Shadow Slave

Sunny stared at the shining figure in front of him, a myriad of thoughts appearing in his mind.

With her skin emanating blinding white radiance, Nephis looked beautiful and pure, as though untouched by the imperfections of the mundane world. Wreathed in light, she was like a heavenly angel that descended into the mortal realm.

The sight of it was both breathtaking and terrifying.

…It was also eerily similar to the image of the radiant creature he had seen on the walls of the ancient mine. Especially with the gem of the Dawn Shard burning on Neph's forehead like a third eye.

But that wasn't what gave Sunny pause.

'How is possible?!'

But then, why wouldn't it be possible?

At the start of their journey, he had guessed that Changing Star's Aspect was of the Divine rank, just like his. Her powers seemed to be able to either augment Memories or heal, while his own could be used to scout, enhance Memories, or augment Sunny himself. Because Nephis had never used the white flames to achieve that last effect, he had assumed that she was incapable of doing so, and thus her Aspect, while powerful, was less versatile.

But augmenting herself was exactly what Neph was doing right now. Sunny knew it instantly — she wrapped her body in light just like he had wrapped his own body in the shadow countless times. With this enhancement, her physical prowess had to grow exponentially.

Had she always been capable of doing so and hid that facet of her Aspect intentionally, or was this something she learned how to do only after growing more powerful and absorbing hundreds upon hundreds of soul shards in the Labyrinth?

That question was going to remain unanswered, at least for now. Because the battle between Changing Star and the Bright Lord was far from over.

Just like Sunny suspected, with her body wreathed in light, Nephis suddenly became much stronger and faster. If before she was visibly weaker and slower than Gunlaug, even if not by much, now, it seemed the other way around. She dashed toward the enemy, batted away one of the daggers, and delivered a crushing blow right to the polished mirror mask.

This time, there was a slight mark left on the surface of the golden armor by her sword.

The two of them became locked in a ferocious battle, dozens of attacks flying at each fighter. The clangor of metal grew in volume, turning into an almost deafening cacophony. Changing Star was fighting with abandon, more and more wounds accumulating on her radiant body. However, she also managed to land several more blows, each striking at the golden mirror of the Bright Lord's face.

a hint of a crack started to

if Nephis was only capable to support two effects at the same time — one augmenting her sword, the other

was

was slowly starting to lose ground. His enemy was just too fast, powerful, and ferocious. More and more strikes landed on the golden armor, and although

the Golden Serpent had a few

Nephis, he suddenly chuckled and turned his face to catch her reflection

psychic pressure emanated by the Bright Lord suddenly increased

felt it and greeted his teeth,

the center and the true target of the mental assault, let out a pained

moment when Gunlaug stepped forward and stabbed her through the chest with one

woman and exited from her back, he said in a

Go die now,

the dagger, making her scream

the face

pressure did not go away. Instead, it

Gunalug laughed.

No? Well,

With the tendons cut, the silver sword fell from her hand, its

blade of the dagger, then staggered away, eventually falling to her

the kneeling young woman,

of yours? Go ahead and heal. See where it

by the neck and stabbed her again, reopening

Come one,

over and over, his

How about I just cut off your pretty