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 weighing his

shadow still followed his commands, but it was busy doing an important job — keeping him

he wouldn't be able to

thought. He couldn't do anything about it, so there was no sense in wasting time considering it

his body immobilized, Memories couldn't

only the

tool to either kill the enemy or prevent the enemy from killing

moved, viscous saliva flowing down from them in a torrent of transparent mucus. In a flash of lightning, he was able to see and instantly register

Changing Star's sword was still protruding

'What an ugly bastard.'

painted with crimson patterns and a mighty body specially designed for mayhem and

a terrifying, murderous

he had to look helplessly as the monster closed

scythes rose into the air, ready to

right into the monster's burning eyes, Sunny

hell,

shot toward his

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

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

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

able to repel the sudden attack. With an angry screech, it sliced with the other scythe, cutting one of the scavenger's pincer arms clean off. Then, it strained its legs

wounded by Sunny broke off, but the monster didn't

its limbs and slowly stood up. Another

what?' he thought, momentarily

something very unexpected

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 right in the middle of the

the handle of the sword that was still sticking from its body, aimed at the sky at a slight angle.

millions of volts of electricity coursed through

to the ground. Whisps of smoke rose from the cracks in

accumulating on the crimson patterns on it. Under

all this

'It's… glowing?'

was not enough to kill a creature like that. Just a few moments after being

a rather bad shape, it was still alive and full of murderous

it was coming back to

before it did, Nephis was suddenly right

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

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,

back and rolled on the rocks, losing her