Cohort

Raphael and Sunny were walking toward their respective rooms after the meeting. Once it concluded, Sunny, Raphael, and Jet had spent some time discussing the operation.

Sunny glanced at Raphael and asked:

"What do you think?"

"About what?"

"The Cohort. What do you think is the best choice?"

"You're the Captain, not me."

"Yes, but you're also my Vice-Captain—a Master. We're both the main force of our Cohort, so I need to know your opinion too."

"I think Master Jet was right. To survive in Antarctica, a Cohort that can adapt to any situation and respond quickly to problems is the best choice," Raphael replied.

"Yeah… that's what I've been thinking too."

After a moment, Sunny asked:

"Tell me everything about your abilities."

Raphael didn't feel disrespected. Sharing his abilities with his Captain was mandatory.

"Sure, but it's better if I show you."

Saying this, Raphael took the lead and guided Sunny to the training grounds.

Sunny nodded and followed him.

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Raphael stood in front of Sunny, adopting a fighting stance.

"Attack me," he said.

Sunny didn't hesitate and aimed for Raphael's left shoulder.

But even before Sunny moved, Raphael had already dodged to the right!

Sunny halted in his tracks, surprised.

"My ability lets me see the future—or rather, it allows me to predict my opponent's next attack," Raphael explained calmly.

Sunny was stunned. An ability to predict attacks? That was incredibly powerful.

"My other ability is called Body Manipulation. With it, I can make myself as strong as a tank, as fast as an assassin, or something in between. In other words, I'm like a joker card that can adapt to any fight."

Raphael paused briefly, then added:

"I can also fight at long range, thanks to one of my Memories."

As he said this, Raphael summoned a sleek black gun.

[Death Knell]

Memory Rank: Ascended

Memory Type: Weapon

Memory Tier: 3

Memory Description: [A weapon created by Mohg, Lord of Blood to his Emperor.]

Enchantments: [Weakness Attack], [ Lethal Attack ], [ Slaughtering ].

[ Weakness attack ]:

[ By pouring essence into the revolver directly and pulling the trigger, it allows you to find the weakness of the target, as well as provide the corresponding precision to hit it in order to do large amounts of damage ]

[ Lethal attack ]:

[ By cocking the gun first, you can use this attack. It allows the user to hit the weakness of the opponent regardless of where you shoot. If the user hits the actual weakness with this attack, it will cause fatal damage to those with low defense ]

[ Slaughtering ]:

[ By using a Weakness attack but doubling the essence, it can produce a shotgun effect with normal bullets. By using fatal attack and tripling the essence, it will cause even more damage ]

Thanks to his Nether bloodline, Raphael could now see the tier and description of an enchantment.

"This is actually good. With your abilities, you can support the others," Sunny said, nodding in approval.

"What about your Memories?"

"I can confidently say I have all the Memories I need," Raphael replied.

Hearing this, Sunny smiled. He wouldn't need to spend money equipping Gehrman—a relief in every sense.

"Now that I have all the information about your abilities, the only thing left is selecting the soldiers for the Cohort."

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Exiting his room, Raphael found Sunny sitting at a table, holding a device in his hand.

"Have you finished selecting soldiers for the Cohort?" Raphael asked.

"Yes," Sunny replied, extending the device toward him.

Taking it, Raphael opened the device and began reviewing the information on the soldiers Sunny had chosen.

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{Author's Note: Massive info dump on Sunny's Cohort here—if you're already familiar with their abilities, feel free to skip.}

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[Awakened Kim]

[She possessed an affinity to revelations, She is also able to perceive the flaws and vulnerabilities of living creatures and share her visual perception with several people]

[Awakened Belle]

[His Aspect is able to turn his body intangible and phase through solid matter. Although he couldn't keep it up for long, even a split second was enough to avoid an enemy attack if used at the right time. His Second Ability allowed him to infuse unnatural sharpness into his weapon, allowing him to cut through most obstacles.To sharpen his sword, he actually surrounds the blade with an incredibly thin, invisible displacement field.]

[Awakened Dorn]

[His Aspect could be described in three words: push and pull. He is able to control at least something that approximated gravity, to empower his strikes with crushing weight and throw his enemies off-balance.

He is able to significantly increase the strength of his assaults by carefully and methodically mixing these two effects]

[Awakened Quentin]

[His Aspect centered around restoration and corrosion. In battle, he is able to constantly repair his shield and armor, no matter how much damage they took. He is also able to apply corrosive property, which is not very potent, to his weapons but as long as his attacks landed the enemy is bound to succumb under the weight of accumulating decay. It is a slow but insidious and impactful ability.

There were limitations to this Ability, but as long as his Memories were not completely destroyed, they would eventually regain their original shape. His restoration was near universal and could repair various things. He was a healer but was comparatively slow and limited.

His ability to restore was slower and less effective than more direct healing powers, but it was also more universal. Quentin can treat people, repair machine parts, and even mend cracks in the ship's hull.]

[Awakened Samara]

[Her Aspect was capable of infusing material objects with soul essence and converting soul energy into kinetic energy or heat. It meant that she could turn soul essence into charged explosives. By infusing her ammunition with charged essence, she effectively made them analogous to enchanted weapons.]

[Awakened Luster]

[His first Ability allowed him to enhance the regeneration rate of soul essence, both his own and that of his allies. His second Ability allowed him to transfer his essence to others. In short, he is a soul healer or an essence battery.

He can speed up the soul essence recovery, both for himself and his allies. The better he knew someone, the more distance he could maintain between himself and the target while channeling the beneficial effect.]

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After finishing the review of the soldiers' information, Raphael lowered the device and looked at Sunny.

"So, you went with the Utility path," he remarked.

"Yes. It's the best path considering the challenges we'll face in the future," Sunny replied confidently.

Raphael nodded in agreement.

"It seems you've applied specific criteria or prioritized certain traits while selecting them. Let's see... all of them are capable of lasting a very long time on the battlefield. Most employ higher-than-usual levels of finesse, calculation, and cunning in their approach to combat. And finally, they all exhibit impressive mental fortitude."

"You're right… but how did you figure that out?" Sunny asked, his tone curious.

"You could say it's experience," Raphael replied with a faint smile.

He wasn't lying. As an Emperor overseeing an empire with hundreds of thousands of soldiers, understanding such traits was second nature to him.

"Well, since we've finished selecting the soldiers, why don't we go meet them?" Raphael suggested.

"Yes, let's go," Sunny agreed, standing up.

"After you, Captain," Raphael said with a respectful gesture.

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Luster, Kimmy, and Belle left their observation spot and headed toward the training facility where they had been ordered to gather by the end of the hour.

Reaching the training facility, Luster saw two men and woman.

The woman was a tall, gorgeous redhead was a real bombshell! Sure, she seemed unapproachable and older than him by a good decade… but that only added to her charm…

Belle lightly tapped the young man on the shoulder.

"Get your head out of the gutter, fool."

Luster blinked a couple of times, then looked at the swordsman with a sheepish smile.

"Oh… sorry."

Kimmy glanced at the two of them with confusion and said quietly:

"I… I think I know her. That is Awakened Samara. When I trained to receive the technician certificate, she taught the spelltech introduction class to us."

She squirmed a little, then approached the tall woman and forced out a small smile.

"Instructor Samara. I—it is so nice to see you again."

The aloof beauty glanced at the meek young woman and nodded.

"...You can call me Sam. We are colleagues now."

Kimmy froze for a moment.

"Yes! I will, Instructor Samara. I mean… uh… Instructor Sam."

She blushed a little, and then gestured at his two companions.

"These are Awakened Belle and Awakened Luster. We traveled to Bastion together."

Samara looked at the two men, then said in an emotionless tone:

"These are Awakened Quentin and Awakened Dorn. We just met."

The six elites studied each other for some time.

Eventually, Belle scratched the back of his head and asked:

"Uh… does anyone know who our commanding officer is?"

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Raphael and Sunny were about to enter the training facility when Sunny abruptly stopped in his tracks.

"Why are you stopping?" Raphael asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Shhhhhh!" Sunny hushed him, putting a finger to his lips.

'What is wrong with him?' Raphael thought, tilting his head slightly in confusion.

From inside the training facility, faint voices could be heard. The six Awakened soldiers Sunny had chosen were deep in conversation—and it seemed their topic was none other than Sunny himself.

Raphael glanced at Sunny with a questioning look, but Sunny caught his gaze and shrugged.

"What?" Sunny asked.

"Nothing..." Raphael replied.

After a brief pause, Sunny finally stepped forward and entered the facility. Raphael followed closely behind.

"Well… he is a Master. Everyone says that the Second Nightmare is the game changer. Who knows what kind of crap he experienced there? Stuff like that can make a person mature real fast."

"Well said."

Luster nodded, pleased to receive a bit of praise, but then almost jumped.

'Wait… who said that?!'

At some point, a two more people had somehow appeared in the gymnasium without being noticed by any of them. The first one was of small stature, with flawless ivory skin, black hair, and unfathomable dark eyes. The guy was extremely young, and looked like a porcelain doll. In fact, he was kind of cute… in a strange, unsettling sort of way.

Luster frowned.

'Who's that shorty?'

The other man had dark, neatly styled hair, and sharp eyes framed by glasses. He wore a black coat over a burgundy vest and crisp white shirt, with black gloves covering his hands. Every detail of his appearance was polished and composed.

'Fuck, this man is handsome.'

The shorter man stepped forward with a faint, confident smile and said:

"Good morning, Awakened. I am Master Sunless. You can call me Captain Sunless, or simply Captain. From today forward, I will be your commanding officer."

He gestured to the man standing behind him.

"The man behind me is the Vice-Captain, Master Gehrman."

He remained silent for a few moments. Then, his pleasant smile slowly turned strangely ominous.

Captain Sunless stared directly at the six of them and added:

"Yes, I killed four hundred Awakened abominations and hunted down a Fallen Devil as a Sleeper. Yes, I am a distinguished explorer and researcher whose published works are well-known in academic circles. And yes, I indeed come from the Forgotten Shore, where I lived in the Dark City completely alone and went… slightly… mad."

The frightening smile grew a little wider.

"But all of that is in the past. I am utterly sane now. I am not deranged at all. You truly have nothing to worry about!"

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Four weeks passed in a blur, and the exodus of the First Evacuation Army from the Northern Quadrant finally began.

Raphael and Sunny stood with the rest of their Cohort in front of their assigned ship. The massive vessel loomed behind them.

Sunny turned to the group and spoke:

"Are you ready?"

Everyone nodded… except for Luster, who suddenly seemed concerned.

"Uh… actually, I've never been on a ship. I won't get seasick, right?"

Sunny stared at him for a few moments, then shrugged.

"You are an Awakened, are you not? Awakened are supposed to be resilient to such things. So… we'll see, I guess."

Raphael, standing beside Sunny, said in a flat, emotionless tone, "You don't have to worry. If you get seasick, I'll just put you unconscious."

Sunny turned to Raphael, raising an eyebrow at his bluntness.

As for Luster… his entire body stiffened, and a nervous shiver ran down his spine.

How could he not? The two men in front of him were the incarnation of the devil!

After a few tense moments, Sunny clapped his hands to break the silence.

"Enough talking! Let's go."

Together, the group stepped forward and boarded the massive ship.

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I think this might be the last info dump chapter I'm not really sure..

Anyway see you tomorrow👋