Shadow Slave: Eternal Dawn

Nico woke up early the next morning.

It would be the last one he spent within the deepest parts of the castle.

Despite that, he continued his morning routine without fuss.

There really wasn't any reason to care that he was going to outer settlement. Nothing tied him here except maybe his room. He had amassed a lot of items in there. However, they only carried sentimental value, and he had none to spare. Especially for something as trivial as conquered prizes, lost artifacts, or precious materials that would most likely be abandoned in this desolate region after they all died or the Bright Castle was reclaimed by the abominable Nightmare Creatures.

After he finished cleaning himself, he summoned the [Silver Wraith] and let its bleak steel and chainmail wrap around his body like a second and third skin. When the ethereal sparks vanished, he was almost completely covered. Even his head had been shrouded by a stygian, ominous knight's helmet.

Walking out of his room and through the stone passes of the castle, Nico looked a body possessed — a resurrected knight with glowing blue orbs where eyes in his visor should've been. Followed by the insidious whispers of the charm on his wrist, he reached the main gate.

Gemma, two hunting parties, and a Pathfinder were waiting for him.

'Quite the distinguished group.'

He observed the faces of the sixteen battle-hardened Hunters — warriors clad in shiny armors and enchanted weaponry — trying to recall their Aspects and abilities as best he could, then paused when he reached the Pathfinder. Andel was the man Gemma had picked. He didn't really have the best reputation, but Nico couldn't care less. He was older than even Gemma, and had been here for many, many years, so what did it matter?

When he reached the group, their voices turned hushed, and Gemma greeted him with a warm smile.

"Glad you're here, Nico. We're pretty much set to depart."

He gestured to his unarmed hands.

"Need any specific gear? I trust you remember the details of the Devil that we'd deciphered so far."

Nico looked down at Gemma.

"No. I have everything I need."

With a thought, he summoned two more Memories.

The [Mourning Star] appeared in his right hand. It was, ironically, a morning star. The spiked mace was forged of lustrous gray steel, with black lines that traced across it like tattoos, and a snake of cracks that spread through the head, spilling soft, white light out of it.

It was an unwieldy Memory that he had received from a troublesome Awakened Demon a few months ago, with a single, powerful enchantment. When saturated with essence, the weapon would slowly build up light within its head and could be unleashed in a devastating explosion of fire.

It could also be used as an active elemental enchantment by charging each blow with essence.

Nico was not yet skilled enough to properly or efficiently pour steady amounts of essence into a weapon like that with his soul roots, but he could easily build up the passive enchantment when not fighting, and it was even stored when in his Soul Sea.

The second Memory he summoned was the [Wilted Dagger]. The dagger wasn't very exceptional, since it had come from a measly Awakened Beast, but its rusted blade subtly corroded any wounds inflicted by it, and that alone was enough to keep it around.

He thought back to the meager information Gemma had given him last night.

'An undead, huh. I should have enough charge built up to cripple it with a single, good strike.'

The Awakened Devil they were hunting today was a wraith of some sort. It was a hunter, too. All that the seers of the Bright Castle could figure out about its profane powers were that they were related to the mind.

'Not much to go off of. I was hoping there'd be some sort of weak point we could expose.'

Yet, it was the best they could do. An Awakened Devil was not something to be stalked like prey. Especially not if it was a hunter itself. So, they would descend on it unaware of its true might, overcoming it regardless.

The Hunters observed the infamous lieutenant among them with wary expressions. No matter how many times they had seen him, he was as still imposing as ever.

Everybody in the Bright Castle had heard of him in one way or another.

Sir Nico: Practically Awakened, imposingly tall, seventeen years of age, and exuding an inhuman indifference due to the cruel nature of his Flaw.

He was an overwhelming Sleeper of the highest tier within the Bright Castle.

The sixth and newest lieutenant had no official duties within the Bright Castle, akin to Harus. However, unlike the mad butcher, whose sole purpose everyone knew was execution, it was that Nico could do it all. He was sent to scout the most dangerous parts of the Dark City, fight the most terrifying monsters with the Hunters, protect the walls with the Castle Guard, and in his spare time assisted Kido and her Artisans with his Aspect.

Now, he was here to slay an Awakened Devil.

Excited whispers spread through the two hunting parties as the realization set in.

Nico himself, of course, could feel all their swirling emotions. Nobody knew of his Attribute, so they didn't even bother to try hiding them from him.

A flicker of alien emotion ignited in his eyes.

'We're already starting this, are we?'

This was something he had expected would happen. It was... the result of his Flaw and Attribute, as well. [Cold Flame] allowed him to absorb the feelings of those around him, and [Empath] easily translated them — made them understood. When so many people were all exuding the same exuberance, it was easy to drown in their combined feelings and lose his own mind. Sometimes, it was like they were his own feelings.

But he had long endured this agony and knew how to ground himself in the memories of his past.

When the pristine white gates of the castle opened, and they descended a grand staircase that led to the slums of the outer settlement, its people were revealed in all their unholy glory, and another tide slammed into him. This one was the exact opposite.

The people of the outer settlement were starved. Not only were their bodies sickly pale and dangerously thin, but no hope remained in their withered, shriveled hearts. All that existed was unending sorrow. Freedom was a mere concept to them, the Forgotten Shore was their tomb, and the Bright Lord was their condemnation that allowed it all to happen.

When the mighty Hunters descended from their righteous pedestal, they watched with open loathing. Faces twisted into snarls during their passing. None dared to make a move due to the high-quality Memories and power they held, but they released that repressed anger in their minds.

After a few minutes of walking through the decrepit town, the group of Hunters, Gemma, Andel, and Nico reached its end and started walking down the spiraling hill that led into the Dark City

'That was about as unbearable as ever,' Nico sighed, gritting his teeth under his helmet with repressed hatred.

It wasn't often he felt so strongly, but the citizens of the outer settlement were incessant in their spite.

Sometimes, he was surprised he made it out without killing anyone.

After his Flaw finally cleared the fog in his mind, and they had made it to the base of the hill, passing under a magnificent arch of white marble and entering the city proper, Andel pulled him up to the front alongside Gemma.

"Any nearby?" the Pathfinder asked quietly, the majority of his focus on the ruins before them.

Nico replied swiftly:

"A Fallen Beast and Monster. Two hundred meters, nine o'clock, and five hundred meters, four o'clock, respectively."

Andel nodded, then adjusted their path to pivot into an alley, the small line of Hunters behind them following in absolute silence.

For hours, Andel led them through the vast, dilapidated streets of the Dark City. They climbed onto roofs, squeezed through cracks into half-demolished buildings, ceased all movement when a terrible abomination drew near, and navigated the city on precise pathways that the Hunters frequented often.

Nico kept them informed by sensing the distant, evil souls of the Nightmare Creatures, and they proceeded smoothly.

At first, he didn't know how, exactly, the Hunters had decided to track the Awakened Devil down, but when they reached a wide square filled with rubble and circled by ruined buildings, within which rested an Awakened Demon, its enormous body hidden under an especially large pile of stones, he understood.

"That's the Demon, huh," Andel said, a predatory, self-assured smirk on his lips as he glared upon the heaping mound. "I've only seen three others during my tenure. I'll have another good story to tell, that's for sure."

One of the other Hunters, a man with short blonde hair and warped bone armor, shivered.

"I don't even want to see what's under there..."

Nico watched the groups converse tensely.

Somehow, the Hunters had managed to figure out where the Devil was going to appear next, but who knew what would happen then. Would they fight? Would they both sense the lurking humans and slaughter them all? Would the Devil simply kill the Demon and them, as well?

It was a vexing scenario almost spelled out to go horribly wrong.

One that Nico wasn't sure he wanted to see how ended.

The small party had gathered on a rooftop nearby the clearing with lots of cover and broken rock to shelter them from sight. When they all seemed settled, he found Gemma resting in a corner with a serious expression on his face and approached.

His dark shadow fell over the charming lieutenant as he said:

"This is a bad plan."

Gemma glanced up at the tall silhouette above him. The evening sun cast a brilliant light around the lean, armored figure, and the strange light within the morning star in his hand seemed to flare outwards while basking in its radiance.

He let his head fall back against a jagged piece of stone and closed his eyes.

"You have been nothing but disagreeable, you know?"

He scoffed, hands raising in mock offense.

"I mean, have you said a single positive thing this entire time?"

The knight above him continued to stare coldly without so much as a moment spent to consider his words.

Gemma frowned and opened his eyes.

"Fine. You want an explanation? This plan is shoddy, sure. Its probability to fail is not negligible, and we could all die horrible, miserable deaths. But when has it ever been any different for us, Nico? There is no better way to find the beast, and gambles like this are what must be done in desperate situations. A fighting ground like the Bright Castle may be better, but who knows how long it would take for it to arrive there, and if anyone would be able to lure it there at all."

After his words, the looming figure finally moved, noiselessly crouching down beside him.

His helmet dismissed in a rain of sparks, and chestnut hair loosed like a cascade of beautiful silk, blown back by the wind just enough to reveal the sculpted, aloof face beneath.

A cold voice rumbled from his throat:

"Perhaps so."

Looking at him, Gemma paused for a moment, then scoffed.

"That sounds suspiciously close to agreement if you ask me. Are you really Nico?"

Before the Sleeper beside him could retort, his eyes sharpened unnaturally, and he stood up quickly, peering over the giant slab they were hidden behind to view the clearing.

A new, malevolent presence bled into the edge of his soul sense. Four putrid cores, both above his own and below the Fallen in rank. It was the hunter. As soon as he thought that [Empath] seemed to scratch at the corner of his mind, somehow reaching beyond distant to translate the cold, merciless wrath of the hunter to him. It wasn't crazed. It was wicked. Intelligent. Prowling. Waiting.

Aware.

Wary, Gemma tracked his movement, standing beside Nico and waiting for his words.

Then, with a voice that promised nothing pleasant, Nico said:

"Assemble the others. The hunter... it's here. And it knows we are, too."