Gehrman looked down at the strange echo from above. He felt the need to assert his superiority over this Echo since the crow was a slower flyer than him, and he made sure the thing knew it.
After 30 minutes of flying, he couldn't be sure but he was fairly certain the crow hated him.
It was an envious little thing to be sure.
But it was also helpful.
Over the ever-dark horizon, Gehrman spotted a familiar volcanic structure.
It appeared he hadn't been too far from Erebus Fields.
For a brief moment, Gehrman considered that he may very well see the ruins of the siege capital once he went over the top of the volcano.
He stopped mid air, causing the crow Echo to start screeching again.
With a slack face and a far away gaze he considered his last memories before devolving fully into madness.
The Devouring Cloud had descended, and with a Tyrant, maybe multiple Tyrants controlling the swarm, they became too deadly a threat.
In order to ensure the survival of the civilians in the city and the convoy, he had lost himself to the blood and become a machine of death.
Certain flashes of memory played in his mind.
He recalled meeting one Tyrant, but having trouble with it. In the end, he was forced to expend a great amount of Essence to put it down.
Somehow he had ended up fighting on the ground for a while, likely because he was waiting for his Essence to regenerate.
Sunny was there (at least, Gehrman thought he had been), his Charm had pulled the cloud towards him, and with his raw physical ability he had slain well over a thousand.
Gehrman pulled up his runes to check his progress.
Blood Fragments: [4,408/7,000].
He whistled to himself. Indeed, he had made a colossal dent in the counter. It was as he expected, after all, those craters almost definitely came from him. And he doubted he would do that unless he had gone completely off the deep end.
But was it worth it?
Gehrman took a deep breath and reached a level of sanity that was semi-stable.
Then he rocketed upward.
He let out a breath.
Erebus Fields now looked like it had survived several enormous explosions around its perimeter, many of the surrounding geothermal farms were blown to bits…but the city stood strong.
Many of its fortifications looked to be on their last leg, but it held.
His eyebrows furrowed.
That being said, there was something eerie coming from the Siege Capital. The feeling of millions of souls was now gone, and there was something new making a nest there.
Gehrman landed on the walls, and quickly let out yet another sigh of relief.
Indeed, there were no humans left at Erebus Fields…because they had all escaped.
The evacuation had been a success.
"Wait, does that mean I was out of it for 2 weeks?"
That was roughly the time it would have taken to evacuate the rest of the civilians. But despite there being a good amount of Nightmare Creatures now prowling the streets, there were no human bodies or excessive viscera that would indicate a slaughter.
These creatures had simply come from a Gate that spawned in the city.
After thinking for a moment, he pulled out the Slothful Evelyn and located the Gate Guardian.
It was a mere Fallen Devil so he took a shot after rooting himself in place and killed it.
With that done, he took off once again, following the screaming crow North.
Gehrman initially expected that they would follow the path of the convoy, perhaps going to back them up.
But instead of going to the sea, they were going in a straight shot to the rendezvous point that all the Masters of Erebus Fields had agreed on.
The last standing siege capital of the Antarctic Center.
Falcon Scott.
…
There was a decently sized army of Nightmare Creatures crawling up rocky foothills in the land near Falcon Scott.
As a dutiful civil servant, he took the opportunity to drop down and cut them to ribbons before reuniting with his fellow humans.
The movements of the Nightmare Creatures of Antarctica had long been downloaded into his brain. Though he quickly picked up on any mutation or difference, any new monsters had, they largely followed similar biology and tendencies.
This group of scoundrels had a wide range sonic attack, for example. It would be tricky for any other Master, perhaps even paralyzing an Awakened. But Gehrman's physicality was boosted by the [Greedy Bloodstone Talisman] and its [Hunter's Flesh] enchantment. This offered strength and speed, but also resistances to physical attacks.
And though the sonic shrieks were triggered via vile corrupted means, it still remained (at its core) physical.
As a result Gehrman simply powered through it and slaughtered them all before moving on to the next army, which had likely come from a different Gate.
With some discontent, he realized that there were probably about 20 Gates worth of Nightmare Creatures here.
Frowning, Gehrman shot up into the air.
He had a little over 1 Soul Cores worth of Essence left, and he wanted to spend it wisely.
Decimating this many beasts was more than he could handle due to his low Essence and general tiredness, so instead he had to be tactful.
"How to do the most damage…" Gehrman grumbled as he tossed himself back into the sky.
As he got a better view of the army, he allowed his senses to heighten and [Eyes on The Inside] to activate.
Scanning the plethora of Nightmare Creatures, he eventually spotted a particularly nasty Fallen Tyrant.
This one looked on the verge of becoming a Terror, and it was incomparable compared to the other Tyrants.
Looking like a chimeric abomination with its main build borrowing from a humongous rhinoceros, this Nightmare Creature was his ideal target.
It had been multiple days since the [Wrathful Shaman Bone Blade] had repaired itself, and it was ready to be used again.
Due to the tool being Ascended, he did not want to risk it on the true strongest creature in the vast army - a Corrupted Devil. Odds were that it could fight off the effects fairly quickly, and Gehrman wasn't keen on wasting his last opportunity to be a nuisance to these foul beasts.
"Big rhino guy will have to do it," Gehrman decided, and then he fell like a red meteor toward the creature.
…
Caster stood stalwart on the walls of Falcon Scott. The mood was grim, and the timer on their deaths had become much more real as of late.
The reason for this was not the army of Nightmare Creatures that had gathered, but rather something far more dreadful.
Gehrman needs to get off his ass and get the hell over here.
Then, as if someone had read his thoughts a voice answered his annoyed internal murmurings.
"Gehrman's on his way, Jet's Echo found him."
Caster felt his hair stand on end as Sunless suddenly appeared behind him. He had stepped from the shadows, not making a sound.
The kid had always been a bit freaky. He had even slightly traumatized Caster at the end of the Forgotten Shore (he was man enough to admit that now). But now that he was a Master his whole aura felt much more deadly.
It irked Caster. He had reached the same Rank as both him and Gehrman, but looking at them, he couldn't imagine standing a chance one on one for more than a minute.
Hell, he would probably die to Gehrman in a matter of seconds.
Caster blinked, processing what Sunless had just said.
"Oh," was all he ended up saying. The other Master gave him a nonplussed look, and continued to stare at him.
"Not surprised?" Sunless asked.
"No."
To Caster, it was an inevitability that Gehrman returned. No matter what creature he faced, the guy always seemed far too cunning to get killed…and even if he did, apparently he could come back from the dead.
There was quite literally nothing to worry about.
The two fell back into an incredibly awkward silence.
"If you could go back, would you do it differently?"
Once again, Caster was late to respond. He was caught off guard by the question. Even more so by Sunless's level gaze. It was still full of hatred, but now there was a sliver of…expectation.
Where does he get off looking at me like that? Caster seethed. But at the same time, he told himself the answer. He has every right to look at you like that. He's stronger.
That second voice sounded like Gehrman's.
Caster let out an aggravated sigh and rubbed the back of his neck.
There was no need to ask for clarification on what Sunless was talking about, so Caster decided to be blunt.
"Of course I would do things differently. I'm not an idiot." Without his permission, he felt his face twist into a scowl. "That mission was supposed to make my life infinitely better. I had prepared more than anyone and had become the most qualified, even the higher ups of Clan Valor recognized it as so…"
He trailed off, waiting for Sunless to interject. But in the end, he said nothing. So Caster continued.
"They were wrong. I was wrong too, for thinking them infallible. I thought that because they chose me I was destined to succeed. But I never really stood a chance," he shook his head. "I'm still not sure why they ordered it. I know you won't believe me, but in the end, I really didn't want to do it."
"But you did," Sunless said. Then, the bastard smirked slightly. "Or, you tried to."
Caster wished he still had his Aspect at his disposal. What he wouldn't give to be able to speed across the distance and crack this guy in the jaw.
"I did," Caster conceded. "And if I had the opportunity, I would have."
"But now? If you went back, somehow had the opportunity, had the chance to go back to that vile Clan and receive all the adoration you dreamed of, would you?"
He was silent for a long while.
In the end though, he shrugged.
"Logically, I would. My life would have been a lot better if I was able to complete the mission," he paused, his face conflicted. "But I wouldn't. Because where I am now feels like the best possible future for me. What I've been given by him, it isn't something I wouldn't have gotten if I didn't hit rock bottom first, if I didn't heed his lesson and turn tail in the Crimson Spire, I wouldn't be a Master right now. Of that I'm certain."
The two men considered each other for a long while.
In the end, nothing came from it besides a sense of finality. It was the closing of a book that neither realized was still being read up until that point.
Before they could say another word though, Sunless turned his gaze to the sky. Soon after, Caster did as well.
On red wings, Gehrman made his triumphant return.
He must have seen the two of them because he suddenly changed course and dropped near their spot on the wall.
"Having a chat?" he asked in his usual raspy voice.
Instead of responding, the two just gave him solemn looks.
He must have picked up on the odd air surrounding them, and the city at large as well.
He stopped to look around.
"Erebus Fields was successfully evacuated?"
Caster nodded.
"It wasn't pretty, we lost about ten thousand in total during the various convoy trips…but in the end, millions were able to make it here."
"Just to die," Sunless said, finishing Caster's thought.
Gehrman's eyebrows raised in alarm.
"Afraid of the army of Nightmare Creatures? No offense but we've faced worse-"
"Saint Tyris was defeated," Sunless said bluntly. "She survived, barely, but she's been shipped off to the East. It's likely she won't recover for a while. Bloodwave has also made it clear that he and the Nightwalkers will not be joining us in our final stand, though they have agreed to help the last of the ship's evacuation to the East."
The winds suddenly picked up, each of their outfits being pushed by the cold breeze.
Caster's face was grim, and he said what they all knew.
"The Winter Beast is coming."