immeasurably higher. All kinds of Aspects worked in harmony to create an impenetrable death zone around the column. The abominations that managed to survive it were promptly dispatched by the melee fighters.

...And, of course, the influence of the four Masters was even greater still.

Effie was serving as the vanguard of the expedition force, cutting a bloody path for the vehicles to follow. Her lustrous figure weaved through the mass abominations, leaving devastation in its wake. The bodies of the creatures she killed were left crumbled and broken, as if an invisible colossus had crushed them under its feet as it walked across the vast plain.

The blows raining on her sculpted steel body, in turn, rang against metal without ever slowing her down.

Kai was soaring high in the sky, observing the rolling battlefield in its entirety and taking out the most dangerous creatures before they could approach the column. His arrows seemed to have a mind of their own, unfailingly slipping through the tiniest cracks in the armor of the abominations. Usually, one arrow was all it took to bring even the most fearsome creature down.

His secondary role was to protect the expedition force from the aerial attacks, and in that task, the archer performed admirably as well.

Jet was protecting the rear of the column, holding the pursuing enemies back. Her throwing stars fell like iron hail, seemingly numerous. Each carried the same dreadful Ability as her melee attacks, striking directly at the soul cores of the abominations. Such a manner of fighting was bound to burn through essence with terrible speed, but that was what made Soul Reaper Jet so frightening of an opponent...

As long as she kept killing, her essence would never run out. And in such a furious battle, Jet was free to slaughter as many enemies as she could.

And finally, there was Sunny. He was sitting on the roof of an APC with his eyes closed, controlling numerous shadows. All across the column, inky-black hands made of darkness appeared out of nowhere to protect the soldiers and press Nightmare Creatures down into the ground, making them easy to slaughter. For now, there had not been a single casualty thanks to the watchful shadows.

Keeping the whole expedition force safe was not easy... in fact, the length of the column was well beyond the reach of his shadow sense, and therefore, out of the area where he could use Shadow Manifestation. But Sunny was using a little trick... he had stationed his five shadows throughout the column, each serving as an island of his consciousness.

His senses, and his ability to control wild shadows, were extended manifold that way.

He could summon Saint to help out, too... but for now, Sunny was holding back from calling upon the taciturn knight.

The truth of the matter was that he wanted to keep her existence hidden. More or less everyone who had learned of their connection in the Antarctic Center were either dead now or could be trusted to keep the secret. Here in East Antarctica, he had mostly acted alone in the wilderness or side by side with Jet, so Saint had not been exposed.

The only exception was Song Seishan... but she had last seen the taciturn knight in the catacombs below the Dark City. Saint had changed a lot since then, both visually and in terms of Rank. Connecting her past and present self would be almost impossible.

As for the legend of Mongrel... no one knew who he was and where he had come from, in the first place. More than that, after the events of Falcon Scott, many people believed that Mongrel had fallen heroically while protecting the last siege capital. From what Sunny had heard, there was already an epic propaganda film about the life and tragic sacrifice of the mysterious swordsman being cooked up back in the NQSC...

He shuddered at the thought.

In any case, Sunny was handling the battle fine, for now, and he wanted to keep Saint as his hidden ace for a while. That was why he had only summoned her within the sphere of darkness created by the Shadow Lantern during the battle against the Malignant Grave Root.

'Although... I'm not sure if I can keep this up much longer...'

As the siege capital drew nearer, the onslaught of the Nightmare Creatures only grew more intense. Sunny was already struggling, and his reserves of essence were swiftly reducing. © 2024.

Something had to change.

...And soon, it did.

He smelled it before he felt it. A sweet, sickening scent was suddenly carried over by the wind...

Then, the battlefield was suddenly shrouded in a vast shadow. Sunny opened his eyes and looked up, at the thing that had blotted out the sun.

Above them, a myriad of crows filled the sky. There were numerous thousands of them, all circling like a giant whirlwind of darkness. As he watched, the countless crows pivoted with eerie synchronicity, and dove down. Their black beaks and vicious talons emanated a sense of deadly sharpness.

The myriad of crows... was Wake of Ruin.

That was his Transformation. What came in the wake of a bloody battle?

A swarm of carrion birds.

The Saint had arrived to guide them into the city personally.