Shadow slave 2197 to 2198

2,197 Boiling Pot rain did not get a good look at the prisoner Saint station was supposedly escorting she did Glimpse the beautiful princess herself whose presence was just as soothing as always however there was an eerie escort of empty eyy pilgrims in the way so it was hard to see who had been captured by the Queen's daughter rain stayed in the shadows leaning on the wall of an Armory among other Idol soldiers her brother remained silent until the strange prisoner Convoy disappeared from view heading toward the stone where the queen herself was rumored to reside

then he suddenly separated himself from her Shadow I'll go Snoop around a little don't get into any trouble while I am away rain scoffed who am I a kid why would I get into trouble he remains silent for a few moments then said in a dubious tone yeah with that the shadow stealthily glided away rain sighed then stretched her tired body and went about her business she spent some time getting the water rations and refilled the green can then waited some more to get an allotment of synthetic firewood for their campfire finally she returned to

the part of the camp assigned to the seventh Royal Legion and found her cohort they made a fire igniting it with a memory and boiled some water to brew powdered coffee the mostly empty can of it was a luxury Ray had won from an officer in a game of cards after that they put a pot over the fire to prepare the usual song Army stew rain stared at the stamped tinf foil wrappers left from the bricks of synthetic firewood absentmindedly as as the wind dragged them across the surface of the Dead God's bone the contrast

of the mundane and the mystical was pretty evocative she was just not sure of what eventually she sighed and looked at Tamar I saw princess San while I was getting water Tamar just stared at the fire oh the saint of Sorrow had said that he would speak to the Princess once she returned to the camp so they would probably leave this Dreadful place soon rain felt conflicted about the prospect sure she wanted nothing more than for the horror to end but on the other hand she felt terrible about leaving her fellow soldiers behind and escaping

to safety simply because her friend had some connections at the top not everyone had a Transcendent father what was going to happen to countless young soldiers who did not she had a pretty good idea what would happen to them thousands of them at least and was not sure what would haunt her more would it be the harrowing Siege or the act of running away like a coward that is how they get you the other members of the cohort seem to be struggling with the same thoughts so no one said anything for a long time however

their silence was an answer in and of itself in the end self-preservation seemed to be winning over the misguided sense of devotion well it was not too surprising many people had been idealists when they joined the song Army but After experiencing the horrors of War their worldview irrevocably changed and their hearts changed as well devotion was a scarce currency in God grave these days at least Devotion to the symbols that had failed them and to the leaders who had led them to Hell rain and her friends had already fought and bled plenty for the song

domain did they really have to insist on staying when someone was telling ordering them to leave she was still drowning in doubt and the stew was still bubbling in the pot when there seemed to be some kind of commotion a on them looking up Rain noticed that there was more movement in the vast Courtyard of the greater Crossing stronghold than usual the entire Camp seemed to be boiling not much different from the stew huh is there going to be another assault that did not make much sense the battle had just ended recently and even if

the sword Army decided to attack twice in one day it would not have caused so much activity those who had to man The Wall were already on the ramparts after all since the entire contingent worked to defend The Fortress in shifts what is going on just as rain thought that Tamar caught a soldier who was running by an asked in an incredulous tone what is happening he looked at her with wide eyes w what lady Tamar you haven't heard the seventh Royal Legion had suffered grave casualties in The Siege just like every other Legion of

the song Army so there were gaping holes in the chain of command new orders did not travel to the rank and file as fast as they used to granted Tamar was an officer so it was a bit strange that she was cut out of the loop heard what the soldier stared at her dazedly for a few moments he seemed to be both excited and terrified but mostly terrified eventually he took a deep breath and said loudly a feverish glint appearing in his eyes an attack we are attacking Tamar frowned then asked while putting an emphasis

on the word we what what do you mean we are attacking he grinned Darkly it's just as I said the order has just come down from the queen we are abandoning The Fortress crossing the chasm and storming the camp of the sword Army all Legions all auxiliary troops even the Saints it's an allout offensive Tamar let the soldier go stunned he hurried away soon disappearing from view rain Tamar Ray and Flur looked at each other eventually Ray opened his mouth and said in a shaky voice so I guess we're not becoming Caravan guards anymore rain

pursed her lips the order seems to have been given almost immediately after princess San returned so the saint of Sorrow might not have had the opportunity to settle things with her yet or he did but the transfer got lost in the chaos in any case if we want to leave we still can storming The Siege Camp of the sword Army and all out offensive Saints joining the fight crazy it seemed crazy what the hell is the queen thinking rain looked at Tamar so do we want to leave Tamar met her gaze expressionlessly she remained silent

for a few moments then said in an even tone I did not receive the transfer order so I intend to stay rain side well of course she would damn legacies shaking her head she turned her head and looked at the bubbling stew with regret what are we standing around for then we need to start Gathering our things even if we are going to be marching into battle instead of running away we're still abandoning Camp so get your stuff quickly dot dot dot sometime later her brother snuck back into her Shadow he settled inside of it

remained silent for a bit and then asked incredulously did I not say to stay out of trouble rain raised an eyebrow I did though he sighed look around all around them the song Army was seething and boiling as it prepared to go into battle perhaps the final battle of this hellish War the legions were assembling into marching columns the enthralled nightmare creatures were roaring in frenzy and the Saints were summoning their battle memories ready to lead the charge her brother inhaled slowly then growled quote dot dot dot that looks like trouble to me 2,198 divide

and conquer just a handful of minutes before Sunny was standing at the edge of the ivory Island looking at the distant wall of the great Fortress with a somber expression on his face his incarnation in the camp of the song Army had CAU a glimpse of Cassie as she was being escorted by San and their Eerie retinue of walking corpses but he had lost sight of them once the two entered the chambers of the queen Sunny was not Reckless enough to get that close to KI song so he was forced to wait intense anticipation not

knowing what to expect surely Cassie was too valuable to be disposed of swiftly she was not someone who would put herself in danger without having a way out either so his worry was most likely meaningless and yet he could not help but feel uneasy damn it eventually Cassie emerged from the heavy Gates and remained standing outside motionless and Silent there were Fresh Cuts on her cheek but it did not seem like she was hurt badly the lack of an escort was also telling hinting that she had come to some sort of understanding with the queen

or that the queen simply did not deem it necessary to guard her confident that Cassie would not be able to escape the mental communication Sunny had grown used to did not seem to work so he wanted to approach the blind Seer stealthily in the form of a shadow to exchange a few audible words however she shook her head light L which had to be a signal to stay away tense and unhappy Sunny retreated and not long after that the camp of the song Army came alive like a massive Beast Awakening from Slumber the sudden commotion

was on such a grand scale that even master sunless could see that something was going on in the greater Crossing stronghold all the way from the ivory Island he frowned are they preparing to retreat Cassie could have informed kiong about the clandestine plan to attack the Lesser Crossing stronghold from the rear in fact she had a good reason to if so the main contingent of the song Army serving as the Garrison of the greater Crossing would have to retreat or risk being cut off from the base camp and surrounded by the forces of the sword

domain they could even make a desperate attempt to reinforce the Lesser Crossing and prevent it from falling but that was not what kiong had decided to do when Sunny's Incarnation learned what the queen was planning a few moments later he could not help but falter for a moment Master sunless opened his eyes wide quote dot dot dot crazy everyone had expected that kisong would retreat but Against All Odds she decided to attack instead she was preparing to abandon the greater Crossing stronghold and throw all her available forces into an allout offensive threatening to break the

main contingent of the sword Army in one Fell Swoop why would she surrender the overwhelming defensive Advantage the song Army held and command her soldiers to attack even knowing how desperate her position was was she insane or a genius Sunny suddenly felt cold sweat rolling down his back in hindsight why wouldn't she attack retreating would only buy the song AI some time granted time was what they lacked the most but it would not change the overall situation of the war by much however now that she knew that Anvil had secretly left the siege camp and

was leading sold through the hollows she would also know that the siege Camp was not as impossible to overtake as everyone seemed to believe as far as she was informed the Lord of Shadows was also far away so the greatest obstacle in her way was nephie nephie had proven that she was an impossible existence among those of the Transcendent Rank and there four no saint in the song Army could defeat her if the queen wanted to destroy the siege Camp she would have to take to the battlefield herself which she could not do not yet

or rather there had not been any other way to suppress nephy before there was one now though cursing Sunny dove into the shadows and stepped out of them at the top of the Ivory Tower nephy was already walking toward the balcony a cold expression on her face Cassie she's nephie nodded I know she paused for a moment near him hesitated a little and then said casually stay here please make sure that your assistant Aiko remains in the brilliant Emporium as well I don't know what will happen next but it can get messy Sunny chewed on

his lip unhappy but it was not time to discard the Persona of Master sunless yet plus if anything that disagreed with him happened he would only be a step away his senses could envelop the entire Battlefield after all and there was one more of his incarnations on the other side of the chasm he sighed take one of my Shadows with you at least as he said the words the gloomy Shadow separated from his feet and dove into nef's own shadow looking quite smug and satisfied as it did at that nephie lingered for a moment then

smiled faintly thank you master sunless leaning forward she planted a soft kiss on his cheek and then turned around brilliant light surrounded her slender figure forming into the image of two incandescent Wings a moment later she leapt over the parapet of the balcony and plummeted down toward the siege Camp of the sword Army left alone under the radiant Sky Sunny touched his cheek and looked into the distance a quiet sigh escaped from his lips quote dot dot dot stay safe lady nephy the drums of War were beating and she had to lead her soldiers into

battle that battle was not going to be an easy one it seemed worse still the battles that would follow it were only going to be so much harder