A centipede slithered across a desolate landscape, followed by an army of abominable bone creatures. Its enormous body advanced at full speed, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. The ground was perforated and churned up by its thousand sharp legs, which shattered ancient rocks like soft clay.
The crystal-clear streams turned into zones of death.
Ahead of the enormous centipede ran a figure, clad in black armor, sprinting in front of the massive creature.
The figure vanished from one moment to the next. The centipede slowed its pace.
Its horrifying head turned, rising into the air. Its terrible mouth opened. More branches from dead trees served as horns on the creature, moving gently in the wind.
The centipede moved upon noticing a group of human figures whose souls were tempting, following a discontinuous melody.
The centipede lunged forward like a train at maximum speed, arriving in seconds to where the group was — but there was nothing there.
Confused, the Tyrant looked at a pale-skinned, black-haired man who was the source of the rough melody.
The man sighed.
"I thought I had improved... but maybe not..." His voice sounded disappointed.
On the other bank, the Tyrant stood still for an instant, then lunged forward. The creature plunged into the river, raising an enormous wave that its soldiers followed. Some abominations jumped heavily over the lake, creating more waves as they followed their ruler.
Sunny sat on a rock, watching this without any trace of concern. His black eyes looked up, ignoring the Tyrant, gazing at the bright, omnipresent sun.
As he watched, several things happened.
First, a series of explosions rumbled, shattering rocks around the lake. Enormous jets of water shot upward. Second, hundreds of soldiers, all covered in black suits, emerged from their hiding spots on the slopes. And third, an enormous double-pointed spear, dozens of meters long, descended from the sky at a speed greater than the speed of sound.
The spear struck the Tyrant's face dead-on, piercing it from side to side. Half a second later, an enormous sonic shockwave erupted, making ears ring from the loud thunder.
At the same time, a great number of arrows, bullets, and long-range aspects were launched at the army of bone abominations, destroying hundreds of them and splitting them apart.
The enormous Tyrant, with the spear still embedded in its head, collapsed into the lake, which began to cloud with poison following the death of a Corrupted Tyrant.
Sunny was not impressed.
By this point, he even watched with disinterest.
What was once a death sentence was now nothing more than child's play for someone whose logic didn't apply.
Paying attention to the battle, he observed how the group of Awakened were massacring the abominations quickly, dealing with the Corrupted and Fallen commanders, while another part dealt with the Awakened.
Sunny watched as one group killed a Corrupted beast, while elsewhere, two Awakened fought a Fallen demon in an even match.
A group of forty abominations was being reduced by a single Awakened who wielded a crimson lance while using lightning to enhance his body.
Elsewhere, three Awakened marched through everything in their path, opening up large areas.
The other Awakened acted as a single unit of one body with hundreds of hands.
Their coordination was such that they suffered no casualties in their ranks. They used their abilities, leveraging their strengths and covering each other's weaknesses.
Sunny was impressed by the teamwork of this fearsome army.
Standing up, Sunny summoned the Sword of Comfort into his hand and smiled. He couldn't pass up the opportunity to get more fragments; he only needed a few thousand more to become a Terror.
Jumping from the rock, Sunny wielded the jian sword, splitting an abomination completely in half. Then he moved like lightning, swinging the sword in a wide arc, cutting down five others in less than a second.
Raising the sword, he cut two more that had jumped at him.
Using shadows, he created enormous hands that crushed more abominations, all without his concentration wavering.
Using his shadow sense, he could feel Jet not far away, moving gracefully, killing one abomination after another without hesitation.
Using two of his shadows, he wrapped them around his memory. Then he used two more to enhance his sword, and the last to enhance his body.
Feeling the increase in his power, Sunny became even more ruthless than before, increasing the number of abominations he killed.
---
Elsewhere, in the sky, Shade was flying thanks to his wings made of darkness, watching the battle unfolding below him.
For the moment, there was no need for him to intervene. His army was massacring the abominations with extreme ease, and the Corrupted ranks were beginning to be eliminated one by one.
From what he saw, Jet was leading the charge, fighting against a devil, directly attacking her enemy's soul.
He saw Frédéric guiding a group of soldiers against a swarm of bone abominations. From what he could see, they were doing an excellent job together.
His gaze then settled on Sunless, and his face slightly tightened.
Was he there that day when Uriel spoke with Cassie? Shade thought.
Although he hadn't felt anything strange, there was a high possibility that one of Sunless's shadows had merged with Cassie's shadow and eavesdropped on the conversation, given his great paranoia.
Shade sighed.
"Either way, it's not like it affects much. Though I suppose I need to start preparing for Ariel's Tomb," Shade murmured.
After about ten minutes, the battle finally ended with a fairly predictable result.
The humans won, and the abominations were dead.
Shade descended onto the Tyrant's head, but not where the spear had struck. The spear took on a new form as a jade bracelet.
Jumping down, he landed on the other bank of the river, looking at the Tyrant's corpse. Soon, Sunny and Jet approached.
"You did good work here," Jet said, looking at the dead Tyrant.
"It was simple when you have a Supreme memory."
"How did you get a Supreme memory?"
"By killing a great monster in Falcon Scott. It was in the sea, in the southern part, where it split into a Devouring swarm led by a great beast that Sunny and Dale killed."
"Anyway, are we taking the corpses?" he asked.
"We don't have much time. The battle must have attracted the attention of more abominations that should be arriving soon," Sunny said, looking at the horizon.
Shade looked at his subordinates, who were preparing themselves, boarding the vehicles.
"So, we return to the siege city?" Shade asked.
"Yes."
Two minutes later, a column of vehicles moved toward the siege city to rest.
The ride was silent for a few moments until the communicators sounded.
Shade took out his communicator and read the message. His expression darkened.
"Damn it," Sunny said.
"Looks like there will be no rest," Shade murmured.
"Several category three gates opened, unleashing new Titans," Shade said.
"More Titans, huh?... I wonder if any of them are Corrupted."
Sunny, upon hearing that, looked at Jet seriously, as if she had just wished for a Titan to fall on their heads.
"Master Jet, please don't say things like that. Corrupted Titans are terrifying things to face."
"You killed one."
"And I almost died because of it," he defended himself.
"I don't want to have to fight another one anytime soon."
Shade looked at the vehicle's panel, where their route had changed due to the presence of a Titan. At the same time, he received another message: eliminate a Fallen Titan that wasn't far from their location.
One of Shade's boxes trembled.
"Seriously, I don't understand what the hell goes through the government's minds."
"What's wrong?" Sunny asked.
Shade sighed.
"They want me to eliminate a Fallen Titan about eighty kilometers away, blocking the path to a siege city," he explained.
"Do you plan to do it?"
"I don't have many options. Either way, it's just a Titan. It'll take me some time to kill it."
"How long?" Jet asked.
"About five to ten minutes, depending on its nature and powers."
"Master Jet, do you want to help me kill a Fallen Titan?" he asked with hopeful eyes, but Jet shook her head.
"I'm not crazy enough to go fight a Titan."
"I'm not crazy. The world is the one that's crazy," Shade said as a mysterious wind tousled his hair.