Heavy footsteps sank into the snow as a creature of enormous size advanced over the mountains. In that desert of whiteness and silence, the figure of the enormous beast contrasted like a bck stain on a bnk canvas. But anyone who missed the intimidating snake-eyed creature would be making a mistake, for the rider riding it was a far worse being.

  Saint raised his gaze, allowing the snowfkes to touch the face of the fearsome demon mask. The dark, lifeless eye sockets began to glow as if a fire were bursting forth from within.

  Instantly, the shadows within the knight's armor grew restless, sensing the start of the hunt.

  With a roar from the enormous bear-like creature, both beings of shadow and darkness moved at full speed. They were neither silent nor subtle, but their aura was like that of a great predator observing its prey.

  Even so, all was calm, the snow falling slowly, and the silence of the pce cshed with their sudden action… until they were no longer allowed to act.

  From the depths of the snow and earth, arms blue with cold rose up, trying to hold the warrior and his mount, but no matter how strong those beings were, they were at a disadvantage against their predator.

  The darkness became fuel, and the shadows burst into fmes that drove those cursed beings back. With a sweep of his sword, Saint decapitated the nearest ones, while his mount, the Soul Serpent, cleaved two individuals in half with its cws.

  More of those things emerged from the snow, like the undead seeking to bury the living. But the demon they faced was a being from the underworld and the shadows. Bringing the kingdom of shadow to earth was their inherited right and duty.

  With agile and calcuted movements, Saint cleaved another in half, while sweeping aside two more with his shield. The opponents were strong, as strong as a fallen beast, even if they wore mundane shells. But they cked stamina and speed. With a single ssh, he could pierce their bodies and let the fme of his divinity destroy them from within.

  These puppets were barely fragments of that vast creature that had crossed into the mortal world.

  The shadows that inhabited their armor moved, unwilling to wait any longer to join the fray. With a burst of barbs, spikes made of burning shadows impaled four more creatures, only to be finished off by their master's sword.

  In mere moments, only shadows once again roamed those nds.

  Saint paused for a moment, contempting the carnage before her. In the end, she had only killed twelve of these things. A tiny number considering that millions of them were walking around. Still… She was pleased.

  This was what she lived for, what she felt she was created for. Even when the world around her seemed like a bleeding corpse, she would still fight. Just as she had millennia ago in the seventh world.

  A memory came to her, one of herself, marching alongside her stone companions toward a great wall where a statue of a woman stood over a sick sun.

  She shook her mind away from that thought. Her senses alerted her that at least a hundred of these things were heading for her position; she had no time to think. Soon the great siege would begin, and she wouldn't miss it for anything.

  But first…

  She sheathed her stone sword, summoning a bow and arrow from her darkness. The shadows around them gathered to empower the bow, and soon the arrow burned with the force of their divinity.

  The projectile shot out soundlessly, instantly disappearing into the vast sky.

  Miles away, a group of three ascended scouts battled an awakened Walker skin puppet. While their numbers and superior css allowed them to control the creature, their attacks couldn't finish their enemy. They cked a way to end the battle and weren't strong enough to escape, so they could only wait, wait for death to reach them.

  At least that's how they felt until an arrow suddenly pierced the human puppet's skull.

  The group stood in stunned silence, only to react instantly by severing the creature's limbs to ensure it wouldn't rise again.

  As the seconds ticked by and the clock even dissolved, the team leader was the one who broke the silence.

  “Was it… the half-breed demon?”

  A long way off, a slight annoyance compined to the statue. She didn't understand why, but it only made her annoyance grow. A trait that seemed to manifest itself with increasing frequency.

  Unwilling to wait any longer, she dissolved into the shadows.

  …

  Miles away, in front of the walls of a great city, the soldiers guarding it started with dull eyes at the horizon before them. Their bodies, numbed by cold and fear, no longer trembled, for only the sickly taste of acceptance permeated their bodies.

  In front of them, thousands of people walked calmly toward the city gates, as if in a parade. From their position, they could see soldiers still holding their weapons, women carrying their children, and children pying in the snow. Everything seemed strangely normal, if not for that disturbing smile they were given.

  Thousands of eyes watched them with amusement, putting on a mocking spectacle in the face of a truth everyone already knew. They were dead, the city wouldn't be able to stop those beings, and worse still, they would soon join its ranks.

  The thought made the soldiers ugh without amusement. In the end, it turned out that they all ended up envying those who perished at the hands of the winter beast. At least that was faster, right?

  Their lifeless eyes caught a glimpse of a soldier on the other side of the wall taking a sip of alcohol before throwing himself into the void.

  No one reacted, except for a shared thought. "Should I...?"

  The shouts of their superiors were loud, but they felt like a muffled sound to the soldiers. Their bodies moved mechanically, and only the thunderous whistling of the turrets seemed to ease the weary soldiers' minds.

  'Ah... I wish I could just keep shooting.' Without having to think, without having to fear.

  The bullets rained down like a rain of fire, turning the puppet army into minced meat. But their enemies, who were being torn apart by the shells, didn't seem to react to the attack. They just continued their slow march toward the gates.

  The mutited bodies calmly rose, and the unsettling smiles only grew wider. They would arrive in a few minutes.

  …

  Beast Master watched with dispassionate interest the farce before her. There, thousands of defenseless humans were fighting a pointless battle. It was only a matter of minutes before the Skin Walker breached its walls, and their numbers grew from a couple of million to almost a dozen.

  Even if it was true that the Skin Walker couldn't take over all the bodies at once, he'd have more than enough spare parts to conquer the continent and, probably, once I managed to cross the ocean, the world.

  She shook her head. That wouldn't happen, not with this creature, at least, for Mother had already decided. She turned to look at her sisters.

  Sailent Stalker frowned; her fists clenched in helplessness. She longed to join the battle and accompany the soldiers in their effort to destroy the vile creature.

  Unfortunately, that wasn't her role, at least not for now.

  Slowly, her eyes focused on Seishan, who maintained a neutral expression beneath his ashen skin. She was the one she worried about the most.

  Since they had returned from the nightmare desert, her mood had changed. She couldn't expin it, but it was as if something couldn't stop nagging at her. She had tried to ask her, but she hadn't gotten a good answer.

  She could only attribute this to what that blind witch had whispered to her! Wait... Who was she talking about?

  "Sister!"

  Her stupor was interrupted by her sister's scream and the sound of the wall colpsing. In front of her, a cloud of dust rose hundreds of meters into the air.

  The screams of soldiers and civilians alike could be heard, knowing full well that this was the moment of truth, the one they had been trying to ignore until now. They were all going to die.

  She stepped forward, standing on top of a ptform in front of the gate, where almost the entire city could watch, including those damned puppets.

  She smiled wryly. She was used to putting on a show thanks to her captivating appearance, but she admitted she wasn't entirely happy with this one.

  "You'll never get past this, damn creature!"

  She didn't expect the being in front of her to respond; in fact, she prayed it wouldn't, but the gods were dead, and the creature was too out of the norm.

  "Oh, is that so? Why?" A boy, no more than ten years old, stepped forward, staring at her with innocent eyes and a hint of curiosity.

  His gaze made her stomach churn, but she forced herself to continue her theatrics.

  "Why... This is Song!"

  Space itself seemed to tremble as reality itself shattered. An absolute presence descended like a hammer, and the air itself grew heavier. A crimson light erupted from the newly opened door, letting in a bloody beam that vaporized thousands of the creatures.

  War drums pounded as the pilgrims, the very puppets of the sole ruler of Song, passed through the portal with the goal of sying the vile creatures.

  The spectacle was of epic proportions, as if a legend were being forged before their eyes. Cries of jubition rose from all directions, drowning out even the roaring battlefield.

  But for Beastmaster, none of that mattered, for she couldn't tear her gaze away from those childlike eyes before her. There was no surprise, no disappointment; instead, it seemed the situation filled her with a sickening euphoria.

  She almost thought she could hear the words she was silently mouthing.

  'Wait for me...'