Chapter 13 - The Nightmare Contract, Part 3
Veil shivered as the giant flying nightmare's icy breath blew through the camp. Taking a moment to recover from the chill, she prepared to send her plasma balls hurtling towards its source, but stopped as she noticed something happening along its many-limbed outline. Countless smaller nightmares were leaping from the massive flyer's limbs, landing all throughout the convoy camp.
While the fiends dropped down and started sowing chaos among the camp, Veil focused her attention back on the one that carried them. Moments before it could unleash another frigid breath, she sent as many plasma balls as she could up into the nightmare's mouth.
The effects on the nightmare were instantaneous. What would have been an intense blast of cold turned into a round of sputtering and gagging. Its limbs flailed as it choked, blending in with the darkness of the night sky. The only way to tell their position was by seeing that the smaller nightmares that had been leaping from them were now mostly falling instead.
Summoning another salvo of plasma balls as the nightmare choked on the effects of the last one, Veil spared a moment to look around the camp. In the areas where more nightmares had landed, she could already see the effects of powers being used to fight off the enemies that had literally dropped out of the sky.
Around her, however, there was little in terms of help. Veil and Asma were alone in the center of camp, and Kamal and Priya were nowhere to be seen.
"Heh, looks like you turned their surprise attack right back on them!" Asma said, flashing her a smile. "Good thinking there, Veil!"
"Ah, thanks, but where did Kamal and Priya go?"
"Ran off towards the biggest group of nightmares. Probably for the best, I think you're the only one of us with a power that could take the big one on. Come to think of it…"
Asma looked up at the flying nightmare, then down at the ground. Veil walked up to her and rested a hand on her shoulder.
"Go do what you can. I'll stay here and try to take the big one down."
Asma gave Veil a quick look and nodded. "Right. I'll look around and send you some backup if I find anyone. Maybe I'll even take out some nightmares along the way!"
Veil nodded and gave Asma a smile. With a smile of her own followed by a quick salute, Asma headed off in the direction of the House Tenebri groundcars.
Once Asma left, Veil turned her attention back to the flying nightmare, which appeared to be recovering from her previous attack on it. Using her power to make even more plasma balls, she prepared to answer whatever the creature was about to do next. As she stood her ground, her mind raced with a mix of worries and resolve.
Even with what I said, there's no way I can take this thing on alone… But at least I'll be doing what I can…
That's right… I just have to do what I can here. Even if I'm the only one…
Serapis… I hope Asma can get some help fast… and I hope everyone else is doing alright…
—
Asma raced between the groundcars, cursing herself for having to leave Veil alone. As she made her way through the camp, she passed groups of other dreamkeepers fighting off groups of nightmares, often using powers to do so.
And to think I was trained to subdue power users to protect the peace… Now who's doing the protecting…?
As her thoughts haunted her, a nightmare dropped down in front of Asma and bared grisly fangs at her. She reacted purely based on instinct, moving into a defensive stance.
Without warning, the nightmare lunged at her. It made little progress, colliding with the shield on her arm before she responded by knocking it to the ground. From there, her years of Andurunan martial arts training took over.
Asma never had much love for the Teiden school of martial arts. In her mind, it was a perversion of the more elegant techniques of Four Walls - a shift from her favored methods of grappling and subduing opponents to brutally suppressing them and leaving them with no chance to fight back.
But as a member of Anduruna's CCA Safety Troops, she had been trained rigorously to use Teiden's techniques, in case she ever had to face a rogue power user on somewhat equal footing. The fact that she had been called a "shock trooper" by many civilians because of that training was a small price to pay in the minds of her superiors.
But now, I'm using it against an enemy that actually deserves it… Cruel, deadly, outright evil… Nightmares are everything I was told power users were…
The moment the nightmare hit the ground, she pinned it underneath her and repeatedly rammed the butt of her shield into its face. At first, she looked away from the work, but on a primal level, it satisfied her to see the creature's once fearsome visage reduced to a messy smear of dark fluids and shattered fangs by the time she was done with it.
As she rose from her enemy's corpse, Asma heard a scream from further in the camp. Wasting no time, she rushed to help whoever had made it. In a matter of moments, the source became clear.
Nuha was backing away from a nightmare, bumping up against a nearby groundcar as she ran out of room to move. The nightmare, which appeared to be more of a gangly structure of rusty iron blades and spikes than a creature, was slowly closing in on her, reveling in the terror its presence invoked.
The nightmare raised a spike-studded limb over Nuha, ready to strike. With no time left to spare, Asma rammed into it with her shield, knocking it off balance. She offered a quick, reassuring smile to Nuha before turning to face her new opponent.
With a grumble that sounded like blades gnashing against each other, the nightmare turned to face Asma. A pair of smoldering embers between the many sharp parts of its "face" seemed to stare into her soul.
"Little bitch," the creature spoke, catching Asma off guard for a brief moment, "who are you to intrude on my kill?"
Asma responded to the nightmare with little more than a glare. It let out a shrill, metallic laugh as it looked at her.
"A defender, are you? But with no damnable halo… Yesss… you will be much more interesting prey…"
"Nuha, can you still run?" Asma asked, her eyes still locked on her enemy.
"Y-yeah, I can…"
"Good. I'll hold this bastard off, you go get some help. Veil's in the middle of camp fighting the big one, so if you can send some power users-"
Asma paused, reflexively using her shield to deflect an attack from the nightmare in the nick of time.
"Don't make light of me, you little bitch! I have existed for eons, and killed scores of dreamkeepers like you! You are little more than a…"
The nightmare gloated about its bloodstained history as it continued to batter Asma's shield. As she instinctively held up a defensive front, she was only able to spare a single word to Nuha in the midst of the barrage.
"Go!"
Nuha needed no more than that to get up and run for help. As she disappeared from Asma's peripheral vision, the former Safety Trooper focused on keeping her defenses up.
For something that's lived as long as this thing claims, its attacks are pretty basic. Still, with one wrong move I could be done for… But if I can't get an opening of some kind…
Spirits… I just hope I'm the only one having trouble right now…
—
Nuha ran through the camp on the lookout for any potential help for Veil and Asma. As she passed among the groundcars, she averted her eyes as she saw a number of dead dreamkeepers on her path, but the somewhat greater number of dead nightmares did wonders to restore her resolve.
Her first idea had been to return to check House Tenebri's groundcars. Both Veil and Asma would no doubt appreciate some familiar faces helping them. To her disappointment however, her House's power-using members were no longer anywhere to be seen among their House's groundcars.
With only the impression that they had already gotten into the fight, Nuha headed in the direction of the Safak and Ardeo groundcars. As she made her way through the camp, avoiding roving bands of nightmares as she went, Nuha suddenly felt a chill down her spine. The chill only barely registered as familiar to her up until she noticed its source.
Standing in front of a horde of nightmares, Kamal had his power active at full strength. The cold night air turned even colder as he unleashed his gift from Serapis on them. Once the nightmares were left ravaged by the blizzard made by her former Master's power, Nuha cringed as she heard a shrill whistle shortly afterward.
"Go! Tear 'em to shreds!" Priya's voice called out, answered by a small army of her slaves pouring out from the gaps between the nearby groundcars.
From there, the slaves began attacking the frozen horde. Blunt weapons and fists assailed the nightmares in a barrage that was somehow both chaotic and controlled.
Once the nightmares were reduced to bloody carcasses and frozen rubble, Kamal and Priya exchanged wide smiles with each other before moving on to deal with more nightmares. Nuha never even had a chance to speak with them. Then again, I don't think they would want to help Veil or Asma anyway…
Putting the thought out of her mind, Nuha continued on her path. As she made her way through the House Safak groundcars, the idea of finding help among their warriors was put to the side as the next skirmish she encountered strained her mind as she watched.
Along with a few House Safak fighters and House Tenebri guards, Master Sef was immersed in the rush of combat, teleporting all around the area and striking crushing blows against different nightmares wherever he emerged. At the same time, a number of the nightmares ended up with numerous gashes all over their bodies from-
As it turned out, Zahra had been-
Another nightmare fell to the ground, oozing-
Zahra pulled a dagger out from a dead nightmare's back, just as Master Sef-
Nuha turned away from the fight before Zahra's power could mess with her perception any more. It spoke volumes about Master Sef and his guards' ability to fight that they were able to keep up with it. But their apparent synergy aside, it was clear to Nuha that neither her Master's nor Zahra's power would be of much use against Veil and Asma's opponents.
As she continued on to the House Ardeo groundcars, Nuha could only ask herself where Mistress Adelin was in all of this. If her husband had ended up fighting alongside Zahra, then where was she?
—
Adelin was stuck with a difficult problem. It was nighttime, theoretically the best time for her to use her power. But as she held her ground on the battlefield, she began to regret her choice to fight alongside her current allies.
As an apology for the first encounter with the nightmares, Adelin had sworn to make her lack of foresight up to them by supporting House Ardeo should the nightmares attack again. Since she was stuck managing the camp for most of the time between then and now, this latest attack had been her only opportunity to live up to that promise.
It was only now that she was beginning to regret another lack of foresight regarding how her power worked alongside their powers. For one reason or another, House Ardeo's power users tended to have fire-based abilities. When she was asked about it, Chanda said that it was because of Serapis's favor, granting the House with many gifts that reflected their burning religious fervor.
If that truly is the case, Adelin thought, then I wish that Serapis had gifted House Ardeo with fewer powers that match their devotion…
With all of the flames circling the battlefield, Adelin found it difficult to find shadows to cast her power from. Attempts to use her wings to cast shadows had mixed results, and after a time the nightmares started targeting her outstretched limbs, limiting her options even more.
Some time into the fight, Adelin was forced to only use the shadows she could consistently cast around herself. Wrapping her wing-arms around her body, she could create shadow claws that came out from under them, and as a last resort she could even use the shadows between her clothing and her body to defend herself with. Unfortunately, this limited her range considerably.
As nightmares drew much closer to her than she was comfortable with, Adelin tore into them with the few shadow claws she could summon. All the while, a mantra echoing from the flames around her kept crawling into her mind, a regular reminder that she had chosen to put herself in this position.
The steady repetition of "All-Mother Serapis, guide your children through this trial" started to give Adelin a dull headache, and as she managed to take her latest foe down, she spared a glance at the woman who had been the source of the chant.
On the battlefield, Chanda was a completely different person. Wreathed in the flames created by her power, she appeared more as a fearsome soldier of Serapis than the gentle preacher she was in her day to day life. The mantra she chanted continued to create even more flames from her beak as she assailed the nightmares surrounding the group.
At least Chanda seems to be doing well… and I suppose that mantra of hers is comforting to her fellow House members…
All around her, other members of House Ardeo fought alongside their Hand. Wielding flame-based powers of their own, their voices echoed the mantra as they took on their respective opponents.
As Adelin watched her allies take nightmares down with relative ease, she nearly failed to notice a familiar voice amid the sound of Chanda's mantra.
"Mistress Adelin! Behind you!"
Adelin barely reacted in time. Spinning around with a few shadow claws created, she stopped a nightmare's lance-like appendage mere inches away from piercing her heart.
She responded with a much more lethal attack. With a flash of her halo, Adelin created more shadow claws and tore into the cowardly fiend. Once the nightmare lay in pieces on the ground, she turned to address the voice that saved her.
"Thank you… Servant Nuha? What are you doing here?"
"Veil and Asma need help!" Nuha practically blurted the words out. "Veil's fighting the flying nightmare, and-"
"Say no more. That's obviously the biggest threat, so we'll help Veil first. She is still in the center of camp, right?"
"I, I think so, but Mistress, what about-"
"Slave Asma? I have faith that she will be fine. Sef brought her here because he trusts her abilities, and I trust his judgement."
"But what if-"
"And in these exact situations," Adelin said, looking Nuha in the eyes, "Serapis tends to give Her blessings to those who truly need them. Now, no more questions. Veil needs us, and I believe House Ardeo already has this fight well handled."
Adelin turned to face Chanda, beckoning Nuha to follow. The Servant girl looked down before following behind her, and Adelin let out a short sigh before heading to speak with House Ardeo's Hand.
In truth, Adelin was conflicted over leaving Asma with no support. While she did trust Sef's judgement implicitly, she had some fears that Nuha's concerns were well founded. And despite her attempts at reassurance, Adelin wasn't even entirely sure that Serapis would bless a former Andurunan without a good reason.
But unfortunately for Asma, Veil was the more important member of House Tenebri, and she was also in what Adelin was sure were more dire straits. Regardless, Adelin was weighed down with guilt as she spoke with Chanda about assisting her most faithful Servant.
I suppose I'll just have to hope that I was right about Serapis's blessings… If Asma doesn't end up getting some kind of support, divine or otherwise, then ignoring Nuha's concerns may end up being another thing I'll regret…
—
Elsewhere, the remaining members of House Tenebri were hard at work taking on nightmares. Their own groundcars had largely been spared from the chaos, partly due to how few of them there were to be attacked. As a result, they spread out to try and help the other Houses. Adelin had left to support House Ardeo, while Sef and a few of his guards headed to House Safak's section of the camp.
With no other options, the remaining guards, as well as Arc and Evan, went to support House Mut. But the contract's most brutal House had wanted little to do with their prospective helpers.
"Hey, killing nightmares is our thing! Fuck off and let us handle it!"
"Stop trying to hog all the glory, you Tenebri bastards!"
"Bad enough that you took a Son from us, but now this?"
"Don't you have your own groundcars to kill nightmares around?"
Hearing only derision from the people they were attempting to help, most of the group ended up returning to their own section of the camp to clear out the few nightmares that were there. As Arc and Evan headed back, Evan lashed out at any nightmares that came near them. If one was foolish enough to try to attack them, it quickly got a blow from his ball and chain for the attempt.
"Buncha ungrateful bastards…" Evan grumbled, reforming his weapon after the most recent nightmare attempted to attack him. "Like we even give a shit about glory or whatever!"
Arc shrugged. "I guess it's just a Serapean thing. Or maybe just House Mut… Then again, it's life or death, and we were just trying to help…"
"Exactly! But all they care about is who gets the credit for putting the nightmares down! And they can't even swallow their pride to-"
Evan paused, canceling his power out. As the steady sound of his ball and chain swinging through the air disappeared, the faint sound of metal clashing against metal could be heard much more clearly.
"Hey, Evan… You think that's…?"
"Asma? Yeah, I've heard that sound enough in training to know it's coming from her shields."
"You think she might need our help?"
"Even if she doesn't, it's life or death, right? You ask me, I'd like it better if we could make sure she's alive by the end of this!"
Arc nodded and summoned his halo. A second later, he took hold of Evan's arm and activated his power. Moving with the wind, the two of them sped off in the direction of the sound they heard.
The moment that Arc saw evidence of a fight, he canceled his power out, bringing Evan and himself out of his wind form. Sure enough, Asma was facing off against a nightmare that looked as if it was made of hundreds of pointed and edged weapons. A good number of the nightmare's blades appeared to be dented, but it seemed to be laughing despite that as it struck Asma's shields repeatedly.
On the other hand, Asma was looking much worse for wear. Even as she did her best to block her enemy's onslaught, the damage it had already done to her was plain to see. Her armor was cut up all over the place, and her chitinous arms and legs bore a number of scratches with varying degrees of depth. A few of the nightmare's attacks had even hit the softer parts of her body, which were covered in blood.
"You're growing weak, defender," the nightmare said with a metallic voice. "I will give you that you held out quite well, but I believe our little fight is nearing its end. Maybe after I kill you, I'll go after that girl you tried to save again…"
Asma panted as she blocked another attack. "If… if you kill me. I swear to Serapis, the Spirits, hell, whoever's willing to listen… I'll kill you. And if I end up dying, I'll take you down with me!"
"Hah! What a joke! Look at yourself, you pathetic little bitch! A few more good hits, and you'll be-"
The nightmare was suddenly cut off as Evan's ball and chain collided with it, knocking it a good distance away. Asma blinked as she saw him and Arc approaching her.
"Geez, was that asshole talking shit like that to you this whole time?"
Asma let out a pained breath as she saw her friends. "E-Evan? Arc? When did you…"
"Just a few seconds ago. Come on, I'll get you to a healer."
Arc activated his power yet again, but paused as he saw Asma shaking her head.
"N…not yet. That bastard… needs to die first…"
"And you think you can take it on like that? Arc's right, you need a healer. I'll take over if it's that impo-"
"DON'T MAKE LIGHT OF MEEEE!"
The metallic screeching of the nightmare's voice was all the trio heard before it rushed at them. Before he could even react, Evan was struck by the nightmare's sudden attack, leaving a nasty gash in his side. Asma didn't even have the breath to react. Arc, on the other hand, paled as he saw his friend bleeding out on the ground.
"Evan!"
Moving purely based on his emotions, Arc grabbed the nightmare and activated his power. As the barest skeleton of a plan formed in his mind, he brought himself and the monster up into the air, far above the flying nightmare. Without a physical body, the cold air chilled Arc to the core of his being. Despite this, he kept moving upward as the night's chill impacted him even more.
When he reached a height at which he was so cold that he stopped feeling, Arc canceled out his power, more out of exhaustion than any desire to do so. At that point, he pushed away from the nightmare as the two of them began hurtling toward the ground. As soon as the nightmare regained its bearings, it shot Arc a glare as the two of them descended.
"You… You little…"
Arc paid little attention to the ensuing string of swears the nightmare started screaming at him. At the moment, surviving his own attack was more important. Despite the raw exhaustion he felt, he knew that if he couldn't reactivate his power in time, a fall from the height he had reached would be lethal.
Running on adrenaline alone, Arc reached for his power as the ground got closer and closer. Just when he thought it would be the end, he felt the slightest surge of energy, and his power activated once again.
With what little energy he had left, Arc settled his wind form close to Evan and Asma before returning to his normal form completely spent. Moments later, the nightmare crashed to the ground.
Asma winced as she heard the crash. "Arc… you scared the hell out of me! I didn't think you'd end up doing something like that!"
"I… I did it…" Arc said, half delirious. "E-Evan… is he…"
"Ugh, I think I'll live, but it hurts to even think about moving. Bastard cut me good…"
"T…Thank Serapis… Evan… if you ended up dying…"
Arc could hardly bring himself to finish speaking before passing out from exhaustion.
"Arc…" Asma gave both of her friends a look. "I… I think we could all use a healer now…"
"Yeah, you're right… Don't think Arc's in much of a state to get us moving anywhere though…"
As Asma considered how she was going to get everyone to a healer, her blood went cold as she heard a metallic coughing sound behind her.
"U…ugh… Damnable… power users…"
"You're fucking kidding me," Evan swore. "It's… urgh… still not dead?"
"Not dead… But you will be… The silver little shit thought he was clever there, but now you can't fight back anymore…"
Asma could only glare at the nightmare as it continued to crawl toward the trio, gloating as it stalked towards them. Her mind raced as she considered her diminishing options.
Evan can't fight, I can practically see his organs from that cut…
Arc can't fight, he did good with his power, but it still wasn't enough…
I can't fight, I was barely able to keep up with that thing when I was at full strength…
But maybe… I can keep it away from them long enough… Yeah… If I can at least protect my friends, it'll all be worth it…
That's all I've ever wanted to do, after all… From joining the Safety Troops to fighting nightmares in this contract… I just wanted to protect people…
I just wanted to…
A bright purple glow started shining over Asma's head, pulling her back to reality. She gasped as she slowly realized what was happening.
"Asma… Holy shit, did you just…"
The nightmare scoffed. "So the little bitch got a new trick! For all the good it'll do you! I'll shred you all to-"
Asma tuned the nightmare's voice out as she focused on her power. As she felt the energy coursing through her body, she began to feel a strange sensation in her six arms. With her resolve building, she pulled herself up and staggered towards the nightmare, which slashed at her in response. With only the faintest idea of what would happen, she grabbed the monster's bladed arm mid-swing.
All of a sudden, a purple weblike energy structure started spreading over the nightmare from Asma's hand. It let out a cry of surprise as the effects of her power enveloped it. In time, the nightmare was encased in glowing purple webs, which glowed brighter as Asma released her grip.
The moment Asma lifted her hand, the effect of her power changed. The webs covering the nightmare began to emanate a sort of energy, covering it in what seemed to be a force field.
"WHAT!? What is this!?" The nightmare screamed, writhing against its bindings and bashing itself against the walls of its power-made prison. "You little BITCH! Release me this instant, or I'll-"
Once again, Asma tuned the nightmare's ranting out. With her halo still glowing brightly over her head, she turned to face Arc and Evan.
"I… I don't think we really need to kill it anymore…"
"H-heh, good. If that bastard could survive what Arc just did to it, I think only a power like Veil's could've-"
Asma gasped. "Shit, Veil, that's right! I left her to deal with the flying nightmare! Serapis, I only hope Nuha was able to-"
"Hey, Asma," Evan said, looking her in the eyes. "Don't worry. Veil'll be fine. She's a hell of a fighter, she's got that killer power of hers, and I bet that huge flying asshole's already got people lining up to take it down! We'd probably just get in the way at this point."
"I… I guess you're right… Still, I should get us over to a healer…"
"Yeah… Hey, you think those webs could be used to-"
The roaring of the flying nightmare echoed throughout the camp, cutting Evan off. As Asma looked up, she could barely see the massive monster writhing in pain, though it was too dark to see just what was happening. Asma had a faint idea though, and as it occurred to her, she breathed a sigh of relief.
—
Adelin wasted no time making her way to the center of the camp. Without the flames from House Ardeo's power users expelling the shadows around her, the nightmares that attempted to attack her were quickly disposed of as she ran. Nuha followed behind her as the two of them raced to Veil's side.
When the two of them reached the center of the camp, they were relieved to see Veil still facing the flying nightmare, though she appeared to be winded from the effort. Around her, a number of other dreamkeepers were using their powers to assault the massive monster, though even with their help, their combined efforts were doing little to harm it.
The squidlike nightmare's monstrous maw seemed to be melted through in many places, no doubt due to the effects of Veil's power. But a continuous rain of energy blasts assaulted the area around the center of the camp, seemingly coming from the starlike spots on the nightmare. Fortunately for the rest of the camp, the energy blasts seemed to only be coming from the nightmare's central body.
For a brief moment, Veil caught sight of Adelin and Nuha, and she gave the two of them a pained smile before focusing on attacking the nightmare with volley after volley of plasma balls. A few burns from attacks she hadn't completely avoided marred her scales in some places. But despite those injuries, her own continuous assault seemed to be the bulk of what was exhausting her, and her frills drooped after each destructive salvo she launched at her foe.
Adelin turned her attention from Veil to the rest of the fighters. The group was following Veil's example, attacking the flying nightmare with everything their powers would allow. Many of them weren't quite as agile as Veil though, and as they launched their attacks, the nightmare also struck them with burning blasts of energy.
Dreamkeepers with mobility-enhancing powers crossed the camp regularly, carrying injured fighters away to be healed. Just like Veil, they seemed to be running themselves ragged as the fight continued.
Adelin jumped away from a blast of energy that nearly fell on her and turned a glare towards its source. Sparing a glance over at Veil and the other fighters, Adelin reflected on her position as a Daughter of Serapis, and the tremendous power that title afforded her. Power not only over the many Serapeans whose castes were beneath her own, but also the Divine Power that Serapis had gifted her.
She focused on that latter power, and her halo glowed brighter than it ever had. All around her, she could feel the shadows of the night answering her call. Staring up at the nightmare once again, Adelin offered a silent prayer to Serapis before shouting at the airborne creature.
"Nightmare scum!" She cried, unsure if the tremendous creature could hear or even understand her. "You and your kin have tormented the faithful of Serapis for long enough! As the Daughter of House Tenebri, and by the Divine Power gifted to me by Serapis Herself, I declare that you will do so no longer!"
The fighters slowed their attacks on the nightmare as they heard Adelin shouting. The nightmare started to fire energy blasts towards her, but she was quick to intercept them with shadow claws. Now assured that all attention was on her, she continued to speak.
"These people… These dreamkeepers… These Serapeans! They are under my protection! You, who have brought death among them, are guilty of innumerable sins against Serapis because of this! Die now, and as you return to the pit you spawned from, remember the wrath you invoked on this night! Remember the wrath of Tenebri Adelin, Daughter of Serapis!"
With that, Adelin's halo flared. In the following instant, several massive shadow claws reached out from all around the camp, each one grasping one of the nightmare's many limbs. With little more than a thought, Adelin made the claws pull as hard as they could in opposite directions.
The nightmare let out a roar of agony. Adelin began to breathe heavily as she pushed her power to its utmost. All around the camp, the sound of the nightmare's body straining against her shadow claws could be heard.
All of a sudden, the sound of flesh rending became the dominant sound all over the camp. The steady rain of energy blasts in the center of camp came to a stop, replaced with a rain of the nightmare's vital fluids, and as it let out a final blood curdling screech, it was torn apart.
With the last of her energy, Adelin used her power to fling the remains of her massive foe out into the desert. As she drifted out of consciousness, she felt someone supporting her as her legs gave out, and she could barely see a silhouette that looked like Veil drenched in the nightmare's blood rushing towards her.
—
Veil and Nuha grabbed Mistress Adelin before she could fall to the ground. The awe that their Mistress had inspired left the entire group of fighters in the center of the camp silent for a time. Eventually, once the shock had passed, the fighters let out cheers honoring the Mistress and Serapis in nearly equal measure.
The only thing keeping the two Servants from doing the same was a need to check on their Mistress. Veil silently thanked Serapis that she was still breathing, though her labored breaths were more than enough to give her pause.
Once Mistress Adelin's condition was confirmed, Nuha got up and started looking around the camp for a healer. Veil, still holding onto her Mistress, attempted to move her, stopping only as her own fatigue caught up with her and her strength finally gave out.
Fortunately, only a few moments after Veil ran out of energy, Master Sef rushed to Veil and the Mistress's side. Zahra trailed along behind him, picking up the pace as soon as she noticed Veil.
"Adelin…" Master Sef whispered.
"She's… she's still breathing, Master. Nuha went to get her a healer, but…"
"I'll take her. You've done well, Veil. It was good of you to be here for Adelin while I was busy."
"The… the others… Did anyone end up-"
"Regrettably, there were a few casualties. With the nightmares' sudden attack, it was inevitable that some of us were caught completely off guard."
Veil looked down. "I… I tried to do what I could early on… I guess it couldn't have been enough…"
Zahra grabbed Veil's hand. "Hey, don't feel too down about it. Like it or not, these things happen when nightmares are involved. And at least now we've got everything under control again. Still a few more nightmares around, but they're being dealt with!"
"I… I guess that's good… But what about-"
"Hey! We need some help over here! A healer, and someone who can deal with a nightmare we caught!"
Veil looked over at the source of the voice that cut her off. The presence of a halo over the speaker's head confused her for a moment, but her frills rose slightly as she realized who it was.
"Asma? You were blessed with a power?"
"Seems that way, don't know how I would've managed without it to be honest!"
"Heh, she's not the only one! I at least wouldn't be- ugh- standing right now if it weren't for Asma's power!"
Just behind Asma, Evan was standing, carrying Arc on his back. He winced every so often, and a purple web that generated a field of energy was covering a good portion of his chest.
"I-is Arc…"
"He's cool, just pushed himself too hard. Looks like the Mistress did something like that, too…"
Master Sef looked over the Andurunan slaves, and nodded. "It seems we've all been busy tonight. Now, if I heard you right, you said you had a nightmare to deal with?"
"Aw, yeah. Big, thin, mouthy bastard made of all the sharp shit you could think of! Thing just wouldn't shut up, and it was a real pain in the ass to take down, too! Arc dropped him right out of the sky and the fucker just kept going!"
"Arc dropped it…" Veil gave Arc a quick glance, then looked back at Evan and Asma. "More importantly, you said you caught it?"
Asma nodded. "I've got it wrapped up in my power right now, but the sooner we kill it, the better. You good for melting one more nightmare into slag, Veil?"
Veil nodded. "Always."
"Wait," Master Sef held up his hand. "You mentioned this nightmare could speak. We may have an excellent opportunity here. One that would go to waste if we simply killed it."
"What do you…" Asma paused. "Hang on, Master. You don't mean we should…"
"It would make for one of the best leads we could get to the nightmares' den. And considering how tonight went, the sooner we find that den and end their threat, the better."
"But how can we be sure it'll even tell us anything? I don't think torture would work on something that doesn't fear death."
Zahra spoke up. "Well, there are other ways to get information. I think we've got one or two people blessed with a power that can be used like that…"
Veil blinked. "So, you're okay with this, Zahra? Leaving a nightmare alive just seems… wrong."
"I mean, yeah, nightmares should be killed, but the way I see it, Serapis gives out each of Her blessings for a reason. So if Asma got a power that let her catch a nightmare…"
"Then… Serapis would want us to use it to lead us to the den, right?"
"Exactly what I was thinking. And I'm sure Adelin would agree. So, what do you all think?"
Asma looked up at her halo. "I mean, if Serapis really blessed me for this, then it makes sense, right?"
"Heh, yeah! Besides that, I kinda want to see what interrogating that bastard will look like!"
"And after we get what we need from it, we'll know just where we need to go to take the rest of the nightmares out! Less death and suffering for us, and more for the nightmares! What do you think, Veil?"
Veil looked down at Mistress Adelin, then up at the group. In particular, the Andurunans caught her attention. Arc, passed out after pushing himself just like the Mistress had. Evan, apparently only standing because of Asma's power. And Asma…
Serapis had given her a power that left a nightmare alive… Veil's mind continued to wrestle with the thought as she spoke up.
"It… still kind of feels wrong to me… But if it means we can kill the rest of the nightmares, I… I think it could work. And we can just kill it once we know what we need to, right?"
Master Sef nodded. "Indeed. It seems we're all in agreement, then. For now though, there's still a lot that needs to be done. Many of us need healing, to say nothing of the repairs we'll need to do before we get the convoy moving again. And ultimately, this interrogation is the sort of thing Adelin should be involved in. So the sooner I can get her to a healer, the better."
With nothing else to say, Master Sef took Mistress Adelin in his arms and headed to find a healer. As Zahra helped Veil to her feet and the group followed behind the Master, Veil continued to think about everything that had happened.
The nightmares… Their ambush took a lot out of us… But we survived, and we might have a direct lead to ending all of this…
It still feels kind of wrong, but if Serapis wills it, there's a chance for us…
If that nightmare can really lead us to the den, and if Serapis wants us to use it for that…
I think… we might make it through this after all…