"Oi, Helcurt," Gusion called.

The Shadowbringer popped into the room. "You called?"

"What's your history with Dyrroth, anyway? You never told me," Gusion probed. It had been in the back of his mind every time, but he kept forgetting it in the heat of the moment.

Helcurt's gazed became frostier and his raspy accent(of sorts) became more pronounced. "He's a vile creature that the world would be a lot better without."

"Why do you hate him so much?" Gusion continued.

Helcurt seemed to deliberate it in his head. "Do you know why Shadowbringers went extinct?"

Gusion thought about it-they were one of the biggest thorns in the side of the Moniyan Empire before Alice surfaced. Hired assassins with no qualms about killing.

Gusion recalled his own father mentioning them in passing. "Say what you will about morality, but they get the job done. If the Empire went to these monsters and gave them Alice's name, that whole 'army' she's been gathering? Worthless against these creatures of the night. Fight fire with fire, and all that."

But then after the battle started, he'd run from home at the age of 12. A year later, Zhask had switched sides, and then Yve had terrorised the light side for 4 years before Alucard managed to execute her, starting off the new year on a positive note.

Then February rolled by as Tigreal pressed the offensive, trying to end the war but Alice proved too slippery, and then at the start of March Gusion heard the rumours about the Prince of the Abyss, with the bronze razors and the piercing gaze. He'd been waiting for an opportunity to meet this new terror on the battlefield until Dyrroth met him in his best friend's house and beat him nearly to death.

And for almost all this time, neither hide nor hair had been sighted of the Shadowbringers save the lone one that very nearly brought Alice through their defences almost three years ago.

Lesley and Alucard had hunted the monster with a passion that bordered on manic, and after it incapacitated Alucard, Lesley tracked it down with no supplies for three weeks, shot it thrice and finally killed it after bringing a tree down on it, before decapitating it for good measure.

After that, Helcurt was the only one he'd seen.

"What happened to them?"

"Dyrroth," Helcurt snarled. "He came to us to negotiate to join Alice's side. We refused. He asked for time-a few days to persuade us. The chief gave him a week.

Shadowbringers are creatures of little needs-we were happy to take our little contracted killings. Alice, though? She wanted absolute power. We knew that Alice would be a lot more harsher. She was going to become an immortal dictator, and the chief-his name was Motbruk-knew very well that if Alice came to power, we would have been wiped out. "

Helcurt inhaled deeply, and Gusion realised that this might have been a sensitive subject for his friend. "On the last day, Motbruk politely asked him to leave. Dyrroth completely changed-he was charming, charismatic, and polite, but he dropped that, and controlled Motbruk's guards."

"That was his backup plan, his ace in the hole-the mind control he had exerted on me. I was watching as my family ripped each other to shreds. Shadowbringers aren't very social creatures-even amongst us, we kept to ourselves. But that day, that day, Dyrroth destroyed us."

Helcurt raised his head. "Did you know how the Shadowbringers escaped the wrath of the Moniyan Empire?"

Gusion shook his head, mute.

"A barrier of shadows. No one could get in, but neither could they get in from outside. One of my acquaintances-a friend, actually-amongst the pack-he was an assassin, and he taught me how to get through. That's how I know about the outside world-we used to stroll out, and enjoy the world. I met other people, learnt English, learnt about people, magic, and went back to the barrier when dawn broke."

"I killed my friend that day. He was the first person I killed, actually-I was one of the weakest amongst my pack, and when he came for me, clearly out of his mind, I thought I was a goner. Oh, Helcurt, the weak. He still needs some training, they would say. But that night, I looked into his eyes, and watched them as I slid my tail through his body, and I snuffed the light out of his eyes. That was when I made myself an oath. I would kill Dyrroth, and avenge the fallen."

"He was strolling through the carnage, arrogant as ever. Every now and then, someone would jump at him, but he beat them aside, and they'd be dragged aside. I made it through the barrier, me and 3 others."

"I was the last to get through. The four of us, we were what remained of the mighty race, that wielded the shadows to do their bidding. I kept tabs on all of them-Dyrroth hunted and killed 2 of them, and the third one had joined up, though I heard he died-killed in action."

"Lesley killed him," Gusion interrupted. "Her and Alucard, but Alucard was defeated and retreated. Lesley tracked him down, killed him, and brought his head back home."

Helcurt blinked. "So I am the last Shadowbringer."

Gusion understood what Helcurt was driven by-the loss of his family, and having to deal with his friend being killed. In that moment, Gusion realised that Helcurt hated Dyrroth, and silently vowed to himself to help his friend in his crusade for revenge.

"We're killing Dyrroth," Gusion spoke.

"I made the decision years ago," Helcurt replied, his voice raw. "That bastard's blood will be on my hands."


Tigreal's voice rang clearly through the chamber. "Gord-you said something about a breakthrough in tracking Alice. What was that?"

Gusion looked around as the Resistance movement, a bunch of 'elite' fighters cobbled together to fight Alice where the army failed. The Moniyan Empire, being a mostly peaceful regime, did not keep its soldiers in top condition, and after Tigreal took the reins, he brought together the most skilled combatants he knew.

There were Lesley and Lancelot, the two people he worked well with-Gusion and Lancelot had been friends for a few years, and Lancelot had helped Gusion get a new house after he ran away.

Alpha and Saber sat next to each other, rapt in attention. Chou lazily slouched in his seat, fiddling with his nunchucks, as he talked to Zilong, who was trying to shut Chou's rambling out and pay attention to the meeting.

Cyclops was tinkering with that cylinder of his again. Gusion had learnt that the mutant dwarf-giant with a passion for magic study was not to be underestimated despite his diminutive appearance; he'd seen Cyclops single-handedly fight off Moskov and Yu Zhong in five minutes, when even Tigreal was tiring against the relentless attacks of the Spear of Quiescence.

Layla and Clint were laughing together, not bothered in the slightest. This was a common sight-everyone had been dead serious when the war first started, but they learned to live with it. Layla and Clint had been getting along well since they first met, with Clint interested in Layla's cannon and Layla fascinated by Clint's stories as a desert gunslinger.

Then there was Harley and Nana, a pair of mischievous friends. Nana was dead useful in a fight, with her propensity for transforming enemies into cats. Gusion personally thought it was strange, but he'd focused his magic on blades, so he couldn't talk.

Yi-Sun Shin and Lapu-Lapu were conspicuously absent, and Gusion felt sorry for Tigreal; Lapu-Lapu tended to keep the ragtag group silent, but Tigreal seemed to have a hard time dealing with their incessant chatter.

They were still teenagers, cut them some slack.

Gord cleared his throat. "I found that even though Alice can mask her signature, she needs to be in an area where the monsters are more concentrated."

Natan interrupted. "We narrowed down the places where dark energy is more prevalent." He took out a map of the Land Of Dawn, and unfurled it.

Gusion looked over. He had the entire thing memorised, as it was one of the things his father had made him do. Gusion bitterly recalled having to stay up until sunset to regurgitate the locations of important landmarks.

The Moniyan Empire occupied the bulk of the Land Of Dawn, but Alice had it completely surrounded; legions of monsters camped out at the border. Popol, a young hunter who had somehow managed to get a wolf named Kupa as a friend, had led a small fighting force of around three thousand soldiers to break through the encirclement; a few months later, Kupa returned, bleeding from the shoulder, pitifully howling as it carried a blood-soaked fur pelt.

The wolf died from its wounds, days later, and Gusion liked to imagine that it reunited with Popol in death.

Gord extended a long blue finger and tapped several areas on the map, and black smoke rose from the locations on the map.

"Attacking there would be suicidal," Tigreal said, eyebrows raised. "Those are the border areas."

Gord shrugged. "My job's to do research. All I can say is Alice can be anywhere there. But hunting her directly would be a fool's errand."