Caspian was so focused on Alice's Aspect demostration that he did not sense the Nightmare Creature closing in behind him.
If not for Velpam.
"You should watch our back, murderer."
The words sliced through his concentration.
Caspian turned.
Just as a massive pincer snapped shut around his torso.
The impact came fast and brutal — a blur of chitin— but it stopped there.
The creature was enormous. At least three meters tall when fully upright. Its humanoid torso twisted grotesquely above a hulking crab body, mandibles clattering inches from his head.
The pincer tightened.
Or tried to.
Caspian felt… nothing.
No crushing force.
No cracking ribs.
No pressure.
His Supreme Armor held firm like an impenetrable wall.
For a heartbeat, the Creature seemed confused.
Caspian was not.
He placed both armored hands against the inside curve of the pincer.
And pushed.
At first, there was resistance.The creature screeched, tightening reflexively.
Caspian pushed harder.
Muscles flexed beneath silver plates. Bursting with strength.
The pincer opened wider.
Too wide.
There was a sharp, wet crack.
The joint where the two halves of the claw connected to the arm split apart violently. Azure blood burst outward in a pressurized spray, splattering across Caspian's armor and the mud below.
The creature screamed.
It was not an animal sound.
It was something close to human agony, distorted by alien anatomy.
Caspian did not let go.
Instead, curiosity flickered behind his eyes.
A test.
He released one hand and drove his armored fingers directly into the ruptured joint, piercing deeper into the wound.
Even through the armor, he felt it.
The flow.
Azure blood rushing violently through severed vessels. A living current, pulsing, chaotic.
He focused.
And he solidified something within the flow.
The effect was not immediate, he had to wait a few seconds before it made effect.
Its remaining pincer struck wildly at the air. Its legs scrambled against the mud, gouging trenches as it tried to retreat. More foam bubbled from its mandibles.
Its heart.
He could hear it.
Faltering, stuttering.
Then racing in blind panic.
The creature's movements became erratic jerks.
Then spasms.
Then nothing.
It collapsed heavily into the mud, twitching weakly before going still.
Caspian pulled his hand free and stepped back, watching as the body struggled once more out of pure reflex before finally going limp.
Silence.
Velpam voice echoed in his mind.
"Damnation, you gave it a heart attack and looked at it with clinical curiosity, that's some unholy behavior, good job murderer haha!"
Then the Spell's voice descended upon him.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Carapace Scavenger.]
[You have received a Memory: River Blade.]
[Your Moonlight grows brighter.]
[And so your shadow grows deeper.]
The words lingered in his mind.
He exhaled slowly.
He felt it.
A change.
Subtle.
But real.
His muscles felt slightly denser. His skin — beneath armor and fabric — smoother, more refined. His senses sharpened just a fraction more.
Not a leap.
A step.
Small.
But undeniable.
"What was that about…?" he murmured.
He already suspected.
Still, he summoned his runes.
The familiar script shimmered before his eyes.
[Moonlight Fragments: 159]
Before the kill he had—
157.
Now—
159.
Two fragments.
Absorbed automatically.
So that was it.
The stronger the core of the slain creature, the greater the fragments gained, that was Caspian's theory, it looked like he had a different advance method than other awakened.
Velpam flickered into existence at the edge of his vision, smiling with exaggerated delight.
"Oh?" the shadow hummed. "Don't look so proud, murderer."
His own runes appeared beside Caspian's.
[Moonlight Shadow Fragments: 157]
"I got some too" Velpam continued lazily. "It seems I can relax all day and grow stronger just by staying attached to you. I wonder… who is the shadow? and who is the master? Hahaha."
Caspian rolled his eyes.
"You're insufferable."
"And yet" Velpam grinned wider "you'd be lonely without me, incomplete."
Before Caspian could reply—
A faint heartbeat entered his awareness.
Small.
Light.
Almost delicate.
He turned instantly.
A tall humanoid rabbit was sprinting toward him, feet barely disturbing the mud. Its black eyes locked onto him as it leapt gracefully, landing atop a coral outcropping between him and the battlefield.
Recognition flashed across its face.
Not hostility.
Alertness.
Then—
The rest of the army shifted.
The turtles repositioned.
The cats lowered their spears but did not relax.
The lion advanced.
Up close, it was even larger than it had seemed. Muscles rolled beneath golden fur. Its mane shimmered faintly.
It stopped a few meters away.
And then—
It knelt.
Not to Caspian.
But to the small figure descending from its mane.
Alice.
She stepped lightly onto the coral, then onto the mud.
Up close—
She looked smaller.
Physically smaller.
Her black hair framed a face that seemed slightly narrower than he remembered. Her frame more delicate. An algae-woven dress clung to her form, damp and patched in places. Her hands were wrapped in bandages.
Her eyes, however—
Sharp as ever.
"Caspian?" she asked, surprise and relief mixing in her voice. "You're here too? I'm so happy to see someone— and someone I know among everyone!"
Her gaze swept over his armor.
"How did you get that armor?""
He almost smiled.
"I could ask you the same about the army."
She laught it off
"That's different."
He studied her more closely.
"You look… smaller."
She froze for a brief moment.
Then looked away.
"It's because of my flaw" she said quietly.
He waited.
"If I don't use soul shards to summon my creations… I have to use parts of me instead." She gestured vaguely towards herself. "Mass. Essence. Pieces. Whatever."
Her lips curved into a thin smile.
"Which makes me smaller."
Caspian blinked.
He had not expected her to answer so openly.
For a second, he did not know what to say.
She noticed.
"What?" she added lightly. "It's not like you could use my flaw against me. I'm the only one who can use it against myself. So it doesn't matter that much if you know."
He considered that.
Fair point.
Still unsettling.
"You're… turning yourself into soldiers" he said.
"I'm turning enemies into soldiers" she corrected. "I just pay the difference when I don't have shards."
Her tone was almost proud.
Behind her, the newly summoned crab warrior stood silently. Its weapon — a heavy mace shaped like a piercing spike — rested calmly at its side.
Her Aspect.
It was incredible.
Strategic, like playing chess in real life.
Terrifying in the right circumstances.
Caspian glanced at the battlefield. The remaining Carapace Scavengers had been crushed. Azure blood stained the mud in streaks and pools.
Her small army stood disciplined and still.
Waiting.
"So" Alice said, shifting her weight slightly. "Do you want to move together?"
He did not hesitate.
"Yes."
There was no reason not to.
Two Sleepers were better than one.
Especially in a place like this.
She nodded once.
"Okay."
Then she tilted her head.
"But where should we go?"
Caspian smiled faintly, thinking about the guidance of the Stargaze.
"Don't worry" he said calmly. "I have my ways."