MA: 95. The End of The Second Night

In the world of Elysia, in the year 351 PA, there was a phenomenon called The Second Night.

Every day, at a specific time that varied from Region to Region, the shadow of the Nexus would sweep across the lands and plunged the world into a second night.

It was a testament to the absurd size of the Nexus. How could a structure large enough to block out the sun for thousands upon thousands of kilometers exist in nature?

The Nexus was a natural phenomenon of the world, and as such, The Second Night was also considered a natural cycle of the world.

The Second Night was feared by the masses alongside The Dusk of the First Night.

Nocturnal fiends hunted when night fell. Swarms of beasts would come out from hiding and lay waste to all in their path.

Forests were overrun; the walls of cities put to the test against the onslaught of monsters; and caravans or parties that were not under the protection of an Umbral Ward (a member of the Atelier – the Chained Theocracy) were torn apart.

But they were manageable as long as one was prepared for it.

However, The Second Night was an entirely different story.

“Thirty minutes… Thirty minutes till we get out of the Fault. Rockie! Faster! Please – Can you go faster!?”

Red had never seen Snow make such a panicked face before. Even in the thick of despair within the Forest of Everlasting Miracles, Snow still carried an ounce of hope in her eyes.

That was because she had Red by her side.

But that did not matter here.

Not in the face of whatever this was.

“You haven’t explained it properly! What is coming!? What’s The Second Night supposed to be!?” Red stared at the approaching shadow in the great distance.

It swept through the world like the hand of a clock.

“War.” Snow exhaled through clenched teeth; her eyes peeled back. “Just war.”

She didn’t dare to look at the shadow, as though gazing even a second would drive her insane.

“War…? That shadow?”

“They call it war because it’s hell. It leaves nothing but the clothing and blood of those the night takes. But ironically, it brings peace to wars. For fifteen minutes! Every day! If you’re caught exploring beyond the walls of the Kingdoms, then you’re as good as dead! You’ll vanish without a trace!”

Red didn’t think war was hell. Let alone a ‘shadow’. Nothing about it resembled war to her.

War was a conflict, yet people still called it war because of the scene it left behind.

But what about the scene itself? The action? The process?

As afraid as Red should have been, her innate curiosity caused her to continue staring at the phenomenon.

A sharp pain suddenly radiated from her cheek.

She reached out to touch her face and felt something warm and wet.

“Blood? What the–!?”

“Tch! We’re disturbing a whole nest of damned opportunistic hunters!”

Prickly spines whizzed by. They were being shot from the proboscis of an ant-like creature. A disk-shaped cutout on the ground was worn like a hat. Those were the hatches to its lair. They were mostly docile hunters that feasted on much smaller prey but were known to retaliate against larger targets that dared to disturb their slumber.

“Bastards! You’re not even hunting us for food!” Red snapped, retaliating with grass blades.

They were thrown like ninja stars, and they slashed the proboscis of these pests clean off.

Another spine grazed her. It slashed her nose, and just barely missed Snow’s head.

“Grrr! But there’s too many of them!” She threw her mantle over Snow. “And why are you not trying to protect yourself!? You don’t got much HP!”

“Our priority is to protect Rockie!” Snow retorted. Her mouth opened again. She was prepared to continue speaking, but she suddenly tugged on Rockie’s fur and leaned to the right with all her weight.

Red luckily saw what was happening. Cracks formed ahead. Because Rockie’s eyes were closer to the ground, it was impossible for it to see this.

“RIGHT! RIGHT ROCKIE! CRACKS AHEAD!” Red cried and joined Snow. “RIGHT! RIGHT! RIIIIIGHT!”

Three Paw got into the action and sat on Rockie’s head, biting a handful of fur as he leaned to the right.

The ground trembled. Fissures split from where they once were just moments ago. Suddenly, a massive worm with a mouth filled with drill-like tongues leaped from the earth with a spectacular arc. Then, it dove back into the ground, sinking as though moving through a liquid.

It was not alone. These five-meter-wide creatures burst from the ground ahead.

“RIGHT AGAIN!” Red commanded. “LEFT NOW!”

“Keep straight!” Snow joined in.

Those that strayed too close received grass blades to their mouths. They let out wretched cries before belly flopping, their armored bodies splitting.

Are they too big to support themselves when they fall? That’s the power of gravity, huh? Pathetic!

The death of the worm caused a few others to dive onto its beached body. They feasted on it, tearing chunks as they came crashing down.

“Look Snow! They’re not so different from you~!”

“Pay attention!” Snow snapped. “Fifteen minutes left! We’re almost there!”

Fifteen minutes was a long time. They only had five hundred meters remaining. But the worms caused them to deviate from the path, requiring Rockie to make abrupt turns that threatened to throw Snow and Three Paw of its back.

“Tch! I got this!”

“Red!?”

“I’m twice as fast as Rockie! The only reason I’m on board is because you’re here!” Red left her coat with Snow as she ran alongside Rockie. “Alright! Who’s up next on the menu!?”

She dragged her blade against the ground, whetting the edge.

“AGATE! STATS ON THESE WORMS!?”

Trapdoor Worms

LEVEL : 50     ORIGIN : Monster     HP : 8,000     ATT : 800     MAG ATT : 0

< Observation Level 1 >

< Trapdoor Worm >

< Blind and sensitive to light. Active towards dusk. Relies on vibrations to hunt prey >

She activated [Huntress’ Slash] and followed the bloody trail. It took her straight to an emerging crack. The moment her blade reached the end of the trail, the worm emerged, and it gutted itself across its edge.

She merely held it there.

The worm did the work for her.

< Observation Level 2 >

< Trapdoor Worm >

< The membranous tissue beneath its armor is susceptible to slash and crush damage >

Red took the worms head on with a brazen expression. One, two, five – a dozen fell to her knife alone. She did not need to hit their vitals. All she had to do was drag her blade across the chinks in their armor and let them perish under the weight of their own bodies.

As ambush predators they had little means to defend themselves against a target that could fight back. During this, she’d take handfuls of their flesh and take nibbles.

They were on the tastier side much to her surprise.

But she couldn’t stay for long to eat them all. Rockie was already nearing the edge of the cliff.

“TWO MINUTES LEFT!” Snow cried. “GET ON!”

Red took Snow’s outstretched hand. The world began to shake again, and it did not stop. Rocks levitated, and the claws of beasts burst right through the walls as Rockie climbed.

“Is it time to use the bait!?” Red asked.

“Yeah. More nocturnal monsters. Don’t you dare try to fight these ones. They’re over level 90.”

Snow dumped the bodies of the bandits, luring these creatures away. They were a blend between a spider and a crab and were ambush predators that lurked within the walls to catch unsuspecting prey.

But like the worms, they operated on sensory organs other than sight.

They snapped at the air with their pincers, effortlessly cleaving through rock and the bodies of the bandits. Once their blood sprayed, dozens more burst from the walls.

They were attracted to blood.

Rockie climbed as fast as it could.

Bursts of pale energy radiated from Snow’s hands as she furiously healed Rockie, just in case.

“Bwa…” Three Paw’s ears flattened as he buried himself into Rockie’s fur.

He did not dare look at the encroaching shadow.

But Red did.

And she could not believe that the shadow was not in fact a shadow at all.

“A wave…?”

Indeed. What she witnessed was a wave of monsters that swarmed through the Languid Fault. The clashing of dark blades, talons, claws, teeth, mandibles… every known weapon to Red aside from projectiles were used to slaughter one another.

“They’re not attacking the monsters down there?” Red wondered but quickly realized that she was wrong. “No… They’re being caught in the conflict. What… is that supposed to be? How come they’re fighting each other like that?”

“It’s a cycle that only manifests in Regions of war. When The Second Night arrives, those aberrations of darkness manifest, and they take down everything in their endless war.”

“But for what?” Red wanted to understand it.

Snow paused as they reached the top. Finally, she turned to look down at the tens of thousands, if not hundreds – no millions of bleeding aberrations sweeping through the Languid Fault.

The senseless violence, and the sight of monsters being caught in the storm caused her to wear a sentimental expression.

“I don’t think they know why they’re fighting in the first place. No one ever does. That is war.”

“… Have you been to war before?”

Snow didn’t answer straight away.

She turned to Red and put on a soft smile before reaching to pat her head.

“Sort of. But that’s a common story for many people in this Region. Lesson Forty-Four: Don’t drag innocent people into your problems.”

She puts a lot of focus on people rather than on the threat. She was like that when we saw the villagers that were fused into the mountain of flesh… I wanna understand that too.

Red beamed and nodded.

Then, she sat at the edge and watched the swarm.

“Hey, what does The Dusk of the First Night represent if this is war? Is it not the same thing?”

“I don’t know how you’re eager to learn about it after seeing that.” Snow sighed.

She took a seat further away from the edge. Red looked back and grinned cheekily, shifting until she was lined up with Snow.

Then, she leaned back and rested her head on Snow’s knees.

“Because I’ve only known conflict my whole life. So I’m not scared of anything.”

Her words, for whatever reason, caused Snow’s smile to fade.

“Hm? Snow?”

“Your eyes have stars in them. They remind me of children who have yet to grow up.” She spoke motherly as she brought a hand to Red’s head again.

She didn’t know the meaning of these words.

But she felt like they were important.

Three Paw shuddered at the sight of the conflict, whilst Rockie watched in complete silence.

“We’ll see The Dusk of the First Night eventually. This is a rare sight.” Snow hummed.

“Hey. We did it. We escaped. We should celebrate, right?” Red pinched her cheeks.

“Mhm. Yeah. We made it. Geez. Why are you so… Nevermind.”

“Were you going to say cute?”

“Dumb. I was going to say dumb.” Snow lied.

“You only call me dumb when I say something unsmart. But I’m cute when I brighten the mood~”

“Yeah, yeah. Ok.” Snow finally smiled.

Light began to trickle back into the world after fifteen minutes.

The Second Night only lasted for a quarter of an hour.

What it left behind in the Languid Fault were the husks of hundreds of monsters. A shallow river of blood remained, and the creatures of the Languid Fault feasted on this blood.

Slowly, and almost unnaturally, that blood was absorbed by the earth.

“The world drinks blood. Like you!”

“You’ve already made that joke.” Snow pinched her cheek.

“Oww. Alright. Be mean. Hmph. But uh, doesn’t that make you think?”

Snow wanted to sigh, but she thought she’d at least hear Red out.

“What?”

“Where does all that blood go?”

“Nowhere, really.” Snow murmured.

They got back on Rockie’s back and rummaged through their Dimensional Storage to make one last check before heading off.

It was weird. That blood had to go somewhere, right? Red didn’t think she was saying something stupid, because that had to be the case. Nothing just disappears. Nor are there coincidences… At least she didn’t think so.

“Well, if we happen to find out that the world underneath us is red, then you owe me an apology.”

“I didn’t deny it.” Snow said sheepishly.

They rode with the sun on their backs.

Their next destination?

Justica’s Crossing

< An exclusion zone mandated by Justica Arms. Beware of incoming Gravity Trains >

//////// < ALERT > ////////

< Expect Atelier presence >

*

The End of the Second Night

< When will they realize that the war has already ended? Days and nights remain coated in red. It is all they have ever known and will ever know. Ride, horseman in red. Chase the sunlight, evermore >