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, calmly weighing

followed his commands, but it was busy doing

with its help, he wouldn't be able to

a useless thought. He couldn't do anything about it, so there was no sense in

body immobilized, Memories couldn't

left only the

tool to either kill

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

Changing Star's sword was still protruding from

'What an ugly bastard.'

told, with its black carapace painted with crimson patterns and a mighty body specially designed for mayhem

was almost majestic… in a terrifying, murderous

look helplessly as the monster closed the

the air, ready

monster's burning eyes, Sunny

hell,

shot

something massive and furious rammed into the monster from the side, throwing it away. It was Sunny's carapace

the ground. Despite the fact that it was smaller and weaker, its crazy assault

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

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 the scavenger's pincer arms

was already wounded by Sunny broke

Another deafening screech resounded in the howling darkness

he thought,

something very unexpected

slayer moved to finish off the Echo, it 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 right in the middle of the

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

hundreds of millions of volts of electricity

it was thrown to the ground. Whisps

the monster's chitin, slowly accumulating on the crimson patterns on it. Under that influence, the crimson pattern changed its color, becoming

all this

'It's… glowing?'

monster was dead. But no, a single strike of lightning was not enough to kill a creature like that. Just a few moments after being electrocuted, the slayer

rather bad shape, it

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, helping it

was

the blade, making the slayer's body twitch,

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

Nephis was thrown back and rolled on the rocks,