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 crack started to appear on its

seemed as if Nephis was only capable to support two effects at the same time — one augmenting her sword, the other her body. To summon the healing power of the white flame,

she was

lose ground. His enemy was just too fast, powerful, and ferocious. More and more strikes landed on the golden armor, and although it seemed to hold, for now, it was clear that the continuous blows were taking a toll on both the Bright

had a

the momentum of the fight began to favor Nephis, he suddenly chuckled and turned his face to catch her reflection

could be heard escaping from the mouths of hundreds of people. The psychic pressure emanated by the Bright Lord suddenly increased manyfold, throwing some people to the ground and making others stagger.

also felt it and greeted his teeth, struggling to

Star, who was at the center and the true target of the mental assault, let out a pained yelp

forward and stabbed

woman and

Go die now, stupid

twisted the dagger, making

raised her sword and hit him in the face with the pommel, again and again, until a small crack

mental pressure did not go

Gunalug laughed.

you done? No? Well,

flashed through the air, slashing Nephis across the wrist. With the tendons cut, the silver sword fell from her hand, its

eventually falling to her knees. The white radiance emanated from her body

approached the kneeling

wouldn't know about that little trick of yours? Go ahead and heal. See

and stabbed her again, reopening the terrible

that? Come one, heal

continued stabbing her, over and over, his

about I just