Shadow Slave: Eternal Madness

Raphael stood on top of the infirmary, scanning his surroundings with full alertness.

When the Evacuation Army fought the Whispering Legion and killed the titan, the resulting earthquake had destroyed much of the mountain range, leaving the area in chaos.

With no other way to reach Erebus Field, the cohort decided to take...

The coastal highway.

The problem? The highway ran along the water and was completely exposed.

The cohort's original plan to reach Erebus Field involved hiding from abominations, avoiding confrontation, and making the journey with no casualties. It was slow but safe.

The coastal highway was the opposite. It would save time but came with extreme danger.

As always, Raphael was tasked with protecting the back of the convoy… but this time, he was alone.

The good thing was that, unlike in the novel, Saint hadn't evolved—meaning she was also protecting the convoy.

Thanks to Raphael's gift, Saint had already become an Onyx Saint. Since she had absorbed something from the tunnel abomination, she probably needed just one or two more dark orbs to evolve again.

The sound of battle echoed in Raphael's ears, but he didn't move. His job was to guard the convoy from ambushes at the rear.

And sure enough, a horde of 300 abominations approached from behind.

Raphael opened the hatch and spoke to the soldiers inside:

"There's a herd closing in from behind. I'll handle it. Don't stop for anything."

Without waiting, Raphael leapt from the infirmary, landing on solid ground.

He slashed his own body, letting his blood pour onto the earth.

As the horde neared, Raphael calculated they would reach him in one minute.

That was all the time he needed.

Fifty seconds later, Raphael let his body heal and stood at the edge of the blood pool.

His figure shifted—growing taller until he stood three meters high. His arms lengthened, bones jutting out into swords, and another pair of limbs emerged beneath his current ones.

Raphael summoned his [Dragon Wrath] armor, completing the transformation.

The herd entered the pool of blood, but Raphael remained still.

Inside his body, his blood flow quickened, doubling his strength. He also activated his [Berserker] enhancement.

As the abominations' claws slashed toward him, chains of blood erupted, binding them in place.

'I need to finish this in five minutes… no, three.'

Raphael dashed forward, slicing through the abominations like a hot knife through butter. His bones were as strong as an Ascended Titan's.

In under a minute, Raphael slaughtered every abomination within his domain of blood. But more still approached.

He repeated the process.

It was a massacre. Raphael obliterated the horde in 2 minutes and 38 seconds.

Summoning darkness, he devoured the corpses and their blood, erasing every trace of the battle.

He spread his black wings and flew back to the convoy, shifting back into his Gehrman Sparrow form.

Landing on the infirmary, he opened the hatch—only to find weapons pointed at him.

"Is this how you treat your savior?"

The soldiers relaxed, apologizing immediately.

"It's fine. The horde's gone. You're safe."

Raphael glanced ahead at the front of the convoy.

'Looks like they dealt with theirs too.'

Time passed, and Raphael kept fighting abominations drawn to the convoy.

Glancing at his essence reserves, he frowned.

'Four cores left.'

This was the first time Raphael had depleted so much essence in one day—even during training with Kratos and Mohg.

Suddenly, he felt the call of a Nightmare Gate.

In front of the convoy, a gate was guarded by a tyrant.

'Should I help?'

Before he could decide, the guardian fled.

Raphael's eyes narrowed. The only reason an abomination would run was if something stronger was coming.

He activated his [Seer] ability.

Raphael saw hundred of silver threads representing every possibilities and futures, yet one of them was intertwined with a golden thread.

From the sea, a giant stone hand emerged, rising onto land.

Raphael slammed his fist onto the vehicle below, careful not to damage it.

'Goliath…'

Goliath was one of the three Titans—the others being the Winter Beast and the fallen Whispering Legion. This was the titan that destroyed Erebus Field, the convoy's destination.

And just like he divined.

A titanic stone hand suddenly broke the surface and soared into the night sky. The arm of the submerged giant rose above the coastal highway like a dark tower, easily reaching twenty or thirty meters into the air.

...And then careened, starting to fall in the direction of the convoy.

The convoy accelerated, barely escaping in time.

Raphael looked at the Titan in front of him.

Goliath looked more like a small mountain that had come to life than an effigy of a human. The surface of its body was rough and unpolished, like a natural cliff, and its proportions were all wrong.

His legs were powerful and stocky, and its torso was massive and asymmetrical, with mounds of stone rising from its back like humps. The giant had three arms, each hand possessing a different number of thick, short fingers.

His head was like a misshapen hill of brown rock, with two cavernous holes gaping in it, drowned by darkness, and a single circular eye set deep in the center of his forehead.

Raphael spotted Sunny riding Nightmare, charging toward the titan.

Spreading his wings, Raphael flew beside him.

"Captain, what the hell are you doing?!"

"I'm buying time, damn it!"

"Buying time?! You'll be crushed in seconds!"

"Thanks for the confidence boost."

"I'm just being honest."

Sunny sighed sighed and looked at Raphael.

"Gehrman you must protect them do you understand! This is an order."

"Fuck… you must come back alive do you understand!"

Sunny didn't answer. He urged Nightmare forward.

Raphael gritted his teeth and returned to the convoy.

Landing on the Rhino, he entered the vehicle.

Luster glanced back.

"Vice-Captain! The captain's—"

"I know. Keep driving."

A minute passed, and Raphael looked back at Goliath.

'Will Sunny really survive?'

Raphael already knew this was not just a novel, no it was real. Everything happened and will happen is real.

So could he really trust the novel?

For Raphael the answer was, No.

A lot of thing have changed from the novel, the biggest is that he exist and that was everything Raphael needed.

Exiting the Rhino, Raphael summoned a Saint from the underworld.

At his peak, he could summon three. But now… one would do.

"Protect the convoy."

The Saint knelt.

"Yes, your Majesty."

Raphael summoned his wings and flew toward Sunny.

Seeing Goliath smashing into Sunny making him fly near the water unconscious, Raphael quickly summoned the Darkness and shaping it into a massive hammer as large as Goliath hand.

Raphael wielded the hammer and struck Goliath chest, making a thunderous sound echoing in the area.

The Titan lost it's balance and started falling down, but a wall of darkness made it stop.

Goliath reigned it balance, and punched with his right hand at the hammer, but before it reach, the hammer lost it shape and fell down at the earth.

From the sky Raphael flew downward, strengthening his body to the max and making a fist with his hand and punched Goliath face creating a carter.

But Raphael didn't stop, he continued punching until the it's face started breaking.

Goliath raised two of his arms planing to crush Raphael, but three chains made of darkness made sure none of his arms moved.

Raphael stopped punching, and flew back to the sky summoning a massive hammer made of darkness in his hand.

He flew toward one of Goliath arms and struck his hammer destroying the arm entirely, but he didn't stop he went to the other two and destroyed them too.

Raphael looked at Goliath and spoke:

"You're lucky. If you had no purpose, I would have killed you here and now… what a shame."

Raphael struck Goliath's chest and spoke again, his voice shifting—commanding, regal, like that of an Emperor.

"Fall."

It wasn't a suggestion. It was an order.

Goliath toppled backward, crashing into the ocean. His massive form sank beneath the waves until there was nothing left to see.

Raphael summoned his darkness, enveloping Goliath's severed arms and sending them to the underworld.

They would make excellent material.

Drawing on one of his memories, Raphael cloaked himself, vanishing from sight.

Minutes passed before he spotted Sunny regaining consciousness. Behind Sunny, a figure emerged—the Imp.

Raphael watched as Sunny fought the creature. As in the novel, the Imp managed to escape.

Staring at the sea, Raphael chuckled.

'It must be furious… since most of the LO49's residents have already fled to the underworld.'

The abomination lurking in the ocean was none other than the Terror of LO49.

Satisfied, Raphael sighed and flew back to the convoy.

While soaring through the night sky, he caught the scent of something strange. Snowflakes drifted down around him. Raphael caught one and smeared it across his palm, leaving behind a black streak of soot.

'…It's ash.'

'So the Erebus Field has fallen after all…'

He let out another sigh and continued flying.

Upon returning, Raphael noticed the Saint he had summoned standing atop a nearby mountain, silently watching over the convoy.

Raphael gave him a nod.

The Saint knelt, then dissolved into the darkness.

Nearby, Belle sat on the roof of one of the transports, a sword resting across his lap.

Raphael descended toward him.

"Why did you stop? I thought I made it clear—don't stop until you reach Erebus Field."

Belle startled at first but quickly composed himself.

"Vice-Captain… we couldn't reach Erebus Field because…" Belle sighed. "It's better if you see for yourself."

"No," Raphael said firmly. "We wait until the Captain returns."

"The Captain is alive?!"

"Of course, he is. Do you think the Devil dies that easily?"

Thirty minutes later, a lone figure rode into the circle of light surrounding the convoy—an infernal rider clad in black, fearsome armor.

The soldiers tensed, rifles rising to meet the imposing figure.

But as the glow of the lamps revealed his face, relief washed over them.

Sunny had returned.

The cohort and civilians erupted into cheers.

Raphael approached and bowed his head slightly.

"Thank you, Captain. If it weren't for you, we'd all be dead."

The others nodded in agreement.

Sunny looked… uncomfortable? Embarrassed, even.

"It was my duty to get you all to safety."

"Still."

"I said it's fine, Gehrman."

Sunny exhaled, brushing it off. He turned to the cohort.

"What is the situation now, then?"

Dorn's face darkened.

"The remaining transports are in bad shape and severely overloaded, sir. I don't think that they'll be able to travel for much longer."

That was to be expected. Sunny waved a hand.

"Are they going to make it to Erebus Field, at least? And, by the way, why did you stop? Is there a large number of Nightmare Creatures between us and the city gate?"

None of the members of the cohort answered... which was strange in and of itself.

What made Sunny really anxious, though, were the fallen expressions on their faces.

"...What?"

Dorn remained silent for a bit, then turned his head in the direction of the mountain pass.

"It would be easier if we just showed you, sir."

They walked through the camp, and then crested the slope of the pass. From there, Raphael had a clear view of Erebus field, which was supposed to be half a dozen kilometers further north.

...Supposed to.

Raphael looked down and started massaging his forehead…

Erebus Field... was no more.

————————————————————

With the fall of Erebus Field, the convoy had no choice but to press on toward the last Siege Capital Falcon Scott.

Master Jet Echo led them to an abandoned military bunker stocked with armored vehicles and supplies. The convoy rested there for a few days, gathering strength.

On the third day, survivors from Erebus Field stumbled upon the bunker. Weary and battered, they were taken in.

The convoy, once numbering only three hundred, swelled to over four thousand.

Civilians were transferred into the vehicles, while the Awakened and soldiers formed a protective perimeter around them with their military vehicles. When everything was ready, the convoy departed for Falcon Scott.

The journey proved easier than expected. Few abomination hordes crossed their path.

Along the way, they encountered Naeve and his crew. His ship, barely afloat, had sustained heavy damage and could no longer sail to Falcon Scott. They too joined the convoy.

With the help of Master Roan, the four thousand soldiers, thirty thousand civilian refugees, a few thousand shipwrecked sailors, one hundred Awakened, around twenty Sleepers, the Irregulars,continued moving towards Falcon Scott.

Raphael looked at the Fortress in front of him.

The alloy wall was at least seventy meters tall and surrounded the whole siege capital. Its bastions housed railguns that seemed like scavenged from decommissioned battleships. Thousands of turrets were placed along the wall's length, some aiming at the ground and some staring into the dark sky. MWPs patrolled the battlements.

Raphael heard some people crying behind him.

He looked at the gate on front of him and smiled.

They have finally reached Falcon Scott.

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Happy new year everyone🎉

This might be one of the best chapter I've written until now, I really liked how it came out.

Don't forget to leave a review on this chapter and the Fanfic!

Anyway see you tomorrow👋

The chapter stopped at the chapter 980 in the original novel.