The awakened of the cohort stared emptily, not quite comprehending what had just happened.
Dorn stepped forward,
"We should collect the soul shards before we leave."
He said, the others nodding at his words.
Sunless however, only shook his head, waving it off.
"Knowing the brat, he already absorbed them, he's greedy like that."
The others stared at him incredulously but didn't make any move towards the door.
***
The rhino sat still in the clearing, with people still inside.
The entire shadow cohort stood around the planning table.
Which was made from simple metal, a rectangle lacking any detail, except the entire holographic map above, covering all of Antarctica in its frozen glory.
However, the people inside paid no attention to the map, instead, they looked at Sunless, their captain.
"From this moment. Apex is mute."
There was a long pause, Apex waving his hand excitedly, his lips not parting an inch.
"But he's no-"
Belle tried to argue, only to receive a glare for it.
"He is."
He paused, looking each person in the eye.
"No one knows that he can speak from here on out, not a soul."
Tension filled the air. The realization that they had to lie to everyone. To their friends. To their superiors, to the great clans, if this order was upheld, it settled over the cohort.
Their muscles tensed, muscles tightening, eyes shifting at one another.
It is as if the gravity inside the vehicle doubled, tripled.
And it broke as suddenly as it appeared.
"Aight."
Everyone's eyes turned to the owner of the words, which was none other than Luster.
The man merely shrugged his shoulders.
"What? I don't see a problem. There's an obviously important reason behind this."
Sunless nodded, and Apex gave the man a thumbs-up.
The boy then paused, before speaking.
"I also need a temporary armor memory, mine is.." He paused, "too recognizable."
Sunny nodded, outstretching an armored hand onto the boy's shoulder, transferring a memory.
The gold glow traveled from Sunny's shoulder, up to Apex's, and brutally died. Turning a deathly black, before vanishing into his body.
Everyone noticed it, but no one brought it up.
They were already used to nonsensical things from Sunless, this was just another thing, only from a different person.
The others continued discussing the plan, meanwhile, Apex opened the memory's runes.
Memory name: [Kingdom's Eclipse].
Memory type: [Armor].
Rank: [Ascended].
Memory description: [A knight for his king with unavailing loyalty and determination, as any knight should.
However, the king did not repay the knight's loyalty.
Being paranoid of the knight from the rumors circulating, he poisoned the man, then his family.
The man had perished, but his armor, bathed in essence of a single individual for decades did not fall to pieces.
The man's corpse still inside its metal shell, stood up, drawing the gigantic greatsword on its back.
It charged at the king and his knights, its form blurring between physical and spiritual.
It slew the knights and the king, its form covered in blood and physical darkness.
The revenge it sought was accomplished, but the darkness remained. The same night, the kingdom fell.
Only legends remain of a single horrific creature slaughtering everything in sight remaining].
Memory Enchantments: [Pitch black], [Essence control].
[Pitch black] Description: [while in darkness your form is invisible and as silent as the darkness itself].
[Essence control] description: [shape the armor anyway you wish using soul essence].
Apex's eyebrows shot up into his hairline without anyone noticing.
And he turned his gaze onto Sunless, who gave him a curious expression.
Apex slowly manifested the memory, hundreds of dark motes surrounding his form.
As the motes dissipated, everyone watched in shock as the boy was replaced by a knight-like figure, and Sunless himself almost mistook him for Saint.
Instead of the obviously young and kind of short teenager, stood a figure two meters tall, covered in pitch-black armor, with only the hair still visible, falling to the figure's back.
Then, Sunless noticed something unique, Apex had both of his hands.
A second later, both moved.
Apex raised his hands to his own eyes, clenching them into fists.
This was amazing.
While he couldn't quite feel the arm, he instinctively was able to create it and use it with soul essence.
Kind of draining, but with his three cores, it was barely noticeable.
***
Slowly, the door of the gigantic vehicle opened, Morgan's and her cohort's eyes immediately locking onto the figures climbing out.
They all watched as the semi-familiar figures climbed out first, and then, a lone unfamiliar figure climbed out.
Amazingly tall, the gender impossible to tell below the all-covering black armor.
But if Morgan had to wager, she would guess male from the height alone.
The only visible thing was the hair.
Long, extremely so. Reaching the back of the tall figure.
And the color is grayish white.
The shadow cohort slowly walked towards Morgan's own, Sunless in the lead.
Morgan quietly watched as the figure in the black armor and Sunless approached them closer while the others stayed back a few meters.
Until finally, they stood in arm's length, Sunless motioning his hand towards his companion.
"This is the individual the gate is reserved for. Any questions you may have direct them to me, as he cannot speak."
The figure turned his head to Sunless at the "he" part, but didn't do anything else.
Morgan nodded in understanding,
"May I know his name, as well as the level of his skills? Such information is important in any trial, I am sure you are aware of this."
Like she was told, she directed her words to Sunless, but her eyes didn't leave the giant of a man.
When the figure had turned his head, she had glimpsed a handle of a gigantic blade, but there was no blade behind him.
Strange.
Sunless cleared his throat,
"He specializes in the frontlines, clearing and holding space. He also has very great utility options."
He paused, almost visibly smiling.
"You may call him Joe."
Morgan raised a brow, but nodded nonetheless.
Seemingly satisfied with the rough and short description of what the figure could do.
There was a short pause in the conversation until,
Morgan shook her head inwardly, turning to Sunless.
"I would like to talk to my cohort, as well as this individual in private." She paused, her eyes twitching ever so slightly, "It would be enough for him to just listen and nod or shake his head."
Sunless visibly tensed, but didn't need to say anything as Apex walked forward, stopping right in front of Morgan.
And surprisingly, outstretched an arm for a handshake.
Morgan stared at it for a few long moments, before outstretching her own arm, a small barely noticeable small forming on her face.
The two clasped arms, and Morgan was surprised that the figure didn't try to escertain his strength by tightening his grip, instead, he softly shook it twice, then let it go.
'A truly strange individual' she thought, leading the group of ten people further from the shadow cohort.
She was not looking forward to being alone around them, even being a princess, she couldn't help but tense up at the rumors and stories of this cohort, especially their captain.