Shadow Slave

In that moment, hovering on the edge of nothingness, Sunny realized that he was about to die.

He had to struggle against the fog that permeated his mind, slowing down his thoughts and dampening all emotions.

All except for fear.

Despite the fact that his body was broken and his mind was paralyzed, some stubborn part of Sunny was still refusing to give up. He wasn't ready to die. At least not without giving his all to survive.

He was revolted at the thought of giving the world the satisfaction of the win.

That would be so infuriating. Hadn't he told Hero that he was going to survive no matter what, to spite them all?

That's right. He might be a shameless liar, but a promise was still a promise.

But… how was he even supposed to survive? No matter how he looked at it, the situation seemed to be hopeless.

As the scythe slayer approached, its eyes shining menacingly with bloodthirsty crimson light, Sunny tried to pierce through the fog that enveloped his mind. However, his attempts were aimless and weak. It was hard to find purchase in the fog.

He needed an anchor.

Suddenly, a simple thought caught his attention. It was something that he had repeated a thousand times, burning it into his mind.

'Repetition, experience, clarity.'

Clarity…

He remembered what Nephis had taught him. The essence of combat was murder. Any action performed during a battle served only one of two purposes: it was either to kill your enemy or prevent the enemy from killing you.

If he could learn that, he would have enough clarity to master the mind.

Back then, he didn't really understand the profound meaning behind the simple word "clarity" that Nephis had used. But now, with his mind in shambles, he was finally able to grasp it.

The two truths behind the essence and purpose of combat were simple and solid, almost tangible. Even in his half-conscious state, he was able to use them as a stable foundation in the fog. Then, he reformed his mind around this foundation, building it along the stark lines of that truth.

Suddenly, he was able to think again.

What's more, his thoughts were clear and incredibly fast, free of all unnecessary distractions.

This was clarity.

***

advancing monster, calmly

much useless. He couldn't move his limbs at all. The shadow still followed his commands, but it was busy doing an important job — keeping him from

help, he wouldn't

do anything about it, so there was no sense in wasting time considering it

body immobilized, Memories

only

was going to have to be his only tool to either kill the

in a torrent of transparent mucus. In a flash of lightning, he was able

of Changing Star's sword was still protruding from

'What an ugly bastard.'

was being hypocritical. Truth be told, with its black carapace painted with crimson patterns and a mighty body specially designed for mayhem and slaughter, the

almost majestic… in a terrifying,

had to look helplessly as the monster closed the distance between them and

rose into the

into the monster's burning eyes,

hell, you overgrown

scythes shot toward

monster from the side, throwing it away. It was Sunny's

Echo entwined itself with the enemy in a chaotic mess of limbs as they rolled on the ground. Despite the fact that it was smaller and weaker, its crazy assault and complete disregard for its own life were enough to give the bigger monster some

with its pincers, ramming them against the creature's carapace in a crazy whirlwind of blows. For a moment, the howling of the wind was drowned out by the clamor of chitin striking against chitin. The slayer's carapace mostly held, but a couple of cracks

it was still superior to the scavenger in every way. Even with one of its scythes pinned awkwardly under its body, the monster was more than able to repel the sudden attack. With an angry screech, it sliced with the other scythe, cutting one of

process, the rear leg that was already wounded by

its limbs and slowly stood up. Another deafening screech resounded in the howling darkness of the storm, hurting Sunny's

what?' he thought, momentarily lost for

something very

had to slightly raise and lean its torso back to account for the loss of a rear leg and keep its balance. At that moment, a bolt of lightning landed

of the sword that was still sticking from its body, aimed at the sky at a

hundreds of millions of volts of electricity

was thrown to the ground. Whisps of smoke rose from the cracks

arcs of residual electricity danced on the monster's chitin, slowly accumulating on

at all this in

'It's… glowing?'

lightning was not enough to kill a creature like that. Just a few moments after being electrocuted, the slayer moved, slightly shaking

bad shape, it was still alive and full of

dazed, the monster gathered its limbs and tried to stand up. Slowly but surely, it was coming back to its senses. The bone scythes scraped against the rocks,

before it did, Nephis was suddenly right in front of

grimaced as the heat burned her hands. Then, she twisted the blade, making the slayer's body twitch, and

slash at her with a scythe, but Changing Star was quicker. Dashing to the side, she simultaneously lashed out with her sword. The glowing, white-hot blade caught the creature's arm right below the joint and cleaved through it, sending the terrifying bone scythe flying through the

swatted her away with one of its legs. Nephis was thrown back and rolled on the rocks, losing her grip on the sword. Her eyes momentarily