Siege of the Crimson Spire

The goal of this battle is to claim the gateway inside the Crimson Spire which was guarded by the Terror of Crimson Spire and the Nightmare Creatures that it subdued.^[1]

The first line had to hold off the monsters, changing places with the second once they grew tired. The third line was in charge of eviscerating as many creatures as they could.^[2]

First Line

• Effie - Commander^[2]
• Caster^[3]
• Gemma^[3]

Second Line

• Seishan - Commander^[2]

Third Line

• Kai - Commander^[2]

The Sleepers of the first line possessed the most powerful combat Aspects and the best Memories. They had to stop the devastating wave of abominations in its tracks and tied it down with their blades and their lives. Whatever creatures managed to get past were met and eviscerated by the Sleepers of the second line. And all throughout, the archers and the siege engines of the third line never stopped firing.^[3]

In the battle, those who were too weak to fight and did not possess a useful Aspect were charged with supplying the Sleepers participating in the battle with everything they needed, be it arrows, crossbow bolts, stones for their slings, or anything else. There were several teams of runners doing different things. Some help to carry the wounded from the first and second lines to the makeshift hospital at the back of the formation.^[4]

Nephis and the rest of the cohort got the oath keys and were ready to face the final challenge, to lay siege to the Crimson Spire.^[5] Five hundred sleepers had traversed the Labyrinth to reach the Crimson Spire. Some perish along the way during the short journey but they had luck on their side.^[1]

The night before the siege, Nephis tasked Sunny to destroy or banish the dark sea. On the day of the siege, countless Nightmare Creatures moved towards the dreamer army which started the battle for the Crimson Spire.^[1]

During the battle, everyone was doing everything in their power to kill as many Nightmare Creatures as they could but it was not enough. The first line of the Dreamer Army was slowly buckling under the pressure of the nightmare horde.^[3] So many of them were already dead, torn to pieces, and devoured while trying to protect the archers.^[6] Soon the first line was completely eviscerated. The second line was now entangled with the Nightmare Creatures too. The initial plan had been for the first and second lines to switch positions to give the exhausted warriors time to rest, but it was never going to happen.^[4]

Sunny finally moved along the shadows until he reached the wide expanse of the cursed black water.^[7] Along the way, he saw that the army was barely holding on until they were joined by Nephis. Without planning to fight his way to the Crimson Spire, he used Saint's shield as a springboard to cross the surface of the dark whirlpool. Soon he reached the base of the Spire, on its gates, the image of seven shining stars, with each star having a dark keyhole in the center, was engraved into the ancient stone.^[8] He then fought the seven coral golems of the seven heroes who were guarding the gates.^[9]

Meanwhile, Kai and Effie were each doing their best to survive the onslaught of Nightmare Creatures both on land and air.^[9] Thankfully, they were each saved by Cassie's echo Quite Dancer and Nephis.^[10]

Sunny soon destroyed all of the golems, but black water that was already up to his knees.^[11] He struggled to insert all of the oath keys into the lock. When the last key was inserted, the cursed sea was banished.^[12]

With the dark sea gone, the sun shone brightly above the sky. Sunny's shadow realized there was a soul attack from the sun. He then informed Nephis of the problem by using the Silver Bell. Soon after, the survivors of the Dreamer Army reached the island and dashed toward the life-saving darkness of the gargantuan tower, marking the end of the battle for the Crimson Spire.^[13]