Antarctica Campaign

Main article: Southern Quadrant/Creature Catalogue

The Antarctica campaign was expected to be long and grueling, involving various Nightmare Creatures, including landbound, aerial, and aquatic.^[2]

Thousands of Awakened were taking part in this quiet exodus across the Dream Realm. Massive troop movements were taking place in the waking world; something similar, but less visible, was currently taking place in the Dream Realm. The Awakened assigned to the First Evacuation Army were hurriedly relocating to larger and better-protected Citadels so that a Nightmare Creature attack would not disrupt their deployment in Antarctica.^[3]

Some were heading to government Citadels, while others were heading to impregnable Legacy strongholds such as Bastion or Ravenheart. A couple of hundred Awakened all traveled together while their physical bodies were being relocated to various ports, locked inside the sleeping pods.^[3]

During the Chain of Nightmares, Sunny experienced significant improvements in his abilities. His Shadow Manifestation skills improved significantly, with the development of Shadow Shell^[4] and Shadow Incarnation^[5]. His practical knowledge of sorcery expanded, allowing him to copy complex enchantments faster and modify them to a degree. Sunny also acquired new powerful Memories, including Transcendent ones and the Mirror of Truth.^[6]

Sunny became a Tyrant^[7] with five cores and five shadows, increasing his physical prowess and essence capacity. His essence control improved, and he gained a new Shadow, the Ravenous Fiend^[8]. Nightmare was close to Ascension and unlocking his Terror Ability, while Saint rose in Class and Rank, becoming a Transcendent Devil^[9]. His new Attribute, the Marble Shell, improved his resilience and combat performance.^[6]

In conclusion, Sunny's current abilities are incomparably more powerful than his past self before Antarctica, compared to his feeble brat before the Chain of Nightmares.^[6]

The other three convoys were sent to East Antarctica — the largest and most populated region of the Southern Quadrant The convoy where Sunny is in was sent to Antarctic Center.^[10]

Sunny's cohort escorted a division in a battle with Nightmare Creatures from multiple Gates. To flank the creatures, they needed to take the road along the mountain slopes, but the Seventh Gate blocked their way. Irregulars were sent to fight on difficult terrain instead of soldiers.^[11]

• The Chain of Nightmares increased the rate of Gate manifestations and affected ordinary humans, impacting an unusually large number of young people falling victim to the Spell in Antarctica and those beyond the usual age of infestation succumbing to the First Nightmares.^[12] There would be a lot of Sleepers on Antarctica as a result.^[13]
• The collapse of the interaction network was caused by the strange blizzard raging across the Antarctic Center which was attributed to the Winter Beast.^[14] Due to this, any information that reached and spread through the Dream Realm was destined to be incomplete and rendered useless upon arrival.^[15]
• Some Awakened were pulled into the Dream Realm by the Call, with a few returning as Masters. They reported a new area filled with blooming Nightmare Seeds and frenzied Nightmare Creatures. A giant black pyramid appeared as a haunting mirage. Meanwhile, the presence of similar Nightmare Creatures, like the Eyeless, led humans to develop effective strategies to confront them.^[16]
• Fourteen hundred people had vanished into thin air at LO49.^[17]
• Fall of Erebus Field
• Sunny, and later joined by Naeve^[18], managed to escort the convoy from Erebus Field to Falcon Scott.^[19]
  • There were four thousand soldiers, thirty thousand civilian refugees, a few thousand shipwrecked sailors, one hundred Awakened, around twenty Sleepers, the Irregulars, and a dozen or so Echoes, including a couple of Fallen ones.^[19]
• The Fall of Falcon Scott

Main article: Battle of the Black Skull

Unknown due to interruption of war between the Valor and Song clans and the Chain of Nightmares.

After the Sunny and his friends conquered the Third Nightmare, they were sent back by the Spell to the exact moment they had entered the Seed of Nightmare.^[20]

The siege capital did not look particularly obliterated, with some buildings surviving, but Valor's stronghold sustained the worst damage. Most of the city was still intact, with crowds of people moving through the streets. There are two striking details: a giant Gate in the center of the city, which seemed like a vertical fracture, and a beautiful lake visible through the fracture. Visible through the fracture of the Gate was a beautiful lake under bright sunlight and a magnificent castle that rose from that lake. It was Bastion.^[21]

• According to scientists and diviners, the mass of Gates opening in Antarctica is going to be of the Second Category and Third categories, which means Awakened, Fallen, and even Corrupted Nightmare Creatures will be greater in numbers.^[22]
• Valor and Song each provided a token force to support evacuation and two Saints are in charge of these forces. One was sent to East Antarctica and the other to Antarctic Center.^[23]
• Sunny's cohort had spent three months traveling in circles to and from Falcon Scott.^[19]
• The true source of Song-Valor conflict has to do with the Sovereigns and their Domains.^[24]