> [Virgo]

I polished the emblem on my general's hat with a damp red cloth from my jacket pocket. I continued to polish the oversized medallion until it gleamed like glittering gold.

This golden symbol, which was surrounded in thin golden metal strips like rays of light, represented my task force within Outer Legion; my unit, my family. The golden circle was engraved with a blind skull wrapped in vines and forget-me-nots.

Holding my military cap by its thin visor, I put it on and brushed my long black hair out of my eyes.

This hat, this general's overcoat, and most importantly this golden emblem represented all that was me. Everything I fought for since birth was distinguishable by these three things.

Beside me rested the bodies of my enemies -- a family of five.

Even the youngest of them had to be eliminated. Enemy pilots came in all sorts and sizes. Had the humans not trained their children how to pilot and summon I wouldn't have to deem them a threat. It was their own fault. Any of these poor souls could have the powers of the gods at their disposal. I couldn't take any risks leaving any alive.

The civilians of this city served as my unit's dinner as we fed off of the revitalizing red mana that pooled from their veins.

I peered from out of the shattered windows of the ruined apartment complex.

In the distance, I could see a tower.

It was my current objective.

The Clocktower was the last bastion of the Crane family and their operations, which resided in the light -- but it wouldn't for much longer.

The pilots in there were accessing other worlds, obtaining abilities from other realities to use against Epimetheus. The technology they used was stolen from us. The dimensionalists had stolen capabilities only a true Dem'i should possess.

And somewhere in that tower was what I seemed most of all -- the right arm of the devourer.

Even just the arm of the devourer held limitless power. It fueled their technology and allowed them to abuse the ability to travel worlds as the Dem'i once did when they were a race of omniscient dimensionalists.

My armed forces pushed through the borders of the city. With us traveled the dark tendrils of Epimetheus' reach. The lands we seized became covered by the night sky -- covered by imminent darkness. On one side, was a bright illuminated city, and on the other side, where we marched in formation, was a darkened city in ruin and chaos under an overhanging pitch-black sky.

We placed pillars, called obelisks, that generated mana. With each corrupted pillar more land turned to Dark Alignment. Darkened land produced more red mana, and with this, our numbers of fallen grew from the corrupted populations of this city. These pillars shifted and changed the earth terrain to the terrain of the sunless lands of Vana -- the surface realm of our dark homeworld.

Within the Clocktower resided traitorous scum.

My twin sister had abandoned our cause and abandoned the Dark Alignment.

Most of all, she abandoned our father Epimetheus, even after being granted a second chance at life by his great powers.

How pathetic.

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She would be brought to justice for aiding Caius Crane and his renegades. Brought to justice for her cowardice and denying acts against her own family.

I dipped my hands into black paint and covered my neck with it. Letting the paint drip from my fingers back into the small bowl in front of me, I stared into the abyss of dead essence.

“Pyrrha has claimed the next obelisk for Outer Legion, General. She moves forward with her units,” said a legionnaire soldier at attention.

“And what of the enemy pilots? Do they still fight?” I asked.

“They are in retreat as our terrain creeps towards their city.”

“Good. Mobilize our units,” I commanded my legionnaire, “Let us be the first of our kind behind those hideous white walls.”

“As you command, Sir,” said the legionnaire as he saluted, and made his exit.

I had found one pilot amongst this family of five living in this apartment. A little girl who had a memento hidden underneath her bedding. With this memento, I had acquired my first summon.

I soaked the memento in the bowl of dead essence and show the proper verse.

"Show yourself, servant," I commanded.

A shadow emerged from the wall -- a silhouette of a woman.

"Master..." spoke the shadow.

"Reveal yourself to your new master."

The shadow traveled from the wall to the floor and swelled into a pool of darkness. A woman covered in black robes materialized from the pool of shadows. She had long white hair and covered eyes.

"You've killed my Summoner," said the woman.

"Why did you not try and stop me?" I asked.

"Because I couldn't," she admitted.

I laughed at her honesty.

"Surely, an attempt would've been worth it."

"I'm an Enchanter-class. We are different from other Summon class-types. Summons usually are the combatants, but Enchanters are different. We do not normally fight. We provide buffs for our Summoners from the shadows and let them fight in their own bodies. But, even while buffed my Summoner was no match for your inherent abilities."

"What a shame," I laughed.

"Tell me your name, Enchantress."

"I am the Greek Goddess of the Night, Summoner -- My name is Nyx."

"How fitting for my first summon," I said, "we are both creatures of the night."

I pulled my overcoat off of the chair next to me and slipped into it. Nyx helped dress me, buttoning my jacket up.

"And what can you provide me, Nyx? You won't cower in the corner in our next fight, will you?"

"I am a shapeshifter, Master. I am capable of copying the stats and form of an enemy. I can siphon their mana and leech their health from the shadows as well."

"Interesting. And what is your ultimate?"

"Living Shadows..."

"Ah, those things we killed on our way here," I said, "That sad display was your ultimate?..."

"They are strongest when I've siphoned mana, but my previous Summoner did not allow me to do so."

"And that is why she's dead," I laughed, "I expect you to eliminate that rule at once. Drain as many as you please."

"Yes, Summoner. I will do as you command."

"But remember this. If you fail to be interesting I will shatter this memento. You are here to benefit me. If you hinder me for even a moment you will not hesitate to shatter this precarious gemstone of yours."

"I...I..."

Nyx paused, speechless.

"I will cease to exist if you do that..."

I smirked.

"Yes, Master...", Nyx reluctantly replied.