Sum Of Its Parts

It had noot been too hard to cut down the two Corrupted abominations.

Well... of course, it was. Both were terrifyingly powerful and vicious. A single creature like that could have decimated a whole brigade of mundane soldiers and erased an entire human citadel from the map. The smallest touch of their hands was enough to obliterate the soul of a powerful Awakened.

But Sunny and Saint were stronger.

Not in the literal sense, since both were lacking in terms of physical strength when compared to the Voiceless. However, their skill, synergy, and murderous resolve were unrivaled.

Luring the abominations into a trap after trap and helping each other avoid the retaliatory strikes, they swiftly cut the looming creatures down. The fact that one of the creatures was missing an arm and losing rivers of blood helped, too.

In a sense, it was similar to facing Carapace Centurions back on the Forgotten Shore. Those monsters had been higher than Sunny in both Class and Rank, and yet he had killed his fair share. These ones... even though Corrupted Nightmare Creatures were much more powerful, he was not a Sleeper anymore, either. Sunny's own power had grown immensely in the past years.

In fact, he could have dealt with the two voiceless abominations even faster, but his mind was also preoccupied by manifesting shadows to help Nightmare hold on. With a swarm of black tentacles supporting him, the dark courser managed to last until Sunny and Saint were done with their prey.

The rest was simple, if not at all easy.

Facing dozens of Fallen abominations was a daunting task, as well. It took all Sunny had to obliterate them while keeping his Shadows alive. The battle was arduous, brutal, and bloody.

His body was full of holes but the end of it, and his mind was on the verge of collapse due to exhaustion.

However, the three of them were a harrowing threat to oppose. Without the Corrupted leading them, the rest of the Voiceless had no choice but to succumb to the aura of fear emanating from Nightmare, Saint's merciless blade, and his shadows.

The Sin of Solace severed their bodies, Nightmare's hooves and fangs tore them apart, the Cruel Sight burned them down, and the swarm of manifested shadows restrained and blocked them to make the killing easier.

By the end, the narrow ravine was all but buried in corpses.

The last one to die was the Corrupted whose mind Saint had destroyed before Sunny arrived. Feeling a sense of dreadful threat from the tall abomination, Sunny chose not to approach it and summoned Morgan's Warbow once again, instead.

The creature turned out to be incredibly resilient. He had to sink dozens of arrows into its flesh to kill it. The Corrupted eventually fell to its knees, burdened by the weight of them... but even then, it did not die for a while.

The black threads piercing its lips did not give until the very end, no matter how much the abominable creature clawed at them with its immense strength. Through all of it, the emotionless expression on the gaunt face of the Corrupted had disturbingly not changed once.

But eventually, its hands fell down, and it grew still, still kneeling.

Only then did the Spell speak:

[You have slain a Corrupted Devil, Defiled Herald.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

Letting out a heavy sigh, Sunny lowered his aching arms and sunk to the ground, utterly spent.

At long last, the battle was over.

He had survived, and the convoy had, too. He could see the transports through the shadow that had stayed back. They were safe and sound.

Numb, Sunny stared at the ghostly flames of the aurora burning in the black skies above.

His mind was empty.

'...Who could have thought?'

***

On the shore of the lake that had turned into a scene of slaughter, Luster was sitting on a shard of a boulder, breathing heavily. In front of him, countless corpses were floating in the black water, and a mess of severed bodies and limbs littered the icy shallows. The smell of it all was truly revolting.

'Ah, what a disgusting sight.'

He was alive, at least. So were the rest of the Irregulars. After Captain had somehow obliterated half of the swarm with a single arrow - and acted as though that was a perfectly normal thing to do, in his usual manner - they had fought the remaining Nightmare Creatures and prevailed.

'Are all Masters insane?'

No, that shouldn't be the case. Captain had to be extra insane. If everyone was that bizarre, humanity would have collapsed a long time ago.

...The Captain was alive, as well. Luster had no idea how he was dealing with the second swarm, which was out there somewhere, close by, but the simple fact that Kimmy was still able to channel his dark vision to the Irregulars meant that their leader had not died... yet.

'Someone that evil probably can't even die. I bet he's immortal.'

And yet, Luster found himself a little worried.

For his own skin, of course! If Captain died, how would Luster himself survive? And if Luster died... how sad would all the beauties in the world be?

'What a tragedy. For their sake, I must live on... yeah... robbing beautiful women of my company would be too cruel...'

Like Samara. Or Miss Beth. Or that pretty soldier he had gotten to know in the bunker. Or those refugee sisters in the third civilian transport... the list went on!

'Not Kimmy, though. Well, she can't help it, poor thing. Being unattractive must be her Flaw... so sad.'

And yet, the thought of dying on Kimmy made him especially upset, for some reason.

"Who else would spare her the time of day if I die?"

Therefore, Luster had to live.

At that moment, he saw a familiar silhouette appear from the darkness.

Flinched, Luster hurriedly stood up and took a step forward.

"Captain, sir! You're back! Ah... I am so glad..."

However, something about the silhouette was wrong.

The armor seemed about right... but since when was Captain so tall? And... feminine?

...And cool?

Luster stared at the approaching silhouette for a few moments, dumbfounded.

"What the..."

Then, another figure emerged from the shadows, wearing a very similar suit of fearsome black armor. That was the Captain.

Staggering back, Luster tripped and fell on his down. His eyes widened in horror.

"...Gods! There's two of them!"