Not much later everyone that attended the meeting was gathered up at the outskirts of the slums, close to the mountain path leading up and down.
The area close to here was a lot more reinforced than it was barely a month ago. The buildings close by were upgraded and were not recognizable compared to before.
Some even had watchtowers installed on their roofs to keep watch at all times. These were installed after the night in which Neph, Sunny and Caster had to fend off an awakened devil that came up the mountain, in the middle of the night.
Till this day, Ray had to wonder why no one woke him or Effie up as well, if that would have been the case, then said devil would most likely have been easily dealt with. But Ray could only shrug while thinking this, it was in the past and therefore didn't really matter now.
The gathering of picked sleepers waited around for a few minutes, till everyone was present. The roles for each person were already assigned in the meeting. Therefore, all could leave immediately when they had made sure that no one was missing.
As the group was significantly larger than their original group of six, more people were required for each role, with Sunny taking up the role of the main scout, and Ray also joining the guides.
Over the last month, besides studying runes intently with Sunny, Ray had also completely sorted through the memories of Andel, bringing him more or less to the same knowledge level as the most experienced sleepers living on the forgotten shore.
This change also surprised the others greatly, especially Effie, who knew just how hard it was to truly get to know the dark city and considering that he just arrived barely two months ago, such progress was mind staggering.
Whenever asked, Ray would just shift the blame on being a fast learner or acting as if he had learned everything through direct observations of Effie, whenever they went out on expeditions.
The whole group traveled with purpose through the ragged streets and destroyed ruins. Thanks to the good job done by the scouts and guides, they perfectly traveled around the territories of the more dangerous fallen creatures or evaded the patrolling ones.
They quickly neared their destination but stopped when a signal came from the back of the group. Most of the front liners turned looking for the reason why they had stopped, and when they did, they were greeted by uneasy looks of a few people standing close to Cassia.
Before she even had the chance to warn the whole group, everyone heard it. A flap of heavy wings. A screech. And then a heavy landing. The next thing everyone could recall was that someone shouted what everyone thought a that exact moment.
"MESSENGER!"
For a few moments, no one moved.
Then, chaos.
The front liners charged with a mixture of courage and terror, only to be immediately thrown back as the Messenger swept one of its many arms in a wide arc, crushing two sleepers like brittle twigs and sending another crashing into a wall with a sickening crack.
"Spread out!" Nephis barked, her voice as sharp as steel.
Everyone obeyed instinctively.
The ranged fighters did their best, loosing arrows, bolts, and abilities in a frantic barrage - but it barely slowed the Messenger down. Its pale hide turned black where it was hit, the wounds oozing some foul ichor… but none of them were deep enough to matter in any meaningful way. Whatever damage they managed to inflict seemed to disappear beneath its constantly shifting, half-formed flesh.
Nephis' blade lit up with searing white flame as she darted in, flames trailing her movements. Her strikes were fast and precise, and each one left scorched, burning lines across the creature's limbs. But even her attacks only cut so deep.
Effie charged in next, dodging a razor-sharp wing and piercing her spear into the base of one of its legs. The Messenger shrieked and staggered, the ground shuddering under its weight. Her strength made the spear pierce right through the bone, but still, the damn thing fought on.
One could see the familiar sparks of a memory weaving on her back. Most wouldn't think much of it, but Ray had an idea what she would summon and grinned to himself.
He then moved through the battlefield like a shadow, Stormpiercer carving vicious arcs as he danced through the Messenger's range. But each strike rebounded or only nicked the creature's hide. It wasn't enough - not yet. He needed more momentum, more force. His Aspect was already stirring, energy gathering within him, hungry and violent.
All around them, the others were fighting to stay alive. Two more were killed outright, one crushed beneath the Messenger's tail, another skewered by a sudden strike from one of its malformed extra arms. Blood soaked the broken stones. Screams echoed, some cut off far too soon.
Caster barked orders, directing the survivors to focus on containment, on keeping it boxed in, at least long enough for the few among them able to deal damage to do what they could to repel it.
But the Messenger wasn't being boxed in. It was rampaging.
The spire messenger smashed a wing into the street, scattering more fighters. A massive limb nearly crushed Neph, who slipped beneath it by a hair and retaliated with a blazing slash that tore through flesh and left an arm barely hanging on.
Ray needed to change his approach. His movements had a new purpose now - tight, sharp steps, building up momentum with each swing of Stormpiercer. For others who were looking at him, he nearly appeared to be dancing across the battlefield. He wasn't trying to land hits no more. He was feeding the weapon and storing force, making use of one of its enchantments.
The Messenger let out another screech, wings unfurling again, and launched itself forward. Effie met it in mid-charge, ducking beneath a strike and ramming her shoulder into its chest with a roar.
The memory on her back already fully formed. Two large claws made of a chitin-like material descended down on the messenger, trying to keep its front limbs from striking down on her. With mild success.
The moment they were more or less fixated, she spun and hurled her spear with both hands right into its torso.
The creature staggered, impaled, for just a moment. Already about to thrash around again. But…
Ray was already there.
With a final step and a twist of his hips, he launched Stormpiercer downward. The halberd shimmered, its head glowing faintly as all the stored force surged into a single moment. The Final Cut tore through the air and slammed into one of the Messenger's main appendages, cleaving it clean off.
Black blood sprayed across the stones.
The Messenger shrieked in pain and fury. It flailed and thrashed, wings beating hard to escape, kicking up a storm of dust and broken stone as it took to the air. It wobbled mid-flight, barely holding itself together as it vanished into the ruins of the dark city.
No one tried to stop it. They may have succeeded in cutting off one of its legs, but killing it was far beyond their capabilities right now.
When it completely disappeared, silence descended.
Only the ragged breathing of the survivors, the low groans of the wounded, and the crackling of distant flames remained.
Ray stood still, Stormpiercer's blade dripping with black ichor. He could feel his knees shaking. The fight had drained more out of him than he realized.
Nephis looked around the battlefield, her face calm but her eyes dark. "We're tending to the wounded, then we're gonna head back for today."
No one argued.
They had survived.
Barely.