The Rhino moved along the snowy, mountainous routes of Antarctica at high speed, causing Arthur's hair—he was seated on the roof, acting as scout—to whip aggressively.
The vehicle took curves with an agility that defied its structure, yet in Emily's hands, the Rhino moved efficiently without complications.
Beside the engineer sat Hale, helping her choose the correct routes and avoid hordes of Nightmare Creatures that had emerged from their Gates. It wasn't as if these could generate any extreme complication for the cohort, and besides, there was always the option of fleeing from them if a creature surpassed their capacity.
Still, due to the nature of their current mission, Hale was taking routes and paths that kept them away from the creatures to avoid wasting their strength on them and to arrive at their objective in good condition.
Most routes at this stage of the campaign—with all the battles that had taken place over this month and a half—had been destroyed or had changed directions. That was why Hale's presence had been a blessing for the cohort.
The former Pathfinder of the Dark City had proven to be of great help, possessing an outstanding mental capacity that surpassed most Awakened.
Even after everything they had been through during this time, he remained as firm as a mountain—which was no small feat, considering what they had survived.
They had already experienced the loss of one of the cohort's members, and that had been a hard blow for most—especially Emily. They had also experienced the desperation of facing a situation where they had no way of doing anything.
The worst part was that it hadn't happened just once, but twice.
The most impactful was the appearance of Goliath. The Fallen Titan appeared and erased two million lives in a matter of seconds, with them having only the option to flee and watch from a distance.
The second was the Corrupted Terror that killed nearly seventy thousand civilians on the evacuation route from Aurora Vale to Erebus Field.
On the day of both tragedies, they followed the evacuation route to the last city, and along the way, they kept finding the rest of the convoys scattered along the route and its sides…
Fortunately, almost upon reaching Erebus Field, they found a convoy under attack by the Terror's minions, and Arthur didn't hesitate to make it pay for everything it had done.
That was how he brought an end to the Corrupted Terror that had made them feel like the main characters of a horror movie. Arthur also received a good Memory from it.
This one helped him become invisible, much like the Terror did—a cloak he could wear over his armor that prevented anyone from detecting him.
In reality, the cloak didn't make him invisible, but rather separated Arthur from reality, making him unaffected by it. That was why no one could see, smell, or sense him. Even Sylvie, with her enhanced senses and her ability to feel the ambient Mana, couldn't perceive him when he used the Memory.
This ability was different from what they had believed the Terror possessed, but after using it for a while, he realized that the creature had deceived them from the start.
It didn't have the ability to turn invisible—rather, it possessed the aforementioned ability. But it could also choose between different phases of separation from reality.
That was why they had believed it was only invisible, but in reality, the creature wanted them to think it could only do that.
Fortunately, separating from reality in front of Arthur was impossible. So the Terror ended up facing its worst enemy.
This fight happened a week after the fall of Aurora Vale, and now another week had passed since then.
The last two weeks had been very complicated for the evacuation campaign across all of Antarctica. Several things had happened that ended up shaking, changing, or eliminating the plans the government had made.
The most serious event was the appearance of five Titans in almost simultaneous fashion.
One of them had already been eliminated by the combined forces of the three Saints of the First Evacuation Army.
Another was Goliath, which they were the first to report, confirming its class and rank. The only thing they didn't know was the Titan's current situation. Once it dove headfirst into the mountains, it hadn't appeared again during the two weeks.
Then, another of the Titans, according to the information handled, seemed to be maritime. The task of containing or eliminating it had been transferred from the government to the House of Night Clan.
This clan had reported that the creature could be either a Fallen or Corrupted Titan. They hadn't been able to confirm its rank because it had only been seen on two occasions, and in both, only the ship captains had survived.
The government had named the last two Titans: Winter Beast and Black Butterfly.
The latter was first seen by Sunny, so he wasn't surprised by the name. He was even surprised that he knew what a butterfly was—though maybe it was a member of his cohort who told him.
The information Sunny provided about the creature was only its rank and class—a Corrupted Titan. Along with its appearance, which resembled a completely black butterfly, nearly impossible to see, but its wings were like mirrors, in which one could see their reflection.
Sunny didn't say what happened if one looked at their own reflection, because the moment he felt the creature's presence, he fled quickly, and surprisingly, it didn't follow him.
After that, no one else had seen it—or if they had, they hadn't survived to report it.
The first one was the cause of a strange blizzard raging across the Antarctic Center, which was the cause of the collapse of the communication network. The Titan's current location was unknown, but its influence could be felt throughout the region.
This one was also a Corrupted Titan.
All of that combined meant that the field army tasked with evacuating the Antarctic Center was in a rough spot. The southern reach of the landmass was lost and all but abandoned. People were scrambling to preserve the remaining six siege capitals, not knowing when and where the Titans would strike next.
Even worse, the Titans were merely the harbingers of a new phase of the Chain of Nightmares. The frequency and power of the opening Gates seemed to have increased drastically, and countless Nightmare Creatures were pouring into the waking world every day.
…In other words, humans in the Antarctic Center were in trouble.
At this point, for Arthur's cohort to achieve any effectiveness, they would need to be in multiple places at the same time, always at their maximum fighting capacity.
Which was impossible.
So the government decided to send them to secure a bunker on the route to Erebus Field to house civilians there, and then remain on alert for the appearance of any of the previously mentioned Titans to reach the sighting location.
The first option to face them wouldn't be them—it would be the Saints. But that didn't mean they couldn't help in some way.
The government was definitely in a complicated position, and according to the information gathered, everything indicated that things would continue to go poorly.
Something that surprised Arthur was the change in Valor's attitude toward the situation.
The news that had leaked within Song's internal circles indicated that Valor was considering sending one of its princesses to Antarctica to assist in the civilian evacuation…
It was something that surprised him at first, but after thinking about it in detail, it was an action that could have been foreseen.
Valor had lost a lot of popularity with the public when the news of him being in Antarctica became known. One way to solve this would be to send someone in the clan's name to do the same.
Was it a panic-driven action? Perhaps… but Arthur was sure there was something more behind it all.
He didn't even doubt that the reason the Queen accepted his decision to come help Antarctica so quickly was related to this…
Which led him to the question that, for a war that had been brewing behind the scenes for years, what better way to strike a blow at your rival and start the war with an advantage?
Definitely by killing someone of importance within the clan.
That meant Ki Song had agreed to send him to Antarctica with the intention that during the campaign, he could eliminate one of Valor's princesses?
Arthur was sure that was the case. What he didn't know was which of the two Valor would send…
If it was Nephis, then he had no concern—he didn't plan to kill her or anything similar. So if they were made to fight, they could always understand each other and get out of the situation without the other dying.
If it was Morgan… then she would have to die.
He had nothing against her, but if it was his life or the lives of his loved ones versus Morgan's, then the decision didn't exist. She would die.
There was also the possibility that Valor would send a Saint with Morgan or Nephis. That would be uncomfortable for them, but if that was the situation, he would fight the Saint with Regis's help, while Sylvie would fight the other.
He didn't include Seishan because she had orders to return to Ravenheart as soon as they reached Falcon Scott. And if Valor planned to attack, it would be once the evacuation in the largest capital was completed or during it.
So she wouldn't be in danger—the same could be said for Jet.
Jet would separate from the cohort as soon as they reached Falcon Scott to take general control of the campaign—she would take his father's position.
Still, he was slightly concerned that they might use Jet or his father to set a trap for him. For that reason, Arthur had been pushing the idea of his father leaving Falcon Scott prematurely to avoid this situation.
In Jet's case, knowing how strong she was, it would be difficult for Valor to use her as bait.
Additionally, there was the fact that if they ended up using a government member as bait, then the government would most likely take Song's side, and the government Saint in Antarctica would help their comrade. This would only happen if the person that Valor used as bait was Jet or his father, because of their position and importance within the government.
Which was a situation that didn't benefit Valor, and it was something Ki Song had taken into account by sending Seishan to Ravenheart as soon as she reached Falcon Scott to prevent her from being used as bait.
Definitely, everything fit into the Queen's plans, and it was a matter of seeing if Valor would end up falling into the trap—which they had.
Arthur suppressed a small shiver upon realizing all of this. Definitely, having the Queen as an enemy was not something he would like.
One more reason to reconsider Nephis's invitation to defeat the Sovereigns…
Fortunately, there was still time to make a decision about that.
Arthur suppressed a yawn and climbed down from the Rhino's roof. Making his way to the living area, he found Sylvie, Jet, and Regis playing cards. Seishan wasn't playing, but she was sitting beside them with a book in hand.
Upon reaching the area, Sylvie turned her head slightly and asked, "Is it time?"
He nodded, and she focused back on her cards.
Moments later, when it was Sylvie's turn, she played a card and said with a smile, "UNO!"
The card she had played was a green skip, making it so Regis couldn't play that round.
Regis looked at her slowly before saying.
"You're cheating!"
Sylvie crossed her arms and shrugged.
"Prove it or don't cry."
"I can't prove it, but I'm sure you're cheating," Regis responded back.
Sylvie ignored him, and Jet let out a soft chuckle.
"Don't worry—Sylvie won't win."
The aforementioned raised an eyebrow and looked at Jet.
"Why do you say that? You have no way to stop me!"
"Oh, really?"
"Obviously!"
Jet slowly pulled out a card from the three she had left, maintaining fixed eye contact with Sylvie. In a slow voice, she asked again.
"Are you sure?"
Sylvie swallowed but eventually didn't let herself be swayed by Jet's bluff. With a smile, she nodded, indicating there was no doubt she had won.
Jet, with a smirk on her lips, lowered the card even slower than when she had pulled it out, and when it landed on top of the already-played cards, it clearly marked a green +2.
The smirk on Jet's face widened even more as she maintained eye contact. But the moment Sylvie looked down to see the card and then back up, her heart stopped.
Sylvie wasn't affected at all! She faked all her reactions!
She started laughing while holding the only card she had left.
As soon as the card touched the pile, Jet, Regis, and Arthur could see it was a red +2!
Which meant she was the winner of the game!
Making the gesture of dusting off her shoulders, Sylvie stood up from her chair to go on guard duty. Before leaving the room and breaking the silence that followed her victory, she stopped and said without turning around:
"That makes it ten consecutive wins… we should find another game."
Jet and Regis fell fully into Sylvie's rage bait and moved to say something to her, but she quickly left the room, leaving them alone, wanting to tear their hair out.
Arthur, who was standing watching everything, couldn't believe that neither of them had noticed the way Sylvie had cheated.
She had used her Dormant Ability to modify the card's outline with ambient Mana, making them believe it was a red +2!
Even though he had noticed, he didn't plan to tell them the truth. Seeing Jet and Regis frustrated over a game of UNO was quite entertaining…
"What's wrong with you?" Jet asked, noticing him standing there watching them.
Arthur yawned slightly as he replied, "Nothing."
They both narrowed their eyes, but he ignored them and went to his room. Once there, he let himself be enveloped by the soft sheets and settled in to sleep.
It had been three weeks since he last did so.
—---------
In NQSC, at midday.
Ellie had just gotten out of class and was walking with Rain toward her house.
Both girls were talking about school-related things when Rain had the idea of stopping by an ice cream shop.
Since her mother didn't let her eat ice cream very often—concerned about her diet and wanting her to eat healthy things instead—Rain always stopped by the ice cream shop before getting home whenever she could to treat herself.
Ellie, who was now suffering the same fate as Rain, didn't reject the idea, and both turned two blocks out of their way to buy some ice cream.
The shop wasn't anything special, but the prices weren't too high, so with the little money they had as sixteen-year-old girls, they could afford it.
Ellie ordered a two-flavor cone—one vanilla and the other peach. Rain, in turn, ordered a mint chip cone.
Upon seeing her friend's order, Ellie frowned.
'Only psychopaths order mint chip! I'll have to be careful from now on around Rain…'
Ellie was already looking at Rain strangely, but she didn't notice and they left the shop.
Since they had deviated slightly from their path, they decided to go through other streets, which were equally safe.
Soon, walking through those streets, Ellie noticed one of the graffiti painted on the wall of a large building.
It depicted a human hand trying to grasp the moon between its fingers.
Ellie had to admit that the graffiti was good—the person who painted it was quite talented!
Below the painting, there was a name.
"Church of the Moon."