[Note: Zeo's lightning phases through things, I mistakenly wrote broke through last chapter. Sorry for the misunderstanding.]
***
A centurion lunged at Sunny, only to be struck in the face with defiance. The awakened sword cut deep into the hideous monster's face and left a wide gash in it.
It didn't stop the monster in its tracks though, as it kept going and slashed at Sunny with it's twin scythes.
Sunny ducked instinctively, his once supreme battle art had faded away, and he could not replicate it with a dormant body and mind, but whatever he had left and whatever he had relearnt was enough to dance through these awakened monsters with ease.
Sunny would have rolled backwards and taken a defensive stance to better prioritise safety, but given that there were two more centurions approaching him, he chose not to.
Instead he drove defiance into the neck of the carapace centurion. The monster growled, then trembled as blood gushed out of it's throat. And finally convulsed before dropping dead.
Sunny had already taken a step back to avoid the corpse falling on him by then.
He then rose and turned to face the other two centurions. His eyes quickly attempting to scan the battlefield. Unfortunately, he didn't like what he saw.
'Damnation, we really are outnumbered here. My shadow didn't see this many creatures though, how is it possible that they hid from me?'
The next moment, he no longer had time to wonder as a black chitinous scythe fell towards his head and he commanded Judgement to collide with it.
Nephis was struggling, not because it was difficult to face and kill the nightmare creatures in front of her, but because there were other humans surrounded by those Nightmare creatures too.
Humans unlike her, who had not been blessed by the fire and so would burn very easily when exposed to her incandescent flames of pure destruction.
So Nephis had to be careful with her aspect, she had to shape her flames through the humans and hit the nightmare creatures without letting the leftover wisps of her power fall on her fellow humans at all.
It was a good thing that she could shape her flames, otherwise she would be too destructive for any cohort.
Destruction...it was a powerful thing. But it was dangerous too. For the past few days Nephis had grown quite close to understanding what destruction exactly symbolised.
And she had found herself...to be quite close to it. In fact, she had actually been quite shocked at her own powers ever since she came to the forgotten shore...maybe since even before that.
First of all, she had recieved a divine aspect, a feat practically unheard of. She knew Sunny had one, but being the same as him only made her look more extraordinary.
Which was a wild statement for the daughter of smile of heaven and broken sword.
Not just that but, Sunny had shown her the power to weild multiple cores too. Something not just unheard of, but entirely alien to the human existence itself.
It was as if she had partially become something other than human.
Then some time passed, and she found herself being attacked by a massive horde of nightmare creatures.
And somehow, a mere sleeper like her managed to eradicate dozens upon dozens of them...or was it over a hundred?
In any case, to kill that many awakened creatures as a sleeper in one go? She didn't know it for sure but deep down she didn't even expect her own parents or their friends to have been capable of such a ridiculous fear.
But that monstrous destructive potential was a double edged sword, like in the present situation.
'If only I could understand my powers better, I'd be able to channel them safely around Sunny and others.'
But that had to come later, for now, Nephis had to stop a carapace scavenger that had liked too close to her— without using her aspect.
Effie dashed at the forcefield generated by the carapace dux. Her aspect granting her the strength of a dozen men.
Usually that would put her below someone like Sunny, who had the strength of three sleepers as a demon, and while empowered by his three shadows was as strong as a dozen men aswell.
His newfound shadow cradle only made him twice as strong too.
However, Effie's monstrous frame made her massively more powerful in pure physical strength, granting her might slightly higher than fully augmented demon Sunny.
And considering that he wasn't fully augmented right now, she was by default the strongest sleeper in pure physical might present here.
And that monstrous strength now collided with the devil power of the dux they were facing.
For a moment, the forcefield shuddered but then it grew still again.
It had held the physical assault of the one raised by wolves.
Effie stumbled back, her head aching with pain.The skin of her forehead tore open and a stream of blood flowed down towards her torso.
"Damn this wild bastard!"
A laughter erupted from behind her and another two spears of pure electricity flew towards the veil.
Again, they did not strike the forcefield itself but phased through them, screwing the dux's upper right shoulder and the hand connected to it.
"Don't worry Athena, I can deal with this insect on my own!"
Behind her, Zeo was laughing hysterically while slowly building up electricity the fire at the devil. His lightning was being weakened by the forcefield but still managed to leave shallow wounds on the devil itself.
However Effie knew it wouldn't be enough, no devil was just going to sit there and watch as it was being attacked and Zeo would take far too long to kill the devil on his own.
Despite knowing his split personality flaw, Effie couldn't help but sigh at the situation.
It seemed like the humans had it overall under control, but something was off. Something utterly wrong with the way the nightmare creatures were relatively relaxed.
Penthesilea couldn't fire off highly compressed air blades in the compact area she was fighting in, so she opted for encasing her fists with rapidly circulating air.
Creating highly destructive aur gauntlets around her hand and using them to rip apart anything that came close.
In the chaos of the fight, she didn't even realise when she had gotten much farther from the building's gates than everyone else.
And that mistake almost cost her her life— when a pair of sinister crimson eyes appeared from the darkest corner of the room and lunged at her.
Fortunately she managed to notice and dodge it at the last second, due to her years of experience, but what she saw next left her throat dry with fear. A single drop of sweat dropping from her forehead.
Andreas had just ripped two Scavengers apart with his bare hands and was now chewing on their carapace.
His aspect allowed him to copy the attributes of the creatures he ate. And after 15 years of having existed on the forgotten shore, he had devoured thousands of victims already.
But while his attributes resembled the awakened quality of the nightmare creatures he obtained them from, they were unable to regenerate to that awakened quality again if destroyed.
So Andreas had to devour more awakened creatures to keep up the supernatural parts of his body.
The awakened carapace was only worth it as long as it was awakened, and the Awakened claws were the same.
They were also the only reason Andreas was able to kill the weaker fallen ones by himself.
Using his wings, he floated up as a centurion got too bold and tried biting at him. Then he fell on the centurion with a kick, breaking the poor fool's back with the steel enforced strength of a long saturated core.
Then he twisted, throwing the centurion a couple feet away and appeared in front of it.
His eyes gleamed with a strange yet dangerous glint...and the centurion was frozen in time forever.
Well not forever, it was only stunned for half a dozen seconds or so, but that was all Andreas needed.
The next moment, the centurion's head was being chewed by the story fangs of his killer.
Mira was some distance away with Samwell and another sleeper. They were taking on two scavengers together.
Despite being part of the second ruler's cohort, Mira was not all that strong. For instance, she was an oracle and at the same time didn't held an aspect fit for combat.
And yet she was more than capable of duking it out with an Awakened beast.
While that appeared to be a lackluster feat around monsters of her cohort and the demonic duo that had joined them recently, being able to stand your ground against a creature one whole rank above you without any external help was among the most incredible feats of performance.
Samwell and his friend Tarly on the other hand, were faring badly. They had combat experience yes, but had never gotten into a fight without any tricks or terrain advantage up their sleeves.
Serpent was somewhere too, only nobody could see it. Sunny had a vague idea of what Serpent was doing, but he didn't know exactly how far it had gotten into it's mission.
Overall the entire situation was in a messy fragile equilibrium, one that threatened to break at the slightest shift of power.
And that shift had already arrived.
***
Penthesilea wanted to scream, but no voice came out of her mouth. It was as if she had no mouth to begin with.
Her eyes widened with shock and rising fear. Out from the distance, a powerful carapace dux arose.
This awakened devil was bigger than it's sibling and held more scars as well.
It was a battle hardened champion of the carapace army, a truly capable soldier even amongst it's fellow devils.
And that most likely had something to do with its incredibly terrifying devil power.
Before anyone could notice the human,
before she could alert anyone,
Before any more of it's brothers or sisters died.
The devil rushed at Penthesilea, aiming to crush her in an instant.
But-
It was stopped in its tracks as a thick wall of condensed air barred it's path.
Penthesilea had used it's brother's technique on it, a truly clever yet hideous idea. One befitting a human indeed.
The dux halted for a moment, before widening it's eyes. Once again they started glowing crimson.
And the next moment, the air wall dispelled. The dux rushed at the sorceress again, but before he could reach her, she had already announced it's presence.
"There's another devil here!!"
Instantly, three pairs of eyes turned towards her location, Sunny, Nephis and Andreas were immediately alerted of the threat and had started planning a way to deal with it.
Everybody else also learnt of the devil a moment later, some filled with grin anticipation and some with unfiltered fear.
There was also Zeo, who just wanted all the smoke in the world right now. He was grinning wildly like a madman, the news of another devil only seemed to make him more excited.
But that wasn't it for the surprises, as Sunny realised only a moment too late— the ceiling broken open and the carapace creatures hiding above fell on the humans below.
But that wasn't what horrified him the most, the worst thing was that...
A Spire Messenger was falling down on Effie and Zeo directly.
Time seemed to slow down as Sunny felt the old long forgotten rush of anxiety flood his mind.
Leaving the dead centurions aside, he rushed towards the previously hidden spire messenger.
Judgement was flying ahead of him to intercept the harrowing abomination.
Some distance away, Nephis wasoving towards Penthesilea to help her against the huge carapace dux.
And everybody else was rushing to face the new group of nightmare creatures along with the old group more effectively.
The changes were going to take time though, and lives were going to be lost. It was not looking good for the human hunting party at all.
Just then, a flash of justice in this forsaken hell appeared as Serpent broke through the solid ground right underneath the carapace dux with the forcefield.
Since there was no forcefield covering the ground, Serpent was able to test through the ground and bite deep into the neck of the carapace devil.
It seemed that Serpent had come in clutch.
The next moment, the devil lost it's concentration on the forcefield and it broke.
As it did, Effie was able to enter the proximity of the devil as well.
Zeo on the other hand steered away from the fight and turned towards the spire messenger.
"Focus on the small fries!"
Only a moment later he was told to shift targets as Sunny entered the area. Judgement had entagled itself with the messenger as it landed on the floor.
Weilding the Steel manifestation of Auro's Defiant will, Sunless, the Prince of Death had arrived to recruit another soldier for his future domain.
Behind him, the white haired man hesitated. All through his life, fighting a fallen creature had always been a tough endeavour for his party. The toughest endeavour even.
Everytime they survived and became stronger as a result, Zeo was only reminded more deeply of how dangerous and life threatening it was to face a fallen creature as a bunch of sleepers.
And that was with monsters like Andreas and Penthesilea, who had existed in this desolate world for over a decade, and like Effie who had one of the best aspects for fighting someone stronger than her.
To imagine a little teenage boy, one with at maximum one year worth of experience, that too in the real world's kind and flimsy hands, to come and destroy fallen creatures left and right...
That wasn't just absurd. It was madness.
'Well I guess he isn't destroying them left and right, it takes effort and risk for him too. But still, being able to just face one alone with the confidence of certain victory...it's unheard of.
What kind of supreme start did this kid have as an infected? Not even the great clans should be able to produce someone so powerful.
He said he wasn't affiliated with any clan? I don't believe that for a second.'
Zeo was unsure of whether to leave Sunny alone or help him, but in the end, when he saw others getting overwhelmed, he chose to follow Sunny's advice.
In his heart, a hesitant little seed was forming. A small mark...or signs of a mark were forming.
Nephis raised her sword to block the approaching lance limb of the devil she was fighting.
Then, as Penthesilea's hands connected with one of the devil's human hands, she shoved her sword's tip into the devil's neck.
However, the devil did not die. Instead, Neph's sword slipped from the carapace of it's neck and Penthesilea's hands slipped from their grip.
They both lost their balances for a moment, but that mistake was enough.
A lance shoved through Penthesilea's chest, skewering her like a kebab and raising her high.
Another lance fell on Nephis as a downward strike, which she barely evaded by jumping back.
Seeing no other choice, Nephis finally let her controlled flames loose and threw them on the devil.
Up until now, her flames had never betrayed her, they had always been the harbingers of destruction. Erasing all traces of her enemies like a furious storm of vengeance.
Only today had they ever failed to bring defeat upon their enemies.
But it seemed as if, that would happen again today.
As the flames reached the devil, they grew...cold.
They were devoid of heat, that is to say, their source of raining destruction upon their enemies was gone.
Only some brightly glowing dancing wisps of light remained...harmless as a mistletoe to the devil.
For the first time in her life, Neph's face dropped in horror, if only for a moment.
Having not had her flaw of pristine soul, Nephis had not faced inexplicable pain in her life, aside from when her cores formed.
She had as such, never tried to hide her aspect much either.
But today, being deprived of the incandescent flames she always relied upon, she felt fear yes...but only for a moment.
Because the next moment, all she felt was excitement...
And understanding.
"This devil, its power is to nullify a certain concept at a time."
With a dark smile befitting Sunny more than herself, Nephis weilded the ascended blade of her master, the flame pillar and lunged at the devil.
She slashed at the devil's torso and at the same time sent her flames surging at it's head.
The devil prioritised surviving the incandescent flames ofcourse, and so it had to avoid the steel in some other way.
And it did that by taking a step back.
Neph's eyes widened. Her heart screaming. Bingo!
Ofcourse, she wouldn't lower herself to the point of actually saying something like that out loud, it went against her existence as the last daughter of the immortal flame clan.
And as much as Nephis loved to defy the typical natures of a legacy, she was utterly loyal to and proud of her family's lineage.
Without taking her eyes off the devil, she curled back her arm and rotated the sword to cut off the devil's lance arm holding Penthesilea.
It was a beautiful technique, delivered with utmost precision. It was the pinnacle of the flowing style of broken sword.
And yet, the devil was too large. It simply raised it's arm away and above even more, putting it out of range for Nephis.
She frowned, she was going to need more time to break her fellow human free. But perhaps...she did not have that time left.
Somewhere else, Serpent was dancing around the devil, avoiding the waves of energy it sent as the offensive side to its forcefield ability.
Effie was there with him, trying to avoid the patches of forcefield the devil had generated to keep her at bay.
These forcefield patches were much smaller than the previous two iterations, about the size of imp when he first became Sunny's shadow, and yet they were absolutely necessary.
The moment the huntress reached the devil and landed a proper strike...it knew it's life was up.
Fighting the spire messenger, Sunny realised something.
It had been injured before, and that was why the carapace army was not only hiding here, but also didn't strike the human legion with everything they had, because they wanted to wait until the cursed herald regained it's strength.
But that also meant something worse...
The fact that there was a spire messenger here...meant that there was more than just a little attack at play here.
This army was no result of a mere tide, otherwise the spire messenger wouldn't be here no, it was sent to form a base of carapace creatures inside the dark city, not randomly existing isolated vermin.
But a proper base for an actual army.