Chapter 2006 The Real Mess
Sunny was on the left flank of the battlefield, while Nephis was in the center. The right flank, meanwhile...
[Cassie?]
There were a few moments of silence, and then the blind seer''s voice resounded in his mind. [I''ve arrived.] Indeed... today''s battle was so important and terribly skewed in favor of the enemy that even Song of the Fallen, the Seneschal of the Great Clan Valor — someone who was not supposed to appear on a battlefield often, serving her King and Domain in other ways — had no choice but to enter the fray. In fact, every Saint of the Sword Army was either already here or on their way — except for Sky Tide, who had been ordered to remain with the King of Swords in the rear. Their enemies were already here, too. As the tide of Song soldiers receded, dozens of motionless figures were revealed, standing apart from each other across the expansive battlefield. Sunny felt a strange mixture of somber wariness and anticipation. Each Saint was a force to be reckoned with... and the enemy had twice as many Saints as his side. There were the puppets of the Queen, as well. There was also the horde of Nightmare Creatures enthralled by Beastmaster...
And he had not forgotten that there were still three of Mordret''s Reflections left intact, somewhere out there. The odds did not seem very promising for the Sword Saints. ''How many will die?''
Sunny suddenly felt a chill. It was hard to kill a Saint, and even harder to prevent one from escaping should they wish to flee. Those who had reached Transcendence also possessed an incredible wealth of martial experience — they would know when to continue the fight and when to retreat.
...Still, Saints were going to die today. Countless soldiers would be spared from the cold embrace of death, but death would not remain unfed. It was just that the souls it swallowed would be far more nourishing and potent. Of course, the number of the fallen would be infinitely smaller...
But not the significance. In fact, the two Domains would sustain far more damage if a handful of Saints were killed than if a myriad of Awakened died.
That was because only Saints could claim Citadels, thus expanding a Sovereign''s Domain over vast territories. Currently, there were more Saints in the world than there were conquered Citadels — but not by much. If enough Transcendent champions were killed today, some of the strongholds of humanity in the Dream Realm would be left without masters. And therefore...
Now, all Nephis, Sunny, and Cassie had to do... was actually survive the battle and make sure that the overwhelming advantage of the Song Domain did not lead to a wholesale slaughter of the Sword Saints.
''They have twice as many... hell...''
Sunny was not alone on the left flank of the battlefield. A few other Saints had joined him, as well — now, what remained was to see which strategy the Song Domain would choose. They could just send two Saints of Song to fight each individual Sword Saint. Of course, that was unlikely — after all, they knew how powerful Changing Star and the Lord of Shadows were. They also knew about Saint, Fiend, and Serpent. Cassie might give them an unpleasant surprise, but in the grand scheme of things, her presence on the battlefield was not too impactful. Sunny could see Saint Rivalen in the distance. He had assumed his Transcendent form, squaring against a single Saint of the Song Domain — the giant reptile with powerful legs and strangely short arms that Rain had seen tearing Nightmare Creatures apart in the Hollows. On the other side, Helie was facing a Saint who had chosen to maintain a human form.
And a little further away, there was Roan.
...Also faced by a single opponent. Sunny suddenly felt a bad premonition.
''Just... how high is their opinion of me?''
Looking straight ahead, he lowered his head slightly. ''One, two, three...''
The darkness nestling in the eyes of Weaver''s mask stirred slightly.
...Apparently, it was extremely high. Because there were thirteen enemy Saints moving to surround him in a wide half-circle.