Maya barely had a second to react before the mad serpent lunged.
The air screamed as its massive, blood-red form surged forward, fangs bared, each as long as a spear. She barely managed to hurl herself to the side, her body rolling over the jagged coral floor. Pain flared through her, but she forced herself to stand. There was no time to hesitate.
Cade was already moving. His black, Darkness-coated blade lashed out as he sidestepped the serpent's strike, slicing along its snout. The Voidfang barely cut through, leaving a thin gash that dripped dark ichor.
The abomination reared back, its massive coils twisting through the air.
Then, it unleashed its ability.
The resonance hummed through the clearing like an earthquake, shaking Maya's bones. Cade stumbled, gripping his head, his movements suddenly sluggish. He was struggling against the abomination's insidious mind-attack.
Cade's mist, which had begun swirling around him, dissipated like a candle flame snuffed out. Maya clenched her teeth.
Damn it, she cursed inwardly. He can't use his ability, and he also has to go through a mind attack. No wonder the other monsters avoided this cavern... This thing is a living nightmare!
The serpent capitalized on Cade's moment of weakness. Its enormous tail whipped toward him with terrifying speed. Shroudkeeper barely managed to raise his blade before the impact sent him flying. His body skidded across the coral-strewn floor, colliding against a jagged stone outcrop.
"Cade!" Maya shouted, but there was no time to check on him.
The serpent turned its gaze on her now. Its one bloodied eye gleamed with primal fury. She tightened her grip on the Reaver. The wavy, ice-carved blade shimmered unnaturally, as if resisting the air itself.
The serpent struck.
Maya somehow managed to weave between the serpent's enormous coils as its monstrous maw snapped inches from her heels. She spun, dragging the Reaver across its thick hide and blood-drenched scales. There was obviously no physical wound, but she felt the cut land.
A ripple of unseen force, like ice fracturing, spread from the strike. The serpent flinched, obviously hurt, but it continued its relentless assault.
A flash of movement.
Cade, staggering to his feet, forced himself back into the fight. His blade, wreathed in Darkness, slashed across the serpent's body. This time, it pierced, but barely— only the very tip managed to slice through the abomination's thick scales.
"Tsk," Cade clicked his tongue. "This thing's tougher than hell!"
"Gee... you don't say," Maya shot back between ragged breaths.
She was already exhausted, her limbs heavy. The cauterized wound in her side had stopped bleeding, but it still hurt like hell. Her entire body screamed for rest.
But the serpent wasn't stopping.
So, she could not, either.
The Terror coiled around the two of them, trapping them between the jagged coral walls of the clearing. There was no escape.
Fuck.
The serpent's massive tail swung down like a guillotine, cutting through the air with deadly precision.
Maya leaped back just in time, narrowly avoiding the appendage. But the impact sent a tremor through the ground, knocking her off balance. She fell hard, coughing as dust and shattered coral filled the air.
Cade moved fast, darting between the abomination's coils, looking for an opening. His blade lashed out, slashing at the serpent's underbelly. This time, the cut was deeper, drawing a fresh spurt of dark ichor. The serpent let out a deafening roar, its resonance flaring up again, shaking the floor of the clearing.
Cade stumbled and dropped to one knee, disoriented. His Darkness, which he'd tried calling upon, vanished once more.
"Shit!" he cursed, clutching his head with one hand, a painful grimace twisting his features.
Maya gritted her teeth, frustrated. The moment they gained ground, the resonance took it away.
We can't keep fighting like this, she thought bitterly.
The serpent lunged at her again. She ducked and rolled to the side, her cauterized wound pulsing in agony. She felt the rush of wind as the serpent's massive jaws snapped shut just inches from her face.
She ignored the pain in her side and retaliated, slashing with her ice-carved blade. The moment it connected, she felt the cold bite into something deeper than flesh— into the thing's corrupted soul.
The serpent recoiled, its body shuddering, but the unseen wound was nowhere near enough to stop it.
Cade forced himself up, wiping the blood from his lip.
"We need to work together!" he called out. "You can actually hurt it. I can barely scratch the damn thing!"
Maya's mind raced. "Then we switch. You distract it. I'll go for the kill."
Cade exhaled sharply but nodded. "Fine. Just don't die."
He shot forward and the Voidfang flashed. The serpent focused on him now, its massive body undulating and preparing for another attack. Maya circled to the thing's blind side, her fingers tightening around the hilt of the Oblivion Reaver.
She needed an opening— just one— to tear this thing's corrupted soul to shreds.
***
The battle raged on in the clearing. The chaotic crimson coral underfoot cracked and shifted beneath the force of the two soulless Dreamers' desperate struggle.
Cade ducked under a wild lash of the serpent's tail. His instincts were screaming at him to move faster, dodge quicker. The sheer size of the abomination made every attack overwhelming. Each movement of the giant serpent carved deep gouges into the coral-strewn battlefield.
His breath came in sharp bursts, but he couldn't afford to slow down. Not with the way the serpent twisted and lunged. The blood-red scales of the abomination's enormous body gleamed under the dim light.
Its wounded eye— where he had struck it earlier— was still leaking a thick, inky substance, but the pain had only enraged it further. It wasn't fighting like a somewhat intelligent creature, simply in agony; no, it was fighting like a cornered monster, one that had every intention of dragging everything in its vicinity down with it.
For the first time since stepping into the Dream Realm, Cade understood just how much he had come to rely on his Aspect Ability. It had been his crutch, his armor, his unwavering edge.
But now, stripped of it, he felt exposed— small.
He had drilled Maya on fighting without dependence on her Aspect, pushing her beyond her limits, believing that sheer will and skill could carry her through.
But he had never held himself to the same standard. He had always assumed that his Darkness would be there to tear through whatever dared to stand in his way. Now, as he stood before this unspeakable horror, his confidence crumbled like ash in the wind.
His only true talent was killing. And yet, he found himself incapable of it. His blade had failed to pierce this creature's hide. His strength had failed to carve a path to victory.
That wasn't just troubling. It was terrifying.
The serpent lunged. Its fangs glistened like twin spears of bone. It was a monstrous force seeking to rip him in half.
Cade threw himself aside, narrowly dodging the cavernous jaws. But he had miscalculated. He had overlooked the rest of the abomination's massive, writhing body.
"Cade!"
Maya's voice cut through the chaos, raw with panic. He barely had time to glance at her before the realization hit— too late.
One of the jagged spikes along the abomination's back had punched through the plates of his armor, spearing into his side. White-hot pain flared, and Cade's breath hitched, blood gurgling in his mouth. He staggered, choking down a gasp, but then he saw it— his blood.
Black.
Not just dark, but a void-like ink, pooling from his wound as though it carried the abyss itself.
What…?
There was no time to wonder, though. The serpent's tail lashed out, cutting through the air with the force of a cataclysm.
He had no time to dodge. No time to raise his blade. No time to even clench his fists.
The impact was devastating.
The world blurred as he was flung backward like a ragdoll. The plates of his armor groaned, cracked and splintered under the sheer force. The Voidfang slipped from his fingers, lost in the chaos.
Then—
Agony.
His body collided with a coral pillar at the edge of the clearing. The structure collapsed in a thunderous crash. He crumpled to the ground, breathless, disoriented, his vision darkening at the edges. Pain screamed through every nerve as his ribs cracked, his vertebrae jarred.
Blood— thick, dark, wrong— welled in his mouth. He coughed some of it out. The sound was ragged and wet, as the blood gurgled.
Cade let out a breathless chuckle, the black blood spraying on the ground.
Funny. Wasn't this funny?
He was the one who had led them here. The one who had arrogantly assumed they could handle whatever monstrosity lurked in the depths. The one who had believed, foolishly, that he was invincible.
Yet here he was, sprawled out like a broken puppet, while Maya— wounded, battered, yet unyielding— faced the abomination alone.
No, it wasn't funny.
It was pathetic.
He was pathetic.
Maya weaved through the battlefield, her movements sluggish, her breath ragged. Even as exhaustion gnawed at her, even as pain threatened to consume her, she refused to fall.
Cade watched. Drowning in his own blood. Drowning in his own failure.
H—How… how did... it come to this?
A whisper of resentment curled in his gut. Not at the serpent. Not at Fate.
At himself.
He had just become a Monster, yet he felt more helpless than he ever had before.
Helplessness...
Helplessness was a disease, a sickness more suffocating than any wound. He hated it. He despised it. It was an infection that burrowed into his very being and festered.
But Cade would not let it consume him.
No more.
He spat out a mouthful of Darkness-streaked blood and inhaled sharply. He reached inward, deeper than before, past the pain, past the doubt, past the fear.
And there, in the abyss of himself, his Darkness stirred.
Like curling smoke, it slipped from his lips, seeping into his broken armor, mending his torn flesh, knitting fractured bones back together with its abyssal tendrils. Pain still lanced through his body, but it no longer controlled him.
He forced himself up, breath shuddering, muscles screaming in protest. The wound in his side still throbbed. The memory of his failure still lingered. But neither would stop him now.
Yes, he was weaker than he had believed. He was insignificant in the grand scale of this world's horrors.
But he would not remain that way.
He exhaled, steadying himself. Maya was still fighting. He would not leave her to face this nightmare alone.
They would struggle. They would bleed. They would push forward. And they would not fall. Not here. Not now. Not ever.
Because no horror, no abomination, no waking nightmare would ever be enough to break the Otherwalkers.
***
Maya wasn't faring any better than Cade. She weaved through the battlefield, narrowly avoiding another bone-rattling impact as the serpent's tail whipped around in a blind fury. Her breath came ragged gasps, and her limbs ached from exhaustion.
Cade rejoined the fight. Maya had obviously known that he wouldn't stay down for long. His Darkness could heal him, so receiving grievous wounds wasn't much of a problem. Still, it'd taken him a bit longer than she'd expected.
It seemed like something about him had... changed. Maya couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she could tell.
Cade fought with newfound vigor, newfound determination, newfound... clarity. That was a good thing.
But the abomination they were facing still wouldn't budge.
Maya fought. She couldn't afford to let up now. Neither of them could.
They had fought too hard to fall here. Her grip tightened on the Oblivion Reaver as she circled the creature, trying to find an opening, some weak point that they hadn't yet exploited.
But the serpent was relentless. It shifted its massive bulk. Its menacing form was coiling and uncoiling like a living tempest, crushing coral beneath its weight as it lunged again.
Cade barely managed to leap aside. He rolled across the jagged ground before springing back to his feet, his blade gleaming with Darkness as he slashed at the oncoming fangs. The strike glanced off the thick scales, doing little more than aggravating the bloodborne serpent.
Maya cursed under her breath, her frustration mounting. She knew they couldn't keep this up forever. After all, no matter how capable, no matter how anomalous the two of them were, at the end of the day, they were still mere Sleepers— a Dormant Beast and a Dormant Monster.
It was clear to her now— the abomination they were facing was actually an Awakened Terror. She'd thought that maybe Cade was exaggerating earlier. But she understood it now. There was simply no other explanation.
The creature had pierced and tore through Cade's armor earlier. And this wasn't just any armor— it was the Ebonveil Plate, an Awakened Memory of the Sixth Tier.
Two Dormant beings against an Awakened abomination of the Sixth Class— this was a battle they had no business winning. If the fight dragged on, they'd exhaust their strength long before the monstrous serpent did.
Maya gritted her teeth. As if she wasn't aware of that! But what the hell was she supposed to do?!
She put some space between herself and the wildly thrashing serpent. She needed some time to breathe.
She looked through the chaos, trying to catch a glimpse of Cade. But he wasn't visible within the serpent's endlessly writhing coils.
"Maya..." Cade's voice came from behind her.
She turned around sharply. Cade was there, breathing heavily. Seeing him, Maya relaxed a little.
"Yeah...?" she replied, panting herself.
"This isn't getting us anywhere," he said. "We need a plan."
"A... plan?" Maya asked, her eyes widening.
Cade saying they need a plan? Cade hated plans! Something had indeed changed.
The thrashing serpent suddenly grew still. Then, its head whipped toward the two of them, its singular blood-laden eye scanning the two Dreamers. It lunged in a burst of speed.
Cade stepped forward, Darkness curling from his lips.
"Yeah..." he said, looking over his shoulder. "I was wrong. We need a plan. I'll distract it in the meantime. You try to come up with something."
As the serpent's maw shot forward, Cade turned into a tide of Darkness and curled around its massive head.
The serpent paused.
Then, it hummed its resonance.
The black mist dissipated, and Cade was thrown to the ground. He didn't linger though. Despite the weight of the mind-attack pressing down on him, he got up quickly and circled to the serpent's other side.
In the meantime, Maya had grown still, unseen to the serpent. The serpent followed Cade, leaving Maya behind.
A plan... she thought, firing up her neurons and racking her brain.
But how could she come up with something in the middle of an ordeal? And one as desperate as this?
An Awakened Terror against two Dormant creatures...
What kind of plan would get them out of this situation? No, not out of it. What kind of plan would let them kill this abominable horror?
No plan at all!
Hadn't they tried already?! Hadn't they used every weapon at their disposal, every ounce of guile, every advantage they could seize— no matter how small— to bring down the harrowing abomination before them?!
As this train of thought went through Maya's head, something clicked.
No matter how small...? she thought, remembering something she'd seen earlier. Every weapon at our disposal...?
Small advantages? But why did they go for small advantages?
Why not go for something bigger?
Maya's head whipped around and her gaze locked onto something a few paces away— the cavern.
She was closer to the entrance than she had realized. The yawning mouth of the massive cavern loomed just a few strides away. She broke into a sprint and reached the entrance. For the first time since the battle began, she allowed herself to glance inside. Her breath hitched as she took in the sight beyond.
The cavern was a vast, gaping abyss— its depths were swallowed by shadows.
Stalactites jutted down from the ceiling like the fangs of some ancient beast, sharp and menacing, their surfaces slick with moisture. The walls of the cavern were uneven and jagged, lined with eerie, bioluminescent fungi that pulsed faintly in the darkness, casting long, ghostly shadows. The air itself felt thick, almost suffocating, as if the cavern held the weight of something long forgotten.
But it wasn't the eerie grandeur of the place that held Maya's attention.
Instead, it was one particular stalactite.
The especially large and unnaturally sharp one she had seen before. It loomed high above the entrance, hanging precariously from the cavern's ceiling.
And most importantly— it was cracked.
Maya narrowed her eyes, scanning the damage. A network of fissures webbed across the stalactite's proximal end, deep enough that it looked like it was barely hanging on.
One strong impact would be enough to send it plummeting. And if she could time it just right—
But who was to say it would even do anything?
That was an Awakened Terror standing before her— an abomination that hadn't budged at the attacks from their mystical Memories. What could a measly, sharp stone possibly do against something like that?
Yet, even as those doubts surfaced, the answer came to her almost instantly.
She realized that she wasn't in the real world. She wasn't even in the Waking World.
No.
She was in the Dream Realm. She was in the Forgotten Shore. She was in the Crimson Labyrinth.
And there was nothing mundane about the Forgotten Shore. The entirety of the Crimson Labyrinth was one colossal living creature.
Sure, the stalactite looked like ordinary stone— unremarkable, unassuming. But deep down, Maya knew. She could feel it in her bones. It was anything but mundane.
After all, that ancient stone had hung there for countless years at the entrance of a monster's lair. It had endured the relentless pressure of the black waters of the Dark Sea, surviving forces that would have long since eroded anything lesser.
No. It wasn't ordinary.
It was mystical.
Just like her. Just like Cade. Just like the abomination itself.
And so, it would pierce.
If not the creature's impenetrable scales, then at the very least…
Its blood-laden eye.
But only if she could time it right.
An idea sparked to life in her mind. She had a plan. But first, she needed Cade.
Her eyes darted back across the battlefield, searching for her companion amidst the chaos.
It didn't take long— he was in the thick of it, locked in a frantic struggle with the serpent.
The beast lunged, snapping its massive jaws at him, but Cade twisted out of reach, using the momentum to drive his blade toward the serpent's head. It was a calculated risk, but the strike only grazed the Terror's thick scales, barely leaving a scratch.
Maya noticed that Cade's Darkness augmentation had come fully undone. The Voidfang was now a simple weapon Memory of the Third Tier, trying to contend against the thick scales of an Awakened Terror.
It was a futile effort.
But Cade already knew that. And besides, Maya had not sought him out to let him know that this battle they were fighting was a losing one. No, they were both painfully aware of that.
Maya needed his attention for something else, and she needed it now.
Bracing herself, she took a deep breath and summoned a burst of frost from within her Winter. It wasn't strong— not a full blizzard, just a sudden gust of chilling wind aimed directly at Cade's back. He stiffened at the sensation, immediately recognizing it for what it was. His head snapped toward her and his eyes narrowed in question.
Maya wasted no time. She pointed toward the cavern, then up— toward the stalactite that was looming high above the entrance.
Cade's gaze followed. His mind instantly pieced together what she was trying to say. He looked back at her, then at the serpent that was thrashing around blindly, maddened by fury, and then back at the cavern. Understanding flashed across his face.
She didn't even need to say it.
But she did anyway. She called to him over the chaos, "Lure it inside!"
Cade closed the distance between himself and Maya quickly. He looked at her, smiling, and said, "I knew you'd come up with something." He paused before continuing, "... But it's getting really late. If the sun sets while we're inside the cavern, we're dead. It won't matter if we manage to kill this thing or not."
He looked over to the horizon. Maya did too. It was indeed getting too late.
"What're you trying to say?" she asked.
Cade's turned to face her and smiled again. "Nothing... I'm just asking if we're gonna be trading our lives for this thing's."
Maya remained silent for a moment. Then, after a second or two, she scoffed. "Just do what you're told, maniac. We're living through this, no matter what."
Cade's smirk turned vicious. "Honestly, I would've been down either way."
Then, he turned, tightening his grip on his blade as he locked eyes with the thrashing serpent once more. The mad serpent had gone completely berserk, maddened with fury and pain. It was simply flailing around wildly, trying to kill anything that it laid its singular bloodshot eye on.
This wasn't going to be easy. Luring it into the cavern without getting crushed or swallowed in the process? That was a gamble.
But then again, when had they ever played it safe?
Cade moved swiftly, weaving through the clearing as the blood-red serpent lunged at him with blind fury.
The air was thick with the scent of blood and the bitter sting of frost. Remnants of Maya's blizzard were still swirling around the clearing. The serpent's wounded eye leaked viscous black ichor, staining the coral-strewn ground beneath it.
Each movement of the colossal abomination sent tremors rippling through the battlefield. The chaotic landscape shook as if it too were caught in the throes of battle.
Maya stood at the cavern entrance, her sharp gaze locked on the enormous stalactite hanging precariously from the ceiling. Cracks lined its base like a network of fragile veins, as if it were waiting for the right moment to break away.
She could have remained outside, waiting until the perfect moment to strike at the barely holding stone, but she needed the best possible angle.
And that angle was directly beneath it.
She steadied her breathing, and grew unnaturally still. A creeping silence fell over her presence as her form melted into the background, completely invisible and unnoticed. Her very existence seemed to fade into the cavern's shadows. The howling winds outside and the thrashing of the serpent swallowed any trace of her presence.
Her Innate Ability, the Vanishing Thread, was taking effect.
Her hands tightened around Venom's Kiss as the ice-clad quillon dagger gleamed with a faint shimmer.
All she had to do now, was wait.
Cade, meanwhile, was fully immersed in the dance of death. He taunted the serpent, slashing at its body whenever an opportunity arose, his blade again coated in writhing Darkness.
But every wound he inflicted was shallow, merely aggravating the abomination rather than disabling it. Still, that was all he needed to do. He just had to get the mad serpent to chase him.
"Come on, you ugly bastard," he muttered through gritted teeth, ducking under another swipe of its massive tail. It crashed into the coral and shattered the jagged formations into dust.
Cade leaped backward, putting some distance between them. "You wanted me earlier, didn't you?! I'm right here. Come and get me, you son of a bitch!"
The serpent reared back. Its jaws widened to an unnatural degree, revealing endless rows of glistening fangs. A shrill hiss pierced the air, its forked tongue flickering as it sensed its prey. Then, with a burst of terrifying speed, it lunged.
Cade turned on his heel and sprinted straight for the cavern entrance.
The serpent followed, its massive bulk crashing through the clearing, uprooting coral and sending debris flying in all directions.
Cade dashed through the threshold and his boots skidded on the slick stone floor of the cavern. He whirled around, scanning for Maya—
But she wasn't there.
He knew about her Innate Ability, of course, but he still felt a flicker of unease.
Where—
And then, as if emerging from the void itself, Maya moved.
Cade's breath caught in his throat. Maya had been standing completely still right beneath the massive stalactite, waiting, unseen even to him.
Now, in one fluid motion, she raised her arm. Her ice-clad quillon dagger, the Venom's Kiss, gleamed in the evening's dim light. Her gaze was sharp, focused, and utterly unshaken.
Time seemed to slow as the serpent entered the cavern. Its hulking form cast a massive shadow over the floor. Its uninjured eye gleamed as it locked onto Cade, but then, as Maya moved, the serpent's attention turned to her.
The serpent shifted, its focus snapping to the sudden motion. Its body coiled in reaction, preparing to strike, but Maya was faster. Cade noticed that her body was coated with frost and snow. She had called upon her augmentation while her Innate Ability was in effect.
With a flick of her wrist, she gracefully hurled the Venom's Kiss at the net of cracks along the stalactite's base.
The dagger struck true.
A sharp, splintering crack echoed through the cavern as the stalactite trembled. It lurched, shifting ever so slightly— but in that same moment, the serpent lunged. Its monstrous jaws parted, aiming straight for Maya.
She had no time to move. No time to even react.
Cade's chest tightened as he watched the serpent lunge for the girl, helpless. The abomination's fangs gleamed, inches from closing around her slender ice-clad body.
And then, something happened.
Terror gripped Cade's heart. A primal, all-consuming fear. The fear of watching Maya die right before his eyes. The fear of losing her to this abyssal nightmare.
That fear did not stay within him. His own Innate Ability, Echo of the Abyss, immediately took effect.
The fear surged outward, an unseen force that latched onto the serpent like an unbreakable chain.
The abomination froze mid-lunge, its entire body seizing up, its gaping maw inches from Maya. Its muscles trembled, its eye wide with an emotion it had never known before— pure, unadulterated terror.
For a fraction of a second, silence reigned.
Then, gravity took hold.
The stalactite, now untethered from the cavern ceiling, plunged downward like an executioner's blade. It struck with immense force, piercing through the serpent's remaining eye and driving down into its skull. A sickening crunch echoed through the chamber, followed by a monstrous, deafening wail.
The serpent convulsed violently and its body thrashed in uncontrollable agony. Only its monstrous head remained inside the cavern, while the rest of its bulk writhed in the clearing outside, sending shockwaves through the land.
Maya, untouched, stepped backward, watching as the abomination shrieked in pain. Her expression was unreadable, her breath steady despite what had just transpired.
Cade exhaled, tension bleeding from his muscles. He hadn't even realized that he had stopped breathing.
The abominable serpent wasn't dead yet.
But that was neither here nor there.
Because Shroudkeeper and Veil of Ashes wanted it dead.
Maya didn't hesitate. She stepped forward, summoning the Oblivion Reaver back into existence. The ice-forged serpentine blade materialized into her grip— its eerie, ethereal glow illuminating her determined expression.
The serpent twitched, its body still writhing, but its movements were sluggish now. It was blinded and helpless. Its immense pain overrode its instincts.
Maya struck.
The first slash carved into its head, the blade phasing through scales, flesh and bone with unnatural ease. There was no physical wound, no blood— only an unseen force that severed something far more vital.
A second strike followed, then a third and a fourth. Each swing of the Oblivion Reaver shredded the serpent's very soul, tearing it apart from within.
The abomination thrashed, but it could do nothing to stop her— the massive stalactite was weighing it down. With every strike, its movements grew weaker. Its screams became hoarse, then silent.
And then, at last, the abominable Terror lay still.
As Maya stood over its massive corpse, her breath coming in slow, steady exhales, the voice of the Nightmare Spell hissed to her:
[You have slain an Awakened Terror, Vorrakis the Mawshade.]
[... The Winter within you expands.]
The blizzard that had raged around Maya faded, leaving only the eerie silence of the cavern. The battle was over. She smiled tiredly, as her augmentation came undone and the orb that Cade had given her floated out from her chest, dissolving into a flicker of Darkness.
"I—no, we—we did it," she whispered, her legs trembling and her knees giving way to exhaustion.
However, as she forced out these words and dropped to her knees, unable to stand, the Spell spoke again:
[You have received an Echo, Vorrakis the Mawshade].
_________________________________________________
Goddamn, this one is too long!! 4,800+ words!!
But what can I do? I couldn't bring myself to split it anywhere and I didn't wanna drag the fight to any further chapters.
So, what did you think? Did you enjoy it? What about the end? I think after all the shit that Maya went through, she deserved a reward. What do you think?
Now, don't start saying that Cade feels left out. He just became a Monster, and don't forget that something weird happened with his Unholy Memory... Besides, who said anything about this arc being over? I've still got some stuff in mind. By the time this concludes for real, I think you'll be satisfied with the result.
Anyway, as always, leave your feedback and do let me know where I'm lacking. I'll be sure to incorporate it into future chapters.
So, all in all, thanks for reading! Until next time, people! :]