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.

***

looked up at the advancing monster,

pretty 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

he wouldn't

was a useless thought. He couldn't do anything about it, so there

body immobilized, Memories couldn't

only

his only tool to either kill the enemy or

of transparent mucus. In a flash of lightning, he was able to see and instantly register every spike, every scratch, every abrasion on

Changing Star's sword was still protruding from its body,

'What an ugly bastard.'

carapace painted with crimson patterns and a mighty

a terrifying, murderous kind

move, he had to look helplessly as the monster closed the distance between

into the air, ready to

the monster's

to hell, you

scythes shot

something massive and furious rammed into the monster from the side,

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

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

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,

the rear leg that was already wounded by Sunny broke off, but the monster

and slowly stood up. Another

what?' he thought, momentarily lost for

something

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

monster was, the lightning was immediately attracted to the handle of the sword that was still sticking from its

of volts of electricity coursed

thrown to the

on the crimson

stared at all this in

'It's… glowing?'

no, a single strike of lightning was not enough to kill a creature like that. Just a few moments after being

bad shape, it

monster gathered its limbs and tried to stand up. Slowly but surely, it was coming back to its senses.

before it did, Nephis was suddenly right

as the heat burned her hands. Then, she twisted the blade, making the slayer's body twitch, and pulled it out, breaking apart a large portion of its lower

her sword. The glowing, white-hot blade caught the

away with one of its legs. Nephis was thrown back and