Led by Nephis, Sunny, and Jet, the Fire Keepers surged forward. They were aiming for the section of the joint army's formation where the flood of Nightmare Creatures had broken through the dam of human bodies, threatening to consume them all.
Somewhere out there, far ahead, Effie and Kai were already trying to stall the fatal advance of the frenzied abominations as they waited for reinforcements to arrive. Their soldiers were fighting fiercely, without a doubt - and yet, the horde had already gained momentum, so the Wolves and the Nightsingers had no hope of stopping it on their own.
They were just two hundred men and women who had volunteered to join the Second Army, after all - no matter how elite of a status the two companies earned because of their strength, valor, and the fame of their commanders, they were still ordinary Awakened.
The Fire Keepers were different.
Even though there were just about fifty of them, each of the people following Changing Star was a seasoned veteran of the Dark City - they were the best and the brightest of what humanity had to offer, simply for the fact that nothing less would have allowed one to survive the cruel crucible of the Forgotten Sh.o.r.e.
They had only grown stronger and more experienced under Ca.s.sie's guidance after escaping that starless abyss, too, and especially now that the mighty - and opulent - clan Valor stood behind the personal troops of its adopted daughter. The Fire Keepers had undergone a comprehensive upgrade of their soul a.r.s.enals, with those who needed it receiving enough shards to finish fully saturating their cores.
There were seven cohorts of them, each more than comparable to the most elite household troops of the great clans in terms of power. So, despite their modest numbers, the Fire Keepers were a force to be reckoned with.
...And that was without even mentioning the three masters who were leading them into battle.
Due to their superior physical prowess, Sunny, Nephis, and Jet naturally ended up at the head of the rus.h.i.+ng force. There was no clever plan to their advance - the situation prohibited careful maneuvering and strategic placement of the Awakened according to their specializations. But there was no real need to waste time on it, either.
Every Fire Keeper knew what they were doing. The remains of the Dreamer Army had long become a well-oiled, perfectly synergized combat machine. They all knew what their comrades were good at, what quirks their Aspects and Memories possessed, and how to work together in a seamless, deadly harmony.
...Well, maybe Sunny did not quite know all those things, exactly. He was more or less familiar with what the members of Ca.s.sie's former personal cohort were capable of, as well as a few other people with whom he had fought side by side during the civil war of the Bright Castle. Really, he lacked the qualifications to effectively lead these veteran warriors.
However, that was fine. He didn't want to lead anyone, anyway... Sunny was more than happy to leave all that to Nephis today. His role was quite simple - to wreak as much havoc and destruction among the Nightmare Creatures as he could. That way, he would bring the most benefit to the men and women fighting by his side.
His desire to show how lethal he could be in a battle had a different purpose, as well. Sunny wanted the others - Morgan and Seishan in particular - to witness how much of a fierce force he was on the battlefield. Having some respect from the representatives of the great clans would be convenient in the coming months... but mostly, he wanted to deceive them.
People were usually good at one thing or another... great fighters were very rarely amazing utility specialists, and people specializing in subterfuge were usually less capable in direct combat. Of course, there were always freaks like Sunny, who could do anything, from swinging a sharp sword to weaving Memories. But they were rare enough for a subconscious bias to subtly deny their existence.
The more capable of a fighter Sunny would show himself to be, the harder it would become for people who didn't know him to a.s.sume that he also possessed other formidable abilities, like excelling in stealth or being a master of utility.
It was a different kind of deception.
In the past, Sunny had tried extremely hard to remain under the radar, hiding his power to appear weak and insignificant. That s.h.i.+p, sadly, had long sailed - after coming to Antarctica, he was forced to reveal enough of his strength so that no sane person would ever think of him as a weakling. So, now, he needed a new disguise.
And today was the day he would start to create it.
'Come on, look at me... look at the Devil of Antarctica. Am I not strong? Am I not fearsome? Am I not a frenzied beast, just like what a lofty Legacy would expect an uneducated brute from the outskirts to be?'
As Sunny ran, he gathered the shadows from the Shadow Lantern around his body, manifesting them into the shape of a towering, four-armed fiend. He wielded the Sin of Solace in one hand, the Cruel Sight in another - the other two remained free, to be used to tear the enemies apart with sharp claws or switch to a two-hand grip of the jade jian on the fly.
A moment later, he circulated his essence and activated the [Mantle] trait of the Marble Sh.e.l.l. A fearsome armor of black onyx suddenly encased the tenebrous Shadowsp.a.w.n into an impervious carapace, coming together with a dull clangor.
Sunny was not going to use finesse and cunning tricks today... no, what he was going for was maximum carnage, maximum barbarity. The more feral he appeared, the better.
G.o.d knew he had some pent-up anger to vent.
They had already flashed through the ranks of the retreating soldiers that belonged to the crushed companies. He could already see the Wolves and the Nightsingers fighting ahead, stubbornly refusing to give ground to the onslaught of abomination. A glimpse of Effie's l.u.s.trous steel figure ignited his heart, flooding his body with strength and vigor.
There were... really, really a lot of Nightmare Creatures in front of him.
'd.a.m.n.'
Sunny summoned the Dying Wish, slotting it into the Mantle and activating the [Underworld Armament] trait of the onyx armor.
'Now, for the finis.h.i.+ng touch...'
Finally, he summoned the Extraordinary Rock, placing it into the mouth of the Shadowsp.a.w.n and activating the [Sonorous] enchantment to make the transferred voice sound as loud as possible.
As the Fire Keepers closed in on the desperate melee, the towering four-armed fiend that moved at the head of Changing Star's force raised his horned head...
And let out an earth-shattering, chilling, bloodthirsty roar.
For a moment, it seemed as though the whole battlefield around them was momentarily frozen.
Even the Nightmare Creatures seemed a little taken aback.
Cradled in the embrace of shadows, Sunny smiled with satisfaction.
'Yes... I think that will do the trick...'