Arthur found himself once again atop the alloy wall that separated a tide of Nightmare Creatures from millions of civilians.
Yet today, the constant rain of creatures did not exist.
Looking south, not a single creature could be seen. Everything was so empty that it generated a feeling of unease in the hearts of those present.
Going from constant attacks every few hours over the last two weeks to this calm was completely unexpected. Yet, it was what was happening.
Arthur could feel that everyone around him was on the verge of breaking, as if one single sound would be enough to make them drop to their knees and give up.
He couldn't blame them, either.
The tension of the moment unsettled everyone. Not even the most experienced Master managed to stay still.
Jet beside him kept shifting her weight from one leg to the other while waiting. Winter adjusted the dark glasses covering her eyes every few minutes.
Sunny, his father, and Sylvie had their jaws slightly clenched, as if releasing the tension and restlessness through that means.
Arthur was no exception—the only difference was that he hid it better.
Internally, he couldn't stop feeling a sense of foreboding. His intuition told him something was going to go wrong. He didn't know if it was the map in his soul or common sense. Yet the feeling remained, and with every passing second, it grew.
The only one unaffected was Regis.
'How much longer are we going to wait?' he asked in a bored tone.
Arthur rolled his eyes.
'If you want to go out and look for it, I won't stop you.'
'No, thanks.'
'Then shut up.'
Regis snorted.
'Bored.'
Sylvie said, her voice sounding in his head with a soft tone.
'Enjoy this last moment of peace before everything starts.'
Regis yawned while Arthur nodded.
Three days had passed since the last conference, marking the date when Black Butterfly—the Corrupted Titan that killed Leviathan—was going to arrive at Falcon Scott.
The defenses against such a threat were the maximum the First Army could afford.
The Saints of Valor and House of Night had the task of intervening the moment the threat appeared.
The latter was at the port, defending the ships with the rest of his clan members. While his potential could be seen in the water, a Saint is a Saint at the end of the day.
If necessary, he would leave it and fight on land like the rest.
The former was away from the group of Masters on the wall.
With his arms crossed and eyes closed, Saint Cormac waited for the Titan a few meters from them.
A wait that didn't last long.
His eyes opened, but he didn't see what he expected… In fact, no one expected the views before them.
Arthur's golden eyes reflected the view, and his jaw slackened slightly.
The imposing size of the creature flying in the distance left him somewhat stunned. He never would have imagined that something so massive could fly.
Black Butterfly appeared in its full expanse, soaring over one of the nearby mountains. While not the tallest peak, it was certainly substantial; yet, beside the creature, it looked small. Distance naturally skewed the perspective, but the Corrupted Titan was truly colossal.
Judging by the distance, Arthur estimated it easily reached eighty meters in height, with a width three times that. Its massive body blocked out the scant light, casting a huge shadow over Falcon Scott…
The creature possessed four beautiful, silvery wings—like mirrors reflecting the world. The movement of each of its wings generated a gust of wind that reached the wall, making the hair of those situated there move according to it.
Its limbs, resembling pillars of pure obsidian, made the mountain tremble the moment it descended upon it, a cloud of dust and snow appearing around it, slightly hiding its body. Its antennae twitched at a ridiculous speed, scanning the surrounding scene.
Absolute terror consumed the hearts of those present as they witnessed the scene before them. A couple of Awakened dropped to their knees, their hopes of seeing another day utterly crushed.
The Masters endured the feeling of hopelessness a little better, but even so, they couldn't avoid the cold that began running through their bodies.
The only one spared was Cormac, but even so, he narrowed his eyes while his jaw clenched.
"How are we going to kill that…" Sunny murmured.
Jet snapped out of her state of shock.
"Let's follow the pla—"
She didn't finish speaking before the Titan began doing something strange.
The beautiful butterfly began to flutter its wings, creating a gust of air that reached the top of the wall in a matter of seconds. Those who had fallen to their knees felt the air strike their faces again, draining all the color from them.
The four enormous wings slowly folded inward, their silvery surfaces disappearing one after another behind its colossal body. Each movement was deliberate, almost unnaturally slow, yet the sheer size of the creature made even the slightest motion feel overwhelming.
For a few moments, the people atop the wall could do nothing but gaze at the scene, their hearts gripped by dread and their bodies trembling.
The wings continued to fold until they completely enveloped the Titan, hiding its body from view. What had moments ago been a monstrous butterfly dominating the sky was now reduced to a gigantic, motionless shape standing atop the mountain.
It looked like a cocoon.
The wind gradually died down, leaving behind a sepulchral silence.
Arthur narrowed his eyes. It didn't take a genius to know something was wrong…
Sunny was about to open his mouth, intending to ask something, but the words caught in his throat when he noticed the creature's abdomen beginning to expand and contract irregularly.
The movements were subtle at first, but they quickly became more noticeable. Spasms traveled through the immobilized body of the beautiful butterfly, each contraction causing its abdomen to shift slightly.
'What the...'
Slowly, the creature's proboscis began to extend. It grew several meters longer before suddenly opening at the tip. And then—
—A ridiculous number of eggs began pouring out.
They were of different sizes; some were as large as three humans, while others were smaller than a single one. They were yellow with some white and black spots, their smooth shells standing out against the white snow.
Some landed directly on the mountain and became lodged between rocks, while others bounced once or twice before rolling down the slope. Despite the height and the rough terrain, none of them broke. Not even a crack appeared on their shells.
Another contraction passed through its abdomen, followed by another stream of eggs. And then another.
The process was strangely efficient. There was no time to waste between each expulsion, with the eggs continuously emerging from the creature's extended proboscis and accumulating across the snowy mountain.
Thousands appeared within mere seconds.
Those that fell first, clustering around the rocks, began to tremble slightly, while the others that rolled further down did not react in the same way. Eventually, the uneven terrain brought them to a halt as newly launched eggs landed atop the ones that had already fallen, slowly covering the patches of visible snow with a layer of yellow.
The contractions became more frequent, and the number of eggs increased accordingly. Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the process stopped.
The butterfly's abdomen returned to its previous shape, becoming still once again.
The entire process had lasted less than a minute. Yet, scattered across the snowy mountain were easily more than ten thousand eggs.
Jet didn't hesitate.
Summoning a Memory in a shower of silver particles, it manifested as a small flare gun.
She raised her arm and pulled the trigger.
The signal to call Bloodwave from the port was launched, and the fight hadn't even started.
Those present were petrified upon seeing the scene. Everyone understood what had happened, but that didn't save them from anything.
All the plans they had developed to fight such a creature were pulverized in a matter of seconds.
Saint Cormac had taken action moments before. The moment he saw the Titan's strange actions, he had already adopted his transformation into a ferocious wyvern, flying in the direction of the eggs without hesitation.
Under no circumstances could he let all those eggs hatch!
He covered the distance at great speed, and he had barely reached the eggs farthest from the Titan when they began to tremble like the previous ones.
Cormac, using his experience, didn't panic. Spitting a cloud of blue-green venom, it headed toward the nearest eggs.
These were trembling while cracks appeared on their yellow surface.
Cormac didn't launch just one cloud of venom—he launched about a dozen. Due to the proximity between the eggs, the dozen attacks launched by the Saint of Valor managed to impact hundreds and hundreds of eggs midway through opening.
The blue-green substance entered through the cracks, submerging the interior of the eggs in a corrosive poison.
The affected eggs died instantly, but there were too many, and Cormac had very little time.
The moment multiple eggs hatched successfully, the Transcendent withdrew without hesitation.
First were the ones closest to the Titan, but eventually, all the eggs broke completely, making multiple creatures with different shapes emerge from them at great speed. Their movements were slightly erratic, as if they were being controlled by something other than their own will.
In a matter of seconds since they left the Titan's body, almost all the eggs on the mountain had hatched successfully, making nearly nine thousand creatures of multiple ranks and classes descend the mountain at great speed in the direction of the millions of souls in the Siege Capital.
In a matter of a minute, they were going to find themselves drowning the defenses with their bodies.
'What the fuck.' Regis exclaimed in surprise upon seeing the bizarre scene.
Arthur, even in such a situation, couldn't help a slight smile appearing on his face.
'Still bored now?'
'Shut up, princess.'
Sylvie giggled lightly, making those present look at her strangely.
"The beauty here seems to have lost her mind…" Winter commented while taking off her dark glasses, and a group of Awakened surrounded her to augment her.
Sylvie simply shrugged.
"At this point, I'd be more scared of anyone who was normal."
Winter nodded.
"I like you. After this, let's go get a drink."
"You can talk about going for drinks after eliminating all those creatures," Jet scolded them, then said, "Sunny, Arthur—ranks and classes of the creatures."
Both had barely seen the figures and had already done just that, though the figures discomforted them quite a bit.
Arthur, using his great vision to analyze the scene, was the first to respond.
"I can count about five thousand Awakened, four thousand Fallen, and the rest are Corrupted."
Sunny added.
"There are all classes—Awakened Beast up to Titans, the same in each rank…"
At that moment, Cormac approached them. Still in his transformation, his voice sounded very deep, generating a slight shiver in the Awakened.
He ordered in a serious voice, not showing his agitation. "I will take the front of the first line and face all the Corrupted I can."
"Master Sylvie, Master Arthur, and Soul Reaper Jet will be on the second tier." He continued ordering. "Master Sunless and Master Reynolds will fight together with Bloodwave on the second line, while Master Winter will handle the threats that surpass the first line."
Everyone accepted the orders without hesitation and moved at full speed.
Sylvie adopted her dragon transformation, and Arthur and Jet appeared on her back after he used Godstep to carry them both.
Thanks to Jet's slight affinity with Aether, the fragment cost of transporting two people through the Aetheric Pathways was much lower than with someone without affinity.
Beside Sylvie, Cormac performed the same action, using his form to fly at great speed again. Behind them, Sunny disappeared after using Shadow Step and descended to the ground.
Reynolds descended the wall using a portion of fire on his feet to shoot forward and then cushion the fall. The moment he landed, Sunny and Bloodwave were already there. Behind them, the rest of the surviving Awakened and Masters of the First Army gathered.
Winter, without her glasses, took a deep breath, raised her bow, and summoned a single, fiery arrow. Her black eyes seemed to become even darker still, and the crimson blood drops of her pupils shone with an eerie, ominous glow.
The string of the bow rang, and the flaming arrow flashed through the darkness brought by the Corrupted Titan's body, leaving a blazing trail behind.
And just as against the Devouring Cloud, a vast sphere of flame bloomed at the front of the swarm when it hit, spreading far and wide like a rolling wave. Then, it collapsed on itself and exploded once more.
The Awakened creatures in the distance were consumed by the infernal fire brought by the archer's arrow. Then another arrow traced the same path. Amid all this, the Corrupted Titan hadn't moved again since it finished expelling the eggs.
Sylvie dodged the arrows, bombs, all kind of projectiles, and finally the flames with pure agility, avoiding throwing Arthur and Jet from her back.
Cormac took the front and, using the strength of a Transcendent, began destroying the Awakened and Fallen that started covering the Corrupted in the swarm.
Sylvie descended to the ground and abandoned her transformation, then summoned a longsword that appeared in her hand.
Jet landed efficiently with her Aspect Legacy already in hand, while Dawn's Ballad appeared in a shower of silver particles in Arthur's hand as he touched the ground. Then, Regis manifested beside them and asumed his Destruction form…
The four of them would be the second tier of the first line. Spacing themselves a few meters apart, Arthur took in the view one last time before the battle began.
The creatures were all different but at the same time had a similarity between them.
Some had multiple legs or limbs, others had multiple faces or disfigured forms. Many had wings, but not all flew. At the same time, most had worms running across their bodies.
But those were the most normal ones in the Nightmare Creatures category.
The ones that truly frightened all those present were identical to them…
Among the mass of Nightmare Creatures, a small percentage looked like humans.
Arthur couldn't help but feel a chill upon seeing them.
Most had their normal bodies, with the only differences being the translucent wings emerging from their backs and the look in their eyes. Their gazes were alien—like dead eyes.
He couldn't see more because a few creatures lunged at him.
Arthur dodged the first attack that a long-armed creature launched at him, escaping by barely a centimeter. Then, with the edge of his sword, he prepared to sever one of the creature's arms. However, just as the weapon traced the arc to execute the cut, a new presence emerged at his back.
Canceling the attack, he moved his body in an elastic form. The creature at his back didn't attack him and somehow anticipated Arthur's movement…
When he turned completely to cover the new threat, he froze for a second. And that second was enough for the creature to drive a sword into him…
He blinked.
'…What?'
The tip of the sword pierced through the Djinn of War armor, embedding itself in his abdomen…
Looking at the sword, he asked himself, 'A sword of light?'
Amid his questions, he tried to escape the situation. Fortunately, it wasn't a deep wound, but even so, Godstep wasn't an option with the sword embedded in his body. So King's Presence activated the next instant with the intention of bringing the creature to its knees.
But that wasn't what happened.
His face turned pale upon noticing that it had no effect, and when he looked up to see the creature's figure, he swallowed hard.
It was a tall, slender woman with straw-blonde hair, a healthy tan, and once-sparkling blue eyes. Arthur knew who the woman had been.
How could he not, when she had visited his home on different occasions…
"Je-sse?"
The woman was none other than Jesse, a member of the First Irregular Company who had been a friend of his family.
He froze completely. He never would have expected to encounter someone he knew—and even less in such a human form, but at the same time, not human…
The problem was no longer just the sword embedded in his abdomen, nor that he knew the woman and cared for her… To those two things was added the fact that the woman… creature in front of him was a Fallen Titan…
None of his abilities were going to work the way he had a tendency to use them. He didn't often face Fallen Titans, so he never used his abilities with the necessary power to influence them—it wouldn't make sense, because he would spend more essence doing so.
But right now, in front of him, was something that not only had the apparent ability to simulate the vessel's Aspect but to use it efficiently enough to create a sword with it—and at the same time, its rank and class were equal to his.
"Snap out of it!" Arthur heard a shout but couldn't identify the source.
Still, it served to snap him out of his state of shock. But not before another attack headed in his direction.
The creature raised one of its hands, and a new sword of light appeared in it. Without changing its expression, it directed it toward his heart while still keeping the other in his abdomen.
Arthur, still holding Dawn's Ballad, intercepted the attack, and the sword of light broke on impact. Then he went to take a step back, but another creature moved at his back at great speed again.
Static Void activated for a fraction of a second, but he didn't retreat.
Taking a step forward—causing the sword in his abdomen to pierce even deeper into his body—he went to land a lethal blow on Jesse's corpse.
The Fallen Titan anticipated this, and the sword in its body disappeared, giving it more mobility. But it was already too late.
Arthur moved faster than his rival, and his Transcendent sword was about to decapitate the corpse when the figure he had sensed behind him came out of the Static Void effect…
A figure interposed itself in the sword's path with a dry blow to Arthur's elbow, and she crouched at the same moment… Dawn's Ballad passed centimeters over Jesse's head.
Arthur felt a current of energy running through his entire arm upon feeling the blow to his elbow. Letting out a cry of pain, his hand ended up releasing the sword, and the new figure grabbed it at the same moment mid air.
He immediately, upon seeing that he was going to lose the sword, dismissed it… If he wasn't going to use it, others wouldn't either.
Recovering from the attack, he looked at the new figure in front of him, but this time he didn't enter a state of shock. Though he also knew him.
A large man with gray hair and a full beard that perfectly suited his chiseled, masculine face stood in front of him. His solid and steady presence reflected the experience he possessed when he was alive.
"Randall…"
The oldest among the members of the First Army Company was in front of him, with an alien gaze. His eyes, which at one time had a drop of mischief, were empty.
Arthur unconsciously realized that Randall wasn't a Titan but a Terror.
Using his Aether Sense, he noticed how the rest of the creatures ignored him while these two almost-ex-uncles faced him. No other tried to attack him.
Maybe the Corrupted Titan controlling them identified that this could be his weakness—Arthur didn't know. But if that was the case, it couldn't be more wrong.
What was standing in front of him weren't Jesse and Randall. They weren't the people who gave their lives to defend and evacuate civilians, nor the ones who visited his parents at home to pass the time. They weren't even people...
Even so, it hurt. It hurt to see them like this.
Dawn's Ballad disappeared from the hand of the creature with Randall's face, but he didn't manage to summon it again before the two of them attacked him again.
Arthur lowered his center of gravity, and multiple swords appeared around his body. Djinn of War had already completed its form again, and his wound in the abdomen no longer existed.
The Terror was the first to move while a platform of light appeared beneath the Titan's feet. Both moving in his direction with ridiculous speed.
In that time, he wanted to remember both of their Aspects, but a rain of attacks made it impossible.
A light axe appeared in the Terror's hands, created by its companion, and it directed it toward his face.
Arthur crouched and turned his body slightly. The axe passed grazing his nose and disappeared before completing the attack. Using the moment, he brought an Aether sword toward the Terror's uncontrolled body.
A light shield appeared in the attack's direction. Both forces clashing and canceling each other out.
The Titan appeared at his back but didn't attack. Arthur turned around while Static Void activated over the Terror.
An Aether sword in his hand changed grip and headed toward the Titan's skull… a new light shield covered it.
Static Void stopped having effect, and the Terror attacked him with a new light axe.
Arthur ducked, pivoted, and changed direction several times while trying to dodge attacks and avoid leaving openings for the Titan.
Momentarily failing on different occasions.
An axe cutting off the fingers of his right hand. An annoying shield affecting one of his sword attacks while a platform of light moved the Titan out of his attack range.
The movements of both creatures were so coordinated that Arthur found himself at an overwhelming disadvantage.
He tried nonetheless…
An Aether spear appeared in the Terror's path while another pointed at the Titan. The first crouched, avoiding the attack by centimeters, while the Titan met the attack head-on. Both forces denying each other.
The Aether swords and the light swords and shields were all Ascended rank, making the only difference the quality of the essence used to summon them and that of the element.
After several clashes, Arthur realized an important detail.
Aether was a stronger element than light, giving him the advantage—but the difference between both manipulations was the essence used to summon them…
'Could that be it?'
Both are theoretically the same rank, with the only difference being that one is a Nightmare Creature and the other a human—well, a Djinn. But there's actually another even more notable difference.
The Fallen Titan is being controlled by a Corrupted Titan…
Arthur dodged an attack again, spinning his body ninety degrees, but a kick to his back sent him a few meters forward. A new light sword generated in his path, which he destroyed again. King's Presence activated at his side…
'Maybe it's using Black Butterfly's essence to summon the swords!'
If that's the case, the only way Arthur has to survive is to get a few seconds to summon Dawn's Ballad…
A Memory takes about four or five seconds to summon, but doing it in the middle of a high-intensity fight is very complicated. Yet it was his only hope.
With both creatures working so coordinately and the null difference in strength, achieving it would be due to a miracle.
Even so, Arthur tried… but a new sequence of attacks prevented him from achieving it...