"That thing is a WHAT?!"
"A Corrupted Terror Effie, it must have evolved in the three months we left it alone."
Sunless pinched the bridge of his nose as he considered the situation.
Facing a Corrupted Terror as an Ascended was not the same as facing a Fallen Terror as an Awakened, the increase in power was exponential. Meaning the Terror is exponentially more powerful, not to mention the fact the damn monster was powerful, capable of spawning parts of itself as 'thralls' and inflicting a mind-hex that made their targets feel fear. And from what it seemed, it could now inflict that hex outside the building, judging by how the exterior changed as well.
Worst case scenario, they are facing an army of Fallen creatures with the support of a Corrupted being that could morph its form.
Sunny let out a low sigh and turned to the ones beside him. They were all Masters, elite ones at that, prodigies and survivors of the Forgotten Shore, not to mention his Transcendent Shadows, Nephis and himself, both Ascended Titans.
But would that be enough?
Sunny never really fought against something of that rank. Sure, there was the Transcendent Echo of the assassin of Valor, and he could even hurt Trancendents like he did with the Ivory Prince, but all of that was made by his Shadows, not him, and what he was facing was a Terror…
Passed his hand through his dark hair in frustration. Turning to Nephis, she held the same indifferent face as if the fact didn't bother her.
He pondered for a minute, it was not like they were going to die the second they faced the damn Terror, and the mind-hex wasn't a big problem thanks to the Soul-Devouring Tree, but… Could they do it?
As he wandered in his mind, discussion was waging on the group, a Corrupted Terror was not to be disrespected, one of these horrors could easily destroy a whole country if left alone, even the whole mundane world if it felt like it.
So the Firekeepers wished to leave, as the absence of a Saint was felt, to face anything above a Corrupted Devil, their presence was more than necessary, and a Corrupted Terror needed at least two Saints.
But the Shadow Watchers had a few screws loose…
A lot of screws loose.
Sid stared at the curious girl that was Merlin, who was questioning why the Firekeepers were so nervous.
"What do you mean 'why'??? It's a Corrupted Terror!!"
"Yeah? And Boss has a Transcendent Terror as an Echo. Not to mention a cool giant bird, two awesome knights, a bunch of–"
"That's not the point morron!! Echoes are not the be all and end all! Stop thinking Lord Sunless can just deal with everything!"
"... But he can…"
Merlin stared at the Firekeeper like she was an idiot that didn't know basic math. Forgetting that she herself was not particularly good in math. Meanwhile, Sid's eyes twitched at the woman's response.
While Lauma was more analytical and knew the weight of the situation, she shared Merlin's ideas…
"The notion is not impossible though, if it was a Fallen three months ago, then it must have evolved some weeks ago. Its power is also small scale, not to mention its sadistic personality, we can exploit that."
Damien seemed to disagree.
"Even so, a Corrupted is still a Corrupted, we need at least a Saint. And no offence, Echoes don't count."
Motza stayed silent for most of the autrication, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, a thoughtful look in his black coal eye, but finally spoke his mind.
"We can kill it, if the idiots decide to show up."
The attention was now all on him, yet he didn't speak anything else.
A few seconds of painful silence passed as no one understood his sentence.
Until Kiana got enough courage to question him, the girl with different coloured eyes approached him with a question in her posture.
"Um… What do you mean mister?"
The Shadow Watcher glanced at the girl, before looking at his leader, who looked back in tired resignation. Sunless knew exactly what he was talking about, the multiple presences right in the corner of his senses.
If those people get involved, they would be able to kill the Terror with difficulties, it would be hard, but way easier…
That was the worst part, Motza was wrong, because there was a way to kill the bastard without the assistance of Saints. Only possible because of the nature of the nightmare creature, if the thing had a more destructive power, there was no way to beat it.
'Lucky us…'
Sunny turned to Nephis, already having a plan in his head.
"Hey, are you willing to be crazy for a second?"
She looked at him with a seemingly indifferent face, crossed arms, posture leaning to the side like a person that was bothered by something. A miniscule motion in her face told all he needed, her brow lifted by a few millimeters.
She was intrigued.
"When are we not crazy Sunny?"
— —
From afar, in a floating island that let the whole Box appear in its full glory, a single Awakened patiently awaited for the move of the Prince of Song and Princess of Immortal Flame.
A single powerful Saint, he had prepared for this exact moment. Gathering intel and paying off Awakened to know where the Hollow Death would be, until a spy informed about the Box, a place that all Awakened that returned did so traumatized.
But Changing Star and Hollow Death didn't. They discovered the whole place was actually a nightmare creature in of itself, a Fallen Terror, they didn't kill it, but now it was known to all.
There was a plan being made by the White Feather Clan to slay the creature, unfortunately, due to an emergency in another zone, Sky Tide was unable to participate, leaving the issue unresolved until Changing Star informed Sky Tide she would deal with the creature together with the Prince of Song.
And Pillaris heard of such information.
Valerius glared at the small forest of the island the cohort of the Hollow Death was, the killer of his son. He breathed in, barely containing his anger with white knuckles as he turned his opened hand into a fist.
His plan was simple: let the fools attack the Terror, and after it was all settled, he would attack and kill all of them. Capturing the Hollow Death as he was on his knees.
It didn't matter if Changing Star was there, he would simply capture her along with the boy after killing everyone else, then Isolde could simply wipe her memories and pretend like nothing happened.
Anvil would have one less spawn to deal with, he would have cleaned Madoc's mess, and Changing Star would be the puppet she was meant to be.
Sunless Song would be in the dungeon, left to rot. And when the Domain War starts, Valerius would capture another of the Queen's spawns and kill her in front of him, just like he did to Valerius.
Valerius was willing to fake his death, willing to let his son hate his family, to infiltrate Song, he was willing to do all to destroy Clan Song and finally end this petty rivalry of the Clans, maybe they would have peace. Valerius never really hated Song, but knowing that he needed to choose a side, he chose Anvil, seeing him as the only viable option to lead humanity, the Raven Queen was not something he'd follow, her Aspect was disgusting, and the King of Swords was more powerful, more chances to win, it was never personal.
But that boy made it personal, and Valerius would make sure Song suffered along with him. That the Queen of Worms and her spawn suffered.
He just needed to wait.
Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the world, on his body, practicing his self-control, Valerius was a very emotional person, an angry man, it wasn't hard for him to lose his calm, one of the reasons he refused to go to Valor's Ball despite the truth of his survival becoming public. So his wife always forced him to practice self-control, as a good husband, he did as she asked, knowing full well it was useless. He felt the world around him to find some kind of peace, it was annoying…
But it seems the annoyance was useful this time.
The cold air, the stiffening of his palms, the chills he felt on his spine. The Chained Isles was not a cold Zone, so something artificial made it this way.
"Of course, I expected something like this. Tyris should learn to keep her Zone safe."
Opening his eyes, he turned to the very embodiment of cold spreading like wildfire descending from the air, a vile angel that had nothing Holy in him, carrying an even more vile demoness made of darkness.
The air got colder, the sun seemingly darker, the ground seemed to freeze and die at the same time, Valerius' blood seemed to rot and a chill ran down his spine.
Azriel, the Vessel of Ice landed, putting Revel of Song on the ground. The Princess raised her hand and passed it through her raven black hair seductively, letting her beauty be known to all. Her obsidian eyes settled on the Saint of Valor whose presence could pressure the world, and all she could do was scoff.
"You really are a fool. Only causing problems for Valor."
Her smile grew as she walked a few steps forward, hand already opened with white sparks covering it, the shape of a sword being born in the sparks.
The Saint beside her did the same, only his expression was in direct contrast with hers, cold and distant, already in his Transcendent form, merely touching the ground was enough to make it turn to ice.
Revel of Song raised her blade, the tachi made of dark obsidian with an intricate hilt that integrated a serpent. The blade had subtle details of all the stages of the moon beginning with the new moon, and passing to the crescent moon, until it became full. But all that intricate detail vanished as the blade was showered in darkness. A cocky smile inevitably creeped up in her mouth.
"If anything, Sky Tide is lucky she didn't notice you. That way she is spared from the humiliation of having to fight with you."
Valerius grimaced in irritation, the ground around him began to crack under severe pressure as his irritation leaked. But yet again, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath and tried to control himself, reminding himself of his duty, his objective.
He opened his eyes and calmly regarded his two enemies.
"You shouldn't be here."
"Neither should you, yet here we are, old man."
Revel's remark was instant and displayed a playful, mocking tone, implying a provocation. Something that the Saint of Valor was not mused by.
"My business here has nothing to do with you, get out of here, before I notify the White Feather Clan."
An uncharacteristic snort came out of Lightslayer, and a weird smile was displayed, one that she tried to hide by raising her other hand to her face, barely succeeding as her white teeth shined behind her black gloves of the armor.
"Sorry old man, are you already with dementia? Forgot that you are trying to kill my precious little brother? You are not fooling anyone, dead-beat old man –or should I say fake dead-beat?"
The cocky smile never left her damn face, all the while the Vessel of Ice just stood still with his greatsword on hand, posture as straight as an arrow. If Valerius didn't know any better, he'd say the man was an Echo made to fulfill Lightslayer's desires.
"C'mon Valerius, aren't you the 'Spearhead of the King'? Staying in Godgrave for no reason whatsoever? Come and try to avenge your family!"
Valerius' eyes squinted as hard as they could, the nails of his fingers gripping his palm so hard blood started to leak, a disappointment for someone who fought the Heirs of Blood. Yet he didn't attack, he was no fool, his Aspect was strong, but so was his opponent's.
Lightslayer had the ichor of a God in her veins and the stealth and agility her Aspect granted her, he would have to waste too much essence to pressure her. And the Saint beside her was powerful in his own right, one moment of letting his guard down, and Valerius would be encased in ice.
The only reason the Saints of Song hadn't attacked him yet was due to the thing Saints hated the most: politics.
If they attacked, they would be in trouble, regardless of the reasons, if a member of Song attacked a Saint of Valor in the territory of Valor, Clan Song would receive plenty of heat. That was why Lightslayer was provoking Valerius so much, if the elder Saint attacked them, then it would be self-defence, but until then, they couldn't do anything.
At the same time, Valerius doubted Lightslayer would care about that if he attempted to capture Hollow Death, she would try to kill him regardless. If there was one thing he could count on was the love of the Song family.
But then again, what if Valerius did nothing and notified about their presence here to the King of Swords? She would have problems.
So they would remain in this standstill. They couldn't attack him, otherwise risk political backlash, they couldn't let him go because no one could know of their presence. At the same, he couldn't attack them otherwise risk dying or political backlash, but he couldn't wait and capture Hollow Death and Changing Star with them in the way.
A standstill. Torturous moments of silence.
Valerius sighed.
"Alright, I've run out of patience."
He raised both his arms and punched his own left palm with his right fist, causing a small shockwave of air, a stern gaze in his eyes.
If all options were bad, he would choose the one that gave him the most satisfaction: kill one of the Queen's spawns, leave the Hollow Death for another day. Of course, that would earn him the wrath of all the Song Clan and especially Azriel and the Queen of Worms, but so what? They couldn't face Valor anyway, and he was too important for Anvil, he would be on Pillaris side.
Instead of shivering, Lightslayer smiled. Darkness leaked out of her, summoning it like a waterfall. Azriel simply tightened his grip, cold fire unleashing into the air.
But before the clash began, a shadow covered the small batch of island they were, causing both parties to hold themselves to look at the new participant in the autrication.
The shadow approached, getting smaller and smaller until two presences infiltrated the place. A calming, warm presence, suddenly the ground and air seemed to grow in their nature, becoming natural, like they were in the middle of summer. The other was a living lighting bolt, electrifying, cold and powerful, winds accompanying it.
Landing in the island, the Echo of a Transcendent Griffon together with two flying Awakened made their presences known, Sky Tide coldly scanned all three Saints, not saying anything while the Master beside nervous, Kai hadn't imagined that following Cassie would cause him to appear in this situation.
The Echo leaned down to reveal all those who were there. A tall man, covered from head to toe in complete lustrous armor wielding a lance that seemed to be made of water, landed from the Echo and walked forward. Gilead, the Summer Knight, his demeanor didn't seem as composed as usual…
The others on the back of the Griffon was a delicate, calm woman with golden hair that complemented the steel garment on her eyes, a blindfold. And the spouse of Sky Tide wearing his blue scarf, Master Roan, both landed, the former accompanied Summer Knight while the latter went to his wife.
All three Saints had been surprised by the presence of all the Awakened, even more surprised when Summer Knight seemingly ignored Revel and Azriel, going straight to Valerius.
The muffled voice that came from the helmet of Summer Knight hid anger, but somehow his composure remained.
"Saint Pillaris, what are you doing?"
Valerius squinted his eyes in anger, but replied in the most controlled way possible.
"Defending myself from infiltrators."
Gilead didn't buy it.
"Then why are you here in the first place?"
Valerius' fist gripped tight, he didn't have an answer, at least not one that satisfied Gilead, so Summer Knight answered for him.
"i'll tell you. You wanted to kill Sunless Song for Lycon, not caring about the consequences."
Silence settled for a second as both Saints stared at each other.
"I wanted to capture him, but it really doesn't matter."
Valerius stepped forward.
"So what? What will they do? Song can't defeat us, they cannot go to war. So why not kill one of the Queen's bothersome spawns?"
Summer Knight sighed, answering evenly.
"So you want to start a war now just because of your own failure."
"What?!"
"You fool, you didn't need to send Lycon as a spy, you didn't need to manipulate his memories and fake your own death. Even Anvil himself didn't consider the plan releasable, you were just so damn prideful to notice."
Summer Knight's voice became low and even.
"Your family didn't need to suffer, an unreliable plan like that was bound to fail. Yet you induced your own son to do it, you wanted to be proud, for your son to be the pride of Valor… His blood is in your hands."
The atmosphere darkened as Gilead spoke, the stare of Valerius becoming more and more hateful.
"Kill the boy, and war starts, the Raven Queen will fight, she won't care even if a category six appears, she will fight Valor. And the King knows this."
Summer Knight evenly stated the truth…
"He will give you and your family to her, you will suffer. If you can't see how much the Raven Queen cares about her children, then you are hopeless."
Valerius was speechless… But his expression showed anger.
"Get out of here, give up on the boy, otherwise, you won't just face three Saints…"
Sky Tide's eyes flowed with electricity as Summer Knight's lance became sharper.
"You'll face five."
Heavy breaths came out of the Pillaris' Saint, anger exuding, understanding he had no chance.
He tilted his head to the side, a sharp cut appearing on his cheek as he did, cutting his beard away. Behind him, a dark arrow was embedded on the ground belonging to a Saint, a powerful one.
Silent Stalker. That sealed the deal, he would die if he fought.
So without saying anything else, he disappeared, pulling on his tether and returning to the Waking World…
Summer Knight let out a breath of relief, turning to the Saints of Song behind him.
"Forgive the occurence."
Then he turned to the Griffon, to the blind seer that had kept a calm face the whole time, as if not caring about anything, knowing what would happen.
"And thank you for notifying me."
Cassie hummed, not even bothering to answer him properly, rather, she walked towards the edge of the island and pointed to the giant box that was the nightmare creature.
"Thank me by helping them against the Corrupted Terror."
A sudden silence occurred as all present absorbed what she said, even the Saints widened their eyes at the statement.
In that silence, a gigantic tree suddenly began to grow on the island next to the Box's entrance.
Roots made of pure obsidian shadows spread through the place with terrifying speed, tearing the existing fauna and replacing it with its own power. The trunk rose to reveal the splendor of a Transcendent Terror that infected the island, letting shadows leak through the structure and reveal a tenebrous power that consumed all beneath it.
Upon this, the Box itself reacted, as if accepting a challenge. The blocks that made the creature began turning and shifting, a loud clank sound resounded as the upper half disjointed from the lower one, turning it to the right while standing planted on the ground. The six watchtowers also reacted, the floating structures moved around to position themselves beneath the vast metal bridge that seemed to grow even bigger as the towers stopped on their tracks.
Those towers then shifted, changed, as if something crawled beneath the stone. The next second, monsters began dropping from the walls of the six towers, abominations in the form of 5 feet tall golems landed on the metal bridge that barely reacted despite the weight of the golems. Not only that, knights made from intricate black stone fell along the golems, powerful, strong, more so than a Corrupted Tyrant usually creates. Those same knights appeared on top of the watchtowers, teams of knights on the six towers stood on the platforms, bearing spears and bows made from metal.
The Box finally finished turning, a click announcing the event, the image of the plain cubicle stood for a second, then a crack appeared in the lower half of the Box, then another, another, more and more cracks appeared as if planned.
After a moment, the cracks stopped, the cracks formed a parable turned upwards, stopping as soon as the cracks formed a form similar to a mouth. A grin, the abomination formed a grin, a mocking one.
With an army of steel golems, the Box challenged the Tree that infiltrated its territory.
From the island of shadows came its opponents, passing the dark trees with confidence. Two Shadow Saints stepped on the abomination filled bridge with stoic indifference, a wolf made of shadows with a thousand eyes filling its body in the middle of the two bearing its fangs. Ready to face the army.
The influence of the Soul-Devouring Tree and the Box clashed, the former wanting to enthrall, the latter wanting to put fear. Neither won, locked in a stalemate.
Revel stared at what was happening with conflicting feelings, for one, her brother was fighting a Corrupted Terror! On the other, he was willing to fight a Corrupted Terror?!
She looked towards the blind seer that led Summer Knight here, the Heir of Weaver, the damn girl that was scheming with Hel. She knew about it, no, she planned it, she wanted all of this, didn't she?
Said girl turned to the Awakened present as if she could see and regarded them all.
"You don't need to do much, just distract the Terror along with the Watchers and Firekeepers. Me and Kai will join Lord Sunless, Lady Nephis and Athena inside the Terror."
Summer Knight seemed to disagree with the idea, but Cassia shot him down even before he said anything, interrupting him.
"The Terror will be afraid of Saints and the Transcendent Echoes, he will focus on you and mostly ignore simple Masters, thinking it will be easy to deal with us."
Revel chuckled, gaining the attention of all.
"And how do you expect to get in there?"
Cassia's expression didn't change, she turned to Revel with a strange calm, answering in a matter of fact tone.
"With you. The Terror won't notice you, just like he didn't notice Lord Sunless."
"You talk as if he is already…"
Her words died in her mouth as all present reacted at the revelation.
"... He's in there, right?"
The blind girl nodded like it was nothing much, just another day… For someone like her, it probably was.
"Yes, he took Lady Changing Star and Raised by Wolves, he plans on destroying the thing from the inside while the others distract it, that is why he even left Motza and Merlin outside, their Aspect will irritate the Terror."
As she spoke, an uncanny mist rapidly escaped the new shadow island, a mist that disrupted essence was carried by fearsome winds that washed away the army of stone, none budged, but the subtle mist left visibly affected the monsters.
"The Terror will only grow, I need you to give cover while we destroy it by tearing apart the soul core."
The small island stood still for some seconds, before a sigh was heard from behind Revel. Azriel's uncharacteristic action gave away how he didn't like the plan, he glared at Cassie with clear irritation.
"We don't need to do this whole thing, we five here can kill the Terror on our own."
"True, but unfortunately, I don't think Lord Sunless will get out…"
She turned to Revel.
"Unless someone informs him."
Revel stared daggers at the blind girl, she was basically mocking her at this point, she knew the matter was personal to Sunny and was manipulating them to get the result she wanted.
Revel could just get Sunny and get out, let the five Saints deal with the Terror and not risk anything, but she also wished to give him and Nephis the closure they needed…
She sighed, with a glare, she looked back at the girl.
"Fine."
Azriel did not agree.
"Rev, we can't just–"
"We can, Sunny wants to kill the bastard, let him, if this goes wrong, I get him out of there, end of story."
She turned to the Saints of Valor.
"And I imagine you don't want to see the new 'Princess of Valor' die as soon as she is crowned."
Summer Knight turned to Sky Tide for a second, then after a nod, both looked at Lightslayer.
"We'll join you in distracting it."
"Good, now, Silent, get your ass up here!"
As soon as Revel finished those words, a huntress appeared right behind her, the sister that had always been there. Revel didn't even flinch, the same expression planted on her face.
"You better cover for all of us, understand? No backstabbing Sky Tide or Summer Knight."
The sister scoffed, crossing her arms, clearly displeased.
"Caera!"
"Fine! F*cking pussy…"
"I heard that! And the same goes for you Az!"
"Wha–? What did I do?"
"You thought of getting Sunny out of there!"
"Well, yeah!"
"So don't!"
With the orders sent, Revel turned around and walked to both Cassia and Kai, Seishan's boyfriend, who was really nervous for some reason.
"Cass! Why am I going with you?! It's close quarters! I'm an archer!"
"Your Awakened Ability is useful."
Before he said anything else, Revel touched on both their shoulders, gripping them tightly.
"You two better behave, and please don't vomit."
She entered the darkness she created herself, taking both Masters with her without letting them speak, Kai looked disheartened as they fell to the ground, moving towards the Box through darkness.
That left Silent free to glare at both Saints of Valor, her anger apparent even after she turned to the Box and summoned her bow. A simple dark hunter bow with a blood red string, knocking an arrow infused with her Aspect, aiming at the strong abominations on the top of the watchtowers.
Azriel left his annoyance aside and took flight, freezing the air as he went to the bridge.
Sky Tide ordered her husband to go back, saying he would sleep on the couch again if he didn't comply. Unfortunately for Roan, he was a Master… And his wife was always right. She took flight right after he left.
Summer Knight sighed, being left to go on foot to the Box, he landed on the massive chain, and began running.
As all happened, the army of the Corrupted Terror had already begun, with the Transcendent Shadows facing the army of Fallen Demons and Devils with the support of the Soul-Devouring Tree.
The Box began to shift once again, the gargantuan structure seemingly growing larger.
All the while Sunless, Nephis and Effie faced horrors in there.
— — —
"It's quite interesting, don't you think?"
Ki Song mused while sitting on her Jade throne.
"For Summer Knight to know me so well…"
A voice responded to her, coming from her right, a man leaning on a pillar with his arms crossed.
"He hates this war just as much as you hate yourself."
The Queen hummed, resting her cheek on her open hand, smiling as she crossed her legs.
"Indeed, you remind me to stop doing that."
"Yet you never do."
"What can I say? I am a consistent woman…"
After a moment of silence, Ki Song sighed and looked above.
"Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if we betrayed the Dreamspawn that day… What would Broken Sword do, what would we do…"
"... We probably wouldn't have so many problems. Maybe focus on the Nightmare Spell instead of fighting each other…"
Undying Blade squinted his eyes, then questioned something he should have a long time ago.
"Ki… Why can't you reach the Sacred Rank?"
Her smile disappeared the very next moment, but despite her displeasure, she answered.
"Because I am already losing my humanity as it is, Apotheosis would burn whatever is left. I can't lead humanity as a Sacred."
"But Sunless can?"
She slowly turned to Blade.
"Jin told you…"
"Of course he did, don't be so selfish as to abandon us, abandon them!"
He approached the throne, walking up the stairs that led to it, the sparks of fire in his eyes were blurred as his voice became fragile all of a sudden.
"Don't do this… I already lost enough…"
Ki Song looked at him… And faltered, her gaze lowered, her voice became empty and lost.
"I can't Charon… I can't continue..."
Undying Blade looked at his Sovereign with a strange emotion inside him…
He took a deep breath and turned around, not saying anything anymore.
As he walked through the halls, he found someone that was once looking for his advice. Before, he couldn't say what the man should do, but now he knows.
Charon wouldn't lose anyone else.
"Accept it Jin, we both know how to live with Fate, about time we learn to live without it."